''Yellow Jack'' is a 1934

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

play starring

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

and produced by

Guthrie McClintic Guthrie McClintic (August 6, 1893 – October 29, 1961) was an American theatre director, film director, and producer based in New York. Life and career McClintic was born in Seattle, attended Washington University in St. Louis and New York's A ...

that was later adapted into a 1938 Hollywood movie by the same title. Both were co-written by

Sidney Howard Sidney Coe Howard (June 26, 1891 – August 23, 1939) was an American playwright, dramatist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay for '' Gone with the Wind'' ...

and

Paul de Kruif Paul Henry de Kruif (, rhyming with "life") (March 2, 1890 – February 28, 1971) was an American microbiologist and writer. Publishing as Paul de Kruif, he is known for his 1926 book, ''Microbe Hunters''. This book was not only a bestseller for a ...

(the former a Pulitzer- and

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

-winning playwright and screenwriter; the latter a well-known

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of par ...

and author). The play is the work of Sidney Howard and is based on a chapter in Paul de Kruif's 1927 book ''Microbe Hunters''. James Stewart in his first dramatic role stars as Pvt. John O'Hara, a role reprised by Robert Montgomery in the 1938 film. Stewart later stated this role convinced him to continue his acting career during a time he recalled that "From 1932 through 1934...I'd only worked three months. Every play I got into folded." The experience led him to stay with acting and he first entered movies later that year in ''

The Murder Man ''The Murder Man'' is a 1935 American crime-drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Virginia Bruce, and Lionel Atwill, and directed by Tim Whelan. The picture was Tracy's first film in what would be a twenty-year career with MGM. Tracy plays an inve ...

''. Caricaturist

Al Hirschfeld Albert Hirschfeld (June 21, 1903 – January 20, 2003) was an American caricaturist best known for his black and white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars. Early life and career Al Hirschfeld was born in 1903 in a two-story duplex apa ...

while covering the play for the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...

'' drew his first of 13 drawings (and only one from a play) he made over the course of Stewart's career. The play opened at the opulent

Martin Beck Theatre The Al Hirschfeld Theatre, originally the Martin Beck Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 302 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1924, it was designed by G. Albert Lansburg ...

on March 6, 1934, and ran for 79 performances. The Martin Beck was renamed in 2003 for Al Hirschfeld, who drew the caricature for ''Yellow Jack''. Prior to its debut,

Herman Bernstein Herman Bernstein (, September 21, 1876 – August 31, 1935) was an American journalist, poet, novelist, playwright, translator, Jewish activist, and diplomat. He was the United States Ambassador to Albania and was the founder of '' Der Tog'', th ...

's '' Jewish Daily Bulletin'' covered the play, attesting that it did not contain anti-semitic elements.

Synopsis

After the Spanish–American War, in which more U. S. soldiers were killed by yellow fever (known as Yellow Jack) than in battle, the War Department sent a medical commission to Cuba to find, if possible, the cause and cure of this deadly tropical disease. The commission was headed by Dr.

Walter Reed Walter Reed (September 13, 1851 – November 23, 1902) was a United States Army, U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito ...

. With him was Dr. James Carroll. In Cuba they found Dr. Jesse Lazear, European-trained microbiologist, and Cuban Dr.

Aristides Agramonte Aristides Agramonte y Simoni (June 3, 1868 – August 19, 1931) was a Cuban American physician, pathologist and bacteriologist with expertise in tropical medicine. In 1898 George Miller Sternberg appointed him as an Acting Assistant Surge ...

. Limited in its experiments by the fact that animals are immune to Yellow Jack and embroiled in government interference, Reed decides that the only way to test the theory is to expose his own men to the disease. O'Hara volunteers to allow Dr. Reed to experiment on him.

Reception

Debuting on March 6, 1934, the Broadway production ran through May for a modest 79 performances. It generally received positive reviews, but the subject had limited popular appeal.

Sam Levene Sam Levene (born Scholem Lewin; August 28, 1905 – December 28, 1980) was an American Broadway theatre, Broadway, films, radio, and television actor and Television director, director. In a career spanning over five decades, he appeared in over ...

was the only member of the original 1934 Broadway production of the play ''Yellow Jack'' to appear in the 1938 film of the same name.

Original Broadway cast

as Medical Corps Pvt. O'Hara * John Miltern as Major

* Edward Acuff as Pvt. McClelland * Wylie Adams as Kraemer, as a Commissary Sergeant and as a member from the Rockefeller Foundation * Jack Carr as Chambang, a Native Laboratory Assistant *

Eduardo Ciannelli Eduardo Ciannelli (30 August 1888 – 8 October 1969) was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals. He was sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli. Early life Ciannelli ...

, a Member of the American Yellow Fever Commission * Francis Compton as a Major of the Royal Air Force * Charles Gerard as Adrian Stokes, of the West African Yellow Fever Commission, Rocke *

Lloyd Gough Lloyd Gough (born Michael Gough; September 21, 1907 – July 23, 1984) was an American theater, film, and television actor. Life and career Born Michael Gough in New York City, he was a noted character actor. Married to actress-turned-activi ...

as a Laboratory Assistant and as an Army Chaplain * Harold Hoffat as Roger P. Ames, an Asst. Surgeon * Colin Hunter (actor) as an Official of the Kenya Colony Government * Bernard Jukes as a Laboratory Assistant *

Whitford Kane Whitford Kane (born Thomas Wheeler Kane, January 30, 1881 – December 17, 1956) was a noted Irish-born American stage and screen character actor remembered for playing the First Gravedigger in numerous productions of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' and ...

as Dr.

Carlos Finlay Carlos Juan Finlay (December 3, 1833 – August 20, 1915) was a Cuban epidemiologist recognized as a pioneer in the research of yellow fever, determining that it was transmitted through mosquitoes ''Aedes aegypti''. Biography Early life and ...

