Here Is Something To Comfort You, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             This is artist N. C. Wyeth's cover jacket illustration for Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' 1939 Pultizer-Prize winning novel, "The Yearling," published by Scribner.  It was made into  an  Oscar calibre film in  1946, for which Claude Jarman, Jr. won a Special Juvenile Oscar, for his performance as Jody, which, if  you haven't, girls, you simply MUST. 

                                               "The Yearling" is your standard children's animal story, that eventually ends up making one cry, which is why I have not seen it too often.   It  is also a meditation on childhood, and when it ends.  It was also a Broadway musical, which opened at the Alvin Theatre, on December 10, 1965, and closed on December 11,  1965.  I am not kidding.

                                                Nevertheless, it produced one standard song, "I'm All Smiles," made famous by BARBRA.  I don't know the context of the song in relation to the story, though it would be interesting to find out.  The music was published, but I am not sure the  scipt was, so I cannot say more.

                                                   But the illustration is highlighted here, because it best illustrates the  book, longing and hopeful, with  Jody and  the deer down  front, and darkness in  the background, showing that their love will  be  torn asunder--both  deer and boy--by puberty.

                                                   I only know this, having read the novel,  and seen the movie.

                                                   Another thing.  I am looking for a copy--hard  cover--with  this illustration on the  dust  jacket.   If anyone  has  leads, let me know.

                                                     And  finally, blog time limitations,  due to  David  working  at home, does not mean I have stopped reading.  I haven't.  It is just that nothing has really blown  me away since my recent, third re-reading of  Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, "A Thousand Acres," which David gifted me  with a  beautifully conditioned first  edition  copy,  now a permanent part of  my collection.  It was also made into  a  vastly underrated film,  in  1997, starring Jason Robards, Jessica Lange, Michelle  Pfeiffer, and  Jennifer Jason Leigh.  The  plot is simply "King  Lear" on a twentieth century Iowa farm,  with  some issues of that time thrown  in.  Don't  miss either.

                               

                                     And here is BARBRA,  singing I'm  All  Smiles."  One of  her best!