Stealing Through Time: On the Writings of Jack Finney

by Jack Seabrook

  Julia finally asks Si where he comes from and he replies by singing the lovely "Time and Time Again." As a mob gathers outside, Si and Julia will themselves to New York in 2001, a bit of time travel that was handled with finesse in the novel but which makes little sense on stage.

  We then see Julia in Si's apartment, watching television with fascination and enjoying the remote control. She sees a commercial for Nostalgia, the perfume that bears her likeness, and is surprised when Kate comes home. Kate quickly realizes who Julia is and where she comes from, and there are some funny lines as Kate tries to explain a thing or two about the modern world. Si arrives and he and Kate argue about Julia; Kate sings a song called "The Right Look," admitting that the look of love Si gives to Julia is quite different than the look he gives her. Julia Murney has a magnificent voice and her performance as Kate is one of the highlights of the show, even though she does not spend a great deal of time on stage.

  Danziger arrives and provides some speedy exposition by telling Si and Julia that Edward Carmody shot himself in a fit of guilt a few days after the fire. The doctor plans to provide Julia with a valid 2001 identity and he is excited about the opportunity to reshape time using Si's ability to travel back and forth. He calls time travel "the ultimate weapon" and states that science cannot be stopped, no matter where it goes. Si agrees to bring Julia to The Project, but she disappears. He finds her at the site of the old boarding house, where all of the 1882 furniture is now covered with sheets. This scene is rather hard to believe, but it allows for a quick change in time. Julia and Si sing "I Know This House," and he professes his love for her. He then helps her return to 1882 using the boarding house as a portal, and the past returns as the furniture is uncovered and the residents drift onstage.

  Si is left alone in the present and runs offstage. The show ends in 1882, as we see Emily performing "The Marrying Kind" again in her musical's opening night performance. After the show, she faints from excitement. Dr. Danziger arrives, but Si suddenly appears on the scene, masquerading as a doctor, and dismisses Danziger before he and Emily can have their fateful meeting. Si tells Felix, the piano player, to marry Emily instead, and all sing and waltz happily together as the lights fade.

  Act two of Time and Again is shorter than act one, lasting about 54 minutes. The plot and its execution are a bit clumsy; the highlights are the songs. Overall, Time and Again is an enjoyable musical to watch, streamlining the novel's story in order to fit the format of musical theater. The production that was videotaped at the Manhattan Theatre Club is lovely but rather simple, with just two pianos accompanying the singers on a small stage. Most of the effects are done with lighting, since there is no large-scale scenery or scene changes. The singers in this production are very strong, and several of the songs — especially "The Marrying Kind "—are memorable.

  Readers of Time and Again must have been surprised by the extensive changes that had been made in the story by the time it reached the New York stage. First and foremost is the elimination of the character of Ruben Prien, the former Army man and government employee whose devotion to The Project stems from a belief that time travel represents a valuable military option. Moving the story from 1970 to 2001 required a change in its politics, and the Vietnam-era questioning of authority that runs through the novel is absent onstage. Taking Prien out of the plot required the musical's writer, Jack Viertel, to make E.E. Danziger a composite character who loses the self-doubts found in the novel and replaces them with Prien's mania. The extensive training that Si Morley undergoes in the book is also gone, as is virtually all of his relationship with Danziger.

  Another major plot point that is changed is the reason for Si's trip to the past. In the novel, he seeks clarification of the partially-burned letter that his girlfriend Kate inherited and its mysterious message involving "Destruction by Fire of the entire World." On stage, Danziger wants Si to find out why the picture of Julia was painted by someone named Si Morley in 1882.

  Si's various trips back and forth between the past and the present that occur in the book become a single trip to 1882 and back in the musical, and the fire — which is a climactic point in the book — becomes a clumsy incident on stage. Finally, the twist in the book that has Jake Pickering survive to steal the identity of Edward (Andrew in the novel) Carmody is replaced by the much simpler explanation that Jake was killed in the fire and Carmody killed himself out of grief for causing the conflagration.

