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 Title cover | |
| Author | Jean Webster |
|---|---|
| Genre | Young adult |
Publication date | 1912 |
| Followed by | Dear Enemy |
Daddy-Long-Legs is a 1912 epistolary novel by the American writer Jean Webster. It follows the protagonist, Jerusha "Judy" Abbott, as she leaves an orphanage and is sent to college by a benefactor whom she has never seen.
Jerusha Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. The children were completely dependent on charity and had to wear other people's cast-off clothes. Jerusha's unusual first name was selected by the matron from a gravestone (she hates it and uses "Judy" instead), while her surname was selected out of the phone book.
One day, after the asylum's trustees have made their monthly visit, Judy is informed by the asylum's dour matron that one of the trustees has offered to pay her way through college. He has spoken to her former teachers and thinks she has potential to become an excellent writer. He will pay her tuition and give her a generous monthly allowance. Judy must write him a monthly letter because he believes that letter-writing is important to the development of a writer. However, she will never know his identity; she must address the letters to Mr. John Smith, and he never will reply.
Judy catches a glimpse of the shadow of her benefactor from the back, and knows he is a tall long-legged man. Because of this, she jokingly calls him Daddy-Long-Legs. She attends a women’s college on the East Coast. She illustrates her letters with childlike line drawings, also created by Jean Webster.
The book chronicles Judy's educational, personal, and social growth. One of the first things she does at college is to change her name to Judy. She designs a rigorous reading program for herself and struggles to gain the basic cultural knowledge to which she, growing up in the bleak environment of the orphanage, never was exposed.
During her stay, she befriends Sallie McBride (the most entertaining person in the world) and Julia Rutledge Pendleton (the least so) and sups with them and Leonora Fenton.
Afterwards, Judy graduates college and is pursuing her dream to become a writer. However, Julia's uncle Jervie proposes to Judy and she refuses because someone like her wouldn't be good enough to marry a Pendleton. After this, Jervie catches a deadly illness during his travel at Canada. On the other hand, Judy was excited that she was invited to meet Daddy Longlegs at New York City. As she arrives at New York City, she discovers that Jerive was Daddy Longlegs and reconsiders about the proposal and accepts Jervie to be her husband. (THE END)
Jerusha 'Judy' Abbott - Although she came from John Grier Home, an orphanage, she entered college.
Sally McBride - Judy's college friend.
Julia Rutledge Pendleton - Judy's college friend.
Jervis Pendleton who is eventually revealed to be Judy's benefactor.
Jimmy McBride
Daddy Longlegs The mysterious man that sent Judy Abbot to college and financialy supporting her
The book is dedicated "To You." Today this book is often classified as children's literature, but at the time it was part of a trend of "girl" or "college girl" books which featured young female protagonists dealing with post-high-school concerns such as college, career, and marriage. These books predated the contemporary view of adolescence. Other authors who wrote in this vein include L. M. Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott. In Georgina Castle Smith's children's novel Nothing to Nobody (1873), Daddy Long Legs [sic] is the name of the orphaned urchin who receives the assistance. [1]
Daddy-Long-Legs still receives good reviews. [2] Reviewers comment on its relatability to a wide variety of audiences and unique nature in comparison to other modern books' – it isn't filled with action or melodrama, but rather just regular life. Reviewers also note that people tend to be attracted to orphans and orphanages, especially now that they have been mythologized in fiction such as Little Orphan Annie . Judy's being an orphan makes her sympathetic and allows for more room for her to learn and grow while in college, reviewers note. [2]
This book was Webster's best-known work. Webster herself adapted it into a stage play which debuted in 1914. In addition, it was adapted into a 1952 British stage musical comedy called Love from Judy, [3] as well as films in 1919 (starring Mary Pickford), 1931 (starring Janet Gaynor and Warner Baxter), 1935 (a Shirley Temple adaptation called Curly Top), a 1938 Dutch adaptation Vadertje Langbeen and a 1955 film, Daddy Long Legs (starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron). The latter two film versions departed considerably from the plot of the original novel. [4]
A four-part adaptation was featured in 1978 in anime anthology series Manga Sekai Mukashi Banashi (1976-1979) by Dax International and Madhouse.
Ashinaga Ojisan, anime TV movie produced in 1979 by Tatsunoko Production.
The 1990 TV anime serial Watashi no Ashinaga Ojisan (My Daddy-Long-Legs) was directed by Kazuyoshi Yokota for the Nippon Animation studio as that year's installment of the studio's World Masterpiece Theater.
In India, the novel was adapted into a Malayalam movie, Kanamarayathu in 1984. Anokha Rishta , a Hindi remake by the same director was released in 1986.
The 2005 Korean movie Kidari Ajeossi has elements of Daddy-Long-Legs transferred into a modern setting.
In 2009, the novel was made into a two-person musical play by John Caird (book) and Paul Gordon (music), which premiered at the Rubicon Theatre Company (Ventura, California) and TheatreWorks (Palo Alto, California). [5] On September 27, 2015, the musical premiered Off-Broadway at the Davenport Theatre with Megan McGinnis and Paul Alexander Nolan.
