Peyton Place is a 1956 novel by the American author Grace Metalious. Set in New England in the time periods before and after World War II, the novel tells the story of three women who are forced to come to terms with their identity, both as women and as sexual beings, in a small, conservative, gossipy town. Metalious included recurring themes of hypocrisy, social inequities and class privilege in a tale that also includes incest, abortion, adultery, lust and murder. The novel sold 60,000 copies within the first ten days of its release, and it remained on The New York Timesbest seller list for 59 weeks.
The novel spawned a franchise that would run through four decades. 20th Century-Fox adapted it as a movie in 1957, and Metalious wrote a follow-up novel that was published in 1959, titled Return to Peyton Place, which became a film in 1961 using the same name. The original 1956 novel was adapted again in 1964, in what became a prime time television series for 20th Century Fox Television that ran until 1969, and the term "Peyton Place" entered the American lexicon describing any small town or group that holds scandalous secrets.[2]
Grace Metalious and her husband George first considered Potter Place, the name of a real community near Andover, New Hampshire.[lower-alpha 1] Realizing their town should have a fictional name, they looked through an atlas and discovered the community of Payton, Texas. They combined that with Place and changed the "a" to an "e". Thus, Peyton Place was created, prompting her comment, "Wonderful—that's it, George. Peyton Place. Peyton Place, New Hampshire. Peyton Place, New England. Peyton Place, USA. Truly a composite of all small towns where ugliness rears its head, and where the people try to hide all the skeletons in their closets."[3] Novelist Barbara Delinsky, author of the fictional Looking for Peyton Place (2006), noted that, "The town is a character itself, a seductively beautiful facade that hides a plethora of ills..."[4]
Several characters and events were drawn from events in nearby towns and people that Metalious actually knew. Selena Cross was based on Barbara Roberts, a 20-year-old girl from the village of Gilmanton Ironworks, who murdered her father Sylvester after years of sexual abuse and buried his body under a sheep pen. In the novel, Selena kills her stepfather because incest was considered too taboo for readers at the time. Metalious' editor Kitty Messner made the change, much to the author's dismay and disapproval.[5]
Plot
The story starts in 1937 and continues through the years following World War II.
Lonely and repressed Constance MacKenzie leaves Peyton Place for New York City at a young age and meets a man in the fabrics business named Allison MacKenzie, who already is married with children. Constance becomes pregnant with MacKenzie's child. MacKenzie dies a few years after his daughter, also named Allison, is born. Constance and her daughter adopt Allison's last name before returning to Peyton Place as a "widow" and child, and Constance alters her daughter's birth date to make her appear legitimate. With the money she's saved as well as what she received from her late lover's will, she opens up an apparel store called the Thrifty Corner. Allison grows up lonely and isolated, idealizing the father she never had and dreaming of a future as a published author.
The poorer side of Peyton Place is represented by the Cross family, Nellie and Lucas Cross and their daughter Selena, who is Nellie's biological daughter, but not Lucas'. Paul, Lucas's son and Selena's stepbrother, left Peyton Place after accusing Lucas of stealing his money. Nellie and Lucas later have a child together: Joey, who lives with the couple and Selena in "the shacks", a poor section of town being targeted for redevelopment. Selena and Allison become friends, but the drastic difference in their socioeconomic situations ensures the friendship does not last long.
"While Allison wants Selena to share her love of bucolic little spots like Road's End, Selena wants only to spend time at Allison's mother's dress shop and, increasingly, to talk with boys. Moreover, when Allison finally gets a look inside the shack where Selena lives, she is horrified by the squalor and the violence she sees in Lucas. Eventually, Allison and Selena grow distant because of Selena's closeness with Ted Carter."[4]
When Selena turns 14 years old, Lucas begins to abuse her, impregnating her and leaving local doctor Matthew Swain in a troublesome situation in which he decides to perform an abortion. The doctor makes Lucas leave town, and after she discovers this, Nellie commits suicide by hanging.
Other storylines follow Leslie Harrington, owner of the local woolen mills, whose son Rodney dies in a car accident, as well as newspaper man Seth Buswell.
In the 1968 single "Harper Valley PTA", performed by Jeannie C. Riley, the central character, the widowed Mrs. Johnson, exposes the various scandals of the members of the titular PTA, then describes the PTA as "just a little Peyton Place."[6]
The novel and series are mentioned in the 1975 novel 'Salem's Lot and its foreword by Stephen King.
In the prime time soap opera Savannah, one of the characters, a notorious bad girl, was named Peyton.
in the 1990 video game Ultima VI: The False Prophet, there is an innkeeper in Britain who says "I am Peyton, and this is my place." when you ask what his name is.
Constance is a primarily feminine given name in use since the Middle Ages that is derived either from Constantia, a Late Latin name, or from the term meaning steadfast. In medieval England, diminutives of the name included Cust or Cussot. Puritans used Con, Constant, and Constancy. Other variations of the name include Connie, Constancia, and Constanze.
Grace Metalious was an American author known for her novel Peyton Place, one of the best-selling works in publishing history.
Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera that aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964, to June 2, 1969.
Peyton Place is a 1957 American drama film starring Lana Turner, Hope Lange, Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan, Diane Varsi, Arthur Kennedy, Russ Tamblyn, and Terry Moore. Directed by Mark Robson, it follows the residents of a small fictional New England mill town in the years surrounding World War II, where scandal, homicide, suicide, incest, and moral hypocrisy belie its tranquil façade. It is based on Grace Metalious's bestselling 1956 novel of the same name.
Where the Heart Is is an American soap opera telecast on the CBS television network from September 8, 1969 to March 23, 1973. Created by Lou Scofield and Margaret DePriest, the program ran for 25 minutes, the remaining five minutes of its timeslot ceded to a CBS news break.
Return to Peyton Place is a 1959 novel by Grace Metalious, a sequel to her best-selling 1956 novel Peyton Place.
Leigh Taylor-Young is an American actress who has appeared on stage, screen, podcast, radio, and television. Her most well-known films include I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968), The Horsemen (1971), The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971), Soylent Green (1973), and Jagged Edge (1985). She won an Emmy for her role on the hit television series Picket Fences.
Michael Rossi is a fictional character in the novel Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. Michael Rossi is a teacher and high school principal who had replaced Abner Firth, the preceding teacher and principal who had died of a heart attack. He becomes the love interest of Constance MacKenzie, a woman with a hidden past.
Constance MacKenzie is a fictional character in the 1956 novel Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. In the subsequent film adaptation, she was played by Lana Turner; in the sequel Return to Peyton Place, by Eleanor Parker; in the primetime television series, by Dorothy Malone ; and in the daytime soap opera Return to Peyton Place, by Bettye Ackerman and later by Susan Brown.
Selena Cross is a fictional character in the novel Peyton Place, as well as its sequel, Return to Peyton Place and the films based on the novels.
Marion Partridge is a fictional character in the novel Peyton Place and in the subsequent film adaptation. In the film, Marion was played by actress Peg Hillias.
Betty Anderson is a fictional character in the novel Peyton Place, written by Grace Metalious, as well as the subsequent films and TV series based on the novel. In the film, she was played by actress Terry Moore; and in the TV series, she was portrayed by actress Barbara Parkins; in the short-lived daytime soap opera, she was played by actress Julie Parrish and later Lynn Loring. In a later TV movie, Murder in Peyton Place, Janet Margolin performed the role of Betty.
Return to Peyton Place is an American daytime serial which aired on NBC from April 3, 1972 to January 4, 1974. The series was a spin-off of the prime time drama series Peyton Place rather than an adaptation of the 1959 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious.
Rodney "Rod" Harrington is a fictional character in the 1956 Grace Metalious novel Peyton Place, the 1957 film adaptation, and the 1960s television adaptation Peyton Place. He was portrayed by Barry Coe in the film, and by Ryan O'Neal in the TV series.
Matthew Swain, M.D. is a fictional character in the novel Peyton Place, as well as the movie and TV series of the same name. In the movie, he was played by actor Lloyd Nolan and in the television series, he was played by actor Warner Anderson.
Return to Peyton Place is a 1961 American drama film in color by De Luxe and CinemaScope, produced by Jerry Wald, directed by José Ferrer, and starring Carol Lynley, Tuesday Weld, Jeff Chandler, Eleanor Parker, Mary Astor, and Robert Sterling. The screenplay by Ronald Alexander is based on the 1959 novel Return to Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and is a sequel to their earlier film Peyton Place (1957).
Katherine Glass is an American actress best remembered for her television work in the 1970s.
Murder in Peyton Place is a 1977 American made-for-television mystery-drama film directed by Bruce Kessler. The film is based on the 1964–1969 TV series Peyton Place and it was billed as a reunion movie. It first aired on NBC Monday Night at the Movies on October 3, 1977. It focuses on the mysterious deaths of Rodney Harrington and Allison MacKenzie, as well as a diabolical plot of a powerful person to ruin the community.
Peyton Place: The Next Generation is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film directed by Larry Elikann. The film is based on the 1964–1969 TV series Peyton Place and the plot is set twenty years after the original series. The film contains many of the original cast members, and there were hopes of it inspiring a TV series, but such a program was never made.
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