Visit to a Small Planet
Encyclopedia
Visit to a Small Planet is a 1960 Paramount Pictures
film starring Jerry Lewis
, based on a play by Gore Vidal
. It was released on February 4, 1960.
) is an alien from outer space who is fascinated by human beings. Against the wishes of his teacher, he repeatedly visits Earth. During his latest visit his teacher reluctantly agrees to allow him to stay and study the humans. He becomes friends with a suburban family and stays with them, after they agree to keep his alien status a secret. Along the way he falls in love with their daughter (Joan Blackman
), however, there is a force field around him that prevents any physical contact as his race has abolished any form of affection.
After repeatedly breaking the one rule from his teacher, which is not to get involved in the humans' lives, he is stripped of all his powers so that he can realize that being human isn't always happy: it comes with other less desired emotions such as pain, sadness and jealousy. Once his cover is blown on Earth and he is reported to the police, he decides that those emotions are not worth the trouble and he returns to his own planet .
, Walter Tyler
, Samuel M. Comer
, Arthur Krams
were nominated for the 1960 Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Black and White)
, but lost to Alexander Trauner and Edward G. Boyle
for The Apartment.
film, The Bellboy
.
wrote this as a television play
in which form it debuted on May 8, 1955 on Goodyear Television Playhouse
. Later he reworked it for the Broadway
stage, where it debuted on February 7, 1957 and ran for 388 performances. Star Cyril Ritchard
, who also directed, received a Tony Award
nomination for his performance as Kreton. Eddie Mayehoff
also received a nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actor.
Vidal intended the play as a satire
on the post-World War II
fear of Communism
in the United States
, McCarthyism
, Cold War
military paranoia and the rising importance of television in American life. A major critical success, it was subtitled A Comedy Akin to Vaudeville
.
The play tells the story of Kreton, an alien
from an unnamed planet who lands on Earth intending to view the American Civil War
. He miscalculates and lands instead 100 years later. Having missed the opportunity to see conflict first hand, but delighted with all the new playthings the twentieth century has invented for war-making, he decides to create a war for himself.
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
film starring Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
, based on a play by Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
. It was released on February 4, 1960.
Plot
Kreton (Jerry LewisJerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
) is an alien from outer space who is fascinated by human beings. Against the wishes of his teacher, he repeatedly visits Earth. During his latest visit his teacher reluctantly agrees to allow him to stay and study the humans. He becomes friends with a suburban family and stays with them, after they agree to keep his alien status a secret. Along the way he falls in love with their daughter (Joan Blackman
Joan Blackman
Joan Blackman is an American actress.-Biography:Blackman made her television acting debut as a guest performer in a 1957 series, Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans, and then appeared in her first motion picture, Good Day for a Hanging, in 1959. She had a significant role in two Elvis Presley films...
), however, there is a force field around him that prevents any physical contact as his race has abolished any form of affection.
After repeatedly breaking the one rule from his teacher, which is not to get involved in the humans' lives, he is stripped of all his powers so that he can realize that being human isn't always happy: it comes with other less desired emotions such as pain, sadness and jealousy. Once his cover is blown on Earth and he is reported to the police, he decides that those emotions are not worth the trouble and he returns to his own planet .
Awards and nominations
Hal PereiraHal Pereira
Hal Pereira was an American art director and production designer....
, Walter Tyler
Walter H. Tyler
Walter H. Tyler was an American art director. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for eight more in the category Best Art Direction.He was born in Los Angeles, California and died in Orange County, California...
, Samuel M. Comer
Samuel M. Comer
Sam Comer was a set decorator who worked on almost 300 films during a career spanning four decades. He won four Academy Awards and was nominated for another 22 in the category Best Art Direction...
, Arthur Krams
Arthur Krams
Arthur Krams was an American set designer. He first made a name for himself working for MGM on films such as Holiday in Mexico, Easter Parade and The Student Prince in the mid 40s. Later, he went on to work with Paramount Pictures. While there, he shared an Oscar for The Rose Tattoo...
were nominated for the 1960 Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Black and White)
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
, but lost to Alexander Trauner and Edward G. Boyle
Edward G. Boyle
The career of set decorator Edward G. Boyle kicked off in the early 30s, when he started working on the first of over 100 films...
for The Apartment.
Re-release
The film was re-released on a double bill in 1966 with another Jerry LewisJerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
film, The Bellboy
The Bellboy
The Bellboy is a 1960 comedy film starring, written by and directed by Jerry Lewis. The film was released on July 20, 1960 by Paramount Pictures.-Plot:The movie opens with a movie studio executive introducing the movie...
.
Original Television Play and Broadway Production
Gore VidalGore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
wrote this as a television play
Television play
From the 1950s until the early 1980s, the television play was a popular television programming genre in the United Kingdom, with a shorter span in the United States. The genre was often associated with the social realist-influenced British drama style known as "kitchen sink realism", which depicted...
in which form it debuted on May 8, 1955 on Goodyear Television Playhouse
Goodyear Television Playhouse
The Goodyear Television Playhouse produced live television dramas from 1951 to 1957 during the "Golden Age of Television".Sponsored by Goodyear, the hour-long anthology series was telecast Sundays at 9pm on NBC...
. Later he reworked it for the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
stage, where it debuted on February 7, 1957 and ran for 388 performances. Star Cyril Ritchard
Cyril Ritchard
Cyril Ritchard was an Australian stage, screen and television actor, and director. He is probably best remembered today for his performance as Captain Hook in the Mary Martin musical production of Peter Pan....
, who also directed, received a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for his performance as Kreton. Eddie Mayehoff
Eddie Mayehoff
Eddie Mayehoff was an American actor.Probably his best known role was as Harold Lampson, the henpecked husband and incompetent lawyer in the 1965 comedy movie How to Murder Your Wife....
also received a nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actor.
Vidal intended the play as a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on the post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
fear of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
, Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
military paranoia and the rising importance of television in American life. A major critical success, it was subtitled A Comedy Akin to Vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
.
The play tells the story of Kreton, an alien
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
from an unnamed planet who lands on Earth intending to view the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. He miscalculates and lands instead 100 years later. Having missed the opportunity to see conflict first hand, but delighted with all the new playthings the twentieth century has invented for war-making, he decides to create a war for himself.