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Mary Chase (playwright)
Mary Chase (playwright)
Mary Chase (playwright)
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Mary Chase (née Mary Agnes McDonough Coyle; February 25, 1906 – October 20, 1981)[1][2] was an American journalist, playwright and children's novelist, known primarily for writing the 1944 Broadway play Harvey, which was adapted into the 1950 film starring James Stewart.

Key Information

She wrote fourteen plays, two children's novels, and one screenplay, and worked seven years at the Rocky Mountain News as a journalist. Three of her plays were made into Hollywood films: Sorority House (1939), Harvey (1950), and Bernardine (1957).

Early years

[edit]

Born Mary Agnes McDonough Coyle in Denver, Colorado, in 1906, Chase remained in Denver her entire life. Of Irish Catholic descent, she grew up in the working class Baker neighborhood of Denver, not far from the railroad tracks.[3]

She was greatly influenced by the Irish myths related to her by her mother, Mary Coyle, and her four uncles, Timothy, James, John, and Peter. Charlie Coyle, her older brother, had a strong impact on her sense of comedy, as she imitated his natural gifts at mimicry, one-liners, and comic routines.[4] He went on to become a circus clown.

In 1921, she graduated from West High School in Denver and spent two years studying at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Denver without getting a degree.[5]

Career

[edit]

In 1924, Chase began her career as a journalist on the Denver Times and Rocky Mountain News. She left the News (which the Denver Times was folded into in 1926) in 1931 to write plays, do freelance reporting work, and raise a family. At the News, she started writing on the society pages, but soon became a feature writer, reporting the news from a sob sister, emotional angle, becoming part of the news itself as a comic figure, "our Lil' Mary", or writing funny, flapper era pieces as part of a series of "Charlie & Mary" stories (Charlie Wunder drew the cartoons and Mary wrote the text).

In the 1920s, reporters typically worked in The Front Page tradition: putting in long hours, drinking hard, and stopping at nothing to beat the competition to a story. Running around Denver with photographer Harry Rhoads in a Model T Ford, she recalled, "In the course of a day, Harry and I might begin at the Police Court, go to a murder trial at the West Side Court, cover a party in the evening at Mrs. Crawford Hill's mansion, and rush to a shooting at 11pm."[6] She ended her journalistic career writing in the society pages where she had begun, perhaps as punishment for a practical joke that she played upon an unsuspecting editor.[7]

After leaving the News, in the 1930s Chase worked as a freelance correspondent for the United Press and the International News Service.[8] But her true love had always been the theater, so she began to write plays.

In 1936, her first play, Me Third, was produced at the Baker Federal Theater in Denver[9] as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In the spring of 1937, the play opened on Broadway, renamed as Now You've Done It, but it failed to attract positive reviews and closed down after three weeks.[10]

In 1938, she wrote Chi House, which was made into a Hollywood film by RKO Radio Pictures called Sorority House (1939), starring Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables fame.[11]

In the early 1940s, she had a series of government, volunteer, and union jobs, serving as the Information Director for the National Youth Administration in Denver, doing volunteer work for the Colorado Foundation for the Advancement of Spanish Speaking Peoples, and working as the publicity director for the Denver branch of the Teamsters Union.[12]

Harvey

[edit]

During this time, she was working on the play Harvey, which was very difficult for her to write and which went through numerous revisions, taking her two years to finish.[13] On November 1, 1944, it opened on Broadway and was a smash hit, running for four and a half years, 1,775 performances, closing on January 15, 1949.

Harvey became the 35th longest-running show (musicals and plays) in Broadway history and, if only plays are counted, the sixth longest-running Broadway play (after Life with Father, Tobacco Road, Abie's Irish Rose, Deathtrap, and Gemini). Frank Fay and James Stewart were the most famous actors to portray Elwood P. Dowd. Josephine Hull portrayed his increasingly concerned (and socially obsessed) sister Veta Simmons on Broadway originally, and won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in the film. Ruth McDevitt, Marion Lorne, Helen Hayes, and Swoosie Kurtz, among other actresses, also portrayed Veta either onstage or on television. Stewart was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the film version, but lost to Jose Ferrer for Cyrano de Bergerac.[14]

In 1945, Chase won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Harvey.[15] She is the only Coloradan to have won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, and, in a field dominated by men, was the fourth woman to win the award, after Zona Gale (1921), Susan Glaspell (1931), and Zoe Akins (1935). From 1917 to 2013, only 14 women have won the Pulitzer in Drama.[16]

Immediately after Harvey, Chase tried to repeat her success on Broadway with The Next Half Hour,[17] a play based on an autobiographical novel she had written called The Banshee. It failed after a three-week run.

