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Past Articles What's New on the Rialto Pulling Harvey Out of Her Hat: The Amazing Story of Mary Coyle Chase
by Mimi Pockross Book Review by Heather Jeanne Violanti Also see Ron Fassler's recent review of Nichols and May: Interviews
Pockross's research is impressive. She has read all of Chase's works, interviewed her descendants, trawled historical newspapers for articles, and combed through unpublished academic theses to piece together Chase's life in detail. Pockross gives the reader a fascinating, if not always fully explained, insight into the influences that shaped Chase's development as a playwright. Growing up in Denver as the youngest of four children born to Irish immigrant parents, Chase's imagination was influenced by the Celtic folklore that infused her relatives' stories, books from the library, plays she saw on Denver's own "Great White Way," and her eventual career as a journalist for the Rocky Mountain News, covering everything from society dances to court cases. The most exciting and detailed sections of the book deals with the creation of Harvey. Pockross shows the hard, meticulous work that Chase put into her script, which she spent two years writing, including sixteen revisions before opening. Pockross also makes the argument for Harvey as a popular but perpetually underappreciated masterpiece, whose power lies in richly drawn characters, whimsical humor, and a belief in the triumph of human decency—what Chase would term the "heartline." Pockross's thorough research contains one small error. She twice misidentifies the Theatre Royal, Birmingham as being in London when discussing Harvey's British run. Overall, though, Pockross presents a balanced view of Chase's career, covering her failures as well as her triumphs. She tends to gloss over the more difficult aspects of Chase's life, such her alleged mood swings (alluded to, but not examined) and her "increasing attachment to alcohol" in the wake of Harvey's success, an attachment Pockross mentions abruptly, then states was overcome. It would be interesting to know how Chase's life and work were affected by it. This geographical quibble aside, Pockross presents a balanced view of Chase's career, covering her failures as well as her triumphs. She tends to gloss over the more difficult aspects of Chase's life, such her mood swings (alluded to, but not examined) and her "increasing attachment to alcohol" in the wake of Harvey's success—an attachment Pockross mentions abruptly, then states was overcome. It would be interesting to know how Chase's life and work were affected by it. Pockross tells Chase's story in a direct, easy-to-read style. She writes for a general audience, providing brief background on the historical development of Denver, key figures in Chase's life, and the eras in which Chase worked, from the Roaring Twenties onward. She acknowledges that while some may find Harvey endearing, others question the portrayal of its female characters and its blithe treatment of Elwood's suggested alcoholism. Frustratingly, Pockross raises these points without exploring them in depth. She offers an illustrative quote, such as film scholar Heather Addison's description of being "alarmed, even shocked" by the asylum scenes in Harvey, but then quickly moves on. Still, Pockross makes a compelling argument to take Chase seriously. She shows how Chase has been historically dismissed because she was a female playwright who lived and worked outside New York, specialized in comedies, and often wrote for children. She also demonstrates how Chase was deemed an amateur because she was a wife and mother; even a supporter, journalist Mark Barron, wrote that Chase "never pretended to be anything more than a wife and mother who wrote plays in her spare time." Pockross attempts to reverse years of neglect with this new biography, and to a great extent, she succeeds. Had there been more analysis of Chase's work, besides more thorough examination of her accomplishments, the reappraisal would have been stronger. Overall, Pulling Harvey Out of Her Hat: The Amazing Story of Mary Coyle Chase makes compelling reading for those who want to learn more about a forgotten writer, or anyone with a soft spot for an invisible rabbit.
Pulling Harvey Out of Her Hat: The Amazing Story of Mary Coyle Chase |
