The Trail of the Lonesome Pine

Outdoor Drama

201653rd Season

honoringBarbara Polly

July 7 – Sept 3Thurs – Fri – Sat

8:00 pm

A Supplement to

June Tolliver Playhouse Big Stone Gap, VA

the

Coalfield PROGRESS

Page 2

Jack Hale

John Carroll hadn’t donea play in seven years whenhe walked into Trinity Unit-ed Methodist Church a fewweeks ago to audition forThe Trail of the LonesomePine.

And for someone withtheater in the blood, that wasfar too long.

But at age 28, Carroll hasmany years ahead of him to“tread the boards” — and theasphalt stage of the June Tolliver Playhouse.

Carroll, who grew up and still lives in Big StoneGap’s Southern community, returns to theater as themale lead Jack Hale for this summer’s outdoor drama.He’s no stranger to the playhouse, having been in theshow from 2004-09, when he played Buck Falin andunderstudied Young Dave, Jack Hale’s rival for the loveof June Tolliver.

“I decided it was about time for me to get back into

it,” he said. “I didn’tthink it would take thatlong for me to get backinto it, but life happens.I just had to take a breakfrom theater for a littlewhile just to kind ofhelp with family fi-nances, get life straight-ened out, get caughtback up monetarily. . . .We’re better off becauseof that.”

Seven years, though, was a long time to go withouttheater: “theater gets in your blood,” Carroll said, “youcan’t get it out.”

Carroll’s last show was The Complete Works ofWilliam Shakespeare — Abridged, a comedic reductionof the bard’s most famous works. It was staged atMountain Empire Community College’s Goodloe Cen-

John Carroll and Tayler Bolling are ready to renew the story of Jack Hale and June Tolliver. (Photo courtesy of Robin Collins Photography.)

‘We have a strong cast, especially ourleading roles. I think we have a good

ensemble as well. The production has hadits little bumps so far — we’ve had to find

replacements and so forth — but it’s a truetestament to how much we want to putthis show together that we’ve been able

to stick to it. . . . perseverance.’ — John Carroll.

After hiatus, Carroll relishes return to the stage

June Tolliver

Just a year out of theUniversity of Virginia’sCollege at Wise, where sheearned a music educationdegree, Tayler Bolling is aveteran of both musical the-ater and opera.

This summer, Bolling’slyric soprano voice willgrace the stage of the JuneTolliver Playhouse as sheessays the heroine of TheTrail of the Lonesome Pine.

For the last few weeks,Bolling has been perhaps the hardest-working womanin show business, at least this side of the AppalachianMountains. She was in final rehearsals for The AddamsFamily musical comedy while the outdoor drama re-hearsals were in their early stages.

Playing Morticia Addams and June Tolliver havebeen challenges for Bolling, but she’s risen to the occa-sion. Trained for opera, her voice lends itself to both thebelting style called for in The Addams Family and the

folk music of The Trail ofthe Lonesome Pine. This,in fact, is her second sea-son as June Tolliver. Sheplayed the part last Julywhile Kennady Ray wasaway.

The daughter of Markand Geneva Bolling ofWise, Tayler rememberslistening to dad’s classicrock while growing up. “Iwould listen to it and singalong with it and dance

along with,” she said. “I think that’s where I got into it.”Bolling sang in chorus in high school and started

private voice lessons at age 14, first under Norton pianoand voice teacher Lisa Powers. Bolling won the localVirginia Bland Music Scholarship contest and was firstrunner-up at the district level at Emory & Henry. AtUVa-Wise, she studied under Michael Cox the first se-

Bolling’s lyric soprano to grace drama stage

SEE JACK, PAGE 10

SEE JUNE, PAGE 10

Bolling took the female lead of LaurieMoss in The Tender Land. Laurie and

June Tolliver, she said, are similar characters. ‘They both have the sameambitions. They do love their family

and love where they’re from, but theywant to see the world outside and theyhave big dreams of going on to bigger

and better things.’

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine outdoor drama was adeep spring of inspiration for Adriana Trigiani when shecame to write her series of novels based on her home-town. In the books, heroine Ave Maria Mulligan is direc-tor of the outdoor drama, personifying the small-townlove of and support for the arts that are a hallmark of thereal Big Stone Gap.

Trigiani and her collaborators returned to that deepspring when they came to town to film the story in Octo-ber and November 2013, drawing on the outdoor dramafor a couple of the movie’s pivotal scenes as well as for acolor scheme.

