Misplaced Pages

#454545

43-488: The Betsy-Tacy books are a series of semi-autobiographical novels by American novelist and short-story writer Maud Hart Lovelace (1892-1980), which were originally published between 1940 and 1955 by the Thomas Y. Crowell Co. The books are now published by HarperCollins . The first four books were illustrated by Lois Lenski and the remainder by Vera Neville . The series follows the adventures of heroine Betsy Ray, who

86-652: A Yiddish accent. According to Ferber, her years in Ottumwa "must be held accountable for anything in me that is hostile toward the world". During this time, Ferber's father began to lose his eyesight, necessitating costly and ultimately unsuccessful treatments. At the age of 12, Ferber and her family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin , where she graduated from high school and later briefly attended Lawrence University . After graduation, Ferber planned to study elocution, with vague thoughts of someday becoming an actress, but her family could not afford to send her to college. On

129-466: A toga ". Ferber collaborated with Round Table member George S. Kaufman on several plays presented on Broadway: Minick (1924), The Royal Family (1927), Dinner At Eight (1932), The Land Is Bright (1941), Stage Door (1936), and Bravo! (1948). In a poll carried out by the Saturday Review of Literature , asking American writers which presidential candidate they supported in

172-458: A better Jew and a more understanding human being, as he has of millions of other Jews, this book is dedicated in loathing and contempt. While this was changed by the time of the book's publication, it still alluded to the Nazi threat. She frequently mentions Jewish success in her book, alluding to and wanting to show not just that Jewish success, but Jews being able to use that and prevail. Ferber

215-534: A dry goods store, and her older sister Fannie was born there three years earlier. Ferber's father was not adept at business, and the family moved often during Ferber's childhood. From Kalamazoo, they returned to Chicago for a year, and then moved to Ottumwa, Iowa where they resided from 1890 to 1897 (ages 5 to 12 for Ferber). In Ottumwa, Ferber and her family faced brutal anti-Semitism , including adult males verbally abusing, mocking and spitting on her on days when she brought lunch to her father, often mocking her in

258-589: A pencil. She wrote in her high school's essay contest during her junior and senior years. She was baptized in a Baptist church but joined the Episcopal church as a teenager. She went on to the University of Minnesota but took a leave of absence to go to California to recover at her maternal grandmother's home from an appendectomy. It was while in California that she made her first short story sale – to

301-518: A play ( Minick ) and it was thrice adapted to film, in 1925 as the silent film Welcome Home , in 1932 as The Expert , and in 1939 as No Place to Go . Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan , to a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper, Jacob Charles Ferber, and his Milwaukee, Wisconsin -born wife, Julia (Neumann) Ferber, who was of German Jewish descent. The Ferbers had moved to Kalamazoo from Chicago, Illinois in order to open

344-508: A plot, glorified failure, and had a subtle theme that could easily be overlooked. When she sent the book to her usual publisher, Doubleday , she was surprised to learn that he greatly enjoyed the novel. This was reflected by the several hundreds of thousands of copies of the novel sold to the public. Following the award, the novel was made into a silent film starring Colleen Moore that same year . A remake followed in 1932 , starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent , with Bette Davis in

387-408: A really delightful sensation when you ceased struggling." Ferber did take a maternal interest in the career of her niece Janet Fox , an actress who performed in the original Broadway casts of Ferber's plays Dinner at Eight (1932) and Stage Door (1936). Ferber was known for being outspoken and having a quick wit. On one occasion, she led other Jewish guests in leaving a house party after learning

430-559: A scene where Betsy and the Mullers spend Christmas Eve at the home of Tib's Grosspapa Muller. There was no real-life Grosspapa Muller, Midge Gerlach's paternal grandfather having died before this 1907 visit, and much of the description of Christmas in a wealthy German household was taken from letters written by Kathleen Hart while she was studying in Germany. Another detail, the cast-iron dwarves with which Grosspapa decorated his lawn during

473-409: A supporting role. A 1953 version of So Big starring Jane Wyman is the most popular version to modern audiences. Riding the popularity of So Big , Ferber's next novel, Show Boat , was just as successful. Shortly after its release, composer Jerome Kern proposed turning it into a musical . Ferber was shocked, thinking it would be transformed into a typical light entertainment of the 1920s. It

SECTION 10

#1732791369455

516-651: Is based closely on the author, and her friends and family. The first book, Betsy-Tacy , begins in 1897 on the eve of Betsy's fifth birthday, and the last book, Betsy's Wedding , ends in 1917 as the United States prepares to enter the First World War . The series was inspired by the bedtime stories which Lovelace told to her daughter Merian about her own childhood. The popularity of Betsy-Tacy , published in 1940, led her to write three more books, Betsy-Tacy and Tib (1941), Betsy and Tacy Go Over

559-429: Is based on Lovelace herself; Tacy is based on her childhood best friend, Frances "Bick" Kenney. The first book in the series, Betsy-Tacy , was published in 1940, and the last book, Betsy's Wedding , was published in 1955. The first four books increase in reading difficulty so that the child can grow up along with Betsy-Tacy. The Betsy-Tacy books take place mostly in the fictional town of Deep Valley, Minnesota , which

602-706: Is based on Mankato. They cover the period from the late 1890s, when Betsy is five years old, until World War One, by which time Betsy is newly married and has recently completed a grand tour of Europe. There are also three loosely connected books set in Deep Valley: Winona's Pony Cart , Emily of Deep Valley and Carney's House Party , in which Betsy and Tacy have minor roles. The series has been enduringly popular. The city of Mankato declared Betsy-Tacy Day on October 7, 1961. Lovelace spent her later years in Claremont, California , where she died in 1980. She

645-581: Is buried in the Glenwood Cemetery in Mankato, with a monument dedicated to her. The Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award was established in 1980. Each year, a group of nominees is chosen in two categories: grades 3–5 and grades 6–8. Children who have read at least three books in the relevant category cast a vote for their favorite. Whoever gets the most votes wins the award and $ 100. Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968)

688-399: Is devaluing who she is by pretending to be someone that she is not. The Betsy-Tacy books were well-received, with the first edition of Betsy-Tacy going through more than thirty printings after initial publication. In the 1970s a paperback edition of the first six books in the series was published. However, during the 1980s, the books went out of print. In 1990, a group of adult fans of

731-547: The Harry Potter and Little House books, are written at progressively more difficult reading levels as the characters age and encounter more complex situations. The first books are written for children, while those at the end of the series are written for ages 14 and up. Although the books are fiction, their characters are based closely on Lovelace's own family and friends. Many characters can be matched with individuals, while others are composites drawn from incidents in

774-773: The Los Angeles Times Magazine . She returned to the university and worked for the Minnesota Daily , but did not graduate. While spending a year in Europe in 1914, she met Paolo Conte , an Italian musician (who later inspired the character Marco in Betsy and the Great World ). Hart married the writer Delos Lovelace when she was 25. Delos and Hart met in April 1917 and were married on Thanksgiving Day

817-441: The 1940 election , Ferber endorsed Franklin D. Roosevelt . Ferber's novels generally featured strong female protagonists , along with a rich and diverse collection of supporting characters. She usually highlighted at least one strong secondary character who faced discrimination, ethnic or otherwise. Ferber's works often concerned small subsets of American culture, and sometimes took place in exotic locations she had visited but

860-546: The United Press Association . While Ferber was recovering, she began writing and selling short stories to various magazines, and in 1911 she published her first novel, Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed . In 1912, a collection of her short stories was published in a volume entitled Buttered Side Down . In her autobiography, Ferber wrote: In that day, and for a girl in her early twenties, they were rather hard tough stories... The book got good reviews. I

903-781: The Big Hil l (1942), and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown (1943). Although Lovelace intended to end the series after four books, her husband and daughter, who had found her high-school diaries, insisted that she use them to extend it through Betsy's high school career. This led to Heaven to Betsy (1945), Betsy in Spite of Herself (1946), Betsy was a Junior (1947), and Betsy and Joe (1948), each of which covers one high school year. Lovelace described these books, for which she drew heavily on her diaries and high-school scrapbooks, as particularly true to life. She wrote in 1964 that "the family life, customs, jokes, traditions are all true and

SECTION 20

#1732791369455

946-408: The character ages through the books. The character herself draws attention to her own changes, recalling how homesick she was during her stay with a farm family ( Heaven to Betsy ) when she later enjoys a long visit with a different family ( Betsy and Joe ). Betsy learns from her mistakes throughout the books; each year she makes new mistakes, but not similar ones. There is an emphasis on friendship in

