A REAL ESTATE NIGHTMARE
The Genius of ‘Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House’
A comic gem has inspired three movies, but the original tale of buyer’s remorse still charms
In my first years on the Gulf Coast, I woke up to the sound of mourning doves cooing and mockingbirds imitating them. Now I hear hammers, buzz saws, and power drills.
My region ranks among the 10 fastest-growing in the U.S., along with hot spots like the Austin, Texas, and St. George, Utah, areas, according to a new report by the Census Bureau. All around me, newcomers are trying to live out the kind of fantasy Eric Hodgins described in one of the great comic novels of the postwar era, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.
Hodgins brilliantly satirizes the modern lust for property in his tale of a New York advertising executive sucker-punched by his desire to own a country retreat from his urban pressures. His book looks eerily prescient when the real estate market has put the dream of homeownership beyond the reach of millions of Americans.
First published in 1946, Hodgins’ novel has inspired three movies with stars of different eras in the title role: Cary Grant in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Tom Hanks in The Money Pit, and Ice Cube in Are We Done Yet?
