Part A: section 3, page 1
Bridges in Literature
Three Billy Goats Gruff
Summary
Three billy goats live on one side of a stream. They look at the grass on the other side of the
stream and decide that it is greener. The only way to cross the stream is over a bridge, under
which lives a troll. The three goats cross the bridge one at a time, from the smallest to the
largest.
The first two goats are confronted by the troll, but persuade him to let them go by telling him
that they are smaller than the next goat and will make an inferior meal. When the third goat
crosses the bridge, the troll attempts to capture it. The troll is powerless against the unrestrained raw fury of the Big Billy Goat Gruff, who easily butts the troll high into the air and into
the deep, fast-flowing river, where it drowns. The three goats are then free to eat the delicious
grass on the other side of the river, and to cross the river at any time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Billy_Goats_Gruff
Part A: section 3, page 2
Bridges in Literature
Ed Dixon in Under the Bridge
Under the Bridge by William Stevenson
Given that the new musical Under the Bridge is based on a children’s book and features book
and lyrics by Kathie Lee Gifford, it comes as no surprise that it’s unapologetically wholesome
and heart warming. In fact, the show is so wholesome and heart warming that it will appeal
primarily to girls under the age of 10. On the plus side, the musical offers some pleasant songs
by composer David Pomeranz and Gifford, as well as fine performances by Broadway veterans
Ed Dixon and Florence Lacey.
Dixon plays Armand, a quintessential Parisian hobo who wears ratty clothes and lives, yes,
under a bridge. After Armand and the rest of the company sing about the glories of Paris, his
gypsy friend Mireli (Lacey) predicts new developments in his life in the song “You Will Meet
With Adventure Today.” Sure enough, Armand finds three redheaded urchins camped out under
his bridge. Their father recently died, and their mother, Madame Calcet (Jacquelyn Piro), can’t
afford a room.
Armand lets it be known that he hates children. But predictably enough, he falls for the three
moppets—or, as he calls them,”starlings,” a word that quickly grows grating—and becomes a
kind of grandfather figure to them. Early on, though, he angers Madame Calcet by having the
kids sing for handouts.”
Under the Bridge, Review on Broadway.com
Part A: section 3, page 2 (continued)
Bridges in Literature
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage
Armand is a hobo who has learned to do without. He doesn’t worry about burglars, since all his
possessions are in a baby buggy. He doesn’t worry about rent, since what serves as his home
is beneath one of the many bridges in Paris that cross the Seine. And he really doesn’t worry
about anyone else, since he has no family, and no need for one. Especially children. Which is
why he’s horrified when, as Christmas approaches, he finds three of the pests under his favo­
rite bridge. In short order, his world is turned upside down as Suzy, Paul, Eveline and their
mother Madame Calcet set up camp in the place he feels is his.
They may be homeless, but Madame Calcet has a job and is determined to keep her family to­
gether. Soon Armand has the children singing in the street, making enough money for a meal.
Their mother isn’t pleased—her children aren’t beggars, and she doesn’t intend them to be.
Armand leaves his home under the bridge in a huff, but Armand and the Calcet family aren’t
done with each other yet...
© 1958 Natalie Savage Carlson, HarperCollins Publishers
Part A: section 3, page 3
Bridges in Literature
Bridges by L P Sloan
Today when I tell my grown children about that summer they find it difficult to imagine a little
girl doing the things I did. They conclude the world must have been a less dangerous place
in 1953, and maybe they’re right, but it was a coincidence, not the times, that dictated the
circumstances; I had a job on a bridge when I was seven years old because, while its construction was less than half complete, work was begun on a nearby highway where explosives were
used.
Big walkie-talkies usually provided bridge communications, but the possibility of a transmission accidentally setting off a detonation at the highway site demanded some other means.
And that was me; happily outfitted in rags tatters and patches, and a red Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, I filled in for the outlawed radios.
The foreman would bellow out my name, and with the communiqué tucked deep in my
pocket, I’d run as fast as I could and deliver it to the secretary in the provisional office. The
entrance to the office, a leased backroom of a barbershop, was just at the end of the bridge in
an alley that ran parallel to the river. Often I was sent back to the shack with another message
as well. The distance between the two gradually grew greater as the shack was moved along
with the progress of the bridge.
Extract from Bridges by L.P.Sloan, page 1 and 2.
Part A: section 3, page 4
Bridges in Literature
The Bridges of Madison County the movie
Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) has come to Madison County, Iowa, in order to take pictures of
the Roseman and Holliwell covered bridges. He is a profess­ional photographer on assignment
to National Geographic magazine in the fall of 1965 and he is lost. Pulling his green pickup into
the driveway of a well- kept farmhouse, he stops to ask directions. Francesca Johnson (Meryl
Streep) is at home, alone, her husband and two children having departed for four days to the
Illinois state fair. She has been married for 15 years and the luxury of time to herself is an unusual break from her daily life, as is the courteous stranger approaching her for information.
These are the opening circumstances for an extraordinary story, adapted to the screen by
Richard LaGravenese from Robert James Waller’s novel, The Bridges of Madison County.
http://www.madisoncounty.com/movie.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSqW9kYl7_U