Raintree County
Memories
RAINTREE COUNTY MEMORIES
65 years ago, Indiana author Ross Lockridge Jr., wrote his classic novel "Raintree County". He based the
novel on his mother's family "the Shockley's" who lived in Henry County, Indiana in the early 1800's.
Ross's grandfather John Wesley Shockley was the novel's protagonist. John Shockley (John Shawnessy in
the book and ensuing movie) was a teacher, a soldier, a poet,  staunch abolitionist and known throughout
the county as a "good man". Much more weight was given to that term "good man" back then. A man's
reputation preceded, and followed him. It defined the man in a way that we today cannot fully relate to.

The story took place on one day in the 1890's .... Independence Day,  and was composed of a series of
flashbacks. Memories of growing up in Henry County in a time when the country was going through great
change. Native Americans had just left the area and their presence was still heavily felt. Schools, churches,
social events sporting events were springing up and occurring rapidly....a new way of life was coming into
being. The country-dividing Civil War pitted brother against brother and father against son. It mattered little
what you believed in...you fought on the side that you were geographically tied to, and sometimes that
boundary was defined by which side of a mountain or stream you were born on. Industrialism, or the "sooty
monster" was thriving. John Shawnessy was quite aware of the benefits of technology and more importantly,
he was  aware of the ramifications of "change". Much of the novel extols the virtues and wonder of trains, yet
Shawnessy felt a part of the innocence of the country was fading away and he knew that he was witnessing
a major change. Land was being cleared and the old ways and beauty of the virgin land were soon to be lost.

The novel takes the reader on a journey through the 19th century and the life of Shawnesy, "a man of some
importance to others" according to his never-to-be, but girl-of-his-dreams Nell Gaither....."a man whose
wherabouts are of great concern to others".  It takes you through his early years as a young man from his
graduation from PeeDee Academy in Dan Webster (Hillsboro, Indiana), to the  excitement of the great foot
race in Freehaven (New Castle) to see who was the fastest man in Raintree County, through his loves,
losses and trials, the Civil War, assassination of president Lincoln and more.

The book was a huge success being selected as the Book of the Month and winning a coveted MGM award
which meant a movie would follow. Lockridge's first attempt at a novel was a home run. It was compared to
the likes of James Joyce, Thomas Wolfe and even Mark Twain. Once successful, the obligatory lambasting
reviews surfaced....a few critics tried to make a name for themselves by tearing the novel apart. "It's too
long", "It does not read in chronological order", "The author doesn't use quotation marks!". It was also cited
as being immoral and sinful for it's sexual situations.

Despite all the acclaim, the bad reviews and remorse for writing a "wicked" novel about his family, weighed
heavily on Lockridge. He felt that the six years he spent writing the book (and more that he spent dreaming
about the book) had culminated in a once in a lifetime success and failure. The author took his life only a
few months after the book was published.

Is Raintree County a classic? Different people will give different answers. My answer is a resounding yes!
It is historical, it is a journey, it speaks of it's time while also being timeless and here we are 65 years later
still fascinated by it. Anyone who read the book or saw the movie will never forget the unstable southern
belle Susannah Drake (played by Elizabeth Taylor), the best friend and competitor Flash Perkins (played by
Lee Marvin) who lost  the great foot race to Johnny and fought side by side with him in the great war. You
won't forget the irrascible politician Garwood B.  Jones, Johhny's adversary in love and politics and you will
certainly not forget John Shawnessy, the great man from Raintree County.

The musical score by Johnny Green is one of the most haunting, romantic and thrilling of any musical score
to date and the singing of Raintree County, the song, by Nat King Cole is something that people still vividly  
remember some 5 decades after they watched the epic movie. The movie was nominated for four academy
awards including best actress Elizabeth Taylor and best musical score.

During the filming Montgomery Clift was severely injured and disfigured in a terrible car accident. After that
he appeared gaunt and the camera tried to avoid showing the side of his face that was injured. He was in
great pain and filming must have been incredibly hard. Many went to see the movie for the purpose of trying
to figure out which scenes were pre-accident and which came after.

In 2012, Mark Orr will self-publish his book "Raintree County Memories". The book will tell about the novel
Raintree County, the movie, the fictional characters and places and the real places of Raintree County. The
book will have photos not seen before and stories not heard before about this nostalgic piece of Americana.
Actors and stand ins from the film describe what it was like to work with Hollywood Royalty and the reader will
see photographs of historic Henry County, Danville Kentucy (where much of the film was made) and the
people of that bygone era. It was the Golden Age of Hollywood. At no other time since has there been such
a conglomeration of great A-List actors. It would be an impossibility today. The Raintree actors were all
under contract by MGM and included: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint, Lee Marvin, Rod
Taylor, Nigel Patrick, Agnes Moorehead, DeForest Kelley, Walter Abel, Rhys Williams, Myrna Hansen and
more!

COMING SOON
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Update April 17, 2012
The book is coming along nicely and I am hoping for a July 4, 2012 release.
New additions to the book include rare photographs taken during the filming of
Raintree County in Danville, Kentucky and photographs of the Freehaven (New
Castle, Indiana) Train Depot with photos of the real New Caste Depot throughout the
years as comparison.
The book will most likely be available at Blurb.Com in print (softcover, hardcover and
ImageWrap) and in the Apple iTunes Book Store as an eBook for Apple readers.
The release on July 4th, 2012 is, I think, integral to the book because of the
significance of Independence Day in the original novel and movie.
During the writing of this book, another great star from the movie passed away.
Elizabeth Taylor was one of the last of the great "Golden Age of Hollywood"
actors...she will be sorely missed.
Mark Orr
April 17th, 2012.
My God! The professor said, flapping pages, look at all the pictures of cows, manure
piles and Raintree County citizens!
Raintree County
Ross Lockridge Jr.
Raintree County song
Nat King Cole