''Old Man Minick'' is a short story by American author

Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), ''Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' Cim ...

first published in 1922. It was adapted into ''

Minick ''Minick'' is a three-act Broadway play written by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, based on Ferber's 1922 short story "Old Man Minick", that opened on September 24, 1924. Producer Winthrop Ames staged it at the Booth Theatre on Broadway, wit ...

'', 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 Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

, and

. 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. 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.

Plot

The story is set in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in the early 20th century, where a seventy year widower, Jo Minick, has to learn how to live, after the unexpected death of his wife, with whom he had been married to 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 the 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, ''

'', by Ferber and

George S. Kaufman George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889June 2, 1961) was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and others. ...

, and published by Doubleday, Page & Company, in 1924. The play had an African American actress, Emma Wise, cast as the Minicks' maid. This was unusual for plays of the segregation era.

O. P. Heggie Oliver Peters Heggie ( Otto Peters Heggie; 17 September 1877 – 7 February 1936), billed as O. P. Heggie, was an Australian film and theatre actor best known for portraying the hermit who befriends the Monster in the film ''Bride of Frankenstei ...

portrayed Minick in the 1924 show.

Film adaptations

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and t ...

adapted the play into the 1925

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

'' Welcome Home'', directed by

James Cruze James Cruze (born James Cruze Bosen; March 27, 1884 – August 3, 1942) was a silent film actor and film director. Early years Cruze's middle name came from the battle of Vera Cruz. He was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

produced the 1932 film '' The Expert''. In 1939,

Terry O. Morse Terry O. Morse (January 30, 1906 – May 19, 1984) was an American film director and editor. He is perhaps best known for directing the American scenes in ''Godzilla, King of the Monsters!'', the "Americanized" version of the 1954 Japanese ...

directed the adaptation '' No Place to Go'', starring

Dennis Morgan Dennis Morgan (born Earl Stanley Morner, December 20, 1908 – September 7, 1994) was an American actor-singer. He used the acting pseudonym Richard Stanley before adopting the name under which he gained his greatest fame. According to one obi ...

Publication history

The story was republished in Ferber's 1947 short story collection ''One Basket'', and the 1955 anthology, ''

The Golden Argosy ''The Golden Argosy: The Most Celebrated Short Stories in the English Language'' is an anthology edited by Charles Grayson and Van H. Cartmell, and published by Dial Press in 1955. It is famous for being the favorite book of novelist Stephen Ki ...

: The Most Celebrated Short Stories in the English Language''.

References

External links

Minick
on

IBDB The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade assoc ...

. {{authority control 20th-century American literature Short stories Serials (publishing) Short stories adapted into plays Short stories adapted into films 1924 plays Plays set in Chicago Plays by Edna Ferber Plays by George S. Kaufman Broadway plays American plays adapted into films Comedy plays