The Story: It was pure coincidence that the same week the post for IF went up, the similarly-themed (but much better) movie Harvey would appear for today's scene.
I've wanted to do something from Harvey for a long time. The stage perennial was only brought to the screen in 1950 after the first run of the play had run its course (as was the contractual custom at the time). James Stewart—who had played the part of Elwood P. Dowd on Broadway during some of original star Frank Fay's breaks from the run—was hired to star in the film, which became a big hit.
The play has only two settings: the library of the Dowd house and an examining room of Chumley Rest sanitarium. For the movie, there was some "opening up" of locations, including this scene—which, in the play, took place in the sanitarium—which was staged in the back-alley adjacent to a bar.
In it, the recently fired examiner from Chumley Rest tries to do some basic questioning, to find the psychological underpinnings of Dowd's vision of the white rabbit named "Harvey." Of course, his attempts fail, not because Dowd is trying to put something over on him, but because he's speaking truth as he knows it. Harvey is the rabbit's name; there's no mystery to it. But, how Dowd found out his name...now that's an interesting story.
The play and film never do have an explanation for Dowd's behavior—schizophrenia, psychosis, dementia, depression (bipolar or otherwise), and DT's might all fit the bill—but he's such a honest, ingenuous person that he doesn't display any of the other symptoms of such conditions. The play would have you believe that "Harvey" is, indeed, real—a pooka (or púca in Irish) as defined by Merriam-Webster as "a
mischievous or malignant goblin or specter held in Irish folklore to
appear in the form of a horse and to haunt bogs and marshes" (and one supposes that "a mischievous specter" would be able to shift from horse to rabbit).
And Elwood? He's "mostly harmless." He's not a danger to himself or to anyone else. He's a condition without consequences. And maybe his greatest crime is that he's just a little inconvenient at times.
And that's hardly a crime.
You'll notice that the script is in an odd format—it's the editorial script (made after the fact) that studios used to keep track of individual shots and any script-changes made to the shooting script while filming was done. So, the action of each shot is all bunched up in the shot description, followed by the dialogue. And given star James Stewart's proclivities to stumble and stammer around the dialogue, this-this-this must have been a hard job. There are some inaccuracies in the placement of "um's" "yuh-yuh-yuh see's" and such, but I haven't made any changes. I didn't want to drive myself crazy and end up in a sanitarium.
The Set-up: "Dowd's the name. Elwood P." (James Stewart). Mr. Dowd would appear to be a perfectly normal gentleman of a certain age. However, his sister (Josephine Hull) and niece (Victoria Horne) are trying to have him committed. Dowd ("Elwood P."), you see, is causing a hitch with sister Veta's social plans and attracting any "gentleman callers" to her daughter Myrtle May. Elwood, it seems, scares them off. It's not that he's a monster or anything like that. It's just that he's a bit of a tippler—he drinks, and quite well—and seems to think he's attracted the attention of a Celtic pooka-spirit in the form of a 6' 3½" white rabbit...named "Harvey."
Well, as sanitarium visits go, this one went a little crazy. The seemingly benign and guileless Elwood got off scot-free, while his peripatetic sister got put in the rubber room, leading to the sacking of sanitarium Dr. Raymond Sanderson (Charles Drake), and to make things right, he and nurse Kelly (Peggy Dow) have tracked Dowd to a local drinking establishment only to find that he's drinking alone; his guest Dr. Chumley (Cecil Kellaway), who runs the sanitarium, has left for another taproom...in the company of...Harvey.
Action! ("When?")
24
INT. ALLEY EXT. CHARLIE'S BAR
(FULL SHOT)
Elwood stops near
f.g. - returns & stops near Kelly
- talk - Elwood demonstrates dance
- talks - Kelly sits on barrel at
side near f.g. - Sanderson leans
on railing nearby - Elwood starts
to sit on bench at side of alley
facing the other two -
25
CLOSE SHOT ELWOOD
As he sits on bench & leans against
brick wall - hugs himself as he
soliloquizes -
26
CLOSE UP SANDERSON & KELLY
Looking off & listening - intent -
27
CLOSE SHOT ELWOOD
Sitting on bench - talking -
smiles - leans forward - sad -
28
PART TITLE UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL /
"HARVEY" / END OF PART / 8
REEL NINE
1
PART TITLE UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL /
"HARVEY" / PART / 9
2
CLOSE UP SANDERSON & KELLY
Looking off - deeply touched -
3
MED CLOSE HIGH SHOT IN ALLEY
Sanderson & Kelly f.g., backs to
camera, facing Elwood b.g. - talk
- Elwood leans back as he explains
ELWOOD - Uh - there was a rather
interesting coincidence on that, Doctor.
One night several years ago,
ELWOOD - I was walking
early in the evening down along Fairfax
Street - uh - between Eighteenth and
Nineteenth. I --
4
CLOSE UP SANDERSON & KELLY
Looking off - he speaks gently -
SANDERSON - Yes, yes.
ELWOOD - I - I just --
5
CLOSE SHOT ELWOOD
Leaning against wall - talking -
ELWOOD Well, I - I turned around and here was
this big six-foot rabbit leaning up
against a lamp post.
ELWOOD Now, I thought
nothing of that because when you've lived
in a town as long as I've lived in this
one, you get used to the fact that
everybody knows your name.
6
CLOSE UP SANDERSON & KELLY
Listening - sympathetic -
7
CLOSE SHOT ELWOOD
Talking - points - smiles -
ELWOOD -- Well,
of course, he was not mistaken. I
think the world and all of Ed, but he was
spiffed.
ELWOOD And - and right back at
me, he said, 'What name do you like?'
ELWOOD Well, I - I didn't even have to think
twice about that. I - Harvey's always been
my favorite name. So I said to him, I said,
'Harvey.'
ELWOOD and - - th- th-
this is - this is the - the interesting
thing about the whole thing. He said,
camera pans on him
as he crosses & stands before
Elwood - questions him - gentle -
camera moves in close as he puts
one foot on bench near Elwood &
leans close as they talk - Elwood
dreamy - smiles - both look off -
startled -
SANDERSON - Tell me, Dowd, when you were a
child, didn't you have a playmate? --
someone with whom you spent many happy
hours?
SANDERSON - No.
ELWOOD - Oh, that's too bad. Uh - there
were a lot of 'em - and they circulated.
Very nice people. Won - just wonderful
people.
SANDERSON Didn't
you know somebody - sometime - someplace -
by the name of Harvey? Didn't you ever
know anybody by that name?
Words by Mary Chase and Oscar Brodney and Myles Connolly
Pictures by William H. Daniels and Henry Koster
Harvey is available on DVD from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
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