Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) Screening

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City is showcasing a film exhibition called "A View from the Vaults: Warner Bros., RKO Pictures, and First National Pictures, Inc." from February 9–24, 2007. This exhibition includes a screening of Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) on Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 3:45 p.m.

The film series includes a "selection of ten enduring films produced by Warner Bros., RKO Pictures, and First National Pictures, Inc., from 1938 through 1949. These films were all recently acquired by the Museum."

"A View from the Vaults" is organized by Anne Morra, the Assistant Curator in the Department of Film.

Here are the descriptions of the 10 featured films:

Jezebel. 1938. USA. Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by Clements Ripley, Abem Finkel, John Huston, based on the play by Owen Davis. With Bette Davis, Henry Fonda. Davis won an Oscar for her iconic portrayal of Julie Marsden, a woman whose assertion of independence is tragically misunderstood in 1850s New Orleans. Larger than life, Julie sets out to win back her lost social standing—but only on her own terms. 104 min. Friday, February 9, 5:45; Saturday, February 17, 6:00. T1

Gunga Din. 1939. USA. Directed by George Stevens. Screenplay by Joel Sayre, Fred Guiol, based on a story by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, adapted from the poem “Gunga Din” by Rudyard Kipling. With Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen. This account of the tragicomic exploits of three members of the French Foreign Legion and their fight against the corrupt Guru in India was voted to the National Film Registry in 1999. 117 min. Saturday, February 10, 1:30; Wednesday, February 21, 6:00. T1

Anne of Windy Poplars. 1940. USA. Directed by Jack Hively. Screenplay by Michael Kanin, Jerry Cady, based on the novel by L. M. Montgomery. With Anne Shirley, Patric Knowles. A follow-up to Anne of Green Gables (1934), this film follows a grown-up Anne as she moves to the remote Canadian town of Pringleton and builds a new life as a teacher at a small provincial school. 86 min. Saturday, February 10, 3:45. T1

They Drive by Night. 1940. USA. Directed by Raoul Walsh. Screenplay by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, based on the novel The Long Haul by Albert Isaac Bezzerides. With George Raft, Ida Lupino. Brothers Joe and Paul Fabrini haul produce from farms in northern California to Los Angeles. They refuse to drive for anyone else, and attempts are made to intimidate them into joining a ruthless competitor’s business. 95 min. Saturday, February 10, 5:30; Monday, February 19, 8:30. T1

The Man Who Came to Dinner. 1942. USA. Directed by William Keighley. Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, based on the play by George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart. With Monty Woolley, Bette Davis. Radio personality Sheridan Whiteside slips and falls on an icy sidewalk in front of the home of a prominent Ohio family. With a broken leg, he cannot be moved—and soon the meddlesome Whiteside is interfering with the lives of his hosts. 113 min. Sunday, February 11, 5:00; Monday, February 19, 6:00. T1

Action in the North Atlantic. 1943. USA. Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Screenplay by John Howard Lawson, based on the story “Heroes without Uniform” by Guy Gilpatric. With Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Massey. In this WWII thriller, Lieutenant Joe Rossi (Bogart) must navigate through enemy-filled waters on the perilous journey from Halifax to Murmansk. 128 min. Monday, February 12, 6:00; Saturday, February 24, 2:00. T1

The Corn Is Green. 1945. USA. Directed by Irving Rapper. Screenplay by Casey Robinson, Frank Cavett, based on the play by Emlyn Williams. With Bette Davis, Nigel Bruce. Schoolteacher Lily Moffat is determined to change the primitive education system in her tiny Welsh mining town. The townsfolk oppose her innovative pedagogy, but they cannot deter Lily from her efforts. 114 min. Monday, February 12, 8:30; Friday, February 16, 5:45. T1

Murder, My Sweet. 1945. USA. Directed by Edward Dmytryk. Screenplay by John Paxton, based on the novel Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler. With Dick Powell, Claire Trevor. Private eye Philip Marlowe is hired to find the missing girlfriend of an ex-convict. This must-see thriller, steeped in film noir atmosphere, features the disappearance of a dame and some dirty double-crossing—not to mention the iconic stature of Marlowe himself. 95 min. Wednesday, February 14, 6:00; Saturday, February 17, 2:00. T1

Flamingo Road. 1949. USA. Directed by Michael Curtiz. Screenplay by Robert Wilder, Edmund H. North, based on the play by Robert Wilder, Sally Wilder. With Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott. Crawford plays Lane Bellamy, a woman with an unfavorable reputation who attempts to climb the social ladder in a sinister Southern town run by a corrupt political boss. 94 min. Wednesday, February 14, 8:00; Saturday, February 17, 4:00. T1

Mighty Joe Young. 1949. USA. Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack. Screenplay by Ruth Rose, based on a story by Merian C. Cooper. With Robert Armstrong, Terry Moore. For twelve years Jill Young has tenderly nurtured her pet gorilla Joe in Tanzania. When a Hollywood promoter arrives and convinces Jill to bring Joe to Tinseltown, the trouble begins. Winner of the 1950 Academy Award for Best Special Effects. 94 min. Thursday, February 15, 6:00; Wednesday, February 21, 8:30. T1

Please visit the MOMA website for further details.

Thank you to Julia Crimmins for sending along this news.

Image credit:
Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) film poster featuring Patric Knowles and Anne Shirley, RKO Pictures.

Created January 21, 2007. Re-posted online June 9, 2022. Last updated June 9, 2022.

Anne of Green Gables U-Haul Truck

When I opened my front door today, I found this Anne of Green Gables U-Haul truck parked right outside my apartment. I took this photograph of it from my doorstep.

The under the illustration of Anne and Green Gables, the side of the truck reads:

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
HOME OF THE LEGENDARY ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
FOYER DE LA LÉGENDAIRE «ANNE DE LA MAISON AUX PIGNONS VERTS»

Seeing the truck made me smile. It's always nice to have a reminder of Prince Edward Island and Anne Shirley.

Here's a crisper view of the Anne Shirley graphic art from the U-Haul website:



Created September 3, 2005. Re-posted online June 10, 2022. Last updated June 10, 2022.

Anne & Gilbert: The Musical (2005)

Anne & Gilbert: The Musical (2005) is a musical based on stories from the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery. The first act of the musical is based on Anne of Avonlea, and the second act is based on Anne of the Island. The story was adapted for the stage by Jeff Hochhauser, Nancy White, and Bob Johnston.

I was fortunate to watch the musical in 2006 at the Harbourfront Theatre in Summerside. It's a wonderful production, and the songs are charming. A CD featuring some of the songs and a book based on the Anne & Gilbert musical are available online.

Purchase the Anne & Gilbert cast recording CD to listen to the music and check out the script and lyrics book:

Created June 23, 2005. Re-posted online March 28, 2021. Last updated March 28, 2021.

Anne of Green Gables Word Search

Enjoy this Anne of Green Gables word search. You can print the image below or download a PDF version of the word search.



Created April 29, 2004. Re-posted online October 24, 2022. Last updated October 24, 2022.

Road to Avonlea (1990-1996)

Road to Avonlea (1990–1996) is a television series produced by Sullivan Entertainment that aired for seven seasons on the CBC. The storylines in Road to Avonlea are based in part on L.M. Montgomery's novels The Story Girl and The Golden Road as well as her short story collections Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea.

Road to Avonlea takes place in the early 20th century in the fictional town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, the home of the Anne of Green Gables novels and Sullivan Entertainment’s Anne of Green Gables miniseries. The series begins when Sara Stanley is sent to live in Avonlea with her mother's family, the Kings, after her father is accused of embezzlement. Sara is a wealthy girl, who is used to life in big city Montreal. She must adjust to new experiences in a small village and her close-knit relatives.

Over the course of the series, its focus expanded from Sara to the rest of the King family and residents of Avonlea. Like other productions by Sullivan Entertainment, Road to Avonlea is humorous, romantic, and heart-warming. Its visually beautiful with a talented cast.

Road to Avonlea was a celebrated television series, winning 15 Gemini Awards and three Emmys. It aired in the United States on the Disney Channel with the title Avonlea. The series concluded after airing 91 episodes. Following the series finale, the Road to Avonlea cast reunited in a 1998 made-for-television film called Happy Christmas, Miss King (also known as An Avonlea Christmas). Set in 1914, the storyline was set during the first World War.

Image credit:
The Road to Avonlea photograph above features (from left to right) the characters Cecily King (Harmony Cramp), Olivia King (Mag Ruffman), Janet King (Lally Cadeau), Felicity King (Gema Zamprogna), Alec King (Cedric Smith), Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley), and Hetty King (Jackie Burroughs). © Sullivan Entertainment

External link:
Road of Avonlea: The Official Website

Purchase and watch all seven seasons of Road to Avonlea:

Created November 23, 2002. Re-posted online March 12, 2022. Last updated March 12, 2022.

Anne of Green Gables (1956)

In March 1956, Anne of Green Gables was broadcast as a black and white television musical film by the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC). The 90-minute program aired as part of the CBC Folio series. The musical was based upon L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables and starred Toby Tarnow as Anne Shirley.

The musical film was directed by Don Harron, a Canadian actor, comedian, author, composer, director, and journalist. It written by James Costigan and Harron. Two years later, a second CBC-TV production aired on November 18, 1958, starring Kathy Willard as Anne Shirley. The 1956 television production was the basis for the stage production Anne of Green Gables - The Musical, which has been performed every summer since 1965 at the Charlottetown Festival in Prince Edward Island, Canada. This musical is the longest-running stage musical in Canada.

Image Credit:
"Anne of Green Gables in Hollis" by Michael Cleveland, Merrimack Journal, December 30, 2005.

Created August 15, 2002. Re-posted online June 12, 2021. Last updated June 12, 2021.

Anne of Avonlea (1940)

In 1940, James Reach, writing under the pseudonym Jeanette Carlisle, adapted L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Avonlea into a play titled Anne of Avonlea: A Comedy in Three Acts. This play was the first dramatization of Anne of Avonlea written for the stage. It was published by Samuel French, Inc., the same company that printed the 1937 stage adaptation of Anne of Green Gables by Wilbur Braun (pseudonym Alice Chadwicke).

James Reach (1909–1970) was an American playwright who wrote under several pseudonyms. Along with writing under the name Jeanette Carlisle, he also published plays under the names Hilda Manning, John Rand, and Thomas Sutton. Reach wrote many comedies, mystery-comedies, and dramatic plays, including The Wagon To The Star, Women in White, Afraid of the Dark, Blind Gambit, and Life Begins at Sixteen.

In the opening pages of Anne of Avonlea (1940), the "Story of the Play" states,

"Here is the first dramatization of L. M. Montgomery’s famous novel which has been read and loved by millions since its publication more than thirty years ago. The play is in one simple living-room set, with most of the characters young ones, and should appeal particularly to clubs, schools and churches. Its heroine is the same adorable little red-headed vixen whose acquaintance so many of you have made in 'Anne of Green Gables.' But the little girl of 'Green Gables' has become a grown-up school teacher of seventeen. How she faces and overcomes the first real problems of her life form the basis of Miss Carlisle’s faithful adaptation, of which it may be said, as Meredith Nicholson said of the original, 'A story to lift the spirit and send the pessimist into bankruptcy!'"

The story involves Anne’s experiences teaching at the Avonlea School, her friendships with Diana and Gilbert, her neighbor Mr. Harrison, and her work with the Avonlea Village Improvement Society to beautify Avonlea. The introductory “Story of the Play” states, “Miss Carlisle has magically blended these into a whole that will capture and hold your interest from curtain to curtain, that will bring you much wholesome laughter and a few sentimental tears...”

Anne of Avonlea by Jeanette Carlisle is available for purchase and licensing through Concord Theatricals, which acquired Samuel French, Inc. in 2018.

Created August 15, 2002. Re-posted online June 17, 2022. Last updated June 17, 2022.

Anne of Green Gables (1937)

In 1937, Wilbur Braun, under the pseudonym Alice Chadwicke, adapted L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables into a three-act play. This play was the first dramatization of Anne of Green Gables written for the stage. It was published by Samuel French, Inc.

Wilbur Braun (1894-1968) was an American playwright who wrote under over 50 pseudonyms. He was a prolific writer known for his dramatic and comedic stage adaptations, including Great Expectations, Pudd'nhead Wilson, Davy Crockett, Tish, and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.

In the opening pages of Anne of Green Gables (1937), the "Story of the Play" states, "for years this fascinating book has headed the list of best sellers. It has been printed and reprinted, has been made twice as a movie, once as a silent picture and only recently as a talkie, but it has remained for the distinguished dramatist, Alice Chadwicke, to make the first and only dramatization of this magically beautiful story."

The dedication of the play reads:

TO
L.M. MONTGOMERY,

who created the most lovable heroine
the world of fiction has ever known,
this play is most earnestly dedicated.

ALICE CHADWICKE.

Anne of Green Gables by Alice Chadwicke is available for purchase and licensing through Concord Theatricals, which acquired Samuel French, Inc. in 2018.

Purchase and read the Anne of Green Gables (1937) play script:

Created August 15, 2002. Re-posted online April 7, 2021. Last updated April 7, 2021.