To Kill a Mocking Bird Star Mary Badham

A Broadway Play Based on Alabama Author Harper Lee is coming to Birmingham, and one of the actors in the play was also in the 1962 movie based on that book, Mary Badham. We talk with her about her experience as a child actor as well as being in a touring Broadway play. She speaks out about the serious social themes presented in the book.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Alabama has a lot of great writers, but without a doubt, the one
that always comes to mind first isHarper Lee in her legendary masterpiece To Kill
a Mockingbird. Hello, I'm JohnMounce and this week on Viewpoint Alabama,
I have the privilege of talking witha movie star and actress in the Broadway
adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird,Mary Batham. Mary is originally from Birmingham

(00:23):
and I'm delighted to be talking toher today. Mary, Welcome to Viewpoint
Alabama. Oh, thank you.So this is truly unique because you played
you're playing two different people. Whenyou were ten, you played the role
of young Scout in the movie thatwe all remember, and now, as
an adult, you play the roleof Miss Henry de Bo's in the play
adaptation, which, by the way, is playing at the BJCC Concert Hall

(00:46):
this week, is presented by theAmerican Theater Guild. Many of us,
it's maybe been a while since alot of us have read the book or
my case, seen the movie first. But read the book and a lot
of people don't remember the details.Can you give us a reader's digest version
of To Kill a Mockingbird? Well, it's a story of a small town

(01:07):
lawyer with his two children, andthe case is the case that comes up
is one that's very difficult, andhe has to navigate life there in the
village and the impact that it hason his family and what it has the

(01:34):
impact it has on him. It'svery a serious happening in the town.
But we have to navigate this throughthe eyes of the writer, Aaron Sorkin
in the play adaptation. And Ithink what we're going to find is that

(02:02):
Aaron has found a lot of theday to day humor in life that he's
put into this. And I thinkpeople are going to find that they're going
to have a lovely evening with alot of laughter. Not saying there won't
be some tears, but I thinkit'll it'll give us a good evening together.

(02:27):
Mary, when you start in themovie and you played the role of
Scout ten in you were ten atthe time, did you understand the weight
of the societal issues that were beingaddressed by the book? Oh, heavens,
no, no, no, becauseI was just a little kid.
You know, I don't even thinkwe got a complete script. I got
the pages that I had to dofor you know, that day or whatever,

(02:53):
and that was it. It wasn'tuntil the film came out and I
went to the premiere that I sawthe whole thing, and that was I
don't think it was until I hadchildren. When I had my daughter,
and Professor Inge asked me to comeover to the college to talk to his

(03:15):
English LID class. After that,other colleges started calling. And then as
I started doing high school's colleges anduniversities talking about the book of the different
themes within the book, that Irealized how important it was. And at

(03:36):
that time, nineteen sixty two,Alabama was a very different place, and
many people were confronted with the uglinessof racism that was going on right then
and there in our state, anda lot of people probably didn't like what
they had to see as a child. Did you take some criticism from your
peers for being in this movie?I didn't take criticism for my peers,
But I think what it was therewere home that I had been welcomed in

(04:01):
before that I wasn't welcome in afterthat. And that's sad because you know,
and you probably didn't understand why theydidn't want you around, which which
is really just you know, unfortunate. Yeah, and it got to the
point where I follow me. Ijust had to I had to leave because
there's so many issues involved. Youknow, as a child working you grow

(04:25):
up pretty quickly because it's a lotof responsibility, that's and there's a lot
expected of you every day. Imean you're expected to come to work and
you're prepared and all of that.So I had matured a lot, which
made it difficult. And you neverreally know whether someone wanted to be friends

(04:46):
with you because oh this is littleMary Bataman, she was in the film,
or if it was you know,really you that they wanted to be
friends with. So I didn't likepeople to know who I was if I
was being introduced to someone new,because as a little kid, your friends

(05:09):
are the most important thing. That'sfriendships are critical to your development. And
it just became too difficult. Andplus the politics of the time, I
just I couldn't deal with. Itwas a very male oriented, patriarchal society,

(05:31):
and with the friends that I hadmade in California, I had friends
of all races and creeds colors,it just was very different. And then
when I go back to Alabama,that wasn't allowed, so at fourteen,
I left and been that. Asyou grew up, the story the Harperly

