Saroyan on Screen - The Time of Your Life - Part 2
William Saroyan saw what television was going to mean, likely after his experiences writing and being adapted for radio…though that’s a topic for a future podcast. Saroyan was being contacted by producers about bringing his plays and stories to television.
In 1948, television was in its infancy. There were televisions on sale across the country, and more and more stations were popping up. The three networks that dominated the 1950s through 1980s, NBC, CBS, and ABC, were already established, as well as the DuMont network, which would fold by 1955. These networks were not the cash cows that radio was, so budgets tended to be fairly low. Programs that could be recorded without having to stage them entirely, like baseball, boxing, wrestling, and live music or religious presentations, were very popular with network executives. As more money started rolling in, budgets improved, and one of the most popular forms of continuing series was the anthology program. These were shows without a continuous storyline, but a series of plays or stories. These brought to life many classic short stories and theatrical presentations. Saroyan had pieces produced for two of the earliest programs.
The first was an episode of Actors Studio. Debuting in September 1948 on ABC, the series produced episodes adapting stories like Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost, and William Saroyan’s My Heart’s in the Highlands. By the time that Actors Studio presented Saroyan’s play, it had been cancelled by ABC and had moved to CBS. The episode starred Jack McQuade, and the screenplay was written by Howard Rodman. The play was well-received, but sadly no copy of it has been found.
The second time My Heart’s in the Highlands was produced for television was in 1950 by the popular series The Silver Theatre. While many of the anthology shows were shot live, The Silver Theatre shot on film, which allowed the episodes to be archived and re-packaged. Plays shot originally for The Silver Theatre were later shown as episodes of Bigelowe Theatre. This version of My Heart’s in the Highlands featured American film and theatre legend Howard Da Silva as Jasper McGregor. Just a few months later, Da Silva would be blacklisted for allegedly being a Communist and pleading his 5th Amendment rights at a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing. Though this episode was shot on film, there are no known surviving copies of the episode.
Saroyan had many adaptations of his work appear on TV in the 1950s, as well as appearing on talk shows and news programs himself. He was not only popular for American anthology programs, but had productions of his plays on Dannish, Polish, British, and Russian television in the 1950s as well.
The first televised production of The Time of Your Life was British. Franchot Tone, famed actor known for roles in the 1930s like Mutiny on the Bounty, had been doing mostly television by 1955, when he played Joe in a touring run of the show. It was later brought to Europe, playing at the Brussells World’s Fair in 1958, and later was performed in the UK for Armchair Theatre. That version also starred Susan Strasberg and Ann Sheridan, and was a rousing success in the UK, with excellent notices from The Guardian.
Saroyan had been shopping around The Time of Your Life for a US television adaptation in the early 1950s. In 1953, the Cagney deal’s rental period on the rights lapsed, and William Cagney wanted to re-up and re-issue the film. Ned Brown, then at MCA Artist representation, contacted Saroyan looking to secure the rights. Saroyan was uninterested:
“Dear Ned:
“I see no reason why I should even talk business with the Cagneys, even through an agent, in view of the fact that to begin with they mucked up a very valuable property by casting and producing and directing it in a manner entirely out of order, insisting on the course they took even though I urged them again and again to follow the course that was natural for this play and in view of the fact that since the event of the production of a fiasco they have refused to respond promptly or fairly or intelligently to every reply I have made to their enquiries---replies that I have made instantly upon being informed of their questions.
“I have plans of my own for The Time of Your Life---for another film, possibly 3-D, directed by myself; as a Musical for Broadway; and as a Television Property, to go on indefinitely. “
This was the first clear mention of Saroyan looking at the play as a television property that we’ve been able to locate. This may have strictly been an idea at that point, but as he was regularly having plays made into television episodes, a half-dozen plays by 1953, it seems like a natural. The only issue was that the regular television format at the time didn’t allow for a play as long as The Time of Your Life. In fact, in a letter from Ben Medford, he said “don’t settle for anything less than 90 minutes.”
