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- This is an article about the play called Harvey. For the movie Harvey, see Harvey (film), or for information on the name Harvey, see Harvey.
Harvey is a play by Mary Chase. It won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is the story of likeable man and his imaginary friend "Harvey", a 6-foot, three-and-a-half-inch-tall rabbit. The play starred Frank Fay and Josephine Hull. The play also had a production in 1949 at London's Prince of Wales Theatre. It was later made into a film by the same name starring Hull and James Stewart who also played the role of Elwood P. Dowd on stage in London for six months. There were also a couple of television versions:
- In 1958, Art Carney of The Honeymooners played the lead character in a television special. The supporting players included several then-or-future stars, including Marion Lorne as Veta, Elizabeth Montgomery as Miss Kelly, Larry Blyden as Dr. Sanderson, and Fred Gwynne as Wilson. Charlotte Rae and Jack Weston were also in the cast.
- In 1998, Harry Anderson of Night Court reprised the character in a made-for-TV movie. Other notable players included Swoosie Kurtz as Veta, Jessica Hecht as Miss Kelly, Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Chumley, and TV veteran William Schallert as Judge Gaffney.
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Plot synopsis
When Elwood P. Dowd starts to introduce his imaginary friend, Harvey, a pooka in the shape of a six-foot, one and a half-inch tall rabbit, to guests at a society party, his society obsessed sister, Veta, has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate. 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, due to a comedy of errors, the doctors commit Veta instead of Elwood, but when the truth comes out, the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion. When he 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 more than one of the doctors, including renoun Dr. Chumley, his medical partner Dr. Sanderson, and the head nurse Miss Kelly. Only just before Elwood is about to be given an injection, Dr. Chumley's formula nine-seven-seven, that will make him, as his taxi driver says, into a "perfectly normal human being; and you know what bastards they are!" does Veta realize that she'd rather have Elwood be the same as he's always been - carefree and kind - even if it means living with Harvey the pooka.
Notes
- The film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? includes a scene in which a character addresses an imaginary Harvey in an effort to mock Judge Doom.
- A pooka is a mythical being that can change shape and appear to certain people, often 'playing pranks,' as in the play.
- Wilson, looking up 'pooka' in a dictionary, is greeted with these words; "From old Celtic mythology; a fairy spirit in animal form - always very large. The pooka appears here and there - now and then - to this one and that one. A benign but mischievous creature - very fond of rumpots, crackpots, and how are you, Mr. Wilson?"
Casts
Original
- Frank Fay - Elwood P. Dowd
- Josephine Hull - Veta Louise Simmons
- Janet Tyler - Miss Kelly
- Tom Seidel - Dr. Lyman Sanderson
- Fred Irving Lewis - Dr. Chumley
- Jane Van Duser - Myrtle Mae Simmons
- Jesse White - Marvin Wilson
- John Kirk - Judge Gaffney
- Robert Gist - E. J. Lofgren
- Harvey - himself
1970 Broadway revival
- James Stewart - Elwood P. Dowd
- Helen Hayes - Veta Louise Simmons
- Mariclare Costello - Miss Kelly
- Joe Ponazecki - Dr. Lyman Sanderson
- Henderson Forsythe - Dr. Chumley
- Marian Hailey - Myrtle Mae Simmons
- Jesse White - Duane Wilson
- John C. Becher - Judge Omar Gaffney
- Dort Clark - E. J. Lofgren
- Peggy Pope - Betty Chumley
- Dorothy Blackburn - Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet
