Harvey by Mary Chase

First published: 1944

First produced: 1944, at the Forty-eighth Street Theatre, New York City

Type of plot: Comedy; fantasy

Time of work: c. 1945

Locale: A city in the “far west”

Principal Characters:

• Myrtle Mae Simmons, a debutante
• Veta Louise Simmons, a society matron
• Elwood P. Dowd, an idle eccentric
• Ruth Kelly, a nurse at the sanatorium
• Duane Wilson, an orderly at the sanatorium
• Lyman Sanderson, a young doctor at the sanatorium
• William R. Chumley, the director of the sanatorium

The Play

This three-act comedy follows the frustrated attempts of society matron Veta Louise Simmons to keep the eccentricities of her brother, Elwood P. Dowd, from public view. Elwood drinks and keeps introducing strangers to a companion whom no one else can see: a six-foot-one-and-a-half-inch-tall rabbit named Harvey. Veta’s daughter Myrtle Mae worries that her Uncle Elwood’s preoccupation with Harvey will scare away any marriage prospects for her. In the opening scene the guest of honor at a piano recital hosted by Veta is frightened away when Elwood tries to introduce her to Harvey. This incident is the last straw for Veta. In the next scene she visits Chumley’s Rest, a sanatorium for mental patients, and asks to have her brother Elwood committed. As Veta gives the information to the head nurse, Ruth Kelly, it becomes clear that Kelly is interested in Dr. Sanderson, the new assistant to Dr. Chumley. As Veta becomes more and more agitated in describing the effect that “living with Harvey” has had on her nerves, Dr. Sanderson begins to suspect that Veta’s attempt to commit Elwood is just a cover-up for her own psychosis. He orders Veta restrained and apologizes to Elwood for what he now thinks is his blunder. The fact that Elwood really does claim to see Harvey is comically suspended, as his attempts to introduce the rabbit to the psychiatrist are continually interrupted.

When Elwood leaves, Kelly’s romantic interest in Dr. Sanderson begins to unravel. Elwood’s charm and polite attention to her contrast sharply with Sanderson’s professional aloofness. In retaliation, Kelly disavows any interest in Sanderson. When Dr. Chumley arrives and finds a hat left behind from Elwood’s visit, he notices two holes cut in the hat—just the right size and position to accommodate rabbit ears. He concludes that Elwood is the madman after all and berates Sanderson for misdiagnosing Veta. In an emotional reaction, and in fear of possible lawsuits, he fires Sanderson.

Act 2 returns the action to Elwood’s home, where Myrtle Mae is conferring with Judge Gaffney in the attempt to have Elwood declared insane. The popularity of Elwood in the community and his own personal affection for the man make the judge reluctant to commit Elwood to an institution. Suddenly Veta appears at the door, disheveled from her ordeal with the psychiatrists. Dr. Chumley arrives, with his strong-arm orderly Wilson, looking for Elwood. While Veta threatens to sue Dr. Chumley, Wilson flirts with Myrtle Mae. When everyone leaves the room on various errands, Elwood arrives and replaces the portrait of his mother, the focal point of the room, with one of himself and a giant rabbit—obviously Harvey. Elwood leaves and Veta returns. When she notices the painting, she knows Elwood has been there.

The scene returns to Chumley’s Rest, four hours later. Dr. Sanderson is packing to leave; Kelly attempts to express her true feelings about him, but Sanderson’s brusqueness makes it impossible. When Elwood arrives, it is clear that Wilson thinks he has harmed Dr. Chumley, but Elwood says that the psychiatrist is with Harvey. When Chumley appears in act 3, he asks for a private meeting with Elwood. When the two are alone, Chumley reveals that he, too, now sees Harvey, and sees Elwood as a true visionary rather than a crackpot. He is selfish enough, however, to pretend to agree with Dr. Sanderson’s diagnosis, tricking Elwood into taking a serum that will “cure” him from the “hallucination” of seeing the giant rabbit. By doing so, Chumley hopes to “keep” Harvey for himself. Elwood agrees to the injection to please Veta, but at the last moment Veta realizes that making Elwood “normal” will erase his finest qualities: affability, generosity, magnanimity. When it comes down to it, she realizes that she will miss Harvey. Veta and Myrtle Mae, now reconciled to living with an eccentric uncle and a six-foot rabbit, leave to go home. Elwood follows, and the door to Chumley’s office opens, presumably to accommodate Harvey. Elwood puts his arm around the invisible rabbit and the two exit together.

Dramatic Devices

The most central device in Harvey is the use of mime to create the illusion of an invisible giant rabbit. There are a few instances of related mechanical effects, such as doors opening without any visible human agency, but for the most part the illusion must be carried by gestures and looks: a friendly arm around the rabbit’s waist, a wink at a shared private joke, endless attempts to introduce the giant pooka to acquaintances. This mime element is so crucial that amateur productions, of which there are hundreds each year, succeed or fail according to how well it is carried off. No matter how good the acting is, the production will fail if Harvey is not sufficiently realized through mime.

One of the ways in which Chase reinforces the effect of mime is with dialogue, and in turn, she reinforces the mime and dialogue with characterization. One example is the flirtatiousness of Dr. Chumley. At the end of act 2, scene 1, when he first meets Myrtle Mae, the stage direction instructs the actor to show a libidinous interest in her. Yet, in case the audience misses or misinterprets it, Wilson, shortly thereafter, makes a verbal reference to the effect of Myrtle’s attractiveness on Chumley.

Chase’s use of misdirection to focus suspenseful interest on a prop is used effectively with the large framed painting in act 2, scene 1. Myrtle Mae announces that she has an item that will prove conclusively that her uncle is crazy. When she returns with the painting, it is still wrapped in brown paper, so the audience cannot see what makes it so conclusive as evidence. She is distracted by the conversation and forgets about the painting, but leaves it in conspicuous view of the audience. Chase takes care to leave the room empty for a few beats after the family exits and Elwood enters, the mystery painting solely commanding attention. When Elwood sees it, he tears off the paper and a portrait of Elwood and a giant white rabbit appears—the unveiling all the more effective for the postponement.

Critical Context

The subgenre into which this comedy fits, fantasy, proved to be the most comfortable form for Mary Chase’s creative imagination. Shortly after the success of Harvey, Chase tried writing in a more serious style with The Next Half Hour (pr. 1945), which failed on Broadway. Although the plot turned on the paranormal element of clairvoyance, the stylistic emphasis was on the realistic actions of the characters, not on the fantasy. She returned to fantasy, however, with two Broadway hits in the same year, Mrs. McThing (pr., pb. 1952) and Bernardine (pr. 1952, pb. 1953). The fantasy in Mrs. McThing involves not apparitions but a magic spell, which causes a wealthy dowager and her playboy son to lose all their money—and they turn out the happier for it. The fantasy in Bernardine is the hormone-induced dreamworld of male adolescence, as a group of teenage boys weave sexual fantasies about their dream girl. As different as these plots are, the surreal vision of the main characters is familiar to audiences who know Harvey.

Reviewers most often compare Chase’s style with that of William Saroyan, perhaps because of similarities between Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey and the genial drunk Joe in The Time of Your Life (pr., pb. 1939). Yet the comparison is usually a disparaging one, as if her comedy were merely diluted from Saroyan. What these critics see in Saroyan and find missing in Chase is an edginess, a consciousness of the harsh realities, the struggle of human existence. A second common comparison with Harvey is Joseph O. Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace (pr. 1941, pb. 1944), a comparison natural to the reviewers of the first production of Chase’s hit, because Josephine Hull, who originated the role of Veta Simmons, also created one of the eccentric Brewster sisters in Kesselring’s comedy.

Sources for Further Study

Berger, Maurice Albert. Mary Coyle Chase, Her Battle Field of Illusion. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1970.

Kerr, Walter. God on the Gymnasium Floor. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971.

Miller, Jordan Y. American Dramatic Literature: Ten Modern Plays in Historical Perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.

Nathan, George Jean. The Theatre Book of the Year, 1944-1945: A Record and Interpretation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945.

Reef, Wallis M. “She Didn’t Write It for Money, She Says.” In More Post Biographies, edited by John E. Drewry. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1947.

Sievers, W. David. Freud on Broadway: A History of Psychoanalysis and the American Drama. New York: Hermitage House, 1955.