''Happy Birthday, Wanda June'' is a 1971 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by Mark Robson, based on a 1970 play by

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

Plot

The opening of this play is "This is a simple-minded play about men who enjoy killing, and those who don't."

Big-game hunter Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for meat, commercially valuable by-products (such as horns/antlers, furs, tusks, bones, body fat/oil, or special organs and contents), trophy/taxidermy, or simply just for recreation ...

and war hero Harold Ryan returns home to America, after having been presumed dead for several years. During the war, he killed over 200 men and women, and countless more animals — for sport. He was in the

Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

hunting for diamonds with Colonel Looseleaf Harper, a slow-witted aviation hero, who had the unhappy task of dropping the atomic bomb on

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

. Harold finds that his wife Penelope has developed relationships with men very much unlike himself, including a vacuum cleaner salesman called Shuttle and a

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

doctor called Dr. Woodly, who later becomes Harold's foe. Harold also finds that his son, Paul, has been pampered and grown unmanly. Harold Ryan, the prolific killing machine, is very unsatisfied. It is set during 1960s America, and Harold feels the country has become weak, all the heroes have been replaced by intolerable

pacifists Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigne ...

, and that in postwar America, no proper enemy is available for him to vanquish. This is the story of his tragic attempt to find one. The "Wanda June" of the title is a young girl who died before she could celebrate her birthday. She was run over by an ice cream truck, but she is very pleased with her situation in Heaven, and feels that dying is a good thing and everyone in Heaven loves the person who sent them there. Her birthday cake was subsequently purchased by one of Penelope's lovers, for a celebration of Harold's birthday in his absence. Wanda June and several other deceased connections to Harold Ryan (including his ex-wife Mildred who drank herself to death because she could not stand Harold's premature ejaculation, and Major Siegfried von Konigswald, the Beast of Yugoslavia, Harold Ryan's most infamous victim) speak to the audience from Heaven, where Jesus,

Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas bet ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

, and

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

are happily playing

shuffleboard Shuffleboard (more precisely deck shuffleboard, and also known as floor shuffleboard) is a game in which players use cues to push weighted discs, sending them gliding down a narrow court, with the purpose of having them come to rest within a ma ...

Cast

Rod Steiger Rodney Stephen Steiger (; April 14, 1925July 9, 2002, aged 77) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Cited as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars," he is closely assoc ...

as Harold Ryan * Susannah York as Penelope Ryan *

George Grizzard George Cooper Grizzard Jr. (April 1, 1928 – October 2, 2007) was an American stage, television, and film actor. He was the recipient of a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award, among other accolades. Life and career Grizzard ...

as Dr. Norbert Woodley * Don Murray as Herb Shuttle * William Hickey as Looseleaf Harper *

Steven Paul Steven Paul (born May 16, 1959) is an American independent filmmaker, actor, and talent manager. He is the chairman, founder and CEO of Crystal Sky Pictures. Life and career Paul was born in New York City. His mother, Dorothy Koster Paul, was ...

as Paul Ryan *

Pamelyn Ferdin Pamelyn Wanda Ferdin (born February 4, 1959) is an American animal rights activist and a former child actress. Ferdin's acting career was primarily during the 1960s and 1970s, though she appeared in projects sporadically in the 1980s and later ...

as Wanda June * Pamela Saunders as Mildred Ryan * Louis Turenne as Major von Koningswald

Productions and adaptations

''Happy Birthday, Wanda June'' originated as a play titled ''Penelope'', first performed at the Orleans Arena Theater in Orleans, Massachusetts. Vonnegut and composer Richard Auldon Clark collaborated on an opera adaptation which was debuted at Butler University in 2016, nine years after Vonnegut's death. The Gene Frankel Theater staged an

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the pro ...

revival in April 2018, directed by Jeff Wise and featuring Jason O'Connell, Kate MacCluggage, and

Matt Harrington Matt Harrington (born February 1, 1982) is a former first round pick in Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft. Harrington was selected in the MLB draft five times in consecutive years, without coming to an agreement with his selecting te ...

. and a later off-Broadway revival, in November 2018, with the same performers, by the Wheelhouse Theater Company, at

The Duke on 42nd Street The New 42nd Street is a not-for-profit organization based in Manhattan, New York City. In 1990, the New 42nd Street was formed to oversee the redevelopment of seven neglected and historic theatres on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Ave ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Happy Birthday, Wanda June 1971 films American satirical films American comedy-drama films Films based on works by Kurt Vonnegut American films based on plays Films directed by Mark Robson 1960 plays Works by Kurt Vonnegut Columbia Pictures films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films

Plot

Cast

Productions and adaptations

See also

References

External links