One of the most important and respected television anthology programs of the 1950s was Playhouse 90. Starting in 1956, CBS ran Playhouse 90 as a prestige program. It started with a Rod Serling-penned episode Forbidden Area, which starred Charlton Heston. The second episode, also written by Serling, was a remarkable and important episode: Requiem for a Heavyweight. That won multiple Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Peabody Award. That alone established Playhouse 90 as one of the most important series, and further episodes featured major actors and writers. John Frankenheimer directed more episodes than anyone else, and would go on to direct many motion pictures, including The Birdman of Alcatraz and The Manchurian Candidate.
One of the producers for Playhouse 90 was Martin Manulis. He had been producing for television since 1951, including two CBS series that he created: The Best of Broadway and Climax!. During his time producing those, he was in touch with Saroyan. In a letter dated October 4, 1954, Saroyan refers to a letter from Manulis dated September 30th, and sends an 89 page teleplay version of The Time of Your Life. Saroyan notes that he had cut out an entire storyline, the Dudley-Lorene-Elsie telephone love connection storyline, and Saroyan declared, “I think the play is in first-class shape now.”
This likely would have been written for The Best of Broadway, though the show was cancelled in May of 1955, and if the script was delivered in October, 1954, it’s unlikely it would have been intended for the 1954-1955 season.
Manulis also was a producer on Playhouse 90, though he had left the series by 1958, when Playhouse 90 presented The Time of Your Life.
One of the driving forces appear to have been not only producer Manulis, but another long-time Saroyan friend: John Houseman. Houseman had directed the premiere of Hello Out There at the Pasadena Playhouse with Darryl Zanuck producing. Houseman was not a regular producer, but was on the team, which made sense as he was one of the best-known figures of the American stage.
While those two may have been a path towards getting it made, there’s certainly a role in that production for the star of the episode: Jackie Gleason.
One of the biggest stars in the early days of television was Jackie Gleason. He had come to television after years as a comedian and a decade appearing in films. After WWII, where he was found to be unfit for service due to his weight and a poorly healed broken arm, he appeared somewhat erratically in film and radio programs.
In 1949, his big small screen break happened in the form of the role as the title character in the Life of Riley. The original radio version starred William Bendix, who incidentally had appeared in both the original stage and film versions of The Time of Your Life. Gleason starred in the program until 1950, when he became the host of Cavalcade of Stars on the DuMont network. There, he developed characters through a series of skits. One of those characters, Ralph Kramden, became very popular.
In 1952, CBS offered a contract to Gleason that gave him a five hundred percent raise. The series was also renamed The Jackie Gleason Show. This became one of the most popular shows on television, and in 1955, the series ended, and the next year The Honeymooners, based on the Ralph Kramden character, ran on CBS for two years.
Gleason and Saroyan met by early 1942, and possibly earlier. It’s known that Saroyan and Carol Marcus, then early in their relationship, had been joined at the nightclub Ugene’s in early 1942. The two seem to have been in contact off-and-on, though not frequently. They certainly ran in similar circles in Hollywood, and both were exceptiopnally fond of drinking.
Ties to Gleason are all over the episodes cast and crew list. Gleason had been a featured player in a Manulis-produced episode of The Best of Broadway – The Show Off. Writer A.J. Russell, credited as adapting the play for TV, had worked as a writer on the Jackie Gleason Show and had written The Laugh Maker for Studio One starring Gleason. Actors Tom Gorman and Burt Freed had worked with Gleason previously, and Gloria Vanderbilt had socialized with Gleason and Saroyan both!
It’s clear that Gleason’s hand was in action with the production, and Manulis was also bringing his influence, as many of the names had appeared on The Best of Broadway and Climax!. The play itself was a guiding principal. Vanderbilt had appeared in the Franchot Tone version, and Kit Carson was played by James Barton, who was reprising his role from the Cagney production a decade earlier.