* Robert Keith as Jesse W. Lazear, a member of the American Yellow Fever Commission *

Geoffrey Kerr Geoffrey Kerr (born Geoffrey Kemble Grinham Keen; 26 January 1895 – 1 July 1971) was a British stage and film actor and writer during the middle of the 20th century. Early life Geoffrey Kemble Grinham Keen was born on 26 January 1895, in Lon ...

as Stackpoole *

as Pvt. Busch * Richie Ling as Colonel Tory of the Marine Hospital Corps *

Barton MacLane Barton MacLane (December 25, 1902 – January 1, 1969) was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, including his role as General Martin Peterson on the 1960s NBC ...

as James Carroll, a member of the American Yellow Fever Commission *

Myron McCormick Myron McCormick (February 8, 1908 – July 30, 1962) was an American actor of stage, radio, and film. Early life and education Born Walter Myron McCormick in Albany, Indiana, in 1908, he was the middle child of Walter P. and Bessie M. McCo ...

as Pvt. Brinkerhof * Millard Mitchell as Pvt. William H. Dean * Jock Munro as a Laboratory Assistant * George Nash as Major

William Crawford Gorgas William Crawford Gorgas Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (October 3, 1854 – July 3, 1920) was a Medical Corps (United States Army), United States Army physician and 22nd Surgeons General of the United States Army, Surgeon General of the ...

Robert Shayne Robert Shayne (born Robert Shaen Dawe, October 4, 1900 – November 29, 1992) was an American actor whose career lasted for over 60 years. He was best known for portraying Inspector Bill Henderson in the American television series '' Adven ...

as Harkness and as Major Cartwright * Frank Stringfellow as an Orderly * Clyde Walters as an Orderly * Katherine Wilson as Miss Blake, a Special Nurse in Charge of the Yellow Fever Ward

Revivals

PFC

Martin Ritt Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914 – December 8, 1990) was an American director, producer, and actor, active in film, theatre and television. He was known mainly as an auteur of socially-conscious dramas and literary adaptations, described by Stanley K ...

directed a Broadway production of ''Yellow Jack'' presented on April 7, 1944, at the 44th Street Theatre. A single performance for members of the U.S. armed services, the abbreviated version of the play featured actors from the simultaneous Broadway production of ''

Winged Victory The ''Winged Victory of Samothrace'', or the ''Niké of Samothrace'', is a Votive offering, votive monument originally discovered on the island of Samothrace in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It is a masterpiece of Greek sculpture from the Helleni ...

'', also directed by Ritt. The cast—nearly all of them active-duty military—included

John Forsythe John Lincoln Forsythe ( Freund; January 29, 1918 – April 1, 2010) was an American stage, film/television actor, producer, narrator, drama teacher and philanthropist whose career spanned six decades. He also appeared as a guest on several t ...

(O'Hara),

Gary Merrill Gary Fred Merrill (August 2, 1915 – March 5, 1990) was an American film and television actor whose credits included more than 50 feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances. He starr ...

(Walter Reed), Grant Richards (Aristides Agramonte), Philip Bourneuf (Dr. Carlos Finlay),

George Reeves George Reeves (born George Keefer Brewer; January 5, 1914 – June 16, 1959) was an American actor. He was best known for portraying Superman, Clark Kent/Superman in the television series ''Adventures of Superman (TV series), Adventures of ...

(James Carroll) and

Whit Bissell Whitner Nutting Bissell (October 25, 1909 – March 5, 1996) was an American character actor. Early life Born in New York City, Bissell was the son of surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell and Helen Nutting Bissell. He was educated at the Allen-S ...

(Brinkerhof). In 1947 New York's American Repertory Theatre revived ''Yellow Jack'' for a four-week run at the International Theatre.

Adaptations

''Yellow Jack'' was adapted for an episode of the ABC television series '' Celanese Theatre'', broadcast May 28, 1952.

Macdonald Carey Edward Macdonald Carey (March 15, 1913 – March 21, 1994) was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera '' Days of Our Lives''. For almost three decades, he was the show's central cast membe ...

Walter Abel Walter Abel (June 6, 1898 – March 26, 1987) was an American stage, film, and radio actor whose career spanned nearly seven decades. Life Abel was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of Christine (née Becker) and Richard Michael Abel. Abel ...

and Sarah Churchill starred;

Alex Segal Alex Segal (July 1, 1915 – August 22, 1977) was an American television director, television producer, and film director. Early years Segal was born on July 1, 1915, in Trenton, New Jersey. Career In 1948, Segal became a production assista ...

directed. The play was adapted for an episode of the NBC–TV series ''

Producers' Showcase ''Producers' Showcase'' is an American anthology television series that was telecast live during the 1950s in compatible color by NBC. With top talent, the 90-minute episodes, covering a wide variety of genres, aired under the title every fou ...

'', broadcast January 10, 1955, directed by

Delbert Mann Delbert Martin Mann Jr. (January 30, 1920 – November 11, 2007) was an American television and film director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film '' Marty'' (1955), adapted from a 1953 teleplay which he had also directed. ...

and starring

Jackie Cooper John Cooper Jr. (September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011) was an American actor and director. He began his career performing in film as a child, and successfully transitioned to adult roles and directing in both film and television. At age nine, h ...

and

Broderick Crawford William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Willie Stark in the film ''All the King's Men'' (1949), which earned him an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Of ...

References

External links

* {{IBDB title, 11845, Yellow Jack, (1934 production)
''TIME Magazine'' review: Mar. 19, 1934
1934 plays Military medicine in the United States Plays based on books American plays adapted into films Plays by Sidney Howard Plays based on actual events Plays set in Cuba