In 1950, Harvey was made into a Universal Studios film, starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull, with Chase collaborating with Oscar Brodney in writing the screenplay.[18] In 1952 and 1953, she launched Bernardine and Mrs McThing on Broadway; both were moderately successful. Bernardine was made into a 1957 film starring Pat Boone and Janet Gaynor (in Gaynor's last film role). In 1958 and 1968, she wrote two children's stories, Loretta Mason Potts and The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.[19]

A 1961 production of her play, Midgie Purvis, starring Tallulah Bankhead, flopped.[9] A 1970 Harvey revival, starring James Stewart and Helen Hayes, was successful and ran for 79 performances while a 1981 musical adaptation of Harvey, entitled Say Hello to Harvey, failed after a six-week run amid negative reviews in Toronto.[20]

Personal life

[edit]

In 1928, Mary Coyle married Robert L. (Bob) Chase, a fellow reporter at the Rocky Mountain News.[21] Bob Chase was a seasoned, "hard news" reporter, having worked at the Denver Express since 1922, covering the robbery of the US Mint and fighting against the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado state and local politics. The Express eventually merged with the Rocky Mountain News and Bob Chase went on to a 47-year newspaper career at the paper, becoming managing editor and then associate editor. He was a founding member in 1936 (and named vice-president) of the Denver chapter of the American Newspaper Guild, a national labor union representing editors and reporters.[22]

In 1932, their first son, Michael, was born, followed by Colin in 1935, and then Barry Jerome (Jerry) in 1937. Michael became the director of public television in New York, Colin was a professor of English literature at the University of Toronto, and Jerry worked as a college academic counselor in New York City, and wrote the play Cinderella Wore Combat Boots.[23]

Death

[edit]

While working on the musical adaptation, Say Hello to Harvey, in 1981, Mary Coyle Chase suffered a heart attack at her home in Denver and died at the age of 75.[9][19]

Recent events

[edit]

In August 2009, Steven Spielberg announced that he was planning a remake of Harvey, with Tom Hanks or Will Smith playing Elwood Dowd.[24] By December he had abandoned the project, the main reason being the difficulty of finding a star to play the lead role. Tom Hanks was not interested in walking in the shoes of the beloved, iconic star James Stewart. Robert Downey Jr. was in the mix for several months, but he wanted changes to the script and Spielberg decided to pull the plug.

On June 14, 2012, the Roundabout Theatre Company opened its Broadway revival of Harvey to positive reviews at the Studio 54 Theatre.[25] The production starred Emmy Award winner Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), returning to Broadway after a successful run in the revival of The Normal Heart in the summer of 2011. Harvey was directed by Scott Ellis and also featured Charles Kimbrough (Emmy nominee, Murphy Brown) in the role of psychiatrist William Chumley and Jessica Hecht as Veta. Harvey ran until August 5, 2012.[26]

Honors

[edit]

Bibliography

[edit]

Film adaptations

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Mary Chase (playwright)

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Mary Coyle Chase (February 25, 1907 – October 20, 1981) was an American playwright, , and children's author renowned for her Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Harvey (1944), a whimsical tale of a man befriended by a six-foot-tall invisible named Harvey. Born in Denver, Colorado, to Irish immigrant parents Frank Bernard Coyle, a salesman, and Mary McDonough Coyle, Chase grew up immersed in Irish folklore and folktales that later influenced her writing. She graduated from West High School at age 15 and briefly attended the University of Denver and the University of Colorado at Boulder before embarking on a career in journalism. In 1924, at age 17, she joined the Rocky Mountain News as a society columnist and reporter, working there for seven years until 1931, during which she also contributed freelance articles and helped found the Denver chapter of the American Newspaper Guild. Later, she served as publicity director for the National Youth Administration's Colorado office and wrote radio scripts for the Teamsters Union from 1942 to 1944. Chase's playwriting career began in the while she balanced and family life; she married Robert Lamont Chase in 1928 and raised three sons in . Her debut play, Me Third (later retitled Now You've Done It), premiered in in 1936 and transferred to Broadway in 1937. Fame arrived with Harvey, which opened on Broadway in , ran for 1,775 performances—making it the 39th longest-running show in Broadway history at the time—and earned her the 1945 , the first such award for a resident. The play drew on , particularly the (a mischievous spirit), and was adapted into a 1950 film starring , as well as television productions in 1958 and 1972. Throughout her career, Chase wrote over a dozen plays, including the comedies Bernardine (1952, 157 performances) and Mrs. McThing (1952), the latter being one of the first successful Broadway plays aimed at children. She also authored children's novels such as Loretta Mason Potts (1958) and The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden (1968), the latter nominated for the Children's Book Award. In 1947, the awarded her an honorary Doctor of Literature degree, and posthumously, she was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame in 1985. Chase remained a lifelong resident, often writing in the evenings after family duties, until her death from a heart attack at age 74. Her works continue to be celebrated for blending humor, fantasy, and themes of kindness and escapism, particularly in the context of post-World War II America.

Early Life

Family Background and Influences

Mary Coyle Chase was born on February 25, 1907, in , , to Irish immigrant parents Frank Bernard Coyle, a salesman for a flour mill, and Mary McDonough Coyle, although some early records and biographies list the birth year as 1906, likely due to clerical errors in initial documentation. She was the youngest of four children. The family resided in modest circumstances in a working-class area of , in a seven-room . Chase's mother, drawing from her Irish heritage, frequently shared vivid folktales of banshees, leprechauns, and other mythical creatures, instilling in her a deep appreciation for fantasy and the that profoundly influenced the whimsical tone of her dramatic works. She maintained a particularly close bond with her older brother , whose lively comedic routines and spontaneous improvisations provided early lessons in humor, pacing, and performance that informed her development as a .

Education and Early Aspirations

Mary Coyle Chase demonstrated early intellectual promise, graduating from West Denver High School in 1922 at the age of fifteen. Her family's Irish heritage provided a creative foundation through folktales shared by her mother and uncles, fostering her imaginative bent from childhood. Following high school, Chase enrolled at the from 1922 to 1923, where she majored in to deepen her understanding of language and literature. She then transferred to the at for the 1923–1924 academic year, pursuing interests in and , but departed without earning a degree. As early as age seven, she had begun experimenting with writing, crafting short stories that reflected her budding aspirations to become a professional writer and . Chase's early ambitions centered on capturing human character through writing, inspired by theatrical experiences such as seeing Shakespeare's Macbeth at age eight, which ignited her fascination with drama. At seventeen, in 1924, she chose to enter the workforce as a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News to help support her family, marking a pragmatic transition from academic pursuits to practical employment. This decision bridged her student years to a career that would hone her observational skills for future playwriting endeavors.

Career Beginnings

Journalism at the

Mary Coyle Chase began her journalism career in 1924 at the age of 17, when she joined the in as a reporter, initially contributing to the society page and women's features section. Her early assignments focused on local social events, interviews with prominent residents, and human-interest stories that highlighted everyday people. She also wrote a humor column during this period, demonstrating her versatility in engaging readers with lighthearted commentary alongside more serious reporting. Over the course of her seven-year tenure from to , Chase expanded her coverage to include high-profile local events such as three-alarm fires, Denver Athletic Club prizefights, and murder trials, often infusing her pieces with a fair and objective human touch. One notable example of her determination involved disguising herself as a man to gain access to the 1928 opening of the , an event from which women reporters were excluded, underscoring the gender barriers she navigated in a male-dominated newsroom. These experiences, amid the economic hardships of the Great Depression's early years, sharpened her observational skills, narrative style, and ability to capture authentic dialogue from diverse sources. Chase's time at the News was marked by challenges typical for female journalists of the era, including restricted access to certain beats and lower compensation compared to male colleagues, which limited her bylines and fueled her drive toward more pursuits. In 1931, she left the paper to freelance and explore playwriting, building on the foundational skills she developed through her reporting.

Initial Forays into Playwriting

In 1931, Mary Chase resigned from her position at the to pursue playwriting full-time, while managing the demands of raising her young family during the . She supplemented the family's modest income through freelance writing, including radio scripts and publicity work, and began submitting her early scripts to producers in New York. Her journalistic background, with its emphasis on keen observation, informed her ability to craft realistic characters drawn from everyday life. Chase's debut play, Me Third, premiered in 1936 under the in , where it was staged at the Baker Federal Theater as a addressing the economic hardships of the era. Written while she was pregnant with her third child, the work reflected themes of social reform and the struggles of ordinary people amid widespread poverty. A revised version, retitled Now You've Done It, reached Broadway in 1937 but closed after a limited run due to mixed reviews, marking her first significant professional setback. Her second play, Chi House, followed in 1938, exploring themes of sorority life and female camaraderie through humorous lenses. The script was later adapted by RKO Radio Pictures into the 1939 film Sorority House, providing Chase with some financial relief but no immediate production. In 1941, she completed A Slip of a , a light comedy that toured regional venues, including army camps during , and garnered local attention for its witty portrayal of women's experiences, though it failed to secure a Broadway opening. These three pre-Harvey works consistently highlighted female perspectives, using humor to navigate social and personal challenges. Throughout this period, Chase endured repeated rejections from producers, which compounded the family's financial instability and tested her resolve. As a mother of three sons, she wrote in fragmented bursts—often while her children napped or played outdoors—balancing household chores with creative output amid economic uncertainty. These early efforts, though not commercially triumphant, honed her voice in comedic drama centered on resilient women.

Major Works and Success

Harvey: Creation and Impact

Mary Chase began writing Harvey in 1942, drawing inspiration from a dream in which a psychiatrist was pursued by a giant white rabbit, as well as Irish folklore about the pooka—a mischievous spirit often appearing as an animal and visible only to those who believe in it. Influenced by stories from her Irish uncles, Chase crafted the play over two years, working evenings after family responsibilities and rewriting the script more than 50 times. The plot centers on Elwood P. Dowd, a kind-hearted but eccentric man who insists on introducing his invisible six-foot-tall rabbit companion, Harvey, to everyone he meets, leading his sister Veta to seek psychiatric help for him; through this, the story explores themes of kindness, the blurred line between sanity and imagination, and the value of gentle eccentricity in a judgmental world. Written amid World War II, Chase aimed to provide escapism and comfort, particularly to help a war-widowed neighbor find laughter amid grief. Harvey premiered on Broadway on November 1, 1944, at the 48th Street Theatre, directed by and produced by Brock Pemberton, with Frank Fay starring as Elwood P. Dowd and as Veta Simmons. The production ran for 1,775 performances, closing on January 15, 1949, and becoming one of the longest-running Broadway shows of its era. It won the 1945 , recognizing its portrayal of and making Chase the fourth woman to receive the award in that category. Critics praised the play's seamless blend of fantasy and , highlighting its humorous yet poignant examination of human connection and perceptions. The play's immediate cultural impact stemmed from its appeal as wartime , offering audiences a whimsical diversion from the era's harsh realities while subtly addressing themes of loss, , and the redemptive power of imagination. Its enduring legacy lies in these themes, which resonate in discussions of and societal norms around eccentricity, though Chase's later works failed to achieve similar success.

