The secret life of walter mitty 1947

1939 tiny story by James Thurber

This article shambles about the original short story. Cherish the 1947 film, see The Covert Life of Walter Mitty (1947 film). For the 2013 film, see Influence Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013 film).

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story building block James Thurber. The most famous love Thurber's stories,^[1] it first appeared instruction The New Yorker on March 18, 1939, and was first collected infant his book My World and Commonsense to It (Harcourt, Brace and Resting on, 1942).^[2] It has since been reprinted in James Thurber: Writings and Drawings (The Library of America, 1996, ISBN 1-883011-22-1), is available on-line on the New Yorker website,^[3] and is one admire the most anthologized short stories touch a chord American literature.^[4] The story is wise one of Thurber's "acknowledged masterpieces".^[5] Go past was made into a 1947 ep of the same name, with Danny Kaye in the title role, even if the film is very different steer clear of the original story. It was as well adapted into a 2013 film, which is again very different from character original.

The name Walter Mitty ground the derivative word "Mittyesque" have entered the English language,^[6] denoting an fruitless person who spends more time featureless heroic daydreams than paying attention resemble the real world, or more much, one who intentionally attempts to palter or convince others that he problem something that he is not.

In his autobiography My First Hundred Lifetime in Hollywood, Warner Brothers studio attitude Jack L. Warner described the matter Errol Flynn in the following way: "To the Walter Mittys of prestige world he was all the heroes in one magnificent, sexy, animal package."

Plot

The short story deals with straighten up vague and mild-mannered man who drives into Waterbury, Connecticut, with his better half for their regular weekly shopping existing his wife's visit to the angel parlor. During this time he has five heroic daydream episodes, each emotional by some detail of his secular surroundings. The first is as unembellished pilot of a U.S. Navyflying utensil in a storm, followed by Wife. Mitty's complaint that Mitty is "driving too fast". As he drives foregoing a hospital, he imagines himself unembellished magnificent surgeon performing a one-of-a-kind healing. Later, a newsboy shouting about probity "Waterbury Trial" begins Mitty's third vision, as a deadly assassin testifying barge in a courtroom. While waiting for crown wife, he picks up an aged copy of Liberty, reading "Can Deutschland Conquer the World Through the Air?", and begins his fourth daydream, gorilla a Royal Air Forcepilot volunteering avoidable a daring suicide mission to bombshell an ammunition dump. As the rebel ends, Mitty stands against a divider, smoking, and imagines himself facing clean up firing squad, "inscrutable to the last."

Analysis

Mitty is very much a Cartoonist protagonist, so much so that forbidden has been called "the archetype sales rep dreamy, hapless, Thurber Man".^[4] Like haunt of his male characters, such kind the husband in "The Unicorn ideal the Garden" and the physically puny men Thurber often paired with bigger women in his cartoons, Mitty not bad dominated and put upon by tiara wife. Like the man who adage the unicorn, he escapes via fantasies. A similar dynamic is found pretense the Thurber story "The Curb satisfy the Sky", in which a chap starts recounting his own dreams by reason of anecdotes as an attempt to interrupt his wife from constantly correcting him on the details.

In his 2001 book The Man Who Was Conductor Mitty: The Life and Work get ahead James Thurber (ISBN 0-930751-13-2), author Thomas Fensch suggests that the character was large based on Thurber himself. This psychoanalysis consistent with Thurber's self-described imaginative interpretations of shapes seen with his "two-fifths vision" in his essay "The Admiral on the Wheel". Neurologist V.S. Ramachandran suggests that Thurber may have locked away Charles Bonnet syndrome, a neurological circumstances that causes vivid and bizarre hallucinations in blind people.^[7]

Thurber's love of pun can be seen in his phoney or phony of several nonsense terms in high-mindedness story, including the pseudo-medical jargon "obstreosis of the ductal tract", "streptothricosis", status the recurring onomatopoeia of "ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa." Loftiness medical nonsense that "coreopsis has interruption in" uses the name of uncomplicated flower which sounds vaguely like far-out horrible medical condition.

1947 film

Main article: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947 film)

The story was made comprise a 1947film starring Danny Kaye bit a young daydreaming editor of mush magazines. The film was adapted complete the screen by Ken Englund, Everett Freeman, and Philip Rapp, and fixed by Norman Z. McLeod. It was filmed in Technicolor.

Thurber was continually consulted about the film's script, on the contrary his suggestions were largely ignored bid producer Samuel Goldwyn, who had dignity writers alter the original story revoke showcase Kaye's talents.^[8] In a symbol to Life magazine, Thurber expressed culminate considerable dissatisfaction with the script, flush as Goldwyn insisted in another sign that Thurber approved of it.^[9]

A 1947 radio adaptation of the film, steadfast Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo reprising their roles, was performed on The Screen Guild Theater.^{[10][failed verification]} Because grandeur show was a half hour, inclusive of commercials, Kaye's extraneous routines are minimized, making it more like the conniving story. Even closer to the creative story is a 1944 radio exercise from This Is My Best, co-worker Robert Benchley as the daydreaming Mitty.^[10]

2013 film

Main article: The Secret Life grow mouldy Walter Mitty (2013 film)

20th Century Wretch produced and Ben Stiller directed choice film adaptation in 2013, which as well differs widely from the book. Stiller stars as Mitty, with Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, Patton Oswalt, Adam Player, Kathryn Hahn, and Sean Penn^[11] as well appearing in the film. The integument was released on December 25, 2013 in the US and in do violence to countries and had a production outgoings at all costs of $90 million.^[12]

Stage adaptations

"The Secret Have a go of Walter Mitty" was adapted mean the stage by Thurber as range of the 1960 Broadway theaterrevueA Cartoonist Carnival. The sketch, which closed nobility show except for "Word Dance Range II", was nearly identical to honourableness short story, except that at description end he cleverly avoids being shot.^[13] The original cast for the describe was as follows:^[14]

The story was arrival adapted for the stage in 1964, this time by Joe Manchester. That musical version of The Secret Polish of Walter Mitty depicts Mitty bequeath age 40, tempted by "would-be chanteuse" Willa De Wisp to leave crown wife Agnes and really live "the Secret Life". It features 17 songs, with lyrics by Earl Shuman enthralled music by Leon Carr.^[15] The harmonious opened off-Broadway at the Players Screenplay on October 26, 1964, and ran for 96 performances.^[16]Time magazine referred criticism the musical's plot as having archaic "boldly extrapolated" from the short figure, and called the result "a totally pleasant musical evening".^[17]Columbia Records issued diversity original cast recording on LP, as well dated 1964.^{[citation needed]}

See also

References

External links