The Phantom Tollbooth: Dramaturgical Casebook

Created for WVU’s 2019 production of The Phantom Tollbooth.

History of the book and the play, The Phantom Tollbooth

The Phantom Tollbooth was originally a book written by Norton Juster in 1958 after he received the Ford Foundation grant and was published by Epstein & Carroll in 1961. It was illustrated by Jules Feiffer, who is most noted for illustrating Clifford from 1949-51. In 1975 The Phantom Tollbooth was adapted into a play by Susan Nanus.

NORTON JUSTER, AUTHOR

Norton Juster was born in New York City on June 2, 1929. He studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and was later enlisted in the Navy Civil Engineer Corps in 1954, becoming a Junior Grade Lieutenant. It was during one tour that he began to write and illustrate a children’s book but was reprimanded for it by his commanding officer. He later published the work, The Passing of Irving, even though it never progressed passed what he had written earlier. He had a history of creating satirical fiction while in the Navy as a way to combat boredom, and some of these works include The Naval News Service and The Garibaldi Society. The Naval News Service was a false newspaper, that he created mainly as a way to see women under the pretense of interviews. After being discharged from the Navy, he moved into a Manhattan apartment with noted illustrator Jules Feiffer (Although at that point in time he was still finding work), and the two of them began working on Juster’s most noted book, The Phantom Tollbooth. Even though Juster achieved recognition through his writings, his primary career remained architecture, and he taught at Hampshire College from 1970 until his retirement in 1992. Juster still lives in Massachusetts, where he continues to write. One of his most recent books is The Odious Ogre, which was released in 2010 and illustrated, for the second time, by Jules Feiffer.

JULES FEIFFER, ILLUSTRATOR

Jules Feiffer was born in New York City on January 26, 1929, and he started drawing at the age of 13. At 16, he started working with Will Eisner, a cartoonist that Feiffer admired. Feiffer worked with Eisner until 1956 when he became a staff cartoonist with The Village Voice where he worked until 1997. He primarily made satirical pieces such as Sick Sick Sick and Feiffer’s Fables which later became known simply as Feiffer. By 1959 Feiffer was distributed nationally by the Hall Syndicate. He helped to illustrate The Phantom Tollbooth, a children’s book written by his roommate Norton Juster. While living together, Juster wouldn’t cook food for Feiffer unless he completed the sketches, and a game arose where Feiffer would draw the impossible to draw things that Juster described. One such moment was the Triple Demons of Compromise, where one is short and fat, one is tall and thin, and the third looks exactly like the other two. Feiffer got his revenge on his roommate by drawing Juster as the Whether Man (a flighty character who resides in the land of expectations and can’t commit to any decision) clad in a ridiculous toga. Feiffer said that the two-page spread of the demons of the Land of Ignorance was his greatest success in the book. In 1986 he was given the Pulitzer Prize for his political cartoons. Feiffer expanded his career beyond illustration; he was a professor at both Yale and Northwestern, and he has even written some plays, including The Explainers, Little Murders, and Grown-ups. 

THE BOOK’S RECEPTION

The Phantom Tollbooth was published around the same time as Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach, and The Phantom Tollbooth struggled to make headway with both sales and reviews. At first many critiques were concerned that the book was too advanced for children. Many publishing firms didn’t want to print anything that might dissuade young readers, and the language and vocabulary in The Phantom Tollbooth was quite advanced. They also said that fantasy was bad for children since it disorients them, as stated by Norton Juster in an NPR interview. The general consensus among critiques was that learning should be more accessible and less discouraging, which is the very theme of The Phantom Tollbooth. It was rescued from anonymity by a review from Emily Maxwell in the New Yorker, and she wasn’t the only one to give Jester’s book praise. Ann McGovern from the New York Times, John Crosby from the New York Herald Tribune, and Siriol Hugh-Jones from the Times Literary Supplement all lauded the book as something for both children and adults, with complex yet relatable themes and an overarching message about learning and the mind. The populace loved The Phantom Tollbooth, and it even found its way into both grade school and college classrooms. A 2007 poll in the U.S. National Education Association named it one of “Teacher’s Top 100 Children’s Books” and in 2012, it was ranked number 21 out of 100 all-time children’s novels by the School Library Journal. 

