Elwood P. Dowd And His Friend, Harvey, Celebrate Their 75th Anniversary In 2025

Elwood P. Dowd is about to begin another busy day with his friend, Harvey, an invisible rabbit who stands six feet, three inches tall.   The fact that his day will be full is of major interest to his sister, Veta Louise Simmons, who is planning a gathering at their home for her daughter, Myrtle Mae, to “introduce” her to polite society.   Having an invisible rabbit interrupting the festivities could be disastrous.

 

As soon as Elwood departs, Veta Louise is on the phone to her friend, Judge Omar Gaffney, to give him the head’s up that her brother is out and about.   The prearranged plan is to have Elwood’s movements tracked to ensure that he is nowhere near the family home when Myrtle Mae’s big event takes place.

The best laid plans of mice and men, it is said, sometimes go astray.  In this case, Gaffney’s man, who has been assigned to keep an eye on Elwood, slips and falls on a wet floor and is out of action.   Meanwhile, Elwood and Harvey arrive at Charlie’s, one of his favorite watering holes, and he soon gets wind of Veta Louise’s party plans.

Without giving it a second thought, Elwood decides to head back home, with Harvey in tow, and attend his niece’s party.  Being a gentle man, a patient man and one known for his courtesy and manners, Elwood proceeds to introduce Harvey to the various ladies of society attending the gathering.  One by one, taking the time, being so polite … and one by one they scurry out the door.   

Myrtle Mae’s chances of attracting a husband have been ruined and her mother is having none of it any longer.   It is time for action and Veta Louise takes Elwood — brother or no brother — to Chumley’s Rest to have him committed.  

In another one of those best laid plans regarding mice and men, during the confusion of having Elwood committed Veta Louise is diagnosed by Dr. Sanderson as the crazy one and has her locked up instead.   Meanwhile, during the chaos, Elwood continues to introduce Harvey to anyone he meets, who pay him no notice.

Elwood wanders outside and encounters Mrs. Chumley and being very polite, asks her if she’d like to join him for a drink.   She defers and Elwood asks her, if she sees Harvey, to send him along.   He tells her that Harvey is a Pooka.

The confused Mrs. Chumley goes inside and relates the story to her husband and it is at that moment the mix-up is realized.   Sanderson is fired, Veta Louise is sent home and attendant Marvin Wilson is dispatched to track down Elwood.

Once at home and calmed down, Veta Louise decides that she is going to sue Dr. Chumley for the abuse and embarrassment that his staff inflicted upon her.   It is about this time that Wilson arrives looking for Elwood, but instead comes face to face with Myrtle Mae … there is an instant attraction.   Soon Chumley shows up, dispatches Wilson to check out the train station as he tries his best to calm Veta Louise down.  The phone rings, it’s Elwood, who is at Charlie’s and is looking for Harvey.  Chumley immediately heads over to Charlie’s.

Sometime later, Wilson returns to the sanitarium and finds both Dr. Sanderson and Nurse Kelly there, but no Chumley.   Worried, the trio head over to Charlie’s and find Elwood there, who calmly explains that Chumley, Harvey and himself had several rounds of drinks and then Chumley and Harvey left together.

Wilson goes in pursuit, while Sanderson and Kelly remain with Elwood.   A nice conversation (backstory on how Elwood met Harvey) ensues and eventually Elwood persuades the couple to dance and enjoy the evening.  Just when all seems right with the world, Wilson returns with the police and Elwood is taken back to Chumley’s Rest.

No sooner do Wilson and Elwood arrive at the sanitarium, when Chumley, to everyone’s surprise, wants a private meeting with Elwood.   In his office, Dr. Chumley tells Elwood that he also sees Harvey and Elwood proceeds to share with the doctor details about the Pooka. 

Among the things that Harvey, the Pooka, can do is stop time, send you anywhere you like and then bring you back without time passing.   Chumley fantasizes about spending two weeks in Akron with the woman of his dreams.

The lobby suddenly fills up as Veta Louise, Judge Gaffney and Myrtle Mae, Sanderson is rehired and a compromise is reached.   Dr. Sanderson will inject Elwood with serum 977 — which will render Elwood harmless, normal and without the ability to see Harvey.

Sanderson, Nurse Kelly and Elwood are shuffled off to Sanderson’s office for the procedure to take place.  The cab driver comes in and demands to be paid, comments that he brings loons up to Chumley’s Rest all the time for the treatment and then takes mindless zombies back to the city.   

Veta Louise suddenly finds her missing coin purse and realizes that Harvey has given her a sign … she desperately tries to stop Dr. Sanderson from giving serum 977 to Elwood, but is too late?

She is in time to stop Sanderson.   Elwood, preparing to leave, notices that Myrtle Mae and his nemesis, Marvin Wilson, are in love and invites him over for dinner the next night.  Outside he spots Harvey on the porch swing, who tells him that he will be remaining with Dr. Chumley to facilitate a visit to Akron.

A little sad, Elwood P. Dowd leaves Harvey behind and exits the grounds of the sanitarium.   The gate is closed by the guard and then just moments later it reopens.  Pookas, remember, can stop time, so Dr. Chumley had his two weeks in Akron and Harvey, preferring Elwood, is also ready to depart Chumley’s Rest. 

    Production Credits

Director: Henry Koster, Assistant Director: Frank Shaw, Producer: John Beck, Writer: Mary Coyle Chase, Oscar Brodney, Myles Connonly (contributor), Story: Mary Coyle Chase, Cinematography: William Daniels, Editor: Ralph Dawson, Sound: Leslie I. Carey, Joe Lapis, Art Director: Bernard Herzbrun, Nathan Juran, Production Manager: Howard Christie, Makeup: Bud Westmore, Music Composer: Frank Skinner, Hair Styles: Joan St. Oegger, Constume Designer: Orry-Kelly, Script Supervisor: Nagene Searle 

Chase Writes It, Pemberton Produces It ... Pulitzer Prize   

Mary Coyle Chase was a newspaper reporter out in Denver.   She was happily married to Bob Chase, who was also a newspaper reporter at the Rocky Mountain News … together they had three boys.   Writing was in her blood.

In 1943 she sent a draft version of a stage play she had written titled “Harvey” to Broadway producer Brock Pemberton, who also had his beginnings as a reporter for the Emporia Gazette, which eventually led to the drama section of The New York Times.   By the 1920s he was producing plays and had become quite good at it … so influential in fact that he changed the name of the “Antoinette Perry Award” to simply Tony Awards and it stuck.

Pemberton liked what Chase had fashioned and spent an entire year corresponding with her to work out the rough edges, fixing this and that … and making “Harvey” just perfect.

There were just two minor things that had to be worked out once Pemberton felt that Chase’s work was ready for the Great White Way.   He brought in veteran Antoinette Perry (remember, Tony Awards named after her, so she is tops) to direct the production.  

Pemberton kept telling the New York press that the play had a new name.   First, he changed Chase’s title from “Harvey” to “The White Rabbit.”   Then a little while later he switched out “The White Rabbit” for “The Pooka.”  And yes, you guessed it, back to “Harvey.” 

With the cast in place, including Frank Fay as Elwood P. Dowd, and the question of the title settled, Pemberton still had one nagging little concern.  One final piece to the puzzle needed to be put in its proper place, so he took the company out of town and held preview sessions in Boston.

He invested $650 in a white rabbit suit and settled the final question … how would the audience react at a crucial point in the play with the appearance of a white rabbit or no white rabbit on stage.  That was the only time the white rabbit suit was used … no rabbit!! 

Chase’s play opens at the 4th Street Theatre on Nov. 1, 1944 and runs for four solid years … 1,775 performances and then goes on the road.  As a bonus Chase won the Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama.

Welcome to Hollywood  

Hello Hollywood!   You’ve got a monster Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play, so the next step is to adapt it for the screen … let the masses in on the fantasy action of Edward P. Dowd and his buddy, Harvey, the white rabbit; the Pooka.'

This “next step” happens in June of 1947 when it is announced that Universal-International has purchased the screen rights for an unprecedented $1,000,000.   There are a few conditions attached to this blockbuster deal.   Among them, there will be no movie produced until the play has run its course, which means this won’t likely be until 1950.  Chase will also be involved in the screen adaptation.  

Universal’s General Manager, John Beck, is given the production reins … he will be busy with production assignments for The Countess of Monte Cristo, One Touch of Venus, Family Honeymoon and Kill the Umpire before Harvey gets the green-light.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, in July of 1947, one month after the deal is signed with Universal, James Stewart takes over the role of Edward P. Dowd for a six-week stint as Frank Fay takes a much-needed vacation.   Maybe a little like Wally Pipp taking the day off with Lou Gehrig as his replacement … we all know how that worked out.

