The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie is a 1966 American made-for-television drama film based on the 1944 play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. It is directed by Michael Elliott and stars Shirley Booth, Hal Holbrook, Barbara Loden and Pat Hingle. Sponsored by Xerox, it originally aired on December 8, 1966 as an installment of CBS Playhouse. The adaptation received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Dramatic Program and Outstanding Actress (Booth). Cast Shirley Booth as Amanda Wingfield Hal Holbrook as Tom Wingfield Barbara Loden as Laura Wingfield Pat Hingle as Jim O'Connor Reception The New York Times' Jack Gould wrote that it was "an evening of superb theater....The delicate delineation of the loneliness of the frustrated Wingfield family was brought to television with lean beauty and eloquence." He had mostly praise for Booth, describing her portrayal of Amanda Wingfield as "fluttery" and "appropriately intrusive as the perennial Mrs. Fix-it." On the downside, he added that "her belle seemed a shade mechanized and not intuitively Southern." Restoration Since the premiere airing, the original master copy has been presumed to be lost. The Paley Center for Media's research manager Jane Klain had received numerous requests to watch this version over the years. One such request came in 1999 from Broadway Theatre Archive which wanted to release the broadcast on DVD. That began a search in which Klain contacted the estate of telecast co-producer David Susskind, CBS, the Library of Congress, Xerox, Elia Kazan who was married to Barbara Loden and various archives. The results at each turn were not successful.