Other Notable Plays and Writings

Following the monumental success of Harvey, Mary Chase continued to produce works infused with her signature blend of fantasy, humor, and familial tension, though her Broadway output met with varying degrees of reception as theatrical tastes evolved toward more realist and experimental forms in the post-war era. Her plays often explored the whimsical intersections of everyday life and the , emphasizing how could challenge rigid social norms and family expectations. One of her most enduring post-Harvey successes was Mrs. McThing (1952), a that premiered on Broadway at the Theatre (now ) on February 20, 1952, and ran for 352 performances before closing on January 10, 1953. The play centers on the domineering Mary Larue, a wealthy widow whose overprotective love drives her young son Howay to rebel by joining a of criminals; in a fantastical twist, Mary is transformed into the witch-like Mrs. McThing by a vengeful force, forcing her to confront her own harsh alter ego and the consequences of her smothering . Starring such notables as as Howay and Julian Shelley as the gangster leader, the production highlighted Chase's knack for blending moral allegory with lighthearted absurdity, earning praise for its inventive staging and thematic depth on maternal dynamics. In 1952, Chase also debuted Bernardine, a comedic exploration of adolescent rebellion and romance that opened at the on October 16, 1952, and enjoyed a solid run of 157 performances until February 28, 1953. Set among a group of mischievous high school boys in a rural clubhouse—reminiscent of "nice " who indulge in pranks, hot rods, and budding crushes—the story follows leader Johnnie's turbulent romance with Joanie, whose influential father disapproves, while the gang navigates and parental interference. Adapted into a 1957 starring and Terry Moore, Bernardine captured Chase's humorous take on the chaos of teenage family life and the redemptive power of youthful fantasy, though it received mixed reviews for its episodic structure. Chase's later stage works increasingly leaned into regional productions and shorter Broadway engagements, reflecting a shift in audience preferences away from her fantastical style. Midgie Purvis (1961), which premiered at the Theatre on February 9, 1961, and closed after 17 performances, featured as the eccentric socialite Midgie Purvis, a wealthy who invents an invisible poodle named Commander to retaliate against her overbearing nephew and his wife, ultimately affirming the value of personal whimsy in strained family relations. That same year, The Prize Play, a satirical skit viewed through a child's imagination, parodied adult mystery tropes with elements of gangsters, femme fatales, and absurd heroism, but it remained a minor, non-Broadway piece. Her final major play, (1969), adapted from her own novel and focusing on children digging a magical tunnel to reunite with a lost sibling amid family secrets, saw limited staging, primarily in regional theaters. Over her career, Chase penned 14 plays in total, many echoing Harvey's themes of fantasy as a mechanism for familial discord and societal pressures, yet her Broadway triumphs waned as the 1950s and 1960s favored edgier, less whimsical narratives. Beyond the stage, Chase ventured into children's literature with two novels that extended her whimsical moralism into prose. Loretta Mason Potts (1958), published by Houghton Mifflin, follows ten-year-old Colin Mason as he uncovers his family's hidden eldest daughter, Loretta—a rude, glum who leads him through a secret tunnel to a enchanted where she reigns as a beloved figure, blending adventure with lessons on sibling bonds and hidden truths. Her second novel, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden (1968; later republished as The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the ), issued by Knopf, depicts nine-year-old troublemaker entering the eerie Messerman mansion, where she encounters ghostly sisters who use magic selfishly; through fright and redemption, Maureen learns and the perils of unchecked wickedness in legacies. These works, like her plays, prioritized imaginative to impart ethical insights on relationships, cementing Chase's legacy in youthful fantasy amid her broader oeuvre of 14 plays and two novels.

Personal Life

Marriage and Family

Mary Coyle married Robert Lamont Chase, a fellow reporter at the , on June 7, 1928. The couple met through their professional connections at the newspaper, where Robert specialized in hard news reporting and later advanced to the role of associate editor. Their partnership provided a stable foundation, with Robert offering consistent encouragement for Mary's creative pursuits amid her demanding schedule as a and emerging . The Chases raised three sons: Michael Lamont, born in 1932; Colin Robert, born in 1935; and Barry Jerome (known as Jerry), born in 1937. Their sons later pursued creative and academic paths: Michael in public television documentaries, Colin as an English professor at the , and Jerry as an actor and composer. The family resided in a home at 505 Circle Drive in Denver's Country Club neighborhood, where they established a close-knit domestic life centered on the children's upbringing and Mary's evolving career. Robert's night shifts at the newspaper enabled Mary to write after putting the boys to bed, often using improvised setups like a miniature stage made from thread spools to develop her scripts. This arrangement highlighted Robert's supportive involvement in childcare, allowing Mary to navigate the demands of motherhood while completing early works, such as her first play Me Third, around the time of her third son's birth. Mary's family life deeply intersected with her creative process, as she drew inspiration from her sons' perspectives to infuse whimsy and innocence into her stories. For instance, her children's novels, including Loretta Mason Potts (1958), reflected everyday family dynamics and youthful imagination, mirroring the playful environment she cultivated at home. The family's embrace of Mary's Irish Catholic heritage—rooted in her mother's immigrant —further shaped thematic elements in her plays, such as the mythical in Harvey, blending domestic normalcy with fantastical . This balance of familial responsibilities and artistic output underscored Mary's ability to transform personal experiences into enduring narratives.

Challenges and Daily Life

During the 1940s and 1950s, Mary Coyle Chase encountered significant gender discrimination in the male-dominated theater industry, where female playwrights were often met with skepticism regarding their ability to craft structured narratives suitable for Broadway. Renowned director , who collaborated with her on Harvey, publicly questioned how a like Chase could succeed in playwriting, reflecting broader doubts about women's creative capabilities in the era. Such biases were compounded by societal pressures for women to prioritize over professional ambitions, limiting opportunities for women in theater to just a handful of successful figures during the postwar years. Financial strains marked Chase's transition to full-time playwriting, as she relied heavily on her husband Robert Chase's income as a editor after leaving her reporting job in 1931 to pursue freelance writing, playwriting, and life. Early ventures, such as her 1937 Broadway debut Now You've Done It, left her in debt after borrowing money for the New York trip, forcing a return to amid economic hardship during the . Postpartum challenges intensified these difficulties; after the birth of her third child in the late 1930s, Chase wrote her next play, Sorority House, while caring for the infant, selling the rights to out of financial necessity rather than holding out for a stage production. Chase's daily routines revolved around balancing household duties with writing, often composing at her kitchen table using a makeshift stage of thread spools to visualize scenes after putting her young children to bed. She employed humor as a coping mechanism, infusing her work with whimsical elements drawn from to navigate personal and wartime stresses, viewing as "sacred and necessary" for emotional healing. Minor issues, including from overwork and later a drinking problem triggered by the pressures of sudden fame after Harvey's 1944 success, occasionally disrupted her productivity. Through informal networks of fellow and journalists in , Chase quietly advocated for women's creative rights by sharing experiences of overcoming gender barriers in , though she avoided formal . Her husband's encouragement served as a key buffer against these obstacles, enabling her to persist in her craft despite the era's constraints.

Death and Legacy

Final Years and Death

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Mary Chase remained active in playwriting despite the challenges of later life, completing works such as the comedy Cocktails with Mimi in 1974, which received regional productions including at the Walla Walla Little Theatre. She also finished The Terrible Tattoo Parlor, a that was published posthumously by Dramatists Play Service in 1981. At the time of her death, Chase was engaged in adapting her Pulitzer Prize-winning play Harvey into a musical titled Say Hello to Harvey, which premiered in in September 1981 with in the lead role but closed after six weeks following negative reviews. Chase's health declined in her final years due to heart problems, exacerbated by the demands of family life as she cared for her husband, Robert L. Chase, who was in his mid-70s. On October 20, 1981, she suffered a fatal heart attack at her home in Denver, Colorado, at the age of 74. She was buried at in . In reflections on her career, Chase expressed pride in her diverse body of work but noted a bittersweet sense that Harvey had overshadowed her other contributions to theater and .

Honors and Awards

Mary Chase's most prestigious recognition came in 1945 when she won the for her play Harvey, awarded by for its exemplary representation of American life and the educational power of . This marked her as the fourth woman to receive the honor and served as the primary catalyst for her national prominence in theater. Earlier in her career, Chase earned regional honors in , including the 1944 William McLeod Raine Award from the Colorado Authors' League, which celebrated her emerging contributions as a . In 1947, the recognized her achievements by granting an Honorary Doctorate of Letters. Local tributes further underscored her impact, such as a 1955 event at the Bonfils Theater in , where, after a performance of Harvey, actor surprised the audience by emerging from the back row to honor her. Chase received no further major national awards after the , reflecting broader systemic biases against women playwrights in American theater during that era, where opportunities and recognitions were disproportionately limited despite her proven talent. Posthumously, she was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame in , acknowledging her enduring legacy in the arts.

Recent Productions and Revivals

A notable revival of Harvey occurred on Broadway in 2012, directed by and starring as Elwood P. Dowd, with in the cast, running from June 14 to August 5 at Studio 54. The production was praised for its fresh interpretation of the character's eccentricity, leveraging Parsons' comedic timing to highlight themes of acceptance in a modern context. Following 2020, Harvey has seen continued activity in regional and educational theaters, underscoring its enduring appeal. In March 2024, the South Arkansas Arts Center Community Theatre staged the play from March 1–3 and 7–9, directed by a local team emphasizing community engagement. Lyon College Theatre presented a fall production announced in October 2024, focusing on the play's comedic exploration of family dynamics. For 2025, productions included Mask & Mirror Community Theatre's run from November 7–23 in Beaverton, Oregon, and Sussex County Community College's performances from November 6–15 in Newton, New Jersey, both highlighting the script's timeless humor. Additionally, Salisbury High School mounted the play November 6–9, 2025, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as a high school production celebrating Chase's Pulitzer-winning work. Other November 2025 productions included Wakulla High School's staging from November 14–16 in Crawfordville, Florida, and Duncanville Community Theatre's run through November 22 in Duncanville, Texas. Regional revivals in recent years have increasingly emphasized Harvey's themes of mental health and societal perceptions of nonconformity. Similarly, a January 2025 script reading at Syracuse Stage connected the 1940s satire to modern issues in treatment and gender norms. In , Steven planned an unproduced remake of Harvey, adapting Mary Chase's play for a contemporary setting with a script by , but the project did not proceed to production. Scholarly interest in Chase has grown, exemplified by the 2020 biography Pulling Harvey Out of Her Hat: The Amazing Story of Mary Coyle Chase by Stephen M. Silverman, which details her career as a pioneering female playwright and has contributed to renewed appreciation of her contributions to American theater.

