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Call Me By My Rightful Name. by Michael Shurtleff, Shurtleff, Michael (1961) Paperback
An honest, moving and courageous drama set in the early 1960s about two Columbia students rooming together in New Doug, a white, rebellious, young man; and Paul, an African-American. When the two disagree on their defi-nitions of love, a fight ensues, forcing a girl the object of disagreement to act as peacemaker. The shame and misconceptions of both young men are explored with devastating honesty. As the characters grapple to understand each other, their highly individualized sense of humor and gift of laughter are revealed, as well as their sensitivity to the topics of the day.
Paperback
First published October 1, 1961
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April 2, 2024
OMG, this has got to be one of the WORST plays I have ever read - I almost DNF'd it early on, it was so atrociously bad - but I persevered, just to see if it would get any better - it got WORSE! Shurtleff went on to write the definitive book on auditioning, which is good because he sure as heck isn't a playwright - the forward notes 3 other plays he had in process at the time of publication, none of which ever apparently came to fruition.
This played off Broadway in 1961 for 4 months and the cast was formidable - Robert Duvall, Joan Hackett, Robert Hogan and Alvin Ailey (all long before they became famous)! Hackett even won a slew of awards for her performance, which must have been a triumph of acting skill over material. Interestingly, this was based on a novel called The Whipping Boy by S.F. Pfoutz - check out the lurid cover! [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...], but nowhere is that mentioned in this script - I only found that out via Wikipedia.
In short, the play concerns two Columbia University roommates, Doug (Duvall) who calls himself a 'beatnik', and Paul, an aspiring 'Negro' singer (Ailey). Hackett played the girl who starts off with Doug's strait-laced brother Elliott (Hogan), but then dumps him for the more unconventional sibling. Late in the game, we learn (spoiler alert!) she was ALSO Paul's former flame, which incenses Doug - with an entire scene revolving around how he feels he can't compete with the 'Big Daddy buck' (yes, that IS how he's referred to!) in the sack. Jesus wept.
Two things, other than the ludicrous and offensive plot/language, made this a chore to get through. There is not one single line that you could believe an actual person would have spoken IRL - it all sounds exactly like badly written dialogue. Secondly, half the script is VERY detailed stage directions - almost every line is followed by someone moving DSL or USR for no apparent reason.
Bizarrely, there is even a 1972 film version starring Don Murray in the Duvall role and Cathy Lee Crosby in the Hackett, that Shurtleff directed himself- but it apparently is impossible to track down - thank heaven for small favors!
PS: another weird thing that bugged me is that the title, of a jazz standard, is never used within the play itself, so I am sure most people would think it might refer to the fact that Doug doesn't like Hackett's character's name - which is Anne Kendrick (weird!) - and instead calls her Chris, a shortened version of her middle name, Christine. Throughout the first half of the play, the character's lines are attributed to 'The Girl', until Doug starts calling her Chris.
This played off Broadway in 1961 for 4 months and the cast was formidable - Robert Duvall, Joan Hackett, Robert Hogan and Alvin Ailey (all long before they became famous)! Hackett even won a slew of awards for her performance, which must have been a triumph of acting skill over material. Interestingly, this was based on a novel called The Whipping Boy by S.F. Pfoutz - check out the lurid cover! [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...], but nowhere is that mentioned in this script - I only found that out via Wikipedia.
In short, the play concerns two Columbia University roommates, Doug (Duvall) who calls himself a 'beatnik', and Paul, an aspiring 'Negro' singer (Ailey). Hackett played the girl who starts off with Doug's strait-laced brother Elliott (Hogan), but then dumps him for the more unconventional sibling. Late in the game, we learn (spoiler alert!) she was ALSO Paul's former flame, which incenses Doug - with an entire scene revolving around how he feels he can't compete with the 'Big Daddy buck' (yes, that IS how he's referred to!) in the sack. Jesus wept.
Two things, other than the ludicrous and offensive plot/language, made this a chore to get through. There is not one single line that you could believe an actual person would have spoken IRL - it all sounds exactly like badly written dialogue. Secondly, half the script is VERY detailed stage directions - almost every line is followed by someone moving DSL or USR for no apparent reason.
Bizarrely, there is even a 1972 film version starring Don Murray in the Duvall role and Cathy Lee Crosby in the Hackett, that Shurtleff directed himself- but it apparently is impossible to track down - thank heaven for small favors!
PS: another weird thing that bugged me is that the title, of a jazz standard, is never used within the play itself, so I am sure most people would think it might refer to the fact that Doug doesn't like Hackett's character's name - which is Anne Kendrick (weird!) - and instead calls her Chris, a shortened version of her middle name, Christine. Throughout the first half of the play, the character's lines are attributed to 'The Girl', until Doug starts calling her Chris.
Displaying 1 of 1 review