Betty and Don MacDonald in Hollywood
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
do you have any caricatures of Betty MacDonald?
We are working on this subject ' Betty MacDonald in caricatures ' and are very grateful for your support.
Our Betty MacDonald fan club honor members are unique personalities.
Wolfgang
Hampel, Monica Sone's very good friend and author of Betty MacDonald
and Ma and Pa Kettle biography told us that Monica Sone was always
delighted to hear from her fans.
It's the same with our other
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour members.
If you have any
questions or greetings don't hesitate to send them, please.
The Betty
MacDonald fan club honor members are very happy to hear from you.
I
admire Monica Sone's book Nisei Daughter.
Betty MacDonald was right
when she described Monica as Kimi the way she did in her book The Plague
and I.
Monica was very witty and intelligent although the subject of
Nisei Daughter isn't a funny one. Just the opposite!
Don't miss ' The Egg and Betty ' and ' The Kettles' Million Dollar Egg ' by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel, please.
The updated versions with many new info, documents and photos are really fascinating.
I adore the brilliant letter by Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Monica Sone.
I share two reviews by Olivier Thill.
The Egg and Betty
Publisher: Betty MacDonald fan club
Electronic file. 2002
Updated version with many new info, documents and photos in 2016
Rating: ****
This is the study of the bestseller, The Egg and I, by Betty MacDonald, first printed in 1945.
You can read many fascinating thoughts from readers of The Egg and I and the long and careful investigation undertaken by the founder of Betty MacDonald fan club.
Contents
- A lesson in crosspurposes or Too much scrubbing takes the life right out of things
- They were all quite drunk but still jovial or Birdie Hicks the second
- My friend Betty or A letter from Kimi
- A far cry from the Smith brothers and/or a real bastard?
- Put out that match or Do you want me to start the greatest firework you've ever seen?
- How long will the forests last? or Where is the spotted owl?
- The type of female the pioneers were tickled pink to give the Indians as a hostage or I'm saving my old newspapers for you
- The terrible nearness of the mountains or A hell of a place to live
- Who is who? or Old McDonald' had a farm
- The good guy in The Egg and I or A long search with the help of an ex-FBI man who had helped catch Dillinger
- The Egg and I road or People on this road are pretty private
- A smile from Chimacum or How beautiful is it to be human
- Huge fans of Betty's or The "Kettles" were just trying to feather their own nests...
- Photos
Wolfgang Hampel has made funny and enigmatic titles like Betty MacDonald
did.
This first chapter is an informal
discussion about two families, the Kettles and the Hicks, who where the
closest neighbors of Betty.
A "Betty Expert" ventured the hypothesis that the name Hicks
derives from the adjective "hick" meaning rural and uncouth.
Wolfgang Hampel unveils the truth which was not easy to guess
and to find, and which is completely different.
The second chapter starts with a few words about the Kettles. The rest of the
chapter is about the representation of the Indians in MacDonald's book.
Wolfgang Hampel has asked the opinion of readers, and publishes their very interesting reactions
The next chapter entitled "a letter from Kimi" is also about the
Indians. It ends with a very imporant letter from Kimi who in reality was author Monica Sone, first Betty MacDonald fanc club honor member and a very good friend of Betty MacDonald and Wolfgang Hampel.
The next chapter is about Betty's first husband, Robert Eugene Heskett
Wolfgang Hampel reveals a very interesting lie of Betty, which is that before
marrying Bob, she already lived in the country, not in town.
Knowing the real life of Bob makes you feel more pity for poor
Betty. One might also wonder why she has been so eager to quit her home
at an early age, accepting to fly away with an old alcoholic as a
result.
In the next chapter the truth
is told about the fate of the farm after Betty and Bob left it.
In the rest of the book, you'll discover many other interesting things.
I
won't go into details here (although I have carefully read every line
till the end), because the purpose of a review is only to give an idea
of the content of a book.
Wolfgang Hampel has done a wonderful work of research.
Now, every reader of Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I has the possibilty
of learning the true story, which, personally, I find more interesting
than the semi-fiction it inspired.
Publisher: Betty MacDonald fan club
Electronic file. 2002
Updated version with many new info, documents and photos in 2016
Rating: ****
The Kettle's Million Dollar Egg is an historical account of a trial.
Betty MacDonald is the author of The Egg and I, which turned out
to be a best-seller. It was adapted to the screen. A movie was made, and
proved to be very successful too. Afterwards " Ma and Pa Kettle" appeared in a very successful series after
the name of a couple of farmers who are not very flatteringly described
by Betty MacDonald. Undoubtedly it is their dirtyness and dumbness that
make the spectators laugh. The series was a big success.
The problem is that a family sues Betty MacDonald for having been
exposed to ridicule in her book. The Bishop family believes she had been
depicted by Betty MacDonald as the Kettle family.
The plaintiffs are the first to talk. On some issues, witnesses are asked to confirm or infirm what has been said.
A few days later, Betty MacDonald can talk. She is asked to tell in what circunstances she wrote the book.
Comments
Being the defendant is not pleasant. Being in the witness stand is not always very easy:
She said a finer man never lived than Al Bishop and described his wife as a wonderful woman.
Cautioned by Judge Wilkins just to answer questions and not to volunteer information, Mrs. Madeline Bishop,
a sprightly and alert woman, turned to the judge with a broad smile: "Am I talking too much, judge?" she asked.
"We all do that sometime," the judge remarked smiling.
"But I can't tell you unless I explain," she answered pertly.
According to her Albert Bishop had tremendous working habits, not at all like Paw Kettle in the book.
He had red hair "like that juror's", pointing to a young juror with red
hair. Albert Bishop worked "like a dog, night and day." Her sister
wasn' t profane as was Maw Kettle. "It was not a habit of hers. She was
not a profane woman. She might say 'Doggone you' to a kid or something
like that."
Several pictures of the Albert Bishop family which defense attorney
Crandell sought to have introduced through Mrs. Bishops identification
were ruled out of evidence as having no bearing on the case since they
were taken a number of years before the time allegedly covered in THE
EGG AND I.
As the last of the pictures was ruled out, Mrs. Bishop drew a photograph
in a small round frame from her purse. "Here's one of my sister when
she was a young woman," she remarked , " but I suppose that one has no
bearing either." Then she put the picture before Judge Wilkins,
commenting as she did so: "She's sweet, isn't she?"
The situation is absurd. When people are attacking others or defending
themselves, they feel the need to say and do stupid things, as if it
were the most stupid person who would be the winner in the end. The
judge knows that natural inclination, he encourages the others to talk
nonsense, and then, he rules out whatever he likes.
Even if the Bishops are mostly interested in getting financial subsidies
rather than in restoring their dignity and honour, they are
nevertheless victims in some ways, because Betty's book changed their
life. They had to deal with tourists, who wished to see the ranch where
Betty lived. They had to recreate it, to reinvent a myth, to charge one
dollar per visit, to declare they were the Kettles or to deny that
according to circunstances.
The story is about a rebellion against mighty forces which are thwarting
long-established plans and desires. The Olympian Gods want to make
surprises, but the poor mortals don't like them.
Work and life of Betty MacDonald will be honored by Wolfgang Hampel in Vita Magica.
Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter November includes the updated Betty MacDonald fan club essays ' Betty MacDonald in Hollywood' and ' Betty MacDonald and Dorita Hess '.
There is also an article about Betty MacDonald fan club letter collection.
We got very important info regarding the original 'The Egg and I' and the way Betty MacDonald described her first husband Robert Eugene Heskett and their neighbours.
