Audio: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Listen to an audio version of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” James Thurber’s classic short story, read aloud by Mattie Overall.
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber’s stories, it first appeared in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book My World and Welcome to It (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1942). It has since been reprinted in James Thurber: Writings and Drawings (The Library of America, 1996), is available on-line on the New Yorker website, and is one of the most anthologized short stories in American literature. It was made into a 1947 film of the same name, with Danny Kaye in the title role, though the film is very different from the original story. It was also adapted into a 2013 film, which is again very different from the original.
The name Walter Mitty and the derivative word “Mittyesque” have entered the English language, denoting an ineffectual person who spends more time in heroic daydreams than paying attention to the real world, or more seriously, one who intentionally attempts to mislead or convince others that he is something that he is not.
1947 film
The story was made into a 1947 film starring Danny Kaye as a young daydreaming editor of pulp magazines. The film was adapted for the screen by Ken Englund, Everett Freeman, and Philip Rapp, and directed by Norman Z. McLeod. It was filmed in Technicolor.
Thurber was repeatedly consulted about the film’s script, but his suggestions were largely ignored by producer Samuel Goldwyn, who had the writers alter the original story to showcase Kaye’s talents. In a letter to Life magazine, Thurber expressed his considerable dissatisfaction with the script, even as Goldwyn insisted in another letter that Thurber approved of it.
A 1947 radio adaptation of the film, with Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo reprising their roles, was more like the original story. Even closer to the original story is a 1944 radio adaptation from This Is My Best, with Robert Benchley as the daydreaming Mitty.
2013 film
20th Century Fox produced and Ben Stiller directed another film adaptation in 2013, which also differs widely from the book. Stiller stars as Mitty, with Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, Patton Oswalt, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, and Sean Penn also appearing in the film. The film was released on December 25, 2013 in the US and in other countries and had a production budget of $90 million.
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The original story is not yet in the public domain, but the text can be read on The New Yorker magazine’s website.
Read more short stories on the Excellence in Literature website.