Following is movie distributor Picturehouse’s assess-ment of the outdoor drama’s importance to the 2015movie:

“When the time came, the state of Virginia reallystepped up,” says Trigiani. “We all entered a sort of snowglobe that allowed us to leap back in time and to stand inthe place Elizabeth Taylor visited in 1978, to stand in thepharmacy where Ave Maria works in the book, to per-form the Outdoor Drama in the theater where it has beenstaged every summer for more than a half century.”

The Outdoor Drama is a 53-year-old institution in BigStone Gap and the surrounding region, as well as a linch-pin in the film’s story. The brainchild of local boosterClara Lou Kelly, the performance draws crowds every

Page 3

Mountain EmpireCommunity College

Call For MoreInformation

or visit us online

www.proartva.org276-376-4520

Celebrating Our 40th Season!

The June Tolliver Playhouse inspired and served as a setting for key scenes in Adriana Trigiani’s 2015movie homage to her hometown.

Trigiani drew inspiration from outdoor drama

SEE MOVIE, PAGE 4

summer with a story taken fromJohn Fox Jr.’s 1908 popular novel,The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.

“Clara Lou wanted to pull thetown together in a way that wouldmake Big Stone Gap a destinationin the region,” says Trigiani. “Soshe said, let’s put on a show. JohnFox Jr. was a famous writer whosummered in Big Stone Gap. TheTrail of the Lonesome Pine is kindof Pygmalion story about a beautifulyoung mountain girl and a miningengineer with sort of a Hatfields andMcCoys backdrop. The engineerconvinces the girl’s family to sendher to his sister’s house in Kentuckyto be educated. He turns her into awell-bred young woman and thenhe falls in love with her. It’s a verybig deal in town and the people whoperform it are just normal localfolks.”

The Outdoor Drama is still per-formed in front of a backdrop paint-ed 50 years ago by local artist Dr.

Stanley Botts. The mural, which re-flects the colorful wilderness sur-rounding Big Stone Gap, providedthe director, working with cine-matographer Reynaldo Villalobosand production designer EloiseCrane Stammerjohn, the inspirationfor a palette incorporating its satu-rated midnight blues, blood reds andlush greens.

Costume designer DebraMcGuire carried the rich paletteover into the denims, corduroys andcotton paisleys worn by the actors, amix of lively prints, color and dura-bility. “Debra McGuire and I met onthe Dolly Parton show years agoand we have collaborated eversince,” says Trigiani. “I asked her tocostume Ave Maria as a differentcharacter from literature in everyscene. In the scene where she findsout about her dad, she’s Dorothyfrom The Wizard of Oz with a bowin her hair and knee socks and theblue pinafore. When she’s at hermother’s funeral, she’s Holly Go-lightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.When she’s in the final scene of themovie, she’s in June Tolliver’s reddress from The Trail of the Lone-some Pine.”

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Delegate Terry G. Kilgore

Would like to thank the Trail of the LonesomePine Drama for the many great years of

providing quality entertainment to the 1st District and the many visitors

from around the globe.Paid for by Terry Kilgore

Adriana Trigiani and Ashley Judd at the June Tolliver Playhouse. The town’s long-running outdoor drama was a source of inspiration for writer and director Trigiani.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

Movie

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This photo, probably from the 1966 or 1967 season, shows five early dramagreats: (from left) Harold Hill as Bub, Tommy Masters as Devil Judd, Greg Slempas Young Dave, Ralph Sloan as Bad Rufe and Jimmy Hawkins as Red Fox.

The killing of Edwin Mockaby is one of the drama’spivotal scenes, setting up the hanging and the final plottwists. Playing the scene in one of the early drama sea-sons are (from left) Jimmy Hawkins as Red Fox, JimmieOrr as Jack Hale, Ken Ely as the slain Mockaby, andNicky Botts as Willie Thompson. Willie Thompson wasthe town drunk and was at the heels of Bad Rufe Tolliver.In recent years, the Willie character has given way to sa-loon girl Sadie Thompson.

Page 6

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Polly was driving force for decades of volunteers

For the first time in its 53-year histo-ry, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine opensits season without Barbara Creasy Polly.

First as June Tolliver and later asartistic director and then as the show’sproducer for many years, Polly was thedriving force behind an enterprise thathas always depended for its survival ondedicated volunteers.

Polly died in March after an up-and-down struggle with cancer, remainingactive in the outdoor drama and its par-ent non-profit, Lonesome Pine Arts andCrafts, almost to the end.

