First Monday in October is a 1978 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The title refers to the day on which the United States Supreme Court traditionally convenes following its summer recess.
The play premiered on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre on October 3, 1978. It transferred to the ANTA Playhouse on November 14, 1978, where it closed on December 9, for a total of 79 performances. Directed by Edwin Sherin, the cast starred Jane Alexander (as Judge Ruth Loomis) and Henry Fonda (as Associate Justice Daniel Snow), with Larry Gates (as Chief Justice James Jefferson Crawford).[1] Alexander was nominated for the 1979 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The play had a pre-Broadway engagement at the Kennedy Center, starting in December 1977.[2]
The play originally was staged at the Cleveland Play House in 1975 and starred Jean Arthur and Melvyn Douglas in the lead roles.[3] It opened Oct. 17 to poor reviews. After 11 performances, Arthur, suffering from a viral infection, checked herself into the Cleveland Clinic. She dropped out of the show, and the theater, forever.
There was a production at the Huntington Hartford Theatre in Los Angeles in March 1979, starring Henry Fonda and Eva Marie Saint.[4]
The play was produced by the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Los Angeles, California, in April to June 2006. The cast featured Ralph Waite (Associate Justice Daniel Snow) and Laurie O'Brien (Justice Ruth Loomis).[5]
| Role | Cast, December 28, 1977 Washington, DC, Kennedy Center | |
|---|---|---|
| Custodians | John Stewart, P.J. Sidney | |
| Chief Justice James Jefferson Crawford | Larry Gates | |
| Associate Justice Josiah Clewes | Earl Sydnor | |
| Associate Justice Waldo Thompson | Maurice Copeland | |
| Associate Justice Daniel Snow | Henry Fonda | |
| Associate Justice Harold Webb | John Wardwell | |
| Marshal | John Newton | |
| Judge Ruth Loomis | Jane Alexander | |
| Mason Woods | Tom Stechschulte | |
| Associate Justice Ambrose Quincy | Alexander Reed | |
| Associate Justice Richard Carey | Eugene Stuckmann | |
| Associate Justice Christopher Halloran | Patrick McCullough | |
| Photographer | John Stewart | |
| Blake | Ron Faber |
The play begins after the death of Stanley Moorehead, an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The remaining justices speculate about whom the President of the United States will appoint to fill the vacancy, with jokes among the justices that the appointee may be a black man, or a woman. While playing tennis, Ruth Loomis, a staunch conservative judge from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California, learns that she is to be the nominee. Associate Justice Daniel Snow is appalled to learn this, as her conservative views are strongly in conflict with his own liberal thinking.
Loomis testifies before the United States Senate, and is questioned about the business ties of her late husband. The Senate confirms her, and she is the first woman appointed to the US Supreme Court. On the court, Loomis and Snow immediately clash on their opposing legal and philosophical viewpoints, on such matters as freedom of speech and individual rights vs. the rights of society as a whole. One case concerns a fictional pornographic film, The Naked Nymphomaniac.
Although Snow and Loomis never concur on any of the issues before the Court, they learn to develop a respect and affection for one another with the passing of time.