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Betty MacDonald

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Betty MacDonald
BornAnne Elizabeth Campbell Bard
(1907-03-26)March 26, 1907
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.
DiedFebruary 7, 1958(1958-02-07) (aged 50)
Seattle, Washington
OccupationWriter
NationalityAmerican
GenreAutobiography, Children's literature
Notable works
Spouses
Robert Eugene Heskett
​
​
(m. 1927; div. 1931)​

Donald C. MacDonald
​
​
(m. 1942)​
Children2
RelativesMary Bard (sister)

Betty MacDonald (born Anne Elizabeth Campbell Bard; March 26, 1907[1] – February 7, 1958) was an American author who specialized in humorous autobiographical tales, and is best known for her book The Egg and I. She also wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series of children's books. She is associated with the Pacific Northwest, especially Washington.

Life and work

MacDonald was born in Boulder, Colorado. Her official birth date is given as March 26, 1908, although federal census returns seem to indicate 1907.[2][3][4] Her parents were mining engineer Darsie Bard and his wife Elsie Sydney.[5]

Her family moved to the north slope of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood in 1918, moving to the Laurelhurst neighborhood a year later and finally settling in the Roosevelt neighborhood in 1922, where she graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1924.

MacDonald married Robert Eugene Heskett (1895–1951) at age 20 in July 1927;[6] they lived on a chicken farm in the Olympic Peninsula's Chimacum Valley, near Center and a few miles south of Port Townsend. She left Heskett in 1931 and filed for divorce[7], returning to Seattle, where she worked at a variety of jobs to support their daughters Anne and Joan; after the divorce the ex-spouses had virtually no contact. (Heskett died in 1951 after being “stabbed in a fight.”[8])

She spent nine months at Firland Sanatorium near Seattle in 1937–1938 for treatment of tuberculosis. On April 24, 1942 she married Donald C. MacDonald (1910–1975) and moved to Vashon Island, where she wrote most of her books. The MacDonalds moved to California's Carmel Valley in 1956.

MacDonald rose to fame when her first book, The Egg and I, was published in 1945. It first appeared as a serialized abridgement in the June through August, 1945, issues of The Atlantic.[9] The book, published on October 3, 1945, was number one on The New York Times non-fiction bestseller list for 43 weeks[7], has sold more than three million copies, and has been translated into 32 languages.[8] Based on her life on the Chimacum Valley chicken farm, the books introduced the characters Ma and Pa Kettle, who also were featured in the movie version of The Egg and I. The characters become so popular a series of nine more films were made featuring them. In the film of The Egg and I, made in 1947, MacDonald was played by Claudette Colbert. Her husband (simply called "Bob" in the book) was called "Bob MacDonald" in the film, as studio executives were keen not to raise the matter of MacDonald's divorce in the public consciousness. He was played by Fred MacMurray.

Although the book was a critical and popular success at publication, it has been criticized for its stereotypical treatment of Native Americans.[10][11] In 2005, a literary critic examining MacDonald’s body of work wrote, “Without overcoming or correcting the racism in Egg, her stories in her subsequent books describe and implicitly advocate the benefits of a multicultural society (especially those available in an urban space like Seattle).[8]

It has also been claimed that The Egg and I "spawned a perception of Washington as a land of eccentric country bumpkins like Ma and Pa Kettle."[12] MacDonald's defenders point out that in the context of the 1940s such stereotyping was far more acceptable. MacDonald faced two lawsuits: by members of a family who claimed she had based the Kettles on them, and by a man who claimed he was the model for the Indian character Crowbar. One lawsuit was settled out of court, while the second went to trial in February 1951. The plaintiffs did not prevail, although the judge indicated he felt they had shown that some of the claims of defamation had merit.[13]

MacDonald also published three other semi-autobiographical books:

  • The Plague and I (1948), describing her nine-month stay at the Firlands tuberculosis sanitarium; the character of Kimi is the writer Monica Sone. MacDonald helped launch Sone’s writing career and appears as “Chris” in Sone’s book Nisei Daughter.[8] Plague was said to be MacDonald’s favorite of her own books.[7]
  • Anybody Can Do Anything (1950), recounting her life in the Depression trying to find work, in the years after she left her husband and moved back in with her mother and sister; this book is notable as “an explicit appreciation of a western place” (Seattle in the 1930s)[8]
  • Onions in the Stew (1955), about her life in a log cabin by the ferry landing on Vashon Island with her second husband and teenage daughters during the war years. The farm, which has a “breathtaking view of Puget Sound, lush fruit trees and bald eagles nesting just outside the windows,” is now a bed and breakfast with a small museum dedicated to MacDonald.[14]

She also wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series of children's books and another children's book, entitled Nancy and Plum, which was described upon publication as being “steeped in the essence of old fairy tales.”[15] Nancy and Plum was reprinted by MacDonald’s daughter Joan and son-in-law in 1998.[16]

A posthumous collection of her writings, entitled Who Me?, was later released.[17]

MacDonald died in Seattle of uterine cancer on February 7, 1958.[18]

Family

All the Bard siblings are deceased.

MacDonald's younger daughter, Joan MacDonald Keil, died in July 2005.

Legacy

MacDonald has been described as “one of the most accomplished and popular humorists of the era.”[19]

In 2007, MacDonald's daughter, Anne MacDonald Canham, published Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, based on stories and characters created by her mother. The book is attributed to both mother and daughter.

On March 13, 2008, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a tribute program, commemorating the 100th anniversary of McDonald's birth.[20] In 2009, BBC Radio 4 also broadcast a reading of MacDonald's book, Anybody Can Do Anything.[21]

In September 2016, Annie Parnell, MacDonald's great-granddaughter, published a follow-up to the series, Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure in conjunction with Ann M. Martin, with illustrations by Ben Hatke.[22]

The Egg & I and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books are still in print from Harper & Row; her other three memoir books have been republished by University of Washington Press.[23]

First have a big mortgage, then lots of coffee.

— Betty MacDonald’s advice to aspiring writers[7]

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Margaret A. Bartlett, "On Our Cover," The Author & Journalist, June 1946.
  • Looking for Betty MacDonald: The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I by Paula Becker, 2016, University of Washington Press
  • Betty: The Story of Betty MacDonald, Author of The Egg and I, by Anne Wellman, 2016, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

References

  1. ^ Paula Becker: Looking for Betty MacDonald. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London 2016, pp. 9 f.
  2. ^ U.S. census of 1910, taken in Placerville, Idaho on May 2 and 3, shows that Elizabeth Bard was three years old.
  3. ^ U.S. census of 1920, taken in Seattle on January 15, 1920, shows that Elizabeth Bard was 12 years old.
  4. ^ U. S. census of 1930, taken in Center, Washington on April 24, 1930, shows that Elizabeth Heskett was 23 years old.
  5. ^ "Betty MacDonald (1907-1958) - Find a Grave..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  6. ^ In the 1930 census Robert and Elizabeth Heskett are noted as having been married for three years
  7. ^ a b c d Reese, Jennifer (2016-10-17). "The plucky author behind the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  8. ^ a b c d e Kraig, Beth (2005). "It's About Time Somebody Out Here Wrote the Truth: Betty Bard MacDonald and North/Western Regionalism". Western American Literature. 40 (3): 237–271. ISSN 0043-3462.
  9. ^ Paula Becker, "Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I is published on October 3, 1945," HistoryLink.org, August 14, 2007. "The Egg and I profile". Archived from the original on 2021-10-03. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  10. ^ Robinson, Ann - Lost Northwest book review: "The Egg and I" Archived 2021-05-01 at the Wayback Machine. Portland Oregonian, November 28, 2008
  11. ^ Barsh, Russell - Bishop, William Sr. (1833-1906) and Sally Bishop Williams (1840-1916) Archived 2021-05-01 at the Wayback Machine. January 25, 2017
  12. ^ "Betty MacDonald profile". HistoryLink. Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-12-23.
  13. ^ "'Egg and I' Author Wins Suit". The New York Times. February 22, 1951. p. 40.
  14. ^ Hurley, Anne. "WASHINGTON; Home is Where Her Heart was; the Farm Where 'Onions in the Stew' Author Betty MacDonald Lived and Wrote Still Exudes a Sense of Simple Abundance." Los Angeles Times, Sep 04, 2011.
  15. ^ Jacobs, Leland B. “Literature’s Plums in the Christmas Pie.” Elementary English 33, no. 8 (1956): 477–85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41384527.
  16. ^ Dan Webster, “‘NANCY & PLUM’ IN PRINT AGAIN AFTER YEARS OFF SHELVES TALE BY LATE BETTY MACDONALD REPUBLISHED BY HER DAUGHTER" Spokesman Review, Mar 08, 1998, pp. E5.
  17. ^ MacDonald, Betty Bard. Who, Me? The Autobiography of Betty Macdonald. [Mit Portr.] (1. Publ.). United Kingdom: Hammond, Hammond, 1960.
  18. ^ "MacDonald's centennial reminds Vashon of her place on the Island". Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber. March 28, 2008. Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-12-23.
  19. ^ Walker, Nancy (1985-03-01) [Spring 1985]. "Humor and Gender Roles: The "Funny" Feminism of the Post-World War II Suburbs". American Quarterly. 37 (1): 98. doi:10.2307/2712765.
  20. ^ "The Egg and I". Archived from the original on 2022-09-14. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  21. ^ "Book at Bedtime". Archived from the original on 2018-10-11. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  22. ^ Conradt, Stacy (September 9, 2016). "Q&A: Ann M. Martin and Annie Parnell from the 'Missy Piggle-Wiggle' Series". Mental Floss. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  23. ^ Eykemans, Thomas (2016-09-07). "Behind the Covers: "Looking for Betty MacDonald" and Three New Editions . . ". University of Washington Press Blog. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
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