Babydoll
As I was approaching the end of boyhood near Clinton, Mississippi, a film, Baby Doll, was being made elsewhere in the state. The film script was written by Tennessee Williams and the director of the film was Elia Kazan. Carroll Baker, Karl Malden and Eli Wallach were the stars of the film.
Baby Doll was banned in much of Mississippi and the nation due to its "steamy" content. Today, few would take offense. But, at that time, my mother and my aunts talked with loud excitement and then in hushed whispers about the scandalous movie which none of them had actually seen.
Fifty years later Suzanne and I were driving through the Mississippi Delta. We stopped at a tamale stand in the town of Benoit. I asked the only other customer in the cafe if a film had ever been made in the town. The customer, who was the town librarian, told me that a film had, indeed, been made there. She offered to take us to the house which had served as the primary set for the film Baby Doll. The house, also known as the Burrus House, is the only surviving antebellum home in Bolivar County.
The house sits in the landscape a couple of miles from the town. The front door was open. As I entered I could see that everything of value, even the banister of the stairs, was gone. The photographs that I took that day became the basis for the series of works which I call Baby Doll Suite.
I have since returned to Benoit to collaborate with documentary video maker Peggy Case. The documentary traces the impact the house and the film have had on the community.
The house is currently in the process of being restored by descendents of the original owners.
Column
Doorway
Homage
Homage (detail)
Staircase