The Writer's Life 4/1 - No Foolin'

God bless America. For the first time, the average salary in MLB exceeds four million dollars. As long as fans keep ponying up to the gate and subscribing to cable packages, more power to the players. They will get no money from me, however.

Last night Movies!, 113 on Cablevision in NYC, ran Elia Kazan’s adaptation of Betty Smith’s classic novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). I read it many moons ago, as a teenager, one of the first I completed from cover to cover. After so much time, I can’t say how faithful the film is to the book, but it is beautiful. My eyes glazed several times. It is the story of an impoverished family that doesn’t ask for anyone’s help, especially the government's. They make do on their own. It does my heart do good to recall an era when most people were too proud to accept a handout. The tree is a metaphor for the pre-pubescent daughter, Francie, memorably played by Peggy Ann Garner. Although she continued to work in the movies and on TV, amassing 70 credits, it was the highlight of her career. Tragically, she succumbed to cancer at 52. The film is also notable for the performances of Dorothy McGuire and James Dunn, who played the parents. Dunn was awarded an Oscar for the role, an alcoholic, a failure, a dreamer beloved by those with whom he came in contact. To my surprise, he has 105 credits listed at IMDb. I do not recall him in anything else. The second half of his career was dominated by TV appearances. Also surprising, McGuire was nominated only once for an Academy Award, for Gentlemen’s Agreement (1947). She was not flashy, exhibiting a quite strength, a mastery of the role of mother. She played the virgin in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). She has only 55 credits to her name at IMDb. She, like her co-stars in Tree, did the majority of her latter work on the small screen, although she also worked the stage. Tree also has a supporting cast of Hollywood stalwarts: the ever vivacious Joan Blondell, who lights up the silver screen, James Gleason and Lloyd Nolan. The 63 users who have rated it feel as strongly as I do, forging to a consensus of 8.2 of ten. Here’s a picture of the under-rated McGuire:

My thanks to the kind folks who made purchases or donations today. All transactions except one involved Russian books. A young mom bought Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes.

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