Interesting Facts: 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.

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