Classic Movies - Famous Child Star: Margaret O'Brien - Little Women

Starring
June Allyson
Peter Lawford
Margaret O'Brien
Elizabeth Taylor
Janet Leigh

and
Mary Astor

Today let's conclude talk Classic Movie Child Star - Margaret O'Brien. We are going to skip ahead a few years to 1949. The featured movie for today is Little Women. Louisa May Alcott's beloved novel is brought to life by a stellar cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, Rossano Brazzi, Lucile Watson, C. Aubrey Smith, Leon Ames, and Harry Davenport.

Little Women is an autobiographical account of Alcott's life with her three sisters in Concord, Massachusettes in the 1860s. Set in New England during the Civil War, Little Women chronicles the lives and loves of four sisters. Meg, Josephine, Amy and Beth March are the little women who, together with their mother "Marmee" (Astor), keep the home fires burning while their father (Ames) serves with the Union army. The March ladies must rely on each other for strength as they face tragedies both large and small. Meg (Leigh), the eldest, is a second mother to the troupe while "Jo" (Allyson), the tomboy, takes on the role of man of the house in the absense of their father. Amy (Taylor) is proud and yearns for the good things in life, and Beth (O'Brien), the youngest and frailest of the four, overcomes her shyness as she seeks comfort in gentle music. Little Women is a simple tale of four young girls coming to womanhood, finding love and their place in the world. In the novel, Amy is the youngest sister, but in order to use Margaret O'Brien as Beth, Beth was made the youngest in the 1949 version of Little Women.

We highly recommend watching Little Women. There have been several versions made throughout the years that are exceptional. Our favorite versions are the 1933 and 1949 versions. Read "Let's Talk Classic Movies" for more classic movie presentations and trivia.

**Trivia Question for Today: The basket that Margaret O'Brien carries around in Little Women is the same basket that was carried in a previous movie. What was the name of the movie and who carried it?

Bonus Trivia: In which scene in Little Women did June Allyson actually cry real tears?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: Van Johnson was originally cast as John Truett in Meet Me in St. Louis.

Bonus Trivia Answer for Previous Post: The house at 5135 Kensington Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri was the actual home of Sally Benson, author of the short stories that Meet Me in St. Louis was based on. Cheaper By The Dozen (1950) was the other well-known movie that used this same house for the Gilbreth family's house set in Montclair, New Jersey.