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Sunday, February 07, 1999 By Barbara Cloud
Could "Winged Victory" still fly? Probably not. It was a play with a timely theme: men and women having their lives disrupted by war.
When I read recently of the death of an actor named Don Taylor, my mind was racing.
I remembered a show I was privileged to see as a young teen-ager. I never forgot it.
"Winged Victory" was mentioned in his obituary, but only in passing. There were no details about the show that had me mesmerized and that stayed with me for a reason I wouldn't realize for many, many years afterward.
It had opened on Broadway Nov. 20, 1943, and it ran for seven months. The cast went to California to make the film version in June 1944 and began the road tour that September. Some months later, I encountered the touring company in Pittsburgh.
Its relatively short run in New York is deceiving because it was a sellout all that time and could have remained a hit for years. Instead, the man who wrote and directed the show, Moss Hart, felt the play should be shown in cities around the nation.
A 26-week road tour followed. Since war movies were prominent, and there was a tremendous sense of patriotism among us, this play was both inspirational and entertaining.
With the exception of 40 actresses, the hundreds of men on stage and behind the scenes were members of the Air Force.
Hart spent at least two months living among aviation cadets, masquerading as a private, in order to get material for his play.
My program is still in excellent condition. Don't ask why I was compelled to keep it, but as I became even more of a movie fan in the following years, I was drawn to the page listing the cast for "Winged Victory."
It's nothing short of amazing.
For one, T/Sgt. David Rose created the original music and arrangements. He would become Judy Garland's first husband and write more beautiful music, such as "Holiday for Strings."
Taylor, the actor and Penn State graduate, was 73 when he died. He played Danny "Pinky" Scariano and would later wed Phyllis Avery, who was in the cast and who played the wife of Mark Daniels. All eventually landed in Hollywood.
Some other airmen who had already begun acting careers before they entered the Air Force but would become better known after "Winged Victory" were Barry Nelson, Edmond O' Brien, Kevin McCarthy, Alan Baxter, Whitner "Whit" Bissell, Edward McMahon (yes, the same), Lon McAllister Jr., Gary Merrill, Ray McDonald, George "Superman" Reeves, Walter Reed, Alfred Ryder, Karl Malden, Martin Ritt, Peter Lind Hayes, Red Buttons and Ray Middleton.
Pfc. John (Dynasty) Forsythe had small roles as a soldier and a civilian.
Depending on your age, you might not even recognize those I've mentioned.
Ray McDonald, for instance, never became famous, but he was a fantastic dancer in MGM musicals, often paired with Peggy Ryan.
Ritt is best known as a director; Middleton, for stage musicals.
Women in the show whose names might be familiar were Barbara Baxter, Mona
Malden, Olive Deering, Elisabeth Fraser, Sylvia (Mrs. Danny) Kaye and Laura Pierpont. All went on to some degree of success in show business.
Fraser was a lovely actress. Little did I know just a few years down the road, in 1951, I would rent a room in New York City from her mother, Jessie Fraser. When I saw her daughter's picture on the mantle, I recognized her immediately. She had already done several movies, among them "All My Sons," also war-related, and "Young at Heart" with Doris Day and Frank Sinatra.
The picture that drew my attention on the mantle was one of Elisabeth at 17 and a young actor with whom she toured in a Lunt-Fontanne stage production. His name was Montgomery Clift.
Also, at least 20 years after seeing "Victory," I would interview character actress Laura Pierpont. I loved sharing with her that I had seen her as Mrs. Gardner, the mother of one of the airmen characters.
It was a cast of 350. I often wonder how many are still living, and if they ever had a reunion.
I hadn't seen many stage shows prior to "Winged Victory." Perhaps that's why it stands out, and also because I saw it in wartime when emotions ran high. My father was in the reserves and far from home.
Does anybody else remember being in the audience 54 years ago?
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