History of the Opera House: A city in sorrow — Pollyanna at the Opera House
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In 1919, Cheboygan and the country grappled with the effects of the Spanish Flu. Opera House Manager Elliot Erratt offered only a few shows as the flu began to wane. He chose the shows carefully. The next big billing following the Yankee Minstrels was the classic, “Pollyanna.”
“Pollyanna, a comedy of good cheer by Catherine Chisholm Cushing, based upon Mrs. Eleanor H. Porter’s tremendously popular stories of the glad-girl, will be brought to the City Opera House on Tuesday May 26 ... Grown-ups who know life and how hard it is for some folks to find joy in it are the most loyal admirers of the orphan optimist, one of the most fascinating characters between the book covers or upon the stage. How she sweetens up soured natures and puts trouble to flight by sheer force of magnetic example is all good comedy, with some touches of sentiment and romance; for Pollyanna is not only seen in short skirted checked gingham but later in the fluffy finery of sweet seventeen, in the fluttering enjoyment of her first young love. Miss Viola Harper, the youngest leading lady on the American stage, plays the leading part.”
In 1913, author Eleanor Porter began writing a series of books based on the adventures of a young girl who is orphaned when her father, a single parent, dies. She is sent to live with her Aunt Polly in the town of Harrington, where neighbors are fighting with neighbors. She overcomes grief and loss when her father dies. She recovers from a crippling injury because of her optimistic faith. She charms her grumpy, judgmental Aunt Polly with her positive attitude. And she brings the warring factions of her small town together as her community.
Porter’s book series was rewritten into a play by Catherine Cushing. Viola Harper (or Harpman) won the lead. Harper began as a child actor in the Chicago Player’s Club. She was chosen for the role of Pollyanna and toured America and Canada for three years with the play. In 1919, a movie was released.
Twenty-two-year-old Viola Harper was not chosen to play the 11-year-old lead in the production of the movie. Twenty-eight-year-old Mary Pickford was. Pickford starred on the Opera House stage in 1903 under the name Gladys Marie Smith when she was 11 years old. By 1919 she was a wealthy, well known stage actress. She formed her own studio, Mary Pickford Studio, and produced and starred in the silent movie that was to become a classic, "Pollyanna." This silver screen hit catapulted her to international stardom. She became the most famous actress in the world.
Pollyanna was brought back to life in 1960 in the Disney classic starring 14-year-old Hayley Mills. The English actress made one movie in England, "Tiger Bay," in which she starred with her father, actor Sir John Mills. A Disney movie producer saw the film and brought Mills to America to audition as Pollyanna. Once again, the story of the optimistic orphan served as a star vehicle for a young actress. Mills won a special Academy Award, the Juvenile Oscar. She was signed for six more Disney films, including the U.S number 8 film of 1962, "The Parent Trap," in which she plays dual roles as twins. Mills became the most popular child actress in America. She published her memoirs “Forever Young” in 2021.
So great was the emotional impact of the character Pollyanna on the world that she became an archetype, an identifiable symbol of a larger concept that resides in the collective unconscious of a culture. The term “Pollyanna” describes behavior associated with the character that psychologists find in many people. Researchers developed the concept of “the Pollyanna principle” or positivity bias. They found that people remember pleasant experiences more accurately than unpleasant ones. Subconscious minds tend to focus on the positive and conscious minds on the negative. Recent research on social media users shows Pollyannaism in Twitter users, who tend to focus on the positive comments and ignore the negative.
Excessive Pollyannaism is called the Pollyanna Syndrome. Sometimes a person who is “excessively cheerful or optimistic” is called a Pollyanna in a derogative way. Excess positivity can be dangerous. Researchers found that when people expose themselves only to positive stimuli and avoid negative stimuli, they take longer to recognize when something is unpleasant or threatening. People with Pollyanna Syndrome may not identify dangerous situations or recognize bad people when blinded by the “rose colored glasses” of optimism.
Kathy King Johnson is the former executive director of the Cheboygan Opera House.
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: History of the Opera House: A city in sorrow — Pollyanna at the Opera House