The Winds of Mutiny



In nineteen fifty-one ... here, at home

Herman Wouk first became widely known

For he published The Caine Mutiny

Which then was a play and a movie



Winning for Wouk the Pulitzer Prize

But Academy Awards were denied ...

Although the film got seven nominations

Which is, in itself - a noted celebration



But Humphrey Bogart would not win

Nor would the screenplay or editing

Nor the music score, sound or picture

Nor Tom Tully as the supporting actor

 

But the play would be made into a tv film

With Brad Davis, Mike Murphy, Eric Bogosian

In the Robert Altman adaptation, later

Winning critical praise for its creators



As many of Wouk's other works have done

Including The Winds of War, and a sequel to come

War and Rembrances would follow seven years after

Both books (and film-plays) dealt with the same disaster



The events leading up to the Second World War

With a fictional thread of the Henry family's store ...

Of remembrances ... through those terrible days

When Europe and The Far East were gripped in a daze



For the world was at war with itself

The worst one it's ever known (hell!)

And Wouk depicted it thru their eyes

In a soap-operatic treatment disguised



A far cry from his second major novel

Marjorie Morningstar was another level

Written in fifty-five, filmed in fifty-eight

With Gene Kelly as Natalie Wood's rake



Sidetracked from her middle-class swell

Into sounds of the show business knell

With Claire Trevor and Everett Sloane

As the parents who implore her not to leave home



And Martin Milner in a pre-Route 66 role

Before he and Maharis shared their soul

In a red and white Chevrolet Corvette ...

As an entire generation immersed in it



Also with Carolyn Jones and Ed Wynn

George Tobias, Jesse White, Martin Balsam

And smaller roles played by Ruta Lee

And the first rock and roll dj - Alan Reed



As well as Shelley Fabares in a small part

(One of her very earliest ones, perhaps her start)

Many of this cast would go on to regular tv roles

Perhaps ... Wouk created a niche with his story told



And then he would write Inside, Outside 

After the two "War" novels were tried ...

About a Jewish Presidential Advisor ...

In which he attempted to show ties of ...



The man's faith into the work of diplomacy 

And - in some ways - did indeed bring some normalcy

A difficult role, but one many have mastered

Although some have never quite trusted



Equating deeply-religious emotional standing

With politics, and the ploys, and the glad-handing

A balance which is next to impossible to maintain

For whatever one does ... someone'll be sure to complain



A vivid picture, which Wouk has painted now ...

In different areas, but all with intense vows ...

Which come from Wouk's own personal stands

Having survived persecution, and come out grand ...



- Tristram



© Christopher W. Thomas

10pm Thurs. May 27th, 1999



Herman Wouk's 84th Birthday