Walter Mitty

Walter Mitty is a fictional character in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939, and in book form in My World and Welcome to It in 1942. Thurber loosely based the character on his friend, Walter Mithoff. It was made into a film in 1947, with a remake directed by and starring Ben Stiller released in 2013.

Mitty is a meek, mild man with a vivid fantasy life: in a few dozen paragraphs he imagines himself a wartime pilot, an emergency-room surgeon, and a devil-may-care killer. The character's name has come into more general use to refer to an ineffectual dreamer and appears in several dictionaries.The American Heritage Dictionary defines a Walter Mitty as "an ordinary, often ineffectual person who indulges in fantastic daydreams of personal triumphs". The most famous of Thurber's inept male protagonists, the character is considered "the archetype for dreamy, hapless, Thurber Man".

Although the story has humorous elements, there is a darker and more significant message underlying the text, leading to a more tragic interpretation of the Mitty character. Even in his heroic daydreams, Mitty does not triumph, several fantasies being interrupted before the final one sees Mitty dying bravely in front of a firing squad. In the brief snatches of reality that punctuate Mitty's fantasies the audience meets well-meaning but insensitive strangers who inadvertently rob Mitty of some of his remaining dignity.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (disambiguation)

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is a 1939 short story by James Thurber. It may also refer to:

Secret Life

Secret Life, The Secret Life or The Secret Life of... may refer to:

Music

Television

Literature

The Secret Life of... (TV series)

The Secret Life of... is a television show on the Food Network hosted by Jim O'Connor.

The ellipsis in the title refers to the food item or style of food which is featured during the 30 minute program. Included in the lineup are: cookies, steak, comfort foods, coffee, tailgating and popcorn. The show combines history segments with recipe segments. The history segments highlight key events in a food's history, usually including where it originated. In the recipe segments, George travels to different parts of America to become an "assistant" in the kitchen of a store or restaurant which specializes in the item featured in the episode.

Actor Jim O'Connor hosted the show for the first several years of its existence.

During the O'Connor era, the show ended with the "Jim O'Connor Road Show" where Jim highlighted locations and festivals which celebrate food in unique ways.

As of April 23, 2007 (April 2 was the date announced in aired promos), George Duran took over hosting duties.

The Secret Life Of... (album)

The Secret Life of... is the debut studio album by Australian pop rock band The Veronicas, released on 17 October 2005 on Sire Records. A special limited edition DVD was released with the US version. This edition included two extra songs and videos, and was only available online. It reached #2 in Australia and is certified 4x platinum. The album spent over a year in the ARIA Albums Chart, without leaving the top 40. The album also reached #5 in New Zealand and #3 in the Billboard Top Heatseekers. The Secret Life of... has sold around 50,000 copies in the USA. In early 2007, the album was released worldwide to countries in Asia and in the UK. Positive reception of singles has already been successful in parts of Europe and Asia.

The first single to be released off the album, "4ever", received much radio play in Australia and America. It reached #2 on the ARIA Singles Chart, also reaching #20 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart and #90 on the U.S. Billboard Pop 100. The song "Secret" is featured on Dance! Online, a multiplayer online casual rhythm game.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

"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, ISBN 1-883011-22-1), is available on-line on the New Yorker website, and is one of the most frequently anthologized short stories in American literature. The story is considered one of Thurber's "acknowledged masterpieces". It was made into a 1947 movie of the same name, with Danny Kaye in the title role, though the movie 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.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947 film)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a 1947 Technicolor comedy film, loosely based on the short story of the same name by James Thurber. The film stars Danny Kaye as a young daydreaming proof reader (later associate editor) for a magazine publishing firm and Virginia Mayo as the girl of his dreams. The film was adapted for the screen by Ken Englund, Everett Freeman, and Philip Rapp, and directed by Norman Z. McLeod.

Plot

Walter Mitty (Kaye) is an "inconsequential guy from Perth Amboy, New Jersey", henpecked and harassed by everyone in his life including his bossy mother, his overbearing, idea-stealing boss Bruce Pierce, his childishly dimwitted fiancée Gertrude Griswold, and Gertrude's obnoxious would-be suitor Tubby Wadsworth and loud-mouthed mother, Mrs. Griswold.

His escape from their incessant needling is to imagine all sorts of exciting and impossible lives for himself, fueled perhaps by the pulp magazines he reads every day as an editor at the Pierce Publishing Company. But his dreams only seem to land him in more trouble. In one scene, while stoking the heating boiler, he dreams what it would be like to be an RAF fighter pilot. He is awakened from this daydream by his mother, who orders him to come to dinner. Believing he is still a British fighter pilot, he salutes, and places a red-hot poker under his arm—only to burn a hole in his suit jacket.