Winged Victory (play)
Encyclopedia
Winged Victory is a play and, later, a film
by Moss Hart
, originally created and produced by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II
as a morale booster and as a fundraiser for the Army Emergency Relief
Fund. Upon recommendation of Lt. Col. Dudley S. Dean
, who had been approached with the idea by talent agent Irving Lazar
and Lt. Benjamin Landis, Air Forces Commanding General Henry H. Arnold
commissioned famed playwright Hart to create a stage drama that would depict both the training and work of airmen and also the commitment and devotion to duty with which they carried out this work. Arnold gave Hart complete access to Air Forces resources.
Hart traveled the United States
visiting Air Forces bases and seeing firsthand how training was carried out. He then wrote an extremely patriotic and uplifting stage play based on his research. Hart partnered with Irving Lazar
to produce the play and to gather actors for the huge (nearly 300) cast. Casting calls went out not only to well-known names but to Army units around the country for Air Forces personnel with theatrical or performing background. All male personnel involved with the show were service members of the U.S. Army Air Forces and were billed with their actual ranks. Among the then-notable or eventually-to-become-notable members of the cast and crew were Keith Andes
, Alan Baxter, Don Beddoe
, Whit Bissell
, Sascha Brastoff, Red Buttons, Lee J. Cobb
, Mario Lanza
, Mark Daniels, Leonard De Paur
, Brad Dexter
, John Forsythe
, Peter Lind Hayes
, Harry Horner, Richard Travis
, Karl Malden
, Billy and Bobby Mauch
, Kevin McCarthy
, Gary Merrill
, Ray Middleton
, Barry Nelson
, Edmond O'Brien
, Walter Reed
, George Reeves
, Martin Ritt
, Archie Robbins, David Rose
, Henry Rowland
, Alfred Ryder
, Howard Shoup, Henry and Jack Slate, Claude Stroud, Don Taylor
, and Victor Sen Yung
. Most of the relatively few roles for women in the play were portrayed by wives of the actors.
Winged Victory tells the story of a group of recruits struggling to make it through pilot training. The trainees are a cross-section of American young men. Their personal lives, their families and sweethearts make up a small part of the story, but most of the drama focuses on training and camaraderie. Music plays a large part in the play, and most of the huge cast were primarily members of a chorus under the direction of famed choral leader Leonard de Paur. Among the musical numbers were "My Little Dream Book of Memories," and the stirring title anthem, "Winged Victory".
The play opened in Boston, Massachusetts in the fall of 1943, in a pre-Broadway
run, and was a huge success. It then opened in New York at the Forty-Fourth Street Theatre on 20 November 1943 and became a smash hit, playing to over 350,000 people in 226 performances. During the New York run, performers in the show also toured local military camps, providing entertainment to the troops. A number of Winged Victory actors also rehearsed and produced a production of the play Yellow Jack
by Sidney Kingsley
, under the direction of Martin Ritt
, which played briefly and simultaneously on Broadway. The successful run of Winged Victory on Broadway ended only in order that the entire cast travel to Hollywood to do the film version
. Twentieth Century Fox had purchased the rights and contracted the full cast and in the summer of 1944 produced a film version (which featured a few actors who had not been in the play, including Lon McCallister
and Judy Holliday
), under the direction of George Cukor
.
Following filming, the company embarked on a national tour of the play, performing 445 times for over 800,000 people in Los Angeles
, San Francisco, Denver, Kansas City
, Chicago
, Detroit, Baltimore
(where the theatre proved too small to admit the huge section of a bomber, part of the set for one scene), Washington D.C., and Richmond
. At tour's end in April, 1945, the cast and crew were dispersed throughout the Army Air Forces, many of them transferring to the First Motion Picture Unit
in California, there to make training films. The Winged Victory company (officially known as the 31st AAF Base Unit) officially disbanded in November, 1945.
Due both to its enormous cast and staging demands as well as to the extremely era-specific nature of the play, Winged Victory is one of the biggest hits in Broadway history never to have a second production anywhere.
Winged Victory (film)
Winged Victory is a 1944 drama film directed by George Cukor, a joint effort of 20th Century Fox and the U.S. Army Air Forces. Based upon the successful play with the same name by Moss Hart, who also wrote the screenplay, the film only opened after the play's theatre run.-Plot:Frankie Davis , Allan...
by Moss Hart
Moss Hart
Moss Hart was an American playwright and theatre director, best known for his interpretations of musical theater on Broadway.-Early years:...
