The Erie Canal opened in 1825, and this summer from Albany to Buffalo there have been celebrations of this milestone in American history. From concerts to museum exhibits, upstate New York has been tributing the extraordinary advancement in modern transportation that the Canal provided.
Ninety years ago, a play opened on Broadway called The Farmer Takes a Wife. It was written by Frank B. Elser and Marc Connelly. Leading the cast were June Walker, a veteran stage and film actor, and Henry Fonda, a handsome actor in his late twenties whose career till then was stagebound. The play ran from October 30, 1934 to January 16, 1935.
Fox Film Corporation bought the movie rights and gave the play a first-class treatment. Victor Fleming, whose directorial skills would bring viewers Red Dust, Captain’s Courageous, The Good Earth, Gone with the Wind, and The Wizard of Oz, took the helm…