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Dear Betty MacDonald fan club,
i am a huge fan of Betty's; I read "The Egg and I" when
I was a teenager and have always loved her books. I am glad you have
taken the time and made the effort to promote her memory through your
society, such a personality as Betty was should not be forgotten.
I'm
sure there are very many of her fans worldwide who like me, have many
questions and are very curious about what happened to her family in the
years after Betty's death.
I did receive Wolfgang Hampel's books 'The Kettles' Million Dollar Egg', 'The Egg and Betty' and 'The Tragic End
of Robert Heskett' and found them very funny and so interesting.
I think
Betty was caught between a rock and a hard place at the trial. Writers
are allowed a certain "creative license" and she may have embellished
her characters a bit to make a good story, but of course she didn't want
to lose the case, either. So she claimed some of her story was
fictional. But I still believe she drew those characters from her life;
good writers write about what they know and experience and it is obvious
to me that her richly drawn characterizations of the Kettles and other
families while she lived on the chicken farm were true for the most
part. Even if parts of the story were fictionalized, I will always be
grateful to her for writing some of the funniest and most unforgettable
books I have ever read. She will always be my favorite humorist and I
only wish she could have lived longer so she could have given the world
more opportunities to enjoy her unique talent. Thank you for the second
installments of the story.
I'm so happy to gain more knowledge about
Betty's life and her experiences during the trial. Now I understand why
the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce said there were still some hard
feelings toward Betty by some of the people in the area. You would think
that after all this time, though, it really wouldn't matter anymore. I
guess some people can hold a grudge forever! I don't think Betty ever
intended to malign anyone. She wrote from her experiences, and if she
embellished a bit, that is her right as a creative artist. Her
characterizations were indeed devastating, weren't they? And so very
funny.
A hundred years from now her books will still be uniquely
humorous. What a personality she was.
When my husband and I took the
trip to Port Townsend last summer in search of "The Egg and I Road" I
wondered why there was no marker. The letter from the nice gentleman who
lives on the old homestead in Chimacum partly answered that question. I
wondered why the descriptions of the mountains in "The Egg and I"
didn't match what I saw on Egg and I Road, and that question too was
answered by Betty's testimony in the trial.
I believe that Port Ludlow,
Chimacum and Port Townsend were exactly as she described them. She may
have had to stretch the truth a bit in the trial, but what else could
she have done. It's indeed ironic that the Kettles were forced to live
on EGG AND I Road. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM43RE_EGG_I_ROAD
Another funny anecdote to her story. I especially enjoyed Kimi's defense of Betty in her letter.
In this age of "political correctness" which I find very tiresome,
Kimi's letter was well thought out and well written. Betty was certainly
not a racist. In "The Plague and I" Betty stands up for black people,
and Kimi, who was Japanese, was her best friend. It was very different 70+ years ago but some people forget that.
It is so nice that so many
people remember and care about Betty and try to keep her memory alive.
Thank you for all your good works in her behalf. I agree that there
should be more to commemorate Betty's life and her accomplishments, at
least some kind of marker or memorial. At least they did name the "Egg
and I Road" after her book.
I hope you can visit Washington state
someday and take the ferry over to Vashon Island. It really is a
beautiful, lushly green island with marvelous views in every direction.
I
don't think Betty gets the recognition she deserves in this country
partly because of the unfortunate atmosphere of "political correctness"
(p.c.) that pervades the U.S.A. right now. Betty was critical of native
Americans (Indians) in her book and that is a "no no" in the minds of
many of the powers that be. They don't stop to consider that she was
writing from the perspective of over 50 years ago or give her credit for
her uniquely talented style and the marvelous, timeless humor of her
writing.
She really is one of America's best humorists and fortunately
many people all over the world do recognize this. I think her books will
be read and re-read through the ages. There are so many young people
that are becoming aware of her books now, and that really encourages
me...they will keep her memory going.