(05:55):
tells it becomes increasingly a part ofthe American discourse on race. You sort
of champion the issue as an adult, and you've gone on to speak to
large audiences. You've gone on tothe White House and things like that.
Can you talk about some of whatyou have taken on as an adult kind
of spreading. I guess the overallmessage that Harperly told to Kill a Mockingbird,

(06:19):
well, I think we have tobe tolerant of people, and the
main thing is that we have toremember the base. Mss Nell was a
staunch Methodist and she believed in takingcare of one another. And for me,

(06:43):
as I've grown up, I've beenintroduced to so many different types of
people and with that, I've seenlots of different cultures and it's wonderful getting
to know different types of people andpeople from all over the world, and
you learn different languages and you eatdifferent foods, and it's really interesting and

(07:12):
you grow and develop in different areas, which is a lot of fun.
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the AlabamaRadio Network. My name is John Mountsin.
We're talking with Mary Batham. Sheis in the play Harper Lee's To
Kill a mocking Bird, which isperforming here in Alabama next week. Mary,
what are some things that you goforward trying to remember as you continue

(07:35):
on with your life after your experiencesthat you live through when you were in
the movie in nineteen sixty two.For me, I've tried to carry that
forward by telling kids, you know, if you get the chance to travel,
if say a member of your familylives in a different state, go

(08:00):
oh and visit them and for takeof what the differences are there. It
expands your mind and we've got differentas you meet different people. It's like
no two people, even from thesame family, have experienced the same thing.

(08:20):
But especially if they live in adifferent place, even like you know,
if they live especially if they livelike overseas somewhere, their experiences in
life are going to be totally different. And you can grow so much by
saying how they do things and howthey their cultural differences. It's really wonderful.

(08:45):
So I encourage the kids to goand travel or if they get a
mission trip, that can be reallyeye opening. I think American kids don't
realize that there's parts of the worldwhere they don't have running water, where
you may have to go, youknow, a mile or two to go

(09:07):
get water and bring it back toyour home, or that you have to
make a fire to cook your meal, you have to make your own bread.
This is so educational. It's sowonderful to see these kids, especially
the ones on the mission trip,that have experienced this. So I'm so

(09:33):
thankful to have been in Mockingbird becauseI've learned so much. I've traveled so
much up been to Russia for theState Department with To Kill a Mockingbird,
to England. It's really been alot of fun. Mary. To Kill
a Mockingbird has a lot of themesin one overarching theme that is really important
for everyone. And like you say, kids need to learn the theme of

(09:56):
how we're all people and how racismis wrong. At the same time,
because of some of the language fromthe period that is used in the book.
And you know, there's one particularword I'm thinking of it is often
kept out of classrooms, and yetand yet it's without that word, without
that ugliness, we can't really seethe true nature of what went on.

(10:20):
What do you think about about theway some people have adapted. It removed
the language. I don't know howif it's even in the play or not,
but the removal of that word froma historical context in telling a story
like this one, I think it'ssilly. It's just ignorance that does that.
I really I get annoyed at thisbecause yes, you will hear it,

(10:45):
and yes, if you walk downa lot of high school hallways,
you'll hear it a lot. Becausethe kids nowadays have transformed the word into
something different. I think we needto remember the historical contact. It's part
of the education. We need torealize that this word has been developed into

(11:09):
something different, but we need toremember the historical context of it. This
also talks about this tiny little bookhas so much to teach us because it
has so many lessons that we stillhaven't learned. I mean, if you
want to talk about single family parenting, child abuse, mental illness, different

(11:37):
judicial problems that we've had that we'restill dealing with legal issues, all of
this is still very much important tolook at today because we still haven't gotten
over these different problems. So thisis what keeps me on the road with

(12:00):
we're still dealing with these in untilwe can talk about it, we can't
fix the problem. And people whowant to shut down discussions and say,
well, we can't say that oryou can't talk about this, that is
not right. If we are trulythe United States of America, if we

(12:24):
are truly a free society, weneed to have these discussions so that we
can make things better. Absolutely,Mary Boutam. She is an actress who
both played Scout in the original movieproduction of TA Kill a Mockingbird and also
the role you're playing in the playadaptation. You are miss Henry Dubo's.

(12:50):
Is that right, missus Henry DeVos. Yes, Bose is a very important
figure because she is the This iswhere we get to talk about physician and
douce addiction with she's addicted to morphineand she's also very bigoted and racist,

(13:11):
and with that character it opens upthe discussions of all of those different problems.
And I had a real question inmy head as to whether I could
do this because I had to saythe word we were talking about before,
and wondering whether or not this wassomething that I could portray. And I

(13:35):
went to my African American friends andI said, you know, this is
what they want me to do andto the person, they were like,
go do it and make her asreal as possible, because that's what's needed.
So that's what I've done, sobe ready for it. I try

(13:58):
and make her really, really bad. Well, I'm sure you will do
a great job because you you've gota long career of portraying some some Uh
you've won, You've won awards foryour for your work in acting over these
years. And uh. The playis showing in Birmingham. It's playing at
the b JCC Concert Hall. It'scoming up all this week. It's a

(14:22):
first showing is Tuesday the fourteenth,and then let's say Wednesday, Thursday,
Sat, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There's two shows on Saturday and Sunday,
so be sure to check out ToKill a Mockingbird Harper least to Kill
a Mockingbird. I was gonna askyou, Mary, how does this How
does the play differ from the movie. Obviously there's some things you can't do
on a stage, But beyond that, does the story change or all?

(14:43):
Or does it track pretty closely tothe original What we saw in the movie,
and for that matter, what wasin the book. Well, you're
going to see first off, rightoff the bat, the sets are gonna
be very different, Okay, sojust heads up on that. We start
off differently. We start off inthe courtroom, so there's gonna be jumping

(15:05):
of time and space, so beready for that. But like I said,
just be prepared for a fun eveningto laugh a lot and enjoy these
kids. And we've got such atalented cast. I am just so thrilled
with this cast. They've really hadsome we've had some problems with health issues,

(15:28):
some injuries, and our standard peoplewho come in have done a remarkable
job with coming in and taking partson to keep the play going. And
I think people are going to havea fun evening. All the audiences that
have seen it so far, we'vedone this, I don't know five hundred

(15:50):
and sometimes I think it's just I'veloved it every evening. It's been a
lot of fun. Well, Mary, I look forward to seeing you.
I look forward to your triumphant returnto your hometown where it all began here
in Birmingham, Alabama. We're lookingforward to a fantastic evening. Oh absolutely
so. Thank you so much forjoining us this week on Viewpoint Alabama,

(16:11):
and thank you for being with metoday. Thanks so much. And now
this weekend is when we observe VeteransDay, and that's the reason why we
turn to Ryan Gorman, who hassome uplifting and important stories about the veterans
who have served and sacrificed for America. Ryan, I'm joined by Colonel Duncan
S. Milney, the US MarineCorps veteran and president of the Dixon Center

(16:34):
for Military and Veterans Services. Youcan learn more about this organization at Dixoncenter
dot org. Colonel Milney, thankyou so much for ticket a few minutes
to come on the show. Sohow did the Dixon Center first get started?
And tell us a little bit aboutthe work you do. Sure will,
and thank you Ryan, and thankyou to your colleagues I ART Radio
for doing this. Dicken Center forMilitary and Veterans Services came about in reactions

(17:00):
to a question, and the questionwas when our chairman, Dave Suttland and
I were working on the gunt Chiseof Staff for ADMA Mike Moll and Dave
was working directly for the Admiral interms of reaching out to the veterans and
military families and those impacted by warfare, and it was a question that kept
coming up. The American population ofthat time we're talking about two thousand and
eight nine kept asking we want tohelp, but we don't know how.

(17:22):
There's a perception in the country thatthe DoD and the VA did everything for
veterans, and we all know thatwhile they provide a great amount of resources
and backbone, there's always a challengein communities across the country where veterans don't
have ev access to the services andfault between the gaps. So the idea
was to create a center a centeras a resource hub of influence, ideas

(17:48):
and actions where other organizations that aredirect service providers can come to for ideas,
influence, and actions increase their impactin their community US world. It
really is kind of a if youwant to think of national reach and local
impacts, it's kind of a localinsurgency, is what we're trying to create.
So that's how we started in twentytwelve. Here we are in twenty

(18:11):
twenty three, eleven years later andgoing strong, and we've helped millions of
organizations and through our work impact theveterans that they serve. Again, we
provide strategic support in people institution organizationsand communities committed to improving the lives of
their veterans and family is a bigpart of the problem. The awareness factor

(18:34):
here that there are resources and organizationsall across the country who are working to
help veterans, but it's connecting thoseresources with the veterans, letting them know
that that help is out there forthem. I think that is a big
part of it. There's almost toomany organizations out there, so we just
want organizations to be inclusive and welcomingand culturally attuned to the needs and the

