"East Of Eden:" The Miniseries, Part One

The 1970s and 1980s were a time when television networks aired several shows in miniseries format. A miniseries was a production that was longer than a made for TV movie, but shorter than an actual television series (a typical television series had like 25 to 30 episodes in a season). A miniseries aired in its initial showing for several evenings in prime time, and East of Eden was first broadcast on ABC for three evenings in early 1981.

"East of Eden" was a novel by American author John Steinbeck first published in the early 1950s. It happens to be my favorite book, and the 1981 miniseries was what got me interested in the book. The miniseries brought a renewed interest in Steinbeck's writing, and I bought a paperback edition of "East of Eden," complete with a cover picture taken from the miniseries. Steinbeck wrapped several stories together in his book, with the main story being based upon the story of Cain and Abel from Genesis. The biblical story is still relevant today, as Steinbeck shows how the basic story is repeated even within the same family, the Trasks. Steinbeck took his fictional story and entwined it with some history of his real life family, primarily his maternal family, although he makes mention of his paternal side, and even of himself, when he was a kid. The mid 1950s saw the release of a movie based upon the novel, a movie which made James Dean a star. This movie, however, only covers about the last third of Steinbeck's book, while the miniseries dealt with the entire book. While the movie is good, I found the miniseries far more compelling, even though the movie version also had one of my favorite actors, Canadian-born Raymond Massey.

Cast: American actor Timothy Bottoms as Adam Trask, American actor Lloyd Bridges as Samuel Hamilton, English actress Jane Seymour as Cathy/Kate, American actor Bruce Boxleitner as Charles Trask, American actor Warren Oates as Cyrus Trask, Korean-born American actor Soon-Tek Oh as Lee, American actor Sam Bottoms as Cal Trask, Canadian actor Hart Bochner as Aron Trask, American actor Howard Duff as Jules Edwards, American actress Anne Baxter as Faye, American actor Richard Masur as Will Hamilton, American actress Karen Allen as Abra, American actor Nicholas Pryor as Cathy's Latin teacher, Mr. Grew. Timothy Bottoms and Sam Bottoms are brothers, and Sam Bottoms died far too young in 2008. Jane Seymour won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in "East of Eden."

The miniseries opens in Connecticut in the spring of 1863, with Cyrus Trask, a liquor-drinking, story fabricating man, with a wooden peg for one leg, taking his extremely pious wife into town for her to see the doctor. They have their infant son, Adam, with them. A few of the town's people gather around as Cyrus spins his stories about the ongoing Civil War, only to have his wife correctly tell those gathered, that Cyrus was only in one battle, in spite of his boasting, and that even then, it was only minutes into that battle that he lost the bottom half of one leg to a Confederate bullet. When his wife goes inside to the doctor, Cyrus tells the little gathering how it was when the doctor had to hack off the bottom portion of his bullet-shattered leg. Inside, the doctor tells Mrs. Trask that she has gonorrhea (brought home by Cyrus from his time in the army), and she reacts in a terrified manner, calling it "a disease of sin," and telling the doctor that she contracted the disease from some erotic dreams she'd had while her husband was away in the army. The doctor tells her otherwise, but Mrs. Trask, filled with religious superstition and misunderstanding, and in need of purity, is deeply troubled, and later that night she goes out to a pond on their farm and drowns herself. Well... so much for the gonorrhea.

