Simple roles
From “Inside the Beltway” by John
McCaslin, the Washington Times, 3/14/05
Immersing
ourselves in early American history over the weekend, we paid a visit first to
Pope's Creek Plantation, George Washington's birthplace along the banks of the
Potomac River.
Only a few
miles away in Virginia's historic Northern Neck are the birthplaces of James
Monroe, the nation's fifth president, and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
And farther
south along the coastline of Tidewater Virginia, we come to Colonial
Williamsburg, where the signature film, Williamsburg: the Story of a Patriot,
has been shown daily to visitors since 1957, the longest, continually screened
film in American motion picture history.
Financed by
John D. Rockefeller Jr., and starring Jack Lord, the movie shot in and around
Williamsburg depicts the years 1769 to 1776 and the tension leading up to the American
Revolution.
History buff
Richard Bailey points out, in one recent writing, that a newer DVD copy of the
film discusses the making of the film.
“The narrator
noted that at the time the film was made, Williamsburg was still a quaint
little town and the availability of local citizens who could be hired as extras
. . . were almost nonexistent,” he states.
Particularly
needed were men who could be dressed in Colonial costume and play the parts of
this country's earliest politicians.
“Because
local men were generally employed and not available to work as extras, a
decision was made to hire patients from the nearby Eastern State Mental Hospital
to play the role of the elected delegates,” Mr. Bailey reveals.
“According
to the narrator, the extras did not have to worry about learning any lines
because they had none. All they needed to do was sit quietly and act as if they
were paying attention to whomever was speaking.”
You can
guess where this story, headlined “An Old Sign of Current Times” is going next.
Without going there ourselves, Mr. Bailey concludes that the indigent wards of
the hospital “were quite pleased to have this opportunity to not only appear in
the film, but to also make a little spending money, so the arrangement worked
out to everyone's mutual satisfaction!”
The Internet
Movie Database entry for this film is here.