Drama critic Florence Fisher Parry is having done of it.  She begins her onslaught with the backstory of Fay and his former wife Barbara Stanwyck, who stuck by Fay as long as she could when his film career went into a death spiral.   She relates how three years ago the miracle happened with his Broadway performance in “Harvey” and that Fay is “our greatest living comedian.”  She cites numerous examples of how he brought nuance to the role, while his replacement, Jimmy Stewart … “in every role he plays Jimmy Stewart.”

She says, “This to me puts the finger on the very spot of Hollywood’s greatest weakness.”  Continuing, “Until our motion picture producers rid themselves of this ‘marquee name’ complex and start to give us great screen productions the casts of which will be filled by those best qualified to enact them, motion pictures will remain the juvenile product that they are as compared with the adult entertainment which the theater offers us.”   Ouch!

Did Parry make the connection as early as July of 1947 that the fix was in?   Film deal signed in June and suddenly Jimmy Stewart is getting a Broadway tryout as Elwood P. Dowd in July.   It was just a coincidence … right?

Skip ahead to the summer of 1949 and Frank Fay is starring in a touring company production of Harvey, which just happens to be booked into venues up and down the state of California, home to Universal-International.  Remember, no film until the play runs its course.

Goodbye Frank Fay ... Hello Jimmy Stewart

That same summer Stewart and June Allyson star in the hit film, The Stratton Story.  In August he marries Gloria Hatrick (they will remain together until her death in 1994) and by September — after Fay had just left the state with the touring company — it is announced that Stewart is in final negotiations with Universal-International to star in Harvey.  In October the deal is done.

In January of 1950, Henry Koster gets the directing assignment.  Koster had to flee Germany in the 1930s, first to Budapest and then through Joe Pasternak — Universal’s European production head — to Hollywood.   He directed a series of comedy hits for the studio, so he was a natural for the Harvey assignment (this would be the first of five films Koster would direct starring James Stewart — also, No Highway in the Sky, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Take Her, She’s Mine and Dear Brigitte).

The Bunny Battle Royal 

On February 20 both the AP and the UP issue wire stories — out of Denver — that Universal and Chase are at odds over whether Harvey, the Pooka, should be seen in the movie.  The studio insists on following the play, no rabbit, but Chase is quoted as saying, “will moviegoers pay good money not to see the principal character in a picture?”

By March 13 it is a “battle royal” between Chase and the studio according to Louella Parsons.  She writes in her nationally syndicated column, “It has now become a battle royal with Mrs. Chase pounding desks and saying she wants her play back if her wishes aren’t adhered to.”  

On April 3, in Edwin Schallert’s “Drama” column we learn two things.   The beginning of production on the movie has been moved from April 10 to the April 14 and “Universal-International is just about set to shoot two different endings to ‘Harvey’ to bring the aura of peace to this production, because Mary Chase, the author, wants to show the rabbit, and William Goetz, head of production, and Henry Koster, director, are opposed.”  He continues, “Preview tryouts will determine which ending is favored, if the plan is carried out.”

The battle rages on during summer, production wraps and then on Aug. 14 “The Battle of the Bunny” ends with both sides winning.  Koster had an oil painting commissioned showing Elwood and Harvey and a scene was inserted into the film where Elwood brings it home and places it so that his sister will have something of a meltdown.   Problem solved! 

Those joining James Stewart from the original Broadway play are Josephine Hull as his sister, Veta Louise, and Jesse White (making his film debut) as Martin Wilson, the orderly at Chumley’s Rest.

The role of Myrtle Mae, Elwood’s niece, was not announced until the day before the film was scheduled to go into production.   Victoria Horne (as Nabura in the Secret Agent X-9 serial) nailed it during an impromptu screen test. 

In late November it is announced that Harvey will have its world premiere at the Astor Theatre in New York City to benefit the Louise Baer Memorial Fund of the New York Heart Association.   The date will be Dec. 20.  

Doors opened the next day at 9:30 AM for the general public, with a multi-city expansion (Los Angeles, etc.) to take place on Christmas Day.

In February of 1951 the Oscar nominations were announced and both James Stewart (Best Actor) and Josephine Hull (Best Supporting Actress) were nominated … Hull would take home the golden statue on March 29.