In 2020, the musical of Paul Gordon and John Caird was staged by director Aleksey Frandetti in Russia on the Instagram, transferring the events of the novel into the 21st century. [6] In 2021, the musical play made into Dear Mr. Smith and was performed by the same actors Ivan Ozhogin and Yulia Dyakina at the Theatre "Shelter of Comedians" by the same director.
Annie is a musical with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a book by Thomas Meehan. It is based on the 1924 comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre. It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won seven Tony Awards, including for Best Musical. The musical's songs "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" are among its most popular musical numbers.
Daddy Long Legs (1955) is a musical comedy film set in France, New York City, and the fictional college town of Walston, Massachusetts. The film was directed by Jean Negulesco, and stars Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Terry Moore, Fred Clark, and Thelma Ritter, with music and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The screenplay was written by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron, loosely based on the 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster.
World Masterpiece Theater is a Japanese TV animated series that showcased an animated version of a different classical book or story each year from 19:30 to 20:00 on Sunday on Fuji TV. It aired from 1969 to 1997 and from 2007 to 2009. It is commonly abbreviated to Meigeki.
Jean Webster was the pen name of Alice Jane Chandler Webster, an American author whose books include Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. Her best-known books feature lively and likeable young female protagonists who come of age intellectually, morally, and socially, but with enough humor, snappy dialogue, and gently biting social commentary to make her books palatable and enjoyable to contemporary readers.
Daddy-Long-Legs is a 1919 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Marshall Neilan, and based on Jean Webster's 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs. The film stars Mary Pickford.
John Newport Caird is an English stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an honorary associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was for many years a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and is the principal guest director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm (Dramaten).
Megan McGinnis is an American Broadway actress, who performed in the role of Éponine, in the revival of Les Misérables. She created the role of Jerusha Abbott in the Off-Broadway production of Daddy Long Legs. She played Belle in Beauty and the Beast
Dear Enemy is the 1915 sequel to Jean Webster's 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs. It was among the top 10 best sellers in the U.S. in 1916. The story is presented in a series of letters written by Sallie McBride, Judy Abbott's classmate and best friend in Daddy-Long-Legs. Among the recipients of the letters are Judy; Jervis Pendleton, Judy's husband and the president of the orphanage where Sallie is filling in until a new superintendent can be installed; Gordon Hallock, a wealthy Congressman and Sallie's later fiancé; and the orphanage's doctor, embittered Scotsman Robin 'Sandy' MacRae. Webster employs the epistolary structure to good effect; Sallie's choices of what to recount to each of her correspondents reveal a lot about her relationships with them.
My Daddy Long Legs is a Japanese animated television series based on the novel Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster.
The Gaiety Theatre was a Broadway theatre at 1547 Broadway in Times Square, Manhattan, New York City from 1909 until 1982, when it was torn down.
Daddy longlegs or daddy long legs may refer to:
Daddy Long Legs (1931) is an American pre-Code film directed by Alfred Santell and starring Janet Gaynor and Warner Baxter. The story involves an orphan who is taken under the wing of a wealthy benefactor.
Daddy Long Legs or Vadertje Langbeen is a 1938 Dutch romantic comedy film directed by Frederic Zelnik, based on Jean Webster's 1912 novel of the same name - one of several adaptations of that book.
Paul Howard Gordon is an American composer of popular songs and music for the theatre.
Penny McNamee is an Australian actress.
Renee Kelly was an English stage and film actress.
Ashinaga is a non-profit organization headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that provides educational funding and psychological support to children who have lost one or both guardians, as well as to those whose guardians suffer from serious disabilities. Since its founding in 1993, the organization has raised an estimated $1 billion and has helped over 95,000 students complete high school and/or attend university. Ashinaga also provides residential facilities, psychological support, day programs and camps for both younger children and Ashinaga student loan recipients.
Daddy Long Legs is a stage musical with a book by John Caird, and music and lyrics by Paul Gordon. It is based on the 1912 novel of the same name by Jean Webster. Set in turn-of-the-century New England, the musical tells the story of orphan Jerusha Abbott of the John Grier Home and her mysterious benefactor who agrees to send her to college, who she dubs "Daddy Long Legs" after seeing his elongated shadow. Under the conditions of her benefactor, Jerusha sends him a letter once a month, describing her new-found experiences with life outside the orphanage.
Love from Judy is a musical with music by Hugh Martin, lyrics by Martin and Jack Gray, and a book by Eric Maschwitz and Jean Webster. It is based on Webster's novel and play Daddy-Long-Legs. The original production opened in Coventry in 1951 and then moved to the Saville Theatre on the West End and opened on September 25, 1952. The production was also televised in 1953.
Daddy-Long-Legs is a 1914 play by the American writer Jean Webster. Webster adapted it from her own 1912 epistolary novel Daddy-Long-Legs.
Media related to Daddy-Long-Legs (novel) at Wikimedia Commons
Daddy-Long-Legs public domain audiobook at LibriVox 