The most famous and popular depiction of Lizzie Borden on screen was produced in the 1970s, starring Elizabeth Montgomery—\u00a0The Legend of Lizzie Borden<\/em>. In that film, Lizzie did it—in the nude no less. And like the most recent movie, there was again no mention of Uncle John Morse and his curious visit to the Borden house on the day before the murders. The Elizabeth Montgomery movie also got the history wrong in many places: Andrew Borden did not embalm dead people in the cellar; the house on Second Street is\u00a0not made of brick, nor is there a mountain in the background of Fall River; Lizzie didn’t return to Second Street following the verdict—among other smaller slights. And yet, this film is hailed by these very same “historians” as the ultimate contribution to the Borden\u00a0oeuvre<\/em>.<\/p>\n Now comes an 8-part mini-series on the heels of a popular television film on the same network (Lizzie Borden Took an Axe<\/em>), again starring Christina Ricci, titled The Lizzie Borden Chronicle<\/em>s. According to Entertainment Weekly<\/a>,<\/p>\n “While the film was inspired by real-life events, the series will take certain creative liberties, which draw from the mysterious events surrounding the deaths of those close to Borden in the years after her acquittal.<\/p>\n “‘It\u2019s an imagining of what could\u2019ve happened,’ Ricci told reporters at the Television Critics Association\u2019s winter TV previews. ‘There are no limits of behavior. There are no rules. It\u2019s the ultimate playing a fantasy.’<\/p>\n “Adds director Stephen Kay: ‘It\u2019s what would happen if you let this woman loose on a community.'”<\/p>\n In addition to my interest in the Lizzie Borden case and the history of Fall River, Massachusetts, I am a theatre practitioner and critic. I hold a PhD in Theatre History and Dramatic Literature. I go to plays and have seen a goodly amount of Lizzie Borden-themes works. Most of them have been marvelous. The Off-Broadway rock opera Lizzie<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0created by writer\/director Tim Maner, songwriter Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, and Alan Stevens Hewitt (who co-wrote the score, orchestrated it, and contributed lyrics, in addition to serving as musical director), was STUPENDOUS! I am glad to see its popularly increase as it is produced in venues in America and abroad.<\/p>\n Likewise, the well-written one act plays by Carolyn Gage<\/a>, Lace Curtain Irish<\/em> and The Greatest Actress Who Ever Lived<\/em>, also inspire deep appreciation from me\u00a0for theatre done right.<\/p>\n If a\u00a0creative effort\u00a0is true to itself, makes dramatic sense in its own world, and works as a piece of theatre, then I say bully for them! I am never\u00a0one to condemn a work of art because it does not conform to reality or history. I appreciate theatrical representations of Lizzie Borden even when they have her as the killer or a lesbian or maniacal bitch.<\/p>\n And while last year’s Lizzie Borden Took an Axe<\/em> included modern music and took great liberties with their depiction of the historical costuming and societal manners of the late nineteenth century Fall River, Massachusetts, I very much enjoyed the film and especially liked the ending. I sat in a restaurant in Fall River with Lizzie Borden friends to see the premier on TV and my first reaction was shared with those in my party. Later, I watched it again and found the movie even more compelling. So I am looking forward to the new series and will give the show every opportunity to be as liberal with the truth of the story of Lizzie Borden as they like. They are, after all, playing with a fictional<\/strong> depiction. They are not creating a documentary or a work of historical importance. I doubt there will be much confusion that this<\/em> Lizzie Borden is their<\/em> Lizzie Borden. Anyone who thinks otherwise\u00a0is lacking common sense.<\/p>\n So I plan on enjoying The Lizzie Borden Chronicles<\/em>. It is good to see the old gal\u00a0become more popular with time. Maybe this mini-series will bring more tourists to Fall River, a city that is in dire need of a boost in those types of dollars. After all, you can sleep\u00a0in the murder house here. The Lizzie Borden B&B<\/a> is a fabulous place to spend the night or take a tour during the day. I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n And if you really want to know of the history of the case, please visit the my website LizzieAndrewBorden.com<\/a>, where you can download and read the primary source documents for free: the trial, the witness statements, the wills, and the inquest testimony. And\/or read Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River<\/a>, written and published by the Fall River Historical Society. And when you are in town, visit the Society which has the largest collection of Lizzie Borden material anywhere in the world. You will be glad you did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are those who decry what they deem an abuse of history whenever\u00a0Lizzie Borden is depicted as\u00a0the killer of her father and stepmother in 1892 because she was acquitted of the crimes. And there are those who pontificate how the new series due out in April on the Lifetime network is a complete bastardization of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[28,85,115,87,29,109],"class_list":["post-5043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-and-media-reviews","tag-fall-river","tag-fall-river-historical-society","tag-lee-ann-wilber","tag-lifetime","tag-lizzie-borden","tag-lizzie-borden-bb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5043"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6875,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5043\/revisions\/6875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Legend](\"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/sites\/4\/2015\/01\/4373555-l.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"writer\/director](\"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/sites\/4\/2015\/01\/guys.jpg\")
![\"Lizzie!](\"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/sites\/4\/2015\/01\/lizziemusical.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Axed](\"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/mondolizzie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/sites\/4\/2015\/01\/8753140.jpg\")
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