The Demopolis Opera House / Lillian Hellman And
The Little Foxes
The Demopolis Opera House
In 1876, the town of Demopolis leased the former
Presbyterian Church, a classic brick structure
built in 1843 and occupied by federal troops during
Reconstruction, to the Demopolis Opera Association.
The association revitalized the building as a theater
for live performances and civic lectures. Though
heavily dependent upon local talent, the Opera
House also featured professional actors and entertainers from places such as New York and New
Orleans until its doors closed in 1902. Minstrel
shows were frequent, popular attractions. Wealthy
businessman Leonard Newhouse served the association
as its secretary. He hand his wife Sophia
Marx were the grandparents of playwright
Lillian Hellman.
Lillian Hellman and The Little Foxes
Playwright Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) enjoyed
her greatest stage triumph with The Little Foxes, which opened in New York on February 15, 1939, with Alabama actress Tallulah Bankhead in the
lead role. Hellman’s writings and personal history
suggest her affluent Marx relatives from Demopolis
were models for the fictional Hubbard family in
Foxes. The play’s mansion “Lionnet” bears strong resemblance to the stately Lyon family homes
(Bluff Hall and Lyon Hall) in Demopolis. Hellman
wrote the screenplay for the film version directed
by William Wyler whose wife Margaret “Talli” Wyler
was a relative of the Demopolis Tallichet family.
Marker is at the intersection of North Walnut Avenue and W. Capitol Street on North Walnut Avenue.
Courtesy hmdb.org
