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94-450: The first sardine cannery opened on Valentine's Day, 1908. Others joined it, and profited during the two World Wars, but a sardine shortage led to their failure. Entrepreneurs subsequently resurrected Cannery Row as a tourist attraction. Cannery Row was the setting of John Steinbeck's novels Cannery Row (1945) and Sweet Thursday (1954). Both were the basis for the 1982 movie Cannery Row , starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger . It

188-556: A Thompson submachine gun to help capture Italian and German prisoners. Some of his writings from this period were incorporated in the documentary Once There Was a War (1958). Steinbeck returned from the war with a number of wounds from shrapnel and some psychological trauma. He treated himself, as ever, by writing. He wrote Alfred Hitchcock 's movie, Lifeboat (1944), and with screenwriter Jack Wagner , A Medal for Benny (1945), about paisanos from Tortilla Flat going to war. He later requested that his name be removed from

282-581: A hawk for his position on the war. His sons served in Vietnam before his death, and Steinbeck visited one son in the battlefield. At one point he was allowed to man a machine-gun watch position at night at a firebase while his son and other members of his platoon slept. Steinbeck and his first wife, Carol Henning, married in January 1930 in Los Angeles. By 1940, their marriage was beginning to suffer, and it ended

376-431: A Broadway musical Pipe Dream . Because the pair were uncomfortable with the idea of their main character being a prostitute, the show's allusions to prostitution were left vague. Although the show ran for seven months, it still lost money. Still, the score is remembered fondly by many. A film version was released in 1982, starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger . The screenplay was written by David S. Ward . The movie

470-454: A Swedish artist and a confidant of his: "I have put all the things I have wanted to write all my life. This is 'the book'... having done this, I can do anything I want". Also in 1952, John Steinbeck appeared as the on-screen narrator of 20th Century Fox 's film, O. Henry's Full House . Although Steinbeck later admitted he was uncomfortable before the camera, he provided interesting introductions to several filmed adaptations of short stories by

564-546: A backlash against the author for displaying communist views, especially in his hometown of Salinas. Steinbeck received so many threats that he purchased a handgun for his own safety. Claiming the book both was obscene and misrepresented conditions in the county, the Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's publicly funded schools and libraries in August 1939. This ban lasted until January 1941. Of

658-581: A biologist and ecological theorist, who would go on to write a classic early textbook on ecology . Ricketts became a proponent of ecological thinking, in which man was only one part of a great chain of being , caught in a web of life too large for him to control or understand. Meanwhile, Ricketts operated a biological lab on the coast of Monterey, selling biological samples of small animals, fish, rays, starfish, turtles, and other marine forms to schools and colleges. Between 1930 and 1936, Steinbeck and Ricketts became close friends. Steinbeck's wife began working at

752-452: A degree in 1925. He traveled to New York City where he took odd jobs while trying to write. When he failed to publish his work, he returned to California and worked in 1928 as a tour guide and caretaker at Lake Tahoe , where he met Carol Henning, his first wife. They married in January 1930 in Los Angeles, where, with friends, he attempted to make money by manufacturing plaster mannequins . When their money ran out six months later due to

846-399: A disappointment. Steinbeck wrote two more stage plays ( The Moon Is Down and Burning Bright ). Of Mice and Men was also adapted as a 1939 Hollywood film , with Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie (he had filled the role in the Los Angeles stage production) and Burgess Meredith as George. Meredith and Steinbeck became close friends for the next two decades. Another film based on the novella

940-435: A fan of Steinbeck's work from Of Mice and Men , defended Steinbeck's work in her nationally syndicated newspaper column, "My Day". She wrote: "Now I must tell you that I have just finished a book which is an unforgettable experience in reading. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, both repels and attracts you. The horrors of the picture, so well drawn, make you dread sometimes to begin the next chapter, and yet you cannot lay

1034-565: A former school teacher, shared Steinbeck's passion for reading and writing. The Steinbecks were members of the Episcopal Church , although Steinbeck later became agnostic . Steinbeck lived in a small rural valley (no more than a frontier settlement) set in fertile soil, about 25 miles from the Pacific Coast . Both valley and coast would serve as settings for some of his best fiction. He spent his summers working on nearby ranches including

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1128-539: A gang of paisanos , asocial individuals who, in their wild revels, are almost caricatures of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table . It has been said that in the United States this book came as a welcome antidote to the gloom of the then prevailing depression." Tortilla Flat was adapted as a 1942 film of the same name , starring Spencer Tracy , Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield , a friend of Steinbeck. With some of

