The Egg and I

277 pp. "The Egg and I, first published in 1945, is a humorous memoir by American author Betty MacDonald about her adventures and travails as a young wife on a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. It was a blockbuster success as a novel, being reprinted on a nearly monthly basis for the next two years, and was adapted into a movie and short-lived TV series, starring Patricia Kirkland, with Nancy Carroll as her mother (Carroll was Kirkland's real mother). The movie, starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, was the inspiration for a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride. The series was television's first comedy serial, which aired on CBS from September 3, 1951 to August 1, 1952. The length of each episode was 15 minutes. The book is based on the author's experiences in trying to operate a small chicken farm with her first husband Robert Heskett from 1927 to 1931 near Chimacum, Washington. On visits with her family in Seattle, she told stories of their tribulations, which greatly amused them. In the 1940s, MacDonald's sisters strongly encouraged her to write a book about these experiences and, following their advice, she wrote The Egg and I as her first book. First published by the J. B. Lippincott Company on October 3, 1945, The Egg and I received laudatory reviews and soon appeared on the best-seller list. In April 1946 Universal-International announced the purchase of the film rights for The Egg and I for a downpayment of $100,000 plus a percentage of profits. Contracts were signed with Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray for the lead roles with production scheduled for the fall of 1946. On September 12, 1946, the specially-bound one-millionth copy of the book was presented to MacDonald by Washington Governor Monrad Wallgren at a luncheon in Seattle. The movie The Egg and I, directed by Chester Erskine and produced by Fred Finklehoffe, began showing in theaters on April 24, 1947. The first offshoot film, Ma and Pa Kettle, appeared in theaters in August 1949." -- Wikipedia