Also helping to care for her husband,Dr. Brownie Polly Jr., in recent years,Barbara Polly had less time to devote tothe outdoor drama and LPAC. But shetook a leading role in organizing the2013’s 50th season celebration and castreunion, hosting committee meetingsand enjoying the detailed planning thatwent into making the season’s specialactivities possible.

Polly made a deep impression onWise County and the wider region as anactor, singer and administrator, champi-oning the performing arts and culturaluplift for more than a half century.

Her leadership of LPAC was crucial,challenging volunteers to accomplishmore than many thought possible, notonly at the outdoor drama but at the JohnFox Jr. House and Museum, the Lone-some Pine School and Heritage Centerand the June Tolliver House.

“For many years Barbara Creasy Pol-ly was the driving force behind theGuild,” as Mary Beth Seay Allen, an

LPAC board member and leader at theFox House, has said. “She worked tire-lessly to preserve the home of John FoxJr. as a museum, as a memorial to theFox family, and as a Virginia HistoricalLandmark.”

Like all LPAC enterprises, the FoxHouse is staffed by volunteers —skilled, dedicated people who devotemuch time to the facility and the peoplewho visit it, and who do it for the love ofit. The Blue Fox Guild preserves andmaintains the history of the house whilepresenting an ambience of the eloquenceof past times to visitors, Allen noted.

“Three women in this town havegone above and beyond in promotingBig Stone Gap and what we’ve got —Barbara Polly, Ida Holyfield and SharonEwing,” said Garnett Gilliam, referringto the retired editor of The Post and for-mer manager of Southwest Virginia Mu-seum Historical State Park.

And, Gilliam wondered rhetorically,“How many people have been influ-

enced through the drama itself?”John Wilson, who went on to a long

TV news career after playing in the dra-ma as a young man, called Polly “theperfect role model for what we did onstage and what we did in town. . . . Sheopened up her heart and soul to every-body who talked to her — whether sheknew them or not.”

Polly was the linchpin of the LPACfor decades, providing artistic and, morecrucially, administrative leadership.

“Barbara has gotten pretty sharp atknowing how to capitalize on thosesources, as well as on private sourceslike the Slemp Foundation,” Ron Fla-nary said in 2012 while helping withshow production duties. “So everythingyou see here — the ticket office, the sou-venir shop, more recently the seating,lights and sound — have come throughher grantsmanship. These are capital in-vestment-type things, and if you ran thedrama 100 years, you’d never generateenough revenue to do those things.”

But Polly was first and always askilled, talented singer and performer.With her and Tommy Masters, the out-door drama had two strong voices tobuild on in 1964. In fact, the duo’ssinging has been credited with plantingthe idea of staging John Fox Jr.’s novelin LPAC founder Clara Lou Kelly’smind.

Polly eventually succeeded Kelly aspresident of LPAC and worked to haveThe Trail of the Lonesome Pine desig-

The outdoor drama was built onthe acting and singing skills of Tom-my Masters, who played Devil JuddTolliver, and Barbara Polly, whooriginated the role of June Tolliver.

‘Three women in this townhave gone above and beyond in promoting

Big Stone Gap and whatwe’ve got — Barbara Polly,

Ida Holyfield and Sharon Ewing.’

— Garnett Gilliam.

SEE POLLY, PAGE 7

nated as Virginia’s official outdoor drama. In part-nership with the Slemp Foundation, she developedthe area around the June Tolliver Playhouse, in-cluding the drama office, the Duff Academy andLonesome Pine School and Heritage Center.

“We will miss her attention to detail, from thebright-faced pansies in the front yard that welcomevisitors, to the delectable aroma of orange glazed

chicken that greeted our guests when they steppedthrough the door,” Allen said, noting that Polly dideverything “with elegance and grace.”

Gilliam recalled that Polly was an Emory &Henry senior his freshman year at the college. “Iwalked in a music appreciation class and Barbarawas in that class,” he said. “She was singing in mu-sic appreciation class. I thought, my god, she singslike an angel. She’s up there somewhere and she’ssinging again.”

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Earl Hobson Smith, who dramatized JohnFox Jr.’s novel for the stage, is flanked by theoriginal June Tolliver, Barbara Polly, and thefirst director, Janie Bollinger, in 1964.

Barbara Polly, who played June Tolliverto audiences seated in lawn chairs in thedrama’s early years, went on to spear-head capital improvements at the play-house as an effective administrator.

