"The DuPont Show of the Week"
The Legend of Lylah Clare (1963)

Director:

Franklin J. Schaffner

Writer:

Robert Thom (writer)

TV Series:

"The DuPont Show of the Week" (1961)

Original Air Date:

19 May 1963 (Season 2, Episode 17)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Musical

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Anthology | Company Sponsor Name In Title

Cast

Johnny Baymer	...	Mickey Mandel
Sorrell Booke	...	Jake Resnick
Alfred Drake	...	Loui Zakin
Michael Tolan	...	Welles Resnick
Tuesday Weld	...	Elsie Brinkmann

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)

seemingly long-lost television special

I remember watching this TV drama during the summer of 1963; the novelty was in seeing Tuesday Weld in an intense dramatic performance. This show is one of countless numbers which has long been unavailable, but i remember one scene where the actress (played by Weld) is giving a press conference while in a bubble bath. She's trying to seem very giddy and glamorous, but once the press conference is over, she stands up (she's wearing a bathing suit) and breaks down in a very frenzied fit. I've seen the movie remake (directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Kim Novak), but somehow this original, with Tuesday Weld's intensity (very startling, because she had played giddy teenage roles before this, though there were hints of moodiness in WILD IN THE COUNTRY and flashes of intensity in SOLDIER IN THE RAIN; she was already a favorite because of her portrayal of Thalia in the DOBIE GILLIS TV show), remains in my memory, even after more than 40 years. (I hadn't realized it was directed by Franklin Schaffer; somehow the intensity that Weld brought to this part relates to the intensity that Joanne Woodward brought to her part in THE STRIPPER, which was Schaffer's first theatrical film, made just before this TV drama. That's another film that's been unseen for decades, though it has Woodward's finest performance.)