 First edition cover | |
| Author | John Fox, Jr. |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Western, Romance |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
Publication date | 1908 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 223 pp |
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a 1908 romance novel/western novel by John Fox, Jr. The novel became Fox's most successful, and was included among the top ten list of bestselling novels for 1908 and 1909. It has been adapted numerous times for both stage and screen.
Set in the Appalachian Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century, a feud has been boiling for over thirty years between two influential mountain families, the Tollivers and the Falins. The character of Devil Judd Tolliver in the novel was based on the real life of "Devil John" Wesley Wright, a United States Marshal for the region in and around Wise County, Virginia, and Letcher County, Kentucky. [1] The outside world and industrialization, however, are beginning to enter the area. Coal mining begins to exert its influence on the area, despite the two families' feuds. Entering the area, enterprising "furriner" (foreigner) geologist John Hale captures the attention of the beautiful June Tolliver, and inadvertently becomes entangled in the region's politics.
Geologist Hale has a vision for the potential wealth of the natural raw materials, especially coal, that he intends to use as a means of creating a legacy for himself and the Gap. But he also has an eye for the young natural beauty of a mountain girl, June Tolliver, whom he feels compelled to free from the confines of mountain life and introduce to higher education.
The coming boom time for the region requires Hale to establish authoritative law and order that the two feuding clans refuse to recognize. It is this conflict between clans, who are used to settling their differences established by a century of tradition, and the principled Hale that threatens to destroy the budding romance between him and June, who then must choose between clan loyalties and the man she loves.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine was first adapted for the stage by Eugene Walter. The 1912 Broadway production starred Berton Churchill and Walter's wife, Charlotte Walker. [2] An adaptation was filmed in 1914. [3] In the 1916 film adaptation directed by Cecil B. DeMille, Charlotte Walker reprised her Broadway role, starring with Thomas Meighan. [4] A 1923 film adaptation starring Mary Miles Minter and Antonio Moreno is considered a lost film. [5]
A 1936 motion picture was directed by Henry Hathaway. Starring Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, and Fred MacMurray, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Louis Alter and Sidney D. Mitchell's "A Melody for the Sky." It was also awarded the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Color Film. Hathaway's version marked the first time the Technicolor process was used for outdoor filmmaking.
The 1916 DeMille adaptation features an additional plot angle of Hale being a revenue agent seeking out "moonshiners." It also omitted much of the subplot concerning the Falin family. Henry Hathaway's 1936 version, which was the first feature film to be filmed outdoors in full (three-strip) Technicolor, remains relatively faithful to the original novel.
The novel was adapted into a successful stage play by Earl Hobson Smith and Clara Lou Kelly. Since 1964, the play has been performed in an outdoor theater in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, the hometown of the novel's author. [6] It is considered the longest running outdoor drama in the United States [7] and was designated the "official outdoor drama" by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1994.
George Randolph Scott was an American film actor, whose Hollywood career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a broad variety of film genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals, adventure tales, war films, and a few horror and fantasy films. However, his most enduring image is that of the tall-in-the-saddle Western hero. Out of his more than 100 film appearances, over 60 of them were Westerns. According to editor Edward Boscombe, "...Of all the major stars whose name was associated with the Western, Scott [was] most closely identified with it."
Henry Hathaway was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring Randolph Scott and John Wayne. He directed Gary Cooper in seven films.
John Fox Jr. was an American journalist, novelist, and short story writer.
The Virginian is a 1929 American pre-Code Western film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, and Richard Arlen. The film was based on the 1902 novel The Virginian by Owen Wister and adapted from the popular 1904 theatrical play Wister had collaborated on with playwright Kirke La Shelle.
Henry Martyn Blossom Jr. was an American writer, playwright, novelist, opera librettist, and lyricist. He first gained wide attention for his second novel, Checkers: A Hard Luck Story (1896), which was successfully adapted by Blossom into a 1903 Broadway play, Checkers. It was Blossom's first stage work and his first critical success in the theatre. The play in turn was adapted by others creatives into two silent films, one in 1913 and the other in 1919, and the play was the basis for the 1920 Broadway musical Honey Girl. Checkers was soon followed by Blossom's first critical success as a lyricist, the comic opera The Yankee Consul (1903), on which he collaborated with fellow Saint Louis resident and composer Alfred G. Robyn. This work was also adapted into a silent film in 1921. He later collaborated with Robyn again; writing the book and lyrics for their 1912 musical All for the Ladies.
The Virginian is a 1914 American silent Western film based on the 1902 novel The Virginian by Owen Wister. The film was adapted from the successful 1903–04 theatre play The Virginian, on which Wister had collaborated with playwright Kirke La Shelle. The Virginian starred Dustin Farnum in the title role, a role he reprised from the original play. It was directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
Charlotte Ganahl Walker was a Broadway theater actress.
