Heaven to Betsy and Betsy in Spite of Herself
Page 42
“Make it sound thrilling.”
“I will.”
“Of course,” Betsy said, “that winding hall keeps right on winding. Only now it takes an even bigger turn. We’re practically juniors. Can you realize that?”
“To be frank, no,” Tacy said. “Good-by, Betsy. See you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning,” Betsy said.
Maud Hart Lovelace and Her World
(Adapted from The Betsy-Tacy Companion: A Biography
of Maud Hart Lovelace by Sharla Scannell Whalen)
Maud Palmer Hart circa 1906
Estate of Merian Kirchner
MAUD HART LOVELACE was born on April 25, 1892, in Mankato, Minnesota. Shortly after Maud’s high school graduation in 1910, the Hart family left Mankato and settled in Minneapolis, where Maud attended the University of Minnesota. In 1917 she married Delos W. Lovelace, a newspaper reporter who later became a popular writer of short stories. The Lovelaces’ daughter, Merian, was born in 1931.
Maud would tell her daughter bedtime stories about her childhood in Minnesota, and it was these stories that gave her the idea of writing the Betsy-Tacy books. She did not intend to write an entire series when Betsy-Tacy, the first book, was published in 1940, but readers asked for more stories. So Maud took Betsy through high school and beyond college to the “great world” and marriage. The final book in the series, Betsy’s Wedding, was published in 1955.
The Betsy-Tacy books are based very closely upon Maud’s own life. “I could make it all up, but in these Betsy-Tacy stories, I love to work from real incidents,” Maud wrote. This is especially true of the four high school books. We know a lot about her life during this period because Maud kept diaries (one for each high school year, just like Betsy) as well as a scrapbook during high school. As she wrote to a cousin in 1964: “In writing the high school books my diaries were extremely helpful. The family life, customs, jokes, traditions are all true and the general pattern of the years is also accurate.”
Almost every character in the high school books, even the most minor, can be matched to an actual person living in Mankato in the early years of the twentieth century. (See “Chapter 28” for a list of characters and their real-life counterparts.) But there are exceptions. As Maud wrote: “A small and amusing complication is that while some of the characters are absolutely based on one person—for example Tacy, Tib, Cab, Carney—others were merely suggested by some person and some characters are combinations of two real persons.” For example, the character Winona Root is based on two people. In Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown and Winona’s Pony Cart, Maud’s childhood friend Beulah Hunt was the model for Winona. The Winona Root we encounter in the high school books, however, was based on Maud’s high school friend Mary Eleanor Johnson, known as “El.”
Another exception is the character Joe Willard, who is based on Maud’s husband, Delos Wheeler Lovelace. In real life, Delos did not attend Mankato High School with Maud. He was two years Maud’s junior, and the two didn’t meet until after high school. But as Maud said, “Delos came into my life much later than Joe Willard came into Betsy’s, and yet he is Joe Willard to the life.” This is because Maud asked her husband to give her a description of his boyhood. She then gave his history to Joe.
Maud eventually donated her high school scrapbook and many photographs to the Blue Earth County Historical Society in Mankato, where they still reside today. But she destroyed her diaries sometime after she had finished writing the Betsy-Tacy books, in the late 1950s. We can’t be sure why, but we do know that, as Maud confessed once in an interview, they “were full of boys, boys, boys.” She may not have felt comfortable about bequeathing them to posterity!
Maud Hart Lovelace died on March 11, 1980. But her legacy lives on in the beloved series she created and in her legions of fans, many of whom are members of the Betsy-Tacy Society and the Maud Hart Lovelace Society. For more information, write to:
The Betsy-Tacy Society
P.O. Box 94
Mankato, MN 56002-0094
www.betsy-tacysociety.org
The Maud Hart Lovelace Society
277 Hamline Avenue South
St. Paul, MN 55105
www.maudhartlovelacesociety.com
About Heaven to Betsy
Heaven to Betsy is based on Maud’s freshman year at Mankato High School from 1906 to 1907. Maud remembered that time well and incorporated many of her adventures into the book.
In 1904 Maud’s father, Tom Hart, was elected Blue Earth county treasurer. By 1906 he had sold his shoe store and, as Maud recalled, moved the family “up Fifth Street in order to be nearer the Court House and the high school Kathleen and I attended.” Mr. Hart’s election to the position of county treasurer and the sale of the store are not mentioned in the book, but Maud found out about the new house in much the same way as Betsy does.
Maud’s house at 428 South Fifth Street, Mankato, was the inspiration for the High Street house in Deep Valley.
Maud Hart Lovelace Archives
Unlike Betsy and Margaret, who each have their own rooms in the High Street house, Maud and her little sister, Helen, shared this bedroom. Maud is shown here at her desk; the inscription under the photo reads, “Genius is burning.”
Estate of Merian Kirchner
Maud’s parents, Tom and Stella Hart, appear to have had as loving a relationship as Mr. and Mrs. Ray do.
Estate of Merian Kirchner
Maud’s older sister, Kathleen.
Estate of Merian Kirchner
The Harts did have a hired girl named Anna, but only for a short time. Here she is with Maud’s little sister, Helen.
