Harvey began as a stage play written by Mary Chase. Reportedly, Chase had been inspired to write the whimsical tale in order to cheer up a widowed neighbor in Denver, Colorado whose son had been killed during World War II. The play opened on Broadway in November 1944 at the 48th Street Theater starring Frank Fay as Elwood P. Dowd and Josephine Hull as his sister Veta. The play was a smash it, running for 5 years and earning Mary Chase the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1945.

In a shrewd move, Universal picked up the film rights to the play for a record one million dollars while it was still running successfully on Broadway. Contractually, the studio couldn't move forward with making a film version until the run of the play was over so as not to cut into its business. Universal then asked Henry Koster to direct; he had recently been nominated for an Academy Award for his film, The Bishop's Wife (1947). "It was a story right up my alley," said Koster in a 1987 interview. "There was so much whimsy, so much fairytale, so much deep thought, so much decency in people. I loved it. I had seen it already twice on the stage, but never with Jimmy Stewart. So when I was asked if I wanted to do it, I said, 'Do I ever!'"

With Koster on board, Universal started discussing actors to portray Elwood P. Dowd in the movie. Mary Chase, as part of her deal with Universal, had approval of the lead actor. Some of the names suggested besides Jimmy Stewart were Bing Crosby, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Jack Benny and James Cagney.

In the summer of 1947 Jimmy Stewart took over the role of Elwood P. Dowd from Frank Fay on Broadway for a 7-week limited run, while Fay toured with the play in Colorado. Harvey was already in its third solid year on Broadway when Stewart took over the role. It was a move on Stewart's part that many saw as his attempt to prove to Hollywood that he would be perfect in the film role.

Stewart settled into his new stage role comfortably, though things were shaky in the beginning. "I became a little belligerent about it," said Stewart years later, "you know, over-determined to make a success of it, with the result that on the first night I was awful and received a real roasting from the critics. But I got better." Stewart's assessment of his reception by the critics was probably exaggerated, as reviews of his Broadway performance are positive. Variety called him "letter perfect in his first performance."

When Harvey finally closed on Broadway after 1,775 performances, director Henry Koster was ready to make his film. Jimmy Stewart's plan had worked-he was tapped to play Elwood P. Dowd, a role he desperately wanted. Koster wanted to keep the film version close to the stage version. To do this, he had Mary Chase, the author of the play, write the screenplay with Oscar Brodney. He also cast most of the original actors from the play including Josephine Hull (Veta), Victoria Horne (Myrtle Mae), Jesse White (Wilson), Cecil Kellaway (Dr. Chumley) and Charles Drake (Dr. Sanderson).

by Andrea Passafiume