The true story behind ‘Steel Magnolias’ will break your heart — 2024

Steel Mulan is a play that debuted off-Broadway in 1987. The original stage play was so successful that it spawned several off-Broadway tours and a 1989 film starring by Dolly Parton, Julia Roberts and Sally Field. The play is based on a true story, revolving around the author’s experience of the loss of his sister.
Robert Harling, author and creator of Steel Magnolias, lost his sister, Susan Harling-Robinson, due to diabetes complications. A friend advised Harling to write down the story as a way to cope with everything that had happened.

To get deeper into the story, Susan had wanted to have children, but doctors told her she could jeopardize her health dealing with type 1 diabetes. She went against her doctor’s wishes and gave birth to a baby boy in 1983. Then her circulatory system began to shut down and her kidneys began to fail
She had undergone a kidney transplant from her mother, which did little to help her case. She later died during surgery in 1985 at the age of 33. Harling actually wrote the play because “all he wanted to do was have someone remember her,” especially him. Her two-year-old son may not remember her in the future.
The play was not originally even supposed to be a comedy. “It wasn’t until the audience came to see it and started reacting to the way the women talked and how amazing the actresses were that we realized, I guess this is funny — until it doesn’t,” Harling said.
Harling clearly felt that it was important for the characters in the play to use humor to deal with difficult times and difficult situations. He wanted the audience to really know what his family had to endure during that time.

Speaking of characters, the play has an all-female cast compared to the movie, which is not all-female. Harling modeled the women in the play after his mother’s friends he knew from childhood. “I always thought the women in my community were so witty and intelligent… It was like a witty skill [among them]. In many ways, they talked to each other with bumper stickers,” he recalls.

Now comes the real metaphor behind ‘Steel Magnolia.’ What does it mean? For Harling, it’s based on something his mother once said. “My mother always said to handle magnolia flowers carefully because they bruise easily. You think of this flower as being delicate and having to be handled with care, but it’s actually made of much sturdier stuff. ‘

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