Command Decision (play)
| Command Decision | |
|---|---|
| Written by | William Wister Haines |
| Characters | Gen. Casey Dennis Gen. R.G. Kane T/Sgt. Harold Evans Elmer Brockhurst Col. Ted Martin Gen. Cliff Garnett |
| Date premiered | October 1, 1947 |
| Place premiered | Fulton Theatre, Broadway |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | 5th Bomb Division headquarters, England, 1943 |
Command Decision was a 1948 play in three acts written by William Wister Haines, and formed the basis for his best-selling novel of the same title. Produced by Kermit Bloomgarden and directed by John O'Shaughnessy, it ran for 409 performances from October 1, 1947 to September 18, 1948 at the Fulton Theatre in New York City. Paul Kelly won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play that year, while James Whitmore received the Tony Award for Best Newcomer.
Haines, a novelist, served during World War II as an intelligence officer on the staff of the U.S. Eighth Air Force in England between 1942 and 1945. From his experiences he wrote Command Decision as a stage play in 1945 but was unable to sell it. He followed suggestions that he first publish it in novel form and the book became both a best-seller and critical success. Dialogue describing the infighting to build strategic airpower over the two decades preceding U.S. participation in World War II, particularly spoken by General Kane, are thinly disguised versions of actual events and personages.
The play was adapted in 1948 as a film of the same name.
Although in three acts, the action is played out in four sections. Act II is divided into two scenes each as long as Act I, while Act III is approximately half the length of the others.
About 4 P.M. on a Saturday afternoon
In the second half of 1943, War correspondent Elmer Brockhurst enters the headquarters office of the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces' Fifth Bombardment Division . He questions the general's orderly, T/Sgt. Harold Evans, about a mysterious German fighter under guard in a hangar and the record losses of B-17s on a mission the day before, then tries to milk him for information about the arrest of a squadron commander, Captain Lucius Jenks. Evans rebuffs him.
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