Junior Miss is a collection of semi-autobiographical stories by Sally Benson first published in The New Yorker . Between 1939 and the end of 1941, the prolific Benson published 99 stories in The New Yorker, some under her pseudonym of Esther Evarts. She had a bestseller when Random House published her Junior Miss collection in 1941. [1]
Benson's stories were adapted for theatre by writers Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields, by producer Max Gordon, and by director Moss Hart. The play had a successful run of 710 performances on Broadway from November 18, 1941, to July 24, 1943. Patricia Peardon had the title role of Judy Graves, a teenager who meddles in people's love lives. [2] The sets for the production were designed by Frederick Fox. [3]
In 1945, 20th Century-Fox released a film adaptation of the play by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields which starred Peggy Ann Garner as Judy Graves. George Seaton directed. Produced by William Perlberg, the 94-minute feature was released by 20th Century Fox on June 16, 1945. [4] [5]
Junior Miss was featured several times in different formats on U.S. radio. Sponsored by Procter & Gamble, the first series was broadcast from March 4 to August 26, 1942, with Shirley Temple playing the lead character Judy Graves. Priscilla Lyon played her friend, Fuffy Adams, "the odd child from the apartment downstairs." [6] Benson and Doris Gilbert collaborated on writing the show in March, before quitting that April. Broadcast on Wednesday evenings, [6] the program cost $12,000 a week to produce.
From 1944 to 1946, a Junior Miss segment, based on Benson's short stories, was a regular feature in the Mary Small Show (later changed to the Mary Small-Junior Miss Show). [7]
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Junior Miss radio program starred Barbara Whiting, who had appeared in the 1945 film as Fuffy Adams. That series ran from April 3, 1948, to December 30, 1950, sponsored by Lever Brothers. The music was composed and conducted by Walter Schumann. The 1948-50 cast returned for another season in various formats and timeslots from October 2, 1952, to July 1, 1954. [6]
The film version of Junior Miss was promoted on radio twice in 1946, with Peggy Ann Garner performing her role as Judy Graves in a shortened version of the film on CBS's Hollywood Star Time as well as The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater .
Chodorov and Fields’ version of Junior Miss was adapted as a television musical and broadcast on December 20, 1957, as part of CBS Television's DuPont Show of the Month . [8] Carol Lynley had the lead role of Judy Graves with Don Ameche and Joan Bennett as her parents and Susanne Sidney as Fuffy Adams. Others in the cast were Diana Lynn, Paul Ford, Jill St. John and David Wayne. [9]
Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 American Christmas musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith family in St. Louis leading up to the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in the spring of 1904. The film stars Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart and Joan Carroll. The film was adapted by Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe from a series of short stories by Sally Benson originally published in The New Yorker magazine called "The Kensington Stories" and later in novel form as Meet Me in St. Louis. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli, who met Garland on the set and later married her. Tony Award-winning designer Lemuel Ayers served as the film's art director.
My Sister Eileen is a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney, originally published in The New Yorker, which eventually inspired many other works: her 1938 book My Sister Eileen, a play, a musical, a radio play, two motion pictures, and a CBS television series in the 1960–1961 season.
Judy Holliday was an American actress, comedian and singer.
Peggy Ann Garner was an American child actress.
Jerome Chodorov was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He co-wrote the book with Joseph A. Fields for the original Broadway musical Wonderful Town starring Rosalind Russell. The musical was based on short stories by Ruth McKenney.
Judy Canova, born Juliette Canova, was an American comedienne, actress, singer and radio personality who appeared on Broadway and in films. She hosted her own self-titled network radio program, a popular series broadcast from 1943 to 1955.
Junior Mints are a candy brand consisting of small rounds of mint filling inside a semi-sweet chocolate coating, with a dimple on one side. The mints are produced by Tootsie Roll Industries, and packaged in varying amounts from the so-called 'fun-size box' to the much larger 12 oz. box.
Sally Benson was an American writer of short stories, screenplays, and theatre. She is best known for her humorous tales of modern youth collected in Junior Miss and her semi-autobiographical stories collected in Meet Me in St. Louis.
Dorothy I. Adams was an American character actress of stage, film, and television.
A Star Is Born is a 1937 American Technicolor drama film produced by David O. Selznick, directed by William A. Wellman from a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker, and Alan Campbell, and starring Janet Gaynor as an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March as a fading movie star who helps launch her career. The supporting cast features Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, Lionel Stander, and Owen Moore. At the 10th Academy Awards, it became the first color film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Knudsen was an American character actress.
Joseph Albert Fields was an American playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, and film producer.
Elisabeth Risdon was an English film actress. She appeared in more than 140 films from 1913 to 1952. A beauty in her youth, she usually played in society parts. In later years in films she switched to playing character parts.
Nana Irene Bryant was an American film, stage, and television actress. She appeared in more than 100 films between 1935 and 1955.
DuPont Show of the Month was a 90-minute television anthology series that aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. The DuPont Company also sponsored a weekly half-hour dramatic anthology series hosted by June Allyson, The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1959–61).
Junior Miss is a 1945 American comedy film starring Peggy Ann Garner as a teenager who meddles in people's love lives.
Patricia Alice Laffan was an English stage, film, television and radio actress, and also, after her retirement from acting, an international fashion impresario. She was five feet, six inches tall, with dark reddish-brown hair and green eyes. She is best known for her film roles as the Empress Poppaea in Quo Vadis (1951) and the alien Nyah in Devil Girl from Mars (1954). Her biography, Devil Girl Remembered, was written by Andrew Ross in 2021.
Mary Field was an American film actress who primarily appeared in supporting roles.
Boy Meets Girl is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. The supporting cast features Marie Wilson, Ralph Bellamy, Frank McHugh, Dick Foran and Ronald Reagan. The screenplay by Bella and Sam Spewack is based on their 1935 stage play of the same name, which ran for 669 performances on Broadway. The two zany screenwriters played by Cagney and O'Brien were based on Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, while Ralph Bellamy's part as the producer was based on Darryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox.
Almira Sessions was an American character actress of stage, screen and television. Born in Washington, D.C., her career took her through all the acting mediums of the 20th century. She appeared in over 500 films and television shows. She worked into her 80s, finally retiring shortly before her death in 1974 in Los Angeles.