Collection
Overview
Creator: Chase, Mary, 1907-
Title: Mary Coyle Chase Collection
Inclusive Dates: ca. 1943
Size: .5 linear ft.
Processed By: revised July 2003
Mary Coyle Chase (1907-1981) wrote numerous plays as well as two
novels for children; she became an author in Denver after working
as a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News for 14 years. Her
most beloved play was Harvey, a fantasy of a convivial
tippler and his imaginary six foot white rabbit named Harvey, which
won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1945. Harvey was a
huge success on Broadway and later as a movie starring James Stewart.
The printed version is available in nearly every language.
Mary Coyle Chase wrote Harvey during the early years of
World War II as a delicate escapist plot with profound undercurrents.
Advice she received in her childhood from her mother led to the
creation of the hero of the play, Elwood P. Dowd: "Never be
unkind or indifferent to a person others say is crazy. Often they
have a deep wisdom. We pay them a great respect in the old country
[Ireland], and we call them fairy people, and, it could be, they
are sometimes." Grieving families on the homefront during World
War II laughed because of Harvey and it has continued to
bring joy, down to the present day.
Scope and Content
The Mary Coyle Chase Collection contains a 1943 typewritten manuscript
of Harvey with some changes made in pencil. It also includes
manuscripts of two of her works for children: a manuscript of the
book The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden and a manuscript
of the play, Loretta Mason Potts. |
