The Farmer Takes a Wife is a 1934 play by Frank B. Elser and Marc Connelly

Marc Connelly

Marcus Cook Connelly was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the Algonquin Round Table, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930.-Biography:...

 based on the novel Rome Haul

Rome Haul

Rome Haul is the first novel by American author Walter D. Edmonds. The novel tells the love story of two workers on New York State's Erie Canal. In 1934, the book was adapted to the play, The Farmer Takes a Wife by Frank B...

by Walter D. Edmonds

Walter D. Edmonds

Walter "Walt" Dumaux Edmonds was an American author noted for his historical novels, including the popular Drums Along the Mohawk , which was successfully made into a Technicolor feature film in 1939 directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert.-Life:In 1919 he entered The...

. It was well-received upon its opening night on Broadway on October 30, 1934 at the 46th Street Theatre. The production was directed by Marc Connelly

Marc Connelly

Marcus Cook Connelly was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the Algonquin Round Table, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930.-Biography:...

 and used set designs by Donald Oenslager

Donald Oenslager

Donald Oenslager was a celebrated American scenic designer who won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design.-Biography:Oenslager was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and became interested in design while studying in Europe...

. It starred Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

 as Dan Harrow and June Walker

June Walker

June Walker was an American stage and film actress. She appeared on Broadway in such plays as Green Grow the Lilacs, The Farmer Takes a Wife, and Twelfth Night...

 as Molly Larkins.

Film adaptations

The play spawned two film adaptations. The first, a 1935

1935 in film

-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

, was directed by Victor Fleming

Victor Fleming

Victor Lonzo Fleming was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were The Wizard of Oz , and Gone with the Wind , for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director.-Life and career:Fleming was born in La Canada, California, the son of Elizabeth Evaleen ...

 starred Janet Gaynor

Janet Gaynor

Janet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...

, and marked the Hollywood debut of Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

. Dan Harrow (Henry Fonda) works along the Erie Canal

Erie Canal

The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...

 during the mid-19th century to raise money to buy a farm. While working, he meets Molly Larkins, a beautiful canal boat cook (Janet Gaynor). Although Harrow wants to marry Larkins, she's apprehensive about leaving the exciting canal life for one of a farmer's wife.

A 1953

1953 in film

The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...

 musical remake

The Farmer Takes a Wife (1953 film)

The Farmer Takes a Wife is a 1953 musical comedy film starring Betty Grable. It is a remake of the 1935 film of the same name which starred Janet Gaynor and Henry Fonda.-Cast:*Betty Grable as Molly Larkins*Dale Robertson as Dan Harrow...

 used a score by Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...

 and Cyril J. Mockridge

Cyril J. Mockridge

Cyril J. Mockridge was an English film and television composer who composed the scores for such films as Grand Canary, Danger - Love at Work, In the Meantime, Darling, Wake Up and Dream, Nightmare Alley, and Road House...

. It was directed by Henry Levin

Henry Levin

Henry Levin began as a stage actor and director but was most notable as an American film director of over fifty feature films. He broke into film in 1943 as a dialogue director for the films Dangerous Blondes and Appointment in Berlin for Columbia Pictures...

 and starring Betty Grable

Betty Grable

Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...

, Dale Robertson

Dale Robertson

Dayle Lymoine "Dale" Robertson is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the role of Jim Hardie in the TV series, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC's The Iron Horse, often appearing as the deceptively thoughtful but...

, Eddie Foy Jr., and Thelma Ritter

Thelma Ritter

Thelma Ritter was an American supporting and character actress from the 1940s until her death in 1969.-Early life:...

.

Cast

Film		Play
Actor	Role	Actor
Janet Gaynor Janet Gaynor Janet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...	Molly Larkins	June Walker June Walker June Walker was an American stage and film actress. She appeared on Broadway in such plays as Green Grow the Lilacs, The Farmer Takes a Wife, and Twelfth Night...
Henry Fonda Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...	Dan Harrow	Henry Fonda Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
Charles Bickford Charles Bickford Charles Bickford was an American actor best known for his supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for The Song of Bernadette , The Farmer's Daughter , and Johnny Belinda...	Jotham Klore	Gibbs Penrose
Slim Summerville Slim Summerville Slim Summerville was an American film actor, best known as a comedy performer.-Life and career:Born George Joseph Summerville in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Summerville began his career as a "Keystone Kop" in 1912...	Fortune Friendly	Herb Williams Herb Williams Herbert L. Williams is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association for eighteen seasons from 1981 to 1999. Williams served as the interim head coach of the NBA's New York Knicks...
Jane Withers Jane Withers Jane Withers is an American actress best known for being one of the most popular child film stars of the 1930s and early 1940s, as well as for her portrayal of "Josephine the Plumber" in a series of TV commercials for Comet cleanser in the 1960s and early 1970s.-Biography:Withers began her career...	Della	Mary McQuade
Andy Devine Andy Devine Andrew Vabre "Andy" Devine was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice.-Early life:...	Elmer Otway	Charles F. O'Connor
Roger Imhof Roger Imhof Roger Imhof was a film actor, vaudeville, burlesque and circus performer, sketch writer, and songwriter.-Career:...	Sam Weaver	Ralph Riggs
Margaret Hamilton Margaret Hamilton Margaret Hamilton was an American film actress known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz...	Lucy Gurget	Margaret Hamilton
John Qualen John Qualen John Qualen was a Canadian-American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles....	Sol Tinker	Francis Pierlot
	Mrs Howard	Ruth Gillmore Ruth Gillmore Ruth Emily Gillmore was an English American stage actress.Gillmore was the daughter of Frank Gillmore, former president of Actors' Equity, and the actress Laura MacGillivray, and the sister of actress Margalo Gillmore...
Kitty Kelly Kitty Kelly Kitty Kelly, Sue O'Neil in the life , was an American stage and film character actress. She was best known as a member of the Ziegfeld Follies and her radio hosting with Columbia Broadcasting....	Ivy	Mabel Kroman