Anne of Green Gables is a black-and-white Canadian TV film directed by Don Harron. It is based on Anne of Green Gables, a novel by L.M. Montgomery and stars Toby Tarnow as Anne Shirley. It is the original version of the musical Anne of Green Gables: The Musical.
Plot[]
Cast[]
Main cast
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Supporting cast
Other cast
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Behind the scenes[]
Casting
- Before she was cast into the film, Toby Tarnow had already played Anne Shirley in a radio adaptation for CBC.
- Barbara Hamilton portrayed Shop Assistant in this film and in its 1958 reprise. In 1965, she was chosen to play the role as Marilla Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables: The Musical (1965–present), also produced by Norman Campbell and Don Harron. At first, Harron balked at the idea of her playing Marilla, claiming she would be too funny. Hamilton played the part for four seasons at the Charlottetown Festival (1966–1969) and was later asked to portray Marilla in the British TV series Anne of Green Gables (1972) and Anne of Avonlea (1975). In the 1990s, she played Eulalie Bugle in several episodes of Road to Avonlea (1990–1996), also starring her sister Patricia as Rachel Lynde.
Production notes
- Norman Campbell came up with the idea to adapt Anne of Green Gables, a book he was reading to his kids, into a television musical when he was given 90 minutes to fill on CBC.
- Campbell's wife Elaine was thrilled by the book and managed to find the time to write lyrics even though she was taking care of their five children.
- "Elaine kept writing the lyrics even when she was in the delivery room. She sent the lyrics to Norman and then gave birth. When he visited her immediately after the happy arrival, he congratulated her. First, on the lyrics she had written in extremis and secondly on the arrival of their son, Robin. Quoting from our new lyrics, Norm said, "We didn't clearly requested a boy, but, boy, are we happy with the one we got!"'"
- —Don Harron
- The premiere was in danger because Toby Tarnow was suffering from some kind of food poisoning and could not utter a sound. Her co-star, Nonnie Griffin had pneumonia and her doctor forbade her to do the show; however, she disobeyed.[1]
- "I was panicking, but Norm Campbell was cucumberish cool. He told Toby to just mouth the words as she took up all the camera positions she had rehearsed. She had been given a pill to induce her to throw up, but it got stuck halfway down. Buckets were placed at strategic spots around the studio in the event of deluge happened. [...] All I remember of the actual taping was that the little girl from Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, managed somehow to give a full-fledged, full-voiced performance."
- —Don Harron
- Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II heard one of the songs during the opening ceremony of new Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1964. When Mavor Moore, the director general of the centre, explained that it was from Anne of Green Gables, she replied she'd like to hear the rest of it. As a result, the musical was created.
Trivia
- This film is the first Canadian adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. Previous films Anne of Green Gables (1919), Anne of Green Gables (1934) and Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) were produced in the United States. A 1952 TV series Anne of Green Gables was filmed in England.
- Anne of Green Gables was produced for CBC Television, which also commissioned the more famous 1985 film adaption and the 2017 TV series Anne with an E.
- The film is still in existence as clips of it were used in "Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Many Mauds", an episode of the 1996 CBC Life & Times documentary.
- The film was to be aired on January 11, 2006 in Hollis Social Library, New Hampshire according to the Merrimack Journal, December 30, 2005. The report contained an article on the film and a still from it.
Gallery[]
Anne of Green Gables Wiki has 20 images from Anne of Green Gables (1956 film) (view gallery). |
References[]
External links[]
- Anne of Green Gables at the Internet Movie Database
- Anne of Green Gables at L.M. Montgomery Online
- Anne of Green Gables on Wikipedia
- "Anne of Green Gables in Hollis" (Merrimack Journal)