Purlie Victorious
| Purlie Victorious | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Ossie Davis |
| Directed by | Howard Da Silva |
| Date premiered | September 28th, 1961 |
| Place premiered | Cort Theatre; Longacre Theatre |
| Subject | racism, segregation, civil rights, emancipation |
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Purlie Victorious is a comedy in three acts by American actor, director, writer, and activist Ossie Davis.[1] It follows Purlie Victorious Judson who returns to his small-town home in Jim Crow Era Georgia to purchase and save the community church, Big Bethel, from the plantation owner, Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee.
Purlie Victorious opened at the Cort Theater on 28 September 1961, presented by producer Phillip Rose and directed by Howard Da Silva. The production featured scenic and lighting design by Ben Edwards and costume design by Ann Roth. The production transferred to the Longacre Theatre on 20 November 1961, until its final performance on 13 May 1962.[2]
Plot
Purlie Victorious is set in the American South. The restless and dynamic traveling preacher, Purlie Victorious Judson, returns to his small Georgian hometown to save the community’s church, Big Bethel. With him is the young Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins who plans to imitate Purlie’s long lost cousin in order to get an inheritance off of the plantation owner, Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. With the inheritance, Purlie plans to buy back the church and "preach freedom in the cotton patch" of Ol’ Cap’n’s plantation. With the assistance of Ol’ Cap’n’s defiant and progressive son, Charlie, Purlie saves the church and community.[3]
Characters
Purlie Victorious Judson – Restless and commanding. In his middle or late thirties, Purlie is a man consumed with that divine impatience, without which nothing truly good, or truly bad, or even truly ridiculous, is ever accomplished in this world—with rhetoric and flourish to match. He is a traveling preacher who has returned to his small Georgian home to save the community church.
Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins – Young, eager, well-built. Clearly, a girl from the backwoods. Lutiebelle is like thousands of black girls you might know. Eager, desirous—even anxious, keenly in search for life and for love, trembling on the brink of self-confidence and vigorous young womanhood—but afraid to take the final leap: because no one has ever told her it is no longer necessary to be white in order to be virtuous, charming or beautiful.
Missy Judson - Ageless and benign. She is strong and of good cheer—of a certain shrewdness, yet full of the desire to believe.
Gitlow Judson – Purlie’s cousin who works feverishly as a cotton picker for the Ol’ Cap’n.
Charlie Cotchipee - A young white man of 25 or 30, but still gawky, awkward, and adolescent in outlook and behavior. Defiant of his father, Ol’ Cap’n, and a firm believer in equality for all.
Idella - A cook and woman of all work, who has been in the family since time immemorial. She is the only mother Charlie has ever known. Idella is as little as she is old and as tough as she is tiny.
Ol’Cap’n Cotchipee – The plantation owner and overseer of Cotchipee County. Aged and withered a bit, but by no means infirm.
The Sheriff and The Deputy – Two public servants who work for the Ol’Cap’n.[3]
Cast
| Character | Broadway (1961) |
|---|---|
| Purlie Victorious Judson | Ossie Davis |
| Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins | Ruby Dee |
| Ol' Cap'n Cotchipee | Sorell Booke |
| Gitlow Judson | Godfrey M. Cambridge |
| Charley Cotchipee | Alan Alda |
| Missy Judson | Helen Martin |
| Idella Landy | Beah Richards |
| The Deputy | Roger C. Carmel |
| The Sheriff | Cy Herzog |
| Understudies | Gail Fisher (Lutiebell Gussie Mae Jenkins), Gloria Foster (Missy Judson, Idella Landy), Michael Lord (Charley Cotchipee, The Deputy), John Sillings (The Sheriff), Mel Stewart (Purlie Victorious Judson, Gitlow Judson) and Mervyn Williams (Ol' Cap'n Cotchipee) |
Awards/Honors
- Tony Award Nominee for Best Featured Actor in A Play: Godfrey M Cambridge[2]
- Considered the second strongest contender for the Pulitzer Prize in 1962 behind How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying[4]
Film Adaptation
Purlie Victorious was adapted into the 1963 comedy-drama film, Gone Are the Days!, which starred Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Godfrey Cambridge, Hilda Haynes, Beah Richards, Alan Alda, Charles Welch, Ralph Roberts, and Sorrell Booke.
Musical Adaptations
Purlie Victorious was adapted into the 1970 Broadway musical Purlie, with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell and music by Gary Geld. Although Davis was not an active participant in the creation of the musical, the book relied so heavily on the original material from Purlie Victorious that Peter Udell and Philip Rose felt he should share credit.
The 1970 production was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical for Philip Rose, Best Choreography for Louis Johnson. Cleavon Little who portrayed Purlie won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical as well as the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance. Melba Moor who portrayed Lutiebelle won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical as well as a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance and a Theatre World Award.
History/Significance
When Purlie Victorious opened, the United States was in the midst of the civil rights movement. While a comedy, the play had an important role in refocusing the racial portrayal of the American south in the eyes of African Americans with the hopes of pointing a mocking finger at segregation.
In his introduction in the book Purlie Victorious: a Commemorative Text,[5] Ossie Davis delves into the creation of the play. The original inspiration came from his work in an off-Broadway play, The World of Sholom Aleichem, a comedic dramatization of three Jewish folktales. Using his own experience growing up in the heavily segregated south, as well as his observation of the civil rights movement, Davis’ original intent was to create a protest play that displayed his fury at the horrendous injustices for African Americans, but found it difficult to believe his characters. “No white folks could possibly be as mean and hateful, no black folks such hopeless, helpless victims. I read it aloud and found it hard to keep myself from laughing.”[6]
The play morphed into a satire of race relations in the civil rights movement, using irony and humor to examine racial stereotypes and the perpetuation of slavery through segregation, white liberalism, and interpersonal relationships among African Americans.
Ossie Davis received criticism that the broad humor of the piece made a joke of the struggle African Americans faced and actively fought against. In his essays, Davis expressed the concern he held for those critics and how often he reflected upon it.
“These many years after opening night, the question again stands before me: not so much whether the play was a joke, but whether, given the war-like tenor of the times, the joke was out of order. Did I betray the struggle by implying that the whole affair was ridiculous? Was not being able to keep a straight face a form of treason? Was laughing by night at the very things I marched against by day a defect of character? In retrospect, I think not. There must be a reason why we humans are the only animals blessed-or cursed-with the gift of laughter, a reason that would also explain how and why a dramatic idea drawing its inspiration from personal fire and anger, resentment and hostility turned - as if by its own will - into a roaring farce which sent people, white and black, away from the theater laughing instead of cursing.”[7]
During the Play’s run, it received acknowledgement and praise from many prominent members of the civil rights movement. At 93 years old, Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois attended the 1961 opening performance of Purlie Victorious. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attended a performance and commended it highly. NAACP member Roy Wilkins sent letters to various chapters urging them to attend, and James Farmer bought out a preview for a benefit. Black Nationalist Malcolm X attended a performance.[8]
References
- ↑ "Ossie Davis Biography". Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Internet Broadway Database. (22 June 2022). "Purlie Victorious". Internet Broadway Database. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Davis, Ossie. Purlie Victorious. 1961. Print.
- ↑ Hewes, Henry, ed. (1962). The Best Plays of 1961-1962. New York, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. p. 10. Search this book on
- ↑ Davis, Ossie (1993). Purlie Victorious a Commemorative Text (New Rochelle, NY 10802, U.S.A ed.). Emmalyn II Prod Co Inc. pp. 1–7. ISBN 0-9638416-0-2. Search this book on
- ↑ Davis, Ossie (1993). Purlie Victorious: A Commemorative Text. Emmalyn II Prod Co Inc. p. 3. ISBN 0-9638416-0-2. Search this book on
- ↑ Davis, Ossie (1993). Purlie Victorious: A Commemorative Text. New Rochelle, NY, 10802, USA: Emmalyn II Prod Co Inc. p. 5. ISBN 0-9638416-0-2. Search this book on
- ↑ Davis, Ossie (1993). Purlie Victorious: A Commemorative Text. New Rochelle, NY 10802, USA: Emmalyn II Prod Co Inc. p. 1. ISBN 0-9638416-0-2. Search this book on
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