"short period before the current owner of the Don The Beachcomber corporate name took it over. When American servicemen returned home from World War II, they brought with them stories and souvenirs from the South Pacific. James Michener won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for his collection of short stories, ""Tales of the South Pacific"", which in turn was the basis for ""South Pacific"", the 1949 musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, also a Pulitzer Prize winner. In addition to the returning WWII veterans, several other factors contributed to the mid-century American explosion in Polynesian pop culture or tiki culture. Post-war America"
"with red betel juice. Punctuated with profanity learned from GIs, she complained endlessly to Michener about the French colonial government, which refused to allow her and other Tonkinese to return to their native Vietnam, lest the plantations be depopulated. She told him also of her plans to oppose colonialism in French Indochina. These stories, collected into ""Tales of the South Pacific"", won Michener the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. ""Tales of the South Pacific"" comprises nineteen stories. Each stands independently but revolves around the preparation for an American military operation to dislodge the Japanese from a nearby island. This operation,"
"American television producer Bob Mann wanted Michener to co-create a weekly television anthology series from ""Tales of the South Pacific,"" with Michener as narrator. Rodgers and Hammerstein, however, owned all dramatic rights to the novel and did not give up ownership. Michener did lend his name as the creator of a different and unrelated television series, ""Adventures in Paradise,"" in 1959. The series had nothing to do with World War II, but rather followed the fictional adventures of a current-day schooner sailing around the South Pacific. Tales of the South Pacific Tales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize-winning"
"a naval historian. He later turned his notes and impressions into ""Tales of the South Pacific"" (1947), his first book, published when he was age 40. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1948, and Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted it as the hit Broadway musical ""South Pacific"", which premiered on Broadway in New York City in 1949. The musical was also adapted as eponymous feature films in 1958 and 2001. In the late 1950s, Michener began working as a roving editor for the ""Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature"". He gave up that work in 1970. Michener tried television writing"
"South Pacific (1958 film) South Pacific is a 1958 American romantic musical film based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ""South Pacific"", which in turn is based on James A. Michener's short-story collection ""Tales of the South Pacific"". The film, directed by Joshua Logan, stars Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr and Ray Walston in the leading roles with Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary, the part that she had played in the original stage production. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the Academy Award for Best Sound for Fred Hynes. Note: The film opens with an orchestral"
"for 1157 performances and earned him a Tony Award. Then he directed and co-wrote ""South Pacific"" (1949–54) which went for 1925 performances. Logan shared the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for co-writing ""South Pacific"". The show also earned him a Tony Award for Best Director. Despite his contributions to the musical, in their review the ""New York Times"" originally omitted his name as co-author, and the Pulitzer Prize committee initially awarded the prize to only Rodgers and Hammerstein. Although the mistakes were corrected, in his autobiography Logan wrote ""I knew then why people"
"Paul Newman and Jean Simmons and was directed by Robert Wise. Return to Paradise (short story collection) Return to Paradise (1951) is a collection of short stories written by American author James A. Michener. The collection is a sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning book ""Tales of the South Pacific"", the collection that launched his career in 1947. In ""Return to Paradise"", Michener revisits the islands and cultures of the South Pacific in the late 1940s, combining factual descriptions and tales set in such exotic places as Tahiti, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. ""The Mighty Ocean""<br>""The Atoll""<br>""Mr.Morgan""<br>""Polynesia""<br>""Povenaa's Daughter""<br>""Fiji""<br>""The Mynah Birds""<br>""Guadalcanal""<br>""The Story""<br>""Espiritu"
"differences that made them grow. Ariel Durant Ariel Durant (; 10 May 1898 – 25 October 1981) was a Russian-born American researcher and writer. She was the coauthor of ""The Story of Civilization"" with her husband Will Durant. They were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. Born in Proskurov, Russian Empire (now Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine) as Chaya (Ida) Kaufman to Jewish parents Ethel Appel Kaufman and Joseph Kaufman. The family emigrated in 1900, lived for several months in London 1900-01 en route to the United States, where they arrived in 1901. She had three older sisters, Sarah, Mary, and Flora,"
