A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (novel)
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| A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | |
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 First edition cover |
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| Author | Betty Smith |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Publication date | 1943 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 493 p. |
| ISBN | NA |
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is a novel by Betty Smith first published in 1943. It is a bildungsroman, relating the coming-of-age story of its main character, Francie Nolan, and her Austrian/Irish-American family struggling against poverty in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City. The novel is set in the first and second decades of the 20th century. The book was an immense success, a nationwide best-seller that was distributed to servicemen overseas. It was also adapted into a popular motion picture, the first feature film directed by Elia Kazan.
Much of the book can be thought of as thinly disguised autobiography or as a Bildungsroman. Many of the characters derive from actual inhabitants of Williamsburg with whom the author grew up.
The main metaphor of the book is the hardy Tree of Heaven, of Asian origin, now considered invasive, and common in the vacant lots of New York City.
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[edit] Adaptations
- The book was adapted into a 1945 film directed by Elia Kazan, starring James Dunn, Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, and Peggy Ann Garner, who won a Special Academy Award for Outstanding Child Actress of 1945. James Dunn also won an Academy Award for the film, for Best Supporting Actor.
- In 1951, George Abbott produced and directed the story as a Broadway musical, collaborating with the author on the book, and with music by Arthur Schwartz and choreography by Herbert Ross. The show starred Shirley Booth, Marcia van Dyke, and twelve year old Nomi Mitty played Francie. It ran for 267 performances. Details about this production are told for the first time in Love Is The Reason For It All... The Shirley Booth Story by Jim Manago, with radio research by Donna Manago, and foreword by Ted Key. BearManor Media, ISBN 978-1-5939-3146-9. See blog devoted to Shirley Booth at http://shirleybooth.info.
- Yet another adaptation was a 1974 "made for television" movie starring Cliff Robertson and Pamelyn Ferdin which was based on the film's screenplay. This TV movie was a pilot for a weekly series drama which was never produced.
[edit] Pop Culture References
The title of the 1947 Bugs Bunny cartoon A Hare Grows in Manhattan is based on the title of the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. At the end of the cartoon Bugs Bunny shows the book to a pack of menacing dogs and they turn away from him and run to Brooklyn.
The book also makes an appearance in the HBO series Band of Brothers, in episode 9.
