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Grace Metalious:
Biographical Information
born Marie Grace de Repentigny in 1924, in Manchester,
New Hampshire, in a "French-Canadian ghetto" (p. 8)
G was "a very spoiled child", cared for by mother, aunts, and grandmother / she would occasionally pack up and leave home, but soon return (pp.12-13)G was a voracious reader and writer / wrote her first novel in seventh grade: a Nancy Drew imitation (p. 18)fact: 1920s = decade of women's rights (suffrage, ERA) G met George Metalious when they were children
/ G from Greek enclave in Gilmanton NH / father Theophanes Metaleos
George drafted into World War II / G began dating other men / George had affair in Germanyfacts: median marriage age in USA in 1950 = 20 for women, 22 for men / by mid-50s, 60% of US women dropped out of college to get married."Feminist ideas -- careers rather than jobs, a variety of roles besides motherhood -- withered" (Toth p. 57). second child, son, born in 1947 early married years were desparate, financially and emotionally (pp. 35-59) daughter born 1950 / another near-fatal labor and delivery (p. 61) G has tubal ligation / according to her, she turned to writing as substitute fecundity (p. 62) / (but she had been writing since childhood) G and family leave jobs and NH to travel in South
and live with friends
Peyton Place partially inspired by Henry Bellamann's novel, Kings Row (1940): see Toth, pp. 76-77, 83-84, 140-141 some question of G's collaboration with others
in writing PP: see pp. 80-81
sensational 1947 local incident of daughter killing abusive father and burying corpse in sheep pen (pp. 81-83) G tried to publish two novels in 1955: The
Quiet Place, about a young married couple, & The Tree and the
Blossom (later PP)
title changed by publisher's advertising agency:
from The Tree and the Blossom to Peyton Place
major editorial changes: displacement of incest: Lucas Cross was father in MS, step-father in published novelduring months PP is being prepared for publication, Grace & George begin to live apart G has highly visible affairs with locals begins to drink heavily (Toth terms it "post-book depression") (pp. 109-113) G buys old house on outskirts of Gilmanton
"Pandora in Blue Jeans" photo taken by Larry Smith,
photographer for Laconia NH newspaper
publisher & media agents begin vigorous pre-publication campaign, including fabrications about Grace as conventional NE housewife and George as schoolteacher fired because of wife's scandalous book (pp. 117-123) G remarks in broadcast interview about NE as picture-postcard: "But if you go beneath that picture, it's like turning over a rock with your foot -- all kinds of things crawl out" (p. 123)publicity photo of G one week before publication, PP was fourth on
best-seller lists & 20th-Century Fox was bidding for film rights (130)
after publication PP was on best-sellers
list for six months
G began to receive hate mail & phone calls
although most reviews were negative and condemning, one contemporary review by Carlos Baker in NY Times Book Review placed G in serious literary tradition of Sherwood Anderson & John O'Hara (pp. 135-136) G begins public affair with local disk jockey, who becomes her managerToth notes "unusual perceptions for 1956: that wife-beating is not inevitable; that rape is an act of violence, not sexual pleasure; that abortion can mean saving a life -- the mother's. Women who depend too heavily on men -- for sex, money, or a sense of self -- lose out in Peyton Place" (p. 143) / PP has positive messages for women / it is a proto-feminist "attack on the feminine mystique -- against the idea that a woman should have only one destiny in life" (145) George catches wife & lover in bed, takes photos eventually G & G divorce Grace marries D.J. Hollywood producer, Jerry Wald, takes on PP
as movie
movie whitewashes novel, "doing exactly what she'd
fought against in writing Peyton Place" (Toth p. 173)
G remodels $5000 cottage in Gilmanton with $100,000 in improvementsbrief review of Peyton Place the movie she & children frequent The Plaza Hotel in NYC (179-182) very difficult, angry relation with mother, Laurette (pp. 184-85) Return to PP written in 30 days
1959: auto accident with Grace, daughter, &
mother
1960: G & second husband divorce
1960: The Tight White Collar / G's favorite book (253)Toth is insightful about differences in cultural expectations re: drinking male writer vs. drinking female writer (249-250) G swindled by her agent recovers most of the losses (257-261) premier of movie, Return to PP, in Laconia NH 1961: G's daughter marries at 17 / G becomes grandmother 1961: IRS rules that G owes $163,000 in back taxes dues to underreported incomeToth description: "In Marsha's wedding pictures, Grace looks much older than thirty-seven. Though she smiles a great deal, as if contented with the world, her face looks ruddy with broken blood vessels, a sign of heavy drinking: her body looks bloated and ungainly. Still, she is smiling in most of the pictures -- and holding a cigarette and a drink. She wears her hair upswept, no longer in her trademark ponytail, though later she claimed she'd abandoned her ponytail because it was inappropriate for a grandmother" (p. 276) 1963: No Adam in Eden / receives very bad reviews more heavy drinkingFeb64: G suffers severe attack / hemorrhaging / death due to cirrhosis of liver doctor who examined G on morning of death estimated that liver condition was due to equivalent consumption of a fifth every day for 5 years (333)1964: TV pilot for Peyton Place series / begins in Sep64 first evening soap opera more sanitizing of story, characters, community hit series for 5 years PP #10 on all-time best-sellers list 1920-1980 (p. 368) Return to Great Links |