MacBird

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MacBird was a notorious 1966 counterculture drama by Barbara Garson which satirically depicts President Lyndon Johnson as Macbeth.

The production became a big hit downstairs at the Village Gate on New York's Bleeker Street in the 1967 season.

Coming as it did a mere 3 years after the Kennedy assassination, and a somewhat lesser time before the end of Johnson's reign, it raised a lot of hackles. What started out as a short jokey put-on by a recent graduate of the Berkeley anti-Vietnam war crowd, it was developed, with a little help from The Bard, into a rousing attack upon the then current administration, yet to commence winding down the war effort, and with an election coming up the following year.

The play, performed in full costume, flavored with rich Texas and Boston accents, and an attempt at Shakespearean iambic pentameter, begins with the 1960 presidential convention, where, with the help of his wife, Macbird hopes to be elected King, but loses to his adversary John Ken O'Dunc. By some plot twist, it is revealed that MacBird will become Viceroy, much to the dismay of the Ken O'Dunc clan. Then MacBird comes upon 3 witches, who talk to him in riddles, and in his mind reveals to him that he will in good time become King. Macbird decides to hasten this prospect, and invites the Ken O'Dunc family down to his ranch after the coronation. As the day of the visit approaches, Lady MacBird who has been complaining that she has to do all the dirty work, sees a chance, and agrees to "call the shots" during the visit.

A procession through the streets is planned, headed by O'Dunc, his brothers Bobby and Ted, and followed up by the Egg of Head, and the Earl of Warren. John is assassinated, and is about to be succeeded by his brother Robert, which causes all sorts of complications.

The play went on to a long engagement in Los Angeles, and is especially noteworthy because of the promising future for its original cast. MacBird started Stacy Keach on his long career, and so too Rue McClanahan as Lady MacBird, remembered now particularly for The Golden Girls. John was played by Paul Hecht who went on to a Broadway career, Robert by William Devane, who went on to Knots Landing fame, as did John Pleshette who played Ted. John Clark, as The Earl of Warren left the cast early to marry Lynn Redgrave, and Cleavon Little, whose first professional job this was, made a name for himself in Hollywood, best remembered as the sheriff in Blazing Saddles before his untimely death. The stage manager, Joel Zwick, is now a busy movie and television director. As for the play, it got another viewing at the American Century Theatre outside Washington D.C. in September, 2006, perhaps still trying to say something. [1]and [2]