BACKGROUND
John Steinbeck's “simply told” story about a “boy who gets a colt pony” began when four-year old John was taking care of a shetland pony. Years later he still recalled “the most tremendous morning in the world when my pony had a cold.” The Hamilton Ranch near King City, where the young Steinbeck spent time with his Uncle Tom, became a model for the Tifflin's Ranch in the story.

WRITING
While still in high school, Steinbeck wrote a story about the pony, but it was not until his mother became seriously ill in 1933 that the final version began taking shape. Steinbeck moved to the family home with his wife, Carol, to help his father care for his mother. At first he was overcome with emotion and unable to write. However, when it was clear his mother could not improve, Steinbeck slowly began work on his tales of childhood and the nature of death and dying.

PUBLICATION
Steinbeck had difficulty finding a publisher in the beginning, but eventually he sold the first two stories to the “brave editor” of The North American Review, a prestigious monthly that printed “The Gift” in November 1933, and “The Great Mountains” in December 1933. Argosy (London) printed the fourth story, “The Leader of the People,” in August 1936. But readers had to wait until August 1937 to read “The Promise” which was published by Harpers Magazine. In 1937 the first three stories were published by Covici-Friede in a special signed edition, but the four stories were not collected together in one volume until 1938 when they were included in The Long Valley stories.

FILM PRODUCTION
It was in 1941 when Lewis Milestone and John Steinbeck at last got together in Monterey to work on the movie version. They included “The Leader of the People” as part of the script, but for a number of reasons, the movie was not released until 1949. Though these four stories are best known as separate work, they were not published as such until 1945 when Viking Press issued “The Red Pony” with illustrations by Wesley Dennis. This well-loved novel was such a success that more than half a century later, the edition illustrated by Wesley, as well as several other editions, remains in print.

Would you like to buy a copy of The Red Pony? Visit the National Steinbeck Center Museum Store!