In 2012, Polly welcomed visitors to therenovated theater.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

Polly

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Cast set for 53rd season of outdoor dramaHere is the updated cast and crew for this year’s outdoor drama,

with understudies in parentheses:June Tolliver, young mountain girl: Tayler Bolling (Katie Robinson).Jack Hale, Kentucky engineer: John Carroll.Elizabeth “Mammy” Tolliver, June’s stepmother: Redena Barton.Devil Judd Tolliver, June’s father: Jack McClanahan and Larry

“Dodie” Daniel, alternates.Li’l Bibby Tolliver, Ol’ Dave’s younger daughter: Abigail Buchanan

(Isabella Herron).Miss Anne Saunders, June’s schoolteacher: Meredith Muse.Widow Crane, owner of boarding house in the Gap: Gail Luntsford.Bob Berkley, a schoolboy and June’s friend: Andy Gilliam.Tattletale, a school child: Isabella Herron or Abigail Joyner.Bully, a school child: Alivia Davidson (Trinity Barton).Sibling, the bully’s sister/brother: Trinity Barton (Abigail Joyner).Tom Logan, a lawyer: John Grieger.Edwin Mockaby, general store owner: Amos Williams (Denny Potter).Judge Sam Budd: Howard Doyle (Ray Wells).Red Fox Taylor, mountain herbalist: Glenn Gannaway (Howard

Doyle).“Bad” Rufe Tolliver, Judd’s foster brother: Greg Kallen (Paul

Clark).Young Dave Tolliver, Ol’ Dave’s son: Evan Clark (Amos Williams).Ol’ Dave Tolliver, Judd’s brother: Robert Sturgill (Denny Potter).Matilda “Aunt Tilly” Tolliver, Ol’ Dave’s wife: Sabrina Sturgill (Amy

Graley).Loretta Tolliver, Ol’ Dave’s daughter: Katie Robinson (Gabby Blanton).Uncle Billy Beam, June’s maternal uncle: Larry Mullins.Ole Hon Beam, Uncle Billy’s wife: Mary Lou Carter.Teenage Bibby: Gabby Blanton (Alivia Davidson).Nosey Neighbor: Heather Strong.Wrong Woman: Amy Graley (Angela Davidson).Helen Hale, Jack’s sister: Tabitha Hibbitts.Maggie, Helen’s maid: Shelby Peace.Sadie, a saloon girl: Meredith Muse.Abigail, engaged to Mockaby: Shelby Peace (Andromeda Strong).Disgruntled Townsperson: Denny Potter.Hangman: Denny Potter.Jurors: audience members.Standby understudies: Savannah Arwood, Jill Bergeron.

Band: Larry Mullins (leader), guitar and autoharp; Mary LouCarter, upright bass and banjo; Anna Wells, autoharp; Shelby Peace,guitar; Andromeda Strong, banjo; Alivia Davidson, banjo.

TECHNICAL CREWArtistic director, music director and costume design: Jill Stapleton

Bergeron.Technical director: Gary Bergeron.Lighting designer: Aaron Bergeron.Stage manager: Tabitha Hibbitts.Choreographers: Jill Stapleton Bergeron and Anna Wells.Light board operator: Linda Hamilton (Gary Bergeron).Costume assistants: Mary Lou Carter, Sabrina Sturgill, Gail Lunts-

ford, Angela Davidson and Lisa Herron.Makeup assistant: Meredith Muse.Property mistresses: Gail Luntsford and Gabby Blanton.Stage hands: Greg Kallen, Jack McClanahan, Larry “Dodie”

Daniel, Robert Sturgill, Andy Gilliam, Denny Potter and John Grieger.Armorer and traffic control: Denny Potter.Set construction: Cast and crew, plus “Cowboy” Johnny Wayne

Chandler Sr.Pre-show entertainment manager: Anna Wells.Program: Susan Sanders.Program photography: Ron Flanary.Publicity head: Tabitha Hibbitts.Box office/house manager: Sandy Lowery.Artist: Nancy Ball.Producer: Jack McClanahan.Associate producer: Ron Flanary.

• Jill Stapleton Bergeron’s 2016 script is based on John Fox Jr.’s1908 novel, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, which was originallyadapted to the stage for the outdoor drama by Earl Hobson Smith.

• The outdoor drama’s first season was 1964, when a limited runof nine shows was presented in August.

• The Virginia General Assembly and then-Gov. George Allen des-ignated The Trail of the Lonesome Pine Virginia’s official outdoor dra-ma in 1994, adding a section to the Code of Virginia saying “Be it en-acted by the General Assembly of Virginia that . . . The Trail of theLonesome Pine outdoor drama performed in the town of Big Stone

Gap is hereby designated the State Outdoor drama.”• John Fox Jr.’s 1908 novel was the bestselling hard-cover book

after the Bible.• Also in 1908, Henry Ford produced his first Model T and

Thomas Selfridge was the first person to die in an airplane crash.Theodore Roosevelt, whom Fox had accompanied to Cuba in 1898 asa war correspondent, decided not to seek a third term as president.

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine

The cover features Jim Huff’s poignant depictionof young lovers Jack and June under the benevo-lent gaze of Barbara Polly as the first June Tolliver, adetail from Dr. William Botts Jr.’s painting.

Myra Marshall composed the pages. Eric Hicksdesigned the cover from an idea by Glenn Gann-away. Karen Tate composed the ads. Glenn Gann-away wrote the stories.

Thanks to Lonesome Pine School and HeritageCenter for its generosity in allowing the use of pho-tos and archival material.

Thanks to the advertisers who made this supple-ment possible.

Thanks also to Christine Smith and the staff ofSlemp Library in Big Stone Gap for tracking down aDVD copy of the 1936 movie in the Lonesome PineRegional Library system. Slemp Library employeesare among Big Stone’s greatest assets.

— Glenn Gannaway

In 1908, the year of The Trail of theLonesome Pine, John Fox Jr. wrote a per-sonal sketch tracing the development ofsome of the character types in his novelsand stories. Written in language that is ar-guably more engaging than his storiesand novels, the sketch also reveals a manwho had a healthy sense of humor abouthimself and was fascinated with music aswell as with the people he came in con-tact with while living and working in theAppalachian Mountains.

Like the money men who drew onAppalachia’s natural resources to powerthe nation’s surging industrialization, Foxdrew on the region’s human resources forhis stories.

“I came to Big Stone Gap, Virginia,”Fox writes, “in the boom days of ’90.Here for six months, I was a Napoleon offinance, met my Waterloo, and went tothe Hell-ena of debt for ten years until Iwas plucked out by the crook of ‘The Lit-tle Shepherd.’”

By that time, Fox had already gath-ered much raw material for his Ap-palachian stories while living in Jellico,Tenn. — known in the late 1800s for its “Jellico coal.” Whilehelping his brother grade a “narrow gauge road up to themouth of the mines . . . with pick and shovel with our ownhands,” Fox recalled, “a mountain girl called me by my firstname the second time she saw me.”

“A quarter of a mile down the branch line,” Fox recalled,“lived Uncle Billy Beams and his wife whom he called “OldHon,” which was a contraction for “Honey.” . . . they werechildless and the happiest and most congenial married pair, Ibelieve, that I have ever known. . . . “Old Hon” and I becamesuch good friends that for many years she was the onlywoman except my mother and sisters who kissed me when Iwent North or came South again.”

Uncle Billy and Ol’ Hon, of course, are key supportingcharacters in Fox’s novel and the outdoor drama based on it.As hatred catalyzed by the changes brought about by coalmining threaten to overwhelm the love of Jack Hale and June

Tolliver, Uncle Billy and Ol’ Hon arerocks of kindness.

And seemingly half-tamed mountaingirls grew in his imagination to becomethe heroines of The Trail of the LonsomePine and shorter pieces such as “A Moun-tain Europa,” in which Easter Hicks en-ters riding the back of a bull.

“Half a mile below Uncle Billy’s andabout two hundred yards from that branchline was another log cabin,” Fox wrote inhis 1908 memoir. “Coming back to themines at sunset one day I saw near it abarefooted girl in a short skirt of scarlethomespun and with a man’s a slouch haton her unruly dark hair — milking abrindle cow. Next day going down theline I stopped in there for a drink of waterand thereafter, going or coming, I stoppedthere for the same purpose every day.”

Scarlet homespun. The scarlet dress, ofcourse, is indelibly associated with JuneTolliver, whom drama spectators first seeas a 14-year-old traipsing along the ridgesaround her beloved Lonesome Cove.

June is comfortable in her homespunworld, but her native intelligence sparks

her curiosity about the world beyond the mountains and theGap, and mining engineer Jack Hale feeds that curiosity, giv-ing June a way out and entry into a world of career success asa classical singer — but at the risk of losing her himself.

