- Betty Smith
Betty Smith, née Elisabeth Wehner (
December 15 1896 -January 17 ,1972 ), was an American author.Infobox writer
name = Elisabeth Lillian Wehner
pseudonym = Betty Smith
awards =
caption =
birthdate = birth date|1896|12|15|mf=y
birthplace =Brooklyn ,New York ,United States
deathdate = death date and age|1972|1|17|1896|12|15|mf=y
deathplace =Shelton, Connecticut ,United States
occupation = Writer
notableworks = "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"Biography
Born in
Brooklyn, New York to German immigrants, she grew up poor inWilliamsburg, Brooklyn . These experiences served as the framework to her first novel, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1943).After marrying George H. E. Smith, a fellow Brooklynite, she moved with him to Ann Arbor,
Michigan , where he pursued a law degree at theUniversity of Michigan . At this time, she gave birth to two girls and waited until they were in school so she could complete her higher education. Although Smith had not finished high school, the university allowed her to enroll in classes. There she honed her skills in journalism, literature, writing, and drama, winning a prestigiousHopwood Award . She was a student in the classes of Professor Kenneth Thorpe Rowe.In 1938 she divorced her husband and moved to Chapel Hill,
North Carolina . There she married Joseph Jones in 1943, the same year in which "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was published. She teamed withGeorge Abbott to write the book for the 1951 musical adaptation of the same name. Throughout her life, Smith worked as a dramatist, receiving many awards and fellowships including theRockefeller Fellowship and theDramatists Guild Fellowship for her work in drama. Her other novels include "Tomorrow Will Be Better" (1947), "Maggie-Now" (1958) and "Joy in the Morning" (1963).Bibliography
* "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1943)
* "Tomorrow Will Be Better" (1947)
* "Maggie-Now" (1958)
* "Joy in the Morning" (1963)Film credits
* 1945—"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"—directed by
Elia Kazan , featuring James Dunn,Joan Blondell , andDorothy McGuire
* 1965—"Joy in the Morning"—directed byAlex Segal , featuringRichard Chamberlain andYvette Mimieux External links
* [http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/s/Smith,Betty.html Betty Smith Papers Inventory] , in the
Southern Historical Collection , UNC-Chapel Hill
* [http://web.njit.edu/~cjohnson/tree/index.html A Tree Grows in Brooklyn] online dissertation by Carol Siri Johnson
* [http://www.witsend.org/gen/BettySmith.htm Betty Smith] Betty Smith's childhood and ancestry
* [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/brooklyn/ SparkNotes summary]
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