"Give 'Em Hell Harry" - Spotz! on the Artist Series

 July 15th, 16th, and 17th 2021

Spotz! On The Artist Series: "Give 'Em Hell Harry"

Clifton Truman Daniel was five years old when he learned the truth. His first-grade teacher announced to the class that he was the grandson of President Harry S Truman.

The surprised youngster ran home and asked his mother, “Mom, did you know that Grandpa Truman was president?”

Her response was, “Any little boy’s grandpa can be president. Don’t let it go to your head.”

You’ll learn a lot about Daniel’s famous relative in the one-person show, “Give ’Em Hell, Harry!,”.

You won’t hear that anecdote, though, because the biographical play was written by playwright Samuel Gallu. It became a 1975 film which earned star James Whitmore an Academy Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. It traces Truman’s life from his childhood through his two terms as President of the United States.

Daniel had taken early retirement from his career as director of public relations for Truman College when he was trying to figure out “what I was going to do with the rest of my life,” he recalled.

A friend suggested he come to Boca Raton, Florida, and give a few speeches about Truman.

“That began a whole speaking career,” said Daniel, who noted, “People were telling me I looked like my grandfather.”

Remembering having seen the Gallu film while on a flight, Daniel decided to perform the show.

He first performed an eight-show run in October of 2017 in Wilmington, North Carolina. “It was successful and that led to an agent and beginning to be booked around the country,” Daniel said.

Daniel stressed that the show is “accurate in spirit but the playwright didn’t have access to the materials we do today, so there are inaccuracies.”

The bottom line is that it’s a play. After each performance, Daniel answers questions from the audience for 15 or 20 minutes to clarify those inaccuracies.

Daniel onced shared his earliest memory of his grandfather. His grandparents were visiting New York, where Daniel grew up.

Four-year-old Daniel and his 2-year-old brother Will awoke early one morning and walked past their grandfather who was reading a newspaper.

“He didn’t see us at first because he was behind the newspaper,” Daniel related. “We went to walk into the den to watch cartoons.

He caught us and said, ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ We said, ‘To watch “Bugs Bunny.”’ He said, ‘You don’t want to do that.’ He went into the den and took a book off the top shelf. He said, ‘Sit down, we’re going to read.’”

And that’s what the former President was doing with his grandsons, each sitting quietly on one arm of his chair, when Daniel’s mother came downstairs and saw this unique sight.

She asked what Truman was reading to her boys. It was “The History of the Peloponnesian War.” “I tried reading it 20 years ago. I got a few pages into it and closed the book,” Daniel admitted. “It’s difficult reading.”

Daniel, who was 15 when his grandfather died, has written two books about Truman, “Growing Up With My Grandfather: Memories of Harry S Truman,” and “Dear Harry, Love Bess: Bess Truman’s Letters to Harry Truman, 1919-1943.”

The veteran actor also portrayed his grandfather in the independent film “Second Samuel.”

Asked to describe his grandfather in one sentence, Daniel replied, “He took this quote to Washington with him.

I think it’s from Mark Twain: ‘Always do right. You’ll gratify a few people and astound everybody else.’”

‘Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!’

**Dinner is NOT served with the “Spotz! On the Artist” series productions.

**You are welcome, as always, to bring your own Broadway libations (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) to make your show come to life!!

Tickets may be purchased online:

www.ccpjc.org

Or

https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=ccpjc

Or by calling or texting our Jeffeson Bank CCP Box Office at:

(573) 681-9612

Or emailing

info@ccpjc.org

Tickets will not last long for this Premiere CCP production!!

**NOW with all our performances, there ARE paper-tickets issued. Upon arrival at the theatre, your tickets will be scanned in before entering the Central Trust Bank Auditorium! Tables & Seats are now assigned by the patron at the time of purchase!

See you at the show!

Capital City Productions.......putting the community back into community theatre one special Spotz! at a time.