Mrs. Miniver

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Mrs. Miniver was a fictional character created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns for The Times, later adapted into a movie of the same name.

1 Origin
2 Book publication
3 Film adaptations
4 Television Adaption
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Origin

The Times columns were short reflections on everyday life, based in part on Struther's own family and experiences. While the columns started out as lighthearted domestic scenes where the outside world barely intruded, the approach of World War II slowly brought darker global concerns into Mrs. Miniver's world. One of the more memorable pieces appears near the middle of the series, where the Minivers get gas masks.

[edit] Book publication

The columns were first published in book form in 1939, shortly after the outbreak of war. Struther stopped the regular newspaper columns that year, but wrote a series of letters from Mrs. Miniver, expanding on the character's wartime experiences. These were published in later editions.

The book became an enormous success, especially in the United States, where Struther went on a lecture tour shortly after the book's release.

Although the US was still neutral, the tribulations of the Miniver family as war with Nazi Germany arrived engaged the sympathy of the American public sufficiently that President Franklin D. Roosevelt credited it for hastening America's involvement in the war, and Winston Churchill claimed that it had done more for the Allied cause than a flotilla of battleships. (Actually Churchill is quoted by Bernard Wasserstein, in his book "Barbarism and Civilization", as saying that the book (and later the film) was worth.."six divisions of war effort". The bottom line of the thought is however the same.)

[edit] Film adaptations

Main article: Mrs. Miniver (film)

The film adaptation of Mrs. Miniver was produced by MGM in 1942 with Greer Garson in the leading role and William Wyler directing. Under the influence of the American Office of War Information, the film attempted to undermine Hollywood's prewar depiction of England as a glamorous bastion of social privilege, anachronistic habits and snobbery in favour of more democratic, modern images. To this end, the social status enjoyed by the Miniver family in the print version was downgraded and increased attention was given to the erosion of class barriers under the pressures of wartime.
- The film exceeded all expectations, grossing $5,358,000 in North America (the highest for any MGM film at the time) and $3,520,000 abroad. In Britain, it was named the top box office attraction of 1942. 555 of the 592 film critics polled by American magazine Film Daily named it the best film of 1942.
A sequel to Mrs Miniver, The Miniver Story was made by the same studio in 1950 with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprising their original roles. The characters were based on those in the original film, but their creator, Jan Struther, did not participate in the sequel.