The Tamarack Tree

Apparently Howard Breslin left a lucrative career writing for then fledgling radio soap operas to write The Tamarack Tree. I guess he thought radio was beneath him, as he penned this poem on the subject: Money earned is money spent but scaring babies pays the rent. I’ve read that a lot of writers felt the same way about TV upon its inception. Now it seems writing for TV is preferrable to books. Having read the description for The Tamarack Tree, I think it’d make a great miniseries. Here’s the gist: in 1840, General William Henry Harrison has a huge political convention, with Daniel Webster speaking, in the small Vermont village of Stratton. The real story, though, is how this upheaval affects the lives of the locals. An alduterous farmer’s wife, mountain hoodlum thieves, a drunk fighting a circular saw, another fight, this time a duel between a farmer and a Southern dandy…hehe, Southern dandy. Don’t hear that much these days, probably even less in the South.