Megan Follows is known for playing the outspoken, imaginative and talkative Anne Shirley in the 1985 TV miniseries Anne of Green Gables, which was based on L.M. Montgomery's novel. In December 2023, Follows reminisced about how playing Anne Shirley changed her life in a podcast conversation with the CBC's Tom Power. In the introduction to the podcast, Power mentions how the conversation made him rethink Anne of Green Gables and consider how radical the story was then and how relevant it still is today. I loved their conversation. Give it a listen!
Sometimes actors dislike being identified with a particular role, but not Megan Follows. She expressed gratitude about playing Anne Shirley and emphasized how great it was to play a character that was "a girl that got to express rage." When asked about her relationship with the character, Follows responded, "I love Anne...She and I have a great relationship. We're tight. We're bosom buddies. I think she's an extraordinary character, and uhm, I always felt incredibly grateful to have played her and to have been introduced to a strong-willed, female-driven story where you got to be number one from the point of view of a story." Often, Follows reflects, women are the appendage in stories and not the backbone or driving force. In contrast, Anne has a driving force to belong and to be seen for herself, and Follows believes that this is what resonates with people.
Megan Follows delved back into L.M. Montgomery's stories in preparing to record an Emily of New Moon audiobook a few years ago and then to direct a new Audible Anne of Green Gables audiobook featuring Michela Luci, Catherine O’Hara, Victor Garber, and Sandra Oh. Follows remarks that her deep dive back into the stories allowed her to discover "the subversiveness of the text." She had previously understood Montgomery's humor, but now she observed her way of pointing out hypocrisy through Anne. Follows feels that the power of the character scares people.
Follows sees Anne's compulsive talking as coming from a dark place where Anne chooses to go toward the light, not out of naivety, but for her own survival. As an example, she mentions how Anne planned to sleep in a cherry tree at the train station. She believes that Anne came up with this idea for safety, but that Anne focused on the beauty of the blossoms because she was terrified to be abandoned and alone in the world. Follows says that Montgomery used poetry because children don't actually speak this way.
Follows also reflected on her amazing experiences working with Colleen Dewhurst (Marilla Cuthbert) and Patricia Hamilton (Rachel Lynde). She discussed how Richard Farnsworth (Matthew Cuthbert) was only available for six days of filming, so she worked very long hours with him to film his scenes. Later, she did scenes with a grip stand with a hat on it as a stand-in. Follows also talked about the raspberry cordial scene with Schuyler Grant, who played Diana Barry. They were giving Grant glasses of watered down grape juice or Ribena, and she really did get sick after filming the scene multiple times. Follows briefly mentioned that her heart always smiles for Jonathan Crombie and that they laughed a lot.
Power asked Follows about her audition for Anne. Strangely, the day after her audition, her tape disappeared, and she had to redo her audition at the last minute. Follows mentions that there was another actress who was the first choice for Anne Shirley and that she had to fight for the role. Luckily, she had advocates at the CBC and
someone at PBS who believed that she was the right fit for the role.
Later, when asked about how the success of the miniseries affected her, she reflected that she is grateful that she did a good job playing Anne, and that she has received a tremendous amount of goodwill because of the character and how much the character and writing mean to people.
Toward the end of the conversation, Follows talked about how she is currently developing a limited series on the life of L.M. Montgomery, her legacy and the power of her writing. I can't wait to hear more.
Image credit:
Photograph of Megan Follows as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables © Sullivan Entertainment.
Reference:
Megan Follows: Playing Anne in Anne of Green Gables and bringing the story to a new generation. (2023, December 15). Q with Tom Power. CBC Arts & Entertainment. Retrieved from: https://podcasts.apple.com/ro/podcast/megan-follows-playing-anne-in-anne-of-green-gables/id256943801?i=1000638664483
Created May 24, 2024. Last updated August 26, 2024.
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A few months back, I wrote about how I encountered an old copy of The Golden Road by L.M. Montgomery unexpectedly. Today, I was looking through old photos on my phone, and I realized I had another encounter with The Golden Road last summer.
At the time, I was exploring the Brattle Book Shop in Boston. It's one of the oldest book shops in the U.S., having been established in 1825, and it's one of my favorite places. While I was wandering through the store, I spotted a postcard-sized image of the 1913 cover of The Golden Road with art by George Gibbs. The picture was affixed to the side of a bookshelf.
The Golden Road was first published in Boston by L.C. Page & Co in 1913. The Page Company was once located at 53 Beacon Street, just across the Boston Commons from the Brattle Book Shop. It's a short, less than 10-minute walk, between the publisher's office and the book shop. I imagine that first editions of L.M. Montgomery's novels were once sold in the Brattle Book Shop. I looked for an old copy of one of Montgomery's novels there, but had no luck finding one. Maybe next time.
Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.
Created May 23, 2024.
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Last summer, I purchased an Anne of Green Gables crochet doll on Etsy from Zeylum's store. I thought the doll would a cute companion for my Anne of Green Gables books. It turned out that the Anne Shirley doll I was sent was different from the product photos.