(18:59):
emergent of all the needs of veteransin their families as we look for what
has the response been like from organizationswho you've talked to about that very good,
quite honestly. One of the challengesis, you know, as the
wars received from people's minds, theyforget about the warriors, and we can't
let that happen. So we havea lot of organizations when we approach them,

(19:19):
they're like, boy, we've alwayswanted to do this, we just
don't know how. And part ofit's just an education process. Part of
it really in a lot of casesthat I am quite honestly, is organizations
looking inwards even understand who they serveor who do they employ. You know,
most of the organizations a lot,I don't say most, A lot
of them have a really hard,difficult time making a concerted effort to just

(19:44):
be welcoming, put out the welcomefor veterans in their families. What are
some of the different ways that everyonelistening right now can support the work you're
doing at the Dixon Center. Well, of course you already mentioned our website
Dixoncenter dot org and encourage folks totake a look at what we It's kind
of a different model and we've beenvery successful with it. We're not a
direct service provider, as I liketo say. We don't give out collect

(20:07):
ticket stubs or real work that wedo. We really focus on making the
organizations more impactful that reach out tous and trying to find the gaps that
are out there across the country thatwe can address and direct resources to or
be time or funds, or justintellectual effort, expertise and mentorship to organizations.

(20:33):
So if an organization is looking athow they can include veterans and military
families in those touched by military serviceinto their enterprise, just contact us and
we'd be happy to have a conversationand make you that welcoming organization and the
welcoming facility that says veterans are welcomehere and store their families. Colonel don't

(21:00):
Ken Milney, US Marine Corps veteranand president of the Dixon Center for Military
and Veterans Services Again. You canlearn more and support the work they're doing
at Dixoncenter dot org. That's Dixoncenterdot org. Colonel Milney, I want
to thank you so much for yourservice to this country, for the work
you're doing on this issue, andfor coming on the show. We appreciate
it. I appreciate it too,and I just can't hang up without saying

(21:23):
Happy Birthday to our nation's for marines. All right, thanks again, Colonel.
I'm Ryan Gorman, and now onthis Veterans Day Weekend special, I
want to bring in our next guest. We're joined by US Marine and Air
Force veteran and chief Communications and OutreachOfficer at Disabled American Veterans, Dan Claire.
You can learn more about this organizationat dav dot org. Dan.

(21:45):
Thank you for coming on the show. So how did Disabled American Veterans get
started? And explain the work youdo there. DAV was founded in nineteen
twenty by World War One veterans,and our focus now is helping ensure we
keep the promises to veterans, andwe do that by helping them with their
benefits. We get them to andfrom their medical appointments, we connect them
with jobs and even help them asentrepreneurs. And let's start with caregivers support

(22:10):
in that specific program. Can youexplain how that works? Yeah, Around
Veterans Day, everyone thinks about veterans, but we're thinking this time of year
about the people who support veterans,our caregivers. DV Caregivers is a program
that provides concierge services. Veterans caregiverscan visit this website. It starts with

(22:33):
the website, it ends up withone on one help. They're able to
connect with resources, find out thingsthat are in their community to help them
out. And you know, thesecaregivers they share in the sacrifices of military
service and when we get them,we see they give up their careers.

(22:53):
It affects their own health. They'reputting the health of the veteran first.
So we're trying to provide them witheverything that they need. So that they
don't face burnout, so that theydon't deal with all the anxiety, so
they get a little rested. Sowe're connection with stuff in their communities to
nationwide that's going to help them,and we develop a plan for them so

(23:14):
that it's sustainable, their lifestyle sustainable. It helps with their relationships, it
helps them keep the veteran in theirhome longer, and that saves taxpayers money
as well. And when it comesto navigating VA benefits, which can be
difficult for a variety of reasons,how does da V play a role in
assisting veterans with that. You know, a lot of people think that when

(23:36):
a veteran is getting out, whenthey're when they're leaving the military and entering
the skilling world, their benefits aregranted to them and they walk away and
they're happy. Unfortunately, that's nothow it works. Veterans have to go
and prove that what conditions they mighthave are service connected. So DAV has
a nationwide staff, nationwide core teamof veterans who have been through that VA

(23:57):
process. They help cut the redtape and they walk that and through the
process. Their advocates for them.They look through their medical records they talk
to them, they find out wherethe veteran's hurting, what's going on with
them, and then they go andfight with the VA sometimes fights, sometimes
work together to make sure the veterngets what they earn. And that's the

(24:19):
that's the bare minimum promise we haveis to try and make someone whole if
they're changed. And finally, howcan those listening support the work DAV does,
whether it's through volunteer opportunities or donations, things like that. What are
some of the different ways that theycan support your work. Supporting DAV during
this time, yere or any othertime is so important. There's so many

(24:42):
ways to help. You can volunteeras a driver with the AV, you
can volunteer in hospitals VA hospitals withDAV, and you can volunteer through one
of our twelve hundred chapters throughout thecountry. Volunteering is so important, but
you know a lot of people don'thave time. Necessarily, we have recurring
donation. You can be a monthlydonor to DAV. You can donate your

(25:03):
car if you want to, ora vehicle. You can donate property to
DAV if you want to. There'sa lot of different ways to support DAV
through as a donor, through philanthropy, and then finally, a big thing
that we would like people to dois refer people to DAV for help.
We almost everyone who's listening knows aveteran, knows someone who's connected to a

(25:26):
veteran, and we know that alot of people are facing challenges there.
So if you refer someone to DAV, you could make a life changing You
can make a life changing moment forthem and we'll make sure that promises are
kept to them and help them ona path to a better life. US
Marine Corps and Air Force veteran andDAV Chief Communications and Outreach Officer Dan Clair.

(25:48):
Again. You can learn more andfind all the different ways to help
support disabled American veterans at DAV dotorg. Dan, I want to thank
you so much for the work doingfor DAV, for your service to this
country, and for taking a fewminutes to come on the show. We
appreciate it. iHeart is a hugesupporter of veterans and we're grateful as well.
So I hope everyone has a greatVeterans Day weekend. All right,

(26:11):
thanks again, Dan, I'm RyanGorman here on this Veterans Day weekend special
and now let's bring in our nextguest. We're joined by a United States
Army veteran and CEO of Mission RoleCall, Jim Whaling. You can learn
more about this organization at Missionrolecall dotorg. Jim, Thank you so much
for joining us. So how didMission Roll Call First get started? And

(26:33):
what is the purpose of your organization? Yeah, well, thank you first,
Brian. We started a few yearsago as a program and now we're
stepping up to be a full nonprofitand the mission is really to become the
voice of the American veterans. There'sabout eighteen point five million veterans in our

(26:53):
country, half of which are notaffiliated with any organization. The voices are
not being heard, and our roleis to help that voice be heard in
an unfiltered, a political way thathelps veterans, helping veterans, veterans telling
their story, and us helping veteransnavigate their next phase in life, which

(27:18):
is a challenge for something. Finally, how can veterans make their voices heard
through Mission Roll Call? And howcan everyone, whether they served or not,
help support the work that you're doing. Thank you, Ron. It's
so important, first of all foranyone who's non active duty, has been
a veteran, is the spouse ofa veteran, has a brother or sister

(27:40):
in the service. Please join us. Go to our website sign up.
We have a number of surveys thatwe do that we send out the folks
to gauge what are the issues thatthey have. We share that survey data
with elected officials. People are builtthe federal, state, and local level.
That helps the college policy to helptell the story. They can go

(28:04):
to our website and do that andjoining, and they can just let all
the veterans know about this important endeavorthat we're embarking upon. We've had a
lot of success, but we lookedat twenty twenty four is to really be
the year that we grow this andcontinue the good work that's been done so

(28:26):
far. You know, veterans areso important to our country. So few
people now in our populace have servedor know someone served, and so it's
important for us to be able totell that the impact of what veterans do
and what that'sance brings to the table. You know, they bring highly transferable

(28:48):
skills, they're more likely to engagein civil organizations, they want to get
back to work. They're great rolemodels, great great mentors, and they're
very diverse. They represent every facetof our society and they're what makes our

(29:11):
country so great. Everyone can learnmore about the work Mission Role Call does
and you can support that work aswell at Mission Rolecall dot org. That's
Mission Rolecall dot org. CEO ofMission Role Call, Jim Whaley with us.
Jim, I want to thank youso much for the work you're doing
with your organization and also for yourservice to this country. We really appreciate

(29:33):
it, and God bless you reallyappreciate it. Jim, you've been listening
to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairsprogram from the Alabama Radio Network. The
opinions expressed on Viewpoint Alabama are notnecessarily those of the staff, management,
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