Two little girls dominated their particular eras of family entertainment. Both actresses came to define the term "child star." Both actresses starred in film adaptations a very popular children's books : Shirley Temple in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and Haley Mills in Pollyanna. Both novels were written by prolific writers who are all but forgotten today, but in their era were two of YA's most successful authors - Kate Douglas Wiggin and Eleanor H. Porter. Both Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Pollyanna are enduring characters of a similar nature who both personify, yet rise above typical adolescent female literary characters.
Kate Douglas Wiggin was born September 28,1856 in Philadelphia. She had a happy childhood with her parents and her younger sister Nora, until her father died. Her widowed mother moved herself and her daughters to Maine. Kate was intelligent and talented in both writing and music. Her mother remarried an educator who oversaw Kate's education.
In 1873 the family moved to Santa Barbara due to her stepfather's poor health. Kate relocated to San Francisco to enroll in a teaching program. Kate saw a need for education among San Francisco's poor and immigrant communities, and started a free kindergarten. When she married in 1881, Kate quit teaching us was the custom. She remained dedicated to fundraising for her various kindergartens. After her writing career became lucrative, she used the profits to fund various educational programs and children's charities.
Kate's first husband died unexpectedly ; the two had no children. In 1894 she married again and Kate and her second husband traveled the world. They made their home in Maine and Kate wrote prolifically. She died in 1923. Kate Douglas Wiggin left a rich legacy in the world of children's education.
Eleanor Emily Hodgman was born in Littleton, New Hampshire on December 9th, 1868. Like Kate Douglas Wiggin, Eleanor Porter was talented in both music and writing at an early age. Both women's educations were sporadic - Eleanor H. Porter left high school due to poor health and finished her education via private tutors. Eleanor H. Porter married a businessman and for 10 years the couple lived various places before settling in Cambridge Massachusetts. They did not have children. After pursuing music for several years Eleanor H. Porter began a writing career that turned out to be prolific and successful. Eleanor H. Porter died May 5th 1920. Her most popular character, Pollyanna, lent her name to slang for an unflaggingly and (somewhat annoyingly) optimistic person.
Both Kate Douglas Wiggins' and Eleanor H Porter's Rebecca and Pollyanna are similar in nature and backstory. Pollyanna is an orphan while Rebecca has a poor family with too many children for her widowed mother to take care of. Both girls go to live with relations unknown to them in an unfamiliar place. Rebecca has two aunts while Pollyanna has one ; but Rebecca's Aunt Miranda and Pollyanna's Aunt Polly are stern and reluctant to take in a child, but do so as a matter of family duty. Rebecca has a friend and confident in her Aunt Jane, and Pollyanna in her Aunt's maid Nancy. Both girls meet townsfolk, make friends, and become interwoven in town life. Overall both Rebecca and Pollyanna are pleasant, kind, and well liked. Their stories diverge in that Rebecca grows to young womanhood in the course of her novel. Rebecca wants to become a teacher and writer. Aunt Miranda's death gives Rebecca a monetary inheritance as well as farmland to sell to a developer. All of this makes Rebecca financially independent - closing the book on a happy ending.
Pollyanna's story is a bit darker than Rebecca's. Pollyanna has always played The Glad Game - a way to find something to be glad about even in the bleakest of times. The game started when Pollyanna, hoping for a doll from the Christmas barrel, gets crutches. YIKES! Talk about a bummer and brilliant foreshadowing. When Pollyanna is given a tiny attic room with no pictures, she's glad she can see the whole town from her window - cuz kids are into voyeurism? Pollyanna's situation seems dire to modern readers but considering kids as young as 10 worked long hours at back breaking factory jobs, looking out an attic window in a mansion seems like a dreamy way to live. Pollyanna is hit by a car and temporarily loses the use of her legs. She refuses to play the glad game. Icy Aunt Polly thaws out enough to call her old beau, Dr. Chilton, to help Pollyanna walk again. The town rallies behind Pollyanna, Aunt Polly and Dr. Chilton re-kindle their romance, and Pollyanna goes to a clinic to heal. Not as heartwarming as Rebecca and her wads of cash, but don't worry about Pollyanna. The novel had several sequels and was translated into eight languages.
Both novels were adapted to the screen several times. In 1917 Mary Pickford at age 25 played Rebecca ; in 1920 a 28 year old Mary Pickford played Pollyanna - portrayed as age 11 in the book. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm's most famous adaptation was overhauled into a vastly different story to showcase child star Shirley Temple. (Keen eyes will recognize a young Rose deWitt Bukater - Gloria Stewart from Titanic.) Pollyanna's most well known adaptation came in 1960 and brought forth the next most legendary child star - Haley Mills.
Both Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Pollyanna had an important message - life is hard to anyone who lives, regardless of age. Bleakness and despair gets a person nowhere. Both Kate Douglas Wiggin and Eleanor H. Porter saw hardship and disparity around them and use their writing to combat the difficulty they observed. Kate Douglas Wiggin fought society's ills by opening schools. Eleanor H. Porter use social commentary in her novels, disguising social concerns as stories for children, making them easier to understand. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Pollyanna have been made irrelevant in today's world but should be dusted off and revisited as quaint reminders that even in the darkest of times, hope can get you through.
ARTICLES :
Friends of Mt. Auburn. "Eleanor H. Porter (1968-1920)." Mount Auburn Cemetary, 5 May 2012.
Eleanor H. Porter. Wikipedia.
Kate Douglas Wiggin. Wikipedia.
FURTHER READING :
Pollyanna ~ Eleanor H. Porter
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm ~ Kate Douglas Wiggin
FURTHER VIEWING :
Pollyanna ~ IMDb
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm ~ IMDb
VIDEOS :
Pollyanna {clip of Mary Pickford - entire film available on youtube}
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm {clip of Mary Pickford - entire film available on youtube}
