GIVE 'EM HELL, HARRY

by Samuel Gallu, at Actors' Summit, Directed by Neil Thackaberry, Costumes by Maryjo Alexander

This was a surprise hit. Intended as a complement to the election season, Harry Truman's wit and honesty turned it into a welcome antidote to the posturing pols on our nightly news. Regardless of who you supported in the Bush/Kerry campaign, you could hear things you agreed with coming out of Harry's colorful pie-gash. And we drew sold-out houses. 'Twas well received by the critics as well, as witness below:

'Harry gives 'em refreshing hell'
Linda Eisenstein, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

If you're suffering from election fatigue--and after Tuesday, who isn't?--there's no better tonic than going to see the Actors' Summit production of 'Give 'Em Hell, Harry.' Spend a couple of hours in the peppery presence of Harry Truman, dynamically played by Wayne S. Turney, and our current debased political scene might melt away like a bad dream.

No matter your political persuasion, you can't help but find Turney's performance a delight. He brings the old bird to life with passion and humor, and his two solo hours on the stage never fail to engage.

Samuel Gallu's 1975 play, originally written for James Whitmore, is a model of a smart one-man show. The piece moved backward and forward in time and space, covering many incidents of Truman's career. All are cleverly chosen to illustrate different aspects of his down-to-earth character and common-man philosophy. As a young officer in World War I, he cusses a blue streak to encourage his battery company, becoming "one officer in the war whose men didn't want to shoot him." On vacation from the White House, he still pushes a lawn mower at his Independence, Mo., home--but on a Sunday morning, in order to vex "the Boss" (his wife, Bess).

In high dudgeon he pens a furious letter to a "four ulcer" music critic who panned his daughter's concert. From the Oval Office to stump speeches, dangerous confrontations with the Ku Klux Klan, to chatty evening constitutionals, Truman emerges as a complex and thoroughly engaging character. Director Neil Thackaberry keeps the show briskly paced and makes the most of simple settings. But the hero of the endeavor is Turney, who makes the character so natural and vibrantly alive--like your favorite crusty uncle--you don't want the evening to end.

Yet beyond the many charms of the encounter, you can't come away from it without asking profound questions about the situation we're in today, and the type of politics we're saddled with.

"There's one way to confront tough issues," Truman says, "and that's head on, and the hell with the consequences." In an era of spinmeisters, focus groups, sound bites and government by special interests, it's utterly refreshing--and rare.

HARRY TRUMAN APPEARS AT ACTOR'S SUMMIT
Roy Berko (Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--
Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times

It only takes a few minutes into 'GIVE 'EM HELL HARRY,' now on stage at Actors' Summit Theatre, for the viewer to forget that it's Wayne Turney speaking to us and not the 33rd President of the United States.

Every wonder where the phrase, "Give 'em Hell, Harry" originated? Legend tells us that during a speech by Truman attacking the Republicans during the 1948 Presidential election campaign a supporter yelled out, "Give 'em Hell, Harry!". Truman replied, "I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them and they think it's Hell." Subsequently, "Give 'em Hell, Harry!" became a lifetime slogan for Truman
supporters.

'GIVE 'EM HELL HARRY' was written by Samuel Gallu. It allows us to share in many of Truman's biographical high points: his diplomatic and emotional handling of the Korean War; deciding to drop the atomic bomb; and managing less-than-kind critics, including one who criticized his daughter's musical debut. We are treated to a walk down memory lane as he relives his moments with the "Dizzy D's," an army group he whipped into action during World War I, as a proud builder of roads who defied political pressure to give contracts to those who tried to gain favors by political connections (think Halliburton circa 2004), when he stands courageously toe-to-toe against the Ku Klux Klan and when he fires General Douglas MacArthur for insubordination.

We also witness Truman mowing the lawn, chatting with reporters and making conversation with people on the street. We even see a beaming Truman, after he had won reelection, as he holds up the famous edition of The Chicago Tribune whose headline declared, "Dewey Defeats Truman."

The key component in bringing all of this to life is the man who plays the role of Truman. And Turney is a wonderful choice. He so skillfully wraps himself in the role that Truman's words and ideas are all the audience experiences. This is a wonderful history lesson and an examination of the little man from Missouri who "shot from the lip" and took personal responsibility for his actions. As the sign on his desk states, "The buck stops here." Truman put himself on the line for what he believed in, not for what was necessary to win an election. He was not a man who allowed someone else to plot his campaigns. He was not a man who backed down from his beliefs in a liberal philosophy which included equal rights for all. This is the man that Turney so compellingly captures that he makes the entire experience a personal triumph.

CAPSULE JUDGMENT: Perhaps the idea of viewing a one-man show about the life and times of President Harry S. Truman doesn't sound terribly compelling. Well, in the capable hands of Turney it becomes a captivating experience. As the late-President might have said, "This is one hell of a show."

Actor brings Harry S. Truman to life
One-man show filled with lively witticisms
Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal

President Harry S. Truman was one funny guy, despite the enormous pressures he faced during one of the most volatile periods in our country's history.
Actor Wayne Turney brings the 33rd U.S. president to life in the one-man show Give 'Em Hell, Harry, which opened Friday at Actors' Summit in Hudson. The actor has made a thorough transformation from his normally abundant curly hair and beard to a short, parted haircut and big glasses as Truman.
The most delightful part of Give 'Em Hell, Harry is its many Truman witticisms, which Turney delivers with aplomb. This plain-talking, gutsy Missourian shot straight from the hip and peppered much of his language with cursing.
Turney makes it clear that Truman was comfortable in his own skin and had a clear sense of right and wrong. Turney also does an excellent job conveying Truman's deep commitment toward perpetuating the liberal reforms begun by predecessor Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.
The actor portrays all of this while Truman is speaking to imaginary characters, from former President Herbert Hoover to his own wife, Bess.
Truman took office after FDR's death, just as the war in Europe was coming to a close. He approved the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, quickly ending the war in the Pacific. His presidency was further marked by the beginning of the Cold War and America's entanglement in the Korean War.
He is well known for firing Gen. Douglas MacArthur for insubordination during the Korean War. Truman also guided the United States from a war to peacetime economy after World War II and advanced civil rights for African-Americans.
In this play, Truman says the best time of his life was campaigning for a full presidential term on a whistle-stop tour in his 1948 race against New York Gov. Thomas Dewey. One of those train stops included Akron on Oct. 11, 1948. Truman's surprise victory made history.
In one of Turney's most humorous scenes, the president is back home in Missouri mowing his own lawn with a manual mower as he talks to the audience. As he becomes especially heated in his monologue, he bounces the mower around violently on the edge of the small Actors' Summit stage.
This down-home image of Truman fits in well with the president's many folksy jokes and anecdotes. Some of his great quotes provide plenty of food for thought today, just before a presidential election.
They include:
o ``The voting booth is the most valuable piece of real estate in the United States of America.''
o``There is nothing more dangerous than a liar in public office.''
o ``No man can get rich in politics unless he's a crook. It can't be done.''
o ``I never saw myself as president. I was just in the right place at the wrong time.''
o ``Politics is a pretty rough game,'' making a distinction between ``rough'' and ``dirty.''
o ``Three things will ruin a man: power, money and women.''
Truman was a bold orator. Turney makes you want to cheer when his character blasts both the Ku Klux Klan and communist witch hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy, whom he calls reckless and dangerous fanatics.

Give 'Em Hell Harry tends to gloss over the lowest points of Truman's career, especially accusations of corruption during his second presidential term. Truman was far from a perfect president, but ...