It Was Hotter Then, quote from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

“Maycomb was a tired old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it. Somehow, it was hotter then. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon after their three o’clock naps. And by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting from sweating and sweet talcum. The day was twenty-four hours long, but it seemed longer. There’s no hurry, for there’s nowhere to go and nothing to buy…and no money to buy it with.”  HARPER LEE, To Kill A Mockingbird (J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1960)

Photo: Author Harper Lee pushes actress Mary Badham (Scout Finch) during production of the 1962 film version of her novel. To Kill a Mockingbird was filmed in Southern California, and some sharp-eyed viewers have noticed mountains in the background of the “mad dog” scene — geographic features that don’t occur in the story’s setting (Maycomb, Alabama).

Steinbeck On Screen

Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble members Gary Sinese and John Malkovich starred as George and Lennie in the 1992 film adaptation of John Steinbeck‘s Of Mice and Men.

With a pitch-perfect screenplay by Horton Foote — 30 years after winning an Oscar for adapting To Kill a Mockingbird — the film is a faithful adaptation of one of Steinbeck’s most moving books.

Other successful novel to film translations of Steinbeck’s work include The Grapes of Wrath (1940) starring Henry Fonda, Of Mice and Men (1939) with Lon Chaney, Jr., East of Eden (1955) featuring James Dean, and Of Mice and Men (TV Movie, 1981) with Robert Blake as George.