we lend a helping hand in the filming of a caldwell classic
Lovers of Literature may not rate Erskine Caldwell's novel God's Little Acre as one of the master works of our time, but this raw little volume of life in the Georgia cracker belt has sold more than eight million copies, ranking it just behind the Bible and Dr. Spock's baby book on the all-time best seller list. Among the legion of loyal Acre fans, you may remember, was sex-starved Ensign Pulver of Mister Roberts. A copy of the book was discovered by Roberts hidden in Pulver's bunk -- heavily annotated with marginal comments like "Good writing!" and "Excellent description!" alongside the steamiest, seamiest passages.
Now, 25 years after the first Acre taker opened the book in his hot little hands, the story has been made into a film, directed by Anthony Mann, starring Robert Ryan as Ty Ty Walden, and titian-tressed Tina Louise and Aldo Ray as that torrid twosome, Griselda and Will. Our enthusiasm over this news was dampened somewhat when we learned that what was most certainly Ensign Pulver's favorite scene has been omitted from the movie. Perhaps you remember it. We confess that it was our favorite, too.
Will faces Griselda and in a voice of passion, says: " 'I'm going to rip every piece of those things off of you in a minute. I'm going to rip them off and tear them into pieces so small you'll never be able to put them together again ... I've woven cloth all my life ... we're going to start spinning and weaving again tomorrow, but tonight I'm going to tear that cloth on you till it looks like lint out of a gin.' " And, a page or so later: "He had worked as he had never done before, and the shredded cloth lay on the floor at his feet ..."
We've always been a dedicated devotee of film art and have secretly harbored a desire to direct a film ourself. The missing scene seemed to provide an excellent opportunity to make like De Sica, so we got in touch with Miss Louise and Mr. Ray, rounded up a camera and a cameraman, dusted off the leggings, megaphone and canvas chair that had been waiting patiently in our hope chest, and shouted "Roll 'em!" The set and costumes may not be authentic, but we think the discerning critic, Ensign Pulver, would agree that Aldo and Tina have truly captured the spirit of Caldwell and have turned out one of the most energetic examples of acting since Mr. Thespis first monopolized the conversation.
