The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" | |||
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Publication date | 1939 (magazine), 1942 (book) | ||
Chronology | |||
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"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by
The name Walter Mitty and the derivative word "Mittyesque" have entered the English language,[6] denoting an ineffectual person who spends more time in heroic daydreams than paying attention to the real world, or more seriously, one who intentionally attempts to mislead or convince others that he is something that he is not.
In his autobiography My First Hundred Years in Hollywood, Warner Brothers studio head Jack L. Warner described the actor Errol Flynn in the following way: "To the Walter Mittys of the world he was all the heroes in one magnificent, sexy, animal package."
Plot
The short story deals with a vague and mild-mannered man who drives into
Analysis
Mitty is very much a Thurber protagonist, so much so that he has been called "the archetype for dreamy, hapless, Thurber Man".[4] Like many of his male characters, such as the husband in "The Unicorn in the Garden" and the physically unimposing men Thurber often paired with larger women in his cartoons, Mitty is dominated and put upon by his wife. Like the man who saw the unicorn, he escapes via fantasies. A similar dynamic is found in the Thurber story "The Curb in the Sky", in which a man starts recounting his own dreams as anecdotes as an attempt to stop his wife from constantly correcting him on the details.
In his 2001 book The Man Who Was Walter Mitty: The Life and Work of James Thurber (
Thurber's love of wordplay can be seen in his coining of several nonsense terms in the story, including the pseudo-medical
1947 film
The story was made into a 1947 film starring Danny Kaye as a young daydreaming editor of pulp magazines. The film was adapted for the screen by Ken Englund, Everett Freeman, and Philip Rapp, and directed by Norman Z. McLeod. It was filmed in Technicolor.
Thurber was repeatedly consulted about the film's script, but his suggestions were largely ignored by producer Samuel Goldwyn, who had the writers alter the original story to showcase Kaye's talents.[8] In a letter to Life magazine, Thurber expressed his considerable dissatisfaction with the script, even as Goldwyn insisted in another letter that Thurber approved of it.[9]
A 1947 radio adaptation of the film, with Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo reprising their roles, was performed on The Screen Guild Theater.[10][failed verification] Because the show was a half hour, including commercials, Kaye's extraneous routines are minimized, making it more like the original story. Even closer to the original story is a 1944 radio adaptation from This Is My Best, with Robert Benchley as the daydreaming Mitty.[10]
2013 film
Stage adaptations
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" was adapted for the stage by Thurber as part of the 1960
- Peggy Cass as Mrs. Mitty
- Tom Ewell as Walter Mitty
- Paul Ford as Mr. Pritchard-Mitford and The Leader
- John McGiver as Dr. Renshaw
- Wynne Miller as Nurse
- Peter Turgeon as Narrator, Lt. Berg, and Dr. Remington
- Charles Braswell as Dr. Benbow
The story was again adapted for the stage in 1964, this time by Joe Manchester. This musical version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty depicts Mitty at age 40, tempted by "would-be chanteuse" Willa De Wisp to leave his wife Agnes and really live "the Secret Life". It features 17 songs, with lyrics by Earl Shuman and music by Leon Carr.[15] The musical opened off-Broadway at the Players Theatre on October 26, 1964, and ran for 96 performances.[16] Time magazine referred to the musical's plot as having been "boldly extrapolated" from the short story, and called the result "a thoroughly pleasant musical evening".[17] Columbia Records issued an original cast recording on LP, also dated 1964.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Napierkowski, Marie Rose, ed. (January 2006). "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Introduction". Short Stories for Students, Vol. 1. eNotes.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- ISBN 1-883011-22-1)
- ^ James Thurber (18 March 1939). "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ a b "Thurber: Mitty and Dangerous". Today in Literature. todayinliterature.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- ISBN 1-883011-22-1)
- ISBN 978-0199567461.
- V.S. Ramachandran; Sandra Blakeslee (1988). Phantoms in the Brain. HarperCollins. pp. 85–7.
- ISBN 0-930751-13-2. Archivedfrom the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
- ^ American Film Institute. "Notes for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)". TCM Movie Database. Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 2008-04-04. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
- ^ a b "Sound file" (MP3). Archive.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
- ^ "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Official Trailer + Trailer Review : HD PLUS". 31 July 2013. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2013-08-13 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Box Office Mojo - Movie Index, A-Z". boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2022-07-03.
- ISBN 978-0-573-61668-6.
- ^ "A Thurber Carnival". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
- ISBN 0-573-68050-7. Archivedfrom the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
- ^ Lewis, David. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". The Guide to Musical Theatre. David Lewis. Archived from the original on 2010-10-06. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- ^ "Time Listings". Time. Time Inc. November 13, 1964. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
External links
- The original short story from The New Yorker
- Thurber House
- A Thurber Carnival in the Internet Broadway Database (IBDB)
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty study guide, teaching guide, themes, quotes