Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Goodbye, Mr. Chips, James Hilton’s novella about a mild-mannered teacher at a fictional British boys’ school, originally appeared in 1933 as a supplement to the British Weekly, an evangelical newspaper. Its popularity, however, led to its reprinting in the April 1934 issue of the American magazine Atlantic Monthly and later, its publication as a book by Little, Brown and Company in the US and by Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom. An instant bestseller, Hilton’s novella ran through many editions in both countries. In 1939, it was made into a critically well-received film starring Robert Donat, who won the Academy Award for his portrayal of Mr. Chips. In 1969, Peter O’Toole and Petula Clark starred in a musical version of the story, which received Oscar nods for its score and O’Toole’s performance.

James Hilton (1900-1954), whose father was headmaster of a boys’ school near London, wrote several other bestsellers, including Lost Horizon (1933) and Random Harvest (1941). In 1943, he was awarded an Oscar for the screenplay for Mrs. Miniver, a film which, like Goodbye, Mr. Chips, celebrates quiet English virtues. Hilton reportedly based the character of Mr. Chips on his father and on William Henry Balgarnie, a master of The Leys School, a public school in Cambridge that Hilton attended.