Jump to content

User:J579513/sandbox: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
No edit summary
 
(222 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
<ref name="NatureOfMan">{{cite AV media
{{User sandbox}}
| people = Townsley, Graham (Director)
<!-- EDIT BELOW THIS LINE -->
| title = Dawn of Humanity
''Jeb'' was a play by [[Robert Ardrey]] that opened on Broadway in April 1946 tackling the issue of race in post-WWII America. The play deals with a disabled black veteran who returns to his home in the rural South after serving overseas.
| medium = Documentary
| publisher = Nova, PBS
| location =
| date = 10 September 2015
| url = http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/dawn-of-humanity.html}}</ref>{{rp|}}


=Nature of Man Series=
Despite excellent reviews and an extremely positive critical reception, the play closed after a very short run, leading several commentators to assert that it was ahead of its time.<ref name="Abominable">Kissel, Howard. ''David Merrick, the Abominable Showman: The Unauthorized Biography'' 1993. New York: Applause Books. p. 71.</ref>
'''''The Nature of Man Series''''' is a four-volume series of works in [[paleoanthropology]] by the prolific playwright, screenwriter, and science writer [[Robert Ardrey]]. The books in the series were published between 1961 and 1976.


The series majorly undermined standing assumptions in social sciences, leading to an abandonment of the "blank state" hypothesis; incited a renaissance in the science of [[ethology]]; and led to widespread popular interest in [[human evolution]] and [[human origins]].
=Synopsis=
''Jeb'' is about a black soldier who returns from the Pacific war with an aluminum leg. The loss of the leg doesn’t disturb him, for to his pride, he has learned to run an adding machine. The play begins when Jeb returns to his family, to his girl, and to the small Southern town where an adding machine is a white man's job. He pursues his passionate ambition against relentless opposition, and in the end we find him in northern Harlem, physically beaten yet undefeated, prepared to return to the South in a larger cause.


Several scientists, including the director of the [[Smithsonian Institution]] [[National Museum of Natural History|Museum of Natural History's]] [[National Museum of Natural History#Hall of Human Origins|Human Origins Program]] [[Rick Potts]], cite Ardrey's work as inspiring them to go into their fields.<ref name="Anthronotes">{{cite web |url=http://anthropology.si.edu/outreach/anthnote/Summer99/anthnote.html |title=Human Origins: One Man's Search for the Causes in Time |last=Selig | first=Ruth Osterweis |publisher= Smithsonian Institution |date=Spring–Summer 1999 |website=Anthronotes |access-date=29 May 2015}}</ref>
Robert Ardrey remarked that Jeb, “Was a story that had been haunting me.... It was the story of the making of a militant.”<ref name="Education">Ardrey, Robert; Ardrey, Daniel (ed.). "The Education of Robert Ardrey: An Autobiography" (unpublished manuscript ca. 1980, available through Howard Gotteleib Archival Research Center)</ref>{{rp|91}}


The works were wildly popular and influenced the public imagination. Notably Stanley Kubrick cited them as major influences in developing his films [[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]] and [[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]
=Production=
<ref name=Kubrick>Kubrick, Stanley. Letter from Stanley Kubrick to The New York Times. "Now Kubrick Fights Back." ''The New York Times,'' 27 February, 1972, section 2, pp. 1 & 11. Print. Retrievable [http://www.krusch.com/kubrick/Q47.html here]</ref><ref name="KubrickClarkeErlichMiamiU">{{cite web |url= http://www.users.muohio.edu/erlichrd/350/odyssey.php |title= Strange Odyssey: From Dart to Ardrey to Kubrick and Clarke |author= Richard D. Erlich et al. |work= [[English studies]]/[[Film theory]] course, [[Science fiction]] and [[Film]] |publisher= [[Miami University]] |date= 1997–2005 }}</ref><ref name="RichterMoonwatcher">{{cite web |url= http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/arthur-c-clarke/moonwatchers-memoir.htm |title= ''Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001, a Space Odyssey'' |author= [[Daniel Richter (actor)|Daniel Richter]] |location= [[New York City]] |publisher=[[Carroll & Graf]] |isbn=978-0-7867-1073-7 |year= 2002 |}} (From the [http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0099.html Foreword] by [[Arthur C. Clarke]].)</ref>
The playwright, [[Robert Ardrey]], was by the time of ''Jeb'' already an acclaimed screenwriter. He had also had several plays produced on Broadway. His most famous, and his first contribution to what he described as the ''théâtre engagé'',<ref name="Decades">Ardrey, Robert. ''Plays of Three Decades,'' Introduction. New York: Atheneum. 1968. Print</ref>{{rp|9}} or a "theater engaged with its times", was ''[[Thunder Rock (play)|Thunder Rock]],'' which also ran into difficulties because of its pioneering social theme. Ardrey would go on to be an eminent paleoantropologist.

''Jeb'' was produced and directed by [[Herman Shumlin]]. It was one of the only Broadway plays of its time to offer major opportunities to African American actors, and had a majority-black cast.<ref name="Education"/>{{rp|91}} It starred [[Ossie Davis]] (who would go on to be one of the most acclaimed African American actors of his generation and a favorite of [[Spike Lee]]),<ref>{{IMDb name | 0001115 | Ossie Davis}}</ref> along with his eventual wife, [[Ruby Dee]] (who went on to co-star in [[A Raisin in the Sun (1961 film)|''A Raisin in the Sun'']]),<ref>{{IMDb name | 0002039 | Ruby Dee}}</ref> as well as, in the role of the child, [[Reri Grist]].<ref name="Abominable" />

=Reception=
Due in part to high production costs and relatively low revenue the play closed after only seven performaces.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|96}} However, ''Jeb'' garnered widespread critical praise.<ref>Deane, Pamela S. ''James Edwards: African American Hollywood Icon'' Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 4. Print.</ref> The reviewer for [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] wrote, “Robert Ardrey has scripted a drama that has the guts and the power to make you angry… Jeb is absorbing from curtain to curtain.”<ref>''Billboard'' March 2, 1946. Accessible through [[https://books.google.com/books?id=JxoEAAAAMBAJ&pg | google books]]</ref>

The play's Broadway failure despite its acknowledged merit led several commentators to opine that it was ahead of its time. Albert Wertheim, in his 2004 study, wrote:
<blockquote>Indeed, ''Jeb'' shows how the participation of African Americans in World War II and the occupational training they received in the armed forces prepare them in the postwar period to dress for battle in a new war to end racial discrimination and oppression at home. This is heady and unsettling stuff in 1946 for Broadway audiences and for society trying to return to prewar 'normalcy' and to put returning white soldiers back into the work force. It is no small wonder that ''Jeb'', with its incisive unveiling of racism’s economic underpinnings and with its militant ending, closed after six performances.<ref>Wertheim, Albert ''Staging the War: American Drama and World War II'' 2004. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. p. 267. Print.</ref></blockquote>

Ardrey himself came to share this opinion. In his autobiography he writes, "I had done it again. In 1939 I opened ''[[Thunder Rock (play)|Thunder Rock]]'' six months too soon. In 1946 I had opened ''Jeb'' twenty years ahead of its time."<ref name="Education" />{{rp|96}}

=References=
{{Reflist}}


=Robert Ardrey=
=Robert Ardrey=
{{main|Robert Ardrey}}
'''''Robert Ardrey''''' was a prolific [[playwright]], [[screenwriter]], and [[science writing|science writer]]. By the time he returned to the sciences in the 1950s, he had already had a decorated [[Hollywood]] and [[Broadway (theatre)|Broadway]] career, including the award of a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]]<ref name="About">The Robert Ardrey Estate Website. [http://www.robertardrey.com/about/ "About"]</ref> and an [[Academy Award]] nomination for best screenplay<ref name="ReferenceB">{{IMDb title | 0060588 | ''Khartoum''}}</ref>.


In 1955 Ardrey travelled to [[Africa]], where he wrote a series of articles for [[The Reporter (magazine)|''The Reporter'']]. <ref name="Education">Ardrey, Robert; Ardrey, Daniel (ed.). "The Education of Robert Ardrey: An Autobiography" (unpublished manuscript ca. 1980, available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center)</ref>{{rp|119}} At the same time he renewed an acquaintance with prominent geologist [[Richard Foster Flint]] and investigated claims made by [[Raymond Dart]] about a specimen of [[Australopithecus africanus]].<ref name="Education" />{{rp|119}} This trip would initiate the decades of work Ardrey completed in the field of human evolution.
'''Robert Ardrey''' (October 16, 1908, [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] – January 14, 1980, [[South Africa]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[playwright]] and [[screenwriter]] who returned to his [[Academia|academic training]] in [[anthropology]] and the [[behavioral sciences]] in the 1950s.<ref name="FindArchive"/><ref name="NYTBio"/>


=African Genesis (1961)=
''African Genesis'' (1961) and ''[[The Territorial Imperative]]'' (1966), two of Robert Ardrey's most widely read works, as well as [[Desmond Morris|Desmond Morris']] ''[[The Naked Ape]]'' (1967), were key elements in the [[Marketplace of ideas|public discourse]] of the 1960s that challenged earlier anthropological assumptions. Ardrey's ideas notably influenced [[Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[Stanley Kubrick]] in the development of ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'',<ref name="Clarke2001Diary"/><ref name="KubrickLetterNYT"/><ref name="KubrickClarkeErlichMiamiU"/><ref name="RichterMoonwatcher"/> as well as [[Sam Peckinpah]], to whom [[Strother Martin]] gave copies of two of Ardrey's books.<ref name="PeckinpahTime"/><ref name="PeckinpahWeddle"/><ref name="PeckinpahCremean"/><ref name="PeckinpahSimmons"/><ref name="PeckinpahFine"/>
{{main|African Genesis}}
The central thesis of '''''African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man''''' was that early man evolved from carnivorous African predecessors, and not, as was then the scientific consensus, from Asian herbivores.<ref name="AG">Ardrey, Robert. ''African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man.'' New York: Atheneum. 1961. Print.</ref><ref name="AGkindle">[http://www.amazon.com/African-Genesis-Personal-Investigation-Origins/dp/0988604302 Kindle Edition Description via Amazon Website]</ref> It drew particularly on the scientific work of [[Raymond Dart]] and [[Konrad Lorentz]]. This thesis has been proven and is now scientific doctrine.


