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Lew. Eloise embarks on a tirade against men, and Lew in particular, who lacks, she feels, the traits most lovable in Walt – “humor” and “intelligence”. She relates an event in which she and Walt were running to catch a bus, and she sprained her ankle. Referring to her ankle in good humor, Walt had said, "Poor Uncle
Wiggily…” In divulging the details of Walt’s death, Eloise breaks down, and Mary Jane attempts to comfort her.
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Written while
Salinger resided in suburban Stamford, Connecticut, the story offers insights into upper-middle class American society in the post-WWII years. In that era, writes biographer Kenneth Slawenski, “unabashed Americanism and materialism were unquestioned values”. Despising his neighbors for
102:
The drunken Eloise goes upstairs to Ramona’s bedroom where the child is sleeping. Turning on the light, she sees the girl lying at the extreme edge of the bed, a habit of hers to make space for her imaginary friend. Eloise wakes her up and reminds her that Jimmy has been killed, but Ramona tries to
88:
The women resume their drunken and desultory ramblings. Eloise relates the story of a young soldier, Walt Glass, with whom she fell in love when single. She still clings to Walt's memory (he was killed in a freak accident while serving in the
Pacific), and expresses bitter regret that she married
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Mary Jane visits Eloise at her home and they spend the afternoon reminiscing about their college years, chain-smoking, and drinking themselves into a stupor. Ramona returns home, and Mary Jane gushes over the girl. Eloise commands her daughter to divulge the particulars of Jimmy
Jimmereeno to the
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Despite her escapism through alcohol, the cynical Eloise comes face-to-face with her own “phoniness”. She recognizes that both she and Ramona are seeking companions that don’t exist - Walt Glass and Jimmy
Jimmereeno - and is finally able to feel pity for her child’s suffering. Salinger shows the
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After switching off the light and standing long in the doorway Eloise holds Ramona's glasses against her cheek, cries and repeats the words “Poor Uncle
Wiggily” again and again. Sobbing, she tucks in the frightened and crying girl and leaves the room. Downstairs, she awakens Mary Jane from her
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Eloise
Wengler is a jaded suburban housewife in an unhappy marriage to Lew Wengler. Mary Jane is her former college roommate who works part-time as a secretary. She is divorced. Neither woman graduated from the college they attended together. Ramona is Eloise’s little daughter. Socially inept,
139:
With its dialog-driven plot, "Uncle
Wiggily" was more appropriate for a stage adaptation, and the story would require a major rewrite by the movie studio to achieve a film version. Salinger had relinquished all control over the screenplay, which was written by
103:
avoid a confrontation by inventing a new friend named "Mickey
Mickeranno." Flying into a rage, the exasperated Eloise takes hold of Ramona and drags her to the middle of the bed, and orders her to go to sleep in that position.
98:
Grace, the live-in maid, approaches Eloise and respectfully asks that her visiting spouse be allowed to stay the night due to the severe weather. Eloise curtly rebuffs her employee and denies the request.
45:
The story's title refers to an event recalled by Eloise in which she and Walt were running to catch a bus, and she sprained her ankle. Walt then said, referring to her ankle in good humor, "Poor
95:
The women continue drinking until they fall asleep in the living room. After dark, Eloise is woken by a phone call from her husband Lew, and after a short, sarcastic exchange, hangs up on him.
42:
The main character, Eloise, struggles to come to terms with the life she has created for herself with her husband Lew. Her true love is the late Walt, who died during his service in the army.
407:
58:, based on this story, remains the only authorized adaptation of Salinger's writings into film. Except for a framing story, the picture bears little resemblance to the original.
147:
In the process of making a
Hollywood film version, the story was transformed from “an exposé of the suburban society” into a sentimental love story with a happy ending.
164:
and Best Music (Song)--and did well at the box office. As a result, the author refused to allow any mainstream film studio the rights to adapt his works to the screen.
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withdrawn and bespectacled, she is accompanied everywhere by her imaginary friend, Jimmy Jimmereeno. Grace is the Wenglers' African-American maid.
107:
alcohol-induced slumber, and weeping, beseeches her dismayed friend to reassure her that as a freshman in college, she had been “a nice girl”.
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870:
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Ramona reenters the room and having overheard her mother’s remarks, announces that Jimmy has been run over by a car and killed.
61:
Although Walt's surname and background are not discussed in the story, Salinger would later reveal that Walt is a member of the
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The story unfolds on a snowy day at the upscale Wengler home; all the characters who appear in the scene are female.