Cyrus is left to care for their baby son, which he is woefully unprepared to do. When Adam cries because he's hungry, Cyrus douses a rag with whiskey and sticks it into the boy's mouth. Cyrus knows he needs another wife and he marries a woman named Alice. Alice quickly bears a son, but she also gives Adam plenty of care, although she is sickly. Cyrus continues to spin stories about untrue exploits, but he sets them down in writing for publication, and as a consequence, he meets many army people and veterans over time. Of his two sons, Cyrus favors Adam, and he wants Adam to be the soldier Cyrus imagines he would have been, had he not been wounded; the soldier of the stories Cyrus tells. Adam doesn't want to be a soldier, and although he is a crack shot with a rifle, he deliberately misses a deer his father ordered him to kill. Adam is kind and sensitive, while the other son, Charles, is tough and ruthless. Yet for all of his outward toughness, Charles is insecure inside, and in fact, this insecurity causes the ruthlessness to flare, and he often bullies or terrorizes Adam. Charles adores his father, but he sees and senses that Adam is the favorite of Cyrus. This all comes to the fore on one of Cyrus's birthdays, when the boys are well into their teens. Charles gets money together to buy his father a special knife with three blades and made in Germany. Adam, on the other hand, doesn't really have affection for his father, but he is respectful of him, because that's the way he is. He makes no special arrangements for a gift for Cyrus, but he finds a pup wandering around and decides this is what he will give to his father. In a decisive moment, Charles hands his father the wrapped knife. When his father opens it, Charles tells him the details of the knife and how it was shipped clear from Germany. Cyrus looks over the knife and closes the blades, then he slips the knife into the drawer of his desk. He thanks Charles, but he then turns his attention to the squirming little mass wrapped in a blanket in Adam's arms. Adam hands his father the dog, and Cyrus is visibly happy. Charles is despondent, but this later turns to anger and to outright fury. He later gets Adam outside and ruthlessly beats and kicks him, leaving him curled on the ground while he goes to find an ax. When he returns, Adam has gotten away and made it back into the house where his father is furious over the beating and where Alice cares for Adan's beaten body. Cyrus wonders why Charles had so viciously beaten Adam, and he doesn't understand how desperate Charles is for his love and attention. Adam heals and finally a group of cavalry come to take Adam into the army, at the request of Cyrus, a man who has been becoming better known to many in Republican-dominated post-Civil War Washington DC. The military emphasis has now shifted to western areas, as the US Army seeks to protect settlers from the Indian tribes fighting to save their homelands. Adam tells his father that Charles would be far better at being a soldier, but Cyrus tells him that the army will help him to learn things about courage and to help him develop into a man, but that the army might let things loose in Charles' personality that should be kept chained in.

Meanwhile, another part of the story takes shape in Massachusetts. A mother hears some giggles of children coming from the barn. When she opens the doors, two boys have her daughter's dress pushed up. At first the mother sees and believes what her own eyes have shown her, but then her desire to believe that her daughter could not be in any way to blame takes hold and she decides to make the boys pay dearly for the matter. The boys' fathers decide to use a strap on their sons, but the indignant mother carries it one step further... it must be a bare-bottomed beating. She has her daughter watch as the boys cry in pain and humiliation, but she shows a little satisfactory smile as the punishment is given. This is Cathy... Catherine.

As Cathy goes into her later teenage years, she begins playing on the attentions of one of her teachers, her Latin teacher, Mr. Grew. The man becomes obsessed with her, but his religious beliefs and his desire to become a reverend conflict with all of his thoughts of Cathy, and he becomes terribly distraught to the point of taking his own life. He goes to Cathy's home late one night and feverishly pounds on the door so he can speak to Cathy's father, but the father turns him away, although he wonders why the man would come to the house in such a frenzied state and at such a late hour. The man goes off and shoots himself. When Cathy and her father quarrel about her schooling, her father mentions about the man coming to the house and about things he's heard about her from around town. Cathy knows her act has hit an end, and one night she sets fire to the house, killing her parents. She leaves behind a bloody dress and a pendant, with the knowledge that the town's people will leap to the conclusion that some hobos from a nearby encampment have kidnapped Cathy and killed her parents and set fire to the house. That's just what happens and the people take out after the hobo encampment.