"Return to Paradise (short story collection) Return to Paradise (1951) is a collection of short stories written by American author James A. Michener. The collection is a sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning book ""Tales of the South Pacific"", the collection that launched his career in 1947. In ""Return to Paradise"", Michener revisits the islands and cultures of the South Pacific in the late 1940s, combining factual descriptions and tales set in such exotic places as Tahiti, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. ""The Mighty Ocean""<br>""The Atoll""<br>""Mr.Morgan""<br>""Polynesia""<br>""Povenaa's Daughter""<br>""Fiji""<br>""The Mynah Birds""<br>""Guadalcanal""<br>""The Story""<br>""Espiritu Santo""<br>""The Good Life""<br>""New Zealand""<br>""Until They Sail""<br>""Australia""<br>""The Jungle""<br>""New Guinea""<br>""The Fossickers""<br>""Rabaul""<br>""What I Learned"""
"won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for History for """" (1963), based on records on Sudbury, Massachusetts from 1638-1660, tracing every settler back to England. Sumner Chilton Powell Sumner Chilton Powell (October 2, 1924 in Northampton, Massachusetts – July 8, 1993 in Colora, Maryland) was an American historian and history teacher at the Choate School, a college-prep boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut. He attended The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, earned a bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1946, and from 1947 to 1952 was an active US Naval Officer attaining the rank of Lieutenant (jg), but remained a Naval Reserve"
"Ed Ricketts Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts (May 14, 1897 – May 11, 1948) commonly known as Ed Ricketts, was an American marine biologist, ecologist, and philosopher. He is best known for ""Between Pacific Tides"" (1939), a pioneering study of intertidal ecology, and for his influence on writer John Steinbeck, which resulted in their collaboration on the ""Sea of Cortez"", later republished as ""The Log from the Sea of Cortez"" (1951). Ricketts was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Abbott Ricketts and Alice Beverly Flanders Ricketts. He had a younger sister, Frances, and a younger brother, Thayer. His sister Frances said of"
"Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl (; October 6, 1914 – April 18, 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany, and geography. He became notable for his ""Kon-Tiki"" expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000 km (5,000 mi) across the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. The expedition was designed to demonstrate that ancient people could have made long sea voyages, creating contacts between separate cultures. This was linked to a diffusionist model of cultural development. Heyerdahl subsequently made other voyages designed to demonstrate the possibility of contact"
"Ariel Durant Ariel Durant (; 10 May 1898 – 25 October 1981) was a Russian-born American researcher and writer. She was the coauthor of ""The Story of Civilization"" with her husband Will Durant. They were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. Born in Proskurov, Russian Empire (now Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine) as Chaya (Ida) Kaufman to Jewish parents Ethel Appel Kaufman and Joseph Kaufman. The family emigrated in 1900, lived for several months in London 1900-01 en route to the United States, where they arrived in 1901. She had three older sisters, Sarah, Mary, and Flora, and three older brothers, Harry,"
"age of 102. Bloody Mary (South Pacific) Bloody Mary is a character in the book ""Tales of the South Pacific"" by James Michener (written in 1946), which was made into the musical ""South Pacific"" by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and later into a film in 1958. The Bloody Mary character is Vietnamese (Tonkinese). Tonkin is the northern most province of what is now Vietnam. She was brought to the island by a French planter. She is often cast as black (most famously by Juanita Hall, who originated the character on the stage, and later portrayed her in the 1958 film), Asian"
"Bloody Mary (South Pacific) Bloody Mary is a character in the book ""Tales of the South Pacific"" by James Michener (written in 1946), which was made into the musical ""South Pacific"" by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and later into a film in 1958. The Bloody Mary character is Vietnamese (Tonkinese). Tonkin is the northern most province of what is now Vietnam. She was brought to the island by a French planter. She is often cast as black (most famously by Juanita Hall, who originated the character on the stage, and later portrayed her in the 1958 film), Asian or Pacific Islander."
