Of Mice and Men Trivia

Warner Brothers did a take on Of Mice and Men in 1961, flipping the script with their famous rabbit. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck accidentally find "Hugo the Abominable Snowman" who takes a shine to our heroes, saying, "I will name him George and I will hug him and squeeze him and pat him and pet him and rub him and caress him." The big fellow is a slow, kindhearted, and fumbling guy that's actually a take-off on Lennie. This cartoon is also the source of the pop culture phrase "Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?" (source)

Steinbeck called the book "a kind of playable novel, written in novel form but so scened and set that it can be played as it stands." Surprise! Steinbeck collaborated with George Kaufman, a playwright and director, to bring Of Mice and Men to the stage in November of 1937, just nine months after the novel was published. (source)

Steinbeck defended his close friend, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller, before the House Unamerican Activities Commission. (source)

The Steinbeck Center's reception room is Steinbeck's birthplace and first home. It is also the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to a single author. (source)

Steinbeck reported on the Vietnam War from Vietnam for Newsday magazine. His support of the war severely damaged his credibility in the American politically left-leaning (liberal) community. (source)

Steinbeck's working title for Of Mice and Men was "Something That Happened," which is close to the title of Joseph Heller's second novel, Something Happened. Heller is best known for his first novel, Catch-22, which, like Of Mice and Men, portrays the strange everyday lives of Americans on the fringe during hard times. (source)

Steinbeck attended Stanford University before dropping out in 1925. He moved to New York, and, unable to find a publisher, worked various odd jobs, including construction on New York's Madison Square Garden, before publishing his first novel in 1929. (source)