SUSAN NANUS, PLAYWRIGHT

Susan Nanus was born in 1950 in Chicago.  From a young age, she was interested in storytelling and started to write when she was 9. At age 12, she wrote her first play and fell in love with the art form. She attended Northwestern University, and finished her schooling at Yale. (What did she study?) Back in the 70s, Yale would only accept one woman per year into its playwriting program, and in 1971 Nanus was chosen. She attended Yale at the same time as Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver, and one of her professors at Yale was Jules Feiffer himself. When she graduated, Nanus moved to New York City and started work as a writer at the Sterling Lord Agency, which also represented Norton Juster. It was this agency that brought The Phantom Tollbooth to Nanus’ attention and asked her to adapt it into a play. She fell in love with the story and how cleverly it was told, and adapted it into a script in 1975,  at the age of 25. After The Phantom Tollbooth, Nanus tried her hand at writing Broadway productions, but they were not received well. She then shifted her focus to screenplays. She worked in television movies for 12 years and is most known for movies such as Heart of a Child, Harvest of Fire, and If These Walls Could Talk starring Demi Moore. Most recently she has worked as a writer on Recipe for a Perfect Christmas which aired in 2005. In 2013 she retired to California and is currently a Rabbi at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

THE PLAY

The Phantom Tollbooth was first preformed by the Henry Street Settlement House, an off-Broadway company in New York City in 1976. It was attended very well and was considered successful, even though the play garnered no accolades. Nanus says that the fact that the play still endures today and is still being talked about and performed by schools and theatres, is an accolade. While she has been contacted to speak about The Phantom Tollbooth, she herself has not received as much praise for it as she has from her television work. Regardless, Nanus considers The Phantom Tollbooth to be her most successful and beloved play.

Below are the analysis and themes of the play, the question and cast sections, as well as the interview with the playwright. Included you will see designs from both the costume and set designers; you will also find a slang and vocabulary list. 

SYNOPSIS

In WVU’s 2019 production of The Phantom Tollbooth the main charqacter of Milo was genderbent to Mila. Keep that in mind when you see the character referred to as Mila.

The play is about a child named Mila, who has far too much time on her hands and no idea what to do with it. She is described as wanted to be where ever she is not, but not wanting to do anything once she gets there. She finds no interest in any of the toys, books, or activities she has available to him, and generally finds life drab and boring.

One day she discovers an odd package in her room; a tollbooth with a map leading to the Kingdom of Wisdom. She decides to try out this strange new toy, and once through finds herself in that very kingdom, which is suffering a dire case of lacking Rhyme and Reason. Mila must journey through Wisdom (with the help of a very dedicated watch-dog named Tock and the knowledgeable Humbug) to rescue some princesses, meet colorful characters, generally set things right and discover that the world is far from being drab and boring.

ANALYSIS

The Phantom Tollbooth, while ostensibly written for children, is quite deep and complex. As stated above, many critiques at the time thought that it was too much for children, and that they wouldn’t understand the cleverer points or deeper concepts. Here is an excerpt from the book:

• "I'm Alec Bings; I see through things. I can see whatever is inside, behind, around, covered by, or subsequent to anything else. In fact, the only thing I can't see is whatever happens to be right in front of my nose … it is quite important to know what lies behind things, and the family helps me take care of the rest. My father sees to things, my mother looks after things, my brother sees beyond things, my uncle sees the other side of every question, and my little sister Alice sees under things … whatever she can't see under, she overlooks."

  • Alec Bings is a boy living in the Forest of Sight, and he meets Milo* at a scenic outlook where the road comes to a sharp point, called the “Point of View”. Alec and his entire family are born floating in the air, with their heads being at the height that they will be when the are fully grown. They grow down from the ground, so that how the see the work never changes.

• "You certainly must be very old to have reached the ground already." … "Oh no," said Milo* seriously. "In my family we all start on the ground and grow up, and we never know how far until we actually get there.” …  "What a silly system." The boy laughed. "Then your head keeps changing its height and you always see things in a different way? Why, when you're fifteen things won't look at all the way they did when you were ten, and at twenty everything will change again." … "I suppose so," replied Milo*, for he had never really thought about the matter.

• This is quite a clever play on words, taking concepts we know “Point of view, overlooking something, growing up” and using them in a very literal sense. Both the book and the play are full of moments like these. This is why many critiques said that the themes in Phantom Tollbooth were too advanced for children. We will discuss these themes now. 

• Learning:

  • Mila finds learning to be boring and useless, and so do some of the characters in The Phantom Tollbooth. Yet the desire to learn and what you can learn is a pivotal theme of the play. Mila is confused by everyone and everything in the Kingdom of Knowledge because she hasn’t learned any of the things they represent. The concepts in the kingdom are technically correct, but lack logic. Mila doesn’t understand their technicalities, but she does grasp the logic of what they’re saying, or lack thereof. She strives to understand the fundamentals, while restoring logic to those who have lost it. While she continues through her journey, she doesn’t just learn things, she also finds the joy in learning.