Collection of Minnesota Valley Regional Library
There really was an Anna who worked for the Harts, although she did not stay with the family as long as the fictional Anna stayed with the Rays. And Maud did learn about a freckle-removing cream and Magic Wavers from her before she left. In response to a question from a fan, Maud wrote: “Our hired girl Anna told me about them, just as I said in the story. I tried them, too, but I never lost the freckles and there was really nothing magic in those curlers, for a sprinkle of rain took my curls away.” (Of course, Magic Wavers really were popular hair curlers of the era.)
The two school societies described in the book, Philomathian and Zetamathian, had been established at Mankato High School the year before Maud began her freshman year. The yearbook from 1912 describes the function of the Zetamathian Society in this way: “The purpose is to give the students a literary training, and all the students must belong to this society or to the Philomathian. The members of the society must attend the meetings unless excused by the teacher in charge. The meetings are held the fourth Friday in each month, when a literary program is given.” Such societies were common in turn-of-the-century high schools.
Deep Valley High School…
…looks very much like Mankato High School.
1895 Atlas
Maud and Bick probably tried to get back seats in the Assembly Room, just like Betsy and Tacy do on the first day of school.
1912 Otaknam
Marney Willard and Connie Davis were photographed together shortly before Connie’s departure from Mankato, just like Carney and Bonnie.
Estate of Merian Kirchner
The institution of Sunday Night Lunch is first mentioned in this book, although it was actually a custom of long standing in the Hart family. As Maud explained, the tradition began soon after the birth of her younger sister, Helen, in order to give her mother a break from cooking. Maud once said: “I loved to put down how many boys came to Sunday Night Lunch each week. You would think from my diary that they came to see me, but that was far from being the case. I wasn’t the attraction. To this day when I meet some of those boys, grandfathers now, of course, they look at me dreamily and say, ‘Oh Maud, I can still remember your father’s onion sandwiches.’”
Maud once remarked that her high school diaries were filled with “boys, boys, boys.” And the
y were! Mike Parker, the model for Tony Markham, moved to Mankato in 1906, so he certainly qualified as a dark stranger (although he wasn’t tall). And Maud did go to the freshman dance with “Herbert Humphreys,” whose real name was Helmus Andrews. The typed note of invitation was pasted into Maud’s high school scrapbook and is nearly identical to Herbert’s note in the book:
Dear, dear Maud;
It makes no difference to me which way you take the following. Will you accompany me to the High School this evening? My mother said she was going along too and I am glad because then you cant [sic] flirt with me. Of course you will have to pay your own way. If you will answer this and if affirmmative [sic] tell me when to call. I remain
Yours truly,
Helmus W. Andrews
Jab Lloyd was the model for boy next door Cab Edwards.
Blue Earth County Historical Society
The handsome Herbert Humphreys was based on Helmus Andrews.
Collection of Billie Andrews
Betsy’s Tall Dark Stranger, Tony Markham, was based on Mike Parker.
Collection of Elizabeth Miller
Like Betsy, Maud’s crowd suffered the loss of three members toward the end of her freshman year: Connie Davis (Bonnie) and the Andrews (Humphreys) brothers left Mankato in 1907. In spite of these losses, however, Maud’s crowd survived—evolving and expanding—through her high school years and beyond.
Maud at sixteen
Estate of Merian Kirchner
About Betsy in Spite of Herself
MAUD’S SOPHOMORE YEAR at Mankato High School (1907–1908) is fictionalized in Betsy in Spite of Herself. Not surprisingly, many of Betsy’s experiences were also Maud’s. Maud was elected to a class office during her sophomore year, but she was elected class treasurer, rather than secretary, as Betsy was. And Maud did write a parody to the song “Same Old Story,” which she kept in her high school scrapbook. The lyrics are almost exactly the same as those in the book, with the exception of the last two lines of the chorus. Instead of “For she’s Deep Valley’s High School Girl, / And she’s all right,” it reads “Hurrah for ’Kato’s High School girl, / For she’s alright.”
Maud’s crowd loved to visit Heinze’s Ice Cream Parlor, which was owned by Ferdinand Heinze.
1895 Atlas
High school dances were held here, at Schiller Hall.
Maud’s greatest adventure of the year was probably her Christmas trip to Milwaukee. One thing Maud did that Betsy didn’t was stop in St. Paul to visit her friend Connie Davis (Bonnie from Heaven to Betsy had moved to Paris, not St. Paul, as her real-life counterpart had). Once she arrived in Milwaukee, Maud undoubtedly met a lot of Midge’s family, as Betsy does Tib’s family. Midge’s maternal grandparents, the Iraseks, were both from Austria, where Grossmama Irasek did embroidery for the imperial house of Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria. And Midge’s paternal grandparents, the Gerlachs, were from Germany. However, Grosspapa Gerlach had died by the time Maud visited Milwaukee, so she wouldn’t have met him or attended a Christmas party at his house. But the Christmas party Betsy attends in the book wasn’t purely from Maud’s imagination. Her sister Kathleen traveled to Europe in 1909 (as Julia does in a later book) and spent Christmas in Germany. Many of the details are taken from a letter Kathleen sent to her family about her experiences there.
