Of Mice And Men (from Tuesday 7/16/13)

I took 6 pages of notes during our discussions of the novel and I know I still missed so much!  A few of the discussions involved how Steinbeck defined family and friendship, the role of ‘hands’ in the novel, Lennie’s vision of the rabbit, the reaction of the Boss, Curley, and Slim to George and Lennie traveling and working together, Crooks role, and how the setting fit the story (the story has been described as claustrophobic). 

I thought one of the more interesting discussions involved Curley’s wife.  How do you see her?  Was she a tramp?  Jailbait?  Was she lonely and seeking companionship?  Steinbeck wrote, in a letter to Claire Luce, who portrayed the wife in the play adaptation, “She is a nice, kind girl and not a floozy.  No man has ever considered her as anything except a girl to try to make.”  And later in the letter, “…there has probably been no consummation there since Curley would not consider her gratification and would probably be suspicious if she had any.  Consequently she is a little starved.”  Makes me see her in a little different light.

In the afternoon actor Tony Newfield talked about the various adaptations of the play-novelette.  On 11/23/37 the play opened on Broadway and ran for 207 performances.  It won the New York Drama Critics award for Best Play for the 1937 – 1938 season (a forerunner to the Tony Awards).  Steinbeck, although involved in the production, was writing The Grapes of Wrath and did not see any performances. In 1958 the play became a musical.  Though it only ran for 6 ½ weeks, critics loved it!  Steinbeck cried when he heard the piece “Candy’s Lament”.  We also performed scenes from the play.  I was George in one of the earlier scenes when Lennie tells George, “I like beans with ketchup.”

 

 Susan Shillinglaw and Tony Newfield

In the evening we watched the 1939 film version.  The film was the first in history to have a scene occur before the credits.  It was nominated (along with “Gone With The Wind”, “Stagecoach”, and “The Wizard of Oz”) for Best Picture at the 1940 Academy Awards. Lon Chaney, Jr. was also nominated for an award (for his portrayal of Lennie) as was Aaron Copeland for his musical score.  What a beautiful, moving film!