''African Genesis'' also challenged a key methodological assumption of the social sciences, namely that human behavior was distinct from animal behavior. Ardrey instead asserted that evolutionarily inherited traits were a major factor in determining human behavior. This was a hugely controversial hypothesis, though it has gained widespread acceptance today. It was a major theme that would extend throughout the ''Nature of Man'' books and continue to surround them with controversy.
==Life==
Robert Ardrey was born on October 16, 1908 to Robert Leslie Ardrey and Marie Haswell. His father died in 1919 from pneumonia during the [[1918_flu_pandemic|influenza epidemic]] and he was raised by his mother.<ref name="Education">Ardrey, Robert; Ardrey, Daniel (ed.). "The Education of Robert Ardrey: An Autobiography" (unpublished manuscript ca. 1980, available through Howard Gotteleib Archival Research Center)</ref>{{rp|2}} He grew up on the [[South_Side,_Chicago|South Side of Chicago]] and attended the nearby [[University of Chicago]], graduating [[Phi Beta Kappa]]. <ref name="About">The Robert Ardrey Estate Website. [http://www.robertardrey.com/about/] "About"</ref> While in attendance, he studied creative writing with [[Thornton Wilder]], who would become his lifelong mentor. <ref name="About" /><ref name="Education" />{{rp|4}}<ref name="Decades">Ardrey, Robert. ''Plays of Three Decades,'' Introduction. New York: Atheneum. 1968. Print</ref>{{rp|12-3, 15}}


''African Genesis'' was a major popular success. It was an international bestseller translated into dozens of languages.<ref>Dawkins, Richard. ''Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist.'' 2014. New York: Ecco. Print</ref> In 1962 it was a finalist for the [[National Book Award]] in nonfiction.<ref>Via the National Book Award [http://www.nationalbook.org/nba1962.html website]</ref> In 1969 [[Time (magazine)|Time]] magazine named ''African Genesis'' the most notable nonfiction book of the '60s.<ref>[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941837,00.html ''Time" Friday, Dec. 26, 1969. List accessible online]</ref>
His first play, ''Star Spangled,'' opened on Broadway in 1935 and lasted only a few days, but resulted in the award of a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]].<ref name="About" /> The award granted Ardrey the financial independence to focus on writing plays. Several of his subsequent plays, including ''Casey Jones'', ''How to Get Tough About It'', and his most famous play, [[Thunder Rock (play) | ''Thunder Rock'']], were subsequently produced on Broadway.<ref name="About" />


=The Territorial Imperative (1966)=
In 1938 he moved to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter for Metro Goldwyn Mayer.<ref name="About" /> There he wrote many screenplays, including those for adaptations such as ''The Three Musketeers'' <ref name="ThreeMusketeers">{{IMDb title | 0040876 | ''The Three Musketeers''}}</ref> (1948, with Gene Kelly), ''Madame Bovary'' <ref>{{IMDb title | 0041615 | ''Madame Bovary''}}</ref> (1949),''The Secret Garden'' <ref>{{IMDb title | 0041855 | ''The Secret Garden''}}</ref> (1949), and ''The Wonderful Country''<ref>{{IMDb title | 0053453 | ''The Wonderful Country''}}</ref> (1959, with Robert Mitchum). He also wrote original screenplays, including the screenplay for [[Khartoum_(film)| ''Khartoum'']] (1966, directed by Basil Dearden, starring [[Charlton Heston]] and [[Laurence Olivier]]) for which he was nominated for the [[Academy Awards | Academy Award]] for Best Writing, Story, and Screenplay.<ref name="About" /><ref>{{IMDb title | 0060588 | ''Khartoum''}}</ref>
{{main|The Territorial Imperative}}
'''''The Territorial Imperative: A Personal Inquiry Into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations''''' extends Ardrey's work in examining the effects of inherited evolutionary traits on human social behavior with an emphasis on the hold that territory has on man. In particular it demonstrates the influence of the drive to possess territory on such phenomena as property ownership and nation-building.<ref name=ditext>{{cite web| title=The Territorial Imperative| publisher=Digital Text International| accessdate=2012-03-24| url=http://www.ditext.com/ardrey/imperative/imperative.html}}</ref>


''The Territorial'' further developed the nascent science of [[ethology]] and increased public interest in human origins.<ref name="Time">Hunt, George P. "Provocateur in Anthropology." ''Time'' 26 August 1966: 2. Print.</ref><ref name="TimeSept70Q">Graves, Ralph. "A 'Scientific Amateur' Expands his Territory." ''Time'' 11 September 1970: 1. Print: "Both of these books enjoyed, along with the scientific uproar they created, a wide general readership, and Ardrey, who describes himself as a 'scientific amateur,' today can claim major credit for having introduced the public to the new field of ethology, the study of animal behavior and its relationship to man."</ref>
During the 1950s Ardrey became increasingly disenchanted with Hollywood and what he saw as the growing role money had started to play in creative decisions.<ref name="Reporter1">Ardrey, Robert. "What Happened to Hollywood?" ''The Reporter'' 24 January 1957: 19-22. Print</ref><ref name="Reporter2">Ardrey, Robert. "Hollywood's Fall into Virtue." ''The Reporter'' 21 February 1957: 13-7. Print</ref><ref name="Reporter3">Ardrey, Robert. "Hollywood: The Toll of the Frenzied Forties." ''The Reporter'' 21 March 1957: 29-33. Print</ref> At the same time and largely by accident, he renewed his interest in human origins and human behavior, which he had studied at the University of Chicago.<ref name="About" /> In the summer of 1956 he moved with his wife and two sons to Geneva. He spent the following years traveling in Southern and Eastern Africa, conducting research for what was to become his first book on the subject, ''African Genesis'' (1961), ultimately an international bestseller. Subsequently, he went on to write a total of four books in his widely read ''Nature of Man'' series, including his best known book [[The Territorial Imperative|''The Territorial Imperative'' (1966)]].<ref name="About" />


Like ''African Genesis'' it was also an international bestseller and saw translation into dozens of languages.<ref>Dawkins, Richard. ''Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist.'' 2014. New York: Ecco. Print</ref> It influenced several notable figured. [[Stanley Kubrick]] cited Ardrey as an inspiration for his films [[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]] and [[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]<ref name="KubrickClarkeErlichMiamiU">{{cite web |url= http://www.users.muohio.edu/erlichrd/350/odyssey.php |title= Strange Odyssey: From Dart to Ardrey to Kubrick and Clarke |author= Richard D. Erlich et al. |work= [[English studies]]/[[Film theory]] course, [[Science fiction]] and [[Film]] |publisher= [[Miami University]] |date= 1997–2005 }}</ref><ref name="RichterMoonwatcher">{{cite web |url= http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/arthur-c-clarke/moonwatchers-memoir.htm |title= ''Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001, a Space Odyssey'' |author= [[Daniel Richter (actor)|Daniel Richter]] |location= [[New York City]] |publisher=[[Carroll & Graf]] |isbn=978-0-7867-1073-7 |year= 2002 |}} (From the [http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0099.html Foreword] by [[Arthur C. Clarke]].)</ref> The strategic analyst [[Andrew Marshall (foreign policy strategist)|Andrew Marshall]] and [[U.S. Secretary of Defense]] [[James Schlesinger]] are known to have discussed ''The Territorial Imperative'' in connection to military-strategic thinking.<ref>Somit, Albert. et. al. ''Human Nature and Public Policy: An Evolutionary Approach.'' 2003. Palgrave Macmillan. P. 24. Print</ref>
In October of 1960 he moved with his second wife to [[Trastevere]], Rome, where they lived for 17 years. In 1977 they moved to a small town named [[Kalk Bay]] just outside Cape Town, South Africa.<ref name="About" /> He continued to publish influential works until his death on January 14, 1980. His ashes, along with those of his wife, are interred in the Holy Trinity Church overlooking False Bay.<ref name="About" /><ref name="Education" />{{rp|1}}


=The Social Contract (1970)=
==Theater and Film Career==
{{main|The Social Contract (1970 book)}}
After graduating from the [[University of Chicago]], under the continuing mentorship of [[Thornton Wilder]], Ardrey wrote a novel, several plays, and many short stories, all of which remained unpublished.<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|15}} It was Wilder's rule that "A young author should not write for market until his style [has] 'crystalized'"<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|14-15}} They agreed that this moment came with the writing of the play ''Star Spangled''.
'''''The Social Contract: A Personal Inquiry into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder''''' is the most controversial book of the ''Nature of Man'' series.<ref name=Sci2>Davis, Steve. "The Richard Dawkins Dilemma - Illusions of Natural Selection." From Science 2.0. Posted 15 September, 2008. Retrieved 18 July, 2015. Available [http://www.science20.com/gadfly/blog/richard_dawkins_dilemma_illusions_natural_selection-32425 here].</ref> It sought to apply evolutionary thinking to the creation of social order. In particular it examined inherited characteristics' effects in determining hierarchy and inequality.<ref name=SC>Ardrey, Robert. ''The Social Contract: A Personal Inquiry into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder.'' New York: Atheneum. 1970. 405 pp. Print</ref><ref name=Humans>Stade, George. "Humans Act, Animals Behave: The Social Contract." ''The New York Times,'' 22 November, 1970. Print</ref> Ardrey argued that, while inequality was not necessarily a social evil, it could only be justly expressed under conditions of absolute equality of opportunity. He also argued that the presence of inequality does not justify the domination of the weak by the strong.<ref name=Sci2>"Ardrey showed that in all societies at any level of the animal world, structures exist to protect the vulnerable, and that this is an evolutionary advantage as it protects diversity, diversity being essential for creativity." Davis, Steve. "The Richard Dawkins Dilemma - Illusions of Natural Selection." From Science 2.0. Posted 15 September, 2008. Retrieved 18 July, 2015. Available [http://www.science20.com/gadfly/blog/richard_dawkins_dilemma_illusions_natural_selection-32425 here].</ref>


''The Social Contract'' continued Ardrey's refutation of cultural determinists through interwoven analyses of animal and human behavior. It also emphasized the importance of a reasoned respect for nature, foreshadowing the environmental concerns of ''The Hunting Hypothesis.''<ref>"The philosophy of the impossible has been the dominant motive in human affairs for the past two centuries. We have pursued the mastery of nature as if we ourselves were not a portion of that nature. We have boasted of our command over our physical environment while we ourselves have done our urgent best to destroy it." Ardrey, Robert (2014-05-15). The Social Contract: A Personal Inquiry into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder (Robert Ardrey's Nature of Man series) (Kindle Locations 47-49). StoryDesign LTD.. Kindle Edition. </ref>
''Star Spangled'' opened on Broadway in 1935. It was a comedy that brought to life the classic struggles of an immigrant family living on the South Side of Chicago. It received largely negative reviews and lasted only a few days. However it did catch the attention of notable playwright [[Sidney Howard]], whom Ardrey claims was instrumental in the resulting award of a [[Guggenheim fellowship]] for promise as a young playwright.<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|18}}<ref name="About" /> The award allowed Ardrey the financial independence to remain in Chicago and focus on writing plays.


=The Hunting Hypothesis (1976)=
While in Chicago Ardrey wrote two more plays. The first, ''Casey Jones'', was a play about railroad men and their love for their machines. The second, ''How to Get Tough About It'', Ardrey describes as "A proletarian love story of pleasant dimensions."<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|18}} In 1938 [[Guthrie_McClintic|Guthrie McClintic]] presented ''How to Get Tough About It'' and [[Elia Kazan]] directed ''Casey Jones''.<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|19}}<ref name="TakeIt171">Aldgate, Anthony et. al. ''Britain Can Take It: The Britisch Cinema in the Second World War'' 2nd ed. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007. p. 171. Print.</ref> The plays opened ten days apart and were massive failures. In his preface to ''Plays of Three Decades'' Ardrey writes:
{{main|The Hunting Hypothesis}}
<blockquote>No author in [[Broadway]] memory had attained two such failures on a scale quite so grand on evenings quite so close together. Had they opened six months apart, none would have noticed. Coming as they did, I became a kind of upside-down white-headed boy, a figure thundering toward literary glory in reverse gear. Hollywood, incapable of resisting the colossal, bid lavishly for my services. And Samuel Goldwyn, buyer of none but the best, bought me.<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|19}}</blockquote>
'''''The Hunting Hypothesis: A Personal Conclusion Concerning the Evolutionary Nature of Man''''' continued Ardrey's examination of the importance of inherited evolutionary traits. In particular it demonstrated the determinant force of traits that co-evolved in early man with hunting behavior.
{{TK inc. references from Chap. 4 of Autobiography}}{{TK - cleanup below copy}}


At the time of publication, it was not even commonly accepted that early man were hunters, much less that hunting behavior influenced their evolution.<ref>"In Search of Human Origins Part Two." ''NOVA.'' Public Broadcasting Corporation. 10 June, 1997. Transcript available [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2107hum2.html here].</ref> Following publication of Ardrey's work this thesis gained support and eventually widespread acceptance.<ref>"Becoming Human Part 2." ''NOVA.'' Public Broadcasting Corporation. 31, August, 2011.</ref><ref>"For decades researchers have been locked in debate over how and when hunting began and how big a role it played in human evolution. Recent analyses of human anatomy, stone tools and animal bones are helping to fill in the details of this game-changing shift in subsistence strategy. This evidence indicates that hunting evolved far earlier than some scholars had envisioned – and profoundly impacted subsequent human evolution." Wong, Kate. "How Hunting Made Us Human." ''Scientific American,'' Volume 310, Issue 4. Print. Retrievable [http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-hunting-made-us-human/ here].</ref>
Ardrey signed a contract with [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] and moved for the first time to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter. He worked on several projects, including Samuel Goldwyn's notorious boondoggle remake of ''[[Graustark]]'', which was cancelled, and a western called ''[[The_Cowboy_and_the_Lady_(1938_film)|The Cowboy and the Lady]]'', from which he was dropped, (though he later used most of the plot for his smash success ''[[A_Lady_Takes_a_Chance|Lady Takes A Chance]]'').<ref name="Education" />{{rp|53-8}} While in Los Angeles he would meet and work with [[Samuel Goldwyn]], [[Clarence Brown]], [[Pandro Berman]], [[Garson Kanin]], [[Gene Fowler]], [[Lillian Hellman]], [[Sidney Howard]], and [[S.N. Behrman]].<ref name="Education" />{{rp|53-60}}<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|19}}


''The Hunting Hypothesis'' was also one of the first books to warn about [[climate change]] as a possible existential threat to mankind.<ref name=Turnbull>Turnbull, Colin M. "Just out of the Jungle: Hunting Hypothesis." ''The New York Times,'' 23 May, 1976. Print.</ref>
In 1938, however, he received word that his Broadway agent, Harold Freedman, had sold the film rights to his play ''How to Get Tough About It.'' Ardrey decided to use the opportunity to take time off to write a play. He travelled to Tucson where he married Helen Johnson with famed Hollywood director [[Garson Kanin]] as his best man. Following his wedding, he sent a note to Samuel Goldwyn which read: "Dear Mr. Goldwyn. I fear that I am wasting your money, and I'm sure you are wasting my time."<ref name="Education" />{{rp|60}} He moved with his new wife back to the east coast and set to work, first on a minor project which he would abandon, and then on the play that would become ''Thunder Rock''.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|60}}<ref name="TakeIt171" />


''The Hunting Hypothesis,'' with some exceptions, was remarkably well reviewed. The famed biologist and naturalist [[E. O. Wilson]], the noted anthropologist [[Colin Turnbull]], the acclaimed journalist [[Max Lerner]], and the noteworthy social scientist [[Roger Masters]], among others, all wrote effusive reviews.<ref>Wilson, Edward O. Quoted in "Professional Comments on Robert Ardrey's ''The Hunting Hypothesis.''" Available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.</ref><ref name=Turnbull>Turnbull, Colin M. "Just out of the Jungle: Hunting Hypothesis." ''The New York Times,'' 23 May, 1976. Print.</ref><ref>Lerner, Max. Quoted in "Professional Comments on Robert Ardrey's ''The Hunting Hypothesis.''" Available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.</ref><ref>Masters, Roger D. Quoted in "Professional Comments on Robert Ardrey's ''The Hunting Hypothesis.''" Available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.</ref> [[Antony Jay]] wrote that "Robert Ardrey's books are the most important to be written since the war and arguable in the 20th century."<ref>Jay, Antony. Quoted in "Professional Comments on Robert Ardrey's ''The Hunting Hypothesis.''" Available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.</ref>
===Thunder Rock===
{{Main|Thunder Rock (play)}}
format TK
Robert Ardrey wrote ''Thunder Rock'' during the period of escalation in Europe which would lead to [[World War II]]. Despairing of the growing isolationism among Americans, Ardrey became convinced that American involvement in the war was a moral necessity.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|62}} However he did not intend to write a play about the conflict until he was struck by a moment of inspiration during a performance of ''[[Swan Lake]]'', in which he conceived of "the play from beginning to end, complete with first, second, and third act curtains."<ref name="Education" />{{rp|63}} Ardrey ca. 1980, p. 63 (quoted)</ref><ref name="Decades" />{{rp|23}}
In his autobiography, Ardrey gives the following summary of the play:
<blockquote> My story was that of a renowned journalist who having experienced the disillusionments of the 1930's had given up all hope of influencing man toward a better world. In his depths, he takes a job as keeper of a lonely lighthouse on a rock in Lake Michigan. On that rock, a century earlier, had been wrecked a ship carrying immigrants to the New World. It was a time of legitimate hope – he thought. And there – within this lighthouse, symbolically the shape of his mind – he recreated a little world populated by the hopeful immigrants to the New World. The play consists of the journalist-lightkeeper and the long-dead people of his own resurrection, his relations with characters existing only in his own mind. Yet in the probing of his own creations, his integrity catches up with him. They were as much escaping problems of their world as he was of his. In the end he returns to reality.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|63}}</blockquote>
''Thunder Rock,'' an anti-isolationist play, opened on Broadway in November, 1939 to an isolationist public. It received largely negative reviews and a poor reception.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|66}} In the introduction to ''Plays of Three Decades'', Ardrey writes that it opened "to the worst reviews I have ever received. Our most eminent critic deplored a play containing so much thunder and so little rock." <ref name="Decades" />{{rp|24}}<ref>TK cite source, enclose quote in footnote</ref> {{closed in how long? - TK expand?}}
During the summer of 1940 Ardrey discovered, when he read a syndicated column from Britain, that unbeknownst to him ''Thunder Rock'' had been having a massively successful run in London.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|66}} In the column Vincent Sheehan wrote Quote TK<ref>Ref TK</ref> The British rights had been sold to Herbert Marshall, who had launched a production, starring Michael Redgrave. The play had been so successful that the British Minister of Information, [[Duff Cooper]], arranged to have the Treasury department fund a production at the [[Gielgud Theatre | Globe Theatre]] in London's [[West End of London | West End]].
The play deeply resonated with a British public under siege. Eminent theater critic [[Harold Hobson]] wrote of ''Thunder Rock'':
<blockquote>"The theatre… did a great deal to keep the morale of the British people high. One intellectual play had an enormous effect in keeping alight a spirit of hope at a time when it was nearer to extinction than it had ever been, either before or after. This was ''Thunder Rock,'' by Robert Ardrey. What he accomplished for the British people at a moment of supreme despair… merits their lasting gratitude. … He, more quietly but equally effectively as Churchill, urged us never to surrender."<ref>Hobson, Harold. ''Theatre in Britain: A Personal View.'' Oxford: Phaidon, 1984. pp. 117-8. Print</ref></blockquote>


=References=
In 1942, ''Thunder Rock'' was turned into a film, directed by the [[Boulting Brothers]], also starring [[Michael Redgrave]]. (''See [[Thunder Rock (film)]])
{{reflist}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Nature of Man Series, The}}
Shortly following the war, productions of ''Thunder Rock'' were quickly launched in [[Vienna]], [[Prague]], [[Budapest]], and, most famously, in Allied-occupied Berlin where it was the first modern play to go up in the American zone.<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|24-6}}<ref name="Education" />{{rp|67}}
[[:Category:Works by Robert Ardrey]]
{{Mention legacy - also can we add more of the expansion effects. It later went on to play in 40 german towns (or whatever the number was, 41?) and throughout eastern europe - also as far away as Nairobi}}
{{TK - Sidney Howard Memorial Award - Education 74}}

===Hollywood===
After [[Thunder Rock (play)|''Thunder Rock'']] quickly closed on Broadway, Ardrey returned to Hollywood. His first official credit was the [[They Knew What They Wanted (film) | screenplay]] for the adaptation of Sidney Howard's Pulitzer Prize-winning play [[They Knew What They Wanted (play) | They Knew What They Wanted (1939)]]. It was directed by [[Garson Kanin]], starred [[Carole Lombard]] and [[Charles Laughton]], and was shot on location in [[Napa Valley]].<ref name="Education" />{{rp|68}}
In 1946, after a series of talks with RKO, Ardrey and his new agent [[H._N._Swanson| Harold Norling Swanson]] negotiated the first-ever independent contract with a major Hollywood studio for him to write the [[The_Green_Years_(film)|screen adaptation]] of the [[A. J. Cronin]] novel [[The Green Years]]. <ref name="Education" />{{rp|76}} The contract stipulated that Ardrey could work at his home in Brentwood - an unprecedented studio concession - and he was not to be bothered until he completed the screenplay in around six weeks.<ref name="Education />{{rp|89-90}} ''The Green Years'' debuted to record profits and went on to be one of the highest grossing films of 1946.<ref name="Mannix">''The Eddie Mannix Ledger,'' Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.</ref><ref name="Education />{{rp|90, 96}}<refTK>

Following these successes in Hollywood, Ardrey returned to New York to reengage the theater. There he wrote ''Jeb''.

