My Foolish Heart (film)
Encyclopedia
My Foolish Heart is a 1949 American film which tells the story of a woman's reflections on the bad turns her life has taken. It was directed by Mark Robson
and stars Dana Andrews
and Susan Hayward
. Adapted from J. D. Salinger
's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
", it remains the only authorized film adaptation of Salinger's work; the filmmakers' infidelity to his story famously precluded any possibility of film versions of other Salinger works, including The Catcher in the Rye
.
" came to nothing, J. D. Salinger did not hesitate when independent producer Samuel Goldwyn
offered to buy the film rights to "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." His agent Dorothy Olding later explained this uncharacteristic relinquishing of control with the simple statement that “we thought they would make a good movie."
Indeed, "a good movie" would seem to have been implied by the production’s pedigree, which included Oscar-winning actress Teresa Wright
and Casablanca
screenwriters Julius J. Epstein
and Philip G. Epstein
. (Some years earlier, Salinger had actually referenced Casablanca
in his 1944 short story "Both Parties Concerned
"; one of its characters, upon learning his wife has left him, re-enacts the "Play it, Sam" scene from the film with an imaginary pianist.) However, the eventual film, renamed My Foolish Heart and with Susan Hayward
replacing Wright at the last minute, was critically lambasted upon its release.
The New Yorker
wrote that it was "full of soap-opera clichés," and, while allowing for "some well-written patches of wryly amusing dialogue," Time
rejected it as a "damp fable....the screenplay turns on all the emotional faucets of a Woman's Home Companion serial." Goldwyn biographer A. Scott Berg
explained that “in the Epsteins’ version, more than had ever been suggested [in the original story] was shown, resulting in a ‘four handkerchief’ movie with a farfetched plot." Berg even called the film a “bastardization.” Because of what Salinger's agent later called "'a terrible movie' made in the 1950s [sic]" of one of his stories, the author never again relinquished control of his work to Hollywood filmmakers, despite persistent interest in adapting his most famous work, The Catcher in the Rye
, for the screen.
Despite a critical drubbing, the film was nominated for Academy Awards
for Best Actress in a Leading Role
(Susan Hayward) and Best Music, Song (Victor Young
and Ned Washington
for the title song
, sung by Martha Mears
), which has become a jazz standard. Although in recent years the film's standing has not improved (Christopher Durang
called it "a soggy love story" in 1996), the film critic Andrew Sarris
has notably defended the film. Sarris admitted that it was his deceased brother's favorite film and much of the movie's appeal for him is nostalgic.
Mark Robson
Mark Robson was a Canadian-born film editor, film director and producer in Hollywood.-Career:Born in Montreal, Quebec, he moved to the United States at a young age. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles then found work in the prop department at 20th Century Fox studios...
and stars Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...
and Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
. Adapted from J. D. Salinger
J. D. Salinger
Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980....
's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" is a short story by J. D. Salinger, which appears in his collection Nine Stories. It was originally published in the March 20, 1948 issue of The New Yorker....
", it remains the only authorized film adaptation of Salinger's work; the filmmakers' infidelity to his story famously precluded any possibility of film versions of other Salinger works, including The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major...
.
Cast
- Dana AndrewsDana AndrewsDana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...
: Walt Dreiser - Susan HaywardSusan HaywardSusan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
: Eloise Winters - Kent SmithKent SmithKent Smith was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theater, and television.Born Frank Kent Smith in New York, New York, Smith made his acting debut on Broadway in 1932 in and, after spending a few years there, moved to Hollywood, California, where he made his film debut in The...
: Lewis H. Wengler - Lois Wheeler : Mary Jane
- Jessie Royce LandisJessie Royce LandisJessie Royce Landis was an American actress.-Career:She was born Jessie Royce Medbury in Chicago, Illinois. Landis was a stage actress for much of her career...
: Martha Winters - Robert KeithRobert KeithRobert Keith was an American stage and film actor who appeared in several dozen films, mostly in the 1950s as a character actor.-Early life and career:...
: Henry Winters - Gigi PerreauGigi PerreauGigi Perreau, , is an American actress.-Biography:She achieved success as a child actress in a number of films. She played the daughter of Claude Rains and Bette Davis's characters in the 1944 film Mr. Skeffington. In Shadow on the Wall , she starred as the sole witness to a murder...
: Ramona - Karin Booth : Miriam Ball
- Todd KarnsTodd KarnsTodd Karns was an American actor perhaps best remembered for playing Harry Bailey, the younger brother of George Bailey in the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life....
: Escort - Phillip PinePhillip PinePhillip Pine was an American film and television actor, writer, director, and producer....
: Sergent Lucey - Martha MearsMartha MearsMartha Mears Martha Mears was the female singing voice in the renditions of "White Christmas" in the movie Holiday Inn , and for two of Lucille Ball's songs in the MGM musical version of DuBarry Was a Lady...
