New York Magazine - USA (2019-12-09)

102 newyork| december9–22, 2019

1905

COSPLAYFOR

READERS

The novelist Marion

AmesTaggartwrites

TheLittleWomen

Club,a novelabout...

four young girlswho

attempt to become

the March sistersby

reenacting theirlives.

IRL, Little Women

Clubs pop upat

the same time.

1912

STAGE ...

The first

Broadway

production of

Little Women is

a massive hit.

That same year,

Orchard House

is turned into

a museum.

1917 AND 19 18

... AND SCREEN

Thefirst two

filmversions of

LittleWomen,

both silent,

arereleased.

Neither has

survived.

1888

HOSPITALSKETCHES

Alcottdiesofa

stroke at55.She’d

beeninpoorhealth

foryears, possibly

asa resultofthe

mercury she’d been

prescribedtotreat

thetyphoidfever

shecaughtnursing

CivilWarsoldiers

ina Washington,

D.C.,hospital.

1913

PRESIDENTIAL FANBOY

InhisAutobiography,

TheodoreRoosevelt

admitsthat, at the

riskofbeing “deemed

effeminate,”he “greatly

liked... girls’stories” and

“worshiped” Little

Womenasa young boy.

1927

THENEWNEW

TESTAMENT

Americanhigh-

schoolersarepolled

on“Whatbook

hasinfluenced

youmost?”Little

Womentakesthe

No.1 spot.The

Biblehastosettle

forsecondplace.

1958

SINGIT, JO!

Broadwaycomposer

Richard Adler,

bestknownfor

ThePajamaGame,

makesa musical

LittleWomen

toaironCBS.

1994

WINONA’STURN

After 12 yearsof

shoppingthescript,

writerRobinSwicord

andexecutive producer

AmyPascalcomplete

a newmajorfilm

versionofthebook.

Thepairbringina

femaledirector—Gillian

Armstrong—anda cast

ledbySusanSarandon

andWinonaRyder.

1987

BIG IN JAPAN

A 48-episode anime version,

Tales of Little Women, or “Love’s

Tale of Young Grass,” takes some

liberties with the story, putting

the March family near Gettysburg

during the Civil War. The book

reaches astounding heights of

ty 9

l k

n

1978

PROFESSOR

KIRK?

InanNBC

miniseriesversion,

SusanDey(Laurie

fromThePartridge

s Jo.

sor

iam

Shatner.

LouisaMayAlcott’sbeloved novel about the

March sisters—Meg,Jo,Beth,andAmy, none of whom has a superpower

besides Yankeedecency—wasthe original super-franchise.

ByHillary Kelly

Little Women as Always Big

1977

YES! IT WAS FOR

ITSTIME!

Somemembersofthe

feministmovementtake

upJoasoneoftheir

own;academicCarolyn

Heilbrunwritesthat“Jo

wasa miracle”and

a rolemodelfor“girls

dreamingbeyondthe

confinesofa constricted

familydestiny.”

1886

GOING META

Alcott winds down

the March saga with

Jo’s Boys and turns

Jo into a novelist

who has written “a

little story describing

a few scenes and

adventures in the

lives of herself

and her sisters.”

1973

BUT IS IT

FEMINIST?

A New York

Times article,

“Does Little

Women

Belittle

Women?,”

argues that

it does.

1950

NOTJO’SBOYS

WhenOrchard

House is

vandalized,

withnearly 100

windowpanes

broken,police

pointto the

obviousculprit:

“Smallboys.”

PHO

HS;

UN

VERSAL

HSTORY

ARCHIVE/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES (ALCOTT); CULTURE

CLUB/GETTY

IMAGES

GETTY

IMAGES

(ALCOTT HOUSE); JERRY TAVIN/EVERETT COLLECTION (1918); COURTESY

EVE

LLE

CT

ON

(1933.

19 49,

19

78);

COLUMBIA PICTURES/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION (1994); PBS/COURTESY

EVERETT

COLLECTION

/EVERETT

COLLECTION (2017); WILSON WEBB/COLUMBIA PICTURES (2019)

girl groups