BWW Interviews: Sally Struthers to Visit 'Mother's' Totem Pole Playhouse in May

Fans of Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville, PA have long considered the legendary television show "All In The Family" part of the Totem Pole heritage, as it starred Jean Stapleton, wife of Totem Pole's long-time leader, Bill Putch. It turns out that cast members of "All In The Family" have also felt that Totem Pole Playhouse is part of their DNA, as actor Sally Struthers reveals. She'll be opening the Totem Pole Playhouse season with her one-woman show, SIMPLY Sally Struthers, for her first visit to her television "mother's" theatre.

Broadway World spoke to Sally Struthers in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where she was finishing her DC-area run of THE FULL MONTY. Aside from her television and movie career, Struthers has a long Broadway and regional theatre including premiering the female-cast THE ODD COUPLE.

BWW: You'll be coming to the Totem Pole in May. Can you tell us a little about the show?

SS: It's a one-woman show - not a speech, not a Q and A. A lot of it is humorous, some of it is touching, who knows about the rest. People give me a standing O, and I run off stage and have a glass of ice water. (laughs) I talk about people I know, actors I know, Presidents I've met. Anything, everything.

The show evolves. One night I'll tell some of my stories, and the next night I may tell different ones. I've just got so many stories about my life. I like to talk about things!

I haven't done the show that often; it's not down pat, and I don't want it down pat. I could tell stories for hours.

BWW: Of course, you're associated with "All In The Family," which was a groundbreaking show for its time. Did you realize when you signed on that it was going to be special?

SS: I don't know if the adjective would have been on my mind when I signed on. I'd done commercials; I'd done Tim Conway's show. To me it was just another television show. I didn't realize it would be so - what's today's word - politically incorrect, or that it would last so long. After the first show aired, CBS affiliates across the country got so many angry phone calls they were putting on extra staff.

We had writers - clever writers aware of what was going on in the world. Our writers made the show fabulous; it wasn't just the cast. We began with this incredible pool of writers - older guys who'd worked for Jack Benny, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, just great people.

And then we had a problem. They decided to do "Maude" so they took some of these guys, with all the comedy experience of the ages, and set them to work on "Maude". We got new writers who had to be broken in, taught how it was done. And then, of course, came "The Jeffersons" - the same thing, again.

BWW: You're associated with Jean Stapleton, and Totem Pole Playhouse was her husband's venture. What prior association do you have with Totem Pole?

SS: I have no prior association with it except for Jean. She and Bill and the kids moved to LA from Totem Pole. We both had theatre backgrounds, so we hit it off. I was so pleased to get a call from Ray Ficca asking me to come to Totem Pole. I can cross it off my bucket list! I've known about it for forty-three years. It wasn't on the written list, but it's one of those things in your mind, like seeing the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, for me, that you just would like to do - and now I'm doing it!

BWW: We've mentioned "All In The Family," but you were also a part of one of the groundbreaking movies of the Seventies, and one of America's greatest movies at that, "Five Easy Pieces." Do fans still remember you for that?

SS: Older fans, yes. Younger people don't associate me with that or with "The Getaway" with Steve McQueen unless they're dyed-in-the-wool film buffs. You know, I got my reading for "All In The Family" because "Five Easy Pieces" proved I could do the work.

I ran into Jack Nicholson a few years ago and was surprised he remembered me. I don't normally shop at Tiffany's - I like to hang out at TJ Maxx, regular stores, but I had to go one day to the Tiffany's in Beverly Hills and there was Jack Nicholson. My daughter was with me and she wanted me to go over, to say hello, but I didn't think he'd remember me at all. But then I went around a corner, and there's The Cheshire Cat grin, and this slow, Jack "Sally Struthers!" from him. It's nice to be remembered.

Ali MacGraw and I cling onto each other when we see see each other because we're about the only ones left from "The Getaway." Steve McQueen's gone, Sam Peckinpah, everybody.

BWW: Let's talk a little about your stage work. You've had a considerable theatre career. You're currently in THE FULL MONTY.

SS: Yes - it's a fabulous show. I've been in it before. I love the part. I'm on and off stage, not on full time, and when I am on I get all of these outrageous lines!

BWW: What are your favorite roles? This one? Dolly Levi?

SS: I've done Dolly plenty of times. I love the role. This is my fifth THE FULL MONTY, and I love this, too. I'm not on stage much but people love the role. It's fun being the old lady piano player. For straight plays, it was when I did THE ODD COUPLE for two women on Broadway. And there's Miss Hannigan in ANNIE.

BWW: And you have a national tour of HELLO DOLLY upcoming? Tell us about that.

SS: I just met my producer yesterday! He's Don Sher of Big League Productions. I've got a seven-month national tour and I just met the director, too. They took the train down from New York to see me here in THE FULL MONTY. I had questions. I wanted to know, if we were going to a new city every night, when were my big, heavy costumes getting dry cleaned? When I did NUNSENSE on tour, we were constantly cleaning those habits!

I start rehearsing in September in New York, and I'll be on the road until April, 2014.

BWW: What else would you like people to know about you that they don't know?

SS: (laughs) They'll find out when they come to the show! I'll remove them from an hour and a half of their troubles, they'll smile, they'll learn things about me they didn't know, and they'll tell other people stories from me at work the next day.

SIMPLY Sally Struthers will be at the Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville from May 8 through May 12. Contact the theatre at www.totempoleplayhouse.org or call 888-805-7056 for tickets.

Photo Credits: Totem Pole Playhouse

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