August 18, 1943: "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" Is Published

August 18, 1943: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith is published. It becomes one of the best-loved novels of the 1940s.

Elisabath Lillian Wehner was born on December 15, 1896, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. She grew up in a tenement there, at 702 Grand Street, which would become the setting for her novel. Despite already being published in school publications, she had to drop out after the 8th grade, to go to work to support the family. This was in 1911, the year of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: There were very few protections for the poor.

She worked for the U.S. Postal Service, and volunteered at the Jackson Street Settlement House. There, she met a fellow German-American, George Smith, who had changed the family's name from Schmidt. They married in 1919, and settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where George was studying at the University of Michigan. They had 2 daughters, and, although Betty was a dropout, she was allowed to take classes at Michigan without actually being admitted as a student, where she honed her writing skills.

She wrote plays that were staged at the University, and later worked for the Federal Theatre Project. George got a job teaching at the University of North Carolina, and it was at Chapel Hill that Betty began writing a novel she was titling They Lived in Brooklyn. It was rejected by several publishers, until 1942, when Harper and Brothers told her they would publish it if she trimmed it down. She did.

The novel has 5 "Books," running out of sequence. Book Two begins in 1900. Johnny Nolan is an immigrant from Ireland, and Katie from Austria. They meet and marry in Brooklyn. Matching Betty's own story, they have a daughter, Francie, and a son, Cornelius or "Neeley." They have to move around the Williamsburg neighborhood due to Johnny's drinking, settling in the Grand Street apartment.

Book One opens in 1912, and Francie is 11 (making her 4 years younger than her creator), while Neeley is 10. Johnny is a singing waiter, but always loses jobs due to his drinking. So the family's main source of income is Katie's job as a maid. Despite this, Katie idolizes her father.

Book Three reveals that Katie is pregnant with a 3rd child. Johnny is sure that he won't be able to provide for 3 children, and he goes on a bender that results in his death on Christmas Day 1915. (Betty's real father, John Wehner, died from the same cause on December 21, 1913.) His life insurance keeps the family going, and the baby is a girl, Annie.

As in real life, Book Four shows Francie and Neeley dropping out before high school to get jobs. Coming into a little money, Katie decides that Francie is doing a good job self-educating, while Neeley will only learn if he is forced to, so Katie sends only Neeley to high school. In 1918, Katie remarries, to a retired police officer, now a wealthy businessman.

Book Five shows Francie following her creator's path, finding a husband and heading off to the University of Michigan. This, plus Katie's new marriage, means the family leaves the apartment where Francie and Neeley grew up. Francie notes that Neeley is now a professional jazz musician, following their father's love of music. For the last time, she notices a tree that she had watched grow, despite local efforts to have it cut down.

During World War II, it was natural for people to turn to nostalgia, to search for a time that seemed simpler, because they were children, and didn't have the responsibilities that the adults had at the time. Some longed for the party atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties; others, for the pre-World War I days, before so many illusions were shattered in the trenches of Europe and brought back to the home front newspapers. So this book, set from the Theodore Roosevelt "Progressive Era" to the end of World War I, caught fire with the public, and it became the best-selling novel of the World War II years.

The novel was filmed in 1945, directed by Elia Kazan. As Francie, Peggy Ann Garner won a Special Academy Award for Outstanding Child Actress. In 1951, it was adapted as a Broadway musical, starring Shirley Booth, and 12-year-old Nomi Mitty as Francie. In 1974, it was made into a TV-movie, with Cliff Robertson as father Johnny, and Pamelyn Ferdin (best known as Felix's daughter Edna Unger on The Odd Couple) as Francie.

Betty Smith published 3 more novels, but, combined, they didn't sell as much as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She married 3 times, the 1st 2 ending in divorce, and the 3rd ending in her husband following her father into an alcohol-induced death. With her 1st husband, she had 2 daughters. She died in 1972.

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August 18, 1943 was a Wednesday. Italian soccer legend Gianni Rivera and American comedian Martin Mull were born on this day. And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees were swept in a doubleheader by the Cleveland Indians, 9-8 and 7-5 at League Park in Cleveland. They almost came back in the opener, scoring 5 runs in the 9th inning, but it wasn't quite enough. In the nightcap, it was the Tribe's turn to come back in the 9th, scoring 3 runs to tie the game. Each team scored a run in the 13th inning. Jeff Heath hit a home run to win it in the bottom of the 14th.

* A doubleheader was split at the Polo Grounds. The New York Giants lost the 1st game to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-6. Pete Coscarart singled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. The Giants won the 2nd game, 3-2. Over the 2 games, Giants player-manager Mel Ott went 2-for-3 with a home run... and 4 walks.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers were swept by the Chicago Cubs in a doubleheader, 7-5 and 15-6 at Ebbets Field.

* A doubleheader was split at Braves Field in Boston. The Boston Braves won the 1st game, 4-3. The Cincinnati Reds won the 2nd game, 5-0. Bucky Walters pitched a 7-hit shutout.

* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 1st game, 6-0. Howie Krist pitched a 5-hit shutout. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 2nd game, 6-3.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (The ballpark was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Hal White pitched a 4-hit shutout. Rudy York drove in the only run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 1st inning.

* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Chicago White Sox won the 1st game, 3-2. This one also went 14 innings, with Guy Curtright singling home Ralph Hodgin. The Washington Senators won the 2nd game, 4-2.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Bob Muncrief pitched a 5-hit shutout.