Eustace Winn IV surrounded by Baby Doll cast
Last night was a magical evening of Southern hospitality right here in the heart of Hollywood. The Fountain Theatre and the company of Baby Doll had the pleasure of welcoming Eustace Winn IV, proprietor of the actual Baby Doll House in Benoit, Mississippi, into our home. Mr. Winn was thrilled watching our west coast premiere and enjoyed meeting the cast and sipping mint juleps with the company in our upstairs cafe after the sold out performance.
Eustace Winn is the current owner of the historic Burrus House, a stately Greek Revival style plantation home which began being built by his family in 1858. The family moved into the house in 1861, shortly before the Civil War. The house served as a hospital during the conflict. There are stories that John Wilkes Booth spent ten days in the Burrus House after shooting President Lincoln in 1865. In 1928, the last remaining Burrus family member who lived there passed away, and the house entered into decades of decline, decay, and vandalism.
“Baby Doll” movie (1956)
Nearly 100 years later in 1955, film location scouts were asked to find a suitable “decadent and dilapidated southern mansion” for Elia Kazan’s new movie version of the Tennessee Williams play, 27 Wagons Full of Cotton. When they discovered the worn down Burrus House in Benoit, Mississippi, they knew they found what they were looking for. The film was Baby Doll, starring Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach and Karl Malden. The movie was later nominated for four Academy Awards and the Burrus House became a tourist destination.
In 2005, one of the Burrus heirs, the late Dr. E. H. Winn Jr., of Greenville, established the Burrus Foundation and the house was fully restored to its former splendor. It is magnificent to see today.
The Burrus House
Eustace Winn
Eustace Winn enjoyed a marvelous evening last night at the Fountain seeing our acclaimed production of the stage adaptation of Baby Doll and socializing with the company. Mint juleps were savored and Mr. Winn passed around a hardbound copy of the script, which he had signed by actors Daniel Bess, Karen Kondazian, Lindsay LaVanchy, and John Prosky.
There will forever be a connection between the Burrus House and Hollywood. A new chapter in that Hollywood story continued last night at the Fountain, and will be remembered by all.
