Kathryn Forbes (1908–1966)
Author of Mama's Bank Account
About the Author
Kathryn Forbes, a pseudonym for Kathryn Anderson McClean, was born on March 10, 1909, in San Francisco, Calif. and educated at Mount View High School. Forbes's book of short stories, Mama's Bank Account (1943), was dramatized by John Van Druten, produced by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstien II, show more and reached the Music Box Theater on Broadway as "I Remember Mama" in 1944. It was adapted to film in 1948 and became a popular television show for the Columbia Broadcasting Company, running from 1949 to 1957. Forbes's other work includes Transfer Point (1947) as well as magazine articles and radio scripts. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)
Works by Kathryn Forbes
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Forbes, Kathryn
- Other names
- Anderson, Kathryn (birth)
- Birthdate
- 1908-03-20
- Date of death
- 1966-05-15
- Burial location
- Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Colma, California, USA
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Place of death
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Places of residence
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Occupations
- short story writer
memoirist
radio scriptwriter
novelist - Short biography
- Kathryn Forbes was the pseudonym of Kathryn Anderson, author of the best-selling collection of stories concerning the daily struggles of an emigrant Norwegian family living in San Francisco in the early 1900s entitled Mama’s Bank Account (1943), which was adapted for the stage, cinema, and television as I Remember Mama by John Van Druten. Both of her Kathryn's parents were native-born Americans, but her grandmother had come to the USA in the late 19th century. Her 1947 novel Transfer Point took a less nostalgic look at life in San Francisco after World War I. Kathryn married Robert McLean, a carpenter, with whom she had two sons.
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Reviews
Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes
A collection of (I assume) semi-autobiographical short stories about the author's growing up in San Francisco, the child of Norwegian immigrant parents. The keystone that holds the family together is Mama, around whom each story/chapter focuses. Though originally published in 1943, this has aged remarkably well. Reading it in 2021, the language still felt fresh, and the stories engaged me. It's mostly a sweet and heart-warming collection.
½In PB reprint from 1943: this trove of delightful little gems about an indomitable Norwegian matriarch of early twentieth-century San Francisco. Mama manages five kids, her own squabbling siblings, money problems, medical crises, and a growing number of boarders with optimism and insight. A fine antidote to our own coarse and indulgent times. I was saying Mama's mantra "is good, is good" and grinning ear to ear by the middle of the book.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It showed the transition from an immigrant to an adapted lifestyle. Very wise woman.
In episodic chapters, the author draws on the experiences of her Norwegian immigrant grandmother to describe a family in San Fransisco in the early 1900s, and their steadfast Mama.
I picked this up from the library on a whim, because as I was looking at the book, I was almost certain that I'd read it before. Or part of it. I'm still not entirely sure. Two of the stories - "Mama and the Graduation Present" and "Mama and Uncle Elizabeth" - I believe were in one of my literature books as an elementary or middle school student. I really enjoyed these heartwarming and often funny stories. Each chapter could be read nearly on its own, though time moves on, and some references are made to past chapters. The importance of family, and Mama's oft-repeated phrase, "It is good," are at the heart of this story.… (more)
I picked this up from the library on a whim, because as I was looking at the book, I was almost certain that I'd read it before. Or part of it. I'm still not entirely sure. Two of the stories - "Mama and the Graduation Present" and "Mama and Uncle Elizabeth" - I believe were in one of my literature books as an elementary or middle school student. I really enjoyed these heartwarming and often funny stories. Each chapter could be read nearly on its own, though time moves on, and some references are made to past chapters. The importance of family, and Mama's oft-repeated phrase, "It is good," are at the heart of this story.… (more)
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- Works
- 3
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 611
- Popularity
- #41,144
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 9
- ISBNs
- 14
- Languages
- 3