Mister Roberts

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Title Mister Roberts

Author	Thomas Heggen
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	War novel
Publisher	Hougthon Mifflin
Released	1946
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	NA

Mister Roberts was a novel, then a Tony Award–winning play and later, a 1955 Academy Award–nominated film, all of which are set during World War II. The title character, a naval junior-grade lieutenant stands up for his crew against the petty tyranny of the ship's commanding officer. It was co-written by Thomas Heggen, who also wrote the novel, and Joshua Logan, who also directed the stage play.

Contents 1 The novel 2 The play 3 The film 3.1 Cast 4 Trivia 5 External links

[edit] The novel

Heggen based his novel on his experiences aboard the USS Virgo (AKA-20) ([1]) in the South Pacific during World War II. The novel started out as a collection of short stories. Broadway producer Leland Hayward bought the rights to the novel with the aim of producing it as a play and hired Heggen to adapt it. Logan later re-wrote most of the play, in collaboration with Heggen. The play was a well received and a major hit. It won the 1948 Tony Award for Best Play.

Nearly all of the action takes place on a backwater cargo ship, the USS Reluctant that sails, as written in the play, "from apathy to tedium with occasional sidetrips to monotony and ennui."

[edit] The play

The play opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on February 18, 1948. The stage version starred Henry Fonda, David Wayne, Robert Keith and Jocelyn Brando, who replaced Eva Marie Saint before the show opened. Fonda's brother-in-law, William Harrigan, played the Captain. The original production also featured Harvey Lembeck, Ralph Meeker, Steven Hill and Murray Hamilton. Fonda got out of a Hollywood film contract in order to star in the Broadway theatre stage production. Fonda won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. It ran for 1,157 performances.

Tyrone Power starred in the London company. John Forsythe appeared in a national touring production. Many actors began their career in various productions and touring companies. Fess Parker began his show business career in the play, in 1951.

[edit] The film

Mister Roberts
Movie poster of 1955's Mister Roberts
Directed by	John Ford Mervyn LeRoy
Produced by	Leland Hayward
Written by	Thomas Heggen (novel, play) Joshua Logan (play, screenplay) Frank S. Nugent
Starring	Henry Fonda James Cagney William Powell Jack Lemmon
Music by	Franz Waxman
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	July 30, 1955
Running time	123 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

The film starred Henry Fonda as the title character. Interestingly, Fonda was not the original choice to star in the film version and was only hired because director John Ford insisted on it; the studio thought Fonda had been on stage and off the screen so long that he was no longer a movie box office draw. Also featured were James Cagney as Captain Morton, William Powell (in his last feature film) as "Doc", Jack Lemmon as Ensign Pulver, Betsy Palmer, Ward Bond, Philip Carey, Nick Adams, Ken Curtis, and Harry Carey, Jr. The screenplay was written by Joshua Logan and Frank S. Nugent. The movie was directed by John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy and Joshua Logan (uncredited). Ford was replaced by LeRoy after difficulties with Fonda.

The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording Oscars; Jack Lemmon received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film was William Powell's last movie, although he died decades later, in 1984. Powell was offered many chances to return to the screen but refused, apparently believing that 35 years of film acting was enough.

[edit] Cast

• Henry Fonda .... Lt. (j.g.) Douglas A. 'Doug' Roberts
• James Cagney .... Capt. Morton
• William Powell .... Lt. 'Doc'
• Jack Lemmon .... Ens. Frank Thurlowe Pulver
• Betsy Palmer .... Lt. Ann Girard
• Ward Bond .... Chief Petty Officer Dowdy
• Philip Carey .... Mannion (billed as Phil Carey)
• Nick Adams .... Reber
• Perry Lopez .... Rodrigues
• Ken Curtis .... Yeoman 3rd Class Dolan
• Robert Roark .... Insigna
• Harry Carey, Jr. .... Stefanowski
• Patrick Wayne .... Bookser (billed as Pat Wayne)
• Frank Aletter .... Gerhart
• Tige Andrews .... Wiley (billed as Tiger Andrews)

[edit] Trivia

• Mister Roberts was followed by a film sequel, Ensign Pulver, in 1964, with Robert Walker Jr. taking over the Lemmon role. It also starred Burl Ives as Captain Morton, Walter Matthau, Larry Hagman and Jack Nicholson.

• Thomas Heggen, suffering from depression, committed suicide, in 1949, just a year after the play opened.

• The film was remade for television in 1984 as a live telecast, an extremely rare procedure for that period, and starred Robert Hays, Kevin Bacon, Charles Durning, Marilu Henner, Howard Hesseman, and Joe Pantoliano. The show was directed by Melvin Bernhardt. There was also a short-lived NBC television series in 1965, featuring Roger Smith, Steve Harmon and Richard X. Slattery.

• In his 1982 autobiography, My Life, Henry Fonda stated that (in his opinion) as good as the movie was, the play was even better.

• L. Ron Hubbard claimed (without much evidence) that Mister Roberts was based on him and his career aboard the combat support ship USS Algol. However, Hubbard never served aboard Algol in a combat area, transferring to shore duty before it sailed for Okinawa. (Another possible source for Mister Roberts is Mack McKinnie, who was a big band musician before the war and served as a naval officer in the Pacific.)

[edit] External links

• Mister Roberts at the Internet Movie Database (film)
• Mister Roberts at the Internet Movie Database (TV show - 1965)
• Mister Roberts at The Internet Broadway Database