HE CAN COOK TOO!
by Bob Foreman © 2013
If 1960’s child actor Scott Hardin (pictured here) had been reared in Manhattan instead of Atlanta, he would have been a star on Broadway.
Scott made his debut at age nine on the gigantic stage of the 5800-seat Chastain Park amphitheatre in a professional (union) production of the musical FANNY in 1962, in which he played the principal role of Cesario. He sang the duet “Be Kind to Your Parents” with the legendary Barbara Cook, also an Atlanta prodigy, who by that time had created the New York roles of Marian the Librarian in the MUSIC MAN and Cunegonde in CANDIDE. Their number was “a showstopper,” said the Atlanta Journal and noted that Scott was “a talented lad.”
But it was the Theatre Under the Stars production of OLIVER! on that same stage three summers later where Scott attained star stature when he played the title role, singing eight tunes including the angelic lament “Where is Love?” Journal critic Terry Kay described the four foot nine 80-pounder as “one of the outstanding figures to grace any production, possessing a rare instinctive talent and gift. Not just any boy can do what young Master Hardin does.”
“He was merely excellent,” said the Constitution about this rising eighth-grader. Scott was cast in the role by director Eric Mattson (the original Mister Snow in CAROUSEL), beating out all New York auditionees, and the price was right, a tidy $75 for two weeks including the all night dress rehearsal, six performances and some twenty broadcast appearances. “Boy, was I happy,” beamed Scott.
By the time of OLIVER! this indefatigable middle child of an Eastern Airlines pilot had played the piano for five years, sung in his mother’s junior church group for six, and had appeared in Europe as a soloist with the Atlanta Boy Choir. He took acting, jazz and tap lessons, maintained an A average at Cascade Elementary and was awarded a full scholarship at GMA. An otherwise normal kid who played sports and held the opposite sex in appropriate fear and awe, Scott the Celebrity appeared as a guest on Skip Thomas’ Two Bells—TV Edition twice; Don Kennedy’s Popeye Club thrice; and a record-breaking six times for Miss Ruth Kent’s Today in Georgia. And as this Journal publicity still by Ken Patterson reveals, Scott could cook, too.
He appeared in six other Chastain shows, including SHOWBOAT with Joe E. Brown who at age 70 would walk on his hands to limber up before curtain; the MUSIC MAN with Bert Parks, also an Atlantan; and with Van Johnson in BYE BYE BIRDIE where Scott played Randolph and sang “Kids.”
For Chris Manos’ Winter Play Season, Scott was held hostage at gunpoint by George (Bestoink Dooley) Ellis in THE DESPERATE HOURS; starred as Nick Burns in A THOUSAND CLOWNS opposite James Daly; and won the equivalent of a special Tony for his cameo role in Tennessee William’s SUMMER AND SMOKE for Theatre Atlanta. “A wisp of a fellow with staggering credentials,” the critics wrote, Scott was “perfect, a juvenile with the thespic poise of a veteran.”
On opening night of OLIVER! Scott told reporters that he didn’t think playing the title role was all that difficult.
“You can do anything if you put your mind to it,” he quipped while signing autographs for his adoring fans.
Scott Hardin now appears at the Fox Theatre where he is head property man and chief projectionist, a position he has held for thirty-five seasons.
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In FANNY with Barbara Cook
