RIP

[shakatany]

I read in today's NY Times that Ernestine Gilbreth passed on at the age of 98! She was the co-author, along with her brother Frank, of Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel Belles on Their Toes which dealt with their childhood in a family of 12 children whose parents were pioneer efficiency experts. The books were LOL funny and were turned into movies back in the 50s starring Myrna Loy. Those movies were fair adaptations unlike the recent Steve Martin movies which bear little resemblance to the books and should be ignored by all who love the originals.

Comments

[researchgrrrl.livejournal.com]

I read those books when I was a little girl, right after I saw the original movies. I've never bothered with the new flicks...I liked those stories as they were.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

I love those books and occasionally I'll re-read them (I don't have comfort food only comfort books *g*).

I actually read Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth, a life beyond "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Jane Lancaster only a few months ago. You don't get what a pathmaker she was and how famous she was in the first half of the 20th century from her children's books.

Shakatany

[stretfordditto.livejournal.com]

98! That's some age....were the books based on true lives?

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. The Gilbreths were pioneers in the field of efficiency. They did have 12 children (though a daughter died in childhood). The books are extremely funny and if you can get hold of them they are great to read on gloomy days.

Shakatany