Title Reviewed:
The Real Nick and Nora
Frances Goodrich and Albert
Hackett,
Writers of Stage and Screen Classics
By David L. Goodrich
Quick. Name one Pulitzer Prize winner from Nutley, N.J.
Okay, so maybe Frances Goodrich isn't exactly a household name in town. That
doesn't mean that the woman who spent her formative years, and later was
married, in the large family home on Nutley Avenue, shouldn't be better
known here.
After all, another writer, Richard Stockton who lived here has not only a
room at the Nutley Public Library named after him, but a street, too. More
on that street, later.
In ''The Real Nick and Nora - Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Writers
of Stage and Screen Classics,'' author and Frances' nephew David L. Goodrich
puts together a comprehensive and delightful portrait of his aunt and her
husband and writing partner Albert Hackett.
The first play Frances and Albert worked on was something she had struggled
on for a while and brought him in to finish off. A few years later, that
play, ''Up Pops The Devil,'' was the first play produced by the Nutley
Little Theatre on Nov. 23, 1934.
"The Real Nick and Nora" is filled with references to Nutley, and Frances'
Nutley Avenue home. One photo in the front of the book shows ''Frances, in
her teens, in the Nutley house - as usual, with a book.''
Born in Belleville, the Goodrich family moved to Nutley when she was two
years old. She attended private school while she lived in town, then went
Passaic Collegiate School, and then on to Vasser.
After graduating in 1912, Frances went into the theatre. While working in
the theater in Northampton, Mass., Frances met actor William Powell - who
later turned up in the Thin Man films.
Well, a lot happens to Frances between college graduation and writing
screenplays in Hollywood for the Thin Man films, and many others.
Author David Goodrich takes his time developing the cross-relations and
early kindnesses that led to life-long friendships with, among others, James
Cagney. (Albert Hackett gave the young actor a ride in Hollywood - rather
than leave him to wait for a bus.)
Frances met Bob Ames and married him in the Nutley Avenue house in 1917.
That lasted six years. She married again, and though the wedding made the
social pages, it didn't last.
Go to Page Two of this Review
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Book Excerpt:
"She was born on December 21,
1890, in Belleville, New Jersey, then a pretty village on the
Passaic River, where, her mother wrote, "sturgeon leapt and
lawns ran down to shining waters." ... the family moved to
nearby Nutley, an equally pleasant village within easy distance
of New York ... In Nutley, there were green fields, tree-lined
roads, big comfortable houses, and another stretch of the clear,
unspoiled Passaic...." |
This review was written by Anthony Buccino and
published on this web site in 2005.
A complimentary copy of The Real Nick and Nora -
Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Writers of Stage and Screen Classics
was submitted for review consideration.
Book published 2001 by Southern Illinois University
Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville
Click here to order from Amazon: The Real Nick & Nora
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