met in Paris. He, Dallas, and Dirk visit Selina, and the two women become friends. Roelf and Dallas leave together, and Dirk bemoans the path his life has taken. His mother tells him it is not too late to pursue his creative dreams. Taking him in her arms, she calls him So Big once again. Cast Jane Wyman as Selina De Jong Sterling Hayden as Pervus De Jong Nancy Olson as Dallas O'Mara Steve Forrest as Dirk De Jong Elisabeth Fraser as Julie Hempel Martha Hyer as Paula Hempel Walter Coy as Roelf Pool Richard Beymer as Roelf, Age 12-16 Tommy Rettig as Dirk, Age 8 Roland Winters as Klaas Pool Jacques Aubuchon as August Hempel Ruth Swanson as Maartje Pool Dorothy Christy as Widow Paarlenberg Oliver Blake as Adam Ooms Lillian Kemble-Cooper as Miss Fister (as Lily Kemble Cooper). Marketing Warner Bros. promoted So Big provocatively and scandalously in its advertising, even associating the title of the movie with Pervus's manhood through a picture of Sterling Hayden grasping Jane Wyman's shoulders as she looks up at him captioned "He stood there so big. Love had come, intense, unashamed. -- She was ready to forget she'd ever been a lady." On October 31, 1953, Warner Bros. also put on a "carriage trade" premiere of So Big at the Hollywood Paramount Theatre. True to its name, at least 23 of the fanciest horse-drawn carriages on the West Coast transported the stars and actors to the theater along Hollywood Boulevard for publicity. Warner Bros. also provided trade showings of So Big on Wednesday, September 30, 1953, around a month before it would be released. Some cities for the showings included Boston, Chicago, Des Moines, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Haven, Omaha, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Washington. Critical reception Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wroteDespite the fact that the story is "dated," that it offers a very familiar theme and that the present production is loaded with some typical "Hollywood" flaws, there is still a great deal of solid substance in this latest retelling of the tale ...For the better part of the picture, we are largely indebted to Jane Wyman...remarkably strong and effective in every forthright little bit she does. From her earliest appearance...to her ultimate poignant scene...she is humble, restrained and sure...Where the picture falls down is in those phases in which the grown-up son goes