FARM OF THREE ECHOES
[STAGE-PLAY]
[Time, December 11, 1939] “A piece of monstrous twaddle, so old-fashioned as to be almost
refreshing, it concerns three generations of a hot-blooded Boer family who live somewhere on the
veldt. The husbands systematically bully the wives, and the wives systematically bump off the
husbands. Home life, between whiles, is saved from monotony by Satan (who arrives so
punctually each day he could just as well deliver the mail), assorted ghosts, the old lady’s coffin
(which, pending its final function, she uses as a kind of chaise lounge), windstorms, shotguns,
sluts from the city and the black influenza.
“Miss Barrymore refuses to let all this give anybody the creeps. Seldom offstage, and extremely
vocal, blunt and racy when on, she plays her role with a huge gusto and humor that never
degenerate into caricature.”
The play ran for 48 performances from November 28, 1939 through January 6, 1940 at the Cort
Theatre. The setting is the Gerart farm, Orange Free State, South Africa. The characters are Ouma
Gerart (Ethel Barrymore), Isaac Gerart (Ouma’s son), Lisha Gerart (Ouma’s daughter-in-law),
Logenhoofen, Saul Portenaar, Dyke Hesse, Jan Gerart (Ouma’s grandson), Naomi deMeer, Marie
Hesse.
“Ouma Gerart, who has lived all her life on a South African farm, is 97 years old and still alert.
When she was younger and could no longer stand the brutal treatment of her husband she slipped
a loaded shell into a gun he was cleaning and he blew his head off. Now her daughter-in-law,
Lisha, is having husband trouble with her brutal mate, Isaac Gerart. She cuts his saddle girth, his
horse pitches him off and he breaks his neck. Comes Jan Gerart, Ouma’s grandson, and, knowing
what he does, he is reluctant to marry the orphaned Naomi deMeer for fear, if he becomes cruel,
she will also do away with him. It takes considerable drama to bring Jan and Naomi together.”
[“In New York with Dale Harrison”] “Few who have seen ‘The Farm of Three Echoes’ have been
able to make up their minds whether it is melodrama or comedy. Several have referred to it as
‘South African Tobacco Road’…
“Whatever it is, ‘The Farm of Three Echoes’ is something to see. The Barrymore is delightful as a
gently mad woman who loves to nap in her coffin in the attic or sit by the fire and listen for the
footsteps of ‘Old Satan come to claim his own.’ There is one moment when the action is so tense
that people in the audience cry out in horrified surprise—an unusual tribute from a New York
audience.”
[Mason City Globe-Gazette] “Ethel Barrymore and the entire cast of ‘Farm of Three Echoes’
appear in Columbia’s ‘Texaco Star Theater’ production of the Broadway success when the New
York half of this hour-long show is heard…
“According to Burns Mantle, noted drama critic and best plays anthologist, it is the first time a
Broadway production has been given for radio before going on tour.
“’Farm of Three Echoes’ has been condensed to a half-hour show with Miss Barrymore and
others playing the parts they had in the stage version.”
[Helen Craig, I.N.S.] “She has a wandering mind which sees ghosts one minute and cracks out
horse sense the next, but her limbs are as spry as a girl and she handles a shotgun with a steel
wrist and beady eye. The first night audience was so demused (?) by grandma’s antics at her age
that the plot, a shivery tale of family hate on the African veldts, went by somewhat neglected.”
“The New York Times says that Ethel Barrymore…is planning to appear in ‘Farm of Three
Echoes’ next fall. In this piece she will play a woman who sleeps in a coffin and utters witches’
prophecies of doom. Dame May Whitty appeared in the play in London in 1935 and is said to be
interested in a New York production as well.”
[Variety, December 6, 1939] “…it appears that the demons that have been riding the Gerart men
relentlessly through the generations are going to bring back still another harvest of tragedy and
hate. But the ancient Ouma, after frightening the young bride into hysteria and the audience half
out of its wits, takes a shotgun off the wall and ties up the plot-ends into a satisfying climax… It’s a
sort of combination ‘Tobacco Road’ and ‘Beyond the Horizon’… It could be adapted into a chilling
picture.”
[New York Times, Brook Atkinson] “…a South African farming family in which the men folk
carry on an evil tradition…doors open mysteriously, the wind howls around the edge of the
house…”
[New York Herald Tribune, Richard Watts Jr.] “…drama about ghosts on the Veldt… Ghosts,
wisely taken for granted and not impersonated by actors, dart about from time to time… When
she announces cheerily that Satan is on his way you have no doubt of it… The sight of old Ouma
guarding her coffin with a shotgun or challenging the devil to come in and do battle with her in
person…”
ORIGINATION: WABC, New York City, New York (CBS).
DURATION: January 24, 1940.
PERSONNEL:
CAST: Ethel Barrymore (Ouma Gerart), Ann Dere (Lisha Gerart), Victor Esker (Logenhoofen), Eduard Franz
(Saul Portenaar), John Griggs (Dyke Hesse), Dean Jagger (Jan Gerart), McKay Morris (Isaac Gerart),
Priscilla Newton (Naomi deMeer), Nancy Sheridan (Marie Hesse).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: None.
[PROGRAM LOG]
TEXACO STAR THEATRE (WABC, NEW YORK)
[Wednesday—9:00-10:00]
January 24, 1940 “Farm of Three Echoes”
[“…Ethel Barrymore plays Ouma, that coffin-loving South African
grandmother of ‘The Farm of Three Echoes,’ in which she was seen on E
street earlier in the season. The relish with which she played the talkative
old lady brought her critical acclaim…”]
EXTANT RECORDING
FEAR
[RADIO-EPISODE]
The seventh program in the BBC series Pilgrim’s Way, “an anthology of poetry, prose and music.”
ORIGINATION: National Programme, London (BBC).
DURATION: July 8, 1934.
PERSONNEL: R. Ellis Roberts (scriptwriter), Robert Speaight (speaker), Ion Swinley (speaker).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: None.
[PROGRAM LOG]
PILGRIM’S WAY (NATIONAL PROGRAMME, LONDON)
[Sunday—9:05-9:30 PM]
July 8, 1934 “Fear”
[“…from: R. L. Stevenson, E. Bulwer-Lytton, James Stephens, Oscar
Wilde, Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Nashe, George Borrow, The Psalms, John
Donne, W. S. Landor, Julian of Norwich, and the first epistle of St.
John…”]
FEAR ON FOUR
[RADIO SERIES]
FEAR ON FOUR (RADIO FOUR, LONDON—BBC)
1989 “Survival”
[RADIO 4 EXTRA NEWSLETTER: “…Edward de Souza brings us a chilling
tale… When a space ship, on its way to a space colony, malfunctions,
some of the travellers resort to borrific measures in order to survive…”]
SCRIPT: Pat Hooker (adapted from the story by John Wyndham).
PERSONNEL: Gerry Jones (director).
CAST: Karen Ascoe, Simon Cuff, Michael Deacon, David March.