‘GIVE ’EM HELL, HARRY’ RETURNS TO TRUMAN LITTLE WHITE HOUSE

ACTOR CLIFTON TRUMAN DANIEL STARS AS HIS PRESIDENTIAL GRANDFATHER

The stage production “Give ’Em Hell, Harry!” returns to Key West for shows on Sunday, Feb. 19 and Monday, Feb. 20. “Give ’Em Hell, Harry!” was written by Samuel Gallu and made its debut in 1975 at Washington, D.C.’s Ford’s Theatre.

The one-man show celebrates the persona and presidency of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd U.S. president. Performed in Key West for the first time in 2022, the event takes place on the grounds of the Harry S. Truman Little White House, where Truman spent 11 working vacations from 1945-53.

The actor portraying him is his grandson, Clifton Truman Daniel, a professional actor with more than a dozen stage and TV credits, who has starred in the production since 2017.

We sat down with him to learn more.

How does it feel to perform the role of your grandfather on the grounds where he once walked at the Truman Little White House? It’s great to be able to step into his shoes — to dress as him and do the show in the place where he spent 175 days during his presidency. There’s a deep appreciation of that and of connection to family, but also, performing it here was the most fun I’ve had doing the show since I began. It’s Key West; it’s outside on the grounds of the Little White House. People are in a good mood, the bar is open, planes are flying overhead, and chickens are walking back and forth in front of the stage.

Had you ever performed a one-manshow before “Give ’Em Hell, Harry!”? Any thoughts to share on what it’s like to carry a one-man-show? I had never done a one-man show before and it was unbelievably intimidating. I worried obsessively about his accent, his mannerisms. I was terrified — 83 pages of dialogue and it’s just you. And there’s nobody else on stage to prompt you.

Any fun or fascinating anecdotes about performing “Give ’Em Hell, Harry!” in Key West? The environment lends itself to spontaneity and surprises. When a rooster strutted in front of the stage last year, I greeted it. A few minutes later, a hen showed up and I told her, “He went that-a-way.” Then there’s a scene where my grandfather converses with the ghostly apparition of Franklin D. Roosevelt, portrayed by the emissions of a smoke machine. During a stage and equipment check ahead of the first show last year, the smoke machine worked great, and swirled around FDR’s chair exactly as intended. But that evening, it wouldn’t start, wouldn’t start, and when it finally did, instead of swirling mistily in ghostly fashion, the wind blew scattered wisps of his apparition all over the stage.

Any fun or fascinating facts about Harry S. Truman to share? Grandpa was an accomplished classical pianist. He loved to swim when he was in Key West, which he couldn’t do much of in Missouri, and the Truman Annex Beach was built so he could swim there. His middle initial “S,” rather than represent the first letter of one name, for the sake of diplomacy could either stand for Shipp, his paternal grandfather, whose name was Anderson Shipp Truman, or for his mother’s father, whose name was Solomon Young.

Special memories of him? Grandpa couldn’t see without his glasses and always swam sidestroke to keep his glasses out of the water. My brother and I learned firsthand as young children that you should not cannonball grandpa when he was swimming. When I was only 4 or 5 years old, I got it in my head that I wanted a marching band uniform for Christmas. My father called grandpa, who somehow found and acquired, not a band uniform, but a child-sized Marine master sergeant dress uniform.

“Give ’Em Hell, Harry!” is part of the 2023 “Presidential Families Weekend and Forum,” which features a Saturday, Feb. 18 moderated discussion among a panel of presidential descendants on the topic of “Working Across the Aisle: American Bipartisanship,” to be held on the grounds of the Harry S. Truman Little White House, 111 Front St. Key West. Other Presidential Weekend offerings include guided tours of the Historic Little White House, selfguided botanical lawn tours, a family-friendly Presidents’ Day cookout, and for foundation members, ancillary cocktail parties with presidential descendants. More information is at www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.org/foundation/ events.

— Contributed