Billy S First Flight

Billy's First Flight

Adapting "Billy Bishop Goes to War" for Germany

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 3,0, RWTH Aachen University (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Recent Canadian Drama, language: English, abstract: I. Introduction - A Canadian play for a German audience While talking about the play "Billy Bishop goes to war" by John Gray and Eric Peterson that was written in 1976, different points of view play a decisive role. The play deals with a Canadian boy who joins the military because of a lack of possibilities. The action begins in Canada in 1914. That means it is the time of World War I and Canadian forces fight as a part of the Empire against the enemy, namely Germany. The play describes Billy Bishop's rise from a Canadian boy to a national hero as a fighter ace. Consequently there are different attitudes towards the play, for instance if you are an opponent of war or an advocate of it. Furthermore there is the question of age: if you have fought in a war and have seen how friends die or if you are a young man who is full of bravery, strength and patriotism, you have a different attitude towards such a play. But above all there is the question of nationality. As the play is of Canadian origin and originally played for Canadians, the question is meaningless. But on the one hand the fact that the play received great honor and was performed on Broadway and on the other hand the existence of a German film version opens a completely new kind of adapting the play for Germany. In the film version there are German actors that play Billy and the piano player and the text is German, too. What these facts mean and how film and play are adapted for Germany is analyzed in the following term paper. Concerning that there is not any kind of secondary literature about this topic that can be accessed by a German Library, the analysis is based upon my own results of analyzing play and film as well as studying the preface of the drama. The version

The Courage of the Early Morning

A high-flying, action-packed tale for readers of all ages about the adventurous life of a Canadian icon. William Avery Bishop survived more than 170 air battles during World War I and was given official credit for shooting down seventy-two German aircraft. Experts on aerial warfare acknowledge that his relentless air fighting techniques and skills as a brilliant individualist and marksman were unique and his record unsurpassed. He was the first man in British military history to receive the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, and the Military Cross in one ceremony. This remarkably objective biography, written by Bishop’s son, is a warm-hearted, entertaining, and often surprisingly outspoken account of the escapades and heroics of a man of great courage. Eddie Rickenbacker one said, "Richthofen usually waited for enemies to fly into his territory; Bishop was the raider, always seeking the enemy wherever he could be found ... I think he’s the only man I ever met who was incapable of fear." Throughout his life Billy Bishop was something of an eccentric – a man of ebullient high spirits and feverish enthusiasm. As a boy in Owen Sound, Ontario, though, he had no aptitude for learning. His three years at the Royal Military College were disastrous – an epic of rules broken and discipline scorned. He often admitted that his special method of landing wrecked more planes than he shot down. In the days when fliers could rightly think themselves heroes for just having the courage to go up in the rickety plans, Billy Bishop won the respect of comrades and enemies alike. He was one of the new breed of warriors who met the deadly challenge of air combat and made the airplane a decisive military weapon.