The final play of the 1963 season featured Joe E. Brown in the role of Elwood P. Dowd in Mary Chase’s Harvey. The play was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1945. Dowd’s dearest friend is Harvey, a six-foot-plus rabbit, invisible to all but a select few.
The Rocky Mountain News review of the play favorably commented on the performance of Joe E. Brown.
Joe E. Brown IS the lovable lush, Elwood P. Dowd. The enormous white hare becomes almost visible to the audience as Brown smiles at him ever so sweetly or smoothes down his long ears.
Dowd’s wise and philosophical view of life, as seen through a whiskey glass, also makes very good sense at times when expressed by Brown.
Brown was no stranger to the role of Elwood P. Dowd.
The comic said that sometime during the run of Harvey at Elitch, he’ll have invoked the character of the lovable Elwood for the 2,000th time. This means that he’ll have played the part more than any other living person, in addition to performing it in more countries than anyone. “I’ve performed it in Australia, Canada, England and Hawaii,” said Brown. “I took over the part in the New York company when Frank Fay, the originator, gave it up, and played it seven months before it went on the road.
[Borrillo, Theodore A., (2012). Denver’s historic Elitch Theatre : a nostalgic journey (a history of its times). pp. 253-254.]
Seasons at the Theatre
- 1963
Elitch Theatre Productions/Roles:
- Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey
Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:
- Osgood Fielding III in Some Like It Hot (1959) — His most enduring role, delivering one of cinema’s most famous closing lines: “Well, nobody’s perfect.” This Billy Wilder comedy is considered one of the greatest films ever made and regularly tops all-time best lists.
- Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey (stage, 1950s–1963) — Brown performed this role nearly 2,000 times across multiple countries and continents. The play itself won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1945.
- Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) — Brown was one of the very few vaudeville comedians to appear in a Shakespearean film.
- Elmer in Elmer, the Great (1933) — One of his signature Warner Bros. comedy vehicles, playing a baseball player for the Chicago Cubs, blending his two great passions — comedy and baseball.
- Joe Beaton in On with the Show! (1929) — Brown shot to stardom after appearing in the first all-color, all-talking musical comedy.
Elitch Theatre Connections:
- Hollywood Canteen (1944, film) Co-star: Kitty Carlisle (Elitch 1965)
- The Ann Sothern Show, “Olive’s Dream Man” (1960, TV) Co-star: Ann Sothern (Elitch 1968)
Joe E. Brown guest-starred in this episode as Olive’s new boyfriend, and Sothern would go on to perform at Elitch Theatre eight years later, in 1968.
Wikipedia Link:
