Mrs. Mike

Last updated
Mrs. Mike
MrsMike.jpg
First edition
AuthorBenedict and Nancy Freedman
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical fiction
Published1947 - Coward-McCann
Publication placeUnited States
ISBN 0425103285

Mrs. Mike, the Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan is a novel by Benedict and Nancy Freedman set in the Canadian wilderness during the early 1900s. Considered by some a young-adult classic, Mrs. Mike was initially serialized in the Atlantic Monthly [1] and was the March 1947 selection of the Literary Guild. [1] It was a critical and popular success, with 27 non-US editions, and it was published as an Armed Services Edition for U.S. servicemen abroad. [2] The work combines the landscape and hardships of the Canadian North with the love story of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Mike Flannigan and the young Katherine Mary O'Fallon, newly arrived from Boston, Massachusetts.

Contents

Plot

The novel is based on the stories of Katherine Mary O'Fallon Knox. [3] [4] [5] According to her fictionalized account, in 1907 at age 16 O'Fallon travels to Calgary to visit her uncle and recover from pleurisy. There she meets and marries Mike Flannigan, a sergeant with the Royal North-West Mounted Police, moving with him to isolated posts in the mountain and lake regions of British Columbia and northern Alberta (Lesser Slave Lake). [2] In the novel the Flannigans' two children die of diphtheria, and they adopt three orphaned children. [6]

Reception

Feeling that her story should be made into a film, Flannigan went to Los Angeles in 1945. [6] Although it attracted little attention, an agent felt the story might be suitable for a book and introduced her to the Freedmans. Based on a five-page outline, extended interviews and their research, they wrote a novel based on Flannigan's story. [6] [7] Late in life they reaffirmed that aspects of Flannigan's life were fictionalized, including her adoption of three children, [6] and after Sgt. Flannigan's death in 1933 from a ruptured appendix Katherine Mary Flannigan left the North. [6] [8] According to Benedict Freedman, "The most important scenes—for example, when she leaves Mike and goes back to Boston—we didn't invent that. But we also didn't check her account of things." [6]

A 1947 review of Mrs. Mike by RCMP member C.D. LaNauze, stationed in Grouard at the time of the story, noted a number of discrepancies. A journey allegedly requiring "weeks on the trail" was actually an "easy five-day journey", according to LaNauze; there was no diphtheria epidemic (and Grouard was served by a doctor at the time), and confirmed bachelor George Adams—not a Michael Flannigan—was the RCMP sergeant. [1] LaNauze said, "Nothing in [the book] even approaches the truth". [1]

A film version, with Evelyn Keyes as Katherine Mary and Dick Powell as Mike, was released in 1949. [9] Flannigan sued its producers and the Freedmans for $25,000, but the suit was dismissed because she had a legal claim against the authors only (not the producers). [10] The Freedmans published two sequels to Mrs. Mike: The Search for Joyful in 2002 and Kathy Little Bird in 2003. [11]

Katherine Mary Flannigan married John P. Knox, and lived in Vancouver. [3] In 1951 she published The Faith of Mrs. Kelleen, set in 1880s Ireland and based on the life of her great-aunt. [12] Flannigan died on August 8, 1954, while visiting family and friends in Calgary. [3]

John Henry Crosman adapted the novel into a newspaper comic adaptation, in the 1940s. [13]

Publication history

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. O. Mitchell</span> Canadian writer and radio personality (1914-1998)

William Ormond Mitchell, was a Canadian writer and broadcaster. His "best-loved" novel is Who Has Seen the Wind (1947), which portrays life on the Canadian Prairies from the point of view of a small boy and sold almost a million copies in Canada. As a broadcaster, he is known for his radio series Jake and the Kid, which aired on CBC Radio between 1950 and 1956 and was also about life on the Prairies.

Sharon Pollock, was a Canadian playwright, actor, and director. She was Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary (1984), Theatre New Brunswick (1988–1990) and Performance Kitchen & The Garry Theatre, the latter which she herself founded in 1992. In 2007, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Pollock was one of Canada's most notable playwrights, and was a major part of the development of what is known today as Canadian Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nellie McClung</span> Canadian author, activist, suffragist and politician (1873–1951)

Nellie Letitia McClung was a Canadian author, politician, and social activist, who is regarded as one of Canada's most prominent suffragists. She began her career in writing with the 1908 book Sowing Seeds in Danny, and would eventually publish sixteen books, including two autobiographies. She played a leading role in the women's suffrage movement in Canada, helping to grant women the vote in Alberta and Manitoba in 1916. McClung was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in 1921, where she served until 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winnifred Eaton (writer)</span> Canadian author and screenwriter

Winnifred Eaton was a Canadian author and screenwriter of Chinese-British ancestry. Publishing prolifically under a number of names, most predominantly, the pseudonym Onoto Watanna, she was one of the first North American writers of Asian descent to publish fiction in English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel Wilson</span> Canadian writer (1888-1980)

Ethel Davis Wilson, was a Canadian writer of short stories and novels. Her works include Hetty Dorval (1947), The Innocent Traveller (1949), Swamp Angel (1954) and Mrs Golightly and Other Stories (1961).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mona Barrie</span> English-American actress (1905–1964)

Mona Barrie was an English-born actress, active on stage in Australia before establishing a career in the US, and in Hollywood films.

<i>Flashman and the Redskins</i> Novel by George MacDonald Fraser

Flashman and the Redskins is a 1982 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the seventh of the Flashman novels.