, originally created and produced by the U.S. Army Air Forces during 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...
as a morale booster and as a fundraiser for the Army Emergency Relief
Army Emergency Relief
Army Emergency Relief , often referred to by the longer title Army Emergency Relief Fund, is a non-profit, charitable organization independent of, but closely associated with the United States Army, founded in 1942...
Fund. Upon recommendation of Lt. Col. Dudley S. Dean
Dudley Dean
Dudley S. Dean was an All-American football quarterback for Harvard University. He played quarterback for Harvard from 1888-1890 and was selected as an All-American in 1890...
, who had been approached with the idea by talent agent Irving Lazar
Irving Paul Lazar
Irving Paul "Swifty" Lazar was a talent agent and deal-maker, representing both movie stars and authors.Born as Samuel Lazar in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1931...
and Lt. Benjamin Landis, Air Forces Commanding General Henry H. Arnold
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps , Commanding General of the U.S...
commissioned famed playwright Hart to create a stage drama that would depict both the training and work of airmen and also the commitment and devotion to duty with which they carried out this work. Arnold gave Hart complete access to Air Forces resources.
Hart traveled the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
visiting Air Forces bases and seeing firsthand how training was carried out. He then wrote an extremely patriotic and uplifting stage play based on his research. Hart partnered with Irving Lazar
Irving Paul Lazar
Irving Paul "Swifty" Lazar was a talent agent and deal-maker, representing both movie stars and authors.Born as Samuel Lazar in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1931...
to produce the play and to gather actors for the huge (nearly 300) cast. Casting calls went out not only to well-known names but to Army units around the country for Air Forces personnel with theatrical or performing background. All male personnel involved with the show were service members of the U.S. Army Air Forces and were billed with their actual ranks. Among the then-notable or eventually-to-become-notable members of the cast and crew were Keith Andes
Keith Andes
Keith Andes was an American film, radio, musical theatre, stage and television actor.-Early life:John Charles Andes was born in Ocean City, New Jersey on July 12, 1920. By the age of 12, he was featured on the radio....
, Alan Baxter, Don Beddoe
Don Beddoe
-Career:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Beddoe made his Broadway acting debut in 1929, receiving top billing in Nigger Rich....
, Whit Bissell
Whit Bissell
Whitner Nutting Bissell , better known as Whit Bissell, was an American actor.-Early life:Born in New York City, Bissell was the son of prominent surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell. He trained with the Carolina Playmakers, a theatrical organization associated with the University of North Carolina at...
, Sascha Brastoff, Red Buttons, Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...
, Mario Lanza
Mario Lanza
right|thumb|[[MGM]] still, circa 1949Mario Lanza was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16....
, Mark Daniels, Leonard De Paur
Leonard De Paur
Leonard Etienne De Paur was an African American composer, choral director, and arts administrator.- Biography :...
, Brad Dexter
Brad Dexter
Brad Dexter , was an American actor.-Life and career:Dexter was born Boris Malanovich , in Goldfield, Nevada, of Serbian parentage. He spoke Serbian as his first language. Burly, dark and handsome, Brad Dexter was usually given supporting roles of a rugged character...
, John Forsythe
John Forsythe
John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...
, Peter Lind Hayes
Peter Lind Hayes
Peter Lind Hayes was an American vaudeville entertainer, songwriter, and film and television actor. He was born Joseph Conrad Lind in San Francisco, California....
, Harry Horner, Richard Travis
Richard Travis (actor)
Richard Travis was an American actor. In 1947 he starred in the film Backlash.-External links:....
, Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
, Billy and Bobby Mauch
Billy and Bobby Mauch
William John Mauch , known as Billy, and his identical twin brother, Robert Joseph Mauch, , known as Bobby, were child actors in the 1930s...
, Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy (actor)
Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film, and television actor, who appeared in over two hundred television and film roles. For his role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of...
, Gary Merrill
Gary Merrill
Gary Fred Merrill was an American film and television character actor whose credits included more than fifty feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances....
, Ray Middleton
Ray Middleton
Raymond Earl Middleton, Jr. , known and billed as Ray Middleton, was an American character actor.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Middleton was the first actor to play Superman in public, which he did on July 3, 1940, during the 1939 New York World's Fair's "Superman Day"...
, Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.-Early life:...
, Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...
, Walter Reed
Walter Reed (actor)
Walter Reed was an American stage, film and television actor. He was born in Fort Ward, Washington. Following a stint as a Broadway actor, Reed broke into films in 1941...
