Bob Pangborn of Endicott grew up in Cazenovia. He submitted the following article about two Cazenovia residents who were also famous authors.
How many people in Caz today remember that at least two former Caz residents were nationally acclaimed authors? These two had successful movies made, based on their stories.
The first was Hervey Allen who was best know for his Anthony Adverse series of books. Mr. Allen used to live on Mill St. when I used to see him around town. I don't know how long he lived here, but I expect it was towards the end of his life. His first Anthony Adverse was the nation's best selling novel in the mid thirtys. A movie was made, Anthony Adverse, based on this book, in 1936. It starred Frederic March and Olivia De Haviland (big names for years). Allen did write other books during his career.
The second person was one of my English teachers, Walter VanTilburg Clark. He taught in Caz for quite a long time but i'm not sure how long. His novel, later to become a widely acclaimed movie, was The Ox Bow Incident. It starred Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn(1943). Mr. Clark also wrote another novel that was made into a movie, that was Track of the Cat. I don't think that movie did all that well. He also wrote around 20 short stories.
So for what its worth, Caz has had its share of fame but its been buried in the past. It's very possible the two main movies I mentioned are on DVD.
Posted by jimj at November 27, 2003 01:10 AM | TrackBack