Interesting Facts about Anne of Green Gables


  • 2008 marks the centenary of the publication of Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables.
  • Sullivan Entertainment's trilogy of movies is one of Canada's biggest cultural exports.
  • Kevin Sullivan's original ANNE OF GREEN GABLES movie reached an estimated 10 million viewers on the CBC and U.S. television. It was the highest-rated Canadian drama in Canadian television history.
  • The first ANNE OF GREEN GABLES movie is still a ratings winner on PBS. Trac Media recently noted, "ANNE OF GREEN GABLES has the ability to pull audiences from nowhere."
  • The original ANNE OF GREEN GABLES movie has been broadcast in over 140 countries worldwide.
  • The fourth Anne movie, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: A NEW BEGINNING, written and directed by Kevin Sullivan will premiere in the U.S. in 2009.
  • The year after Sullivan's movie, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES was broadcast around the world, tourism in Prince Edward Island increased by 30 per cent and continues to receive a boost each time the films are re-released.
  • In Japan the character Anne Shirley has been a cult figure for years. The book, translated as "Red-Haired Girl," is employed to teach English. "Anne" themes abound in everything from toys to television commercials to potatoes imported from Prince Edward Island.
  • The New York Times reported that Japanese businessmen imported more than $1.4 million worth of potatoes after they were told that they came from Anne's island.
  • More than 350,000 people visit Anne's home on Prince Edward Island a year.
  • Anne of Green Gables has been translated into more than 36 languages and read by more people than any other Canadian author.
  • Anne of Green Gables was made for the first time in 1919 as a silent movie and again in 1934. There was also a sequel called Anne of Windy Poplars, produced in 1936. After the film, the lead actress officially changed her name to Anne Shirley.
  • In 1986 the ANNE OF GREEN GABLES movie catapulted Channel 7 in Australia into the country's highest-rated network for the year.
  • In its first five years of publication, Anne of Green Gables went through 32 editions.
  • Mark Twain hailed Anne as "the dearest and most loveable child in fiction since the immortal Alice."
  • In 1895 Lucy Maud Montgomery scribbled in her book of ideas, "elderly couple apply to an orphanage for a boy. By mistake, a girl is sent to them." That was how Anne was born.
  • In Poland the play Anne of Green Gables ran for more than 5,000 performances between 1958 and 1987.
  • The musical Anne of Green Gables premiered in Japan in 1991 to celebrate the opening of Canada's new Tokyo embassy.
  • ROAD TO AVONLEA, the spinoff television series of the ANNE OF GREEN GABLES movies became the highest-rated Canadian series of all time and became the #1 rated series on the Disney Channel for five years.
  • www.anneofgreengables.com is the ultimate international web destination for any information about Anne of Green Gables. The site supports chat-forums for fans around the world - who have continued to organize international "Anne" conventions here in Toronto each year - where thousands of delegates arrive each summer to discuss Sullivan's movie versions of Anne and ROAD TO AVONLEA. They also meet with stars and promote the productions around the world.
  • Kevin Sullivan's ANNE OF GREEN GABLES and its sequels have won numerous awards including four Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, Prix Jeunesse, CableAce Awards, numerous Geminis and over 100 international awards.
Source: ctv.ca

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