A partial listing of THE CAST, in order of appearance:

John ADAMS..................PETERK
Abigail ADAMS...............Bonita KINSINGER
Benjamin FRANKLIN...........John MAHER
Richard Henry LEE...........H ROCCO
Lyman HALL..................BULLDOG
Andrew MCNAIR...............Shaun RUTHERFORD
Stephen HOPKINS.............SPOR
Edward RUTLEDGE.............MWRUGER
Caesar RODNEY...............logieD
Thomas MCKEAN...............Lou GOLDBERG
John HANCOCK................Eric PADDON
John DICKINSON..............Chris KINSINGER
James WILSON................Luscious LAZLO
a COURIER...................JoeInSANDIEGO
Rev. Jonathan WITHERSPOON...LORIEN
Thomas JEFFERSON............Howard L
Martha JEFFERSON............joan HUE

understudy for Ms. hue: DEX

Oh how I LOVE playing Dickinson!
And it'll be so great to have Joan doing Martha this year! Don't forget the Binaca, Howard!

Bialystock...you forgot two of the tech credits:

Stage Manager.....Warren Pease
Lighting Designer.....Manuel Transmishun

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[This message has been edited by Chris Kinsinger (edited 26 June 2001).]

Oh my gawwwd...

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Now THAT would be worth the price of admission!

And what did I find?

Variety's review of the film "1776."

It's a rave review, too.

Ron, is there some way that you can share that little-known gem with us?

WOW! I'd love to read that one!

I'll fax it to you, Chris. This review was written by "Murf." -- a major Variety critic at that time. The film was viewed at The Burbank Studios on Nov. 2, 1972. The review was datelined Nov. 3, 1972,

1776
(COLOR)
Filmization of play is magnificent, humanistic Americana for all audiences. Big.

Hollywood, Nov. 3
(Credits/Cast block omitted)

The screen version of “1776” is a unique picture, handsomely produced by Jack L. Warner. The dramatization of the background to the Declaration of Independence manages to be unabashed Americana which should reach the tap root of whatever vestiges of patriotism anybody feels. At the same time it provides a compassionate, humanistic display of the conflicting regional attitudes which 200 years ago nearly stifled the birth of this nation. For this reason the film has an all-age audience potential. Director Peter H. Hunt, principals William Daniels, Howard Da Silva and Ken Howard, plus most of the original Broadway cast, encore superbly in the Columbia release which should enjoy broad and deep b.o. response both here and abroad.
The astounding aspect of Peter Stone’s script from his play book (based on a concept by composer-lyricist Sherman Edwards) is that, despite everyone knowing how the plot works out, there is genuine suspense created and sustained. In much the same way that “Patton” grabbed audiences, so does “1776” - a dramatic approach that avoids both arch provincial jingoism as well as derogatory juvenile debunking, instead defining its characters in three dimensions as real people torn between idealism, reality and compromise.
It is, in our time, most salutary to remind older generals that this country was formed by bloody revolution and revolt, and not (as moss-covered mythology repeatedly has instilled in some hearts) by some vague manifest destiny that simply had to happen. Simultaneously it is just as healthy to remind others that commitment is a lot more than rally sloganeering and transient enthusiasm. As a play and now as a film, “1776” accomplishes both in a truly unique and outstanding manner.
While the film has opened up the play in several incidental but effective ways, the powerful drama still unfolds in the meeting room of the Continental Congress, yet the superior craftsmanship at all levels makes the film’s 141-minute length seem all too brief. William Daniels as John Adams, Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin, and Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson are outstanding in recreating their complementing roles: Adams, the officious, stuffy rebel; Franklin, the urbane diplomat; and Jefferson the quiet southern aristocrat. Together with the other players, each reflecting disparate attitudes, the miracle that is the First Republic of the United States of America unfolds brilliantly.
Among the cast, John Cullum is especially potent as Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, who, after establishing himself as a mildly unsympathetic patrician, scores one of the film’s most powerful moments in his denunciation of Northern hypocrisy over slavery. The compromise elimination of an anti-slavery plank in the Declaration of Independence, which sowed the seeds of later discontent, is given proper dramatic emphasis; it is not papered over nor brushed aside. To succeeding generations the decision appears a major flaw and outright compromise, and any person may draw his own conclusions. But none of us was there, and given the circumstances, might we have done any better?
The interpolated song sequences, choreographed simply but nicely by Onna White with dance sequence musical arrangements by Peter Howard, give the film an operetta dimension, but in a folk-operetta context, which works well with the overall framework. Ray Heindorf supervised and conducted the music by Edwards, with Eddie Sauter’s arrangements.
Art director George Jenkins, set decorator George James Hopkins and costume designer Patricia Zipprodt are among the contributors to the physical look which is handsome and full, but discreet and restrained. Harry Stradling’s fine Panavision lensing helps director Hunt get into his characters without showoff trickery. William Ziegler was supervising editor and Florence Williamson editor.
Other players making important contributions are Virginia Vestoff, as Mrs. John Adams who appears in several good flashback montages; Blythe Danner, as Jefferson’s bride; Stephen Nathan, a very young solider made aware of the ravages of war; Ralston Hill, the Congressional secretary who reads the gloomy dispatches from George Washington; and William Duell as a cantankerous custodian.
For too many decades, the concept of patriotism has eroded, initially from its cynical appropriation by despicable extremists, later from the inevitable reaction to that narrow-minded attitude. In the way that the phenomenon “Jesus Christ Superstar” helped strip away a lot of non-essential and frivolous trappings of Christianity to reach its worldly origins, so also may “1776” help rejuvenate and refocus some rational humanistic sense of national pride. For that reason alone (and there are many others), this magnificent picture was well worth the making. All hands rate a Bravo!
Murf.

Thanks, Ron!

The restored film is an interesting experience!

"Richard Henry Lee of Virginia was a 'tall, spare...masterly man'; Roger Sherman spoke 'often and long, but very heavily.'" (p.85)

"An alliance to be formed with France and Spain"; Government to be assumed by every colony"; "Powder mills to be built in every colony and fresh efforts to make saltpetre [for the making of gunpowder]." (Adams' diary Feb. 1776, p.89)

"His custom was to drink nothing all day, nor 'til eight o'clock in the evening, and then his beverage was Jamaica spirits and water...He read Greek, Roman and British history, and was familiar with English poetry...And the flow of his soul made his reading our own, and seemed to bring to recollection in all of us all we had ever read." (Adams on Stephen Hopkins, p. 100)

"...the cool considerate men think it amounts to a declaration of independence." (Caesar Rodney on Adams' preamble to Virginia's resolution on independence, p. 109)

"Years later, still puzzling over Jefferson's passivity at Philadelphia, Adams would claim that 'during the whole time I sat with him in Congress, I never heard him utter three sentences together.'" (p. 113)

PS
Mr. Dickinson, we wish to note appreciation for your veiled 1776 reference while speaking of Yours Truly on another thread in regards to your being swayed into catching The Robot Film. Spoken modest-LEE, God help us!