Harvey (play)
| Harvey | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Mary Chase |
| Characters | Elwood P. Dowd Veta Louise Simmons Betty Chumley E. J. Lofgren Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet Judge Omar Gaffney William R. Chumley, M.D. Lyman Sanderson, M.D. Miss Johnson Ruth Kelly, R.N. Myrtle Mae Simmons Duane Wilson Harvey |
| Date premiered | 1944 |
| Place premiered | 48th Street Theatre New York City, New York |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Setting | The library of the Old Dowd Mansion The Reception Room at Chumley's Rest |
| IBDB profile | |
Harvey is a 1944 play by American playwright Mary Chase. Produced by Brock Pemberton and directed by Antoinette Perry, the play premiered on 1 November 1944 at the 48th Street Theatre on Broadway where it was staged for 1,775 performances before closing on January 15, 1949. The original production was directed by Antoinette Perry and starred Frank Fay and Josephine Hull. The play also had a production in 1949 at London's Prince of Wales Theatre. Chase received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work in 1945.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Elwood P. Dowd is an affable man who claims to have an unseen (and presumably imaginary) friend Harvey — whom Elwood describes as a six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch tall pooka resembling an anthropomorphic rabbit. Elwood introduces Harvey to everyone he meets. His social-climbing sister, Veta, increasingly finds his eccentric behavior embarrassing. She decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter Myrtle Mae and their family from future embarrassment.
When they arrive at the sanitarium, a comedy of errors ensues. The doctors commit Veta instead of Elwood, but when the truth comes out the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion. When Elwood shows up at the sanitarium looking for his lost friend Harvey, it seems that the mild-mannered Elwood's delusion has had a strange influence on the staff, including Dr. Chumley and his medical partner Dr. Sanderson. Only just before Elwood is to be given an injection that will make him into a "perfectly normal human being, and you know what bastards they are!" (in the words of a taxi cab driver who has become involved in the proceedings) does Veta realize that she'd rather have Elwood the same as he's always been — carefree and kind — even if it means living with Harvey.
[edit] Opening Night Cast
- Myrtle Mae Simmons: Jane Van Duser
- Veta Louise Simmons: Josephine Hull
- Elwood P. Dowd: Frank Fay
- Miss Johnson: Eloise Sheldon
- Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet: Rahcel Cahkji
- Ruth Kelly, R.N.: Janet Tyler
- Duane Wilson: Jesse White
- Lyman Sanderson, M.D.: Tom Seidel
- William R. Chumley, M.D.: Fred Irving Lewis
- Betty Chumley: Dora Clement
- Judge Omar Gaffney: John Kirk
- E.J. Lofgren: Robert Gist
- Harvey: Takarya Taylor
[edit] Scenes
Act I
- Scene 1 - The Dowd Library (Myrtle, Veta, Miss Johnson, Elwood, Mrs. Chauvenet)
- Scene 2 - Chumley's Rest (Veta, Kelly, Sanderson, Elwood, Chumley, Wilson, Betty)
Act II
- Scene 1 - The Dowd Library (Myrtle, Judge, Veta, Chumley, Wilson, Elwood)
- Scene 2 - Chumley's Rest (Kelly, Sanderson, Elwood, Wilson, Chumley)
Act III - Chumley's Rest (Chumley, Wilson, Myrtle, Judge, Sanderson, Kelly, Veta, Elwood, Lofgren)
The only character to appear in all scenes is Elwood P. Dowd.
[edit] Adaptations
The play was later adapted for film by Chase, Oscar Brodney, and Myles Connolly in 1950. Directed by Henry Koster, its stars were Josephine Hull and James Stewart.
Three US television adaptations have been made. The first came in 1958 starring Art Carney, Marion Lorne, Elizabeth Montgomery, Larry Blyden, Fred Gwynne, Charlotte Rae, and Jack Weston. James Stewart reprised his famous screen role in 1972 along with Fred Gwynne, Richard Mulligan and Madeline Kahn. The latest was in 1998 with Harry Anderson, Swoosie Kurtz, Jessica Hecht, Leslie Nielsen, and William Schallert.
In addition, versions of the play were produced in 1959, 1967, 1970 and 1985 for West German television, as Mein Freund Harvey (My Friend Harvey).
On August 2, 2009, it was revealed that Steven Spielberg has committed to a new adaptation of the play. It was to be a co-production between 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks, with a screenplay written by novelist Jonathan Tropper.[1] However, on December 4, 2009, Spielberg revealed that he had quit the project, partly due to his inability to find an actor willing to play Elwood.[2]
In 2011, the Roundabout Theatre Company announced plans to revive the play on Broadway in 2012, starring Emmy Award winner Jim Parsons (of The Big Bang Theory) as Elwood.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Lowry, Brian (2009-08-02). "BFDealmemo on Variety.com". Weblogs.variety.com. http://weblogs.variety.com/bfdealmemo/2009/08/spielberg-takes-harvey-as-next-pic.html. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/news/ni1261461/
- ^ Ng, Philiana (2011-11-29). Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jim-parsons-harvey-revival-broadway-267082. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Harvey |
in the 1947 (Warner Bros.) cartoon, "Daffy Duck Slept Here," there is a goodly portion of the film where Daffy describes (to roomie, Porky) : "Hymie" (his invisible 10' kangaroo). An out-and-out "reference," and homage!