Now we go back to the Trask family.... Adam serves in the US Cavalry and at one point, Cyrus uses his influence to get Adam brought to Washington DC so Cyrus can tell him that he has gotten things arranged for Adam to go to West Point. Adam declines the offer, having already angered his father by telling him that he had a relationship with an Indian woman, and that he never killed one Indian during his time in the fighting. Cyrus, who has been rising among Union veterans of the Civil War, is happy to learn from Adam that the woman died from small pox, and he tells Adam, "I don't need an Indian grandchild running around." Adam leaves his angry father and heads back to his cavalry unit. After several years, Adam comes home. Charles is still working on the farm and Cyrus has recently died. For a moment, Charles angrily asks Adam why he didn't home sooner, and he shoots a stern glance at Adam, as he had so many times in their past to intimidate Adam, but Cyrus had been right, and Adam has learned about courage and he no longer fears his brother. Charles realizes this is not the same Adam, and the tension eases. In a touching scene, instead of trying to beat Adam, Charles puts his arms around him and hugs him. The stunned, but happy Adam pats Charles as he hugs him. Charles has the will left by Cyrus, and he and Adam are stunned to learn that Cyrus has left the two boys a great deal of money, as well as the farm property. Charles is badly shaken by the thought that Cyrus stole the money in some way from the veteran's group with which he'd been involved, since the salary Cyrus earned would never have been enough to leave more than 100 thousand dollars to his sons (equivalent to about 2.5 million dollars today). Adam, although he has already thought of this, tries to calm Charles' fears about their father. * Further, Charles tells Adam that the army sent their father's military records to him. Charles then sees that Cyrus had been lying all along, because he never had been at any of the famous Civil War battles in which he had claimed to have taken part. Adam had never believed the stories, and he is unfazed by the news, but Charles is devastated. This all ties in with Steinbeck showing us how we sometimes believe things, not because they're true, but because that's what we want to believe.  

As this is all taking place, we meet Jules Edwards, a middle-aged respected man who uses a churchgoing facade to cover his real life....a whore master. Edwards brutalizes some of his "workers" who are convinced by an evangelist's hellfire and brimstone to turn away from their way of life. He punches the women and uses a small lash he carries hidden in a briefcase to whip them. One day Edwards is approached by Cathy, now using her proper name, Catherine, who tells him she wants to work for him. Edwards, a married man with children, is taken by the woman's beauty, and it becomes something of "love at first sight" for him; so, he makes a deal with Cathy, making her his mistress, but keeping her out of working his prostitution circuit. Edwards gets her a house, buys her clothing and gives her a monetary allowance. While Cathy loves the lavish life style, she also doesn't like the control Edwards has over her. She has the lock on her house changed, which badly annoys Edwards, but he can't bring himself to turn Cathy loose, the emotional tie is too strong from his side. He spends "time" with Cathy and, afterward, we see her scrubbing her hands with a brush. Edwards has champagne waiting, but Cathy doesn't want it, saying that it's not good for her. Finally Edwards coaxes Cathy into drinking some champagne, and she then wants more. Earlier he had mentioned that he wants some truth from her, and she tells him, "I don't think so." Now the effect of the wine has caused the veil of dishonesty to fall from her. She calls Edwards a "slug," and tells him that being around him makes her want to vomit. Now Jules Edwards sees the real Cathy and his inward ruthlessness is already planning on how to deal with it. Edwards gets Cathy to pack some belongings, telling her that she had come to him wanting "to work," so now he'll let her "work." She says she'll tell the police. Edwards then tells her he'll take her back to her hometown, where he heard about a fire... He takes her out into the countryside and pulls out the hidden lash. She tells him he will never hit her, but she's terribly misjudged Edwards' anger and ruthlessness, and he hits her and punches her. She draws a knife she has hidden and she cuts him, which only infuriates him even more. He beats her badly and the scene ends.

The two Trask brothers work the farm, and one morning they hear a noise outside. When they go to the door, a woman covered in blood and dirt is trying to crawl up the steps. They take the woman inside and Adam's natural kindness has him look after the woman. Charles wants the woman out, and it doesn't take long for him to see her manipulative ways and he tries to warn his brother, but Adam insists she needs help to recover (he also has fallen for her and he doesn't want to see or hear anything bad about her). Gradually the woman gets better, and she knows how to use Adam's emotions, but she cannot get to Charles by playing on any kindness, and so she tries to lure him to her own room, but when that doesn't really work, she goes to his room, having drugged Adam with her pain medication, while she makes her play for Charles. When all is...ah... done, Cathy tells Charles that she and Adam had gotten married that afternoon. The usually steady Charles is now appalled that he had just had sex with his brother's new wife. It seems even Charles isn't that bad, but Cathy laughs about it all.