  In short, the adaptation of Time and Again for the stage does not succeed in capturing the flavor of the novel, and the writing does not succeed in simplifying the book's complicated plot in a satisfactory way. It is in the staging and the music that the show succeeds most.

  Time and Again did not receive good reviews in the press. The New York Times review asked, "how long can you listen to a music box, the sort that dribbles out a single tinkly melody, before you want to throw it out a window?" (Brantley). It seems that there had been major changes to the show in between its performances in San Diego and its arrival in New York, as Ken Mandelbaum pointed out in a review on Theater.com. "But for the most part," he noted, "the Old Globe version was faithful to the novel's action, and the result was, if not disastrous, plodding and overloaded with plot. The reason why the musical didn't vanish at that point was that, in addition to the appeal of its source, the show came to life on a number of occasions thanks to some ravishing songs...." After seeing the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of Time and Again, Mandelbaum complained that, "while the music has for the MTC version been attractively arranged for two pianos, it's a score that cries out for the full orchestration that would match the kind of operatic singing required of several of the principals."

  Mandelbaum adds that the book underwent major changes from San Diego to New York, altering the plot and making Julia "more complex and assertive" than before. He suggests that James Hart, credited in the program with "additional story material," may have been the source of some of the changes. Still, he complains that the show "remains overplotted" and "can't compete with the Old Globe version, much less the novel..." and concludes that "perhaps Finney's novel should have been a movie."

  Kenneth Jones, writing on Playbill.com, summed up the response to the show by noting that "the official opening Jan. 30 was followed by a flood of negative reviews in the New York dailies and magazines. Critics, in a collective sour mood, fell over themselves seeking adjectives to curse a show that many in the audience and industry regarded as having one of the crafticr scores in recent seasons." He added that the show was still changing during the previews in January 2001, and that the song "The Primary Source" was replaced by "Standing in the Middle of the Road." Si's training was also cut back almost to nothing.

  Perhaps the most positive review was written by an out of town critic —Clifford Ridley of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He called Time and Again an "irresistibly charming musical" and wrote that "it deserves a wide audience."

  The show's New York run ended on February 18, 2001, and I have not been able to find evidence that it has been revived since that time. According to Kenneth Jones, " Thomas Viertel, one of the producers who first initiated the project, told the New York Times there are no longer hopes to take Time and Again to Broadway."

  Jack Finney was a successful short story writer early in his career, and he became a successful novelist in the 1950s. Eventually, he gave up writing short stories and concentrated on novels until his death. His experiments in writing for the stage were few and they were not suc-cessful. After his death, his most admired novel, Time and Again, was adapted for the stage unsuccessfully. It seems that enjoyment of Jack Finney's work was found mostly on the printed page, for when his characters tried to come to life on stage they did not have the same appeal.

  EIGHTEEN

  Jack Finney on Television

  Although Jack Finney never wrote directly for television, three of his short stories have been adapted for the small screen, one of them twice. "Such Interesting Neighbors" aired a
s "Time Is Just a Place" on the April 16, 1955 episode of Science Fiction Theatre. "All My Clients are Innocent" was adapted for Alcoa Premiere on April 17, 1962. "Such Interesting Neighbors" was adapted for a second time, under its original title, for Amazing Stories on March 20, 1987. Finally, "The Love Letter" aired as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame series on February 1, 1998. None of Finney's novels has been adapted for television.

  Science Fiction Theatre ran in syndication for two years, from April 1955 to April 1957. It was hosted by Truman Bradley and it stood out from most other television series of the time because it was filmed in color. It premiered on April 9, 1955, and its second episode was entitled "Time Is Just a Place" ("Science Fiction Theatre"). This was adapted from Jack Finney's story, "Such Interesting Neighbors," which had first appeared in the January 6, 1951 issue of Collier's magazine.

