Author | James A. Michener |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Interrelated short stories |
Publisher | Macmillan, New York |
Publication date | January 28, 1947 |
Publication place | United States |
Tales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of sequentially related short stories by James A. Michener about the Pacific campaign in World War II. The stories are based on observations and anecdotes he collected while stationed as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy at the Espiritu Santo Naval Base on the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands (now known as Vanuatu).
Written in 1946 and published in 1947, the book was loosely adapted in 1949 as the Broadway musical South Pacific , which itself formed the basis of two films dating from 1958 and 2001.
The stories take place in the environs of the Coral Sea and the Solomon Islands. Michener as narrator gives a first-person voice to several of the stories as an unnamed "Commander", performing duties similar to those that he himself performed during World War II. Two stories are narrated by a named Navy pilot.
The stories are interconnected by recurring characters and several loose plot lines. One plot line in particular is the preparation for and execution of a fictitious amphibious invasion, code-named "Alligator". The focus of the stories is, however, the interactions between Americans and a variety of colonial, immigrant, and indigenous characters.
The chronology of the stories begins with the building of an airfield on Norfolk Island before the Battle of the Coral Sea, in 1942, and goes through the early 1944 invasion of one of Michener's fictional islands. Although the stories are primarily about the U.S. Navy, most of the action is shore-based, and none of the stories concerns ships larger than a Landing Craft Infantry.
Tales of the South Pacific comprises nineteen stories, which are thematically linked in pairs: the first and final stories are reflective, the second and eighteenth involve battle, the third and seventeenth involve preparation for battle, and so on.
1. The South Pacific | 19. A Cemetery at Hoga Point |
2. Coral Sea | 18. The Landing on Kuralei |
3. Mutiny | 17. Frisco |
4. An Officer and a Gentleman | 16. The Strike |
5. The Cave | 15. Those Who Fratenize |
6. The Milk Run | 14. The Airstrip at Konora |
7. Alligator | 13. Wine for the Mess at Segi |
8. Our Heroine | 12. A Boar's Tooth |
9. Dry Rot | 11. Passion |
10. Fo' Dolla' |
The following characters appear in more than 2 stories:
Tony Fry (Navy): Stories 3, 5, 12 and 13.
Bus Adams (Navy pilot): Stories 6, 13, 14 and 15.
Luther Billis (SeaBee): Stories 9, 12 and 14.
The highly successful musical play South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949, was based on the stories in Tales of the South Pacific. In particular, the stories used were "Fo' Dolla'", about Bloody Mary, Liat, and Lieutenant Joe Cable; and "Our Heroine", about Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque. Characters from other stories, such as Bill Harbison, Bus Adams, and Luther Billis, play minor or supporting roles.
Some of the characters from the stories were merged and simplified to serve the format of the musical. For example, the coastwatcher in the musical is an American Marine (Lt. Cable) assisted by an expatriate French plantation owner (Emile de Becque). In Michener's short story "The Cave" the coastwatcher is an English expatriate assisted by native islanders, and is a disembodied voice on a short-wave radio identifying himself only as "The Remittance Man". He is never seen by the other characters in Michener's short story until a search-and-rescue party finds his head impaled on a stake. The character of Liat, Cable's lover in the film, is a much more sophisticated and intelligent young woman in the book, but is reduced to a childlike caricature in the movie. The character of Emile de Becque in Michener's short story has eight mixed-race daughters by four different women, none of whom he married, when he meets the nurse Ensign Nellie Forbush; in the musical, he has two children (one daughter and one son) by a Polynesian woman whom he had married but who had died.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific was made into a feature film in 1958 with scenes shot on Kauai. It was adapted as a made-for television film 2001 filmed in Queensland and Moorea.
American television producer Bob Mann wanted Michener to co-create a weekly television anthology series from Tales of the South Pacific, with Michener as narrator. Rodgers and Hammerstein, however, owned all dramatic rights to the novel and did not give up ownership. [1] Michener did lend his name as the creator of a different and unrelated television series, Adventures in Paradise, in 1959. The series had nothing to do with World War II, but rather followed the fictional adventures of a current-day schooner sailing around the South Pacific. [1]
Bloody Mary originally referred to:
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (1949), the title character in Peter Pan (1954), and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1959). She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. She was the mother of actor Larry Hagman.
Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is 75 kilometres long and 1,125 square kilometres in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximately 145,000 inhabitants, it is by far the most populous of the Samoan Islands. Upolu is situated to the southeast of Savai'i, the "big island". Apia, the capital, is in the middle of the north coast, and Faleolo International Airport at the western end of the island. The island has not had any historically recorded eruptions, although there is evidence of three lava flows, dating back only to between a few hundred and a few thousand years ago.
South Pacific is a musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The work premiered in 1949 on Broadway and was an immediate hit, running for 1,925 performances. The plot is based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize–winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific and combines elements of several of those stories. Rodgers and Hammerstein believed they could write a musical based on Michener's work that would be financially successful and, at the same time, send a strong progressive message on racism.
Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their musical theater writing partnership has been called the greatest of the 20th century.
James Albert Michener was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales and incorporating detailed history. Many of his works were bestsellers and were chosen by the Book of the Month Club. He was also known for the meticulous research that went into his books.
Justino Díaz is a Puerto Rican operatic bass-baritone. In 1963, Díaz won an annual contest held at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, becoming the first Puerto Rican to obtain such an honor and as a consequence, made his Metropolitan debut in October 1963 in Verdi's Rigoletto as Monterone.
"Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. It has been described as "the single biggest popular hit to come out of any Rodgers and Hammerstein show." Andrew Lloyd Webber describes it as the "greatest song ever written for a musical".
"Bali Ha'i", also spelled "Bali Hai", is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. The name refers to a mystical island, visible on the horizon but not reachable, and was originally inspired by the sight of Ambae island from neighboring Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, where author James Michener was stationed in World War II.
"There Is Nothing Like a Dame" is one of the songs from the 1949 musical South Pacific. The song was written by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is widely popular in the musical arts, often sung by men's choirs.
Bloody Mary is a character in the 1946 book Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener, which was made into the 1949 musical South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and later into a film in 1958.
"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.
South Pacific is a 2001 American romantic musical television film based on the 1949 stage musical of the same name, itself an adaptation of James A. Michener's 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific.
South Pacific is a 1958 American romantic musical film based on the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, which in turn is loosely based on James A. Michener's 1947 short-story collection Tales of the South Pacific. The film, directed by Joshua Logan, stars Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr and Ray Walston in the leading roles with Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary, the part that she had played in the original stage production. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the Academy Award for Best Sound for Fred Hynes. It is set in 1943, during World War II, on an island in the South Pacific.
"I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. It was first introduced by Mary Martin in the original Broadway production and sung by Mitzi Gaynor in the 1958 film adaptation.
George Britton was an American singer, actor, and guitarist. A classical bass-baritone, he had an active performing career in operas, concerts, and musicals during the 1930s through the 1960s. As a stage performer he is best known for succeeding Roger Rico in the role of Emile de Becque in the original Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific. He portrayed the role for two years opposite Martha Wright as Nellie Forbush, and for a few weeks opposite Cloris Leachman.
"I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" is a song from the musical South Pacific, sung by Nellie Forbush, the female lead, originally played by Mary Martin in the 1949 Broadway production. Her character, fed up with a man and singing energetically in the shower, claims that she will forget about him. The song was written by Rodgers and Hammerstein in response to Martin's request. She had starred on Broadway for years and Martin suggested that she wash her hair on stage during the performance.
South Pacific (1992) is a book by American author James A. Michener.
As retold by Michener, the book is based on Rodgers and Hammerstein's award-winning musical, "South Pacific" based on Michener's 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, about the lives of officers, nurses, a French expatriate, and natives on the islands of the South Pacific during World War II. Includes discussion of the original Broadway production and its cast. Unpaginated glossy pages with some beautiful full-page color illustrations.
"Younger than Springtime" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. It has been widely recorded as a jazz standard.
The Original Soundtrack to the film South Pacific was released by RCA Victor in 1958. The film was based on the 1949 musical South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The composers had much say in this recording, with many of the songs performed by accomplished singers rather than the actors in the film. Mitzi Gaynor and Ray Walston were the only two leading performers who did their own singing in the film. The roles of Emile DeBecque, Bloody Mary and Joe Cable were sung by Giorgio Tozzi, Muriel Smith and Bill Lee, respectively.