Old Man Minick

Old Man Minick is a short story by American author Edna Ferber first published in 1922. It was adapted into Minick, a Broadway play staged in 1924, as well as the 1925 silent film Welcome Home, the 1932 film The Expert, and the 1939 film No Place to Go.

Background

In the 1910s and 1920s, women's magazines published fiction by well-known writers, including Edith Wharton, Somerset Maugham, and Edna Ferber.[1] During this era, the short story "Old Man Minick" was one of a variety of works first published serially in women's periodicals and then developed into plays and film.[1] Ferber was inspired to write the story after listening to three old men on a park bench in Washington Park in Chicago as they talked about life.[2]

Plot

The story is set in Chicago in the early 20th century, where a seventy year-old widower, Jo Minick, has to learn how to live, after the unexpected death of his wife, to whom he had been married for forty years. Following her death he goes to live with his son, George and daughter-in-law, Nettie. He joins a club in Washington Park, where he meets with other widowers. The group is divided in their opinions as to which are happier, those who live with their children and those who live in aged care facilities. One day Minick overhears Nettie telling her friends that she can't have a child because she is looking after her father-in-law. Soon after Minick tells Nettie that he is moving to a nursing home and Nettie realises that he has heard her conversation. The story ends with Minick discovering that he enjoys his life at the old people's home because he has his freedom to do what he wants.

Play

The story was adapted into the 1924 Broadway play, Minick, by Ferber and George S. Kaufman,[3][4][5] and published by Doubleday, Page & Company, in 1924.[6]

The play had an African American actress, Emma Wise, cast as the Minicks' maid.[7][8] This was unusual for plays of the segregation era.[8] O. P. Heggie portrayed Minick in the 1924 show.[3][9]

Film adaptations

Famous Players–Lasky adapted the play into the 1925 silent film Welcome Home, directed by James Cruze.[10] Warner Brothers produced the 1932 film The Expert.[11][12] In 1939, Terry O. Morse directed the adaptation No Place to Go, starring Dennis Morgan.

Publication history

The story was republished in Ferber's 1947 short story collection One Basket,[13] and the 1955 anthology, The Golden Argosy: The Most Celebrated Short Stories in the English Language.[14]

References
  1. Wood, Bethany (December 2014). "Gentlemen Prefer Adaptations: Addressing Industry and Gender in Adaptation Studies". Theatre Journal. 66 (4): 559–579. doi:10.1353/tj.2014.0120. S2CID 143677872. ProQuest 1641640954
  2. Granger, Bill (July 9, 1995). "FERBER'S WRITING JUST ROLLED ALONG Series: CHICAGO"S LITERARY LEGACY. This is the ninth in an occasional series of excerpts and brief biographies of great writers who have used Chicago as the backdrop and, frequently, the soul of their works". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 283970662
  3. "New Plays". TIME Magazine. October 6, 1924 – via EBSCOhost.
  4. "The Great Collaborator". New York Times. November 13, 1966. ProQuest 117661981
  5. Goldfarb, Sheldon (2016). Critical Survey of American Literature. Salem Press. p. 926 – via EBSCOhost.
  6. Ferber, Edna (1924). Old Man Minick. A Short Story. By Edna Ferber. Minick. A Play Based on the Short Story. By E. Ferber and George S. Kaufman, Etc. London – via Google Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. Negro Yearbook 1925-26 by Monroe Work Tuskegee Institute 1925
  8. Meredith, Scott (1974). George S. Kaufman and His Friends. Doubleday. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-385-01566-0.
  9. "O. P. Heggie". Playbill.com. 2023-01-10. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  10. Hall, Mourdant (May 18, 1925). "Minick". New York Times. ProQuest 103477269
  11. "Old Man Minick". The New York Times. February 27, 1932.
  12. "The New Pictures". TIME Magazine. March 7, 1932 – via EBSCOhost.
  13. MacBride, James (February 16, 1947). "Thirty-One by Ferber: ONE BASKET. Thirty-one Short Stories. By Edna Ferber". New York Times. ProQuest 107847108
  14. The Golden Argosy: A Collection of the Most Celebrated Short Stories in the English Language door Charles Grayson (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-01-10.
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