1961
THE MIRACLE WORKER
with Patty Duke
STARRING
Patty Duke and Suzanne Pleshette
WHERE
Playhouse Theatre
WHEN
October 19, 1959
(700 performances, closed July 1, 1961)
(Pleshette replaced Anne Bancroft on February 6, 1961,
and Karen Lee later replaced Patty Duke)
BY
William Gibson
DIRECTOR
Arthur Penn
After Pleshette replaced her, Anne Bancroft said:
"I'd feel better if only Suzy weren't so doggone good."
PATTY DUKE (pictured above with Pleshette), who played Helen Keller in the production, spoke of their initial differences: "One area where we had a problem was Suzie's nails.... [She had] long fingernails. Now, obviously she knew she couldn't play Annie Sullivan with long red fingernails, so off came the polish and down came the nails. But not far enough down, because her nails not only scratched me, they were dangerous and they really hurt...."
Pleshette remembered it this way: "I still bruise when I see Patty Duke."
I sent Pleshette a copy of THE MEEKER MUSEUM NEWSLETTER for which I had written an article about her. In the newsletter article, I used the above quote about Pleshette's nails. Pleshette wrote me a very appreciative letter but politely suggested I look at her short nails in the picture (reproduced above). Yep, Pleshette's nails are short.
"The change that took place on the stage of The Playhouse last night is not likely to impede the successful career of THE MIRACLE WORKER in any way. Suzanne Pleshette, dark-haired, shiny-eyed and mercurial, is now playing Annie Sullivan, the leading role, that was brilliantly created by Anne Bancroft sixteen months ago. Miss Pleshette has done the wisest thing under the circumstances, which is to model herself, almost gesture for gesture, inflection for inflection, on Miss Bancroft. The highest compliment that can be paid Miss Pleshette is that the change is barely noticeable." --Richard Watts Jr., New York Post
"Anne Bancroft [was] replaced by Suzanne Pleshette. [Her excellent portrayal] helped prolong the run until the play acquired a total of seven hundred performances." --Abe Laufe, Anatomy of a Hit