===Jeb===
{{main|Jeb (play)}}
''Jeb'' opened in New York to largely positive reviews (famed American theatre critic [[George Jean Nathan]] called it the best play on the topic of civil rights) and enthusiastic audiences.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|95}} However, due to factors including high production costs, the play had to close after a run of only one week.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|95-6}}

===Hollywood===

Following the short run of ''Jeb'' Ardrey moved back to Hollywood and signed a two picture deal with MGM. In 1946 and '47 he wrote [[The Secret Garden (1949 film)|''The Secret Garden'']].<ref>{{IMDb title | 0041855 | ''The Secret Garden''}}</ref> In 1947 he wrote the screenplay for [[The Three Musketeers (film)]], (which would become the second-highest grossing film of 1948.<ref name="Mannix" />) starring Lanna Turner and Gene Kelly. This became Gene Kelly's favorite non-musical role.<ref name="ThreeMusketeers" /> In 1949, Ardrey wrote the screenplay for Gustave Flaubert's classic novel [[Madame Bovary]], starring [[Jennifer Jones]] with [[James Mason]] playing the role of Flaubert.<ref name="Bovary" /> The novel was originally tried for obscenity in France and Ardrey used this as a device to frame the story and allow for a commentator.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|103}}

In 1947, Ardrey was elected to the board of the [[Screen Writers Guild]] and made chairman of the Political Advisory Committee, amid growing persecution of Hollywood by the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]].<ref name="Education" />{{rp|106}} Following the foundation of the [[Committee for the First Amendment]], Ardrey flew to Washington, along with [[Lauren Bacall]], [[Humphrey Bogart]], [[Gene Kelly]], [[Danny Kaye]], and [[John Huston]] to defend The Hollywood Ten. {{TK format}}<ref name="Education" />{{rp|107}} Later, on behalf of the Guild, Ardrey worked with [[Thurman Arnold]] to lodge a suit against the blacklist with the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]. (The suit came up for review four years later, but the Guild dropped it.)<ref name="Education" />{{rp|108-9, 112}}

In the early '50s, partly due to its enforcement of the blacklists and partly due to the increasing role banks were playing in creative decisions, Ardrey began to feel a growing dissatisfaction with Hollywood {{TK - Could expand}} and started to travel abroad. He travelled to Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, the Riviera, Venice, Yugoslavia, where he spent a month living in Belgrade, Greece, Istanbul, and Munich. He later described these travels as "necessary exercises" for his book ''African Genesis.''<ref name="Education" />{{rp|114-5}}

In 1952 Ardrey joined the [[Adlai Stevenson]] campaign against [[Richard Nixon]] as a part of the group "Hollywood for Stevenson".<ref name="Education" />{{rp|110-1}} The group sponsored an investigator to go to Nixon's hometown for research. While there he discovered, in the high school newspaper archives, that Richard Nixon had been known as Tricky Dick.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|111}}

In 1954 Ardrey wrote the adaptation of John Master's novel [[Bhowani Junction]].<ref>http://hgar-srv3.bu.edu/collections/collection?id=121500</ref> Due in part to the intervention of the banks financing the film, Ardrey entered into contested negotiations over rewrites. Eventually he quit and took his name off the film.<ref>{{IMDb title| 0049007 | ''Bhowani Junction''}}</ref>

Ardrey turned his attention toward Africa.

==Africa==
In 1955, when Ardrey was considering a trip to Africa, {{TK?}} [[Max Ascoli]], publisher of [[The Reporter (magazine) | ''The Reporter'']], offered to buy anything that Ardrey would write there.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|119}} At the same time Ardrey renewed an acquaintance with prominent geologist [[Richard Foster Flint]]. Because of Ardrey's background in geology and paleontology, Flint arranged for Ardrey to investigate claims made by [[Raymond Dart]] about a specimin of [[Australopithecus africanus]].<ref name="Education" />{{rp|119}}
This trip would serve as the beginning of Ardrey's renewed interest in the human sciences and the initiation of his groundbreaking work in Paleoanthropology.

==Paleoanthropology==
As a [[Science book|science writer]] for the informed non-specialist reader in [[paleoanthropology]], which encompasses [[anthropology]], [[ethology]], [[paleontology]], [[zoology]] and<ref>African Genesis</ref> [[human evolution]], Robert Ardrey was among the proponents of the [[hunting hypothesis]] and the [[killer ape theory]].

Ardrey postulated that precursors of [[Australopithecus]] survived millions of years of drought in the [[Miocene]] and [[Pliocene]] epochs, as the [[savannah]] spread and the [[forest]]s shrank, by adapting the hunting ways of [[Carnivore|carnivorous]] species. Changes in [[Survival of the fittest|survival techniques]] and [[social organisation]] gradually differentiated pre-humans from other [[primate]]s. Concomitant changes in diet potentiated unique developments in the [[human brain]].

The [[killer ape theory]] posits that [[aggression]], a vital factor in [[Predation|hunting prey]] for food, was a fundamental characteristic which distinguished prehuman ancestors from other primates.

These themes have also been investigated in [[academia]] by, among others:
* [[Konrad Lorenz]]: ''[[On Aggression]]'' (1966)
* [[University of Chicago]] "Man the Hunter" [[Academic conference|symposium]] (1966): [[Richard Borshay Lee|Richard B. Lee]] and [[Irven DeVore]], eds., ''Man the Hunter: Symposium on Man the Hunter'', University of Chicago. Chicago: Aldine Publishing.
* Sherwood Washburn and Chet Lancaster: ''Man the Hunter'' (1968). ([http://socialsciences.ucsc.edu/giving/endowments/Endowments_list/Anthropology/Sherwood%20Washburn.pdf Washburn's students] Lee and DeVore organised the 1966 Chicago conference.)
* [[Craig Stanford]]: ''The Hunting Apes: Meat Eating and the Origins of Human Behavior'', [[Princeton University Press]] (2001).
* [[Erich Fromm]]: ''The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness'' (1973)
* [[Matt Cartmill]]:<!-- WAIT--WAIT! Before you remove the brackets, consider writing a new article! -- Paine --> ''A View to a Death in the Morning: Hunting and Nature Through History'' (1996)
<!-- A STATEMENT PREVIOUSLY INSERTED HERE ("Ardrey's ''African Genesis'' (1961), along with another book, were popularizations of the ideas put forth by Washburn and Lancaster.") is false. Ardrey published African Genesis in 1961. Lorentz published in 1963 (German) and 1966 (English). Washburn & Lancaster published in 1968.-->

===Researchers===
Some of the scientists whose [[research]] particularly informed Robert Ardrey's scientific investigations, and with several of whom Ardrey consulted at length while developing his four major works in [[Africa]] from the 1940s through the 1970s, include:
* [[Warder Clyde Allee]]
* [[Charles Kimberlin Brain]]
* [[Robert Broom]]
* [[Helmut Karl Buechner]]
* [[Clarence Ray Carpenter]]
* [[Raymond Dart]]
* [[George Schaller]]
* [[Henry Eliot Howard|Eliot Howard]]
* [[James Kitching]]
* [[Louis Leakey]]
* [[Eugene Marais]]
* [[Kenneth Oakley]]

==Books==
'''Fiction'''
* ''World's Beginning'' (1944) (Cited in [[Everett F. Bleiler|Everett F. Bleiler's]] ''The Checklist of Fantastic Literature,'' 1948.)
* ''The Brotherhood of Fear'' (1952)

'''Nonfiction'''
* ''[[African Genesis]]: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man''. New York: Atheneum, 1961. {{oclc|252499}}
* ''[[The Territorial Imperative]]: A Personal Inquiry into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations'' (1966)
* ''[[The Social Contract (Robert Ardrey)|The Social Contract]]: A Personal Inquiry into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder'' (1970)
* ''[[The Hunting Hypothesis]]: A Personal Conclusion Concerning the Evolutionary Nature of Man'' (1976)
* ''[[Aggression and Violence in Man]]: A Dialogue Between [[Louis Leakey|Dr. L.S.B. Leakey]] and Robert Ardrey'' (1971) {{OCLC|631758464}} [http://authors.library.caltech.edu/25660/1/Munger_Africana_Library__Notes.9.pdf Online version]
<!-- WAIT--WAIT! Before you remove any red links, consider that they are here to motivate contributors (perhaps yourself?) to write an article! P. Ellsworth, ed. -->

==Plays==
* ''[[Star Spangled]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Casey Jones (play)|Casey Jones]]'' (1938)
* ''[[God and Texas]]'' (1938)
* ''[[How To Get Tough About It]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Thunder Rock (play)|Thunder Rock]]'' (1939) (''[[:Thunder Rock (film)|Thunder Rock]]'' filmed in 1942 in the UK, released 1944 in the US)
* ''[[Jeb (play)|Jeb]]'' (1946)
* ''[[Sing Me No Lullaby]]'' (1954)
* ''[[Shadow Of Heroes]]'' (1958) (produced in [[London]] as ''Stone and Star'')
<!-- WAIT--WAIT! Before you remove any brackets, consider writing a new article(s)! -- Paine -->

==Screenplays==
* ''[[They Knew What They Wanted (film)|They Knew What They Wanted]]'' (1940) <ref name="AMCBio"/>
* ''[[A Lady Takes a Chance]]'' (1943)
* ''[[The Green Years (film)|The Green Years]]'' (1946)
* ''[[Song of Love (1947 film)|Song of Love]]'' (1947)
* ''[[The Three Musketeers (1948 film)|The Three Musketeers]]'' (1948)
* ''[[Madame Bovary (1949 film)|Madame Bovary]]'' (1949)
* ''[[The Secret Garden (1949 film)|The Secret Garden]]'' (1949)
* ''The Schumann Story'' (1950) short film adaptation<ref name="SchumannIMDB"/> of ''[[Song of Love (1947 film)|Song of Love]]''
* ''[[The Adventures of Quentin Durward]]'' (1955)
* ''[[The Power and the Prize]]''<!-- WAIT--WAIT! Before you remove the brackets, consider writing a new article! -- Paine --> (1956)
* ''[[The Wonderful Country (film)|The Wonderful Country]]'' (1959)
* ''[[Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (film)|Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]]'' (1962) <ref name="NYTBio"/>
* ''[[Khartoum (film)|Khartoum]]'' (1966)<ref name="DVDEmpireFilmography"/> Nominated for an [[Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay#1960s|Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay]]
* ''The Animal Within'' (1975) [[Documentary film|documentary]]

==Honors==
* 1935: Sergel Drama Award.
* 1937: [[Guggenheim Fellowship]].
* 1940: Sidney Howard Memorial Award.
* 1961: Theresa Helburn Memorial Award.
* 1963: Willkie Brothers Grant for Anthropology.
* Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]]

==Personal==
Robert Ardrey was the son of Robert Leslie Ardrey, an editor and publisher, and the former Marie Haswell.<ref name="NYTBio"/> He graduated [[Phi Beta Kappa]] from the [[University of Chicago]], where his [[Mentorship|mentor]] was [[Thornton Wilder]]. Ardrey was married to Helen Johnson, whom he met at the University, from 1938 until they divorced in 1960. They had two sons, Ross and Daniel. In 1960 Ardrey married the South African [[Theatre|stage]] [[actress]] Berdine Grunewald, who later [[Illustrator|illustrated]] his books.

