Betty Smith? She’s a
North Carolinian
II burns her down for people lo
fliink she's “from Brooklyn.” or
anywhere, except C’liapc* I Hill.
By WALTER CARROLL
Ii would amuse sonic people, but
not Betty Smith. The author ol the
best-selling A Tree Grows in Brook¬
lyn, says she‘s kinda tired of polite
North Carolinians asking her if she's
“enjoying her visit in North Carolina."
"I wish people would stop asking
me that,” she said in the living room
of her Chapel Hill home the other
day. “I’m a North Carolinian, and
don't forget it."
Betty Smith knows a lot about North
Carolina, but there are a few things
North Carolinians don't know about
her.
The author came to North Carolina
in 1936 on a Rockefeller Fellowship
to write plays about little-known facts
in North Carolina. Twenty of her one-
act plays concerning incidents in the
history of North Carolina have been
published. Some of the cities and towns
she has written about arc: Raleigh,
Henderson, Durham and Wilmington.
These plays have been published by
Samuel French and have been pro¬
duced throughout the United States.
Betty Smith’s two daughters at¬
tended grammar school and high school
in Chapel Hill and the University of
North Carolina. Although Betty has an
undeniable Brooklyn accent, her
grandson, John, a four-year-oldcr born
in Durham, has as Southern an accent
as you've ever heard. "Maybe it’s my
accent that brands me a foreigner,"
Betty says.
It’s pretty hard to be more legally a
resident than Betty Smith is. She is
one of the state’s ten highest-paying in¬
dividual taxpayers; she owns one of
the oldest houses in Chapel Hill and
several acres of land nearby. She also
owns property at Nags Head, is a mem¬
ber of the Nags Head Chamber of
Commerce, and attends its meetings.
For a year she was on the faculty of
the Department of Drama of UNC.
For many years Miss Smith traveled
the length and breadth of the State
judging play contests for the Carolina
Betty Smith
Dramatic Association. She is more fa¬
miliar with this State, its history and
its resources, than she is with any
other state in the nation.
Before the advent of her two fam¬
ous books, A Tree, and Tomorrow
Will Be Better, she spent countless
hours encouraging and helping young
Tarheel playwrights. She gives an
award annually for the best playwriting
in this State. The Betty Smith Award
play is invariably printed by Samuel
French,
Whenever Miss Smith is away from
home, she is a constant booster of
North Carolina. As a result, she has in¬
terested many others in finding homes
in this state.
So ... if you want to burn her up.
just call her a citizen of Brooklyn.
She wonders how long the title of
her best-known book will obscure the
fact that she’s really a Tar Heel at
heart and by choice.
"Let’s get it straight," she says. "I
am a North Carolinian. I’m proud of
it! I’m here to stay!"
HOW MANY CAN
YOU ANSWER?
Mention the name of John Davi¬
son Rockefeller and you know his
identity immediately. In some in¬
stances you can identify an individual
by his last name alone, like Baruch.
In other cases you recognize them be¬
cause of an unusual first name, like
Ulysses. But how many individuals can
you identify when you hear their mid¬
dle names?
That's the nature of this week's quiz.
We're giving you a list of middle
names and it's your job to let us have
the complete names. In some instances
they're men, in others, they’re women.
If you get 17. IS. 19 or all of the
answers correct, give yourself a grade
of excellent. If you get 14, 15 or 16
right, you're good. If you get II, 12
or 13 correct, you're entitled to a
grade of fair.
Here are the middle names; you
supply the full names.
1, Russell.
2, Alva.
3, Ward.
4, Dana.
5, Randolph.
6, Emanuel.
7, Knox.
8, Beecher.
9, Gamaliel.
10, Finley Breese. (He had two
middle names.)
11, Harding.
12, Chandler.
13, Chandler. (If you get these in
reverse order it won't count against
you, of course.)
14, Agard.
15, Simpson.
16, Baker.
17, Waldo.
18, Paul. (This wasn't really his
middle name but he used it as such.)
19, Tccumseh.
20, Gibbs.
(Answers on page 36)
THE BTATE, April 26. 1952