The Border Legion is a 1918 American silent Western film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Blanche Bates, Hobart Bosworth, and Eugene Strong. The film is based on the 1916 novel The Border Legion by Zane Grey. The film marked the screen debut of Blanche Bates. The Border Legion was released on August 28, 1918. Following the acquisition of distribution rights by Goldwyn Pictures, the film was rereleased in the United States on January 19, 1919. It is not known whether the film currently survives.
The Shepherd of the Hills is a 1941 American drama film starring John Wayne, Betty Field and Harry Carey. The supporting cast includes Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond, Marjorie Main and John Qualen. The picture was Wayne's first film in Technicolor and was based on the novel of the same name by Harold Bell Wright. The director was Henry Hathaway, who directed several other Wayne films including True Grit almost three decades later.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a 1936 American adventure romance western film based on the 1908 novel of the same name. The picture was directed by Henry Hathaway starring Fred MacMurray, Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, who also wrote the screenplay. It is based on the 1908 novel and the 1912 play of the same name by Eugene Walter. Charlotte Walker reprised her role from the Broadway production. A copy of the 1916 film survives in the archives of George Eastman House.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a 1923 American silent Western film directed by Charles Maigne and starring Mary Miles Minter. It was adapted by Will M. Ritchey from the play and novel of the same name by John Fox Jr. This was the second time that Maigne had directed Minter in an adaptation of a Fox novel, the first being 1920's A Cumberland Romance. This was Minter's final film; her contract with Paramount Pictures was not renewed, and she stated that she was "through" with films. As with many of Minter's features, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is thought to be a lost film.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine may refer to:
"The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" is a popular song published in 1913, with lyrics by Ballard MacDonald and music by Harry Carroll. It was inspired by John Fox Jr.'s 1908 novel of the same title, but whereas the novel was set in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky, the song refers to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. In it, the singer expresses his love for his girl, June, who is waiting for him under the titular pine tree. It is perhaps best known for being performed by Laurel and Hardy in the 1937 film Way Out West. This version became a UK Singles Chart hit in 1975, some years after both actors had died.
The Last Mile is a Broadway play by John Wexley that ran for 289 performances from February 13, 1930, to October 1930 at the Sam H. Harris Theatre. It was produced by Herman Shumlin and staged by Chester Erskine. It is set in the death row wing of a prison. The lead role of John "Killer" Mears was first played by Spencer Tracy, and it was the role that brought him to the attention of Hollywood. It was later played for a time by Clark Gable on tour. The play was adapted into a 1932 film starring Preston Foster and into a 1959 film starring Mickey Rooney.
East Lynne is a 1931 American pre-Code film version of Ellen Wood's eponymous 1861 novel, which was adapted by Tom Barry and Bradley King and directed by Frank Lloyd. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture but lost to RKO-Radio's Cimarron. East Lynne is a melodrama starring Ann Harding, Clive Brook, Conrad Nagel and Cecilia Loftus.
One Sunday Afternoon is a 1948 American Technicolor musical comedy film directed by Raoul Walsh, and starring Dennis Morgan, Janis Paige and Dorothy Malone.
Good Gracious, Annabelle is a lost 1919 American silent society comedy film starring Billie Burke. It is based on the 1916 Broadway play, Good Gracious, Annabelle by Clare Kummer. This film was produced by Famous Players–Lasky with distribution by Paramount Pictures.
The Border Legion is a lost 1924 American silent Western film directed by William K. Howard and starring Antonio Moreno and Helene Chadwick. Written by George C. Hull and based on the 1916 novel The Border Legion by Zane Grey, the film is about a cowboy who is wrongly accused of murder and is rescued by the leader of a band of Idaho outlaws known as the Border Legion. When the outlaws kidnap a young woman, the cowboy knows that he must help the woman escape. The film premiered on October 19, 1924 in New York City and was released in the United States on November 24, 1924 by Paramount Pictures.
Folies Bergère de Paris is a 1935 American musical comedy film produced by Darryl Zanuck for 20th Century Films, directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Maurice Chevalier, Merle Oberon and Ann Southern. At the 8th Academy Awards, the “Straw Hat” number, choreographed by Dave Gould, won the short-lived Academy Award for Best Dance Direction, sharing the honor with “I've Got a Feelin' You're Foolin'” from Broadway Melody of 1936. The film, based on the 1934 play The Red Cat by Rudolph Lothar and Hans Adler, is a story of mistaken identity, with Maurice Chevalier playing both a music-hall star and a business tycoon who resembles him. This was Chevalier’s last film in Hollywood for twenty years, and reprised familiar themes such as the straw hat and a rendering of the French song "Valentine". This is also the last film to be distributed by Twentieth Century Pictures before it merged with Fox Film in 1935 to form 20th Century Fox.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine public domain audiobook at LibriVox