CIli J 9 . F i l l 1447 19 A CONVERSATION WITH HORTON FOOTE uiortuti Foote left Texas in ll> l.i at age 17 think about it. You have interesting mate- didn't. Then one day after these early Cite: Was there anybody else in television to beaurn'an actor. He would return liter- rial, an instinct, and a sense of place." plays had been on television, I got a letter at the time w r i t i n g regional things the eBy and tbemattcally to his hometown At the time, I didn't k n o w w h a t she from a lady w h o said, " I ' m very con- way you were? H o w did those regional of Wharton, .55 miles southwest of was talking about. At the time I thought, fused. I live in I larrison, Texas, but we themes play on national television? Houston, many limes during his distin- "Well, doesn't everyone write about have no G u l l breezes." I didn't k n o w Foote: Well, what happened was budgets guished career. From his early plays, lexas?" I just couldn't imagine that until then that there was a real Harrison were very small for television. And there which were performed live in the begin seemed peculiar. So, I thought about it on the other tide ol Dallas. Hut I didn't was a m a n , w h o was really a genius, nini; yean of television, to his nine-play and wrote a one-act play called Wharton change it; 1 decided to stick w i t h it. called h'red Coe. He was a producer from Orph.ins' Home Cycle, to his screenplays Dance. I knew so little that I used real Alligator, Mississippi, w h o decided, since for film, Foote has maintained an undeni- names of kids I grew up w i t h . We put it Cite: The 1950s were a unique time in he liked writers a lot and couldn't afford able connection to Texas. His screenplays o n in our o w n little studio theater, and television wit h shows like the "Philco- stars, he w o u l d make the writer the star. forTo Kill A Mockingbird (1962), 11 ir some reason Robert Coleman, w h o Goodyear Playhouse" and "Playhouse So he featured the writers, really starred Tender Mercies (IfSt) and The Trip to was a critic then for the Daily Mirror, 90." There was a group of distinguished us. It was always k n o w n as a I Eorton Bountiful (1985) were honored with saw it and liked it a lot, and, of course, actors and directors. Foote play or a Paddy Chayefsky play or Academy Award nominations, with the 1 was thrilled. Foote: It was an exciting time. We were a Core Vidal play So I came along, ami it first two winning the award. His play I was only 22 or 2 1 , and I senr the pioneers in a way because television was never occurred to me to write about any- Young Man From Atlanta won the notice and the play back to my mother. live. There was no tape, and it was really thing else but Texas, Fortunately he was a fuliUer Prize for Drama in / ' W . She was so excited about it that she put quite close to theater, w h i c h is w h y I Southerner, so he was very sympathetic. Horton Foote lives and works in something in the Wharton Spectator. liked it a lot. There was a group from the I had enormous success. Vlhiirtoii, where he met with Terrence So all of my friends read the play, but Actors' Studio — Lee Strasberg was quite The most important play for me, the Doody and Honya Crenader on August they were not t o o happy because it wasn't active then, and all of these young actors one that really upset the apple cart when 5,1997, for this Cite interview. all complimentary. I mean, there were were coming along: Ceraldine Page, K i m television came of age, was The Trip to girls d r i n k i n g beer in the play, and they Stanley, Julie Harris. They were just start- Bountiful, That was also because Lillian didn't do that in those days — weren't ing out, and they were burgeoning, obvi- Cish played the role of Carrie Watts. She Cite: We've read that you came to w r i t i ng supposed to. I learned the lesson very ously great talents. Same way w i t h the hadn't been seen in a while, but she had in an interesting way. Early in your career, quickly that, however you did it, you directors: A r t h ur I'enn, Vincent Donehue, this tremendous f o l l o w i n g in America when you were an actor, Agnes l)e Mille didn't use real names. and Del ben M a n n . because of her film w o r k . isked if you ever thought about writing . Everybody was defining TV — mak- I hadn't realized the impact of televi- Foote: That's right. I was quite young (ate: The setting for your early plays was ing it up for themselves. Paddy Chayefsky sion. The studio was fairly small at N B C , mid was invited by M a r y Hunter to join a t o w n called Harrison — a fictional and I were close friends, but we had a 1 saw the dress rehearsal in the booth the American Actors' Company. Members place, but isn't it very similar to Wharton? diflerent vision. I le wanted to do much with the technicians, and then I went to of the company came from all parts of Also, in many ol these plays there is more w i t h the cinema — which finally see it on the set. When we came out after- America, and we tried to get each other something about the C u l t , the breeze won out because of the economics, not ward for the reception with the actors, it familiar with our certain regions. We or smell of the Gulf, and other particulars the aesthetics. When the television indus- was an enormous success. William Paley, wuuld do improvisations, and I was al- of the Texas landscape. try moved out to the coast, it was good- who was at CBS, said, "Television has ways doing something about Texas. Agnes Foote: It's interesting — I took the name bye; then, the minute they discovered come of age tonight. " A n d it was mainly kadcume to do a show w i t h us, and she Harrison because my grandfather's name tape, if was another good-bye. W i t h tape because of Lillian Cish. took me aside and asked, " H a v e you was Albert Harrison Foote. There is a they could stop and cut, but you couldn't Then K i m Stanley had great success thought about w r i t i n g ? " When I said, well-known family lure named I larrison. do that w i t h teleplays — once you started in a play of mine called Young Lady of "No, I never have," she said, " Y o u should They all think I used their name, but I you couldn't stop. Property. I went on and o n , but finally I lid H W I M Foote. Ftnlo by EH H. tntonmi 2 0 I .il I I <>9 7 • Cite 39 jusr quit because 1 didn't feel these things when the highway was paved, and they I .isi t olumbia in Bra/oria * iunity. has probably changed even more than were coming very spontaneously out of took the highway to the coast, there was And from there my grandfather came to Wharton, k\ .nisi- t [ i i \ weren't able tu me and my experiences and what J a big debate about whether to bypass the Wharton. The plantation was torn d o w n shoot the film there. They had to shoot thought about this plact . I ft Ir ] would town, I he merchants were against it, said in the 1950s or 1960s. My branch ot the it on the back lot at Universal. begin to repeat. ll w o u ld kill W h a r t o n , that people w o u ld family didn't inherit it. W h a r t o n itself is never trade in W h a r t o n again, and they still an old t o w n , and most of the original Cite: Certain scenes in the f i l m were Cite: It must have been interesting for won out. A n d I remember the advent of lamilies Mill have land here Sinn, ol tht ir not in the novel — I remember one on you to take Trip ttt Bountiful from that the car and when the first filling station children have si.iveil; some are farmers, a porch. teleplay to a stage play. was built on this street, I suppose they but it's all changed. Foote: Yes, that was one I invented. Foote: A n d then to f i l m. thought it was progress. The other thing that defined the t o w n CHe: Orphans' Hume Cycle, written Cite: There were conversations overrun T Cite: You're k n o w n for a certain kind back then was the invention of the cotton in the l 9 lls, is a series ot plays based from the inside of the house to the pord ol independence, machine.