James Thurber: The Male Animal in Liberated Paris

Paris was liberated in August of 1944 by the French Forces of the Interior. The Allies entered the city on August 24th and 25th. Paris soon became a center for Allied soldiers on leave and they wanted to be entertained. Scott Burns has unearthed a program from a production of "The Male Animal" by James Thurber and Elliott Nugent that was performed in liberated Paris by the Special Service (Seine Section) of the U.S. Army in cooperation with the American Red Cross.

The hit play originally opened on Broadway in 1940 and was adapted into a movie that was released in 1942. Scott's Madeleine Theater program is no doubt a rarity. The production probably dates from the first half of 1945. The program takes pains to point out that the personnel involved rehearsed and performed it in their spare time—there are no Army or Red Cross shirkers here.  The program has no artwork, Thurber's or otherwise. Nugent's first name is misspelled, as is the first name of character Michael Barnes. Yet the circumflex accent on Rue de Surène looks perfect. You have to give the Army some credit.

This stage production is mentioned in American Crimes and the Liberation of Paris: Robbery, Rape and Murder by Renegade GIs, 1944-1947 (McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2016) by Kenneth D. Alford. Alford states there were both British and American players in the production, but this is not evident from the program.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Crimes_and_the_Liberation_of_Pa/tacHCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22The+Male+Animal%22+Madeleine+Theatre,+Paris+1945&pg=PA55&printsec=frontcover

"The Male Animal" trailer (1942)

Note:  My thanks to Scott Burns for providing us with images of this scarce program. This is his sixteenth contribution to Attempted Bloggery. Scott, by the way, has compiled the most comprehensive Ralph Steadman bibliography anywhere and you can see it here.

The Wikipedia page—it's just a stub—on the Théâtre de la Madeleine may be found here.

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