There are a number of university libraries that house Robert Ardrey's papers. The primary archive for the Robert Ardrey Collection is at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center in the [[Mugar Memorial Library]] at Boston University.<ref name="HGARC"/> There are also additional collections of Robert Ardrey's works held at [[University of California, Los Angeles Library|UCLA]],<ref>http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf5w1006sq/entire_text/</ref> [[Rutgers University|Rutgers]],<ref>http://ejbe.libraries.rutgers.edu/index.php/jrul/article/viewFile/1654/3094</ref> and the [[University of Chicago]].<ref>https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.ARDREYR</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="FindArchive">{{cite web |url= http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf5w1006sq/?&query=%22Robert%20Ardrey%22&brand=oac |title= Finding Aid for the Robert Ardrey Papers, 1935-1960 |work= Online Archive of California }}</ref>

<ref name="NYTBio">{{cite news |url= http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=173054&mod=bio |title= Robert Ardrey |author= [[Bruce Eder]] |work= [[Allmovie]] |publisher= ''[[The New York Times]]'' |quote= Equally comfortable dealing with literary editors such as [[Bennett Cerf]] or moguls like [[Darryl F. Zanuck]], he also retained his credibility in the intellectual realm by authoring texts on anthropology, history, and sociology that remain widely respected decades after their publication. The widening dates between Ardrey's film projects came as a result of his increasing literary activity, as he began generating screenplays and novels on his own in the early 1950s and subsequently returned to his academic training in anthropology and the behavioral sciences. From the end of the 1950s, he kept his oar in both fields, film and academia, and occupied a virtually unique position in the [[Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood]] [[Social hierarchy|pecking order]] because of his dual career. In 1962, he took on the daunting task of turning the [[World War I]]-era novel ''[[Vicente Blasco Ibáñez|The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]]'' into relevant entertainment for the early 1960s, authoring the [[screenplay]] for [[Vincente Minnelli]]'s gargantuan [[1962 in film|1962]] all-star release. }}</ref>

<ref name="Clarke2001Diary">{{cite web |url= http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0073.html |title= 2001 Diary (excerpts) |author=Clarke, Arthur C. |authorlink=Arthur C. Clarke |work= The Lost Worlds of 2001 |publisher= Kubrick Site |publisher= [[New American Library|New American Library (New York)]] |date=1972 }}</ref>

<ref name="KubrickLetterNYT">{{cite web |url= http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0037.html |title= Letter to the editor |author= [[Stanley Kubrick]] |work= [[The New York Times]] |publisher= Kubrick Site |date= February 27, 1972 }}</ref>

<ref name="KubrickClarkeErlichMiamiU">{{cite web |url= http://www.users.muohio.edu/erlichrd/350/odyssey.php |title= Strange Odyssey: From Dart to Ardrey to Kubrick and Clarke |author= Richard D. Erlich et al. |work= [[English studies]]/[[Film theory]] course, [[Science fiction]] and [[Film]] |publisher= [[Miami University]] |date= 1997–2005 }}</ref>

<ref name="RichterMoonwatcher">{{cite web |url= http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/arthur-c-clarke/moonwatchers-memoir.htm |title= ''Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001, a Space Odyssey'' |author= [[Daniel Richter (actor)|Daniel Richter]] |location= [[New York City]] |publisher=[[Carroll & Graf]] |isbn=978-0-7867-1073-7 |year= 2002 |quote= …the longest flash forward in the history of movies: three million years, from bone club to artificial satellite, in a twenty-fourth of a second. (From the [http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0099.html Foreword] by [[Arthur C. Clarke]].) }}</ref>

<ref name="PeckinpahTime">{{cite web |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879005,00.html |title= Peckinpah: Primitive Horror |author= |work= [[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date= December 20, 1971 }}</ref>

<ref name="PeckinpahWeddle">[[David Weddle]]. ''If They Move . . . Kill 'Em!: The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah'' (p. 396). 1994 first edition: [[Grove Press]], ISBN 0-8021-3776-8, {{ASIN|0802137768}}.</ref>

<ref name="PeckinpahCremean">{{cite web |url= http://cremmers.blogspot.com/2006/05/peckinpahs-west-vs-manns-metropolis.html |title= Peckinpah's West vs. Mann's Metropolis |author= Paul Cremean |work= Grover Watrous' Golden Egg |date= 23 May 2006 |quote= Drawing heavily from the work of Robert Ardrey, controversial sociologist and author of ‘African Genesis’ and ‘The Territorial Imperative,’ Peckinpah ascribed to the belief that man is by nature territorial, brutal and elementally animal. }}</ref>

<ref name="PeckinpahSimmons">Garner Simmons. ''Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage'' (p. 128). 1982 first edition: [[University of Texas]] Press, ISBN 0-292-76493-6, {{ASIN|0292764936}}. 2004 paperback edition: Limelight, ISBN 978-0-87910-273-9, {{ASIN|087910273X}}.</ref>

<ref name="PeckinpahFine">Marshall Fine. ''Bloody Sam: The Life and Films of Sam Peckinpah.'' 1991 first edition: [[E. P. Dutton|Dutton Books]], ISBN 1-55611-236-X, ISBN 978-1-55611-236-2. 2006 paperback edition: [[Miramax Books]], ISBN 1-4013-5972-8, ISBN 978-1-4013-5972-0.</ref>

<ref name="AMCBio">{{cite web |url= http://www.amctv.com/person/detail?CID=8167-1-GMT |title= Robert Ardrey (10/16/1908 - 1/14/1980) Other Credits |work= [[AMC (TV network)]] website }}</ref>

<ref name="SchumannIMDB">{{IMDb title|0438971|The Schumann Story (1950)}}</ref>

<ref name="DVDEmpireFilmography">{{cite web |url= http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_list_cast.asp?userid=&cast_id=60379 |title= Robert Ardrey Filmography |work= [[DVDEmpire.com]] |quote= Most Worked With: 1. [[Peter Ustinov]] 2. [[Pandro S. Berman]] 3. [[Raoul Walsh]] 4. [[Van Heflin]] 5. [[Angela Lansbury]] 6. [[Alf Kjellin|Christopher Kent]] 7. [[Frank Allenby]]<!-- WAIT--WAIT! Before you remove the brackets, consider writing a new article! -- Paine --> 8. [[Gene Kelly]] 9. [[George Sidney]] 10. [[Gladys Cooper]] }}</ref>

<ref name="HGARC">{{cite web |url= http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/archives-cc/app/details.php?id=7338&return=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bu.edu%2Fphpbin%2Farchives-cc%2Fapp%2Fbrowse.php%3Fletter%3DA%26sort_column%3Dcomposite_name%26sort_direction%3DASC%26per_page%3D10%26offset%3D20%26set_page%3Dnext |title= Ardrey, Robert |author= |work= Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center (HGARC), [[Mugar Memorial Library]], Boston University}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}

'''General'''
* [http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/173054/Robert-Ardrey/biography NYTimes / All Movie Guide biography of Robert Ardrey]
* [http://www.robertardrey.com Official site of The Robert Ardrey Estate]
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-ardrey Answers.com on Robert Ardrey]

'''Plays and screenplays'''
* [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsA/ArdreyRobert.htm Synopses] of ''[[Thunder Rock (play)|Thunder Rock]]'' and ''Sing Me No Lullaby.''
* {{IMDb name|0034124|Robert Ardrey}}.

'''Paleoanthropology'''
* [http://www.livescience.com/98-runner-high-jogging-separated-humans-apes.html "The First Runner's High: Jogging Separated Humans From Apes."] Robert Roy Britt, ''LiveScience,'' November 2004 (aspects of [[Miocene]]/[[Pliocene]] transition - from [[forest]] to [[savannah]] - central to Ardrey's theses)
* [http://www.panarchy.org/ardrey/territorialism.html Robert Ardrey, The Scourge of Territorialism] (1967)
* [http://www.panarchy.org/ardrey/war.html Robert Ardrey, Territorialism and War] (1967)
* [http://www.nmnh.si.edu/anthro/outreach/anthnote/fall97/anthnote.htm "Exploring Our Basic Human Nature: Are Humans Inherently Violent?"] Robert W. Sussman, ''Anthro Notes: [[National Museum of Natural History]] Bulletin for Teachers'', Vol. 19 No. 3, Fall 1997.
* [http://www.users.muohio.edu/erlichrd/vms_site/afric.htm Excerpts from ''African Genesis''.]



=Thunder Rock (play)=

==Synopsis==
The [[Dramatists Play Service]] gives the following synopsis of ''Thunder Rock'':
<blockquote>The action passes in a lighthouse on Lake Michigan. Charleston, the keeper, has taken a job there to flee from a detestable world. Opposing Charleston's pessimism, Streeter, his friend, says he is giving up his job to become an active member of society again. Streeter believes our world can be brought out of its chaos if people do something about it. Filled with this determination, he leaves to become an aviator. Charleston retreats further into a fantastic world of his own building. The people of this world are half a dozen of the sixty who were shipwrecked ninety years ago. Believing that "Mankind's got one future—in the past," Charleston breathes life into these creatures of his imagination. They live again on the stage. As he talks to them we see passengers as they really were, each seeking sanctuary from a disturbed Europe, running away from life, yet needing the same hope and strength as Charleston himself. Charleston's sincerity convinces these creatures that he really has the courage to lead his fellow men into a better world, and in this faith they are content to die again. Inspired by their confidence, the lighthouse-keeper returns to useful work, determined to create a new order out of the chaos of the old.<ref>''Thunder Rock'' at Dramatists Play Service. [http://dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=1850]</ref></blockquote>

