My Spidey-sense was tickled by a reference to the 1970 movie “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever” because of a vague memory that it had something to do with reincarnation. As it turns out, it deals with a hypnotic regression session that unexpectedly reveals a past life. That this would happen to hypnotherapist Dr. Brian Weiss a decade later makes it even more interesting. (Time Loops, anyone?) Digging deeper, I discovered that the movie is based on a 1965 Broadway musical of the same name. A musical from 1965 dealing with ESP, hypnotherapy, reincarnation and an immersion in a past life from the 18th century? Ethical standards of the 1960’s being less evolved, the male psychiatrist falls in love, not with the patient, but with her past life personality. Drama, hilarity and a show stopper of a song ensues.
It gets better: the 1965 play was loosely based on a 3-act play, Berkeley Square, from 1926 (!) that explores time travel and the romantic complications that it provokes, which in turn inspired a 1933 movie of the same name. The loops continue backwards as the play was based on an unfinished novel by Henry James that was published as “The Sense of the Past” in 1917, a year after James’ death. Let’s start there and see how the story evolves.
James’ book deals with a man who “feels himself going back in time as he crosses the threshold” of an 18th century house, and meets his remote ancestor of the same name when viewing his portrait. On a later visit to the house, he is transported to the early 19th century where romantic complications occur. The book was unfinished but notes indicated the plot’s progression.
Berkeley Square, the 1933 movie, was based on a 1926 play that ran in both London and on Broadway. The movie depicts an American man who inherits a house in London and becomes “increasingly obsessed with his ancestor’s diary, causing his fiancee…great concern.” The time travel element is introduced as the man, Peter Standish, is convinced he will be transported back to his ancestor of the same name, and “all he needs to do is follow his ancestor’s diary, since he already knows what will happen, from reading it.” He is transported back to 1784, and tries to follow the diary and his ancestor’s marriage to his fiancee, Nan, but struggles when he falls in love with her sister, Helen. Peter becomes a “man out of time” as he juggles life in the 18th century with his knowledge of life in the 20th, and returns to his modern life. But he is changed by his experiences and the feelings he had for his 18th century lover, so he breaks off his engagement. The movie ends with Peter visiting Helen’s grave, where he discovers that she died young but left an epitaph on her tombstone expressing her conviction that they will be together, “not in my time, nor in yours, but in God’s.” So we have time travel, reincarnation, and the protagonist falling in love with someone other than who he was supposed to marry, according to his ancestor’s diary.
Some elements made it into the 1965 stage musical, “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.” I assume “forever” is referring to Time and not Distance. Now the story begins with a woman, Daisy, who has ESP, an enhanced ability to make plants grow, and a smoking habit. She seeks help from a psychiatrist, Mark, for hypnosis. Under hypnosis, “she describes living in a previous life in late 18th century England as ‘Melinda.’” Melinda’s romantic complications stem from her marriage to Edward, an unfaithful painter. (The Broadway musical features a different actress portraying Melinda.) In further sessions, Mark falls in love with Melinda but doesn’t reveal to Daisy what he uncovered. He does consult his colleagues who dismiss him, and in Act 2, a rich guy enters the picture offering to finance a study of Daisy’s case, and get this, “in exchange for Mark’s help in discovering who he will be in his next life, which will allow him to leave his fortune to his future self.” (This is not something I have considered for my TimeLine Journeying process, but I will take it under advisement.) Daisy, who was dealing with low self esteem at the outset, discovers what is happening and that Mark prefers Melinda to herself, and tells Mark that she is “through being a go-between for you and your dream girl.” She leaves and is about to board a plane to return home when “her ESP powers warn her that the plane on which she plans to travel will crash. She realizes at last how special she is…leaves her starchy fiancee and she and Mark unite to explore their extraordinary future.” Whew… Reincarnation, ESP, hypnotic regression, a tumultuous romance in a past life, a “starchy” fiancee in a current life, romantic complications, and a happy ending, plus 15 songs! (An interesting followup would explore their relationship after the musical ends.)
Now we get to the 1970 movie version: Barbra Streisand plays Daisy, and her performance of the title song, though it wasn’t a hit for her at the time, has become a beloved standard*. The film version Daisy is also a clairvoyant (and extremely hypnotizable) chain smoker seeking help from a psychiatrist, Marc, for hypnotherapy, which reveals her past life as Lady Melinda, “a seductive 19th century coquette.” Marc doesn’t inform his client as he falls for Daisy’s former self, while Daisy falls for Marc; again, it was 1970, and boundaries in Broadway musicals are crossed when true love is involved. (Streisand plays and sings both Daisy and Melinda in the film.) Daisy discovers Marc’s true feelings for her Other self, and leaves. According to Wikipedia, “When she returns for a final meeting with him, she mentions fourteen additional lives, including her forthcoming birth as Laura and subsequent marriage to the therapist in the year 2038.” (I assume, since this is 69 years in the future, this occurs in a future incarnation.) Got all that? ESP, hypnotic regression, a tumultuous past life uncovered, romantic complications, with the addition of future lives where true love is found.
Quite the journey from an unfinished 1917 story to a 1930’s film dealing with time travel, to a 1960’s Broadway musical referencing hypnotic regression and a financial incentive to explore future lives; not what I was expecting when I heard a reference to the film version of “On a Clear Day” in a podcast.
In a scene from the film, the psychiatrist, Marc, has jeopardized his job by researching reincarnation with Daisy but instead of being fired, the university president informs him that a rich donor, a Mr. Stratton, is willing to fund his research. Why?
It occurred to him that if it’s possible to identify one’s previous incarnations, it might be also possible to determine one’s future ones, in which case Mr. Stratton could leave his money to himself.
When asked if he is okay with this direction, the president replies:
No, I think reincarnation is appalling. It kills ambition, perpetuates human misery, and propagates false hopes. And it’s obviously a pack of lies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-9ONjJSTNQ&t=3s
This scene might be a built-in “disclaimer” that the subject they were dealing with is “a pack of lies,” undercutting how ahead of its time it could have been. That the original musical was on Broadway in the mid-1960’s sheds new light on mainstream awareness of hypnotic regression in that time period, and also makes Diane and William Swygard’s non-hypnotic past life explorations even more radical. I welcome any opportunity to marinate in popular culture’s awareness of past lives, with the bonus inclusion of the possibilities and complications inherent in time travel; it was a complete surprise to encounter Future Lives on that menu.
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz5DLO8fclA
Quotations from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_a_Clear_Day_You_Can_See_Forever_(film), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_a_Clear_Day_You_Can_See_Forever, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Square_(play), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Square_(1933_film)