From Novel to Movie: The Yearling in Florida

To see the full 58-minute documentary online click here: PBS.org

The documentary is also available on the PBS app by typing in the word Yearling in the search box. You can also view the documentary on the WUFT-TV passport. PBS stations can download the broadcast version from NETA.

From Novel to Movie: The Yearling in Florida is also being distributed to more than 350 PBS stations via NETA, The National Educational Telecommunications Association. Check local listings in your area for availability. DVDs of the program may soon be made available for purchase. Check this site for updates.

From Novel to Movie: The Yearling in Florida takes an inside look at a classic movie as well as the award-winning classic novel which inspired the film with the people who lived the story. The documentary shares oral histories from some of the actors and stand-ins who were featured in the Oscar-nominated MGM Classic, The Yearling, the coming of age story about a post-Civil War backwoods Florida family who raised an orphaned deer which leads to heartbreaking conflict.

*Jane Wyman, Claude Jarman, Jr. and Gregory Peck*

2022 marked the 75^th Anniversary of when the film was honored at the Academy Awards with seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor nominations for Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman. The Yearling took home Oscars for Cinematography and Art Direction and Claude Jarman, Jr. received a Juvenile Acting Oscar for his role as young “Jody Baxter” in the movie.

The Yearling, directed by Clarence Brown, was based on the 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. The documentary, From Novel to Movie: The Yearling in Florida features many unique home movie clips recorded by actor Gregory Peck during the time he was working on the film in the Ocala National Forest in Florida in 1945.

(l to r) Bobby Randall and Claude Jarman, Jr.

The documentary also includes extensive interview segments with Oscar winner Claude Jarman, Jr. who played young Jody Baxter in the MGM film. Memories from Florida residents who served as stand-ins for Peck and Jarman as well as some of the people who worked on the movie set in Florida’s scrub country are also featured.

We are so thankful to Claude Jarman, Jr. for providing photos and most of all his insight on the making of the classic film. We are also appreciative of The Gregory Peck Foundation for providing home movie clips recorded by Gregory Peck while he was filming in Florida and California in 1945.

Click on the video below to see the first five minutes of the 58 minute documentary.

To see the full 58-minute documentary online click here: PBS.org

Meet the people behind the documentary below

The producer of the documentary is award-winning journalist Donna Green-Townsend. She has more than 45 years of radio and television experience and is the recipient of a National Edward R. Murrow Award for documentary production. In December of 2021 she interviewed Claude Jarman, Jr. on stage at the Marion Theatre in Ocala, FL before a showing of the original movie The Yearling.

The co-producer is Kathlyne Walkup Sheppard whose knowledge, relatives and acquaintances from the “Big Scrub” were invaluable to the project. A big thank you goes to members of the Friends of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Farm Board for ongoing support on this project.

In 1939, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Yearling. Her inspiration for the novel came from time spent with people who lived in the “Big Scrub.” Marjorie’s friend Leonard Fiddia, who did work for her, lived along the Ocklawaha River. He sold and taught her how to make moonshine. She stayed with the Fiddia family to gather material for her book South Moon Under, her first novel. Leonard Fiddia introduced her to Calvin Long in the forest. It was his brother Melvin Long who had a pet deer. That’s where The Yearling story began. Melvin’s experience with his pet deer became the story of Jody Baxter. Marjorie’s inspiration for her character Fodderwing in the novel came from meeting Rodney Slater, the handicapped son of her friend “Widow” Slater in Cross Creek.

Leonard Fiddia who introduced MKR to Calvin Long

MGM bought the film rights and began production on the movie version in 1941 in the “Big Scrub” of the Ocala National Forest in Florida. A variety of East Marion County residents were hired to work on the set in the forest, including Richard Mills. That first effort to make the film was scrapped when actor Spencer Tracy decided to head back to California. Near the end of WWII, a new cast and crew headed back to the forest in 1945. That crew included Gregory Peck as Penny Baxter and Claude Jarman, Jr. as Jody Baxter. Once again, many East Marion County residents found work as either stand-ins for the key actors or took jobs working on the set. Alva Kinsey, Sr. was Gregory Peck’s double and Bobby Randall was Claude Jarman, Jr.’s stand-in. Lawrence Kinsey and Freeman Godwin were hired to work on the film set while others like Jack Owen helped catch fawns for use in the movie getting paid $25 by MGM for each fawn they used during the filming. Here are photos of some of those East Marion County residents.

Thanks to the folks who helped tell the story of From Novel to Movie: The Yearling in Florida. Here are photos of the key people who shared their knowledge for the documentary.

And last but not least, thanks to Ellie Townsend for her editorial assistance.

Music Selections in the Documentary:

I am especially thankful to the Florida musicians who provided the music we featured in the program. Most of these music pieces are original works created for the documentary . Listen to the music below: