The Judson Theatre Company of Pinehurst presented "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" on the Owens Auditorium stage at Sandhills Community College this past April. Robin and I attended on a Friday evening, and came away impressed both by the performances and the theatre company.
Herman Wouk based his 1951 novel, and 1953 play, on actual personal experiences in the U.S. Navy during World War II (although, there was never an actual mutiny.) I enjoyed the novel and the 1954 movie featuring Humphrey Bogart in the lead as the emotionally unstable Lt. Commander Philip Queeg, captain of the fictional USS Caine. Veteran, and Emmy Award-winning, actor John Wesley Shipp portrayed Queeg on the Owens stage.
Just about any military veteran can recall time spent under a particular commander — on any level — who stood out for reasons both good, and not-so-good, as was the case with Lt. Commander Queeg.
Peacetime service experiences of my own provided insights into commanders under duress. Missing weapons are taken very seriously by the military, and can jeopardize the careers of commanders. Along with my infantry company, I trudged through a Louisiana swamp for hours one day, at age 19, in search of a missing rifle.
In West Germany the next year, a stolen weapon resulted in my battalion being placed under quarantine for nearly a week until the culprit was identified. I can picture the incident as one more in the "Caine's" parade of incidents that found Queeg reaching for the steel ball bearings he would massage in his hand as a crutch for keeping his emotions at bay. (My unit's CO continued an impressive career that left him retiring with general's stars.)
Robin and I returned to a Judson Theatre production of "Dear Jack, Dear Louise" on Aug. 1 at SCC's Bradshaw Performing Arts Center. The play depicts two performers — an Army doctor stationed in Medford, Oregon, and an aspiring actress in New York City, who only know each other through their exchanged letters during World War II.
It was an unexpected treat to witness the play at BPAC's McPherson Theatre. McPherson is described as a "Black Box" theatre, a concept dating to around the 1920s. It features a smaller, more intimate space for shorter productions with a smaller cast. Such a venue is more nimble for staging, lighting, and even seating. We found ourselves on the same level as the actors, sometimes experiencing "Louise" approaching within three or four feet of us.
For those with a bit more gray in our hair, "Dear Jack, Dear Louise" was reminiscent of a time before the electronic age of texts, Facebook and Skype. Ink-on-paper letters stuffed into envelopes and sent by "snail mail" were so important in an age of pricey long-distance telephone rates. The acts of collecting thoughts, forming sentences, and transcribing them to a physical page seemed more satisfying to writer, and recipient, than an electronic jumble on a playing card-sized screen, and a send button often punched too hastily. (Don't get me started about emojis — a bane of creative expression.)
It's hard to overstate the importance of mail call to service members of earlier times. Oh, the anticipation of what the clerk is bringing. Many are the barracks fire guards, motor pool sentries, and soldiers headed to field maneuvers, with a clutch of letters to be read over and over.
It never got tiring to park on a foot locker with an open envelope, imagining mom, or grandmother, sitting at the kitchen table sharing family doings with me. The tedium of walking a post around an ammo dump on chilly Bavarian days was broken, on occasion, when I fished letters from my pocket that originated from friends in college dorms describing ball games, fraternity rushes, and fretting over exams.
Letters to and from my uniformed buddies may have been more on the order of those exchanged between Jack and Louise, but the play struck a chord.
Take a look at what the Judson Theatre, BPAC or Richmond Community Theatre has to offer. Something may delight you, or spark a memory.
Columnist Douglas Smith lives and writes in Rockingham.
