Yellow Jack | |
---|---|
Written by | Sidney Howard Paul de Kruif (collaborator) |
Date premiered | March 6, 1934 |
Original language | English |
Subject | Major Walter Reed of the U.S. Army worked to diagnose and treat yellow fever (called "yellow jack") in Cuba in 1898–1900 |
Genre | Drama |
Setting | New York today, London in January 1929, West Africa in June 1927, Cuba in 1900, and London in September 1929 |
Yellow Jack is a 1934 docudrama play starring James Stewart and produced by Guthrie McClintic that was later adapted into a 1938 Hollywood movie by the same title. Both were co-written by Sidney Howard and Paul de Kruif (the former a Pulitzer- and Oscar-winning playwright and screenwriter; the latter a well-known microbiologist and author). The play is the work of Sidney Howard and is based on a chapter in Paul de Kruif's 1927 book Microbe Hunters. [1]
James Stewart in his first dramatic role stars as Pvt. John O'Hara, a role reprised by Robert Montgomery in the 1938 film. Stewart later stated this role convinced him to continue his acting career during a time he recalled that "From 1932 through 1934...I'd only worked three months. Every play I got into folded." [2] The experience led him to stay with acting and he first entered movies later that year in The Murder Man . Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld while covering the play for the New York Herald Tribune drew his first of 13 drawings (and only one from a play) he made over the course of Stewart's career. [3]
The play opened at the opulent Martin Beck Theatre on March 6, 1934, and ran for 79 performances. The Martin Beck was renamed in 2003 for Al Hirschfeld, who drew the caricature for Yellow Jack. Prior to its debut, Herman Bernstein's Jewish Daily Bulletin covered the play, attesting that it did not contain anti-semitic elements. [4]
After the Spanish–American War, in which more U. S. soldiers were killed by yellow fever (known as Yellow Jack) than in battle, the War Department sent a medical commission to Cuba to find, if possible, the cause and cure of this deadly tropical disease. The commission was headed by Dr. Walter Reed. With him was Dr. James Carroll. In Cuba they found Dr. Jesse Lazear, European-trained microbiologist, and Cuban Dr. Aristides Agramonte.
Limited in its experiments by the fact that animals are immune to Yellow Jack and embroiled in government interference, Reed decides that the only way to test the theory is to expose his own men to the disease. O'Hara volunteers to allow Dr. Reed to experiment on him.
Debuting on March 6, 1934, the Broadway production ran through May for a modest 79 performances. It generally received positive reviews, but the subject had limited popular appeal. [5] Sam Levene was the only member of the original 1934 Broadway production of the play Yellow Jack to appear in the 1938 film of the same name.
PFC Martin Ritt directed a Broadway production of Yellow Jack presented on April 7, 1944, at the 44th Street Theatre. A single performance for members of the U.S. armed services, the abbreviated version of the play featured actors from the simultaneous Broadway production of Winged Victory , also directed by Ritt. The cast—nearly all of them active-duty military—included John Forsythe (O'Hara), Gary Merrill (Walter Reed), Grant Richards (Aristides Agramonte), Philip Bourneuf (Dr. Carlos Finlay), George Reeves (James Carroll) and Whit Bissell (Brinkerhof). [6]
In 1947 New York's American Repertory Theatre revived Yellow Jack for a four-week run at the International Theatre. [7]
Yellow Jack was adapted for an episode of the ABC television series Celanese Theatre , broadcast May 28, 1952. Macdonald Carey, Walter Abel and Sarah Churchill starred; Alex Segal directed. [8] [9] The play was adapted for an episode of the NBC–TV series Producers' Showcase , broadcast January 10, 1955, directed by Delbert Mann and starring Jackie Cooper and Broderick Crawford. [10] [11]
The Sunshine Boys is an original two-act play written by Neil Simon that premiered December 20, 1972 on Broadway starring Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis and later adapted for film and television.
Walter Reed was a U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species rather than by direct contact. This insight gave impetus to the new fields of epidemiology and biomedicine, and most immediately allowed the resumption and completion of work on the Panama Canal (1904–1914) by the United States. Reed followed work started by Finlay and directed by George Miller Sternberg, who has been called the "first U.S. bacteriologist".
Martin Ritt was an American director, producer, and actor, active in film, theatre and television. He was known mainly as an auteur of socially-conscious dramas and literary adaptations, described by Stanley Kauffmann as "one of the most underrated American directors, superbly competent and quietly imaginative."
The Walter Reed Medal may refer to a Congressional Gold Medal awarded in 1929, or a medal currently awarded by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. There have also been a number of privately issued commemorative medals in honor of Walter Reed.
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Sam Levene was an American Broadway, films, radio, and television actor and director. In a career spanning over five decades, he appeared in over 50 comedy and drama theatrical stage productions. He also acted in over 50 films across the United States and abroad.
Paul Henry de Kruif was an American microbiologist and writer. Publishing as Paul de Kruif, he is known for his 1926 book, Microbe Hunters. This book was not only a bestseller for a lengthy period after publication, but has remained high on lists of recommended reading for science and has been an inspiration for many aspiring physicians and scientists.
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Jesse William Lazear was an American physician, best known for deliberately allowing a mosquito to bite him to prove it was how yellow fever was transmitted. His hypothesis was correct and he died 17 days after the transmission.
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Aristides Agramonte y Simoni was a Cuban American physician, pathologist and bacteriologist with expertise in tropical medicine. In 1898 George Miller Sternberg appointed him as an Acting Assistant Surgeon in the U.S. Army and sent him to Cuba to study a yellow fever outbreak. He later served on the Yellow Fever Commission, a U.S. Army Commission led by Walter Reed which examined the transmission of yellow fever.
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, or simply How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, is a seasonal musical stage adaptation of the 1957 Dr. Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Versions of the musical have been produced since the 1990s, including a Broadway production that ran during two Christmas seasons.
Major James Carroll was a US Army physician.
Yellow Jack is a 1938 film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer based on the 1934 play Yellow Jack. Both were co-written by Sidney Howard and Paul de Kruif.
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Winged Victory is a 1943 play by Moss Hart, created and produced by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II as a morale booster and as a fundraiser for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. Hart adapted the play for a 1944 motion picture directed by George Cukor.
Walter Myers BSc, MA, MB BChir, MRCS, LRCP was a British physician, toxicologist and parasitologist who died of yellow fever aged 28 while studying the disease in Brazil.
Herbert Durham DSc (Cantab), MB, BC, FRCS, ARPS was a British physician and distinguished scientist.
The Yellow Fever Commission was a research team of the United States Army which researched treatment for yellow fever.