1222-601: A grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream." Steinbeck spent some of the happiest years of his life in a house in Pacific Grove near "Cannery Row" and the laboratory of his friend, Ed Ricketts. This began in 1930 and lasted to 1941, when Steinbeck's marriage failed, and he fled eastward to marry again (eventually). After a traumatic time documenting the war in the Mediterranean campaign in 1943, Steinbeck returned home to find that his second marriage

1316-625: A living. Their coauthored book, Sea of Cortez (December 1941), about a collecting expedition to the Gulf of California in 1940, which was part travelogue and part natural history, published just as the U.S. entered World War II, never found an audience and did not sell well. However, in 1951, Steinbeck republished the narrative portion of the book as The Log from the Sea of Cortez , under his name only (though Ricketts had written some of it). This work remains in print today. Although Carol accompanied Steinbeck on

1410-562: A parable that it almost can't be". Steinbeck traveled to Cuernavaca , Mexico for the filming with Wagner who helped with the script; on this trip he would be inspired by the story of Emiliano Zapata , and subsequently wrote a film script ( Viva Zapata! ) directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn . In 1947, Steinbeck made his first trip to the Soviet Union with photographer Robert Capa . They visited Moscow , Kyiv , Tbilisi , Batumi and Stalingrad , some of

1504-494: A part-time bartender at La Ida Cafe, and Hughie and Jones , who occasionally collected specimens of cats and frogs for Doc. They are subsequently joined by Gay , who unlike other members of the Palace Flophouse, has a wife and a home. Gay's wife was in the habit of swearing out warrants and having him put in jail, but she began to feel he liked jail and takes to beating him at night while he slept, so he moves in with Mack and

1598-403: A party for Doc. After a failed first attempt, where Doc is not even present, their second attempt is more successful. Their transformation into an organised group in order to do something nice for Doc shows the value of comradeship and sociality. Mack and the boys at the Palace Flophouse need little and appreciate much, and whatever they do need they acquire by cunning and oftentimes stealing. Doc

1692-559: A pirate-themed ride called "Treasure Hunt: The Ride". 36°36′59″N 121°54′02″W  /  36.6165°N 121.9006°W  / 36.6165; -121.9006 Cannery Row (novel) Cannery Row is a novel by American author John Steinbeck , published in 1945. It is set during the Great Depression in Monterey, California , on a street lined with sardine canneries that is known as Cannery Row . The story revolves around

1786-729: A price agreed upon up front—unlike less professional relationships, you know what you're going to get and what you will have to pay for it. The same theme of respect is expressed in Cannery Row in Steinbeck's descriptions of the Bear Flag: prostitution is a business that provides a service in demand, it is run cleanly and honestly, and it benefits the community. Throughout the story characters such as Dora Flood, Mack, and Doc are all expanded upon, and they reveal that they are much more complicated than they at first appear to be. For example, Dora Flood owns

1880-455: A shack used to store fish meal when it is given to him by a debtor to settle a large outstanding grocery bill. He is forced to deal with Mack, the leader of a group of homeless men, when Mack suggests he and his boys take over the shack as a living space for which they will pay rent. Lee Chong knows that no rent will ever be paid but acquiesces to the deal as he can imagine the boys burning the shack down. Despite his realization that Mack often gets

1974-424: A short distance from the historic district frequented by tourists. In recent years, Cannery Row has become increasingly popular among sport fishermen due to extensive public fishing facilities. MacAbee Beach and San Carlos Beach, which bookend Cannery Row are both popular spots for kayak-launching; San Carlos Beach is one of Monterey Bay's most popular scuba-diving spots. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (opened in 1984)

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2068-551: A short-lived farming colony in Palestine that disbanded after Arab attackers killed his brother and raped his brother's wife and mother-in-law. He arrived in the United States in 1858, shortening the family name to Steinbeck. The family farm in Heiligenhaus , Mettmann , Germany, is still named "Großsteinbeck". His father, John Ernst Steinbeck (1862–1935), served as Monterey County treasurer. John's mother, Olive Hamilton (1867–1934),

2162-481: A slow market, Steinbeck and Carol moved back to Pacific Grove, California , to a cottage owned by his father, on the Monterey Peninsula a few blocks outside the Monterey city limits. The elder Steinbecks gave John free housing, paper for his manuscripts, and from 1928, loans that allowed him to write without looking for work. During the Great Depression , Steinbeck bought a small boat, and later claimed that he

2256-437: A social truth-teller [and is an] authentic realist fully equal to his predecessors Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway." Although modest about his own talent as a writer, Steinbeck talked openly of his own admiration of certain writers. In 1953, he wrote that he considered cartoonist Al Capp , creator of the satirical Li'l Abner , "possibly the best writer in the world today". At his own first Nobel Prize press conference he

2350-406: A vacant lot that was the "home" of some of the homeless characters in the novel. The former reflects Chinese American history in the area, starting with Chinese immigrants who entered the fishing industry, exporting seafood and abalone shells to China, Europe, and other parts of the U.S. At 851 Cannery Row, across from Pacific Biological Laboratories, is the original building that inspired the bar from

2444-458: A valley near Monterey, which was discovered by a Spanish corporal while chasing runaway Indian slaves. In 1933 Steinbeck published The Red Pony , a 100-page, four-chapter story weaving in memories of Steinbeck's childhood. To a God Unknown , named after a Vedic hymn, follows the life of a homesteader and his family in California, depicting a character with a primal and pagan worship of

2538-402: A writer. He wrote a daily letter to his editor while writing the book. Through them, Steinbeck explored himself, his creative process, his love for writing, and his family life, for he had just married his third wife, Elaine Scott, the year prior. Steinbeck, according to Elaine Scott, considered East of Eden his magnum opus , his greatest novel. As the book was released, he wrote to John Beskow,

2632-633: A writer. Steinbeck was already beginning to suspect that he would never again be able to go back to living in this, his favorite part of California. Indeed, after a failed attempt to live in California in the late 1940s, he left to spend the rest of his life in New York. Doc is a marine biologist who runs a biological specimen business, Western Biological Laboratories, who collects, prepares and markets specimens of fish and mammals for research and dissection. He pays bounties for certain creatures he needs, like cats and frogs. In addition to keeping live creatures on

2726-466: A year later. In 1942, after his divorce from Carol, Steinbeck married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger. With his second wife Steinbeck had two sons, Thomas ("Thom") Myles Steinbeck (1944–2016) and John Steinbeck IV (1946–1991). In May 1948, Steinbeck returned to California on an emergency trip to be with his friend Ed Ricketts, who had been seriously injured when a train struck his car. Ricketts died hours before Steinbeck arrived. Upon returning home, Steinbeck

2820-449: A young man living with Mack and the boys in the Palace Flophouse; Eddie, a part-time bartender living at the Palace Flophouse, who supplies the boys with "hooch" left in patrons' glasses at Ida's Bar; and an enigmatic figure known as "the Chinaman ". Steinbeck revisited these characters and this milieu nine years later in his novel Sweet Thursday . Mack and the boys work together to plan

2914-595: Is also mentioned in Bob Dylan 's song " Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands ". Pacific Biological Laboratories , a biological supply house, was located at 800 Ocean View Avenue (now 800 Cannery Row) from 1928 to 1948, and operated by Edward F. Ricketts , who was the inspiration for several characters in Steinbeck novels. The laboratory is still preserved. Across from the laboratory still exists a Chinese-American-owned store mentioned in both Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday , as well as

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3008-445: Is aware of the cunning of Mack and the boys, but is fascinated by it as he often looks at them as he would a marine specimen. Hazel , a simple minded but good hearted-young man who was given a female name by a mother too tired from child-bearing to realize her error at first or subsequently to care, is the most prominent of Mack's boys. Hazel goes on marine specimen hunting trips with Doc. The Palace Flop House boys also include Eddie ,

3102-414: Is content because its denizens are not ambitious to be anything other than who they are: their sole ambition is to better befriend Doc. Steinbeck expresses a certain respect for prostitution for its honesty of motives, while reserving moral judgment for the reader. In Of Mice and Men (1937), George has a small monologue in which he states that a man can go into a whorehouse and get a beer and sex for

3196-497: Is happy with his station in life and in the community (but many worry about his being lonely without a companion). Lee Chong could very easily go after the people in Cannery Row and collect on the debts he is owed, but he chooses instead to let the money come back to him gradually. "Henri the painter" is happy building his ever-changing boat and will continually dismantle it and start again so that he can continue building it. Cannery Row

3290-459: Is located at the north end of Cannery Row, at the former site of the major Hovden Cannery . Norwegian immigrant Knut Hovden founded Hovden Food Products Corporation which opened on July 7, 1916. By canning squid at the end of its life, Hovden Cannery managed to outlast its neighbors, finally closing its doors in 1973 when it became the last cannery on the row to close. The aquarium remains a very popular attraction today. In 2023, Cannery Row opened

3384-810: Is mostly based on Sweet Thursday , the sequel to Cannery Row . In 1994, the Western Stage in Salinas, California , commissioned J.R. Hall to do a stage adaptation of the novel to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its publication. A year later, it was produced as part of the National Steinbeck Festival. Subsequently, it was revived by the Western Stage in 2005, by the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2007, and by

3478-585: Is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multigeneration epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize –winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon . By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies. Much of Steinbeck's work employs settings in his native central California , particularly in

3572-529: The American Booksellers Association . Later that year, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was adapted as a film directed by John Ford , starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad; Fonda was nominated for the best actor Academy Award. Grapes was controversial. Steinbeck's New Deal political views, negative portrayal of aspects of capitalism, and sympathy for the plight of workers, led to

3666-516: The Knights of the Round Table . Glastonbury Tor was visible from the cottage, and Steinbeck also visited the nearby hillfort of Cadbury Castle , the supposed site of King Arthur's court of Camelot . The unfinished manuscript was published after his death in 1976, as The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights . Steinbeck grew up enthralled by the stories of King Arthur, and the Steinbecks recounted

3760-847: The Post Ranch in Big Sur . He later labored with migrant workers on Spreckels sugar beet farms. There he learned of the harsher aspects of the migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which supplied him with material expressed in Of Mice and Men . He explored his surroundings, walking across local forests, fields, and farms. While working at Spreckels Sugar Company, he sometimes worked in their laboratory, which gave him time to write. He had considerable mechanical aptitude and fondness for repairing things he owned. Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and went on to study English literature at Stanford University near Palo Alto , leaving without

3854-538: The Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists . Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California . He was of German, English, and Irish descent. Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck (1828–1913), Steinbeck's paternal grandfather, was a founder of Mount Hope ,

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3948-522: The main coronary arteries . In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated, and interred on March 4, 1969 at the Hamilton family gravesite in Salinas, with those of his parents and maternal grandparents. His third wife, Elaine, was buried in the plot in 2004. He had written to his doctor that he felt deeply "in his flesh" that he would not survive his physical death, and that the biological end of his life

4042-416: The "Cup of Gold", and on the women, brighter than the sun, who were said to be found there. In 1930, Steinbeck wrote a werewolf murder mystery, Murder at Full Moon , that has never been published because Steinbeck considered it unworthy of publication. Between 1930 and 1933, Steinbeck produced three shorter works. The Pastures of Heaven , published in 1932, consists of twelve interconnected stories about

4136-531: The Academy's biggest mistakes" in one Swedish newspaper. The reaction of American literary critics was also harsh. The New York Times asked why the Nobel committee gave the award to an author whose "limited talent is, in his best books, watered down by tenth-rate philosophising", noting that "[T]he international character of the award and the weight attached to it raise questions about the mechanics of selection and how close

4230-461: The Boys. A gifted mechanic, Gay is arrested during the trip to catch frogs after he goes off to seek a Model T carburetor and disappears from the story, as he winds up back in jail. Henri is a painter and visual artist who creates works of art out of different materials, such as feathers and nutshells. He is building a boat on blocks that he will never put out to sea. He romances a succession of women in

4324-451: The CIA). It was at that time he became friends with Will Lang Jr. of Time / Life magazine. During the war, Steinbeck accompanied the commando raids of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. 's Beach Jumpers program, which launched small-unit diversion operations against German-held islands in the Mediterranean . At one point, he accompanied Fairbanks on an invasion of an island off the coast of Italy and used

4418-737: The City Theatre of Sacramento, California in 2014. John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( / ˈ s t aɪ n b ɛ k / STYNE -bek ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters." During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward Ricketts , including 16 novels, six non-fiction books , and two collections of short stories . He

4512-567: The March 1955 premiere, wrote "Beautifully acted, and superbly directed by Elia Kazan, it is bound to be one of the year’s important contributions to screen literature." From March to October 1959, Steinbeck and his third wife Elaine rented a cottage in the hamlet of Discove, Redlynch , near Bruton in Somerset , England, while Steinbeck researched his retelling of the Arthurian legend of King Arthur and

4606-423: The Nobel committee is to the main currents of American writing. ... [W]e think it interesting that the laurel was not awarded to a writer ... whose significance, influence and sheer body of work had already made a more profound impression on the literature of our age". Steinbeck, when asked on the day of the announcement if he deserved the Nobel, replied: "Frankly, no." Biographer Jackson Benson notes, "[T]his honor

4700-562: The adventures of a group of classless and usually homeless young men in Monterey after World War I , just before U.S. prohibition . They are portrayed in ironic comparison to mythic knights on a quest and reject nearly all the standard mores of American society in enjoyment of a dissolute life devoted to wine, lust, camaraderie and petty theft. In presenting the 1962 Nobel Prize to Steinbeck, the Swedish Academy cited "spicy and comic tales about

4794-547: The area offshore from Cannery Row is the Edward F. Ricketts State Marine Conservation Area (part of the larger Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary ) and is home to a large resurgent population of California sea lions . Cannery Row itself is now a tourist attraction with many restaurants and hotels , several of which are located in former cannery buildings, and a few historic attractions. Some privately owned fishing companies still exist on Cannery Row, housed on piers located

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4888-476: The best of him in their deals, he continues to deal with him throughout the novel, such as permitting his ancient Model T, also taken possession by him to settle a debt, to be overhauled and used on a trip to gather frogs for Doc. Dora Flood is the owner and proprietor of the Bear Flag Restaurant, the most prominent and busiest bordello in Monterey. She is a whore with a heart of gold who greatly benefits

4982-433: The boat, who finally leave him due to its cramped quarters and lack of a bathroom. Frankie is a disabled boy suffering from neglect by his mother. The boy hero-worships Doc, whom he lets hang about his lab. Frankie has problems with motor coordination and never does anything quite right, and at times, his body fails him in the middle of performing tasks. The Chinaman is an ancient man who daily scavenges for food under

5076-516: The book down or even skip a page." After visiting California labor camps in 1940, a reporter asked her if she believed that The Grapes of Wrath was exaggerated. Roosevelt responded, "I have never believed that The Grapes of Wrath was exaggerated". In the 1930s and 1940s, Ed Ricketts strongly influenced Steinbeck's writing. Steinbeck frequently took small trips with Ricketts along the California coast to give himself time off from his writing and to collect biological specimens, which Ricketts sold for

5170-404: The brothel and is disliked by the townswomen because of her business, but she is very generous and for two years donates groceries to hungry people. Doc, who is a loved and respected member of society, is, deep down, a very sad and lonely person who, until the end of the story, never opens up to other people. The novel opens with the words: "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink,

5264-476: The community with her public and private charity. Mack is a seemingly homeless person who is the de facto leader of a group of other homeless men that congregate in Cannery Row. Mack negotiates with Lee Chong for the occupancy of a storage shack where he and the boys can live, which is fixed up and dubbed "The Palace Flophouse". Mack was once married but tells Doc he was a disappointment to his wife. The boys generally are unemployed but occasionally take jobs. Doc

5358-494: The controversy, Steinbeck wrote, "The vilification of me out here from the large landowners and bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hate me and have threatened to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing. It is completely out of hand; I mean a kind of hysteria about the book is growing that is not healthy." The then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, already

5452-438: The country one last time. Steinbeck's last novel, The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), examines moral decline in the United States. The protagonist Ethan grows discontented with his own moral decline and that of those around him. The book has a very different tone from Steinbeck's amoral and ecological stance in earlier works such as Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row . It was not a critical success. Many reviewers recognized

5546-470: The credits of Lifeboat, because he believed the final version of the film had racist undertones. In 1944, bruised, battered, and homesick, Steinbeck wrote Cannery Row (1945), a love letter to the city of Monterey. In 1958, Ocean View Avenue in Monterey , the setting of the book, was renamed Cannery Row in his honor. After the war, he wrote The Pearl (1947), knowing it would be filmed eventually. Steinbeck's relationship with Hollywood had solidified to

5640-488: The critical reception of this novel, and the critical outcry when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, Steinbeck published no more fiction in the remaining six years before his death. In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his "realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception". The selection was heavily criticized, and described as "one of

5734-561: The endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature. Fifty years later, in 2012, the Nobel Prize opened its archives and it was revealed that Steinbeck was a "compromise choice" among a shortlist consisting of Steinbeck, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Durrell , French dramatist Jean Anouilh and Danish author Karen Blixen . The declassified documents showed that he

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5828-541: The first Americans to visit many parts of the USSR since the communist revolution . Steinbeck's 1948 book about their experiences, A Russian Journal , was illustrated with Capa's photos. In 1948, the year the book was published, Steinbeck was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters . Over the course of 276 days in 1952, Steinbeck wrote the first draft of East of Eden , a book he considered his ultimate test as

5922-462: The idea that they should throw a thank-you party, and the entire community quickly becomes involved. Unfortunately, the party rages out of control, and Doc's lab and home are ruined—and so is Doc's mood. In an effort to return to Doc's good graces, Mack and the boys decide to throw another party—but make it work this time. A procession of linked vignettes describes the denizens' lives on Cannery Row. These constitute subplots that unfold concurrently with

6016-503: The importance of the novel but were disappointed that it was not another Grapes of Wrath . In the Nobel Prize presentation speech the next year, however, the Swedish Academy cited it most favorably: "Here he attained the same standard which he set in The Grapes of Wrath. Again he holds his position as an independent expounder of the truth with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or bad." Apparently taken aback by

6110-504: The lab as secretary-bookkeeper. Steinbeck helped on an informal basis. They formed a common bond based on their love of music and art, and John learned biology and Ricketts's ecological philosophy. When Steinbeck became emotionally upset, Ricketts sometimes played music for him. Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold , published in 1929, is loosely based on the life and death of privateer Henry Morgan . It centers on Morgan's assault and sacking of Panamá Viejo , sometimes referred to as

6204-492: The land he works. Before his novel Tortilla Flat (1935), Steinbeck was an obscure writer "with little success". Although he had not achieved the status of a well-known writer, he never doubted that he would achieve greatness. Steinbeck achieved his first critical success with Tortilla Flat , a novel set in post-war Monterey, California, that won the California Commonwealth Club 's Gold Medal. It portrays

6298-423: The legendary writer O. Henry . About the same time, Steinbeck recorded readings of several of his short stories for Columbia Records ; the recordings provide a record of Steinbeck's deep, resonant voice. Following the success of Viva Zapata ! , Steinbeck collaborated with Kazan on the 1955 film East of Eden , James Dean 's movie debut. Jack Moffitt of The Hollywood Reporter , in a review that appeared after

6392-406: The main plot. Characters include Lee Chong, the operator of the neighborhood grocery store, "Lee Chong's Heavenly Flower Grocery"; Doc, a marine biologist at Western Biological Laboratories, based on Steinbeck's friend Ed Ricketts , to whom Steinbeck dedicated the novel; Dora Flood, the owner and operator of the Bear Flag Restaurant; Mack, leader of a group of men called Mack and the boys; Hazel,

6486-399: The marine biologist Ed Ricketts , who became a close friend and mentor to Steinbeck during the following decade, teaching him a great deal about philosophy and biology. Ricketts, usually very quiet, yet likable, with an inner self-sufficiency and an encyclopedic knowledge of diverse subjects, became a focus of Steinbeck's attention. Ricketts had taken a college class from Warder Clyde Allee ,

6580-429: The mid-1950s, which resulted from a combination of factors, including unfavorable oceanic conditions, overfishing , and competition from other species. In his investigation of where the sardines had gone, Ed Ricketts finally concluded "They're in cans." Before the collapse, the fishery was one of the most productive in the world due to the upwelling of cold yet nutrient -rich water along the California coastline. Today

6674-512: The novel named La Ida Cafe. Cannery Row was adjoined by a grand mansion owned by Montana mining tycoon James Andrew Murray . Known as "Casa de las Olas" or the Murray Hacienda, the mansion was demolished in the 1940s to make way for the expansion of more canneries. A historical marker is located on the site. The canneries failed after the collapse of the fishing industry in Monterey Bay in

6768-600: The owner of the squid packing business that employs the piasanos for one day, so they can raise money to pay for a party. Unlike Lee Chong in Cannery Row , Chin Kee is talked about but never appears in the novel Tortilla Flat . Won died in 1934. Steinbeck later wrote a sequel released in 1954 called Sweet Thursday , in which several new characters are introduced and Doc finds love, with the help of his friends. The film version of Cannery Row incorporates elements from both books. Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted Sweet Thursday into

6862-509: The people living there: Lee Chong, the local grocer; Doc, a marine biologist ; and Mack, the leader of a group of derelict people. The actual Monterey location Steinbeck was writing about, known casually as Ocean View Avenue, was later renamed "Cannery Row" in honor of the book. A film version was released in 1982 and a stage version was produced in 1995. Mack and his friends are looking to do something nice for their friend Doc, who has been good to them without asking for reward. Mack hits on

6956-554: The period. Steinbeck's close relations with Ricketts ended in 1941 when Steinbeck moved away from Pacific Grove and divorced his wife Carol. Ricketts's biographer Eric Enno Tamm opined that, except for East of Eden (1952), Steinbeck's writing declined after Ricketts's untimely death in 1948. Steinbeck's novel The Moon Is Down (1942), about the Socrates -inspired spirit of resistance in an occupied village in Northern Europe ,

7050-513: The piers of Cannery Row. His appearance and being are akin to an apparition. Doc was based on Steinbeck's friend Ed Ricketts , a marine biologist and entrepreneur. Mack was based on Cannery Row denizen Harold Otis "Gabe" Bicknell. A photo of Bricknell was used on the cover of the 1994 paperback edition of the novel. Gay was based on aspects of Bicknell and on Grant McLean of Cannery Row, whom Steinbeck called Mack. Bear Flag Restaurant owner and madam Dora Flood and her sister Fauna in

7144-687: The point where his books were being green-lit as movies as they released. The story first appeared in the December 1945 issue of Woman's Home Companion magazine as "The Pearl of the World". It was illustrated by John Alan Maxwell . The novel is an imaginative telling of a story which Steinbeck had heard in La Paz in 1940, as related in The Log From the Sea of Cortez , which he described in Chapter 11 as being "so much like

7238-498: The premises such as rattlesnakes, Doc prepares the specimens in his laboratory that also serves as his living quarters. Doc, along with the grocer Lee Chong and madam Dora Flood, is the leading citizen on Cannery Row. Lee Chong , an immigrant from China, owns and personally operates the grocery store across from Doc's lab, "Lee Chong's Heavenly Grocery". His store supplies all the needs of the denizens of Cannery Row, except for what can be had at Dora Flood's bordello. Lee winds up owning

7332-547: The proceeds, he built a summer ranch-home in Los Gatos . Steinbeck began to write a series of "California novels" and Dust Bowl fiction, set among common people during the Great Depression . These included In Dubious Battle , Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath . He also wrote an article series called The Harvest Gypsies for the San Francisco News about the plight of the migrant worker. Of Mice and Men

7426-591: The sequel Sweet Thursday were based on Flora Woods Adams, a bordello owner who also figures in Steinbeck's earlier novel Tortilla Flat and in East of Eden . The Chinese grocer Lee Chong was inspired by Won Yee, an immigrant from China who operated the Wing Chong Company Grocery. Won pioneered the drying and preparation of squid, which was exported to China. He also figures in Tortilla Flat as Chin Kee,

7520-569: The site of Mount Hope , a farm community established by his grandfather, whose brother, Friedrich Großsteinbeck, had been murdered by Arab marauders in 1858 during the Outrages at Jaffa . John Steinbeck died in New York City, where his writing career had begun, on December 20, 1968, during the 1968 flu pandemic of heart disease and congestive heart failure . He was 66, and had been a lifelong smoker. An autopsy showed nearly complete occlusion of

7614-567: The slums that hugged the highways across the Central Valley, he was harrowed by what he saw. He talked with multiple families and vowed to make a book depicting their struggles. It is commonly considered his greatest work. According to The New York Times , it was the best-selling book of 1939 and 430,000 copies had been printed by February 1940. In that month, it won the National Book Award , favorite fiction book of 1939, voted by members of

7708-454: The time spent in Somerset as the happiest of their life together. Travels with Charley: In Search of America is a travelogue of his 1960 road trip with his poodle Charley. Steinbeck bemoans his lost youth and roots, while dispensing both criticism and praise for the United States. According to Steinbeck's son Thom, Steinbeck made the journey because he knew he was dying and wanted to see

