Loading AI tools
American writer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Betty MacDonald | |
|---|---|
 Betty Bard at Roosevelt High, 1923 | |
| Born | Anne Elizabeth Campbell Bard March 26, 1907 Boulder, Colorado, U.S. |
| Died | February 7, 1958 (aged 50) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Genre | Autobiography, Children's literature |
| Notable works |
|
| Spouses | Robert Eugene Heskett
(m. 1927; div. 1931)Donald C. MacDonald
(m. 1942) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Mary Bard (sister) |
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 Harvard-educated mining engineer Darsie Bard and his wife Elsie Sanderson, called Sydney.[5] Betty had three sisters: Mary Bard, Dorothea Bard, and Alison Bard; and one brother, Sydney Cleveland Bard. In adulthood, MacDonald's sister Mary Bard (Jensen) was also a published author. (Another sister, Sylvia, died in infancy.) Betty Bard spent her childhood in Mexico, Montana, and Idaho.[6]
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 attended the University of Washington for one year[7] before she married Robert Eugene Heskett (1895–1951) at age 20 in July 1927;[8] 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.[9] Upon returning to Seattle, 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.”[10] 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.
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.[11] The book, published on October 3, 1945, was number one on The New York Times non-fiction bestseller list for 43 weeks[9] International Pictures bought the movie rights for $100,000 in 1946.[12]
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. 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.
MacDonald also published three other semi-autobiographical books:
She also wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series of children's books and another children's book, Nancy and Plum, which was described upon publication as being “steeped in the essence of old fairy tales.”[17]
The MacDonalds moved to California's Carmel Valley in 1956. MacDonald returned to Seattle in September 1957 for cancer treatment and died there of uterine cancer on February 7, 1958.[18][6]
A posthumous collection of her writings, entitled Who, Me?: The Autobiography of Betty MacDonald, was later released.[19]
All the Bard siblings are deceased. MacDonald's younger daughter, Joan MacDonald Keil, died in July 2005.
MacDonald has been described as “one of the most accomplished and popular humorists of the era.”[20]
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.[21] In 2009, BBC Radio 4 also broadcast a reading of MacDonald's book, Anybody Can Do Anything.[22]
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.[23]
The Egg & I and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books are still in print from Harper & Row; her other three memoir books have been republished multiple times, most recently by University of Washington Press.[24] Nancy and Plum was reprinted by MacDonald’s daughter Joan and son-in-law in 1998.[25] A new edition with illustrations by Mary GrandPré has since been issued by Yearling.
First have a big mortgage, then lots of coffee.
— Betty MacDonald’s advice to aspiring writers[9]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