Complete Works

Bibliography of Plays and Books

Mary Chase's oeuvre includes a series of plays, two children's novels, and contributions to , spanning from her early career in through the . The following is a chronological bibliography of her published plays and books, drawn from theatrical databases and author archives.

Plays

  • Me Third (1936)
  • Chi House (1938)
  • Slip of a (1941)
  • Harvey (1944)
  • The Next Half Hour (1945)
  • Bernardine (1952)
  • Mrs. McThing (1952)
  • (1954)
  • Midgie Purvis (1961)
  • The Prize Play (1961)
  • The Dog Sitters (1963)
  • (1969)
  • Cocktails With Mimi (1974)
  • The Terrible Tattoo Parlor (1981)

Books

  • Loretta Mason Potts (1958)
  • The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden (1968, nominated for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award; reissued 2005 as The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House)

Screenplay Contributions

  • Harvey (1950, co-screenplay with Oscar Brodney, based on her play)
During her early career as a for the from 1924 to 1931, Chase contributed articles and short features to the publication, though none were compiled into a formal collection.

Film and Stage Adaptations

Mary Chase's works saw several adaptations to and non-Broadway productions, extending the reach of her whimsical and socially observant narratives beyond their original theatrical runs. Her earliest notable screen adaptation was Sorority House (1939), based on her play Chi House, which explores the challenges faced by a working-class student navigating sorority life at a small . Directed by with a screenplay by , the low-budget RKO production starred as the protagonist Alice Fisher, alongside James Ellison and , blending comedy and drama to highlight themes of class disparity and in collegiate settings. Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Harvey (1944) achieved its most prominent film adaptation in 1950, directed by for Universal-International and faithfully capturing the story of Elwood P. Dowd's friendship with an invisible six-foot-tall rabbit. Starring as Dowd and as his sister Veta, the film emphasized the play's blend of fantasy and gentle satire on societal norms, earning widespread acclaim for its heartfelt portrayal of eccentricity and acceptance. The adaptation received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, for Stewart, Best Supporting Actress for Hull (which she won), and Best Adapted Screenplay for Oscar Brodney and Chase herself. The play was also adapted for television in 1958 and 1972. Another of Chase's plays, Bernardine (1952), was adapted into a 1957 by 20th Century Fox, directed by Henry Levin and marking singer Pat Boone's feature debut. The production starred Boone alongside Terry Moore, , and in her final screen role, transforming the original comedy about teenagers idolizing a fictional pin-up girl into a lighthearted musical that reflected youth culture, romance, and rebellion against adult expectations. While not as critically acclaimed as Harvey, the film highlighted Chase's knack for capturing adolescent whimsy through sequences. Beyond these films, Chase's plays inspired various non-Broadway stage adaptations, particularly regional and touring productions of Harvey, which sustained the work's popularity through national tours in the 1970s and numerous community theater revivals emphasizing its timeless humor and emotional depth. Limited broadcasts of stage revivals occurred sporadically after 2012, without leading to widespread additional screen versions.