When she returns to Lonesome Cove, June is a youngwoman, having laid back her red dress and her half-wild waysfor the latest fashions and the polish of an accomplished pro-fessional. Jack goes down in the world while June rises,adopting some of the roughness of the mountain folk whosestruggles he’s become acutely involved in. That role reversalgives the story some of its “pull,” and it must have been a stateof affairs that Fox pondered over as he walked the hills whileliving in Big Stone Gap.

His adopted home had a profound impact on the writer’ssensibilities. According to an unsigned typescript in the Lone-some Pine School and Heritage Center collection, “John

wrote the first chapter of ‘The Little Shepherd of KingdomCome’ after a night spent with a party of us on High Knobwhere we witnessed the mighty storm he describes in theopening of the book.”

The same memoir notes that the name of Fox’s most fa-mous work was suggested “by a huge old pine that stood onthe top of the Big Black Mountain. He made a special trip toBlack Mountain to see the pin, but being told by the oldmountaineer who had wanted him to see it and who livednearby, that the tree had been practically destroyed in a storma few days before, he did not go to the place where it stood.That storm was the origin of the storm he described in thebook when the pine was supposed to have been destroyed bylightning.”

“One of his study windows,” according to the memoir,“overlooked a garden of old fashioned flowers, and whenhe was writing of June’s garden, he often strolled through itthinking of June for he said, ‘I’m in love with her myself.’”

Like any good artist, Fox’s antenna were always up as hepulled in the world around him, sifting sights and soundsfor the raw material of his stories. Fox turned idle talk be-tween two traveling salesmen into his short story “Hell-fer-Sartain”:

“As I was coming home on a train from Cumberland Gapone morning at daybreak, I overheard one drummer telling an-other in a seat in front of me how he had been over in the Ken-tucky mountains and had seen two mountaineers take a drinktogether and then walk out and shoot each other down. . .”

Fox seems to have had a love of music at the core of his be-ing, and he taps into that for his description of how he wrote“Hell-fer-Sartain”:

“(I) wanted to try an idea of construction that I evolvedfrom the melodies and songs I had heard,” Fox wrote. “Notthat I knew anything about music — I don’t yet. I had learnedto play the piano by ear . . . I noticed that if I was called sud-denly away from it, I couldn’t leave until I had struck whatmusicians call, I believe, the dominant note. Sometimes Iwould get to the door, going out, but I always had to go backand touch that note. . . .”

“I noticed too that every tune or song I knew, however itmight wander from the key in which it started, always cameback to the first key. I began to wonder if there was somethingin the human mind that required a complete circuit back to thestarting point before it was satisfied.”

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John Fox Jr. found the in-spiration and raw materialfor his stories in the Ap-palachian Mountains.

For Fox, Appalachia was a colorful resource

Page 10

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

Jack

ter in December 2009.In fact, Carroll would like to do

more Shakespeare. “I’ve always want-ed to play Hamlet,” he said. He’s alsointrigued by the idea of playingFrankenstein, although horror can bedifficult to depict on stage: “I think thatwould be a great challenge,” he said.

But through the Labor Day week-end, Carroll’s focus will be on bringingto life Jack Hale, the mining engineerfrom the Bluegrass country who arrivesin Big Stone Gap with the idea of prof-iting from the surrounding hills’ miner-al wealth and ends up falling in lovewith mountain girl June Tolliver.

“I think he thinks it’s for the better-ment of the mountain people,” Carrollsaid of Hale’s arrival on the scene.“They’ve been stuck in a mindset for along time. . . . It’s not just for his ownbenefit.”

Jack Hale’s way of doing thingsmay well come in conflict with the lo-cal people’s way of life. But Carroll un-derstands that, rather than forcingchange upon the mountaineers, JackHale only moves along the change thatwas inevitable anyway.

“I think it’s more of a story aboutthe townsfolk because (natural re-source extraction) changes the wholeculture. Jack and June are just two peo-ple; the big change is for the mountainfolk. Although it is considered a lovestory for Jack and June, I think it hasmore to do with change in cultures thananything,” Carroll said. “There arequite a few scenes where the romance

between Jack and June are not evenpresent.”

Carroll said the opportunity to playthe hero in a production that’s morethan a half century old is an honor. Butas with any part, Jack Hale comes withchallenges.

“Character-wise (the challenge) isportraying the fact that Jack is going todo what’s right regardless of how hardit is,” Carroll said. “He’s all for justice— doing the right thing. I think one ofthe hardest things is to find out wherethat line is drawn in the script. I thinkJack’s more complicated than peoplethink he is.”

