(sources: Current Biography, 1944 Contemporary Authors, 1981) Her literary works are maintained by Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. While she claimed her first love was musical composition, she continued writing fiction and nonfiction.Ī year after her divorce from her second husband in 1947, Ms O’Hara returned to the east coast where she lived in Connecticut until 1968. The rights to performing this as a play or a musical can still be obtained through Dramatists Play Services, New York. She also wrote a musical play called "The Catch Colt" which she later turned into a novel, first published in 1979 in Great Britain. In addition to writing, Ms O’Hara was a successful composer and published numerous songs for the piano. In 1930, during her second marriage, Ms O’Hara moved to a ranch in Wyoming where she wrote her three novels, the classic “My Friend Flicka,” and the sequels “Thunderhead” and “Green Grass of Wyoming,” about the McLaughlin family and the younger son and his horse, Flicka. O’Hara moved to California after her first marriage where she became a screenwriter during the silent film era through the advent of talking movies. O’Hara had two children from her first marriage, Mary O’Hara who died of skin cancer during her teens, and Kent Kane, Jr. Her second marriage to Helge Sture-Vasa from Sweden in 1922 also ended in divorce in 1947. O'hara married Kent Kane Parrot, whom she later divorced. She grew up in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., where her father was an Episcopal clergyman. It’s an enjoyable read – and even more so if you don’t expect it to be anything like the movies.Mary O’Hara Alsop, an American author, screenwriter, and composer, was born July 10, 1885, in Cape May, N.J., to Reese Fell Alsop and Mary Lee (Spring). It took me awhile to get into, and the ending seemed kind of abrupt, but there are two other books in the Flicka series to continue the story of Ken and Flicka. It’s a sweet, heart-warming story of a little boy growing up and the colt that helped him do so. Ken and Flicka take care of each other through life-threatening injuries and illnesses and form an incredibly strong bond. As you could guess from the title, this fear turns out to be unfounded. In fact, Ken is deeply afraid that Flicka will turn out to be loco – so wild that she can’t be broken. He finally chooses Flicka, the very last colt his father wants, since she has a strain of wild mustang in her that is difficult to tame. He is given a week to choose his colt from the herd. His father vetoes that idea rather quickly, but his mother believes that this just may be the key to bringing Ken from the world of dreams to the world of responsibility. And it’s pretty amusing.īut Ken wants a colt more than anything in the world. Surely an hour’s worth of studying a day should have some effect, right? Mary O’Hara’s description of Ken’s “studying” shows that she knows exactly what being inside the head of a daydreamer is like. When he comes home to his parents’ ranch for the summer, his father is understandably upset and isn’t quite sure how to kick him into gear. So much so that he failed his English exam and therefore fifth grade at his boarding school. The book, on the other hand, focuses on Ken. They’re wholesome movies – no swearing, drinking, etc., and just right for the crowd of young girls pining for a horse of their very own. There’s a romantic interest, of course, and a jealous rival (of boy and/or horse), along with plenty of obstacles to overcome to get to the happy ending. They each focus on a troubled teenage girl (ironically, since the main character in the novel is a ten-year-old boy) who discovers her true self through her interactions with Flicka. While the movies are good, they aren’t deep. I haven’t actually seen the first Flicka movie, so maybe I shouldn’t try to compare… But I have seen the second and third movies, and if they’re anything like the first movie, then it is nothing like the book. If a movie is based on a book, it is imperative that I read the book – preferably before I see the movie, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
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