Eleanor Parker, A Coda

Eleanor Speaks For Herself

Eleanor Parker is in some way what the spoken word intonation is to song—she is melodrama in everything she’s acted in. She commits to the sometimes off note and in doing so manages to create an almost operatic sensitivity to even the most mediocre scripts being handed to her. So, I’m offering a short clip here as my coda to this long series and as an attempt to share what I love about this wonderful actor’s do re mi emotive vocal style. Granted, she sang nary a note in The Sound of Music. But, she manages to reach pretty much every note in the scale in her wonderful body of dramatic stylizing. 

In 1961, 20th Century Fox returned to author Grace Metalious with a sequel that they hoped would follow in the same footsteps of Peyton Place’s 1957 motion picture success.  Unfortunately, Return to Peyton Place is a weak follow. But, it’s a wildly watchable one with a handful of seasoned actors in the cast. Eleanor Parker was offered the part of Constance McKenzie only after several other actors had either refused or bowed out of the project. But, her commitment to what is generally a very small role is wonderful to behold. What you’re about to hear happens during the last sequence of the film. A Town Hall meeting has been called to determine whether Alison’s stepfather should be removed from his position as high school principal because of his refusal to remove Alison’s novel from the school library.

Constance Mackenzie reared her daughter as a single mother in the community and has seen her fair share of humiliations. But, her daughter’s choosing to air all of the town’s dirty laundry is too much for her to bear. Alison decided to return home for the meeting and to face her comeuppance after her scandalous home town exposition. The older members of the community have been scandalized by her book. Constance has turned her back on her daughter. The town’s rich matriarch, Roberta—played by Mary Astor, has adopted a love it or leave attitude in her defense of Peyton Place’s bigotry and puritanism. But, tables are turned when the younger generation chooses to defy her. Roberta is reduced to the staid and sad person she is. Seeing this—after a brief moment, a strained and penitent Constance stands and asks the town’s tribunal for permission to speak.

Thanks, Eleanor Parker for the infinite delights that I’ve taken in you.

Till next time.

Be well.

And, remain engaged.

Bye bye for now.