The entire cast was a strong one. Gleason, with his boozy persona being very public and beloved, as Joe was a natural. Betsy Palmer was a young actress cast as Kitty DuVall. She was a regular on anthology programs, and would only make a few film appearanes until 1980, when she played Mrs. Voorhees in Friday the 13th, which launched her as an icon in horror films for the rest of her life. Jack Klugman was a major star, appearing both on screen and Broadway. He would go on to fame as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple, both on stage and television. He played Nick, the barkeep, with a comedic stoicism that marked several other performances of the role, especially William Bendix’s in the 1949 film. Dick York, who would become a major star for his turn as Darren in Bewitched, played Joe’s lackey, Tom. Burt Freed played Blick, the corrupt cop. He was a career actor known for playing heavies. Reprising their roles from previous productions were Vanderbilt as Elsie, and Barton as Kit Carson.
The episode was aired October 9th, 1958. The initial reaction to the production was highly positive.
Jack Gould reviewed the episode on October 10th:
“The Time Of Your Life,” William Saroyan’s warm and boozy appreciation of the human race, was revived with care and feeling last night on “Playhouse 90” over Channel 2. It was a decided hit.
“Jackie Gleason, in quite possibly his most winning appearance on TV, gave a surprisingly touching and compassionate performance as Joe, the philosophic bar-fly who loves people. If any viewers thought he would employ the broad strokes of his vaudeville characterizations, they found themselves in happy error.
“Mr. Saroyan’s work had to be trimmed somewhat for television by A. J. Russell, but the adaptation was a sound job. There was no serious loss of the beautiful mood as Mr. Saroyan’s undisciplined theatrical poem wandered off first one way and then the other in its fondness for human beings. The San Francisco honky-tonk remains one of civilization’s most cherished places.”
Gleason’s performance was lauded, as were Klugman’s and James Barton’s. Betsy Palmer’s performance was more pronounced than Jeanne Cagney’s in the film, with a bit more fire to her delivery. Her interactions with Gleason are not nearly as warm as the interactions between Jeanne and Jimmy Cagney, and here that works incredibly well. Kitty was angrier, and better situated to television of the time.
The Independent said “Producer Gordon Duff and director Tom Donovan assembled a fine cast, headed by Gleason, and including Betsy Palmer, Dick York, Jack Klugman, Bobby Van, Dina Merrill, Bert Freed and the great James Barton recreating his stage role as Kit Carson. Individual performances were superb, an adjective I haven’t been able to use for quite a few months. Gleason submerged his own personality in the characterization of Joe, and Dick York, last seen on Playhouse 90 as Paul Muni’s son in “The Last Clear Chance,” delivered just the right contrast as Tom, Joe’s not-too-bright friend.”
Ben Gross said, “Jackie Gleason, the robust comedian who is also determined to become a great actor, tested his talents again in a “straight” role during Playhouse 90’s production of William Saroyan’s “The Time of Your Life” Thursday night. In another step toward this laudable goal, he gave an affectionate, at times moving performance, worthy of anyone’s respect.”
Praise was not universal, though certainly higher than for the earlier film version. The United Press International’s reviewer, William Ewald said “I did not enjoy it. It’s a piece that should be played like a merry-go-round: with an om-pah-pah, a swirl of pink horses and a shout. Instead it was played almost solemnly – something like a coronation procession or a stately gavotte.” The Associated Press’ review was “The Time of Your Life is mediocre television for the middle aged.”
Gleason had been trying to become a more dramatic actor, and this might have been the most interesting in his early attempts at being a serious actor. Three years later, he would earn rave reviews as Minnesota Fats in The Hustler.
Saroyan, who could be exceptionally tough on those adapting his work, actually sent the actor a note after he saw the episode. He said that Gleason had provided “an excellent Joe.”
Once again, The Time of Your Life would see several revivals following a media adaptation. While none made it to Broadway, there were several touring and local productions in 1959 through 1961. Over the next 15 years, there would be several other significant stagings, including one with Henry Fonda. When Julliard’s head of drama, Saroyan’s buddy John Houseman, wanted to start a touring company for his students to gain experience on the road, one of their early productions was The Time of Your Life. As the group, eventually known as The Acting Company, ended its tour of the play, it was recorded for PBS. This production was full of young actors who would go on to become major stars of stage, television, and film. Our next episode will look at the production of The Time of Your Life featuring Patti LuPone, Kevin Kline, and an appearance by William Saroyan himself.
