This story about how Stern originally wrote the original "Francis" as a series of magazine short stories during World War II and connected them into a novel after the war is well-known. It has been repeated in most of the articles about the novel and the "Francis the Talking Mule" movies.
I just decided to look up some of the original magazine stories and see how much they were rewritten for the novel. I was flabbergasted to discover that in the stories, Francis is Frances -- a jenny (female mule). Check out "Frances and the Golden Brew" in Esquire, September 1945.
David Stern rewrote the original magazine stories more than anyone realized.
2018. Six years later. Yarst.
This story about how Stern originally wrote the original "Francis" as a series of magazine short stories during World War II and connected them into a novel after the war is well-known. It has been repeated in most of the articles about the novel and the "Francis the Talking Mule" movies.
I just decided to look up some of the original magazine stories and see how much they were rewritten for the novel. I was flabbergasted to discover that in the stories, Francis is Frances -- a jenny (female mule). Check out "Frances and the Golden Brew" in Esquire, September 1945.
David Stern rewrote the original magazine stories more than anyone realized.
Fred Patten