I agree with you that "The Egg
& I" is one of the funniest books ever written. I remember laughing
so hard I was gasping for breath and almost fell off the couch the first
time I read it! I was about fourteen years old then. I have re-read it
many times and never tire of it, I believe it is timeless.
Perhaps
you have heard of the town of Leavenworth? It is at the foothills of the
Cascades, and is a world famous Bavarian style village, very
picturesque. They have Autumn Fest, Maifest, and Christmas lighting
celebrations and people come from all over the world to visit. They have
many German craftsman living in the area, contributing their talents to
the many shops in town. They have dancers, complete with lederhosen and
full old-world Bavarian dress, performing in the open square during the
summertime celebrations. Wonderful food of every description; I love
their bratwurst and sauerkraut, bought from the street vendors. If you
are interested in learning more about the village, you can reach the
site at http://www.leavenworth.org/ It is well worth an online visit!
Betty MacDonald February 1951
"I
have had letters from people all over the world - from England and from
Bavaria - telling me that the Kettles lived next door to them.
I am
looking forward to reading more of your society's publications about
Betty and her life. She was such an unique personality, I will always
love her and her books, they have given me so much pleasure and laughter
over the years.
It is so good to know she has fans worldwide!
Keep up the good work and stay in touch.
Yours in Betty's memory,
Connie
you can join
on Facebook
Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen
Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel -
Wolfgang Hampel - DBpedia ( English / German )
Wolfgang Hampel - people check ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Memim ( English )
Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )
Wolfgang Hampel - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle - Wikipedia ( English)
Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD
Betty MacDonald fan club items
Betty MacDonald fan club items - comments
Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I
Betty MacDonald fan club groups
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Greta Larson
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
I did receive the Betty MacDonald fan club CD.
It sounds like the
interviewer, Wolfgang Hampel, Alison Bard Burnett and daughter Alison Beck were having a
hilarious time.
It was wonderful to hear them talking and it gives me an
idea of what talking to the entire Bard family must've been like.
Betty's voice was very feminine and she sounded like she would've been a
fun person to know.
I LOVE Betty's word pictures and how she
describes a setting or situation. The Kettles were certainly among the
funniest parts for me. I loved her description of Paw Kettle coming to
the table wearing a coatdress and manure-covered boots. I also loved her
description of Bob's conversation with Maw Kettle while Maw was
comfortably seated in the outhouse, reading the Sears, Roebuck
catalog. Betty is able to find humor in adversity. Also, I do think that
people can see their own families and people they know in her
characterizations.
My favorites are The Egg & I because her
writing was so excellent and fresh and Onions In the Stew because she
was happy then. I've just seen The Egg & I and 2 of the Kettle
movies. My mom has all of them and I borrowed hers. The Egg & I was
too idealized by Hollywood. Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray were
lovely actors, but way too perfect looking to be real life chicken
farmers. It was a fun family movie though. The Kettle movies are funny
but again, they are pretty sanitized by Hollywood. I watched the one
where Paw Kettle wins a brand new house for the family. It was
entertaining.
Thank you for inviting me to comment and for reading
through my ramblings.
Best wishes to you in your continued study of
Betty MacDonald and her writings.
You have done a fantastic job in
putting together all this information and I had a lot of fun reading it.
Now I will read it again and catch some of the parts I didn't retain
the first time!
Regards,
Lorinda
Betty MacDonald loved in Germany
Axel Schappei The Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber June 16, 1983
Go
into any ordinary German bookstore and ask for former Islander, Betty
MacDonald's paperbacks and you'll be handed - at least - three books:
Die Insel und ich ( Onions in the Stew ), Das Ei und ich ( The egg and I
) Betty kann alles (Anybody can do anything).
Scholars in the Pegasus
German courses on the Island may notice that the German titles of Betty
MacDonald's famous autobiographical novels have been translated
appropriatley.
