User Reviews

One of the best stories I've seen done on life in the early LDS church is this one called Sego Lilies. It involves a Mormon family transplanted out of Salt Lake City to help set up a new town in southern Utah near the Arizona border during the Civil War. At that time Brigham Young as head of the church was virtually a sovereign power of his own as the church opted out of the struggle that was tearing American apart.

The LDS church was intent upon building its own Zion as they would have described it. Salt Lake City was in 1861-62 a decent size frontier city having a remarkable growth from its humble beginnings in 1846. But what most 'gentile' viewers would not get is that the church could order someone like a young couple in this case played by Robert Hutton and Sally Mansfield to uproot themselves from the relative comfort of Salt Lake City and go pioneering again.

Hutton in this story is ready to go as the church dictates, but Mansfield is not so crazy about the idea, but she's a good wife and they take themselves and their infant son to the new settlement and go through the pioneering that their parents did, that they might have as toddlers remember. Ella Ethridge plays a no nonsense LDS wife who tells Mansfield not to get to comfortable in Salt Lake City and to forget about the life she left.

I don't pretend to be a theologian, but I do know that LDS church membership involves more than a visit to a house of worship on Sunday. They do show a scene at a newly erected temple where the congregation is led in singing the Mormon hymn All Is Well.

In case you're wondering where the title of the episode comes from, the Sego Lily is the state flower of Utah and they bloom all over where the Mormon pioneers are starting the settlement. For us 'gentiles' Sego Lilies is nice look into life in the Mormon Church post the original settling in what became the state of Utah.

Wilhemina Cannon (Sally Mansfield) is in for a rude awakening when her Mormon husband (Robert Hutton) tells her that they're going to open up a new territory, "We've been called, we're one of the 300 families chosen to go." Of course Wilhemina isn't exactly thrilled by the prospect and neighbor Sister Sarah (Ella Ethridge) has a knack for throwing salt on the wound. The man we know and love as Fred Ziffel, Hank Patterson has some great cameos and John Dierkes is leading the congregation in a fine version of, "All Is Well." Still Wilhemina is losing her mind in the rough prairie and is throwing down the gauntlet, "If you could show me anything about the country that is lovely." Is her husband up for the task? Mansfield, Hutton and Ethridge give wonderful performances here. I won't give a spoiler and just say this episode in a way parallels Robert Hutton's own life. Sego Lillies is one of the best episodes in a great series.

This episode centers on Wilhelmina Cannon, a young Mormon wife who has a new born baby and is living with her husband in Salt Lake City. She is very happy until theirs is one of the families chosen to travel 275 miles and build the new Mormon city of St George. The episode is about Wilhelmina's Efforts to adapt to her new surroundings and trying to be happy.

This was Sally Mansfield's first starring role and she really shines as the troubled wife and new mother. She is completely convincing in her role and her presence in almost every scene keeps the viewer interested in what will happen to her character. Sally was a real natural beauty and should have been a big star. She died of lung cancer in 2001.