3rd Day of Xmas

On the third day of Christmas, The Arts Muse spotlights "Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Woman'," airing at 9 tonight on THIRTEEN as part of PBS' "American Masters."

Like "A Christmas Carol," "Little Women" is a favorite book/film at Christmastide, in part because it opens on a Christmas during the Civil War but also because it's a moving story about the trials and triumphs of the four March sisters — dignified, acquisitive Meg; fiery, literary Jo; shy, loving Beth; and pretentious, artistic Amy. I can remember my aunt giving me an illustrated copy when I was a little girl. (I still have it.) And it seems every year, I run into one film version or another. Indeed, I just saw the one in which June Allyson is Jo and a blond Elizabeth Taylor plays Amy.

It doesn't matter which variation I encounter: "Little Women" always reduces me to tears. It's not just the story, with its trials and triumphs. It's that "Little Women" is about the struggles of a woman writer, the subject of the "American Masters" docudrama, which features Elizabeth Marvel as Alcott and Jane Alexander, a longtime Putnam County resident, as her first biographer, Ednah Dow Cheney.

Because we encounter such figures in history, long after they've become famous and are gone, there is a tendency to think they were always successful. Alcott did indeed achieve the writer's dream of riches and renown. But it did not come cheaply or easily. (Well, nothing worthwhile ever does.)

I've described Alcott as a woman writer, a phrase that many writers who are women would bristle at. But I think the designation is significant. Like male writers, she faced rejection — the artist's nemesis; toiled at menial jobs for menial pay; and turned out lurid potboilers that would hardly qualify as art.

At the same time, she cared for her invalid father and raised her niece after the girl's mother — Alcott's sister May, the model for Amy — died. These are not necessarily responsibilities men undertake, even today.

But they are expected to be breadwinners, and in this Alcott was a feminist role model, raising her family from poverty to wealth.

At a time when the arts and writing are under financial siege, she remains a comfort and an inspiration.

P.S. Alcott's sister May, an artist in her own right, was a friend to Mary Cassatt and a muse to other writers as well. On the subject of art, don't forget that today is a holiday Monday at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a good time to catch up on the shows you might've missed this year. Hours are 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. The Met is on Fifth Avenue at 82nd St. in Manhattan. Advance tickets: 800-965-4827. Information: 212-535-7710, www.metmuseum.org