Betty would like them. Betty MacDonald, who lived on Vashon Island, is tremendously popular in Germany. She once was one of
the most well known and widely read novelists in the United States. But
would you guess that more than two million paperbacks and hard-cover
books of Betty MacDonald have been published and sold in Germany during
the last 30 years?
Her bestseller The Egg and I reached about half a
million in July 1981. From March 1964 until October 1980, 107000 copies
of Anybody can do anything were sold in 12 editions. Onions in the Stew -
her novel about living on the Rock - sold 103000 copies from May 1964
until September 1980, also in 12 editions. "She is incredibly
successful, really, not only her novels. Her books for children like
Nancy and Plum or the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle-Stories still belong to the
most successful childrens' books after all those years," says Wolfgang Hampel, who is so convinced about Betty MacDonald.
He simply loves Betty
MacDonald and her books: "She's so homorous, her stories about
everyday-life's and awkward situations are just incomparable. It's like a
good friend taking you be the hand and leading through her life."
That's why Wolfgang Hampel and four other German Betty Fans plan to
launch an extensive exhibition about Betty MacDonald, her life and her
work.
Originally they wanted to open the exhibit on February 7, 1983,
25th anniversary of Betty MacDonald's death. But the five friends didn't
manage to get enough exhibits together. "We're still looking for
pictures, photographs, letters - in short all sorts of personal
mementoes about Betty. Our exhibition has been planned for the last few
years and we have written zillions of letters and bought hundreds of
books, here in Germany, Europe and from the States," explains Wolfgang Hampel.They tried to get further information about their preferred
author from American publishing companies. "Some didn't answer and
others know less than we did already! It was like finding the different
pieces of a jigsaw-puzzle without knowing what it will look like in the
end."
Why all this activity?"We think that Betty MacDonald is such a
fascinating person that many people here should know more about her .
Apart from our endeavors to our exhibition together we've also been in
contact with publishers to convince them that a new edition of Nancy and
Plum would find its readers still today.
Betty MacDonald's readers come
from all ages and social groups," says Wolfgang Hampel. Of course he
and his friends know that Vashon is the Onions in the Stew Island and
they also know that Vashon is part of the Pacific Northwest and - more
specifically - of Puget Sound. So imagine their amusement when some
publishing firms told them that Vashon is somewhere up to Alaska.
Actually, Wolfgang Hampel knows quiete a lot about the Rock, though he's
never been here. All his information comes from Betty MacDonald's
Onions in the Stew. So he's got the idea of the terrific view of Mount Rainier, and he also knows about her coyness.
Wolfgang Hampel has a
pretty good impression about the house where Betty lived with her folks.
"What we dearly need for our exhibition are pictures of the Island,
books all sort of visuals to show people here in what a beautiful
scenery Betty lived. So people can understand that she simply had to
write books like that in such a fascinating rural enviroment.
Wolfgang
would be grateful for any help he could get from the Island. "Really,
the most substantial help came from Vashon so far. We got some great
personal impressions about Betty from Islanders who knew her."Wolfgang
is amazed about the friendliness and amount of help and encouragement
that reached him from the Rock. Still it's a long way until the
exhibition is ready.
Anyone with anything they'd like to send for the
planned exhibition can write to Wolfgang Hampel.
you can join
on Facebook
Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen
Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel -
Wolfgang Hampel - DBpedia ( English / German )
Wolfgang Hampel - people check ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Memim ( English )
Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )
Wolfgang Hampel - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle - Wikipedia ( English)
Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD
Betty MacDonald fan club items
Betty MacDonald fan club items - comments
Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I
Betty MacDonald fan club groups
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Greta Larson
photo: Bernd Kunze
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica on August 29, please.
It will be a great event with famous writer Wolfgang Vater and outstanding Friedrich von Hoheneichen.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club fans from all over the World are very interested in Wolfgang Hampel's interviews, stories and poems.
You'll be able to read some of Wolfgang Hampel's new satirical stories and poems in our next Betty MacDonald Fan Club magazine.
Wolfgang Hampel is journalist, author, artist and poet.
