LILY DALE (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television movie, based on the play by Horton Foote, concerns the tension that erupts in a Texas family at the turn of the century when an estranged son pays an unannounced visit. During a long train ride, Horace Robedaux tells his nosy seat-mate Mrs. Coons about his life: Horace is on his way to reunite with his mother and sister, whom he hasn't seen since his mother married a hostile laborer named Pete. His father, he reveals, died from alcoholism when Horace was a young man. Horace arrives at the house to a mixed response: his mother Corella and sister Lily Dale are happy to see him, but stepfather Pete despises the boy because of his similarities to Horace's late father. Horace decides to leave before his presence drives Pete to do something drastic, but he falls deathly ill within a matter of minutes and is forced to remain bedridden on his family's couch for weeks. As Horace lays on the couch in a state of sickness and delirium, he observes the life he left behind. Lily Dale becomes engaged to a man named Will, who is a gentleman but is too old for her. A naive girl of seventeen, Lily Dale has been sheltered -- in contrast to Horace's history of debaucheries and nomadic wanderings. Lily Dale quizzes her mother about the mechanics of reproduction, and when told that "it's not too terrible" the young woman decides to call off her engagement to Will for fear that he will harm her. The animosity between Horace and Pete reaches a crisis point on a few different occasions, but Horace's illness keeps him from doing anything as drastic as fighting or storming out; instead, the tension just continues to boil over.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Verizon Foundation, 2002.
Details
- NETWORK: Showtime
- DATE: June 9, 1996 Sunday 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:37:57
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:70209
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Families; Texas
- SERIES RUN: Showtime - TV, 1996
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Peter Crane … Executive Producer
- Irwin Meyer … Executive Producer
- Linda Curran Wexelblatt … Executive Producer
- Hallie Foote … Co-Executive Producer
- John Thomas Lenox … Producer
- Alison Meyer … Associate Producer
- Joe Pope … Associate Producer
- Peter Masterson … Director
- Horton Foote … Writer
- Peter Rodgers Melnick … Music by
- Mary Stuart Masterson … Cast, Lily Dale
- Sam Shepard … Cast, Pete Davenport
- Stockard Channing … Cast, Corella
- Tim Guinee … Cast, Horace Robedaux
- John Slattery … Cast, Will Kidder
- Jean Stapleton … Cast, Mrs. Coons
- Sean Hennigan … Cast, Card Player
- Chamblee Ferguson … Cast, Drummer
- Elbert Lewis … Cast, Vegetable Vendor
- Jonathan Bren … Cast, Trio Singer
- Bret Anderson … Cast, Trio Singer
- Mark Walters … Cast, Uncle Albert
- Angee Hughes … Cast, Mrs. Westheimer
- John Hussen … Cast, Mr. Westheimer
- Horton Foote … Cast, Voice of Old Horace