| Yellow Jack | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | George B. Seitz |
| Produced by | Jack Cummings |
| Written by | Sidney Howard (play) Paul de Kruif (play collaborator) Edward Chodorov (screenplay) |
| Starring | Robert Montgomery Virginia Bruce Lewis Stone Andy Devine Henry Hull Charles Coburn Buddy Ebsen |
| Cinematography | Lester White |
| Editing by | Blanche Sewell |
| Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
| Release date(s) | May 27, 1938 |
| Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Yellow Jack is a 1934 play and a 1938 Hollywood movie, both co-written by Sidney Howard and Paul de Kruif (the former a Pulitzer- and Oscar-winning playwright and screenwriter; the latter a well-known microbiologist and author).
The plot line followed the true story of the famous "Walter Reed Boards" in which Major Walter Reed of the U.S. Army heroically pursued the conquest of yellow fever (called “yellow jack”) in Cuba in 1898-1900. It tells the story of the U.S. Army Medical Corps doctors who expanded previously ridiculed theories proposed by Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay as to the cause of the fever being bites by infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. It also portrayed the stories of the brave soldiers who volunteered to be human "guinea pigs" to risk their lives by allowing themselves to be bitten and contract the deadly disease. (See History of yellow fever).
James Stewart's first dramatic role was in the 1934 Broadway play and the experience convinced him to stick with acting despite having recently had a difficult couple of years. He went into movies later that same year.
The play and screenplay were adapted for television by Celanese Theatre (1952) and Producers' Showcase (1955), in episodes both again titled “Yellow Jack”.