The role of Elwood P. Dowd was played by Frank Fay on Broadway and in London - and to universal acclaim. Fay (who had alcohol problems of his own) could bring that aspect to the role (Stewart brushes it when he goes to Mr. Cracker's bar), but Fay also showed (from some of the descriptions I have read) a muscularity of mind that Stewart does not quite show. Fay's Elwood has wondered about the phenomenon of his invisible/invincible friend, and while he accepts it he truly is in awe of the phenomenon. But Stewart has grown to just enjoy his friend's remarkable powers. He accepts them, and never tries to fathom them.
As the play continues we see how the harmless Elwood and Harvey distress so many people. His sister Veta and niece Myrtle Mae blame them for isolating them from their social register friends. Judge Gaffney sympathizes with Veta, and her determination to put Elwood into an asylum. Dr. Sanderson and Nurse Kelly see Elwood as a potential patient, as does the dismissive Dr. Chumley. And Wilson has the most experienced (and realistic) view of insanity of anyone - he doesn't trust the inmates (more of that later).
The thing that is amazing in HARVEY is that everyone ends up accepting the Pooka - and in the case of Dr. Chumley actively seeking to take Elwood's place. It's because of their disillusionment with the society that they try to placate. Myrtle Mae and Wilson both think Elwood is a nut, but they find they like each other. They both are on different levels of the social scale, but both are lonely, and they click (much to the dismay of Veta, who was briefly manhandled by Wilson as an asylum guard). Gaffney is supportive of Veta's actions towards Elwood (although he always liked Elwood) because he is in love with Veta. But he gets fed up because of Veta's own unwillingness to remain consistent about what to do with Elwood. Sanderson and Kelly get their wires crossed, and Sanderson actually thinks Veta is the mentally ill person (and it is sometimes feasible to believe it). It leads to Chumley briefly firing his assistant, and in the temporary disaster Kelly and Sanderson revealing their deeper feelings about each other. Soon they are just as willing to listen to Elwood's philosophy of life as they are in locating him for giving him the medication that may cure him - but turn him (in the words of the taxi driver) into just another stinker like the rest of us.
Chumley is more interesting. He later admits that Harvey is so remarkable that everything that science has discovered is child's play compared to him. He does end up wanting to replace Elwood in Harvey's affections, but it is only for a temporary loan so that he can have an emotional release in some motel in Akron, Ohio with a simple, sympathetic woman and some beer. It's as though the society that has honored him actually chokes Chumley - his dream is a general rejection of respectability for two weeks only, as it is impossible to imagine he can get away with much more. As he is married it is very probable that the two weeks would be about all his need for release and freedom can guarantee him.
The people who do accept Elwood and Harvey are not people with responsibility or position. Mr. Cracker and his customers (except one wise guy at the start of the film) see nothing odd at Elwood having an invisible friend. The taxi driver likes people like Elwood - they appreciate the trip to the asylum, and his driving. Mr. Schimmelplusser (Clem Bevans) is usually ignored by the Chumley's of the world who employ him, but he is very proud of the electronic fence and likes Elwood's notice of it. Elwood and Harvey have the support of the little people. As Elwood explains it, he could have been successful or pleasant, and he chose to be pleasant. Most people do want to be pleasant.
HARVEY is one of the world's best fantasy plays, and it's success far transcended what was expected in the late 1940s when Mary Chase wrote it. Tragically, the reality of mental illness does not always allow for Elwood's "pleasant" disposition. Wilson actually has the most realistic moment in the play when he explains to Sanderson and Kelly that he has seen the insane close up - that frequently they are all sweetness until they know that they are not being observed, and then they do really life threatening damage to you. He actually happens to be correct.
