''The Time of Your Life'' is a 1939 five-act play by American playwright

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The ...

. The play is the first drama to win both the

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

and the

New York Drama Critics Circle Award The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 23 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization is best known for its annual awards for excellence in theater.Jon ...

. The play opened on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

in 1939.

Characters

;Main characters * Joe, a loafer with money and a good heart * Tom, his admirer, disciple, errand boy, stooge and friend * Kitty Duval, a young streetwalker who longs for a better life * Nick, owner of Nick's Pacific Street Saloon, Restaurant and Entertainment Palace * Arab, an Eastern philosopher and harmonica-player * Kit Carson, a teller of tall tales who looks like an old Indian-fighter * McCarthy, an intelligent and well-read longshoreman * Krupp, his boyhood friend, a waterfront cop who hates his job but doesn't know what else to do instead * Harry, a natural born hoofer who wants to make people laugh but can't * Wesley, a young Black man who plays a mean and melancholy boogie-woogie piano * Willie, a marble-game maniac * Dudley, a young man in love * Elsie, a nurse, the one he loves * Lorene, an unattractive woman * Mary L., an unhappy woman of quality and great beauty * Blick, a heel ;Minor characters * A Newsboy * A Drunkard * Nick's Ma * Sailor * Killer, a streetwalker * Killer's sidekick * Society Gentleman * Society Lady * Cops

Plot

The play is set in Nick's Pacific Street Saloon, Restaurant and Entertainment Palace, a run-down dive bar in San Francisco. Much of the action of the play centers around Joe, a young loafer with money who encourages each of the bar's patrons in their eccentricities. Joe helps out a would-be dancer, Harry, and sets up his flunky, Tom, with a prostitute, Kitty Duval. The bar is frequented by a number of colorful characters, including a frenetic young man in love, an old man who looks like Kit Carson, and a wealthy society couple. Nick's saloon is based on the café operated by Izzy Gomez in San Francisco, which Saroyan frequented.

Productions

The play was produced by the

Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of ...

. It premiered on

at the

Booth Theatre The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the It ...

on October 25, 1939, closed on January 27, 1940, and re-opened at the Guild Theatre on January 29, 1940 to April 6, 1940 and September 23, 1940 to October 19, 1940, for 249 performances."'The Time of Your Life' 1939"
playbillvault.com, accessed December 22, 2015 Direction was by

Eddie Dowling Eddie Dowling (born Joseph Nelson Goucher; December 11, 1889Date and year of birth as per baptismal records of Precious Blood church, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where Dowling was christened — February 18, 1976) was an American actor, director, ...

, who also starred as Joe, and William Saroyan. The cast featured Julie Haydon (Kitty Duval),

Celeste Holm Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American actress. Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's '' Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947), and was nominated for her roles in '' Come to the Stable'' (1949) and ''A ...

(Mary L.), Charles De Sheim (Nick), and

Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

(Harry). ''The Time of Your Life'' has been revived three times on Broadway: in 1940 with Dowling and Saroyan directing again, in 1969 directed by

John Hirsch John Stephen Hirsch, OC (; May 1, 1930 – August 1, 1989) was a Hungarian-Canadian theatre director. He was born in Siófok, Hungary to József and Ilona Hirsch, both of whom were murdered in the Holocaust along with his younger brother I ...

and in 1975 directed by Jack O'Brien. The play was revived on March 17, 1972 at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles where

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor whose career spanned five decades on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood. On screen and stage, he often portrayed characters who embodied an everyman image. Bo ...

Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss ( ; Dreyfus; born October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He emerged from the New Hollywood wave of American cinema, finding fame with a succession of leading man parts in the 1970s. He has received an Academy Award, a ...

, Ron Thompson, Gloria Grahame,

Strother Martin Strother Douglas Martin Jr. (March 26, 1919 – August 1, 1980) was an American character actor who often appeared in support of John Wayne and Paul Newman and in Western films directed by John Ford and Sam Peckinpah. Among Martin's memorable ...

Jane Alexander Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American-Canadian actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 ...

, Richard X. Slattery and Pepper Martin were among the cast with Edwin Sherin directing.

Adaptations

The play was adapted for film in 1948 with H. C. Potter directing

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and maj ...

as Joe and his sister,

Jeanne Cagney Jeanne Carolyn Cagney (March 25, 1919 – December 7, 1984) was an American film, stage, and television actress. Early years Born in New York City, Cagney and her four older brothers were raised by their widowed mother, Carolyn Elizabeth C ...

as Kitty Duval. In 1958 an adaptation by A.J. Russell was presented in a live television broadcast directed by Tom Donovan with stars

Jackie Gleason Herbert John Gleason (born Herbert Walton Gleason Jr.; February 26, 1916June 24, 1987), known as Jackie Gleason, was an American comedian, actor, writer, and composer also known as "The Great One". He developed a style and characters from growin ...

Jack Klugman Jack Klugman (April 27, 1922 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. He began his career in 1949 and started television and film work with roles in ''12 Angry Men (1957 film), 12 Angry Men'' (1957) and ...

, and Dick York for the ''

Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' is an American television anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 134 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of t ...

'' series.

Awards and nominations

;Awards * 1940 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play * 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Time of Your Life 1939 plays Broadway plays New York Drama Critics' Circle Award winners Off-Broadway plays Pulitzer Prize for Drama–winning works Plays by William Saroyan Plays set in San Francisco American plays adapted into films