Standing in the Rainbow - Fannie Flagg [210]
Best wishes,
Mrs. Tot Whooten Fowler
P.S. I am happy for the first time in my life.
Epilogue
ROBERT SMITH, given the fact that he had traveled all around the world and back lecturing on the Old West, had been asked to write a piece for Aunt Elner’s favorite magazine, Reader’s Digest. He wandered around the house for days thinking about the kings and queens, African chieftains, prime ministers and presidents of countries he had met; it was amazing how many people were still fascinated by cowboys and Indians. He had met so many interesting people that it was hard to just pick one. Then one day he chose his subject. He sat down and started on:
The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met
by
Dr. Robert Smith
Her name was Dorothy and she happened to be my mother. I guess a good place to start would be in 1946 in my hometown of Elmwood Springs, Missouri, a little place you have probably never heard of. . . .
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank the following people for their invaluable help with this book: Sam Vaughan and family, Wendy Weil, Bruce Hunter, Dennis Ambrose, Judy Sternlight, Carol Schneider, Todd Doughty, Sherry Huber, Lauren Krenzel, Trebbe Johnson, Bonnie Thompson, Susie Glickman, Joy Terry, Lois Scott, Cathy Calvert, and Sue Grafton for all her good advice. Special thanks to the Warren family of Birmingham, Alabama, and Jonni Hartman Rogers, my press agent and good friend for more years than either of us cares to admit.
PHOTO: © SUZE LANIER
FANNIE FLAGG began writing and producing television specials at age nineteen and went on to distinguish herself as an actress and writer in television, films, and the theater. She is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (which was produced by Universal Pictures as Fried Green Tomatoes), and Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! Ms. Flagg’s script for Fried Green Tomatoes was nominated for both the Academy and Writers Guild of America awards and won the highly regarded Scripters Award. Flagg lives in California and in Alabama.
ALSO BY FANNIE FLAGG
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
(originally published as Coming Attractions)
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fannie Flagg’s Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!
STANDING
IN THE RAINBOW
A Reader’s Guide
FANNIE FLAGG
A CONVERSATION WITH FANNIE FLAGG
Interviewer Sam Vaughan was publisher, president, and editor-in-chief at Doubleday, then senior vice president, and is now an independent editor-at-large for the Random House imprints, including Ballantine Books. In addition to Fannie Flagg, he is currently editing Margaret Truman, Dave Barry, Elizabeth Spencer, and William F. Buckley Jr., among others.
Sam Vaughan: There are continuities of characters and plot that link Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! with Standing in the Rainbow. Some of the people carry over, some grow up, some die. Did this come to you as inspiration or did it just seem the natural thing to do? Was there something of unfinished business at the end of Baby Girl? Or did you simply want to visit with some of those people once more?
Fannie Flagg: Well, as usual I seem to do things in a backward way. As it turns out, Standing in the Rainbow is the prequel to Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! It really should have been written first but I did not know it at the time. The character of Neighbor Dorothy was always meant to be my main character in the first book but the story line of Dena Nordstrom just took over the book and as you know, I tend to write too much rather than too little. Had I written it all at once, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! would have been 800 pages long. I had done so much research and still had so much more to tell about Neighbor Dorothy and her