Here's the product photo from Etsy:
My doll has much shorter braids, no bangs, and less hair. It has a higher forehead and less rosy cheeks. Its hat has also a different shape and has
differently colored flowers. I much prefer the wide brimmed hat with the
yellow, pink, and blue colored flowers in the product photo.
It's a bit disappointing. If you're thinking of purchasing one of these Anne Shirley dolls, then you might want to keep in mind that your doll may look different from the pictures online.
Image credits:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley and product photo from Etsy.
Created May 22, 2024. Last updated June 4, 2024.
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"I’d like to add some beauty to life."
-L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Avonlea
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Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.
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Created May 21, 2024.
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My husband and I were roaming in a bookstore recently, and he was looking through a travel book of literary locations. He came over to show it to me because the book featured Prince Edward Island and Anne of Green Gables, and he knew I'd love to see it. The book is titled Booked: A Traveler's Guide to Literary Locations Around the World, and it's by Richard Kreitner. I love to read and explore, so I thought the concept was really fun.
Booked was published in 2019 by Black Dog & Leventhal, which is part of the Hachette Book Group. Here's the book's description from the publisher's website:
A practical, armchair travel guide that explores eighty of the most iconic literary locations from all over the globe that you can actually visit.
A must-have for every fan of literature, Booked inspires readers to follow in their favorite characters footsteps by visiting the real-life locations portrayed in beloved novels including the Monroeville, Alabama courthouse in To Kill a Mockingbird, Chatsworth House, the inspiration for Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice, and the Kyoto Bridge from Memoirs of a Geisha. The full-color photographs throughout reveal the settings readers have imagined again and again in their favorite books.
Organized by regions all around the world, author Richard Kreitner explains the importance of each literary landmark including the connection to the author and novel, cultural significance, historical information, and little-known facts about the location. He also includes travel advice like addresses and must-see spots.
Booked features special sections on cities that inspired countless literary works like a round of locations in Brooklyn from Betty Smith’s iconic A Tree Grows in Brooklyn to Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn and a look at the New Orleans of Tennessee Williams and Anne Rice.
Locations include:
Central Park, NYC (The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger)
Forks, Washington (Twilight, Stephanie Meyer)
Prince Edward Island, Canada (Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery)
Kingston Penitentiary, Ontario (Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood)
Holcomb, Kansas (In Cold Blood, Truman Capote)
London, England (White Teeth, Zadie Smith)
Paris, France (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo)
Segovia, Spain, (For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway)
Kyoto, Japan (Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden)
Photograph of a page on Anne of Green Gables in Booked by Richard Kreitner taken by World of Anne Shirley and cover image of Booked by Black Dog & Leventhal.
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Created May 20, 2024.
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An Emily of New Moon audiobook read by Megan Follows was produced by Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre and Design Sound Productions in 2021. Megan Follows is well-familiar with L.M. Montgomery's works, having starred as Anne Shirley in the acclaimed Anne of Green Gables (1985) by Sullivan Entertainment and its sequels Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987) and Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story (2000).
In an interview with the CBC, Follows reflected on her return to L.M. Montgomery's world saying, "It was a fun revisiting of the author, to hear her language again, to be transported to that time and place. Even though it's obviously a different series with the Emily of New Moon books, but still obviously so strongly the voice of Lucy Maud Montgomery, who I'm a fan of. It was a fun opportunity to just sit in the booth and talk." Follows recorded the audiobook during the pandemic. She reflected on the creative experience saying, "I guess it was perfect, given the world that we were all living in at the time. We were in COVID. The recording studio had just opened back up. This is back in the winter. It was going from the isolation of one space into a recording studio all sanitized down, in this cocoon-like world. In a way, the true beauty of the literature is that I got to be transported to outside my circumstances and situations into someone else's life. That's really the beautiful thing about her work."
Megan Follows has a deep understanding of L.M. Montgomery's voice and her characters. She says, "I think there is something that people identify with — being ostracized, being bullied, being excluded, the fear of not fitting in, not being wanted. What is my voice? How do I belong? How do I find a voice and a place in the world? That is as much a part of our present day situation."
I don't often listen to audiobooks, but I'm going to seek out this one.
Image Credit:
Artwork for the Emily of New Moon Audible audiobook by Design Sound Productions.
Reference:
CBC Books. (2021, Jul 14). Megan Follows returns to Lucy Maud Montgomery's world with Emily of New Moon audiobook. CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/books/megan-follows-returns-to-lucy-maud-montgomery-s-world-with-emily-of-new-moon-audiobook-1.6101013
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Created May 19, 2024.
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Anne around the World: L.M. Montgomery and Her Classic was published in May 2013 by McGill-Queen’s University Press. This book of scholarship examines the broad and lasting international appeal of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. It was edited by Jane Ledwell and Jean Mitchell. The volume contains contributions Yoshiko Akamatsu, Doreley Carolina Coll, Brooke Collins-Gearing, Margaret Doody, Elizabeth R. Epperly, Barbara Carman Garner, Caroline E. Jones, Paul Keen, Jane Ledwell, Jennie MacDonald, Susan Meyer, Jean Mitchell, Mary Henley Rubio, Gholamreza Sami, Wendy Shilton, Cynthia Sugars, Tanfer Emin Tunc, Åsa Warnqvist, Elizabeth Hillman Waterston, and Budge Wilson.
