The Egg and I

Last updated
The Egg and I
Eggandidustjacket.jpg
Dust jacket from 1946 edition
AuthorBetty MacDonald
LanguageEnglish
GenreHumor
PublisherJ. B. Lippincott
Publication date
1945
Publication placeUnited States
Pages287
ISBN 978-0-06-091428-8
LC Class AGR 45-336

The Egg and I, first published in 1945, is a humorous memoir by American author Betty MacDonald about her adventures and travels as a young wife on a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in the US state of Washington. The book is based on the author's experiences as a newlywed trying to acclimate to and operate a small chicken farm near Chimacum, Washington, with her first husband, Robert Heskett, from 1927 to 1931. On visits with her family in Seattle, she told stories of their tribulations, which greatly amused them. In the 1940s, MacDonald's older sister, Mary, strongly encouraged her to write a book about these experiences. The Egg and I was MacDonald's first attempt at writing a book.

Contents

Plot

MacDonald begins her book with a summary description of her childhood and family. Her father was a mining engineer, and moved frequently with his family throughout the West. Her mother's theory that a wife must support her husband in his career comes into play when the author marries a friend of her brother (Bob), who soon admits that his dream is to leave his current office job and start a chicken ranch [sic]. Knowing nothing about farming, but eager to support her husband, the author encourages the dream, but is unprepared for the primitive conditions that exist on the farm he purchases.

From this "set-up", the book turns to anecdotal stories that rely upon the proverbial "fish out of water" tales that pit MacDonald against her situation and her surroundings, such as the struggle to keep up with the need for water, which needs to be hand carried from a pond to the house until a tank is installed, or keeping a fire going in "Stove", or the constant care that chicks need. At one point, a guest expresses envy of MacDonald and her husband, imagining that they live a life full of fresh air and beautiful scenery, whereupon MacDonald notes that while the guest had lounged in bed that morning, she and her husband had been up before sunrise working for several hours, and then again worked long into the night after the guest had gone to bed.

MacDonald chronicles the gradual improvements to the primitive farmhouse, such as the arrival of electricity and running water. The neighbors and townspeople are also described in the book. The "Ma and Pa Kettle" characters are near neighbors to the MacDonalds.

Release

First published by the J. B. Lippincott Company on October 3, 1945, The Egg and I received laudatory reviews and soon appeared on the best-seller list. The book was a blockbuster success, being reprinted on a nearly monthly basis for the next two years.

On September 12, 1946, the specially bound one-millionth copy of the book was presented to MacDonald by Washington Governor Monrad Wallgren at a luncheon in Seattle.

The Egg and I was reprinted in a short-run hardback edition in 1986 as well as reprinted under the Harper Perennial paperback imprint. [1]

The Egg and I has sold more than three million copies, and has been translated into 32 languages. [2]

Adaptations

A 1954 re-release film poster for the 1947 film featuring Ma and Pa Kettle Egg & i.jpg
A 1954 re-release film poster for the 1947 film featuring Ma and Pa Kettle

In April 1946, Universal-International announced the purchase of the film rights for The Egg and I for $100,000, plus a percentage of profits. [3] Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray were cast in the lead roles, with Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride cast in the roles of Ma and Pa Kettle. The film, loosely based on the book, was released in 1947. Main received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and the film inspired nine subsequent Ma and Pa Kettle features.

A 15-minute daytime TV series based on the book aired on CBS from September 3, 1951, to August 1, 1952. [4] The program starred Bob Craven and Patricia Kirkland. [5]

Criticism

Although the book was a critical and popular success at publication, it has been criticized for its racist treatment of Native Americans. [6] [7] In 2005, a literary critic examining MacDonald's body of work wrote, “Without overcoming or correcting the racism in Egg, her stories in her subsequent books describe and implicitly advocate the benefits of a multicultural society (especially those available in an urban space like Seattle). [8]

The Egg and I has also been claimed to have "spawned a perception of Washington as a land of eccentric country bumpkins like Ma and Pa Kettle." [9] MacDonald's defenders point out that in the context of the 1940s, such stereotyping was far more acceptable. MacDonald faced two lawsuits over the book’s content (see below); plaintiffs did not prevail, although the judge indicated he felt they had shown that some of the claims of defamation had merit. [10]

Post-publication lawsuits

Following the success of the book and film, lawsuits were filed by members of the Chimacum community. They claimed that characters in The Egg and I had been based on them, and that they had been identified in their community as the real-life versions of those characters, subjecting them to ridicule and humiliation. The family of Albert and Susanna Bishop claimed they had been negatively portrayed as the Kettles. Their oldest son Edward and his wife Ilah Bishop filed the first lawsuit, which was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

The second lawsuit was filed against MacDonald, publisher J. B. Lippincott Company, and The Bon Marché (a Seattle department store which had promoted and distributed the book) for total damages of $975,000, as sought by nine other members of the Bishop family ($100,000 each) and Raymond H. Johnson ($75,000), who claimed he had been portrayed as the Indian "Crowbar". The case was heard before a jury in Judge William J. Willkins' (who was also one of the presiding judges at the Nuremberg Trials) courtroom in King County Superior Court beginning February 6, 1951. MacDonald testified that the characters in her book were composite sketches of various people she had met. The defense produced evidence that the Bishop family had actually been trying to profit from the fame the book and movie had brought them, including testimony that son Walter Bishop had had his father Albert appear onstage at his Belfair, Washington, dance hall with chickens under his arm, introducing him as "Pa Kettle". On February 10, 1951, the jury decided in favor of the author. [11]

Sign for Egg and I Road, near Chimacum, Washington Egg and I Road sign.jpg
Sign for Egg and I Road, near Chimacum, Washington

Recordings of the theme song from the film were made by Sammy Kaye for Victor, and Dinah Shore for Columbia.

The road leading west from Beaver Valley Road (State Route 19) to the former site of MacDonald's farm is now named "Egg and I Road".

The Egg and I is the name of a breakfast restaurant with around 100 locations nationwide. The owners were inspired by the book. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betty MacDonald</span> American writer

Betty MacDonald was an American author who specialized in humorous autobiographical tales, and is best known for her book The Egg and I. She also wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series of children's books. She is associated with the Pacific Northwest, especially Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjorie Main</span> American actress (1890–1975)

Mary Tomlinson, professionally known as Marjorie Main, was an American character actress and singer of the Classical Hollywood period, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and 1950s, and for her role as Ma Kettle in 10 Ma and Pa Kettle movies. Main started her career in vaudeville and theatre, and appeared in film classics, such as Dead End (1937), The Women (1939), Dark Command (1940), The Shepherd of the Hills (1941), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), and Friendly Persuasion (1956).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percy Kilbride</span> American character actor

Percy William Kilbride was an American character actor. He made a career of playing country "hicks," most memorably as Pa Kettle in the Ma and Pa Kettle series of feature films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ma and Pa Kettle</span> Fictional characters

Ma and Pa Kettle are comic film characters of the successful film series of the same name, produced by Universal Studios, in the late 1940s and 1950s. “The hillbilly duo have their hands full with a ramshackle farm and a brood of rambunctious children. When the future comes a-callin' in the form of modern houses, exotic locales, and newfangled ideas, Ma and Pa must learn how to make the best of it with luck, pluck, and a little country charm.”

A kettle is a vessel for heating water.

Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, legal name Alexander MacDonald, or, in Gaelic Alasdair MacDhòmhnaill, was a Scottish war poet, satirist, lexicographer, and memoirist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimacum, Washington</span> Unincorporated community in Washington, United States

Chimacum is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Washington, United States, located in the center of the primary agricultural area of the eastern Olympic Peninsula.

Charles Lamont was an American filmmaker, known for directing over 200 titles and producing and writing many others. He directed nine Abbott and Costello comedies and many Ma and Pa Kettle films.

<i>The Egg and I</i> (film) 1947 film by Chester Erskine

The Egg and I is a 1947 American romantic comedy film directed by Chester Erskine, who co-wrote the screenplay with Fred F. Finklehoffe, based on the book of the same name by Betty MacDonald and starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray, with Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride as Ma and Pa Kettle.

Teddy Infuhr, born Theodore Edward Infuhr, was an American child actor.

<i>Onions in the Stew</i>

Onions in the Stew is the fourth in a series of humorous autobiographical books by Betty MacDonald about her life in western Washington State with her second husband and daughters during the Second World War years. It was published in 1955 and a second edition in 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esther Dale</span> American actress (1885–1961)

Esther Dale was an American actress of the stage and screen.

William John Wilkins was an American lawyer and judge from the state of Washington. He was the last surviving judge of the post-World War II Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war crimes.

The Sword and the Gavel is the autobiography of Judge William J. Wilkins, the last of the Nuremberg Trials judges, published in 1981. Wilkins also presided over the Betty MacDonald libel trial brought by ten plaintiffs who claimed they were the "Ma and Pa Kettle" family in MacDonald's best-seller The Egg and I.

<i>Ma and Pa Kettle</i> (film) 1949 film by Charles Lamont

Ma and Pa Kettle is a 1949 American comedy film directed by Charles Lamont. It is the sequel to the 1947 film version of Betty MacDonald's semi-fictional memoir The Egg and I and the first official installment of Universal-International's Ma and Pa Kettle series starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam McDaniel</span> American actor

Samuel Rufus McDaniel was an American actor who appeared in over 210 television shows and films between 1929 and 1950. He was the older brother of actresses Etta McDaniel and Hattie McDaniel.

Chad Henry is an American composer, actor, lyricist, playwright, and author. He has written over twenty musical theatre titles that premiere in his home state, Washington. He has long been associated with director/producer Linda Hartzell, artistic director of Seattle Children's Theatre, and with the late John Kauffman, director of many early Empty Space Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre works.

<i>The Kettles on Old MacDonalds Farm</i> 1957 film by Virgil W. Vogel

The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm is a 1957 American comedy film directed by Virgil Vogel. It is the tenth and last installment of Universal-International's Ma and Pa Kettle series starring Marjorie Main and introducing Parker Fennelly as Pa, replacing Percy Kilbride. It was also Marjorie Main's last movie of any kind.

Mary Bard Jensen (1904–1970) was a 20th-century American writer best remembered as the sister of Betty MacDonald.

Ma & Pa are English nicknames for "mother" and "father", respectively.

References

  1. ↑ Fry, Donn. "Reharching `The Egg' – Demand Spurs Publishers to Reissue Betty MacDonald's Classic." Seattle Times, Dec 16, 1986, p. H1.
  2. ↑ Kraig, Beth (2005). "It's About Time Somebody Out Here Wrote the Truth: Betty Bard MacDonald and North/Western Regionalism". Western American Literature. 40 (3): 237–271. ISSN   0043-3462. JSTOR   43022398.
  3. ↑ "'Egg And I' Bought for Colbert Film; International Pays $100,000 Down to Betty MacDonald – Three Openings Today of Local Origin". The New York Times. April 19, 1946. p. 26. ProQuest   84635734.
  4. ↑ McNeil, Alex (1991). Total Television (3rd ed.). New York: Penguin. p.  231. ISBN   0-14-015736-0.
  5. ↑ Schemering, Christopher (1987). The Soap Opera Encyclopedia (2nd ed.). Ballantine Books. pp. 97–98. ISBN   0-345-35344-7.
  6. ↑ Robinson, Ann – Lost Northwest book review: "The Egg and I" Archived 2021-05-01 at the Wayback Machine . Portland Oregonian, November 28, 2008
  7. ↑ Barsh, Russell – Bishop, William Sr. (1833–1906) and Sally Bishop Williams (1840–1916) Archived 2021-05-01 at the Wayback Machine . January 25, 2017
  8. ↑ Kraig, Beth (2005). "It's About Time Somebody Out Here Wrote the Truth: Betty Bard MacDonald and North/Western Regionalism". Western American Literature. 40 (3): 237–271. ISSN   0043-3462. JSTOR   43022398.
  9. ↑ "Betty MacDonald profile". HistoryLink . Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-12-23.
  10. ↑ "'Egg and I' Author Wins Suit". The New York Times. February 22, 1951. p. 40.
  11. ↑ "'Egg and I' Author Wins Suit". The New York Times. February 22, 1951. p. 40. ProQuest   87109916.
  12. ↑ "About – The Egg & I Restaurant :: Breakfast and Lunch". The Egg & I.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.