: Nightclub Singer - Edna Holland : Dean Whiting
- Jerry ParisJerry ParisJerry Paris was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie, on The Dick Van Dyke Show.-Life and career:...
: Usher - Marietta Canty : Grace
- Barbara Woodell : Red Cross receptionist
- Regina Wallace : Mme Crandall
Reception
After being disappointed, according to biographer Ian Hamilton, when "rumblings from Hollywood" over his 1943 short story "The Varioni BrothersThe Varioni Brothers
"The Varioni Brothers" is a short story by J. D. Salinger, first published in the Saturday Evening Post on July 17, 1943. Joe Varioni is a sensitive artist whose attempts at writing the "Great American Novel" are thwarted by the manipulations of his brother Sonny who forces him to write music...
" came to nothing, J. D. Salinger did not hesitate when independent producer Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
offered to buy the film rights to "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." His agent Dorothy Olding later explained this uncharacteristic relinquishing of control with the simple statement that “we thought they would make a good movie."
Indeed, "a good movie" would seem to have been implied by the production’s pedigree, which included Oscar-winning actress Teresa Wright
Teresa Wright
Teresa Wright was an American actress. She received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1942 for her performance in Mrs. Miniver. That same year, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for her performance in Pride of the Yankees opposite Gary Cooper...
and Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
screenwriters Julius J. Epstein
Julius J. Epstein
Julius J. Epstein was an American screenwriter, who had a long career, best remembered for the adaptation - in partnership with his twin brother, Philip, and others - of the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's that became the screenplay for the film Casablanca , for which its team of writers...
and Philip G. Epstein
Philip G. Epstein
Philip G. Epstein was an American screenwriter most known for his adaptation in partnership with his twin brother, Julius, and others, of the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's which became the Academy Award-winning screenplay of the film Casablanca .Epstein was born in New York City and...
. (Some years earlier, Salinger had actually referenced Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
in his 1944 short story "Both Parties Concerned
Both Parties Concerned
"Both Parties Concerned" is a short story by J. D. Salinger, first published in the Saturday Evening Post on February 26, 1944. The story chronicles a young couple's struggles to mature from adolescence and the conflicts they encounter raising a baby....
"; one of its characters, upon learning his wife has left him, re-enacts the "Play it, Sam" scene from the film with an imaginary pianist.) However, the eventual film, renamed My Foolish Heart and with Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
replacing Wright at the last minute, was critically lambasted upon its release.
The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
wrote that it was "full of soap-opera clichés," and, while allowing for "some well-written patches of wryly amusing dialogue," Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
rejected it as a "damp fable....the screenplay turns on all the emotional faucets of a Woman's Home Companion serial." Goldwyn biographer A. Scott Berg
A. Scott Berg
Andrew Scott Berg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer. After graduating from Princeton University in 1971, Berg expanded his senior thesis, about editor Maxwell Perkins, into a full-length biography. Maxwell Perkins: Editor of Genius won a National Book Award, and his second book,...
explained that “in the Epsteins’ version, more than had ever been suggested [in the original story] was shown, resulting in a ‘four handkerchief’ movie with a farfetched plot." Berg even called the film a “bastardization.” Because of what Salinger's agent later called "'a terrible movie' made in the 1950s [sic]" of one of his stories, the author never again relinquished control of his work to Hollywood filmmakers, despite persistent interest in adapting his most famous work, The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major...
, for the screen.
Despite a critical drubbing, the film was nominated for Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Susan Hayward) and Best Music, Song (Victor Young
Victor Young
Victor Young was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He was born in Chicago.-Biography:...
and Ned Washington
Ned Washington
Ned Washington was an American lyricist.-Biography:Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962...
for the title song
My Foolish Heart (song)
"My Foolish Heart" is a popular song that was published in 1949.The music was written by Victor Young and the lyrics by Ned Washington. The song was introduced by the singer Martha Mears in the 1949 film of the same name. The song failed to escape critics' general laceration of the film...
, sung by Martha Mears
Martha Mears
Martha Mears Martha Mears was the female singing voice in the renditions of "White Christmas" in the movie Holiday Inn , and for two of Lucille Ball's songs in the MGM musical version of DuBarry Was a Lady...
), which has become a jazz standard. Although in recent years the film's standing has not improved (Christopher Durang
Christopher Durang
Christopher Ferdinand Durang is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s.- Life :...
called it "a soggy love story" in 1996), the film critic Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris is an American film critic and a leading proponent of the auteur theory of criticism.-Career:Sarris is generally credited with popularizing the auteur theory in the U.S...
has notably defended the film. Sarris admitted that it was his deceased brother's favorite film and much of the movie's appeal for him is nostalgic.
External links
- "Who Killed Salinger Movies?", an analysis of the differences between Salinger's story and the film