Written and photographed by Ysabel Cacho
When Harper Lee announced she would be publishing another book, “Go Set A Watchman” — set 20 years after the events of “To Kill A Mockingbird” — summer couldn’t come fast enough.
“Go Set A Watchman” was released last week. While others simply opened the book to read on, several hundreds crowded the Kaufmann Concert Hall at 92 Y in New York to “hear a grown up Scout introduce them to a grown up Scout” as described by the moderator. Mary Badham was only 10 years old when she played Scout Finch in the Academy Award winning film, “To Kill A Mockingbird” alongside Gregory Peck’s endearing Atticus Finch.
As soon as Badham, now 62 years old, stepped onstage she was immediately greeted with a standing ovation. She began by reading the first chapter of “To Kill A Mockingbird” followed by the first chapter of “Go Set A Watchman,” which had been published online the previous day. There was a sense of nostalgia in the air; members of the audience had grown up watching Scout attempt to read to Atticus during her bed time and now there she was, reading out loud to the rest of them.
Badham later apologized for faltering during the reading because the last time she read out loud was when she read bedtime stories to her children. Nobody seemed to mind because Badham read with the aura of Scout’s spunk and sarcasm. The audience laughed as Badham read Scout’s train ride, gasped when she mentioned Jem’s passing and laughed again during Scout’s car ride home.
When the reading was finished, Mary McDonagh Murphy — a film and television writer — joined Badham onstage to moderate the question and answer portion afterward. Murphy edited a book titled “Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill A Mockingbird,” and filmed a documentary called “Harper Lee: Hey, Boo” followed by “Harper Lee: American Masters”.
Even though Scout in “Go Set A Watchman” is now called by her real name, Jean Louise, she is still the same “…passionate and pushing buttons,” Badham said. “When you’re 20 [years old], you think you’re smarter than your parents.”
“Watchman” is written in such a way that’s “so poetic, so beautiful.” She told the audience to expect a lot of tears from reading the book — from crying and laughing. Badham shared that as she practiced reading the book out loud to her assistant, both of them burst into tears after hearing of Jem’s death only to start laughing several sentences later.
To her, the publication of “Watchman” is “timely, especially with what’s been going on in our country in the last two weeks.” Badham added that “Mockingbird” also had “perfect timing,” saying that the book “talked about the problems of that time in a rational and intelligent way.”
When Murphy brought up the controversy surrounding Atticus in the new book, Badham echoed Atticus’ point of view quote. “Put yourself in the mindset of that time,” she encouraged the audience, reminding them that the book was originally written before “Mockingbird.”
Audience members were allowed to ask questions during the conversation however they were required to write down their questions and submit them to the ushers before Murphy read them to Badham. This way was easier to get to the good questions and nobody wasted their time rolling their eyes at the stupid ones.
When asked what the pros and cons were of playing Scout, Badham replied that traveling was one of the pros, especially traveling to California. “California and Birmingham, Alabama were like two different countries,” she said. In California, people got along and it had a sense of individuality that nobody really minded whereas back in Alabama, she had to conform to the rules of a white, Southern woman “because how else were you gonna get a husband?”
Badham shared her experience from filming “To Kill A Mockingbird.” While the original set burnt down except for the Radley tree, her memories are as sharp as ever. They spent five months filming and took their time to get the material right.
“Did you know what you were doing [at that time]?” Murphy asked.
“No!” Badham. replied. She only received incomplete scripts and had minimal knowledge. “As a child, you’re not interested in details anyway,” she said. “I didn’t [even] read the book until after I had my daughter,” Badham confessed. She didn’t want to tarnish the memories she made. She said that she read the book only after an English professor asked her to speak to his class about the book’s themes.
She also spoke about working with Robert Duvall, who made his screen debut playing Boo Radley. She only had a few days filming with him but when she was running to the classroom on set, she heard someone calling out to her. “Aren’t you gonna say ‘hey’ to Boo?” and saw Duvall sitting down. Badham still keeps in touch with him and recently visited Duvall and his wife.
Despite not having any acting experiences prior to filming “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Badham said she was like Scout. She was a tomboy, much to her father’s dismay since he longed for a daughter and grew up with a lot of boys. Her most difficult scene to film was the jailhouse scene because “it was my last day and I didn’t want to say good-bye.”
“I was having fun! They were like family to me.” That day, she went back to her trailer where her mother scolded her for wasting everybody’s time so she went back and “spat out the lines.”
Murphy asked Badham if she had any memory of Harper Lee during filming. “No,” Badham said. “Except for that photoshoot that we did in the porch.” She doesn’t remember anything either of them might have said to each other. When Badham heard that “Miss Nelle” was a recluse want to press the issue. Eventually she decided to visit the author in her nursing home and when Lee found out the reason behind Badham not wanting to visit her, she scolded her and told her drop by any time.
Badham also spoke about her relationship with her onscreen father, Gregory Peck who she lovingly calls “my Atticus.”
“He was truly Atticus,” she said. “He was kind, loving and he listened to us. He spoke with not us to us.” According to Badham, Peck embodied Atticus both on screen and off. She lost her parents when she was young and Peck stepped up to the plate. She would pick up the phone and hear him say, “Hi, kiddo.” She added that she had three of the “best daddies in the world”: her real father, Gregory Peck and Brock Peters who played Tom Robinson in the film.
One of the questions asked during the conversation was from an English teacher who taught in the Bronx. She wrote that after teaching her students about “To Kill A Mockingbird” she always asked them, “20 years from now, what will you remember about the book?” and directed that question to Badham.
“[The question] seems really simple,” Badham said. “But it’s not.” Aside from the fun she had filming, Badham explained that the book “has all of life’s lessons in it and said in a way that we can hear it. Pay attention to that,” she added before repeating “hear it.”
Murphy took this opportunity to segue into the last question, “So do you think ‘Go Set A Watchman’ should be taught in schools?’”
“I certainly hope so,” Badham replied. “It comes down to education.” She turned to the audience and said that in every classroom she goes to, she always makes the students repeat what she was about to say. “And I’m going to make you say it too,” she warned them. “Ignorance is the root of all evil,” she said. After the applause died down, Badham added, “And education is the key to freedom.”
