Overflow Crowd

Is Entertained

In Jonesborough

By JIM FELTMAN

Staff Photographer

JONESBOROUGH -- Seasoned show-business professionals know that they have to take a risk from time to time as their careers develop.

Greeneville native Park Overall, 51, a successful actress for years in television, in movies and on the stage, took that professional risk Wednesday night by giving stand-up comedy a shot.

From all appearances, it paid off, and it just might be the beginning of another phase of her career.

Overall became well known to a national television audience in the late 1980s as the savvy, sassy, funny Laverne: a medical office nurse with an Arkansas background and the accent to go with it, in the popular 1988-95 television series "Empty Nest."

She was also a frequent guest on "The Tonight Show" in the era of longtime host Johnny Carson, a friend and fan of Overall.

Greeneville Recollections

Wednesday night, though, the down-to-earth actress with the Greene County roots parked herself on a stool on the small stage in Jonesborough's Cranberry Thistle cafe/coffee house and proceeded to delight the capacity crowd with her stories.

In her distinctive Appalachian accent, Overall told stories and recalled experiences drawn, in large part, from her growing up years in Greeneville.

Some of her recollections involved her late father, Thomas W. "Jack" Overall, an attorney and federal magistrate with a sense of humor and adventure, and her mother, Frances Bernard Overall, Ph.D., a Tusculum College professor and an antique addict "who," her daughter confided to the audience, "did not suffer fools lightly."

Other targets for Overall's observations included some of what she called the "unique" characteristics of the rural culture in this region.

She also answered questions from the audience, mostly concerning her life in the acting world. But several questions involved her well-known involvement in environmental activism.

One question was a request for Overall to speak about ecology to a class at South Greene High School, a request to which she quickly agreed. She also shared with the audience some of her sharply-worded communication with environmental regulators she considered too lax in their responsibilities.

Before the performance, Overall chatted with several fans, friends and former Greeneville High School classmates outside the coffee house, and posed for pictures with everyone who asked.

Fans Turned Away

Many fans who wanted to attend the performance were unable to do so because the coffee house was filled to capacity. One woman was so disappointed that she broke into tears. Overall tried to comfort her personally, and apologized profusely to those standing outside.

A few of the other people who were turned away stayed outside the restaurant and reportedly protested so strenuously that police were called to restore calm.

"I am absolutely devastated that people came from miles around and were sent home," Overall said in an unsolicited statement submitted to The Greeneville Sun on Thursday afternoon.

(Editor's Note: Please see the full text of her statement in the article accompanying this story.)

Event producer Susan Lachmann, now of Jonesborough, a longtime friend of Overall and a fellow GHS graduate, said that about 100 people were turned down for reservations, and about another 50 people who came without reservations were turned away at the door.

Lachmann said Thursday that she and Overall didn't even know reservations would be required for the event.

Both said in separate interviews they learned that the coffee house owners decided only on Tuesday to start requiring reservations.

The restaurant owners' decision was made, Overall and Lachmann said, after The Cranberry Thistle received so many inquiries about Overall's planned performance on Monday and on Tuesday morning that they began anticipating an overflow crowd, and felt that reservations would be essential.

More Stand-Up Ahead?

Overall said before she took the stage that she was a little nervous about her first try at stand-up comedy, and that she was surprised at the large turnout.

"I thought maybe 12 or 15 people might show up," she said.

After her performance, Overall said she had really enjoyed it, and had enjoyed getting to interact with the audience.

Will she pursue the stand-up venue again in the future? "I'd like to keep working on it and see where it leads," she said.

Meanwhile, she and Susan Lachmann, who produced the show, were overheard talking about additional material, and something about a story-telling festival.

Stay tuned.