Here is the description of the volume from McGill-Queen’s University Press:
What makes Anne of Green Gables an international, time-honoured classic? International audiences have described reading L.M. Montgomery's most celebrated novel as an experience in enchantment. Balancing criticism and celebration, Jane Ledwell and Jean Mitchell bring together essays that consider the sources of the wonder that Montgomery's work inspires.
The popular appeal of Montgomery's classic is undeniable, but the reasons for its worldwide resonance are less obvious. From a range of perspectives, the contributors to Anne around the World focus on the numerous themes the novel raises, showcasing why it has charmed readers across the globe - from Iran to Australia, and from Sweden to Japan. Essays consider issues of class, race, and colonial history, discuss Anne's place in children's literature, her passion for writing, and the ways in which L.M. Montgomery and her red-haired protagonist are celebrated by legions of fans.
Featuring contributions from many international writers, Anne around the World traces the meaning and influence of a story that spread far from its place of origin on a small Canadian island to distant and culturally diverse places.
Contributors include Yoshiko Akamatsu (Notre Dame Seishin University, Japan), Doreley Carolina Coll (University of Prince Edward Island), Brooke Collins-Gearing (School of Humanities and Social Science, New South Wales), Margaret Doody (Notre Dame University), Elizabeth R. Epperly (emeritus, University of Prince Edward Island), Barbara Carman Garner (Carleton University), Caroline E. Jones (Texas State University-San Marcos), Paul Keen (Carleton University), Jane Ledwell, Jennie MacDonald (PhD, University of Denver), Susan Meyer (Wellesley College), Jean Mitchell, Mary Henley Rubio (emeritus, University of Guelph), Gholamreza Sami (Sussex University), Wendy Shilton (University of Prince Edward Island), Cynthia Sugars (University of Ottawa), Tanfer Emin Tunc (Hacettepe University, Turkey), Åsa Warnqvist (Stockholm University, Sweden), Elizabeth Hillman Waterston (emeritus, University of Guelph), and Budge Wilson (author).
"Anne around the World is a notable and memorable collection of essays which should become an important reference text in the academic field and an attractive read for general readers around the world who have an interest in L.M. Montgomery." Joy Alexander, School of English, Queen's University, Belfast
The book includes the following essays:
Situating Montgomery and Her Classic
Anne of Green Gables - and Afterward by Elizabeth Hillman Waterston
Lasting Images of Anne of Green Gables by Elizabeth R. Epperly
Uncertainties Surrounding the Death of L.M. Montgomery by Mary Henley Rubio
A Century of Critical Reflection on Anne of Green Gables by Barbara Carman Garner
The Terrain of the Classic: Allusions and Intertexts
L.M. Montgomery and the Significance of “Classics,” Ancient and Modern by Margaret Doody
“So- so- commonplace”: Romancing the Local in Anne of Green Gables and Aurora Leigh by Paul Keen
“Matthew’s school of critics”: Learning to Read Anne of Green Gables by Cynthia Sugars
Anne of Green Gables as Centre and Circumference by Wendy Shilton
Provoking the Classic: Class, Colonialism, and Christianity
“Nice Folks”: L.M. Montgomery’s Classic and Subversive Inscriptions and Transgressions of Class by Caroline E. Jones
Civilizing Anne: Missionaries of the South Seas, Cavendish Evangelicalism, and the Crafting of Anne of Green Gables by Jean Mitchell
Narrating the “Classic” on Stolen Ground: Anne of Green Gables by Brooke Collins-Gearing
Anne and After: The Local and Global Circulation of the Classic Text
Teaching and Reading Anne of Green Gables in Iran, the Land of Omar Khayyam by Gholamreza Samigorganroodi
Reading Anne of Green Gables in Montevideo by Doreley Carolina Coll
Teaching Anne and Antonia in Turkey: Feminist Girlhood in L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and Willa Cather’s My Antonia by Tanfer Emin Tunc
The Continuous Popularity of Red-haired Anne in Japan: An Interview with Yoshiko Akamatsu by Yoshiko Akamatsu
“I experienced a light that became a part of me”: Reading Anne of Green Gables in Sweden by Åsa Warnqvist
Paratext and Aftertexts: Further Words on Anne
“I just love pretty clothes”: Considering the Sartorial in Anne of Green Gables by Jennie MacDonald
Writing after Anne: L.M. Montgomery’s Influence on Canadian Children’s Literature by Susan Meyer
Writing Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
Image credit:
Book cover of Anne around the World: L.M. Montgomery and Her Classic from McGill-Queen’s University Press.
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Created May 18, 2024.
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-L.M. Montgomery
Emily Climbs
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Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.
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Created May 17, 2024.
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