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69:". Later works by Salinger would elaborate upon the character of Walt Glass from the perspectives of his siblings.
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esteeming conformity and phoniness, Salinger sought to expose “the false illusions of the suburban dream.”
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unreality of Eloise’s situation, which has left her bereft of her former sincerity and genuineness.
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guest, and Mary Jane declares the make-believe boy “marvelous.” Ramona retreats outdoors to play.
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136:. The sale promised to advance Salinger’s career, and was financially lucrative.
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and brother of Seymour Glass, the protagonist of Salinger's previous story "
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published "Uncle Wiggily" in March 1948, Salinger sold the movie rights to
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Salinger was profoundly dissatisfied by the results, and to his dismay,
408:
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction
329:
207:"Salinger's Allusions to My Foolish Heart—the Salinger Movie."
209:
ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews
33:. It was originally published in the March 20, 1948 issue of
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in Nine Stories. Little, Brown and Company. New York (1981).
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847:
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866:Works originally published in The New Yorker
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352:
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643:A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All
123:
848:
333:
676:"I Went to School with Adolf Hitler"
666:"The Boy in the People Shooting Hat"
531:Just Before the War with the Eskimos
211:. Vol. 20:2. Spring 2007. pp. 39-43.
681:The Last and Best of the Peter Pans
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184:. Little, Brown & Company. 1989
13:
359:
14:
887:
696:"Monologue for a Watery Highball"
876:Short stories set in Connecticut
871:Short stories adapted into films
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573:Personal Notes of an Infantryman
194:Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut at
856:Short stories by J. D. Salinger
708:The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls
615:This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise
277:
72:
27:that appears in his collection
756:Salinger v. Random House, Inc.
580:Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes
552:The Long Debut of Lois Taggett
475:For Esmé—with Love and Squalor
454:De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period
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247:
214:
201:
174:
1:
538:Last Day of the Last Furlough
167:
16:Short story by J. D. Salinger
622:Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
587:Slight Rebellion off Madison
566:A Perfect Day for Bananafish
310:Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
67:A Perfect Day for Bananafish
21:Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
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510:The Heart of a Broken Story
308:Sallinger, Jerome D. 1948.
274:Slawenski, 2010, p. 182-183
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10:
892:
559:Once a Week Won't Kill You
319:. Random House, New York.
315:Slawenski, Kenneth. 2010.
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160:nominations--Best Actress
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424:
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142:Julius and Philip Epstein
386:Short story collections
295:Slawenski, 2010, p. 184
283:Slawenski, 2010, p. 183
265:Slawenski, 2010, p. 182
253:Slawenski, 2010, p. 171
244:Slawenski, 2010, p. 170
232:Slawenski, 2010, p. 169
220:Slawenski, 2010, p. 168
799:Coming Through the Rye
671:The Children's Echelon
440:Both Parties Concerned
376:The Catcher in the Rye
23:" is a short story by
317:J.D. Salinger: A Life
629:The Varioni Brothers
594:Soft-Boiled Sergeant
124:1949 film adaptation
784:companion biography
524:The Inverted Forest
415:Three Early Stories
861:1948 short stories
461:Down at the Dinghy
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842:
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691:The Magic Foxhole
686:"Lunch for Three"
503:Hapworth 16, 1924
325:978-1-4000-6951-4
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815:My Salinger Year
807:Rebel in the Rye
791:Manhattan's Babe
763:My Foolish Heart
745:Holden Caulfield
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545:The Laughing Man
401:Franny and Zooey
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718:Two Lonely Men
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134:Samuel Goldwyn
130:The New Yorker
128:Shortly after
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52:The 1949 film
36:The New Yorker
25:J. D. Salinger
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739:Matt Salinger
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482:A Girl I Knew
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425:Short stories
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196:newyorker.com
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162:Susan Hayward
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158:Academy Award
156:received two
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47:Uncle Wiggily
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750:Glass family
701:Mrs. Hincher
661:Birthday Boy
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601:The Stranger
489:Go See Eddie
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394:Nine Stories
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182:Nine stories
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73:Plot summary
63:Glass family
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30:Nine Stories
28:
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802:(2015 film)
653:Unpublished
433:Blue Melody
850:Categories
168:References
517:I'm Crazy
835:Category
782:(2013) (
779:Salinger
111:Analysis
732:Related
713:"Paula"
303:Sources
818:(2020)
810:(2017)
794:(2014)
774:(1995)
766:(1949)
468:Elaine
323:
49:...".
741:(son)
608:Teddy
368:Novel
771:Pari
321:ISBN
144:.
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