Posted on 01/07/2025 4:43:37 PM PST by simpson96
Betty Smith's “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” was an immediate best-seller when it was published in 1943, and proved particularly popular with servicemen. Many readers addressed their fan letters not to the author, Betty Smith, but to her main character, Francie Nolan, a dirt-poor tenement child with big dreams.
The film version was Elia Kazan's debut as a director. Peggy Ann Garner received the Academy Juvenile Award for her performance as Francie Nolan, and James Dunn received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Francie's father.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945 - Dorothy McGuire, James Dunn, Peggy Ann Garner) [high quality video]
A sad flick as I remember. Married to a drunk she gets pregnant again. A good cop steps up and offers to take his place. That’s all I remember.
Oh, and a top notch cast, all the way around. Dorthy McGuire has always been a favorite since I first saw Old Yeller. Joan Blondell is always a great, but is she acting or is that really her? She must have been born on the Warner Brothers lot. And James Dunn. Can't tell if he's acting or just being himself, a gentle lost soul.
“Dirt poor tenement”? How much dirt do they have in Brooklyn?
later
Loved the movie because I watched it with my Grandma. Just her and me. On her little black and white TV, with commercials. I was 12.
“A tree grows in Brooklyn” was an excellent movie and an even better book.
Betty Smith moved from Brooklyn to here in Chapel Hill, NC, where she wrote the book. A close friend of mine who taught at UNC, Valerie Yow wrote the comprehensive biography of Betty Smith after reading all the letters Betty received from WWII soldiers in Europe who read “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” during the war.
All Betty Smith’s personal papers are archived at UNC.
Interesting. Thanks for posting that.
One of my favorite movies!
Per the Amazon book description:
Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn captured the imagination of readers in 1943. Now, over sixty years since its publication, thousands of readers of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn still enter its world and identify with Francie Nolan, growing up in a tenement in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Betty Smith admitted that Francie was herself and that her mother, father, grandparents, aunts, and uncles were the inspiration for the book’s characters. Here, in the first published biography of Betty Smith, their real-life stories are told. The heroes in Smith’s novels, all working-class women-Francie in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the office worker Margy in Tomorrow Will Be Better, the housewife Maggie in Maggie-Now, the aspiring writer Annie in Joy in the Morning-become self-directed and confident.
These novels present an insider’s view of a blue collar world, of complex characters and psychological dynamics. Smith’s vision in her fiction was an unusual combination of no-holds-barred realism and hope. Betty Smith: Life of the Author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, carefully researched and precisely documented, is written in a warm, conversational voice.
This tale of three cities-Brooklyn, Ann Arbor, and Chapel Hill-is wise, funny, and at times sad, a life of a writer but also of a daughter, lover, mother, and grandmother.
AUTHOR Valerie Raleigh Yow, a former history professor, is a psychologist and playwright who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
******************
Sad to say, Valerie died this past year. She and my wife attended playwriting conferences and workshops together and were friends for many years. She was a frequent guest at our home.
Eli Kazan was hated by the Hollywood Left. I’ve seen most of his movies because of that. This is one I had not heard about.
Break your heart moment when Francie receives a bouquet of flowers honoring her graduation from HS from her Dad who had passed away. Her aunt arranged it but the Dad requested it. Loved the book.
That book gave me the first glimpse of what would happen to me after my children grew up. I read the book, I was there all through Frances’ life, and then suddenly she was an adult, and I didn’t know when it happened. The very same thing I felt with my children. I was 14 when I read the book, and even with all the wonderful reviews, I’m scared to watch the movie because I’m afraid it might not do it justice.
My experience has been that “the movie version” is almost always a letdown compared to the book. But this film was VERY well done, and I doubt you’ll regret viewing it.
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