Stage and Studio on 12/27/11

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Produced by: 
KBOO
Program:: 
Air date: 
Tue, 12/27/2011 - 11:00am to 11:30am
The Story of Opal Whiteley

Dmae Roberts presents Talking With The Wind: The Mystery of Opal Whiteley, a half-hour documentary on Opal Whiteley, of a young woman from Cottage Grove, Oregon.

In 1920 she published a childhood diary about her time in the woods and her love of nature. The Story of Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Heart” was the number 2 bestseller that year, following Sinclair Lewis’ “Main Street.” The diary became wildly popular and then was later condemned as a hoax. This led to an international controversy that drove Opal Whiteley out of the country and eventually led to her decline in mental health. To this day, Opal Whiteley and her diary remains a controversy and a mystery.

Talking With The Wind: The Mystery of Opal Whitely” was originally produced in 1988 by Dmae Roberts and Dorothy Velasco with funding from the Oregon Humanities.

The voice of young Opal was played by Laurie Robson. Music was composed and performed by John Doan. Engineering help by Ron Royer. Special thanks to the Oregon Historical Society for providing the only known recording of Opal Whiteley and to KLCC-FM …

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