Carroll said one of the reasons act-ing continues to fascinate him is that itallows the performer to step outside hisor her 24-hour-a-day world and “get tobe somebody else for the time of theproduction. To get inside somebodyelse’s head (and) see what makes themclick. . . . Not only do you get to get in-side somebody else’s mind, you get tomold it. I’m Jack Hale when I’m onstage . . . I morph into that.”

Carroll and Tayler Bolling as Junehead what Carroll calls “a strong cast”for the outdoor drama’s 53rd season.“We have a strong cast, especially ourleading roles. I think we have a goodensemble as well. The production hashad its little bumps so far — we’ve hadto find replacements and so forth — butit’s a true testament to how much wewant to put this show together thatwe’ve been able to stick to it. . . . perse-verance.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

June

mester and then under Amber Burke, who’sbeen her voice teacher since.

Burke, she said, was key to “helping mefind my voice and find that comfortable place,and finding that confidence like the acting andstuff too — she’s helped me a lot with that too.She’s really experienced in all this, and she’sreally great.”

The stage keeps Bolling in perpetual mo-tion, a testament to her love of performing.She worked with Charlottesville’s Ash LawnOpera Company and took a master class withthe director, also performing with interns.She’s been in the Southwest Virginia OperaCompany’s productions of Judith Zaimont’sGoldilocks and Aaron Copland’s The TenderLand — both of which, coincidentally, werestaged at the June Tolliver Playhouse.

She took the female lead of Laurie Moss inThe Tender Land. Laurie and June Tolliver,she said, are similar characters. “They bothhave the same ambitions. They do love theirfamily and love where they’re from, but theywant to see the world outside and they havebig dreams of going on to bigger and betterthings.”

June Tolliver has many facets, Tayler hasdiscovered. “Deep down underneath thetomboyishness, she has a really big heart andis very intelligent, and she desires more thanthe mountain life that girls are supposed tohave,” she said. June is not about to settle formarrying Young Dave and having babies: “shewants to go out into the world and learn asmuch as she can. Instead of just tending thehouse, she wants more goals in life.”

Her “great heart” is the key to June Tolliv-er, Bolling said. “I think she looked up to her

sister so much,” she said. The sister, Sally,dies about a year before the play’s setting. “Itseems like everything Sally wanted is comingto” June, Bolling noted. “I think after her sis-ter died, her relationship with Judd really gotclose, and she and Judd are really close andMammy is jealous because maybe she re-minds Judd of June’s mother. Maybe that’swhy they don’t get along too well.”

June is far removed from the “over the top”characters Bolling has played, The Phantom ofthe Opera’s Carlotta and Morticia Addams.For those two women, the watchword is themore the better: “Carlotta’s a prima donna ofthe opera house and Italian, and she has tohave her way or it doesn’t happen at all,”Bolling said.

And singing June is in some ways harderthan other parts because Bolling has to remindherself not to use the same level of techniqueshe does while singing an opera role.

While Phantom is considered legitimatemusical theater calling for classical chops,Morticia is more of a “belter.” “I always prefer(legitimate) musical theater because it’s morecomfortable for me than to belt,” she said.“But learning new techniques and workingwith different teachers, I’m able to feel com-fortable both ways.”

Bolling also recently sang Mrs. Milleniumand understudied the lead female part in thepolitical satire Urinetown at UVa-Wise.

Bolling has also taught voice lessons andenjoys seeing what students come up with,helping them to develop a technique thatworks. Her career goals are to work for a the-ater or opera company and eventually workbehind the scenes and teach singing.

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Page 11

Movie version reaches 80th anniversaryThis year marks the 80th

anniversary of the 1936 movieversion of The Trail of theLonesome Pine.

John Fox Jr.’s story had al-ready been adapted severaltimes, both for stage andscreen, but the 1936 versionholds pride of place as the sec-ond feature filmed in three-stripTechnicolor, and the first to usethe technology for locationfilming.

The first Technicolor fea-ture was the historical dramaBecky Sharp, which came outin 1935. The Trail publicityteam acknowledged BeckySharp as the first Technicolorfeature, but “color is handled inan entirely different manner” inThe Trail of the LonesomePine. Walter Wanger and direc-tor Henry Hathaway “haveused color realistically — bywhich they mean that the colorsused in settings and costumesare natural. . .”

Previously, Technicolor hadbeen limited to indoor use.