References

  1. https://www.historymatterscelebratingwomensplaysofthepast.org/playwrights/view/Mary-Chase
  2. https://www.bard.org/study-guides/about-the-playwright-harvey/
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/23/obituaries/mary-chase-74-playwright-who-wrote-harvey-dead.html
  4. https://www.coloradoauthors.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=452810&module_id=327825&sl=1346547780
  5. https://www.cogreatwomen.org/project/mary-coyle-chase/
  6. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/chase-mary-coyle-1907-1981
  7. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/drama-and-theater-arts/mary-chase
  8. https://www.pbs.org/video/mary-chase-from-housewife-to-pulitzer-prize-lxtywk/
  9. https://www.irishamerica.com/2016/10/mary-chase-the-woman-behind-harvey/
  10. https://vwpa.gmu.edu/audiocollection/static/data/C0153_B016Chase_mc/C0153_B016Chase_mc.pdf
  11. https://newyorktheater.me/2020/09/24/book-review-pulling-harvey-out-of-her-hat-the-amazing-story-of-mary-coyle-chase/
  12. https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/improbable-life-mary-chase/
  13. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/musftpplaybills-pdf.200221122
  14. https://www.walnutstreettheatre.org/season/pdf/Harvey_study_guide.v3.pdf
  15. https://www.nytimes.com/1938/08/24/archives/screen-news-here-and-in-hollywood-deanna-durbin-to-be-starred-by.html
  16. http://www.purplerosetheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/158899-HARVEY-Low-Res.pdf
  17. https://www.historymatterscelebratingwomensplaysofthepast.org/plays/view/Harvey/
  18. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/harvey-1593
  19. https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/mary-chase
  20. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/mrs-mcthing-2178
  21. https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1351&context=st_programs
  22. https://www.nytimes.com/1952/03/02/archives/authentic-original-mrs-mcthing-provides-delightful-fable.html
  23. https://playbill.com/production/bernardine-playhouse-theatre-vault-0000009379
  24. https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=1763
  25. https://playbill.com/production/midgie-purvis-martin-beck-theatre-vault-0000008255
  26. https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=1641
  27. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26171915-the-prize-play
  28. https://books.google.com/books/about/Loretta_Mason_Potts.html?id=_R_OngEACAAJ
  29. https://www.nyrb.com/products/loretta-mason-potts-paperback
  30. https://archives.denverlibrary.org/repositories/3/resources/8374
  31. https://newspaperarchive.com/walla-walla-union-bulletin-sep-28-1975-p-27/
  32. https://www.coloradoauthors.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=452810&module_id=327825
  33. https://www.denverpost.com/2005/05/19/10-unforgettable-events-at-bonfils/
  34. https://www.americantheatre.org/2009/11/01/not-there-yet/
  35. https://playbill.com/article/harvey-starring-jim-parsons-ends-limited-broadway-run-aug-5-with-benefit-performance-com-196309
  36. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/theater/reviews/harvey-with-jim-parsons-at-studio-54.html
  37. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/harvey-theater-review-337880/
  38. https://saac-arts.org/harvey-cast/
  39. https://www.lyon.edu/news/posts/lyon-college-theatre-to-present-harvey-by-mary-chase
  40. https://www.maskandmirror.com/harvey.html
  41. https://www.sussex.edu/community/performing-arts-center-shows/
  42. https://www.lvpnews.com/20251107/harvey-opens-nov-6-at-salisbury-high-school-2/
  43. https://www.chronicleonline.com/weeklies/wakulla_news/wakulla-high-school-theatre-presenting-the-classic-comedy-harvey-this-weekend-only/article_e578afa8-d179-533b-9698-f419eaa55205.html
  44. https://www.focusdailynews.com/harvey-onstage-at-duncanville-community-theatre/
  45. https://dailyorange.com/2025/01/harvey-script-reading-1940s-satire/
  46. https://variety.com/2009/film/markets-festivals/spielberg-hops-to-harvey-remake-1118006812/
  47. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/03/spielberg-harvey-remake
  48. https://www.amazon.com/Pulling-Harvey-Out-Her-Hat/dp/1538131684
  49. https://www.broadwayworld.com/books/Pulling-Harvey-Out-of-Her-HatThe-Amazing-Story-of-Mary-Coyle-Chase-2020
  50. https://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsC/chase-mary.php
  51. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/19347/harvey
  52. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv53706
  53. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031955/
  54. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1391/sorority-house
  55. https://cometoverhollywood.com/2020/09/10/watching-1939-sorority-house-1939/
  56. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042546/
  57. https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/27603
  58. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050184/
  59. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/68483/bernardine
  60. https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/52104
  61. https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=1800
  62. https://www.shawfest.com/assets/10PDF/Shaw_Festival_Study_Guide_Harvey.pdf
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