Hybrid Hite      

GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATER  

Philip Stong's 1932 novel having already had two 
movie versions--the first in 1933 with Janet Gaynor, 
the second in 1945 with Jeanne Crain-- 
there wasn't much that Kathleen Hite could do 
to derail the roller coaster and have the story go somewhere else. 
If you're going to mess with State Fair, 
you might as well tinker with Our Town, Picnic, and... 
well, okay, it's permissible to tamper with Peyton Place. 
There isn't much of significance in this radio adaptation, 
aside from Hite's choice of material to cover; 
it is consistent with her other works during this period 
in programs such as Romance and Lux Summer Theatre, 
i.e. her main characters are young(er) women 
who are faced with early crises in their lives. 
Clearly, Hite could write from the beginning 
and not just the end, 
and about women with choices as well as women 
with none left. 
If you are looking for a good specimen of this type, 
you will fare better with Romance to a Degree. 
But just because this 1953 radio version 
of State Fair wins no blue ribbons, 
doesn't mean it rates a 4-F at the 4-H. 
It has Ann Blyth for its Margy, and the always 
wonderful Tom Tully as Mr. Frake-- 
not shabby farm stock they, to bring to the fair; 
moreover, Wilbur Hatch uses that delightfully jaunty 
music familiar from the Lux Summer Theatre. 
But once all is said and done, if you are about 
to be consigned to an island and can only 
take one episode of General Electric Theater with you, 
grab instead Sometime Every Summertime, 
a great tragedy hiding behind a sighey reminiscence. 
Shockingly deep for something set in a vacation resort, 
it was written by Canadian writer Fletcher Markle 
and movingly acted by Dorothy McGuire and Jack Moyles. 
For that matter, if you're a roller coaster freak 
and there simply wasn't enough Hite in this State Fair for you, 
go to the television version of General Electric Theater 
and check out an episode called The Hat with Roses. 
You'll swear it's Hite, but it's Theodore Apstein. 






Trivia for State Fair farm-folk: 
How many Gunsmoke actors and westerns guest stars 
can you remember appearing in your favorite version of State Fair? 

One of the actors in the 1976 tv-movie version 
was... Virginia Gregg! 
One of the supporting actors in the 1966 movie version 
was Robert Foulk, mainstay guest star in just about every tv western. 
The 1953 radio version included radio Gunsmoke actors 
Sam Edwards, Joseph Kearns, and Tom Tully. 
Besides John Dehner, the 1945 version also featured Almira Sessions, 
Minerva Urecal, Emory Parnell, Tom Fadden, 
and Will Wright (who appeared once in radio Gunsmoke). 
The 1933 version had Victor Jory and Will Rogers, 
whose son Will Rogers, Jr. would play the title character 
in the Macdonnell-Hite 1953 radio gem Rogers of the Gazette, 
which itself had a Hite-written episode set at a county fair. 


January 18, 2006 


Copyright © 2006-2011 E. A. Villafranca, Jr.  
All Rights Reserved