Betty Bard MacDonald (1907?1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children's books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year. The public was drawn to MacDonald's vivacity, her offbeat humor, and her irreverent take on life. In 1947, the book was made into a movie starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, and spawned a series of films featuring MacDonald's Ma and Pa Kettle characters.
MacDonald followed up the success of The Egg and I with the creation of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, a magical woman who cures children of their bad habits, and with three additional memoirs: The Plague and I (chronicling her time in a tuberculosis sanitarium just outside Seattle), Anybody Can Do Anything (recounting her madcap attempts to find work during the Great Depression), and Onions in the Stew (about her life raising two teenage daughters on Vashon Island).
Author Paula Becker was granted full access to Betty MacDonald's archives, including materials never before seen by any researcher. Looking for Betty MacDonald, a biography of this endearing Northwest storyteller, reveals the story behind the memoirs and the difference between the real Betty MacDonald and her literary persona.
Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lr6iVK4zWk
Autorentext
Paula Becker is a staff historian at HistoryLink.org. She is the coauthor of The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World's Fair and Its Legacy and Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Washington's First World Fair.
Inhalt
Prologue | The House and I
1. The Richest Hill on Earth
2. Fate Alters the Plot
3. Child Bride
4. Especially Betty
5. Egged On
6. Smelling Like Sugar Cookies
7. Betty in Hollywoodland
8. Authing
9. The Name's Kettle
10. Family Matters
11. Anybody Can Write Books
12. Goodbye, Goodbye to Everything
Epilogue | Looking for Betty MacDonald
The Bard/MacDonald Family
Betty's Houses: Place as Witness
Bardisms
Notes
Further Reading
Image Credits
Text Permissions
Acknowledgments
Index