''Hello Out There!'' is a
one-act play by the
Armenian-American playwright
William Saroyan written early in August 1941.
Plot
The play is
set in a small
Texas jail. There are two major
characters, Photo-Finish and Emily, whom Saroyan refers to simply as "A Young Man" and "A Girl". Photo-Finish is a down on his luck gambler and ends up in jail in a hole-in-the-wall town as a result of a married harlot crying rape when he refused to pay her after coming over to her house.
There he meets Emily, an unhappy cook. When they meet, it is
love at first sight. Emily and Photo-Finish fall in love and make plans to go to San Francisco, but their plans are crushed when the men looking for Photo-Finish find him and kill him.
Production history
The play was first performed in 1941 at the
Lobero Theatre
The Lobero Theatre is an historic building in Santa Barbara, California. The theater was originally built as an opera house, in a refurbished adobe school building, by Italian immigrant José Lobero in 1873. Located downtown at the corner of Ana ...
in
Santa Barbara, California as the curtain raiser to a revival of
George Bernard Shaw's ''
The Devil's Disciple'', and was first performed on Broadway in 1942. The Broadway production starred
Eddie Dowling and
Julie Haydon.
Al Pacino
Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
played the Young Man in a performance in 1963 that marked his first appearance on stage in
New York City.
Film adaptation
In 1950, the play was adapted into a short film, directed by
James Whale and produced by millionaire
Huntington Hartford. It starred
Harry Morgan,
Marjorie Steele
Marjorie Fitzgibbon (27 August 1930 – 20 January 2018) was an Irish-American artist and actress.
Early life and family
Marjorie Fitzgibbon was born Marjorie Steele on 27 August 1930 in Reno, Nevada, United States. Her parents were Jack, a sal ...
(Hartford's then-wife),
Lee Patrick, and
Ray Teal. The film, intended to be one episode in an
anthology film
An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...
in the style of similar films such as
W. Somerset Maugham's ''
Quartet
In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments.
Classical String quartet
In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...
'' (1948), was never released. ''Hello Out There'' was Whale's last film.
Opera
In 1953, composer
Jack Beeson
Jack Hamilton Beeson (July 15, 1921 – June 6, 2010) was an American composer. He was known particularly for his operas, the best known of which are ''Lizzie Borden'', ''Hello Out There!'', and ''The Sweet Bye and Bye''.
Early life
Born in Muncie ...
composed a one-act chamber opera based on the play.
External links
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1941 plays
Plays by William Saroyan
One-act plays
1950 short films
1950 films
Films directed by James Whale
Plays adapted into operas
{{1940s-play-stub