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All the Town's a Stage
Excerpt from the attached newspaper article:
Christopher Plummer, one of the festival stars, was so attached to the Queens during his first summer at Stratford he refused to vacate his quarters for a furnished house provided by the festival.
Muriel and David Pinkney, owners of the hotel founded by Pinkney's father, had a standing rule for the festival cast. They could book rooms until opening night and then they were expected to find accommodation elsewhere. Rooms were booked solid by tourists for the entire season. The Pinkneys compromised in Plummer's case. "Provided there was a daily cancellation he could remain." The actor squeaked through on this arrangement until an August weekend. Everyone who had a reservation showed up. Before the last guests arrived, the Pinkneys decided on a course of action. They removed all their personal belongings from their suite, explained the situation to the late arrivals, offered them their well-appointed apartment instead of the reserved room and withdrew to the furnished house Plummer refused to occupy.
"There wasn't anything else to do," recalls Mrs. Pinkney, who recently sold the hotel after the death of her husband and now regrets the move.
"I lived in that hotel for the entire 27 years of my marriage. I arrived as a bride and left as a widow. I thought I would like a home of my own but now I miss all the excitement of incoming guests so much. It's so quiet - of course I can attend all the opening nights now which I could never do before."
1902 - 1970 (67 years)