--- description: The movie, based on the book by Lucy Maud Montgomery, got a PR boost from an unusual source title: The Craziest Publicity Stunt for 'Anne of Green Gables' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fee86defdabb344/6988730e196cf4543103936f/anne.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Craziest Publicity Stunt for _Anne of Green Gables_  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 30, 2015 5:44 PM CUT  circa 1940: Portrait of American actor Anne Shirley circa 1940: Portrait of American actor Anne ShirleyJack Albin—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 30, 2015 5:44 PM CUT You’d think a name like “Dawn O’Day” would have been enough, but it wasn’t enough for the starlet who went by that moniker in the 1930s. After being cast as the lead in the 1934 film of _Anne of Green Gables_—based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery, who was born on this day, Nov. 30, in 1874—she decided to do more than just play the part of Anne Shirley on screen, as TIME reported that December: --- > “” --- But, even though the trick may have been called “banal,” it worked. By 1936, TIME was [calling](http://time.com/vault/issue/1936-07-27/page/46/ "undefined") the switch “an improvement that deserved but did not get an Academy Award”—and the movie was a hit. The actress Anne Shirley managed to make the name work until her retirement in her 20s, after starring in movies like _Stella Dallas_ and _Murder, My Sweet._ Shirley [wasn’t the only](https://books.google.com/books?id=B4q1WWk9BggC&pg=PT91&dq=anne+shirley+gig+young&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjT0N7007jJAhVC5iYKHQuOCDUQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=anne%20shirley%20gig%20young&f=false "undefined") star to take the name of a character during that period of the Hollywood studio system; a few years later, the actor Byron Barr became Gig Young after playing that role in _The Gay Sisters_. **_Read the full story from 1934, here in the TIME Vault:_** [The New Pictures](http://time.com/vault/issue/1934-12-10/page/36/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4129229/anne-of-green-gables-movie-stunt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4129229/anne-of-green-gables-movie-stunt/"},"headline":"The Craziest Publicity Stunt for Anne of Green Gables","datePublished":"2015-11-30T17:44:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:57:40.109Z","description":"The movie, based on the book by Lucy Maud Montgomery, got a PR boost from an unusual source","url":"https://time.com/4129229/anne-of-green-gables-movie-stunt/","keywords":["movies","Books","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fee86defdabb344/6988730e196cf4543103936f/anne.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fee86defdabb344/6988730e196cf4543103936f/anne.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Anne Shirley","caption":"Anne Shirley","creditText":"Jack Albin—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4129229/anne-of-green-gables-movie-stunt/","name":"The Craziest Publicity Stunt for Anne of Green Gables"}}]}] ```