Part of the appeal of Grandma Moses is that her life story reads like the script from a Frank Capra film -- the story of good regular folk experiencing miracles of fame and fortune.

The tale begins in 1938. Far removed from the ominous rumblings of war from across the Atlantic, on an early spring day, an art collector by the name of Louis Caldor was driving his motorcar through the countryside of upstate New York. He stopped in the town of Hoosick Falls, pulling in to Thomas's Drugstore to take refreshment.

Inside hung several paintings -- pastorals and landscapes in oil. The artist, Caldor was told, was a 77-year-old local widow named Anna Mary Robertson Moses, who had recently taken up painting because her arthritic hands could no longer embroider. Caldor was informed that Moses had 10 more paintings at her farmhouse in nearby Eagle Bridge, if he was interested. Caldor was very interested, and made arrangements to visit the Moses home the following day. When word reached Moses, she was delighted but anxious, as she had not 10 paintings, but only nine. The story goes that Moses took out a pair of scissors and carefully cut one of her larger canvases down the center, transforming it into two smaller paintings so as not to disappoint her new patron.