TUESDAY, July 18th at 7pm: MORE WORDS from Stephen Vincent Benét

Still image from the 1954 Movie Musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"
which was based on Benét' short story "The Sobbin' Women."

Stephen Vincent Benét adapted the Roman myth of the abduction of the Sabine Women into the story "The Sobbin' Women". 

Set in 1850 in the wilds of Oregon, the Pontipee brothers are tired of bad cooking and broken chairs. They draw straws and send one of their number traveling from their mountain into the nearest town to "get a woman to take care of this place."  They agree that it can't just be a "hired girl" -that wouldn't be proper.  There's nothing for it, one of them has to do right by the family and get married.

It sounds like such a reasonable plan to a bunch of backwoodsman brothers.  Of course, it turns out to not be quite as simple as all that.

Benét's story was adapted into the 1954 movie musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, starring Howard Keel and Jane Powell, Directed by Stanley Donan and with iconic choreography by Michael Kidd. Enjoy this clip in which the oldest brother ("Adam" in the screenplay) "interprets" Plutarch  as an object lesson for his brothers.

Join Corwyn, Kayden, and Caledonia in the Seanchai "SKai" Box for Benét's story, and more selected poems, live in voice.
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TUESDAY, July 11th at 7PM: IN STEPHEN'S WORDS

Stephen Vincent Benét was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. Benét is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, "John Brown's Body" (1928), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) and "By the Waters of Babylon" (1937). 

His story "The Sobbin' Women" was adapted into a motion picture in 1954, featuring music by Johnny Mercer and retitled "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."  The screenplay and score have since been adapted for the stage. In 2009, The Library of America selected Benét’s story "The King of the Cats" (1929) for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American Fantastic Tales, edited by Peter Straub.

Corwyn Allen presents "Jacob and the Indians" plus selected poems, time permitting, live in voice.

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