There was a time when the short novels of Robert Nathan (not to be confused with the brilliant Broadway and film critic George Jean Nathan) were very popular with the public. It's not the case today. Most people recall his novels (if at all) for PORTRAIT OF JENNY, which was made (by David Selznick) into a memorable romantic film with Jennifer Jones, Ethel Barrymore, and Joseph Cotton. But most of them are forgotten and not read at all. THE ENCHANTED VOYAGE is one such novel. It is also the only one of his novels I ever read.
I was in junior high school at the time. The English textbook we were assigned to had four novels in it. We were supposed to read two of them (one was Jane Austen's PERSUASION). THE ENCHANTED VOYAGE was also included.
It was illustrated by photographs, which today I realize were stills from the movie version WAKE UP AND DREAM. I had, at that time, acquired a book about character actors entitled WHO IS THAT?, and it included (among the con-artist types) Clem Bevans. I recognized his face in the photos, and preceded to read the novel. It was not a boring novel, but I have read better ones.
Hector Peckett (Bevans) is a landlubber who has built a boat that is on wheels. He loves to dream of himself as a seaman - a ship captain. He is a henpecked husband, and uses the "boat" as an escape from his wife's "hectoring". During a heavy windy day the boat takes off when Hector puts down the sail. Like "Windwagon Smith" in the Walt Disney cartoon Hector's wheeled boat takes him down the east coast. He tries to mislead his wife as to his whereabouts with a postcard, which she carefully sees is not in the location he wrote on it's back as a message. Hector (who eventually picks up a fellow traveler - the John Payne character) is eventually found by his wife, who arrives to see his boat-wagon wrecked in his last attempt to retain his freedom. She takes him home in the end, showing a little more understanding to him and his needs, but the novel still seemed a trifle of a downer to me.
To be fair the movie was a trifle cheerier, oddly enough because it added some World War II propaganda strands. In retrospect these really did not make the story any better. In fact they date the story more today (a scene when Hector and his friends are given a banquet dinner, and fake telegrams from FDR and Churchill are read to them, one telegram signed "Uncle Joe Stalin" particularly grates. The film today can be considered well acted by Bevans and co-star Payne, but it is destinctly minor, except for introducing "Give Me The Simple Life."
I was in junior high school at the time. The English textbook we were assigned to had four novels in it. We were supposed to read two of them (one was Jane Austen's PERSUASION). THE ENCHANTED VOYAGE was also included.
It was illustrated by photographs, which today I realize were stills from the movie version WAKE UP AND DREAM. I had, at that time, acquired a book about character actors entitled WHO IS THAT?, and it included (among the con-artist types) Clem Bevans. I recognized his face in the photos, and preceded to read the novel. It was not a boring novel, but I have read better ones.
Hector Peckett (Bevans) is a landlubber who has built a boat that is on wheels. He loves to dream of himself as a seaman - a ship captain. He is a henpecked husband, and uses the "boat" as an escape from his wife's "hectoring". During a heavy windy day the boat takes off when Hector puts down the sail. Like "Windwagon Smith" in the Walt Disney cartoon Hector's wheeled boat takes him down the east coast. He tries to mislead his wife as to his whereabouts with a postcard, which she carefully sees is not in the location he wrote on it's back as a message. Hector (who eventually picks up a fellow traveler - the John Payne character) is eventually found by his wife, who arrives to see his boat-wagon wrecked in his last attempt to retain his freedom. She takes him home in the end, showing a little more understanding to him and his needs, but the novel still seemed a trifle of a downer to me.
To be fair the movie was a trifle cheerier, oddly enough because it added some World War II propaganda strands. In retrospect these really did not make the story any better. In fact they date the story more today (a scene when Hector and his friends are given a banquet dinner, and fake telegrams from FDR and Churchill are read to them, one telegram signed "Uncle Joe Stalin" particularly grates. The film today can be considered well acted by Bevans and co-star Payne, but it is destinctly minor, except for introducing "Give Me The Simple Life."