Yellow Jack: A History

by Sidney Howard, Paul de Kruif, Jo Mielziner (Illustrator)

Yellow Jack opened at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York City on March 6, 1934 and played for 79 performances closing in May of the same year.

Genres: Plays

152 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Sidney Coe Howard was an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay in 1940 for the screenplay for Gone with the Wind. This was the first time a posthumous nominee for any Oscar won the award. He had been twice previously nominated for his adaptations of the Sinclair Lewis novels Arrowsmith , and Dodsworth .

Reviews

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engrossing play about the messiness of science in dealing with the cause of disease, in this case, yellow fever, which was colloquially known as yellow jack. Many soldiers came down with it during the Spanish-American War and concerns about its causes delayed the building of the Panama Canal. Most of the play focuses on Walter Reed, who led an investigation into the cause, and after much trial and error, including using volunteer soldiers as subjects, proves that transmission is by mosquitos rather than filthy conditions or foul air. There was great use of period music to complement the scenes. Some of the language is problematic by today's standards, but overall a very stirring play.