I used to ask her sometimes, but she""d only laugh and say she""d given it away.A very great admirer.She would never tell me who.Paula pulls the dusty drape covering her aunt""s regal portrait (wearing a gown) to reveal her beautiful aunt: "That""s as he Empress Theodora.[Note: The emotionally-brooding film told only a small portion of Steinbeck""s work, roughly adapting only the final third of the novel (Chapters 39-55) and leaving out the childhood of the parents and the Chinese character of Lee, he Trask family servant.When the nurse took off with his cigars, he begged and pleaded: "Can""t I have just one?...A few puffs after meals? Please." He jokingly proposed murdering her "some dark night":"When her back is turned, I""ll snatch her thermometer and plunge it through her shoulder blades.The film was producer Samuel Goldwyn""s most successful and important work - he also was presented with the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award.