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Edna Ferber
(1885 - 1968 )
Page finalised 9th October, 2010.
Just ONE page on the Collecting Books and Magazines web site based in Australia.
Thanks to Jo Robins and Sue Tredrea for this page.

Edna Ferber was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A., but grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin. Her first ambition was to become an actress. However, at the age of 17, when her father went blind, she took a newspaper job with the Appleton Daily Crescent and went on to become a playwright and to write books about the colourful life of America in the 1800’s. Much of her work became successful films and Show Boat was made into a popular musical comedy.

Bibliographical information has been assembled from several sources and may not be complete.

1911 Dawn O’Hara
1912 Buttered Side Down (stories)
1913 Roast Beef Medium: The Business Adventures of Emma McChesney and Her Son Jock
1914 Personality Plus: Some Experiences of Emma McChesney
1915 Emma McChesney & Co.
1917 Fanny Herself
1918 Cheerful, By Request (stories)
1920 Half Portions
1921 The Girls
1922 The Gigalo [re-released 1923 as Among those present]
1924 So Big 1925 PULITZER PRIZE

1926 Show Boat
1927 Mother Knows Best
1930 Cimarron
1931 American Beauty
1933 They Brought Their Women (stories)
1935 Come and Get It
1938 Nobody’s in Town (includes Trees Die At The Top)
1939 A Peculiar Treasure Autobiography
1941 No Room at the Inn (stories)
1941 Saratoga Trunk
1945 Great Son
1947 One Basket Thirty-One Stories
1952 Giant

1958 Ice Palace
1963 A Kind of Magic Autobiography

Plays

1915  Our Mrs McChesney (with George S. Kaufman)
????   $1200 a Year (with Newman Levy)
????   Minick (with George S. Kaufman)
1925   The Eldest: A drama of American Life
1927   The Royal Family (with George S. Kaufman)
1932   Dinner at Eight (with George S. Kaufman)
1936   Stage Door (with George S. Kaufman)
1941   The Land is Bright (with George S. Kaufman)

Film links

Book date Film versions
1924  So Big 1925, 1932, 1953
  • 1953 Blockbuster rating *** ½
    CAST Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, Nancy Olson, Steve Forrest, Martha Hyer, Tommy Rettig DIRECTOR Robert Wise 101m
1926  Show boat 1929, 1936, 1951
  • 1936 Blockbuster rating *** ½
    has Helen Morgan in role of Julie, the mulatto who is the target of racism and Paul Robeson performing "Old Man River" ALSO STARRING Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winniger, Hattie McDaniel DIRECTOR James Whale 113 m
  • 1951 Blockbuster rating ****
    CAST Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Joe E. Brown, Marge Champion, Gower Champion, Agnes Moorhead, William Warfield  DIRECTOR George Sidney 115m
1930  Cimarron 1931, 1960
  • 1931 Blockbuster rating *** ½
    First Western to win BEST PICTURE OSCAR, also won BEST SCREENPLAY OSCAR
    STARRED Richard Dix and Irene Dunne  DIRECTOR Wesley Ruggles 125m
  • 1960 Blockbuster rating *** ½
    CAST Glenn Ford, Maria Schell, Anne Baxter, Arthur O’Connell, Russ Tamblyn, Mercedes McCambridge,Vic Morrow, Anne MacMahon DIRECTOR Anthony Mann
1935  Come and Get It 1936
  • Blockbuster rating ****
    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR OSCAR - Walter Brennan
    CAST Edward Arnold, Joel McCrea, Frances Farmer, Walter Brennan, Andrea Leeds
    DIRECTOR Howard Hawks, William Wyler 99m
1941  Saratoga Trunk 1945
  • Blockbuster rating ***
    CAST Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Flora Robson, Jerry Austin, John Warburton, Florence Bates DIRECTOR Sam Wood 135m
1952  Giant 1956
  • Blockbuster rating *****
    BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR - George Stevens
    CAST Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Sal Mineo 202m
1958  Ice Palace 1960
  • Blockbuster rating ***
    CAST Richard Burton,Robert Ryan, Carolyn Jones, Martha Hyer, Ray Danton
    DIRECTOR Vincent Sherman 143m
1927  The Royal Family (with George S. Kaufman) 1930 FILM TITLE The Royal Family Of Broadway
  • Blockbuster rating ****
    CAST Fredric March, Ina Claire, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crossman, Charles Starrett, Arnold Korff, Frank Conroy
    DIRECTOR George Cukor, Cyril Gardner 82m
1932  Dinner at Eight (with George S. Kaufman) 1933, 1990
  • 1933 Blockbuster rating *****
    CAST John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Lee Tracy, Billie Burke, Edmund Lowe, Jean Hersholt, Madge Evans
    DIRECTOR George Cukor 111m
  • 1990 Blockbuster rating *** Television remake
    CAST Lauren Bacall, Charles Durning, Ellen Greene, Harry Hamlin, John Mahoney, Marsha Mason DIRECTOR Ron Lagomarsino 95m
1936  Stage Door (with George S. Kaufman) 1937
  • Blockbuster rating *****
    CAST Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adophe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Ann Miller
    DIRECTOR Gregory LaCava 92m
    Has Hepburn’s signature line, "The calla lillies are in bloom again."
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