7802-662: The trip, their marriage was beginning to suffer, and ended a year later, in 1941, even as Steinbeck worked on the manuscript for the book. In 1942, after his divorce from Carol he married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger. Ricketts was Steinbeck's model for the character of "Doc" in Cannery Row (1945) and Sweet Thursday (1954), "Friend Ed" in Burning Bright , and characters in In Dubious Battle (1936) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Ecological themes recur in Steinbeck's novels of

7896-425: Was a drama about the dreams of two migrant agricultural laborers in California. Steinbeck, on vacations to Mexico, witnessed sold-out theater troupes with often poor and illiterate workers consisting of the audience. As such, Steinbeck chose to write Of Mice and Men with a stage play in mind. It was critically acclaimed and Steinbeck's 1962 Nobel Prize citation called it a "little masterpiece". Its stage production

7990-432: Was a hit, starring Wallace Ford as George and Broderick Crawford as George's companion, the mentally childlike, but physically powerful itinerant farmhand Lennie. Steinbeck refused to travel from his home in California to attend any performance of the play during its New York run, telling director George S. Kaufman that the play as it existed in his own mind was "perfect" and that anything presented on stage would only be

8084-418: Was able to live on the fish and crabs that he gathered from the sea, and fresh vegetables from his garden and local farms. When those sources failed, Steinbeck and his wife accepted welfare, and on rare occasions, stole bacon from the local produce market. Whatever food they had, they shared with their friends. Carol became the model for Mary Talbot in Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row . In 1930, Steinbeck met

8178-405: Was also in difficulties. He wrote Cannery Row in 1944 in an attempt to recover a Depression era world in Monterey which was, by then, already inaccessible to him. Major influences for this change included the war's effect on both Steinbeck and Monterey, the breakup of Steinbeck's first marriage, and the insulation caused by Steinbeck's new wealth arising from his increasing fame and success as

8272-725: Was an acquaintance of modernist poet Robinson Jeffers , a Californian neighbor. In a letter to Elizabeth Otis, Steinbeck wrote: "Robinson Jeffers and his wife came in to call the other day. He looks a little older but that is all. And she is just the same." In 1962, Steinbeck began acting as friend and mentor to the young writer and naturalist Jack Rudloe , who was trying to establish his own biological supply company, now Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in Florida. Their correspondence continued until Steinbeck's death. In February 1966, Steinbeck and his wife traveled to Israel . He visited in Tel Aviv

8366-515: Was asked his favorite authors and works and replied: " Hemingway 's short stories and nearly everything Faulkner wrote." In September 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Steinbeck the Presidential Medal of Freedom . In 1967, at the behest of Newsday magazine, Steinbeck went to Vietnam to report on the war. He thought of the Vietnam War as a heroic venture and was considered

8460-475: Was chosen as the best of a bad lot. "There aren't any obvious candidates for the Nobel prize and the prize committee is in an unenviable situation," wrote committee member Henry Olsson . Although the committee believed Steinbeck's best work was behind him by 1962, committee member Anders Österling believed the release of his novel The Winter of Our Discontent showed that "after some signs of slowing down in recent years, [Steinbeck has] regained his position as

8554-594: Was confronted by Gwyn, who asked for a divorce, which became final in October. Steinbeck spent the year after Ricketts's death in deep depression. In June 1949, Steinbeck met stage manager Elaine Scott at a restaurant in Carmel, California . Steinbeck and Scott eventually began a relationship, and in December 1950 they married, within a week of Scott's finalizing her own divorce from actor Zachary Scott . This third marriage for Steinbeck lasted until his death in 1968. Steinbeck

8648-620: Was made in 1992 starring Gary Sinise as George and John Malkovich as Lennie. Steinbeck followed this wave of success with The Grapes of Wrath (1939), based on newspaper articles about migrant agricultural workers that he had written in San Francisco. In August 1936, the San Francisco News asked Steinbeck to personally interview multiple families in the impoverished Hoovervilles of the San Joaquin Valley . As Steinbeck visited

8742-727: Was made into a film almost immediately. It was presumed that the unnamed country of the novel was Norway and the occupiers the Germans. In 1945, Steinbeck received the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross for his literary contributions to the Norwegian resistance movement . In 1943, Steinbeck served as a World War II war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune and worked with the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of

8836-595: Was one of the few in the world that one could not buy nor gain by political maneuver. It was precisely because the committee made its judgment ... on its own criteria, rather than plugging into 'the main currents of American writing' as defined by the critical establishment, that the award had value." In his acceptance speech later in the year in Stockholm, he said: the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In

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