"Raft Across the South Seas"", later reprinted as ""Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft"". It appeared with great success in English in 1950, also in many other languages. A documentary motion picture about the expedition, also called ""Kon-Tiki"", was produced from a write-up and expansion of the crew's filmstrip notes and won an Academy Award in 1951. It was directed by Thor Heyerdahl and edited by Olle Nordemar. The voyage was also chronicled in the documentary TV-series ""The Kon-Tiki Man: The Life and Adventures of Thor Heyerdahl"", directed by Bengt Jonson. The original ""Kon-Tiki"" raft is now on display"
"for Best Original Song. Walter White of the NAACP acknowledged ""the remarkable artistic merit"" of the film in his telegraphed press release on November 27, 1946, but decried the ""impression it gives of an idyllic master-slave relationship."" Since its debut, the public perception of Harris and the Uncle Remus stories has largely been tied to the reception of ""Song of the South"". Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he"
"Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, including ""O Pioneers!"" (1913), ""The Song of the Lark"" (1915), and ""My Ántonia"" (1918). In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for ""One of Ours"" (1922), a novel set during World War I. Cather grew up in Virginia and Nebraska, and graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She lived and worked in Pittsburgh for ten years, supporting herself as a magazine editor and high school English teacher. At the"
"Kon-Tiki expedition The ""Kon-Tiki"" expedition was a 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands, led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl. The raft was named ""Kon-Tiki"" after the Inca sun god, Viracocha, for whom ""Kon-Tiki"" was said to be an old name. """" is also the name of Heyerdahl's book; the Academy Award-winning documentary film chronicling his adventures; and the 2012 dramatized feature film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Heyerdahl believed that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. His aim in"
"the South Seas"" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ""culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"". Aged emissary Hitu arrives by Western sailing ship to the island of Bora Bora, a small island in the South Pacific, on an important mission. He bears a message from the chief of Fanuma to the chief of Bora Bora: a maiden sacred to their gods has died, and Reri has been given the great honour of replacing her because of her royal blood and virtue. From this point on, she is tabu: ""man"
"Susan Glaspell Susan Keating Glaspell (July 1, 1876 – July 28, 1948) was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. With her husband George Cram Cook, she founded the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company. First known for her short stories (fifty were published), Glaspell is known also to have written nine novels, fifteen plays, and a biography. Often set in her native Midwest, these semi-autobiographical tales typically explore contemporary social issues, such as gender, ethics, and dissent, while featuring deep, sympathetic characters who make principled stands. Her 1930 play ""Alison's House"" earned her the Pulitzer Prize for"
"Mary Wells Ashworth Mary Wells Ashworth (May 28, 1903 — September 12, 1992) was an American historian. She was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship for biography in 1955 and was a co-winner of the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for ""George Washington, Volumes I-VII"". Ashworth was born in Plant City, Florida on May 28, 1903. She went to Virginia to complete a Bachelor of Arts at Hollins College in 1924. Ashworth worked as a historian for Douglas Southall Freeman while he wrote his biography ""George Washington"" from 1945 to 1953. Throughout her time on Washington's biography, Ashworth was initially"
"apartment in Paris. She died on October 9, 2014 in Sonoma, California due to effects of dementia. Carolyn Kizer Carolyn Ashley Kizer (December 10, 1925 – October 9, 2014) was an American poet of the Pacific Northwest whose works reflect her feminism. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1985. According to an article at the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, ""Kizer reach[ed] into mythology in poems like ""Semele Recycled""; into politics, into feminism, especially in her series of poems called ""Pro Femina""; into science, the natural world, music, and translations and commentaries on Japanese and Chinese literatures""."
"Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes—for the novel ""The Bridge of San Luis Rey"", and for the plays ""Our Town"" and ""The Skin of Our Teeth"" — and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel ""The Eighth Day"". Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Amos Parker Wilder, a newspaper editor and U.S. diplomat, and Isabella Niven Wilder. All of the Wilder children spent part of their childhood in China. His older brother, Amos Niven Wilder, became Hollis Professor of"
"finalists. Unless otherwise noted, the year represents the year the award was given for books published in the prior year. Thus, the award year 1950 is for books published in 1949. 1950: Nelson Algren — ""The Man with the Golden Arm"" 1951: William Faulkner — ""Collected Stories of William Faulkner"" 1952: James Jones — ""From Here to Eternity"" 1953: Ralph Ellison — ""Invisible Man"" 1954: Saul Bellow — ""The Adventures of Augie March"" 1955: William Faulkner — ""A Fable"" 1956: John O'Hara — ""Ten North Frederick"" 1957: Wright Morris — ""The Field of Vision"" 1958: John Cheever — ""The Wapshot"
"Booth Tarkington Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels ""The Magnificent Ambersons"" and ""Alice Adams"". He is one of only three novelists to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, along with William Faulkner and John Updike. Although he is little read now, in the 1910s and 1920s he was considered America's greatest living author. Booth Tarkington was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of John S. Tarkington and Elizabeth Booth Tarkington. He was named after his maternal uncle Newton Booth, then the governor"
"(Wine and Other Beverages)"" and Einar Wallquist’s medical book ""Våra sjukdomar (Our Diseases)."" In 1947, Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl made and sailed a raft of balsa wood, called Kon-Tiki, from Peru to the Polynesian Islands. The purpose of the trip was to prove that the Polynesian inhabitants originated from America rather than Asia. In the academic world, most people thought Heyerdal a fanatic and questionable scientist. In 1948, Norsk Gyldendal published Heyerdahl’s story, which then was sent to Bonniers for consideration, Helms managed to persuade Kaj Bonnier to have it transferred to Forum. ""Expedition Kon-Tiki (The Kon-Tiki Expedition)"" was a"
"Shirley Hazzard Shirley Hazzard (30 January 1931 – 12 December 2016) was an Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She was born in Australia and also held United States citizenship. Hazzard's 1970 novel, ""The Bay of Noon"", was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize in 2010; her 2003 novel ""The Great Fire"" won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction, the Miles Franklin Award and the William Dean Howells Medal. Hazzard also wrote non-fiction, including two books based on her experiences working at the United Nations Secretariat, which were highly critical of the organisation. Hazzard was born in"
"first Pulitzer ever awarded to a musical: when ""Of Thee I Sing"" won in 1932, book authors George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, as well as lyricist Ira Gershwin, were cited as the winners, while composer George Gershwin's contribution was overlooked by the committee. The reason given was that the Pulitzer Prize for Drama is a ""dramatic"" award, and not a ""musical"" one. However, by 1950 the Pulitzer committee included composer Richard Rodgers as a recipient when ""South Pacific"" won the award, in recognition of music as an integral and important part of the theatrical experience. Additionally, since 1983, when"
"The Old Order: Stories of the South The Old Order: Stories of the South is a collection of short stories and novels by Pulitzer Prize winning American author Katherine Anne Porter. It draws stories from The Leaning Tower and Flowering Judas. It also contains Porter's short novel Old Mortality. All nine short stories and the novel take place in the American south during the late 1800s and early 1900s (Porter 1955). The collection of stories are based largely on Porter's experience of growing up in the American south at that time. The collection, in addition to being excellent specimens of"
"as we are."" ""Collected Poems"" (1988) and ""There You Are"" (1995) focus on the lives of everyday citizens, using simple diction and narratives to expose the bewildering reality of the American dream. Poet Mark Jarman hailed Simpson as ""a poet of the American character and vernacular."" Simpson lived on the north shore of Long Island, near Stony Brook. He died on September 14, 2012. Louis Simpson Louis Aston Marantz Simpson (March 27, 1923 – September 14, 2012) was an American poet born in Jamaica. He won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his work ""At the End of the"
"Samuel Eliot Morison Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years. He won Pulitzer Prizes for ""Admiral of the Ocean Sea"" (1942), a biography of Christopher Columbus, and ""John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography"" (1959). In 1942, he was commissioned to write a history of United States naval operations in World War II, which was published in 15 volumes between"
"Will Durant William James ""Will"" Durant (; November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American writer, historian, and philosopher. He became best known for his work ""The Story of Civilization"", 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975. He was earlier noted for ""The Story of Philosophy"" (1926), described as ""a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy"". He conceived of philosophy as total perspective or seeing things ""sub specie totius"" (a phrase inspired by Spinoza's ""sub specie aeternitatis""). He sought to unify and humanize the great body of historical"