In 1958, Carol Lynley and Burt Brinkeroff created a sensation on Broadway in James Leo Herlihy and William Noble’s controversial play, Blue Denim, directed by the multi-Tony Award winner, Joshua Logan. As high schooler Janet Willard, Lynley’s character discovers she is pregnant after going all the way with her immature teenage boyfriend Arthur Bartley (Brinkerhoff). Her revelation shatters the idyllic basement life he has horsing around with his wise-cracking friend Ernie (Warren Berlinger). With his help, the couple finds an abortionist. Act two picks up with the aftermath and how the young couple deals with their feelings for each other and the reactions from Arthur’s distracted parents who discover what happened.
Prior to the Broadway run, Blue Denim had a tryout during summer stock in 1955. This included a run at the Westport Country Playhouse in a production directed by Arthur Penn. Brinkerhoff originated the role of Arthur, but his girlfriend Janet was played by Betty Lou Robinson (who retired from acting after marrying director/producer Mel Ferber in 1958) and his best friend Ernie was played by actor-turned-director Mark Rydell.
Recalling how his acting career began, Burt Brinkeroff shared, “In my senior year of high school, I lost my track scholarship to the University of Michigan because of injuries sustained playing football. My English professor sensing my disappointment and frustration suggested I try out for a part in the year-end high school play, The Hasty Heart. Since I was attending an all-boys school, the character of Lachie appealed to me because I got to kiss the girl who was playing the nurse at the end of the play! At seventeen my exposure to dating was limited to church functions on Friday night. The final night of the performance my mother brought Lincoln Kirstein backstage who asked me, ‘Have you ever thought about being an actor? If you do, here’s my phone number and I would be glad to help you.’”
“He recommended me to play the part of Richard in the play Ah! Wilderness at the Boston Arts Festival in 1954,” continued Burt. “Richard is fifteen in mid-adolescent rebellion (smoking, drinking) on the verge of manhood and bewildered by the problems of young love. Next came the role of Arthur in Blue Denim at Westport and then I was Tom Lee in Tea and Sympathy in 1956. My Broadway debut was reprising the role of Arthur in Blue Denim.”
Carol Lynley was a bit more known when she stepped into the role of Janet for the Broadway production. She was a top tier teenage model whose angelic face graced many magazine covers including Life that featured a story on the busy fifteen-year-old career girl in 1957. Choosing to do the play, after making her Broadway debut in 1957’s Tony Award-winning The Potting Shed, for which she won a Theater World Award, and her Golden Globe Award nominated film debut in Disney’s The Light in the Forest, proved to be a wise career move by Lynley. Although Walt wanted her for a second feature, she did not want to get typecast as a “Disney Girl” and took a major gamble playing an unwed teen who decides to terminate her pregnancy.
Despite her acting experience, Blue Denim took a toll on the actress. She revealed that it was “exhausting” and she had “such a terrible time … onstage eight times a week going through all that emotional tension and disturbance, and the misery of that poor little girl with all her problems.”
Carol may have kept her struggles private, because her costar, Burt Brinkeroff, had nothing but praise for her: “Carol Lynley and I had a terrific rapport. Exuding natural, genuine innocence, the role had her name written all over it. She was always fully present, each moment as if for the first time, never any overacting. We had lots of fun and laughter in rehearsals.”
During the play’s run Burt began a side project that spurred his interest in directing. He explained, “I taught a group of boys and girls from 14 to 18 years old at New York’s Actors Repertory Theatre Workshop, jointly run by myself, Wendell Phillips, and Lazlo Brio. I would later open The Triangle Theatre with my friend Tony Lo Bianco. Trinity Church gave us the money to build a stage in the former parish hall. Admission was free. Because my acting career was blooming, Tony wanted to showcase his talents as actor, so I assumed the directing role. The Triangle Theatre was one of the first “Off-Off” Broadway theaters. We introduced new playwrights including Jason Miller, Jerome Kass, and Kevin O’Morrison. Edward Albee gave us special permission to do “Zoo Story.”
Blue Denim received mostly positive notices from the critics and the young players received kudos for their sincere, sympathetic performance as naïve teenagers who find themselves in quite a predicament. John Chapman of the New York Daily News found the play to be “an odd combination of genuineness and artificiality.” However, he praised the actors saying Brinkerhoff as the agonized Arthur “manages it most artfully,” while Lynley “is all sweetness and love.” Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times raved, “Burt Brinkerhoff’s lanky ungainliness and shy humility compose a touching characterization … Carol Lynley’s glowing, round-faced, eager Janet is honest and winning.” Cyrus Durgin of the Daily Boston Globe went even further with complimenting Lynley and wrote, “Equally telling is the superb performance of Carol Lynley … This is acting of such smoothness and deftly sustained characterization that it seems altogether real.” Carol was quick to share the success she had with the part with her director and exclaimed, “Josh Logan was wonderful and helpful.”
Blue Denim was groundbreaking and propelled Brinkerhoff, Warren Berlinger, and especially Lynley to acting stardom. However, there came a responsibility to it that Carol was unprepared for, especially while starring in such a provocative play. She recalled, “I was fifteen when I did it on Broadway … I was a virgin at the time and knew nothing whatsoever about sex—I came from a rather sheltered background—and every night I’d portray this pregnant girl who’s going for an abortion. People would come up to me and talk about teenage sexuality!”
Carol Lyley’s brother, Daniel Jones, confirmed that his sister was peppered with these questions about sex and it annoyed Carol to no end. He said, “I saw the play and was backstage a fair amount. It was a good meaty play, and Carol did a very fine job. Movie magazines were a big thing then and there were always people coming to the house. They would always ask her questions about teenage sexuality and abortion. She would reply, ‘I don’t know. I am just an actress and not an expert on teenage sex lives.’ She was so frustrated always being asked about it. She wasn’t prepared from her real-life experience to comment on any of it.”[i]
Burt didn’t recall being hounded with questions about teenage sex and abortion—most likely because his character was possibly perceived as “a young man just sowing his oats,” while Carol’s character might be labeled as “promiscuous.” He added, “Also, sometimes people outside of the industry don’t understand how you can play a part without having similar experiences.”
Blue Demin closed in July of 1958 after a decent run of 166 performances. Lynley and Berlinger both headed to Hollywood to reprise their roles in the watered-down film version. Janet does not have an abortion. Instead, her father banishes her, and she is sent to live an out-of-town aunt. As the bus pulls out, Arthur (played by movie actor Brandon de Wilde) jumps on and the teenage love birds are reunited for a fairy tale happy ending … or is it?
Burt did not feel snubbed by not being cast in the film. He didn’t even think he was considered for it. He thought he was too old (he was twenty-three by then) because “on stage your appearance is different.” Burt was happily doing live television and working non-stop. He had moved on from Blue Denim.
Two years later in 1960, Carol and Burt would reunite to costar in the Off-Broadway limited run play Answered the Flute. By this time, Lynley was a teen screen sensation due to the critical and box office success of Blue Denim. When asked about the play and if there was a notable change in the actress’s attitude, he replied, “The play was about ‘social problems.’ Nothing had changed about Carol now as a film star. She was still her genuine, authentic self—being ‘full of herself’ was not her MO.