Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen


'Respect the skills!!!'

Betty MacDonald fan club fans,

i'm not bossy. I have skills........leadership skills. Understand?

That's what I told my little brother all the time.

Betty MacDonald' s  sister Mary Bard Jensen was the very same.

Girls like us are not very popular but very important in a big and rather crazy family especially after Daddy passed away and the family needed a person with leadership skills.

That's what author Claire Dederer describes in her excellent Betty MacDonald essay:

The author jumps from job to job, with whole industries blowing up behind her as she leaves, like Tom Cruise running from an exploding warehouse. She’s hustled along in the ever-shrinking job market by her sister Mary, who considers herself an “executive thinker.”

Mary has a job ready for Betty as soon as she gets off the bus from the egg farm, never mind that Betty is utterly unqualified. Mary won’t hear of such talk. She is quick to admonish her sister: “There are plenty of jobs but the trouble with most people, and I know because I’m always getting jobs for my friends, is that they stay home with the covers pulled up over their heads waiting for some employer to come creeping in looking for them.”


That's it. Mary wanted to use them their chances and supported them. 

I feel very much related. Therefore I'm so interested in this subject. 

My Betty MacDonald fan club research team and I are working on this very important subject: Mary Bard Jensen, Betty MacDonald and the Bard family.

I just listened to Wolfgang Hampel's interview with Betty MacDonald's beloved sister Alison Bard Burnett who described her sister Mary Bard Jensen as a  very bossy person.

Although I adore very witty and charming  Alison Bard Burnett  I disagree with her regarding her sister Mary.


Mary Bard Jensen had to be like this in a very difficult situation.

You'll hear from us in the future.

Take care,

Greta, Mats and Astrid

Betty MacDonald fan club

Betty MacDonald forum 

Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel

Betty MacDonald fan club items 

Betty MacDonald fan club items  - comments

Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund