By STEPHANY NAPIER Staff Intern

An enthusiastic audience of more than 325 stepped back briefly into the early 1940s on Friday night at a special showing of "Tennessee Johnson": a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film focusing on the life and career of Andrew Johnson.

The film, a major MGM production of its era which is now owned by Turner Classic Movies, was shown Friday at the Capitol Theatre -- where it had first played to a Greeneville audience more than 65 years earlier, in April 1943.

The renovated and remodeled art deco-style former movie theater is now the home of the Little Theatre of Greeneville and used mainly for Little Theatre plays and special musical events such as bluegrass and gospel concerts.

Date Was Significant

The Friday-night showing of "Tennessee Johnson," which also included two 1943 "United News" newsreels, was part of the year-long celebration of the bicentennial of President Johnson's birth in 1808.

May 16 was specifically chosen for the showing, it was explained, because exactly 140 years ago that day, the U.S. Senate voted on the 11th article of impeachment against Johnson.

The Senate, by a one-vote margin, voted in May 1868 not to convict then-President Johnson on the impeachment charges, which had been brought by his political enemies in Congress.

In the mid-1920s, the law under which the main impeachment charges had been brought was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Johnson had maintained at the time that it was unconstitutional.

Large Turnout Noted

George Collins, director of the Department of Museum Program and Studies at Tusculum College, welcomed the audience to the showing Friday night, commenting favorably and appreciatively on the large turnout.

Collins also provided introductory information about the history of "Tennessee Johnson."

He said the film had its world premiere at the famed Astor Theater in New York City in January 1943, and its Southeastern premiere in the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville in February, widely known at the time as the largest and most elaborate movie theater in East Tennessee.

"Tennessee Johnson" was shown in Greeneville on April 12, 1943, at the Capitol Theatre itself, which was then 10 years old and a popular local center for Hollywood movies and occasional stage shows.

The ticket cost for the matinee showing in April 1943 was 11 cents, Collins said, while the cost for the evening showing was 30 cents.

As Johnson, the movie starred Van Heflin, then a young but rising Hollywood star. Prominent actress Ruth Hussey starred as Eliza McCardle Johnson, and Hollywood legend Lionel Barrymore played the role of Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, Johnson's arch-foe in the inpeachment battle.

Collins noted that, when the movie was shown in Great Britain, no one knew who "Tennessee Johnson" so the title was changed to "The Man On America's Conscience."

Accuracies, Inaccuracies

Dr. Robert Orr, a local historian who has authored a book on Andrew Johnson, next gave a commentary on the movie, which he had previously viewed.

He pointed out aspects of the film he felt were historically strong and accurate, such as the balanced characterization of Rep. Stevens, and other aspects of the film that Orr said were not historically accurate.

He said the film was "dependable on the large political issues, but not dependable on the particulars of his [Johnson's] life."

For example, Orr said, the film presents Johnson as arriving in Greeneville as a young man with a leg shackle, and as having run a few years later for the office of Greene County sheriff at the beginning of his political career.

Although Johnson was a runaway tailor's-apprentice from Raleigh, N.C., when he arrived in Greeneville, Orr said there was no indication that he was ever shackled.

In addition, the historian said, Johnson apparently never ran for the office of sheriff.

Interestingly, however, he was the only U.S. President to seek -- and win -- every local, state and federal public leadership office from town alderman through Vice President of the United States. He became President at the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

Warm Reception

The audience applauded the film warmly at its conclusion, and mingled afterwards in the theatre and the lobby talking about it.

Light refreshments, including soft drinks and bags of freshly-popped popcorn reminiscent of the Capitol in its days as a moviehouse, were offered for sale during an intermission just after Dr. Orr's remarks and before the presentation of the film itself.

One of those in the audience, Barry Harper, who came from Bristol to see the movie, commented after viewing it, "Its historical inaccuracies did not distract from the essence of the production."

Contributors To The Event

In the lobby of the theatre for the public to view was a display focusing on the film that had been made by Museum Studies students Burke Greer, Camey Buck, Josh Ashby, Julia Jones, and Kali Webb.

The Tennessee State Museum loaned original movie posters of the film, which were copied and displayed in various locations. Movie "stills" -- still photographs of scenes from the film -- came from the Andrew Johnson Museum and Library at Tusculum College.

Greer said he enjoyed researching the information for the display. "We could do well to have a president like Johnson," he said.

Other contributors to the event were the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Committee, the Capitol Theatre, Turner Classic Movies - which donated the use of the actual film reel -- the Nathanael Greene Museum, and Museums of Tusculum College.