Ernest Hemingway thought Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit was trash. However, Americans still readjusting to World War Two and its aftermath thought made it a best-seller. Within a year of publication, Nunnally Johnson directed a faithful film adaptation.
The man’s image in the gray flannel suit is so strong that it has outlived the novel, becoming a symbol of mid-twentieth Century America, a rising generation of white, well-educated men striving for wealth and power. On the verge of success, Rath has to face his wife, Betsy, with the knowledge of his affair with Maria.
The first time we meet Tom Rath, he’s a Captain in the U.S. during the Italian campaign of 1944. He’s ready for a romantic picnic to have an affair with a young Italian woman Maria. It’s a tender episode, without steamy sex, suitable for 1950s mainstream fiction.
On a cold rainy afternoon, Rath and Maria wander into a deserted, ruined villa on the outskirts of Rome. Settling in the ruined library, Rath lights a fire. They spread a ruined tapestry on the stone floor and unpack the picnic basket full of sandwiches, a cold roast chicken, and a wine bottle. Despite their adaptability, the ruined villa is a metaphor for their uncertain future together. Rath will move on, and Maria will be left pregnant, though Rath will not know this until years later.
The picnic is magical. But Rath is so enthralled and tentative that Maria must remind him they ought to make love. Taking the lead, she “unbuttoned her jacket and opened her blouse. Partly exposing her breasts and the deep valley between them.” On a wave of passion, Rath cries, “Oh, God. I love you.”
Featured Image: Nunnally Johnson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (19956) For more discussion of Johnson’s, see PicnicsonFilm.org
See Sloan Wilson. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955; Nunnally Johnson. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956). Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson is based on Sloan Wilson’s novel The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.; Ernest Hemingway. November 14, 1955, in Selected Letter 1917-1961. Edited by Carlos Baker. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1981. The sequel, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit II (1984), does not have a picnic.