Adam has long had a desire to go to California, and he and Cathy set out for that state. When they get to California, Cathy is not feeling well. The doctor knows that Cathy is pregnant and she has tried to abort the pregnancy with a knitting needle. The doctor tells her she must have the baby and that if he suspects any foul play on Cathy's part, he will report her and testify against her. The doctor only tells Adam that Cathy is pregnant, he does not tell him about the attempted abortion.

Adam looks at land to buy to start he and Cathy's new life. He finds a place he likes and he is told by others to see Sam Hamilton about digging wells and building windmills for the place. Samuel is an Irish immigrant who likes his whiskey, but he is greatly restricted in that drinking pleasure because of his devoutly religious wife, Liza, who is also from Ireland (we never see Liza). Samuel and Liza Hamilton were John Steinbeck's maternal grandparents. Samuel is a man always seeking to learn and he and Adam strike up a friendship, initially aided by Adam's gift of a bottle of Irish whiskey to Samuel. When we meet Samuel, we also meet two of his nine children who will play important roles later on. These are two of Samuel's sons, Will, who has a mind for business, and Tom, who is more to the curious side, like his father.

More later in Part Two...

* To me, this part of the story was always Steinbeck's way of showing that everyone is tainted by some kind of sin, no matter how pious or good a person they really are. Adam, a good man, lives a good life off of the ill gotten money of his father.   

For Part Two, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-two_25.html            

For Part Three, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-3final.html

Photo is from Part 1 of 2009 DVD by Acorn Media

WORD HISTORY:
Saga (Saw, not the implement)-This word, closely related to "say," ^ and meaning "a generally long story," goes back to Indo European "sekw," which meant, "to say, to utter sounds and words." This gave Old Germanic the noun, "sagon," which meant, "story." This gave Old English "sagu," which meant, "a story, a saying, a statement." This later became the now archaic, "saw," meaning, "a saying," but then later also, "an overused saying," especially when coupled with "old," as, "old saw," an expression that is still used at times. This word "saw" is not related to "saw," the jagged tool used for cutting. Old Germanic "sagon" also gave Old Norse "story, long tale." With the original English word having changed in meaning, away from the "story" meaning, to that of "saw," above, the Norse word had seemingly remained among historians as it related to Norse history. By the early 1700s, Norse writings had seen a revival among a number of historians and literary people, and so did the Norse word "saga," which was taken on by English to mean, "an Icelandic or Norwegian narrative," then more generally expanded to "a long type of story," and in the mid 1800s, it had added the more disparaging secondary meaning, "a long, boring story involving too much detail." German still has "Sage" (originally also spelled "saga"), meaning, more or less, "a story based upon historical accounts, but not necessarily proven;" thus also, "a legend," but German also borrowed "Saga," seemingly from English in the 1800s, with the same general meaning, "a narrative, a story." Low German has "Saag" (story of historical basis), Dutch has "sage" (story, chronicle), Norwegian "soge" (story, history), Icelandic has "saga" (history, story), Swedish "saga" (long story, legend), Danish once had "sage," but "apparently" Danish now uses "saga," perhaps from German or English? Also "sagn" (legend) and West Frisian has "sêge," (story, long story). So to condense this: the English noun "saw" (meaning, "a saying," and originally also meaning, "story"), is an original English word, while its close relative, "saga," was borrowed into English.  

^ The modern form "say" once also had a "g," as its German cousin still does (the infinitive form in German is "sagen," but the imperative is "sag," and "Sag mal," is, "Tell me;" with the "me" being understood, and "mal" softening the command to a request, as in, "Tell me, how have you been?" Several English words once had a "g" which disappeared over time: "day," "may" (the verb, not the month), being two examples. By the way, with "may," its old past tense was "might," which has still retained the "g," albeit in combination with the "h." To this day, "may" and "might" are often interchangeable: "I may go to the movies tonight," or, "I might go to the movies tonight."