The sixth telecast of ABC's United States Steel Hour was a live 60-minute adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's domestic drama Hedda Gabler. Tallulah Bankhead delivered a bravura performance as the title character, a general's daughter with a restless spirit and a head full of idealistic notions. Trapped in a dull marriage with pedant George Tesman (Alan Hewitt), Hedda carries a torch for brilliant, dissolute writer Eilert Lovborg (John Baragrey) -- who is himself romantically entangled with a troubled widow, Thea Elvsted (Eugenia Rawls). Wily Judge Brack (Luther Adler) observes the unfolding drama for the sidelines, awaiting his opportunity to claim Hedda for himself. At present, no kinescopes of Hedda Gabler are available for public viewing, though the program would be well worth seeing again if only for the presence of the incomparable Tallulah Bankhead.
by Hal Erickson
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