==Conception==
The initial inspiration for ''Thunder Rock'' came in 1938 while the playwright, [[Robert Ardrey]], then on an extended honeymoon on [[Nantucket]], was working on a different play. <ref name="Decades">Ardrey, Robert. ''Plays of Three Decades,'' Introduction. New York: Atheneum. 1968. Print</ref>{{rp|22}} He writes in his autobiography of being taken by the image of the lighthouse as Siansconset and by the drama of the frequent [[Nor%27easter|nor'easters]].<ref name="Education">Ardrey, Robert; Ardrey, Daniel (ed.). "The Education of Robert Ardrey: An Autobiography" (unpublished manuscript ca. 1980, available through Howard Gotteleib Archival Research Center)</ref> At the same time, the conflict in Europe was escalating, and Ardrey took the signing of the [[Munich Agreement]] to be a certain harbinger of war.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|62}}
Ardrey did not have the idea for the play, however, until he returned to New York. He writes in his autobiography of the moment of inspiration during a performance of ''[[Swan Lake]]'':
<blockquote>That afternoon, eyes closed, enjoying the music with moderation, I descended into a world between the Tigris and the [[Styx]]. And within the course of the performance I had beheld ''Thunder Rock.'' I had the play from beginning to end, complete with the first, second, and third act curtains. I never had the experience again, and I must wonder how many authors have gone through a similar spell.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|63}}</blockquote>
Ardrey moved with his wife, Helen, to [[New Orleans]], where he wrote the first draft.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|63}}

==New York Production==
Having finished the first draft Ardrey showed it to his agent, Harold Freedman, and to his friend, the influential Broadway director and producer [[Elia Kazan]], who had directed [[Casey Jones (play)|''Casey Jones'']]. Kazan engaged [[Harold Clurman]] to direct members of the theater collective [[Group Theatre (New York) | The Group Theater]], including [[Lee J. Cobb]], [[Morris Carnovsky]], and [[Frances Farmer]].<ref name="Education" />{{rp|64}}<ref>{{IBDB name | 67109 | Lee J. Cobb}}</ref><ref>{{IBDB name | 67027 | Morris Carnovsky}}</ref><ref>{{IBDB name | 41092 | Frances Farmer}}</ref>
Rehearsals were begun amidst growing tension in Europe, and the company, convinced that war would break out within weeks, resolved to open as quickly as they could.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|63}} However, after the [[Invasion of Poland]] there was a period of relative quiet in Europe, leading to a belief in America that the threat had been overblown. Senator [[William Borah]] during this period famously dubbed the conflict "The Phoney War."<ref>"Defiant Peace Bid Hurled By Hitler". The Pittsburgh Press. September 19, 1939.</ref> The play, which called for American involvement in a crisis in Europe, debuted to an increasingly isolationist audience amid a growing conception that there would be no war.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|65}}<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|24-5}}

===Reception===
The negative criticism of ''Thunder Rock'' largely focused on its call to intervention. John Anderson wrote, "The Group is playing spook-a-boo at the Mansfield theater."<ref>Anderson, John. Quoted in Ardrey, Robert. ''Plays of Three Decades,'' Introduction. New York: Atheneum. 1968. p. 24. Print</ref> [[Brooks Atkinson]], writing for [[The New York Times]], wrote that "''Thunder Rock'' exudes so much thunder, and contains so little rock."<ref>Atkinson, Brooks. Quoted in "The Education of Robert Ardrey: An Autobiography" (unpublished manuscript ca. 1980, available through Howard Gotteleib Archival Research Center) p. 65.</ref> The play ended up closing after 23 performances.<ref>"Footnotes on Headliners" Undated review. Available in the Robert Ardrey Papers. Special Collections Research Library: University of Chicago. Box 11, Folder 2</ref>

''Thunder Rock'' also won acclaim. In 1940, in recognition of the play, Ardrey was awarded the first ever Sidney Howard Memorial Award for young playwrights.<ref>Anderson, Maxwell. ''Dramatist in America: Letters of Maxwell Anderson, 1912-1958.'' Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Books, 2001. Print</ref><ref name="Education" />{{rp|74}}

==London Productions==

During the winter of 1939 Harold Freedman sold the British rights of ''Thunder Rock'' to the London theater director Herbert Marshall. Marshall sent the script to then rising star [[Michael Redgrave]], who later wrote, "I thought it one of the most exciting plays I had ever read."<ref name="Eye">Redgrave, Michael. ''In My Mind's Eye: An Autobiography.'' Sevenoaks: Coronet. Print</ref> Redgrave agreed to star, and they launched a production at the Neighbourhood Theatre in London. The company included [[Bernard Miles]], Fredda Brilliant, and Frederik Falk. <ref name="Education" />{{rp|66}}<ref>Marshall, Herbert. "'Thunder Rock' London, June 1940. From The Writings of Herbert Marshall</ref> After the [[Battle of Dunkirk]] most London Theaters voluntarily closed, and when ''Thunder Rock'' went up, two nights before the [[Battle of France | Fall of France]], it was one of only two productions in London.<ref name="Education" />{{rp|66}}<ref name="Eye">

The first London production of ''Thunder Rock'' was a huge and unqualified success.<ref name=TLS>“Thunder Rock - An Appreciation,” ''London Times Literary Supplement'', Aug. 10, 1940</ref><ref>“Theater Boom in London” ''New York Times'' Aug. 23, 1940</ref> The eminent British theater critic [[Harold Hobson]] wrote that the opening night was "One of the greatest evenings … in the entire history of the theatre."<ref name="Hobson">Hobson, Harold. ''Theatre in Britain: A Personal View.'' Oxford: Phaidon, 1984. pp. 122-3. Print.</ref>

When [[Winston Churchill]] read of the play, he sent his [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom) | Minister of Information]], [[Duff Cooper]]; his scientific advisor, Lord Lindeman; and his wife, [[Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill | Clementine]].<ref name="Obit" /> Duff Cooper reported back to Churchill, who is said to have told his cabinet that "This play is the greatest contribution to British Morale there has yet been."<ref name="Obit" /> He had Cooper arrange to have the treasury department fund it. Cooper coordinated with Michael Redgrave to launch a major production at the [[Gielgud Theatre | Globe Theatre]] in London's [[West End of London | West End]]. The role of the government in funding the arrangement was kept secret until after the war.<ref name="Eye" /><ref>Aldgate, Anthony et. al. ''Britain Can Take It: The Britisch Cinema in the Second World War'' 2nd ed. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007. pp. 170-2. Print.</ref><ref name="Education" />{{rp|66}}

The production at the Globe ran during the worsening [[The Blitz | Blitz]]. During air-raids the play would be paused and Michael Redgrave would lead the audience in songs.<ref name="Eye" /><ref name="Obit" /> Again the production was a massive critical and popular success.<ref>Various Authors. Archival reviews of British productions of ''Thunder Rock''. 1940. Box 11, Folder 2. The Robert Ardrey Papers 1928-1974. Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, Chicago, IL.</ref> It ran at the Globe until September when the neighboring Queen's Theater was hit by a German bomb, at which point ''Thunder Rock'' was taken on the road.<ref name="Obit" />

===Reception===

Both the initial run at the Neighborhood Theater and the government-funded run at the Globe were major critical and popular successes. [[James Agate]] wrote that ''Thunder Rock'' was "a play infinitely superior in craftsmanship, intellectual interest, pure theater and entertainment value to anything the commercial theater can offer in these heartsearching days."<ref>Quoted in the introduction by E.R. Wood to Robert Ardrey, ''Thunder Rock.'' London, 1966, p. 16.</ref> The ''News and Chronicle'' described it as "A tonic to the mind, and a bath to the spirit."<ref>Quoted in Redgrave, 1983, p. 133.</ref> The reviewer for [[The Times Literary Supplement | ''The London Times Literary Supplement'']] wrote “When Thunder Rock was produced for the first time in this country ... there ensued a chorus of praise that sounded almost suspicious. Can this play be as good as all that? one asked oneself, or is it merely that the gentlemen of the press, starved of something to genuinely appreciate, have leaped with an indiscriminating gusto upon the first good thing that comes their way? A visit to the theatre, however, and a subsequent reading of the play set these doubts at rest."<ref name=TLS />

Eminent theater critic [[Harold Hobson]] later reflected on the significance of ''Thunder Rock'':
<blockquote>"The theatre… did a great deal to keep the morale of the British people high. One intellectual play had an enormous effect in keeping alight a spirit of hope at a time when it was nearer to extinction than it had ever been, either before or after. This was ''Thunder Rock,'' by Robert Ardrey. What he accomplished for the British people at a moment of supreme despair… merits their lasting gratitude. … He, more quietly but equally effectively as Churchill, urged us never to surrender."<ref>Hobson, Harold. ''Theatre in Britain: A Personal View.'' Oxford: Phaidon, 1984. pp. 117-8. Print</ref></blockquote>

==Subsequent Productions and Legacy==

When the London production closed, ''Thunder Rock'' was taken taken on the road. The cast was the same except that [[Alec Guiness]] took over for Michael Regrave.<ref name="Obit" /> It played in British cities including [[Manchester]] and [[Birmingham]].<ref name="Education" />{{rp|66}} The BBC also broadcast a successful radio version of the play.

Within six weeks after V-E day a production of ''Thunder Rock'' had been launched in [[Vienna]].<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|26}} By the fall of 1945 the play was up in [[Budapest]] and [[Prague]].<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|26}} ''Thunder Rock'' was the first play to go up in [[Allied-occupied Germany]] (except for a failed Russian production of ''[[Our Town]]'') when the American forces staged a production in the American-occupied zone of [[Berlin]].<ref name="Decades" />{{rp|24-5}}<ref name="TakeIt">Aldgate, Anthony et. al. ''Britain Can Take It: The Britisch Cinema in the Second World War'' 2nd ed. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007. pp. 178. Print.</ref> The American production starred [[Ernst Busch (actor) | Ernst Busch]], a german singer and actor who had fled Germany in 1933, joined the [[International Brigades]] to fight against [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) | the Nationalists]], risen to fame for his Spanish war songs, been taken prisoner in Belgium, and who had just been liberated from a P.O.W. camp at the end of the war.<ref>Ernst Busch – ein Jahrhundertleben. ernst-busch.net.</ref>

1942 saw a [[Thunder Rock (film)|film adaptation of ''Thunder Rock'']], directed by the [[Boulting Brothers]] and starring Michael Redgrave.<ref>{{IMDb title| 0035440 | ''Thunder Rock''}}</ref>

The play has subsequently been produced all over the world, including in [[Harare]] (formerly Salisbury), [[Zimbabwe]], and [[Nairobi]], [[Kenya]].<ref name="Education" />{{rp|66}} It continues to be popular among University theater departments.

Robert Ardrey reflected that "''Thunder Rock'' was the only play I ever wrote that may be regarded as an international classic."<ref name="Education" />{{rp|63}}

=Thunder Rock (film)=

'''''Thunder Rock''''' is a 1942 British drama film with supernatural elements, directed by [[Roy Boulting]] and starring [[Michael Redgrave]] and [[Barbara Mullen]], with [[James Mason]] and [[Lilli Palmer]] in supporting roles.

==Background==
The film is based on the 1939 play ''[[Thunder Rock (play)|Thunder Rock]]'' by [[Robert Ardrey]], which had originally been a notable stage flop in New York, but proved to be considerably more successful in London where it ran for months in the West End. The film version was opened out considerably from its source by the addition of a [[Montage (filmmaking)|montage]] sequence to illustrate the protagonist Charleston's [[back-story]], and [[Flashback (narrative)|flashback]] sequences detailing the histories of the various characters in Charleston's imagination, in the process serving to give a heightened propagandist tone to the material.

Critical opinion of the time in Britain was divided as to whether the additional material brought new depths to the story, or made too explicit things which Ardrey had preferred to leave to the audience's imagination and intelligence. The film was however almost universally admired by North American critics and became a huge popular success. Ironically, it ran to packed houses in New York for over three months, where the play had folded in less than three weeks.<ref>[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20A12FB3E5A157B93C6AB178AD95F408485F9 Of Local Origin] ''New York Times'', 24 November 1944. (Subscription required to read full article online)</ref>

==Plot==
During the late 1930s, David Charleston (Redgrave) is an ambitious campaigning newspaper journalist, a fierce opponent of fascism and the British policy of [[Appeasement#The conduct of appeasement, 1937–39|appeasement]]. He wishes to alert his readers to the dangers of German rearmament and the folly of ignoring what is going on in Europe, but the reports he submits are censored by the editor of his newspaper. He subsequently quits his job and sets off on a speaking tour around the country under the slogan "Britain, Awake!" The lack of interest and response indicates that Britain is happy to keep slumbering. The final straw comes when Charleston is at the cinema, and the newsreel feature comes on the screen detailing the German occupation of the [[Sudetenland]]. The audience show themselves completely uninterested in the newsreel, taking the opportunity to chat among themselves or go in search of refreshments. In despair at the way his countrymen seem totally oblivious to the ever-more impending doom which is about to engulf them, and appear to be content to go about their daily business as normal while all the time sleepwalking towards disaster, he decides to turn his back on Britain and find a far-flung location where he can withdraw from the world and all its contemporary woes.

He crosses the Atlantic, and finds exactly what he is looking for when he successfully lands a job as a lone lighthouse-keeper on [[Lake Michigan]], which will provide him with the solitude he craves. The lighthouse rock carries a commemorative tablet, listing the names of a group of immigrants from Europe who perished 90 years earlier when the ship carrying them to a new life in America foundered off-shore in a violent storm. As weeks turn into months in his self-imposed isolation, Charleston becomes fixated on the names on the tablet, and begins to conjure up ghostly visions of the lost souls, who start to relate to him their sad stories of sorrow, escape and unfulfilled dreams, in what seems an uncanny parallel to Charleston's own situation. The ship's captain Stuart ([[Finlay Currie]]), who appears to be the only ghost aware that he is dead and that it is no longer 1850, acts as mediator between Charleston and the other spirits as they tell their tales. Charleston discovers the story of proto-feminist Ellen (Mullen), repeatedly persecuted and imprisoned for her progressive views, and becomes particularly emotionally involved with the Kurtz family, progressive medical man Stefan ([[Frederick Valk]]) and his sad daughter Melanie (Palmer), who seems to harbour a strange ghostly attraction towards Charleston, which he reciprocates.

Charleston's lonely existence is broken by the arrival of an old colleague Streeter (Mason), who is worried about him after finding out from Charleston's employers that his pay cheques have not been cashed for many months. Streeter is nonplussed and not a little concerned as he starts to realise Charleston's mental state. Stuart meanwhile becomes exasperated by the way in which Charleston's imagination is forcing the others into unrealistic behaviour. Charleston agrees to let them have more freedom of action, but then finds them all starting to question where they are and what time they are in. He finally allows Melanie to read the tablet describing their deaths, and tells them all that the civilisation they knew is coming to an imminent end, and he has withdrawn to avoid being witness to its demise. He adds that now he has told them the truth, as figments of his imagination they no longer need to appear to him.

To his consternation, they do not disappear. Stefan confronts him sternly, pointing out that running away is cowardly and that it is always better to stand up and fight for what is good and right, regardless of the consequences. Moreover none of the spirits have any intention of leaving him until he faces up to what he has to do. Finally convinced, Charleston realizes he must return to Europe and carry on his fight for truth and justice against the evil which threatens the continent.

==Production==
In 1941 the Boulting Brothers signed a contract whereby their production company, Charter Films, would produce the film for MGM, who would fund the production in entirety. Roy Boulting was to direct and John Boulting produce. [[Jeffrey Dell]] and [[Bernard Miles]] (himself a member of the original cast) adapted the screenplay. Several of the stage actors reprised their roles, including [[Michael Redgrave]] as Charleston, [[Frederick Valk]] as Dr. Kurtz, and [[Barbara Mullen]] (a later addition to the cast) as Miss Kirby. Two Hollywood stars—[[James Mason]] and [[Lilli Palmer]]—signed on to play the parts of Streeter and Melanie.<ref name="TakeIt">Aldgate, Anthony et. al. ''Britain Can Take It: The British Cinema in the Second World War'' 2nd ed. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007. p.178 Print.</ref>

The Boulting brothers, both of whom were then engaged in the armed services, were given a special release to carry on with production. The British government arranged to have Michael Redgrave flown back from an aircraft carrier in the Far East for filming.<ref>Ardrey, Robert; Ardrey, Daniel (ed.). "The Education of Robert Ardrey: An Autobiography" (unpublished manuscript ca. 1980, available through Howard Gotteleib Archival Research Center) p. 86.</ref> The company spent ten weeks shooting in the [[Denham Film Studios]]. ''Thunder Rock'' was premiered in London in December of 1942 and went into more general release in February 1943.<ref name="TakeIt" /> The film was given a reissue in 1947.<ref>Aldgate 2007, p. 184.</ref>

==Reception==
On its British release in 1942, ''Thunder Rock'' received mostly positive but mixed reviews. Some critics were eager to compare the screen version to the stage play, not always to the former's advantage. In this regard the ''[[Glasgow Herald]]'' review was typical, almost appearing to damn the film with faint praise by stating: "Though scarcely so good as the play, the film is by no means ineffective or undistinguished. Michael Redgrave, Barbara Mullen and others do well."<ref>[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jxo1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=V6YLAAAAIBAJ&pg=5580,4607602&dq=thunder-rock&hl=en Films in Glasgow] ''Glasgow Herald'', 29 March 1943. ''Retrieved 17 October 2010''</ref> The reviewer for [[The Guardian|The Manchester Guardian]] had also seen both, though not to the detriment of his regard for the film: "Robert Ardrey's 'Thunder Rock', still the best new play of the war, has been faithfully translated to the screen. ... The result is a really intelligent film, more moving in parts than anything this country's studios have produced before and more interesting technically than anything since ''Citizen Kane''."<ref>''Manchester Guardian,'' 6 April 1943. Quoted in Adgate 2007, p. 183</ref> Of the reviews that examined the film in its own right, [[C. A. Lejeune]]'s long enthusiastic review for [[The Observer]] was notable. "I like the unselfconscious courage of a film that knows what it should do and goes ahead and does it. I like a piece that doesn't give a hang whether it's popular or unpopular. I like its frank speech, so distinct from that mumbo jumbo of the average refined, pie-faced British picture."<ref>Lejeune, C.A. ''Observer'' 6 December 1942. Quoted in Aldgate 2007, p. 183.</ref>

When released in North America almost two years later the film was lavished with enthusiastic praise from influential sources. In his syndicated column, [[Walter Winchell]] called the film "a glowing fantasy that lights up the dark corners of many current issues...it manages to be high-class without being highbrow".<ref>[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wHgjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8cYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6020,4599741&dq=thunder-rock&hl=en "Notes of an Innocent Bystander"] Winchell, Walter. ''Daytona Beach Morning Journal'', 27 September 1944. ''Retrieved 17 October 2010''</ref> [[Dorothy Kilgallen]], writing in her ''Voice of Broadway'' column, urged any of her out-of-town readers planning a visit to New York to "drop in at the World Theatre...and see the film ''Thunder Rock''...you'll remember it a long time, and it may not play your town."<ref>[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cQENAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0mkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3786,2194304&dq=thunder-rock&hl=en Voice of Broadway] Kilgallen, Dorothy. ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', 4 November 1944. ''Retrieved 17 October 2010''</ref> Herbert Whittaker, film critic for the ''[[Montreal Gazette]]'', chose the film as one of the ten best of 1944, observing "it translate(s) Robert Ardrey's deep and philosophical drama to the screen with brilliance".<ref>[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eH4tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=A5kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3540,4814300&dq=thunder-rock&hl=en "Ten Best Films For 1944"] Whittaker, Herbert. ''Montreal Gazette'', 30 December 1944. ''Retrieved 17 October 2010''</ref> The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' described it as "highly imaginative", "noteworthy" and "outstanding".<ref>[http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/411979251.html?dids=411979251:411979251&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+21%2C+1944&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc='Thunder+Rock'+Outstanding+British+Picture&pqatl=google ''Thunder Rock'', Outstanding British Picture] ''Los Angeles Times'', 21-20-1944. ''Retrieved 17 October 2010''</ref>

Modern critical assessments of ''Thunder Rock'' tend to be equally assertive of the film's lasting merit. A BBC reviewer comments that the film "succeeds in creating an atmosphere that is at once haunting, mournful and inspiring. As the writer disillusioned by the world's complacent response to fascism, Michael Redgrave gives one of his most complex and tormented performances, as he regains the crusading spirit from his encounters with the victims of a shipwreck that occurred years before on the rocks near the lighthouse he now tends. With a bullish contribution from James Mason and truly touching support from ghostly emigrée Lilli Palmer, this is one of the Boulting Brothers' finest achievements."<ref>[http://www.radiotimes.com/servlet_film/com.icl.beeb.rtfilms.client.simpleSearchServlet?searchTypeSelect=5&frn=16336 ''Thunder Rock (1942)] BBC ''Radio Times''. ''Retrieved 17 October 2010''</ref> The ''Time Out Film Guide'' says: "The film effortlessly transcends its theatrical origins, merging drama and reality, past and present, propaganda and psychological insight, to complex and intelligent effect. Beautifully performed, closer in tone and style to [[Powell and Pressburger]] than to the British mainstream, it's weird and unusually gripping."<ref>Time Out Film Guide, Penguin Books London, 1989, p.603 ISBN 0-14-012700-3</ref>

==DVD==
The film was released on a Region 2 DVD (now out-of-print) in Europe, but has, as of 2013, not been made available on a Region 1 DVD in the United States.