• Time:

  • Time is quite a literally concept in the Kingdom of Knowledge. Tock the Watchdog becomes enraged when he learns that Mila is just “killing time”. In a broader context, Mila never knows what to do with her time, and the message attached to the Tollbooth says, “For Mila, who has plenty of time”. And the entirety of Mila’s adventure takes place within an hour, and the narrating Clock starts and ends the play by discussing time. The play focusses on how people used their time, and what worthwhile things they do with their time. Keep in mind how the concept of time is made literal when you watch the play, and how Mila perceives and is affected by time.

• Knowledge:

  • The Kingdom of Knowledge that Mila traverses is analogous to the mind itself, with expectations and ignorance and daydreams all made literal. Mila’s journey through Knowledge is really that, a journey through her own knowledge. She discovers the intricacies of her mind and what comprises it, and how mistreating and mishandling knowledge can lead to downfall. Try to be cognizant of moments in the play where the literal characters stand for figurative perils of the mind.

• Imagination:

  • The entirety of the story could be thought of as the dreams of a little girl, who brings her subconscious to life inside her imagination. And there are many parts of The Phantom Tollbooth that defies logical physics. The rules of the world in which the Kingdom of Knowledge resides seem very whimsical and childish, with things appearing and acting as a child might believe they would. Keep on the lookout for fantastical things that would only be possible through imagination and in dreams.  

Interviews

Susan Nanus: Playwright

• How old were you when you adapted The Phantom Tollbooth?

  • I adapted it when I was 25, right out of college.

• Tell me about your early life.

  • Well let me just say that I’m 70 now. I was born in Chicago. I went to school at Northwestern, Illinois, and finally Yale. Yale only accepted one woman per year to its playwriting program, and I was accepted in 1971.

• What did you do after school?

  • I moved to New York City. I had just graduated from Yale’s playwriting course so I wanted to write for Broadway.

• Where did you first work?

  • The Sterling Lord Agency. They’re the one that asked me to adapt The Phantom Tollbooth because they also represented Norton Juster.

• How did The Phantom Tollbooth turn out? Was it well received?

  • It was done by the Henry Street Settlement House, which is off Broadway. It did well, no one you would know was in it. It was attended pretty well; the audience was full of families. Mainly kids attended.

• What else have you done in the theatre world?

  • I tried writing some stuff for Broadway. I was thirty one when my next play went up. It bombed. I decided to get out of playwriting and go into screen plays. I received a lot of accolades while there.

• How long did you work in film?

  • I wrote for television movies for 12 years, and I wrote for shows up until 2013.

• What made you want to be a writer?

  • I started to write when I was 9, and when I was 12 I made my first short story. Writing stories was always interesting, because I could make other people see what was in my head.

• Do you prefer playwriting to screenplays?

  • Playwriting. You can really see how the audience reacts to what you’ve done. They’re right there; it’s instant feedback.

• Had you read The Phantom Tollbooth before you did the play?

  • No. I read it when the Agency gave it to me. They asked if I would want to adapt it and had me read it. I loved it, said yes, and then adapted it.

• How did you feel about the illustrations in the book? Did they inspire you?

  • The illustrations were irrelevant. They were too comic-sketchy for me. I actually had Jules Feiffer as a teacher in Yale, so that was pretty ironic. I was also in Yale at the same time as Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, and Wendy Washerstein.

• Have you received any accolades for your work on The Phantom Tollbooth?

  • No. None of my work playwriting ever received the same notoriety as my screen plays or television films. I’ve had schools reach out to me asking me to speak about The Phantom Tollbooth and that is enough for me. The fact that the play is still being put on is an accolade in and of itself.

QUESTIONS

While you watch The Phantom Tollbooth, keep the themes of this work in mind. After you watch it, answer these questions to deepen your understanding of the play and to prepare yourself for class. Attached you will find a list of difficult words or non-American slang that has been defined for your convenience. 

• Why do you think Mila find life to be so boring? Reflect on the fact that the Phantom Tollbooth needed to help her.

• List some examples of figures of speck or states of imagination being taken literally. Avoid using examples that have already been used in this study guide.

• We all know that “Rhyme and Reason” is a phrase use to denote something that is orderly and makes sense, but in the play, they are two physical people that keep peace between their brothers. Why do you think that Azaz and the Mathmagician fight so much? What figurative thing could they represent?

• Many demons try to hinder Mila on her journey, and their names describe what they are and how they are bad. But are these demons that have plagued Mila in her life? Why or why not? Do these demons plague you in your life? Why or why not?

• Was any of this real, or did Mila dream it up? Why or why not?

• Do you think Mila learned something from her journey? If so, what? And is this message something that you can learn and utilize in your daily life?