All the Way Home, the Broadway adaptation of James Agee's novel, A Death in the Family, opened at the Belasco Theater the end of November, won mixed but generally favorable reviews. But the next day's box office gross was a leukemic $882. Commenting that "they killed us with respect," Producers Fred Coe and Arthur Cantor announced that All the Way would close after four performances.
Full of good theater and moving insight, occasionally awkward but full of memorable moments, the play deserved a longer run. Ed Sullivan, on his Sunday night television show, told the faithful to go out and...