==Cast==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* [[Michael Redgrave]] as David Charleston
* [[James Mason]] as Streeter
* [[Lilli Palmer]] as Melanie Kurtz
* [[Barbara Mullen]] as Ellen Kirby
* [[Finlay Currie]] as Capt. Joshua Stuart
* [[Frederick Valk]] as Dr. Stefan Kurtz
* [[Sybille Binder]] as Anne-Marie Kurtz
* [[Barry Morse]] as Robert
* [[George Carney]] as Harry
* Frederick Cooper as Ted Briggs
* Jean Shepherd as Millie Briggs
{{col-2}}
* [[Miles Malleson]] as Chairman of Directors
* [[A. E. Matthews]] as Mr. Kirby
* James Pirrie as Jim Sales
* [[Olive Sloane]] as Woman Director
* [[Tommy Duggan (actor)|Tommy Duggan]] as Office Clerk
* Tony Quinn as Office Clerk
* Harold Anstruther as British Consul
* Alfred Sangster as Director
* [[Victor Beaumont]] as Hans (uncredited)
* [[Gerard Heinz]] as Hans Harma (uncredited)
* [[Milo Sperber]] as Hirohiti (uncredited)<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035440/board/nest/165641109?d=189449273&p=1#189449273</ref>
{{col-end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

Latest revision as of 17:24, 6 November 2015

[1]

Nature of Man Series

[edit]

The Nature of Man Series is a four-volume series of works in paleoanthropology by the prolific playwright, screenwriter, and science writer Robert Ardrey. The books in the series were published between 1961 and 1976.

The series majorly undermined standing assumptions in social sciences, leading to an abandonment of the "blank state" hypothesis; incited a renaissance in the science of ethology; and led to widespread popular interest in human evolution and human origins.

Several scientists, including the director of the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History's Human Origins Program Rick Potts, cite Ardrey's work as inspiring them to go into their fields.[2]

The works were wildly popular and influenced the public imagination. Notably Stanley Kubrick cited them as major influences in developing his films 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange [3][4][5]

Robert Ardrey

[edit]
Main article: Robert Ardrey

Robert Ardrey was a prolific playwright, screenwriter, and science writer. By the time he returned to the sciences in the 1950s, he had already had a decorated Hollywood and Broadway career, including the award of a Guggenheim Fellowship[6] and an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay[7].

In 1955 Ardrey travelled to Africa, where he wrote a series of articles for The Reporter. [8]: 119  At the same time he renewed an acquaintance with prominent geologist Richard Foster Flint and investigated claims made by Raymond Dart about a specimen of Australopithecus africanus.[8]: 119  This trip would initiate the decades of work Ardrey completed in the field of human evolution.

African Genesis (1961)

[edit]
Main article: African Genesis

The central thesis of African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man was that early man evolved from carnivorous African predecessors, and not, as was then the scientific consensus, from Asian herbivores.[9][10] It drew particularly on the scientific work of Raymond Dart and Konrad Lorentz. This thesis has been proven and is now scientific doctrine.

African Genesis also challenged a key methodological assumption of the social sciences, namely that human behavior was distinct from animal behavior. Ardrey instead asserted that evolutionarily inherited traits were a major factor in determining human behavior. This was a hugely controversial hypothesis, though it has gained widespread acceptance today. It was a major theme that would extend throughout the Nature of Man books and continue to surround them with controversy.

African Genesis was a major popular success. It was an international bestseller translated into dozens of languages.[11] In 1962 it was a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction.[12] In 1969 Time magazine named African Genesis the most notable nonfiction book of the '60s.[13]

The Territorial Imperative (1966)

[edit]
Main article: The Territorial Imperative

The Territorial Imperative: A Personal Inquiry Into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations extends Ardrey's work in examining the effects of inherited evolutionary traits on human social behavior with an emphasis on the hold that territory has on man. In particular it demonstrates the influence of the drive to possess territory on such phenomena as property ownership and nation-building.[14]

The Territorial further developed the nascent science of ethology and increased public interest in human origins.[15][16]

Like African Genesis it was also an international bestseller and saw translation into dozens of languages.[17] It influenced several notable figured. Stanley Kubrick cited Ardrey as an inspiration for his films 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange[4][5] The strategic analyst Andrew Marshall and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger are known to have discussed The Territorial Imperative in connection to military-strategic thinking.[18]

The Social Contract (1970)

[edit]
Main article: The Social Contract (1970 book)

The Social Contract: A Personal Inquiry into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder is the most controversial book of the Nature of Man series.[19] It sought to apply evolutionary thinking to the creation of social order. In particular it examined inherited characteristics' effects in determining hierarchy and inequality.[20][21] Ardrey argued that, while inequality was not necessarily a social evil, it could only be justly expressed under conditions of absolute equality of opportunity. He also argued that the presence of inequality does not justify the domination of the weak by the strong.[19]

The Social Contract continued Ardrey's refutation of cultural determinists through interwoven analyses of animal and human behavior. It also emphasized the importance of a reasoned respect for nature, foreshadowing the environmental concerns of The Hunting Hypothesis.[22]

The Hunting Hypothesis (1976)

[edit]
Main article: The Hunting Hypothesis

The Hunting Hypothesis: A Personal Conclusion Concerning the Evolutionary Nature of Man continued Ardrey's examination of the importance of inherited evolutionary traits. In particular it demonstrated the determinant force of traits that co-evolved in early man with hunting behavior.

At the time of publication, it was not even commonly accepted that early man were hunters, much less that hunting behavior influenced their evolution.[23] Following publication of Ardrey's work this thesis gained support and eventually widespread acceptance.[24][25]

The Hunting Hypothesis was also one of the first books to warn about climate change as a possible existential threat to mankind.[26]

The Hunting Hypothesis, with some exceptions, was remarkably well reviewed. The famed biologist and naturalist E. O. Wilson, the noted anthropologist Colin Turnbull, the acclaimed journalist Max Lerner, and the noteworthy social scientist Roger Masters, among others, all wrote effusive reviews.[27][26][28][29] Antony Jay wrote that "Robert Ardrey's books are the most important to be written since the war and arguable in the 20th century."[30]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Townsley, Graham (Director) (10 September 2015). Dawn of Humanity (Documentary). Nova, PBS.
  2. ^ Selig, Ruth Osterweis (Spring–Summer 1999). "Human Origins: One Man's Search for the Causes in Time". Anthronotes. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  3. ^ Kubrick, Stanley. Letter from Stanley Kubrick to The New York Times. "Now Kubrick Fights Back." The New York Times, 27 February, 1972, section 2, pp. 1 & 11. Print. Retrievable here
  4. ^ a b Richard D. Erlich; et al. (1997–2005). "Strange Odyssey: From Dart to Ardrey to Kubrick and Clarke". English studies/Film theory course, Science fiction and Film. Miami University. {{cite web}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
  5. ^ a b Daniel Richter (2002). "Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001, a Space Odyssey". New York City: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 978-0-7867-1073-7. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) (From the Foreword by Arthur C. Clarke.)
  6. ^ The Robert Ardrey Estate Website. "About"
  7. ^ 'Khartoum' at IMDb
  8. ^ a b Ardrey, Robert; Ardrey, Daniel (ed.). "The Education of Robert Ardrey: An Autobiography" (unpublished manuscript ca. 1980, available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center)
  9. ^ Ardrey, Robert. African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man. New York: Atheneum. 1961. Print.
  10. ^ Kindle Edition Description via Amazon Website
  11. ^ Dawkins, Richard. Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist. 2014. New York: Ecco. Print
  12. ^ Via the National Book Award website
  13. ^ Time" Friday, Dec. 26, 1969. List accessible online
  14. ^ "The Territorial Imperative". Digital Text International. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  15. ^ Hunt, George P. "Provocateur in Anthropology." Time 26 August 1966: 2. Print.
  16. ^ Graves, Ralph. "A 'Scientific Amateur' Expands his Territory." Time 11 September 1970: 1. Print: "Both of these books enjoyed, along with the scientific uproar they created, a wide general readership, and Ardrey, who describes himself as a 'scientific amateur,' today can claim major credit for having introduced the public to the new field of ethology, the study of animal behavior and its relationship to man."
  17. ^ Dawkins, Richard. Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist. 2014. New York: Ecco. Print
  18. ^ Somit, Albert. et. al. Human Nature and Public Policy: An Evolutionary Approach. 2003. Palgrave Macmillan. P. 24. Print
  19. ^ a b Davis, Steve. "The Richard Dawkins Dilemma - Illusions of Natural Selection." From Science 2.0. Posted 15 September, 2008. Retrieved 18 July, 2015. Available here. Cite error: The named reference "Sci2" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  20. ^ Ardrey, Robert. The Social Contract: A Personal Inquiry into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder. New York: Atheneum. 1970. 405 pp. Print
  21. ^ Stade, George. "Humans Act, Animals Behave: The Social Contract." The New York Times, 22 November, 1970. Print
  22. ^ "The philosophy of the impossible has been the dominant motive in human affairs for the past two centuries. We have pursued the mastery of nature as if we ourselves were not a portion of that nature. We have boasted of our command over our physical environment while we ourselves have done our urgent best to destroy it." Ardrey, Robert (2014-05-15). The Social Contract: A Personal Inquiry into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder (Robert Ardrey's Nature of Man series) (Kindle Locations 47-49). StoryDesign LTD.. Kindle Edition.
  23. ^ "In Search of Human Origins Part Two." NOVA. Public Broadcasting Corporation. 10 June, 1997. Transcript available here.
  24. ^ "Becoming Human Part 2." NOVA. Public Broadcasting Corporation. 31, August, 2011.
  25. ^ "For decades researchers have been locked in debate over how and when hunting began and how big a role it played in human evolution. Recent analyses of human anatomy, stone tools and animal bones are helping to fill in the details of this game-changing shift in subsistence strategy. This evidence indicates that hunting evolved far earlier than some scholars had envisioned – and profoundly impacted subsequent human evolution." Wong, Kate. "How Hunting Made Us Human." Scientific American, Volume 310, Issue 4. Print. Retrievable here.
  26. ^ a b Turnbull, Colin M. "Just out of the Jungle: Hunting Hypothesis." The New York Times, 23 May, 1976. Print.
  27. ^ Wilson, Edward O. Quoted in "Professional Comments on Robert Ardrey's The Hunting Hypothesis." Available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
  28. ^ Lerner, Max. Quoted in "Professional Comments on Robert Ardrey's The Hunting Hypothesis." Available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
  29. ^ Masters, Roger D. Quoted in "Professional Comments on Robert Ardrey's The Hunting Hypothesis." Available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
  30. ^ Jay, Antony. Quoted in "Professional Comments on Robert Ardrey's The Hunting Hypothesis." Available through Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.


Category:Works by Robert Ardrey

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=User:J579513/sandbox&oldid=689363191"