Progress Notes

Some things I hear or see stick with me for a long time. I have thought about this exchange for years. In the film Harvey Jimmy Stewart plays Elwood, an amiable alcoholic who has an invisible 6 foot tall rabbit as a companion. The film and play are perennial favorites for its sweet silliness and gentle philosophy. In the story, Elwood becomes entangled with psychiatrists and a mental institution because of his insistence on the reality of Harvey the Pooka Rabbit .

Elwood explains to Dr. Chumley that Harvey can alter time and space and take him anywhere he wants to go. But Elwood can't think of anywhere else he would rather be since he is perfectly happy wherever he is. Dr. Chumley, world weary, has seen it all and much of what he has seen was crazy or unpleasant, makes a wisecrack about miracles and this exchange follows:

"Elwood:..I always have a wonderful time wherever I am, whomever I'm with.
I'm having a fine time right here with you, Doctor.

Dr. Chumely: Oh. Oh, I... I know where I'd go.

Elwood: Where?

Dr. Chumley: I'd go to Akron. Akron! Oh, yes.
There's a cottage camp just outside Akron... in a grove of maple trees.
Green, cool, beautiful. That's my favorite tree.
And I'd go there with a pretty woman. Oh.
A strange woman, a quiet woman.
Oh, under a tree. I wouldn't even want to know her name, while I would be just... Mr. Smith.
Then I would send out for cold beer.

Elwood: No whiskey, huh?

Dr. Chumley: No.
Then I would tell her things.
Things that I've never told to anyone.
Things that are locked deep... in here.
And as I talked to her, I would want her to hold out her soft white hand and say,
"Poor thing. You poor, poor thing."

Elwood: How long would you want this to go on, Doctor?

Dr. Chumley: Two weeks.

Elwood: Two weeks? Wouldn't that get a little monotonous, just Akron, cold beer and "poor, poor thing" for two weeks?

Dr. Chumley: No! It would be wonderful."



I had to find the exact dialog because in my memory it is different. In my memory he says, "I want to lie in the grass beside a quiet stream with my head in a pretty woman's lap. She strokes my forehead gently and says, "There, there. There, there."

But "Poor thing. You poor, poor thing" would be perfectly O.K.

Wouldn't it be nice?