Betty Anderson: A Little Clip from Peyton Place
Peyton Place, the book, the movie, the TV nighttime drama, is all about repressed sexuality, illicit sex, bastards, and unwed mothers. I love it. I can still see TV Allison (Mia Farrow) running downstairs each morning on her way to school, kissing the magazine cut-out of her “father” that her mother Constance MacKenzie had so lovingly framed and placed on the mantle. The dead war hero. Hmmm, not exactly! Connie has issues, but they’re for another time. Then, there was Betty Anderson (Barbara Parkins) and Rodney Harrington (Ryan O’Neill), small town beauties made for each other, except… Rodney the rich boy and Betty, the not quite from-the-other side-of-the-tracks but low enough on the social ladder to be unacceptable. (Adding to the lovers’ problems was the ick factor affair between Betty’s mother and Rodney’s father.) I could write about Peyton Place for days, and at some point I will probably return to it. Since I’m still strapped for time tonight, though I’m posing this clip from the TV show. I love Betty’s talk with Allison at the pillory on the town square; her knowledge that they stand as a silent mediator of female transgression, especially for those who know and then Continue Reading →