  The show begins with an introduction by Truman Bradley, who remarks on how a plane can fly from New York to Chicago and land five minutes before it took off. He attributes this to the plane's ability to fly faster than the time difference between the two cities. He then introduces a robot, called "the man of tomorrow," that is able to do tasks that would be too dangerous for humans to attempt. He predicts that, some day, we will all have automatic men around the house to do chores.

  The story proper begins with a montage of modern scenes, including fast airplanes, a superhighway, and new homes. In one of these homes lives Al Brown, the protagonist of the story. He receives a telephone call from Colonel Peterson, who tells him that the test plane will not be ready until Monday. He thinks he has a free weekend to spend with his wife, Nell, until she tells him all of the chores he needs to do. Ironically, the chores involve repairing modern conveniences that have broken down, such as a garbage disposal and a clothes dryer.

  Al then comments on how well the new neighbors have fixed up their house. The neighbor, Ted Heller, pulls his car into the driveway and gets out, looking around suspiciously before glancing up at the sky. Later, Al's attempt to watch television is thwarted by static interference. He goes outside to check the antenna and hears a strange whine from the Hellers' house. Looking through their window, he sees a small, round machine with a circular antenna. The machine is traveling across the floor. Heller emerges from his house and meets Al, explaining that the machine is a sonic broom that he has invented. It works by remote control and the "pressure of the noise under the hemisphere disintegrates the refuse." Al confides that he, too, is an inventor, and agrees not to tell anyone about Ted's new device.

  Later that day, Al is in his workshop when he hears Fed having trouble starting his car. Al helps Ted get it started but notices that his new neighbor does not seem to know much about cars. Ted's wife, Ann, also seems strangely reticent and frightened when she brings her husband a flashlight without having been summoned. She warns him, "watch out, darling; be careful what you say" and runs back into her home.

  Al and Nell discuss the neighbors' odd behavior just before their clothes dryer breaks again. Al goes downstairs to fix it and shines his flashlight at the fuse box, only to discover that the light acts as an x-ray machine. He realizes that he picked up Ted's flashlight by mistake and shows it to Nell, who is frightened. Before they can fully discuss their questions about who Ted is, where he comes from, and why he's there, the neighbor appears, angry at first. He takes back his flashlight and explains that he has not applied for a patent yet.

  Al decides to show Ted what he is working on. Al is trying to find a metal that can withstand heat and pressure at supersonic speeds. He uses a model plane and a wind tunnel to demonstrate how the metal melts. Ted suggests he try a "corbelite." That evening, the Browns host the Hellers for cake and coffee. While Nell and Ann retire to the kitchen, Al bluntly asks Ted who he is and what "corbelite" is. Ted unconvincingly says that it is a new alloy that he read about in a science magazine.

  Ted picks up a toy robot and Al remarks that he is a science fiction fan. The robot is a gag gift from Nell called the man of tomorrow (recalling the robot in the program's introduction). This leads Al to wonder what the world of tomorrow will be like. Ted tells him that it will not be much fun and surmises that, in 500 years, all of the fun and emotion will have gone out of living because civilization will have become so mechanized and scientific.

  Ted remarks that he is toying with the idea of writing a science fiction story in which someone invents a time travel device. "Time is only a place," he tells Al. His story is interrupted by the beginning of a thunderstorm, which clearly frightens led. He asks Al if all of the transformers that supply power have ever failed at the same time, and Al assures him that it has only happened twice. Ted continues telling his story, adding that so many people begin to use time travel that they stop coming back. It seems that each person finds his "favorite place in time" and stays there. People spread out through time and know from history books how to adapt in order to fit in without being noticed.

  Ted continues to say that the government eventually makes time-travel illegal when it begins to affect the population. They send out investigators to track down those who have escaped back in time; each person may be traced by a distinct set of mental vibrations that are as individual as fingerprints, and the only way to avoid detection is to hide in an area filled with electronic circuits and magnetic force fields. Al remarks that the area where they both live would make a perfect hiding place. The electrical storm gets worse, and Ann returns from the kitchen, terrified. She and Ted go home.

