Bright Leaf (novel): Difference between revisions
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In 1949 professional dancer [[Foster Fitzsimmons]]'s first novel '''Bright Leaf''' was a financial and critical success.<ref name=TheCigaretteLighter/><ref name=NorthCarolinaReviewBooks/> The novel is named after a strain of [[Tobacco]] called [[Bright Leaf (Tobacco)|"Bright Leaf"]]. Two rival families that grow this strain of Tobacco are engaged in an intense rivalry.<ref name=nytimes1948-10-03/> The scion of one family defeats the other family when he industrializes the manufacture of [[cigarettes]], replacing hand rolled cigarettes with cheaper cigarettes rolled by machine. | In 1949 professional dancer [[Foster Fitzsimmons]]'s first novel '''Bright Leaf''' was a financial and critical success.<ref name=TheCigaretteLighter/><ref name=NorthCarolinaReviewBooks/> The novel is named after a strain of [[Tobacco]] called [[Bright Leaf (Tobacco)|"Bright Leaf"]]. Two rival families that grow this strain of Tobacco are engaged in an intense rivalry.<ref name=nytimes1948-10-03/> The scion of one family defeats the other family when he industrializes the manufacture of [[cigarettes]], replacing hand rolled cigarettes with cheaper cigarettes rolled by machine. | ||
Revision as of 07:32, 31 August 2022
In 1949 professional dancer Foster Fitzsimmons's first novel Bright Leaf was a financial and critical success.[1][2] The novel is named after a strain of Tobacco called "Bright Leaf". Two rival families that grow this strain of Tobacco are engaged in an intense rivalry.[3] The scion of one family defeats the other family when he industrializes the manufacture of cigarettes, replacing hand rolled cigarettes with cheaper cigarettes rolled by machine.
Popular director Michael Curtiz made a feature film, based on the novel, in 1950, also name "Bright Leaf", starring Patricia Neal, Lauren Bacall, and Gary Cooper.[4]
In 2003 director Ross McElwee released a personal documentary entitled Bright Leaves, in which he traces the family tradition that the book and film were inspired by a rivalry between his Great-grandfather and the leader of the wealthy Duke family of Tobacco planters, best known today for founding Duke University.[5][6][7]
References
- ↑ Jack Pendarvis. The Cigarette Lighter, Bloomsbury Publishing, p. 15, 51-52, 111. Retrieved on 2022-08-30.
- ↑ William T. Polk. REVIEW OF NORTH CAROLINA BOOKS OF THE YEAR, The North Carolina Historical Review, April, 1950, p. 200-204 (5 pages). Retrieved on 2022-08-30.
- ↑ Lawrence Lee. Tobacco Is King!; BRIGHT LEAF. By Foster Fitz-Simans. 631 pp. New York: Rinehart & Co. 63.50., New York Times, 1948-10-03, p. Book 25. Retrieved on 2022-08-30.
- ↑ Bosley Crowther. THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; 'Bright Leaf,' With Gary Cooper as Tobacco Magnate, New Bill at Strand Theatre, New York Times, 1950-06-17, p. L7. Retrieved on 2022-08-30.
- ↑ Stephen Holden. FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW; Tapestry of a Family and Its Home State, New York Times, 2003-10-11, p. B16. Retrieved on 2022-08-30. “McElwee family lore has it that the movie, directed by Michael Curtiz and adapted from a novel by Foster Fitz-Simons, is the story of his great-grandfather. And it prompts Mr. McElwee to embark on an eccentric quest to document the connection. He obsessively reruns the movie and interviews a film scholar, Vlada Petric, along with Ms. Neal and the original novelist's widow.”
- ↑ James Ryerson. FILM; Cigarettes, Gary Cooper And Me, New York Times, 2004-08-22. Retrieved on 2022-08-30. “The film is set in motion when Mr. McElwee learns of the existence of a 1950 Hollywood melodrama called Bright Leaf, starring Gary Cooper, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal, about a rivalry between two tobacco growers in post-Civil War North Carolina. At the suggestion of a cousin, Mr. McElwee becomes convinced that the character played by Cooper is based on his great-grandfather, John Harvey McElwee, a North Carolina tobacco tycoon who was ruined and run out of the business by his nemesis, James Buchanan Duke (whose legacy would encompass both the American Tobacco Company and Duke University.)”
- ↑ FILM REVIEW; Romance of Tobacco Brought to Life, New York Times, 2004-08-25, p. E4. Retrieved on 2022-08-30. “His great-grandfather was a tobacco king who created the Bull Durham brand, then lost his fortune to a rival clan, the Dukes, who became North Carolina royalty. Through a cousin who collects vintage films and movie memorabilia, he becomes fixated on a 1950 black-and-white melodrama, Bright Leaf, about the tobacco wars of the late 19th century, starring Gary Cooper, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal.”