Clash by Night is a romantic triangle drama by Clifford Odets which premiered on Broadway in 1941 and was later adapted to film and television. The title derives from Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach" :
Broadway
The title carried a certain irony when Odets' play, produced by Billy Rose, debuted on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre three weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack. Directed by Lee Strasberg, the production opened December 27, 1941 and ran for a total of 49 performances before closing on February 7, 1942. Tallulah Bankhead and Lee J. Cobb headed the cast as Mae and Jerry Wilenski with Katherine Locke as Peggy Coffey and Joseph Schildkraut as Earl Pfeiffer. Boris Aronson designed the setting of the Wilenski home on Staten Islandin the summer of 1941. While Robert Ryan was acting in a 1941 summer stock production of A Kiss for Cinderella with actress Luise Rainer, he was seen by Odets, who offered him the juvenile role of Joe Doyle in Clash by Night. Others in the cast were Seth Arnold, Ralph Chambers, Stephan Eugene Cole, Harold Grau, John F. Hamilton, William Nunn, Joseph Shattuck and Art Smith. Despite the short run on Broadway, the play was published by Random House in 1942.
Film
When the play was adapted to film a decade later by screenwriter Alfred Hayes, the setting was changed from Staten Island to Monterey, California, and the character names were altered from Wilenski to D'Amato. Fritz Lang directed the 1952 black-and-white film noir/drama, Clash by Night, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Marilyn Monroe and Robert Ryan. By this time, Ryan had outgrown the juvenile role of Joe Doyle and instead co-starred as Earl Pfeiffer, the role Joseph Schildkraut created on Broadway. In the film's storyline, Mae Doyle D'Amato returns to her home in a small town and a love triangle develops between Mae, fisherman Jerry D'Amato and film projectionist Earl Pfeiffer, even though Mae and Jerry have a baby together. A subplot covers the blossoming romance between Peggy and Joe Doyle. Others in the cast included Silvio Minciotti as Papa D'Amato and J. Carrol Naish as Uncle Vince.
Television
Five years after the movie, the Odets play was adapted for television. John Frankenheimer directed the Playhouse 90 production, telecast live June 13, 1957 on CBS with Kim Stanley in the lead role of Mae D'Amato, E. G. Marshall as Jerry D'Amato and Lloyd Bridges as Earl Pfeiffer. Also in the cast were John Bleifer and Edgar Stehli.
Current
Clash by Night is still performed today. John Mossman directed a revival in 2006 at Chicago's The Artistic Home that brought rave reviews, including Time Out: An earlier revival was by John McCormack's All Seasons Theater Group, a 1998 production with actress Jodie Markell. Peter Marks reviewed in The New York Times:
Titles
The Matthew Arnold poem has been a source for numerous titles, including Norman Mailer's The Armies of the Night and Clifford Irving's On a Darkling Plain. The 1964 British filmClash by Night carries an identical title, but it is a different story, not based on Odets play.