Another fascinating detail about Betsy’s Christmas visit that is historically accurate is the introduction of “The Merry Widow Waltz.” In fact, “The Merry Widow Waltz” was brand-new at Christmas in 1907. The Mankato Free Press advertised a New Year’s Eve performance of the opera The Merry Widow in its December 26, 1907, edition—the first appearance of the waltz in Mankato. And when the Merry Widow hat made its appearance the following spring, it soon became all the rage.
Maud and Midge stayed up all night to ring in the New Year, just like Betsy and Tib do. Maud later recalled a Christmas visit to “Tib” in Milwaukee, where she decided to change her personality. “I was going to be tall, dark, and mysterious.” In the book, Betsy decides to inaugurate her new personality by going with Phil Brandish. We don’t know if there really was someone like Phil in Maud’s life; he seems to be one of the “loose characterizations” and may have been based on more than one boy. However, a yearbook note to Maud from Bick refers to a certain auto and reads, “Love will not change while the auto remains,” which was a line in Betsy’s version of “Dreaming” about Phil. So perhaps there was a red car-driving boy in Maud’s sophomore year.
Like Betsy, Maud did add an “e” to her name. In real life, though, she started spelling her name “Maude” when she was a freshman, or even earlier. Although “Maude” lasted beyond the end of sophomore year, she probably discovered that she was happiest when she was true to herself, like Betsy.
Maud pasted her dance card from the Leap Year Dance into her scrapbook.
Blue Earth County Historical Society
Maud’s lyrics for her “Same Old Story” parody from her high school scrapbook.
Blue Earth County Historical Society
Maud in her Merry Widow hat
Estate of Merian Kirchner
Mildred Oleson (Irma) in her Merry Widow hat
Collection of Robert Cahill
Connie Davis (Bonnie) in her Merry Widow hat
Collection of Louise King
Fictional Characters and Their Real-Life Counterparts
Betsy Ray: Maud Palmer Hart
Julia Ray: Kathleen Albertine Hart
Margaret Ray: Helen Hart
Bob Ray: Thomas Walden Hart
Jule Ray: Stella Palmer Hart
Tacy Kelly: Frances “Bick” Vivian Kenney
Tib Muller: Marjorie “Midge” Gerlach
Bonnie Andrews: Constance “Connie” Davis
Irma Biscay: Florence Mildred Oleson
Phil Brandish: Carl George Hoerr
Cab Edwards: Jabez “Jab” Alvin Lloyd
Mamie Dodd: Mamie Skuse
Dennie Farisy: Paul Gerald Ford
Herbert Humphreys: Helmus Weddel Andrews
Larry Humphreys: Robert Burke Andrews
Al Larson: Henry Orlando Lee
Tony Markham: Clarence “Mike” Lindon Parker
Stan Moore: Herman Hayward
Pin: Charles Ernest “Pin” Jones
Winona Root I: Beulah Ariel Hunt
Winona Root II: Mary Eleanor Johnson
Carney Sibley: Marion “Marney” Willard
Tom Slade: Thomas Warren Fox
Hazel Smith: Harriet Ahlers
Joe Willard: Delos Wheeler Lovelace
About the Author
MAUD HART LOVELACE (1892–1980) based her Betsy-Tacy series on her own childhood. Her series still boasts legions of fans, many of whom are members of the Betsy-Tacy Society, a national organization based in Mankato, Minnesota.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
The Betsy-Tacy Books
Book 1: Betsy-Tacy
Book 2: Betsy-Tacy and Tib
Book 3: Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
Book 4: Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown
Book 5: Heaven to Betsy
Book 6: Betsy in Spite of Herself
Book 7: Betsy Was a Junior
Book 8: Betsy and Joe
Book 9: Betsy and the Great World
Book 10: Betsy’s Wedding
The Deep Valley Books
Winona’s Pony Cart
Carney’s House Party
Emily of Deep Valley
Credits
Cover design by Robin Bilardello
Cover and spine illustrations by Vera Neville from the books’ original publication
Copyright
HEAVEN TO BETSY. Copyright © 1945 by Maud Hart Lovelace. Copyright © renewed 1973 by Maud Hart Lovelace. BETSY IN SPITE OF HERSELF. Copyright © 1946 by Maud Hart Lovelace. Copyright © renewed 1974 by Maud Hart Lovelace. Foreword copyright © 2009 by Laura Lippman. “Maud Ha
rt Lovelace and Her World” (adapted from The Betsy-Tacy Companion: A Biography of Maud Hart Lovelace by Sharla Scannell Whalen) copyright © 2000 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Heaven to Betsy was first published in 1945 by Thomas Y. Crowell Company. First Harper Trophy edition published 1980.
Betsy in Spite of Herself was first published in 1946 by Thomas Y. Crowell Company. First Harper Trophy edition published 1979.
FIRST HARPER PERENNIAL MODERN CLASSICS EDITION PUBLISHED 2009.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-06-179469-8
EPub Edition © MAY 2011 ISBN: 978-0-06-199956-7
09 10 11 12 13
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