Good people,

Keep in mind that as great a novel as THE GRAPES OF WRATH was, (I've read it six or seven times) Woody Guthrie never read the book. He saw the film and went home and wrote "The Ballad Of Tom Joad". And Woody took care of the Joad family's entire trip from Oklahoma to California in one condensing couplet:

They buried Grandpa Joad by the side of the road,
Buried Grandma on the California side.

Not only had a socio-politically enlightening and society-transforming novel been condensed into an effective film, but John Steinbeck reportedly said that Woody's song told the story better than his book did.

The more things change, the more they seem to compress---like a black hole swallowing a galaxy---. Not even light can escape-----UNTIL there is another big bang. That's when the truth that IS actually the truth becomes obvious again.

Art Thieme