He
is the winner of the first Betty MacDonald Memorial Award.
As
we all know Wolfgang Hampel founded Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty
MacDonald Society in 1983.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club has members in 40
countries.
Wolfgang Hampel visited all the places where Betty MacDonald and her family lived.
Wolfgang
Hampel's new Betty MacDonald documentary of Betty MacDonald's life in
Boulder, Butte, Seattle, Laurelhurst, Chimacum, Vashon Island, Carmel
and Carmel Valley is really fascinating. My personal favourites are
scenes of Betty's and Don's life in Carmel and Carmel Valley.
Wolfgang
Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald Biography, interviewed Betty
MacDonald's family and friends and many other famous artists and
writers, for example Astrid Lindgren, Truman Capote, J. K. Rowling, Maurice Sendak, David Guterson, Donna Leon, Ingrid Noll, Marie Marcks, William Cumming, Walt Woodward and Betty MacDonald
Fan Club Honour Members Monica Sone, Letizia Mancino, Darsie Beck and Gwen Grant.
Wolfgang Hampel is also very well known for his satirical poems and stories.
We
are going to share Wolfgang Hampel's work with many fans from all over
the world who adore his Betty MacDonald Biography and unique Betty
MacDonald Interviews.
Wolfgang Hampel's monthly literary event introducing writers and musicians is very successful Vita Magica.
Viele Betty MacDonald Fan Club
Fans aus der ganzen Welt sind sehr an Wolfgang Hampels Interviews,
Geschichten und Gedichten interessiert.
Sie
können einige von Wolfgang Hampels neuen satirischen Geschichten und
Gedichten im nächsten Betty MacDonald Fan Club Magazin lesen.
Wolfgang Hampel ist Journalist, Autor, Künstler und Poet.
Er
ist der Träger des ersten Betty MacDonald Gedächtnispreises.
Wie wir alle wissen gründete Wolfgang Hampel 1983 den
Betty MacDonald Fan Club und die Betty MacDonald Society.
Der Betty
MacDonald Fan Club hat Mitglieder in 40 Ländern.
Wolfgang Hampel besuchte alle Orte wo Betty MacDonald und ihre Familie lebte.
Wolfgang
Hampels neue Betty MacDonald Dokumentation über Betty MacDonalds Leben
in Boulder, Butte, Seattle, Laurelhurst, Chimacum, Vashon, Carmel und
Carmel Valley ist wirklich faszinierend. Ein Höhepunkt sind Szenen von
Bettys und Dons Leben in Carmel und Carmel Valley. Wolfgang
Hampel, Autor der Betty MacDonald Biografie, interviewte Betty
MacDonalds Familie und Freunde und viele andere berühmte Künstler und
Schriftsteller, z.B. Astrid Lindgren, Truman Capote, J. K. Rowling, Maurice Sendak, Donna Leon, David Guterson, Marie Marcks, Ingrid Noll, William Cumming, Walt Woodward und Betty MacDonald
Fan Club Ehrenmitglieder Monica Sone, Letizia Mancino, Darsie Beck und Gwen Grant.
Wolfgang Hampel ist auch sehr bekannt für seine satirischen Gedichte und Geschichten.
Wir
werden Wolfgang Hampels Werk den vielen Fans aus aller Welt vorstellen,
die seine Betty MacDonald Biografie und die einzigartigen Betty
MacDonald Interviews schätzen.
Wolfgang Hampels sehr erfolgreiche Vita Magica ist eine monatliche literarische Veranstaltung und stellt Schriftsteller und Musiker vor.
Thomas
you can join
on Facebook
Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen
Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel -
Wolfgang Hampel - DBpedia ( English / German )
Wolfgang Hampel - people check ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Memim ( English )
Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )
Wolfgang Hampel - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle - Wikipedia ( English)
Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD
Betty MacDonald fan club items
Betty MacDonald fan club items - comments
Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I
Betty MacDonald fan club groups
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Greta Larson