  Late that night, Al and Nell are talking as they lie in their twin beds. Al tells Nell that he thinks that Ted's science fiction story is true. A bolt of lightning strikes and the power fails. Ted and Nell hear a scream from next door. Ted gets up and looks out of his window, only to see a light rising by the Hellers' house, accompanied by a whine. The power comes back on and he and Nell go next door to investigate, only to find no trace of the Hellers, except for some clothes and debris on the floor. Ted ruminates and says that the neighbors will never be found because they were never really there.

  "Time Is Just a Place" was directed by Jack Arnold from a script by Lee Berg ("Science Fiction Theatre — Time Is Just a Place"). It stars Don DeFore as Al Brown and Marie Windsor as Nell Brown. DeFore was a familiar face in early television, appearing in a recurring role as a neighbor on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1956 to 1960 and in a starring role on Hazel from 1961 to 1965 ("Don DeFore's Television Credits"). Windsor is familiar from numerous television roles, but is best remembered for parts in such films noir as The Killing (1956). She is an odd choice for Nell Brown, too voluptuous for the role of Don DeFore's homemaking wife ("Marie Windsor"). Ted Heller is played by Warren Stevens, who brings a nervous intensity and intelligence to the role of the visitor from the future. Stevens appeared in numerous television shows from the late 1940s on, and is familiar from guest starring roles on such well-remembered series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone ("Warren Stevens").

  "Time Is Just a Place" is filmed on a very small set, which gives it a claustrophobic feeling. The characters spend the entire story either in the Browns' house or in the driveway between the two houses. The story is also changed from its source in some significant ways. The most notable change comes at the end, when the Hellers presumably are caught and killed by an investigator from the future. While this makes for a more exciting conclusion to the television show, it begs the question of why the government of the future would bother to track down escapees through time only to kill them, if its goal was to keep the population at an acceptable level.

  Also awkward are the attempts to fit hard science into the somewhat whimsical tale. The introductory comments by Truman Bradley seem to have little to do with the story that follows, and the nonsense about electrical fields and test planes seems out of place. The scene in which Al shows Ted a model of a plane and demonstrates how it burns up at high speeds does little to move the story along.

  The next story by Jack Finney to be adapted fo
r television was "All My Clients Are Innocent," which was published in the July 1959 issue of Cosmopolitan. The story was broadcast as the April 17, 1962 episode of the prestigious drama series Alcoa Premiere, which aired every Tuesday night on the ABC television network ("Television"). Adapted by Jameson Brewer ("Alcoa Premiere —All My Clients Are Innocent"), the program starred Barry Morse as attorney Max Mcln-tyre and Richard Davalos as his junior partner, Alan Michaels. The brief note in that day's New York Times television listings summarizes the plot: "a criminal lawyer tries to prevent his junior partner's marriage." This appears to follow the plot of the short story.

  "All My Clients Are Innocent" also features Vic Morrow as the accused criminal, Carl Balderson ("Guest Appearances for 'Alcoa Premiere'"). The series, Alcoa Premiere, ran on ABC for two seasons, from 1961 to 1963, and was later syndicated as Fred Astaire's Premiere Theatre. The programs do not appear to have been broadcast in many years, and the only print of this episode available for viewing is a non-circulating research copy on 16 mm film at the UCLA Library's Film and Television Archive in Los Angeles, California ("Alcoa Premiere. All my clients are innocent").

  Jack Finney's stories were absent from television from 1962 until March 20, 1987, when "Such Interesting Neighbors" aired as an episode of the series, Amazing Stories. This series ran for two years on the NBC network and this episode appeared near the end of the show's run ("Amazing Stories Episode Guide"). This time, the story is set in a new housing development in the Arizona desert. Al Lewis, a buffoon-like husband and father of a precocious boy, comes home from work, followed by his very-pregnant wife, Nell. They have recently moved into a new house and are surprised by things like the dead rattlesnake son Randy brings in from the back yard. Nell asks, "what else have we got to look forward to?"