989-572: The character gains a deeper appreciation of the German culture, despite class barriers and militarism that she finds disturbing. Betsy explores being true to herself throughout the high school books. After years of happily writing her stories, Betsy abandons her ambition when it conflicts with her new friendships, only to realize that writing is an essential part of her life ( Heaven to Betsy ). Her experiments with changing her behavior and appearance in Betsy in Spite of Herself lead her to realize that she

1032-594: The characters in its "History Players" interpretive series, with a presentation focusing on her childhood and path to a literary career. Maud Hart Lovelace Maud Palmer Hart was born in Mankato, Minnesota to Tom Hart, a shoe store owner, and his wife, Stella (née Palmer). Maud was the middle child; her sisters were Kathleen (the basis for Julia in the Betsy-Tacy books) and Helen (the basis for Margaret). Maud reportedly started writing as soon as she could hold

1075-518: The film King Kong , which was novelized by Delos. Lovelace's first book was The Black Angels , which was published in 1926 and is a historical novel set in Minnesota. She wrote several more historical novels, including the successful Early Candlelight (1929). Lovelace is best known for her books for children. The Betsy-Tacy series started in 1938 after Lovelace told stories about her childhood to her own daughter, Merian. The character Betsy

1118-537: The first two books of the series to young Annabel Fox ( Hallee Hirsh ), who immediately decides she wants them all. The Betsy-Tacy Society bought and restored the childhood homes of Maud Hart ("Betsy's House") and Bick Kenney ("Tacy's House"), and operates them as a museum. In 2010, the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations designated the site a Literary Landmark . The Minnesota History Center has included Maud Hart Lovelace as one of

1161-477: The general pattern of the years is also accurate." The first eight books are set in the fictional town of Deep Valley, Minnesota, based on Lovelace's childhood home of Mankato . After completing Betsy and Joe Lovelace wrote the first two of her three "Deep Valley Books," Carney's House Party (1949) and Emily of Deep Valley (1950), in which Betsy Ray and other characters from the Betsy-Tacy series appear, before returning to Betsy's story. The final books in

1204-508: The host was antisemitic. Once, after Noël Coward joked about how her suit made her resemble a man, she replied, "So does yours." Starting in 1922, Ferber began to visit Europe once or twice annually for thirteen or fourteen years. During this time and unlike most Americans, she became troubled by the rise of the Nazi Party and its spreading of the antisemitic prejudice she had faced in her childhood. She commented on this saying, "It

1247-449: The lives of several people. The settings reflect extensive research done by Lovelace and, for the first four books, illustrator Lois Lenski, as well as Lovelace's memories. Most of the novels take place in and around the fictional town of Deep Valley, Minnesota , which is based on the author's actual hometown of Mankato, Minnesota . The Ray family and other characters inhabit the houses of their real-life counterparts. Lovelace transformed

1290-1080: The neighborhood of 332 and 333 Center Street, her own childhood home and that of Bick Kenney, into the fictional Hill Street, named after the adjoining Big Hill. As Betsy grows older, her horizons expand to include more of the town. Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown introduces the Carnegie Library and downtown Deep Valley with its shops and Opera House. The high school books bring in the surrounding countryside. Lovelace utilized her own diaries and scrapbooks, contemporary materials such as magazines and catalogs, and correspondence with old friends and other past and present residents of Mankato who provided information to fill out her narratives. "I could make it all up," she wrote, "but in these Betsy-Tacy stories, I love to work from real incidents." Even scenes which are clearly invented share this attention to detail. For example, Betsy in Spite of Herself , in which Betsy visits her friend Tib and her family in Milwaukee, includes

1333-485: The rights needed to be renegotiated regularly. Ferber died at her home in New York City, of stomach cancer , at the age of 82. She left her estate to her sister and nieces. Ferber never married, had no children, and is not known to have engaged in a romance or sexual relationship. In her early novel Dawn O'Hara , the title character's aunt remarks, "Being an old maid was a great deal like death by drowning –

Betsy-Tacy - Misplaced Pages Continue

1376-566: The same year. They lived apart until 1919, however, because of Delos's military service in the First World War . Later, the couple divided their time between Minneapolis and New York (including Yonkers and Mount Vernon ) for several years. After 1928, they lived in New York permanently until their retirement in Claremont, California . They had one daughter, Merian (later Merian Lovelace Kirchner; January 18, 1931—September 25, 1997), named for Delos's friend Merian C. Cooper , who directed

1419-544: The series established the Betsy-Tacy Society in Mankato. The Society undertook a letter-writing campaign that convinced HarperCollins to bring the first four books back into print by 1992. Ultimately new editions of all ten Betsy-Tacy books and the three Deep Valley books were published, and as of 2016 all of the books remain available. The series had a cameo role in the 1998 film You've Got Mail , in which bookstore owner Kathleen Kelly ( Meg Ryan ) describes

1462-581: The series, Betsy and the Great World (1952) and Betsy's Wedding (1955), follow Betsy through a European sojourn and her first years of married life in Minneapolis. They are also based closely on Lovelace's personal experiences. When HarperTrophy reprinted the Betsy-Tacy and Deep Valley series in 2000, they commissioned Michael Koelsch to illustrate new cover artworks for all thirteen books. The Betsy-Tacy books, like other series such as

1505-467: The series. In Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill , the characters discover a neighborhood of Syrian immigrants and make friends with them. In Betsy In Spite of Herself , Betsy's visit to Tib in Milwaukee introduces the culture of German immigrants . Lovelace establishes that many of the immigrants from Germany were fleeing its growing militarism. When Betsy visits Munich ( Betsy and the Great World ),

1548-439: The series. Lovelace shows long-lasting friendships that survive all the various changes the characters experiences as they age. The girls do not quarrel or compete with each other. In the later books, as the characters enter high school, the girls expand their circles of friends without losing their special relationships. Written during World War II and the years following the war, Lovelace adds positive views of other cultures in

1591-540: The spur of the moment, she took a job as a cub reporter at the Appleton Daily Crescent and subsequently moved to the Milwaukee Journal . In early 1909 Ferber suffered a bout of anemia and returned to Appleton to recuperate. She never resumed her career as a reporter, although she subsequently covered the 1920 Republican National Convention and 1920 Democratic National Convention for

1634-428: The summer, may have come from a then-recent source, novelist Edna Ferber 's 1940 memoir A Peculiar Treasure , which states that when Ferber worked as a reporter in Milwaukee during 1906-09, the city's wealthy families decorated their lawns with painted dwarves. Lovelace explores several long-range themes that achieve a cumulative effect in the series. Lovelace shows Betsy's growing independence and responsibility as

1677-447: Was a fearful thing to see a continent – a civilization – crumbling before one's eyes. It was a rapid and seemingly inevitable process to which no one paid any particular attention." Her fears greatly influenced her work, which often featured themes of racial and cultural discrimination. Her 1938 autobiography, A Peculiar Treasure , originally included a spiteful dedication to Adolf Hitler which stated: To Adolf Hitler, who has made me

1720-700: Was a member of the Algonquin Round Table , a group of wits who met for lunch every day at the Algonquin Hotel in New York. Ferber and another member of the Round Table, Alexander Woollcott , were long-time enemies, their antipathy lasting until Woollcott's death in 1943, although Howard Teichmann states in his biography of Woollcott that their feud was due to a misunderstanding. According to Teichmann, Ferber once described Woollcott as "a New Jersey Nero who has mistaken his pinafore for

1763-623: Was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize -winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical ), Cimarron (1930; adapted into the 1931 film which won the Academy Award for Best Picture ), Giant (1952; made into the 1956 film of the same name) and Ice Palace (1958), which also received a film adaptation in 1960. She helped adapt her short story " Old Man Minick ", published in 1922, into

Betsy-Tacy - Misplaced Pages Continue

1806-500: Was not until Kern explained that he and Oscar Hammerstein II wanted to create a different type of musical that Ferber granted him the rights and it premiered on Broadway in 1927, and has been revived 8 times. Her 1952 novel, Giant , became the basis of the 1956 movie , starring Elizabeth Taylor , James Dean and Rock Hudson . Ferber was reportedly the first author to assign film rights to her books on short-term contracts so that

1849-491: Was startled and grimly pleased when some of the reviewers said that obviously these stories had been written by a man who had taken a feminine nom de plume as a hoax. I have always thought that a writing style should be impossible of sex determination; I don't think the reader should be able to say whether a book has been written by a man or a woman. In 1925, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her book So Big . Ferber initially believed her draft of what would become So Big lacked

#454545