The Male Animal

by Elliott Nugent, James Thurber

"Dismisses you from the theatre in a spirit of dazed hilarity." - N.Y. Times

Tommy Turner has been married for ten years to Ellen, and he is quietly settled in a teaching job at Mid Western University. This is the week end of the Michigan game and Joe Ferguson, the greatest football hero Mid Western has ever had, comes to tow…

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Comedy, Drama, Humor

165 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1940

Reviews

[Chrystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a comedy? So boring!

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of the male animal in this case refers to the willingness of a man to fight another man to win / possess a woman. Thomas Turner comes to realize the primitiveness of this idea. His more important discovery is that his principles are the most important aspect that separate the animal from the human. It is a timely topic as censorship at a university is the most important theme. Recommend. Kristi & Abby Tabby ** Thurber teamed with college schoolmate (and actor/director) Elliott Nugent to write The Male Animal, a comic drama that became a major Broadway hit in 1939. The play was adapted as a film by the same name in 1942, starring Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Jack Carson. The play opened at the Cort Theatre and ran from Jan 09, 1940 - Aug 03, 1940. Gene Tierney had a minor role when this play debuted on Broadway.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Minor, sometimes amusing, American comedy play.

[David Sterritt]

“The Male Animal: A New Comedy,” a dramedy by James Thurber and Elliott Nugent that scored a hit on Broadway in 1940, isn’t very exciting to read, but it illustrates how light entertainment could once raise controversial issues – here a college professor courts trouble for planning to read a controversial political text to a class – without tying itself in knots over the possibility that a someone might find a controversial issue controversial. Three cheers for the playwrights and the prof.

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very dated and not very funny with plenty of distinct stereotypes that would be offensive to modern audiences.