I remember this production of Sidney Kingsley's The Patriots when it was broadcast especially since it starred Charlton Heston who was probably at
the height of his big screen career. Of course Heston in the early 50s did several
small screen productions for anthology series.
The play was a World War II flagwaver and ran for 173 performances on Broadway
in 1943 featuring a cast most will not recognize. It's the story of the first
Washington administration with his Cabinet rivalry of Thomas Jefferson as
Secretary of State and Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury. The
two as we know vied for power and who would influence Washington on
policy the most. Washington is played by Howard St.John who did the role
of our first president a few times.
Heston is Jefferson who feels that rights and liberties recently won are in danger of being lost with Hamilton's financial plans for a budding empire.
Hamilton is played by British actor John Fraser.
One thing that Washington and many others were blind about was that America could be run without political parties developing. Washington genuinely tried to run his administration that way at first. In the end he came
down on the Federalist side and Hamilton.
I'm hoping this production is not lost and a film of it still exists.