Katie Ohe, LL. D. is a sculptor living in Calgary, Alberta. Ohe is known as one of the first artists to make abstract sculpture in Alberta, and has been influential as a teacher at the Alberta College of Art and Design. She is best known for her abstract and kinetic sculptures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern (genre)</span> Multimedia genre set primarily in Northern Canada and Alaska

The Northern or Northwestern is a genre in various arts that tell stories set primarily in the late 19th or early 20th century in the north of North America, primarily in western Canada but also in Alaska. It is similar to the Western genre, but many elements are different, as appropriate to its setting. It is common for the central character to be a Mountie instead of a cowboy or sheriff. Other common characters include fur trappers and traders, lumberjacks, prospectors, First Nations people, outlaws, settlers, and townsfolk.

Fallon is an Irish surname and refers to the clan name Ó Fallamháin or Ó Fallúin.

Nancy Mars Freedman was an American feminist novelist, the co-author of Mrs. Mike.

Benedict Freedman was an American novelist and mathematician, the co-author of Mrs. Mike and a professor of mathematics at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Blewett</span> Canadian journalist, author and poet

Jean McKishnie Blewett was a Canadian journalist, author and poet.

<i>Paula</i> (1952 film) 1952 film directed by Rudolph Maté

Paula is a 1952 American film noir drama film directed by Rudolph Maté, and starring Loretta Young, Kent Smith, and Alexander Knox. It was produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Events from the year 2014 in Canada.

<i>Mrs. Mike</i> (film) 1949 film by Louis King

Mrs. Mike is a 1949 American drama film directed by Louis King and written by DeWitt Bodeen and Alfred Lewis Levitt. The film stars Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, J. M. Kerrigan, Angela Clarke, Will Wright and Nan Boardman. The film was released on December 23, 1949, by United Artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minuetta Kessler</span> Russian-born Canadian and later American musician and educator

Minuetta Shumiatcher Borek Kessler was a Russian-born Canadian and later American concert pianist, classical music composer, and educator. A child prodigy, she performed her first composition at a recital at the age of 5 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and went on to study at the Juilliard School in New York City. She composed hundreds of pieces, including music for piano, violin, voice, flute, clarinet and cello, as well as for chamber ensembles. She performed all over Canada and in Boston and New York, including performances at Carnegie Hall and The Town Hall, and with the Boston Civic Symphony and the Boston Pops. The New York Times called her "a rare phenomenon among the younger pianists of today – more musician than pianist". She also taught musical composition to young children, creating and patenting a game called "Staftonia" for this purpose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violet King Henry</span> Canadian lawyer (1929–1982)

Violet Pauline King Henry was a Canadian lawyer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annora Brown</span> Canadian artist (1899–1987)

Mary Annora Brown L.L. D. (1899–1987), known as Annora Brown, was a Canadian visual artist whose work encompassed painting and graphic design. She was best known for her depictions of natural landscapes, wildflowers, and First Nations communities in Canada. Much of her work thematically explored Albertan identity, though she remained relatively obscure in discussions of Canadian art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Hughes (activist)</span> Canadian journalist, author, archivist and political activist

Katherine Angelina Hughes was a Canadian journalist, author, archivist, and political activist. She founded the Catholic Indian Association in 1901 and was the secretary of the Catholic Women's League of Canada. She was the first provincial archivist for Alberta. As a journalist, Hughes worked for the Montréal Daily Star and the Edmonton Bulletin.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 LaNauze, C.D (29 November 1947). "Mrs. Mike". Lethbridge Herald. reprinted from the Royal Mounted Police Quarterly
  2. 1 2 Nelson, Valerie J. (March 4, 2012), "Benedict Freedman dies at 92; author and Occidental professor", Los Angeles Times .
  3. 1 2 3 New York Times, Aug. 10, 1954 obituary) "'Mrs. Mike' Figure dies – Katherine Mary Flannigan Was Inspiration For Bestseller"
  4. "Alberta Family Histories Society". Alberta Family History Society. Retrieved 17 March 2012. Cemetery records: "St. Mary's, Calgary, Knox, Katherine M., Mrs. Mike, 1899-1954"
  5. "Author of Best Seller dies in Hospital Here". Calgary Sun . August 9, 1954.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Peggy, Orenstein (December 2007). "Mrs. Mike Changed My Life". O, The Oprah Magazine. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  7. Anita Silvey (2006). 500 great books for teens . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p.  262. ISBN   978-0-618-61296-3 . Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  8. Kennedy, Paul (27 February 1947). "Mrs. Mike From Boston: Story of Her Life With Canadian Northwest Mountie Has Everything". Daily Boston Globe .
  9. Hal Erickson (2009). "Mrs-Mike". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  10. W. Lee Cozad (2006). More magnificent mountain movies: the silverscreen years, 1940–2004. W. Lee Cozad. p. 150. ISBN   978-0-9723372-2-9 . Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  11. McLellan, Dennis (22 August 2010). "Nancy Freedman dies at 90; feminist had long and wide-ranging literary career". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  12. Prescott, Orville, "Story Mingles Fact and Legend: A Widow's Fight to Vindicate Son". New York Times, Jan. 2, 1951: "Having lived a life of dramatic adventure (her honeymoon was a 700-mile jaunt by dog team in the Canadian north) and having seen others write a popular novel about it, Flannigan has evidently decided that any other books about her relations might as well be written by herself."
  13. "John Henry Crosman". lambiek.net. Retrieved Sep 12, 2020.