Although his reactions throughout the play are meant as comic blunderings or such (witness the marvelous moment when he reads the dictionary definition of "Pooka"), he does show one moment that (to me) makes his roughness understandable and even heroic: when Dr. Chumley has disappeared after going off with Elwood, Wilson suddenly shows deep concern for the poor doctor, imagining him lying insensible in a pool of blood. It doesn't happen, but in reality it could happen very easily in the real world. The entire cast, especially Stewart and Josephine Hutchinson (Best Supporting Oscar) were wonderful, but at that moment Jesse White was superb.
As the play continues we see how the harmless Elwood and Harvey distress so many people. His sister Veta and niece Myrtle Mae blame them for isolating them from their social register friends. Judge Gaffney sympathizes with Veta, and her determination to put Elwood into an asylum. Dr. Sanderson and Nurse Kelly see Elwood as a potential patient, as does the dismissive Dr. Chumley. And Wilson has the most experienced (and realistic) view of insanity of anyone - he doesn't trust the inmates (more of that later).
The thing that is amazing in HARVEY is that everyone ends up accepting the Pooka - and in the case of Dr. Chumley actively seeking to take Elwood's place. It's because of their disillusionment with the society that they try to placate. Myrtle Mae and Wilson both think Elwood is a nut, but they find they like each other. They both are on different levels of the social scale, but both are lonely, and they click (much to the dismay of Veta, who was briefly manhandled by Wilson as an asylum guard). Gaffney is supportive of Veta's actions towards Elwood (although he always liked Elwood) because he is in love with Veta. But he gets fed up because of Veta's own unwillingness to remain consistent about what to do with Elwood. Sanderson and Kelly get their wires crossed, and Sanderson actually thinks Veta is the mentally ill person (and it is sometimes feasible to believe it). It leads to Chumley briefly firing his assistant, and in the temporary disaster Kelly and Sanderson revealing their deeper feelings about each other. Soon they are just as willing to listen to Elwood's philosophy of life as they are in locating him for giving him the medication that may cure him - but turn him (in the words of the taxi driver) into just another stinker like the rest of us.
Chumley is more interesting. He later admits that Harvey is so remarkable that everything that science has discovered is child's play compared to him. He does end up wanting to replace Elwood in Harvey's affections, but it is only for a temporary loan so that he can have an emotional release in some motel in Akron, Ohio with a simple, sympathetic woman and some beer. It's as though the society that has honored him actually chokes Chumley - his dream is a general rejection of respectability for two weeks only, as it is impossible to imagine he can get away with much more. As he is married it is very probable that the two weeks would be about all his need for release and freedom can guarantee him.
The people who do accept Elwood and Harvey are not people with responsibility or position. Mr. Cracker and his customers (except one wise guy at the start of the film) see nothing odd at Elwood having an invisible friend. The taxi driver likes people like Elwood - they appreciate the trip to the asylum, and his driving. Mr. Schimmelplusser (Clem Bevans) is usually ignored by the Chumley's of the world who employ him, but he is very proud of the electronic fence and likes Elwood's notice of it. Elwood and Harvey have the support of the little people. As Elwood explains it, he could have been successful or pleasant, and he chose to be pleasant. Most people do want to be pleasant.
HARVEY is one of the world's best fantasy plays, and it's success far transcended what was expected in the late 1940s when Mary Chase wrote it. Tragically, the reality of mental illness does not always allow for Elwood's "pleasant" disposition. Wilson actually has the most realistic moment in the play when he explains to Sanderson and Kelly that he has seen the insane close up - that frequently they are all sweetness until they know that they are not being observed, and then they do really life threatening damage to you. He actually happens to be correct.
Although his reactions throughout the play are meant as comic blunderings or such (witness the marvelous moment when he reads the dictionary definition of "Pooka"), he does show one moment that (to me) makes his roughness understandable and even heroic: when Dr. Chumley has disappeared after going off with Elwood, Wilson suddenly shows deep concern for the poor doctor, imagining him lying insensible in a pool of blood. It doesn't happen, but in reality it could happen very easily in the real world. The entire cast, especially Stewart and Josephine Hutchinson (Best Supporting Oscar) were wonderful, but at that moment Jesse White was superb.