Technicolor bragging rightsaside, contemporary criticsgave the film a generally posi-tive reception, but in languagethat is as dated as the movie’suse of the evolving color tech-nology. In fact, the criticism re-veals more about the critics’cultural snobbery when it cameto the people of Appalachiathan it does about the movie’squalities:

“Director Henry Hathawayhas sympathetically dealt withthe ignorance of the moun-taineer folk. His dialogicians,followed the John Fox Jr. origi-nal play – have faithfully pre-served the reticent, curt mien ofthe feuding Tolliver and Falinclans,” said Variety.

The New York Times re-viewer gave an overview:“John Fox Jr.’s well-knownnovel speaks for itself. Pub-lished in 1908 and twice beforeused as a basis for a film —once with Charlotte Walker andonce with Mary MilesMinter—it tells of the feud be-tween the Tollivers and theFalins of Kentucky, of JohnHale, the young ‘furriner’ whocomes into the mountains to

build a railroad, and of JuneTolliver, the untamed youngsavage who sheds her newlyacquired coat of civilizationwhen the Falins kill chubby lit-tle Buddy Tolliver during theirguerrilla warfare against Haleand his railroad crew.”

“Sylvia Sidney’s perform-ance as the ‘billy looker,” theTimes continued, shorteningthe word ‘hillbilly’ with a granddisplay of wit, “is uncompro-mising in every detail. After abrief spell of schooling inLouisville, where Fred Mac-Murray has sent her, she revertsto type. Upon hearing howBuddy (Spanky McFarland)has been murdered, she toocries for a Falin’s blood. HenryFonda, as her mountaineer vis-à-vis” — not sure where the re-viewer came up with that one— “is equally consistent in hisscowling hate for the Falinclan, as well as for the advent ofthe city engineer (MacMurray).Latter is capital in his dealingswith the ignorant hillbillies andhis affection for June Tolliver(Sidney).”

A recent blogger was lesskind, saying the movie “feelsless like a family drama than apeek backstage at a YosemiteSam impersonators’ conven-tion.”

After 80 years, the moviecomes with a lot of baggage.But watching it the first time isa treat. In fact, it’s aged muchbetter than the critics’ reviews.

The movie, taken as awhole, is certainly better thanits own scrolling prologue:“Among the American moun-tains there are forgotten valleyswhere peoples dwell shut in.Old words, old ways, old codeshave lived on unchanged. Eachfamily is at war with the otherover deadly feuds whose begin-nings they cannot remember. . .their hatred is their patriotism,their quaint customs their reli-gion.”

The movie is elevated bythe work of a strong cast, in-cluding Fred MacMurray asJack Hale, Henry Fonda asDave, Sylvia Sidney as Juneand Beulah Bondi, who is out-standing as the Tolliver matri-

arch. Hathaway has a lighttouch as a director, refusing togo whole-hog with the hillbillycaricatures — at times, youcompletely forget the story’ssetting.

Sure, we are presented witha portrait of illiterate commonfolk who have limited under-standing of how the widerworld functions — or, arguably,malfunctions — but they couldbe the salt of the earth from anycorner of the earth. Hathawaydoesn’t pick on Appalachia; heuniversalizes it.

In lesser hands, the scene inwhich Judd Tolliver discovershe can talk to June, who hasgone off to Louisville, via tele-phone (the movie is set a littlelater than the novel) could havebeen a grotesque mockery ofmountain folk. But Hathawayand Fred Stone, who playsJudd, handle the scene with al-most sublime sensitivity. Stoneplays puzzlement, embarrass-ment, bemusement and anaching desire to communicatewith his daughter — withoutoverplaying any of them.

In another scene, Junecomes running to the Tollivercabin with a letter. She, Dave,Judd and Mammy huddle andtry to figure out whom it’sfrom. None of them can read.They open it: we see a check.They look at it, still dumb-founded, until June says it’sfrom the coal company — it’sgot “a picture of a coal mine”on it. “Five thousand dollars,”says Mammy, astonished. “It’sjust a piece of paper,” saysDave. “This here’s a check,”says Judd. “I seen one once inGaptown.”

Again, the scene is directedand played in such an under-stated way, and the ensembleacting is so strong, that we findourselves involved in and root-ing for the Tollivers’ efforts tocomprehend rather than laugh-ing at their illiteracy. That’s thedifference between the work ofan accomplished director likeHathaway and the hack workthat comprises 90 percent ofmovie making and other popu-lar art forms, both in 1936 andnow.

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