Daisy
Sean Devine
Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory
A three-year-old, blonde girl stands in a meadow, holding a daisy and counting to ten in her sweet, high voice as she plucks off petals, charmingly making a few mistakes along the way. As she hesitates after nine, a booming male voice begins counting backwards from ten, much like heard in a rocket launch. Just as he nears the end of his count, the camera zooms on the little girl’s right eye as she looks up, immediately followed by the flash and the horrific sound of a nuclear explosion. After a voice-over by then President Lyndon Johnson about “making the world safe for all God’s children,” the ad ends with a “Vote for President Johnson” solicitation.
Running only once on prime-time September 7, 1964, the so-called “Daisy Ad” is considered the most influential commercial ever aired on television, given credit for helping defeat Johnson’s Republican opponent, Barry Goldwater, and for ushering in a new era of political ads where attack of the other side becomes the norm. As we have seen in our most recent elections, that ad’s legacy lives strong even to this day.
The origin of the ad and the people behind it are the subject of Sean Devine’s 2016-premiering play, Daisy, now in a tensely electrifying, often unsettling, and, in the end, highly thought-provoking regional premiere at Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory.
For the rest of my review, please proceed to Talkin’Broadway.
Rating: 5 E, MUST-SEE
A Theatre Eddys Best Bet Production
Daisy continues through February 9, 2025, in a two-hour (plus intermission) regional premier production by Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory, 1285 East Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, CA. Tickets are available online at www.hillbarntheatre.org or by contacting directly the box office by emailing boxoffice@hillbarn.org or by calling 650-349-6411.
Photo Credit: Tracy Martin
