Give 'em Hell, Harry!

Give 'em Hell, Harry! is a biographical play and 1975 film, written by playwright Samuel Gallu. Both the play and film are a one-man show about former President of the United States Harry S. Truman. Give 'em Hell, Harry! stars James Whitmore, and was directed by Steve Binder and Peter H. Hunt.

Give 'em Hell, Harry!
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySteve Binder
Peter H. Hunt (stage production)
Produced byBill Sargent
Joseph E. Bluth
Written bySamuel Gallu
StarringJames Whitmore
Music byPearl Kaufman
CinematographyKen Palius
Edited bySteve Binder
Production
company
Distributed byTheater Television Network
Release date
September 18, 1975 (1975-09-18)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$230,000
Box office$11,000,000[1]

Title origin

The title comes from an incident that took place during the 1948 Presidential election campaign. In Bremerton, Washington, Truman delivered a speech attacking the Republicans. During the speech, a supporter yelled out, "Give 'em Hell, Harry!" Truman replied, "I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them, and they think it's Hell." Subsequently, "Give 'em Hell, Harry!" became a lifetime slogan for Truman supporters.

History

The play previewed in Hershey, Pennsylvania, followed by its official opening at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D. C. Its April 17, 1975, premiere was hosted by Truman's daughter Margaret, and attended by President Gerald Ford. The play then went on to a six-city tour, during which it was videotaped for film on the stage of the Moore Theatre in Seattle, using a live editing process called Theatrovision.[2] It was also recorded and released by United Artists Records.

Although the play has been regularly revived, it did not make its New York debut until July 2008 at St. Luke's Theatre.

Awards

James Whitmore was nominated for Best Actor by both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. It is only the third film to have its entire credited cast (Whitmore) nominated for an Academy Award, the first two being Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966, for which almost all members excluding the extras were nominated, and Sleuth in 1972.[3] Whitmore was also nominated for, and won, a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording.

References

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