, George Reeves
George Reeves
George Reeves was an American actor best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television program Adventures of Superman....
, Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...
, Archie Robbins, David Rose
David Rose
David Rose was a British-born American songwriter, composer, arranger, pianist, and orchestra leader. His most famous compositions were "The Stripper", "Holiday for Strings", and "Calypso Melody"...
, Henry Rowland
Henry Rowland (actor)
Henry Rowland was an American film actor.-Biography:Rowland had heavily Teutonic facial features, making him an invaluable commodity in wartime films, even though he was born in the American Midwest. Rowland "heiled" and "achtunged" his way through films ranging such as Casablanca to Russ Meyer's...
, Alfred Ryder
Alfred Ryder
Alfred Ryder was an American film, radio and television actor. Ryder may best be remembered for appearing in over one hundred television shows, including the 1959 starring role as a British criminal who could not be killed in Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond episode 'The Devil's Laughter'...
, Howard Shoup, Henry and Jack Slate, Claude Stroud, Don Taylor
Don Taylor (actor)
Don Taylor was an American movie actor and director best known for his performances in 1950s classics like Stalag 17 and Father of the Bride and the 1948 film noir The Naked City...
, and Victor Sen Yung
Victor Sen Yung
Victor Sen Yung was an American character actor. He was given billing under a variety of names, including Sen Yung, Sen Young, Victor Sen Young, and Victor Young.- Career :...
. Most of the relatively few roles for women in the play were portrayed by wives of the actors.
Winged Victory tells the story of a group of recruits struggling to make it through pilot training. The trainees are a cross-section of American young men. Their personal lives, their families and sweethearts make up a small part of the story, but most of the drama focuses on training and camaraderie. Music plays a large part in the play, and most of the huge cast were primarily members of a chorus under the direction of famed choral leader Leonard de Paur. Among the musical numbers were "My Little Dream Book of Memories," and the stirring title anthem, "Winged Victory".
The play opened in Boston, Massachusetts in the fall of 1943, in a pre-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...
run, and was a huge success. It then opened in New York at the Forty-Fourth Street Theatre on 20 November 1943 and became a smash hit, playing to over 350,000 people in 226 performances. During the New York run, performers in the show also toured local military camps, providing entertainment to the troops. A number of Winged Victory actors also rehearsed and produced a production of the play Yellow Jack
Yellow Jack (play and film)
Yellow Jack is a 1934 play and a 1938 Hollywood movie, both co-written by Sidney Howard and Paul de Kruif ....
by Sidney Kingsley
Sidney Kingsley
Sidney Kingsley was an American dramatist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Men in White in 1934.- Biography :...
, under the direction of Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...
, which played briefly and simultaneously on Broadway. The successful run of Winged Victory on Broadway ended only in order that the entire cast travel to Hollywood to do the film version
Winged Victory (film)
Winged Victory is a 1944 drama film directed by George Cukor, a joint effort of 20th Century Fox and the U.S. Army Air Forces. Based upon the successful play with the same name by Moss Hart, who also wrote the screenplay, the film only opened after the play's theatre run.-Plot:Frankie Davis , Allan...
. Twentieth Century Fox had purchased the rights and contracted the full cast and in the summer of 1944 produced a film version (which featured a few actors who had not been in the play, including Lon McCallister
Lon McCallister
Lon McCallister was an American actor.Born in Los Angeles, he began appearing in movies at the age of 13. The young actor had leads in a number of films; he usually played boyish young men from the country. Growing only to 5'6" he found it difficult to find roles as an adult. He appeared with...
and Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday was an American actress.Holliday began her career as part of a night-club act, before working in Broadway plays and musicals...
), under the direction of George Cukor
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
.
Following filming, the company embarked on a national tour of the play, performing 445 times for over 800,000 people in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, San Francisco, Denver, Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Detroit, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
(where the theatre proved too small to admit the huge section of a bomber, part of the set for one scene), Washington D.C., and Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. At tour's end in April, 1945, the cast and crew were dispersed throughout the Army Air Forces, many of them transferring to the First Motion Picture Unit
First Motion Picture Unit
The First Motion Picture Unit was the first unit of the United States Military to be made up entirely of motion picture personnel. It was also the title of a 1943 documentary about the unit.-Organization:...
in California, there to make training films. The Winged Victory company (officially known as the 31st AAF Base Unit) officially disbanded in November, 1945.
Due both to its enormous cast and staging demands as well as to the extremely era-specific nature of the play, Winged Victory is one of the biggest hits in Broadway history never to have a second production anywhere.