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was born, 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." Other
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of the liver from years of heavy drinking, Metalious died on
February 25, 1964, at age 39. "If I had to do it over again", she once said, "it would be easier to be poor. Before I was successful, I was as happy as anyone gets." She is buried in Smith Meeting House Cemetery in Gilmanton.
257:. The village of Gilmanton Ironworks is where in December 1946, a daughter had murdered her sexually abusive father (upon which incident the book is partly based). The sheriff of Belknap County, Homer Crockett, and members of the New Hampshire State Police investigated the murder.
325:, to sign a will leaving him her entire estate, with the understanding that he would take care of her children. Her family was able to invalidate the will, but to little avail, as her estate proved to be insolvent from years of lavish living, generosity to "friends", and
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at
Manchester honored Metalious with an in-depth examination of her life and most famous book. The celebration, which included lectures, readings of her work, and screenings of the 1957 film, marked the area's first public acknowledgment of its native daughter.
157:, she acted in school plays. After graduation, she married George Metalious in a Catholic church in Manchester in 1943, and became a housewife and mother. The couple lived in near squalor, but she continued to write. With one child, the couple moved to
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Metalious's publisher promoted her in a photo captioned "Pandora in Blue Jeans". Commenting on her critics, she observed, "If I'm a lousy writer, then an awful lot of people have lousy taste". Of her work's frankness, she said, "Even
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In the summer of 1956, the
Metalious family moved into a new hilltop house, and a publicity campaign was launched for the book, published on September 24, 1956. Dismissed by most critics, it nevertheless remained on
195:). Realizing their town should have a fictional name, they looked through an atlas and found "Payton" (a town in Texas). They combined this with Place and changed the "a" to an "e". Thus
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and liked it, but knew it was too steamy for a major publisher to accept. She showed it to
Kathryn G. ("Kitty") Messner, president and editor-in-chief of the small firm
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as an unwieldy title and decided to give the town a name that could be the book's title. They first considered "Potter Place" (the name of a real community near
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compared his fictional small town of Harper Valley, also a cauldron of scandal bubbling under the surface, to Peyton Place. His song "
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had a girlfriend, and to talk about adults without talking about their sex drives is like talking about a window without glass."
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165:. In Durham, Grace Metalious began writing seriously. When George graduated, he took a position as principal at a school in
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by an agent. At the time of her death, she had bank accounts totaling $ 41,174 and debts of more than $ 200,000.
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was a major box-office hit. The movie's premiere was held at the
Colonial Theatre in Laconia, New Hampshire. A
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lost no time in cashing in on the book's success—a year after its publication, the heavily sanitized movie
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resurfaced as the setting for nine novels by Don Tracy (1905–1976), writing as Roger Fuller, including
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In the fall of 1954, at age 30, Metalious began work on a manuscript about the dark secrets of a small
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was slated to star in and co-produce a biopic of
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bestseller list for more than a year and became an international phenomenon.
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article "Peyton Place's Real Victim" by
Michael Callahan March 2006
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Hours before her death, Metalious was convinced by her final lover,
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George
Metalious (1943-1958; div. remarried 1960-1963. separated)
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Metalious's other novels sold well but not as well as her first.
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that began airing the fall after
Metalious's death (on
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The town of Peyton Place was a combination of several
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In 2007, the Manchester Historic Association and the
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275:, from 1964 to 1969) was a ratings success as well.
364:, who also recorded a song called "Satan Place".
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798:Loren Coleman: "Peyton Place: A Contagion Model"
661:. University Press of Mississippi. p. 309.
659:Inside Peyton Place: The Life of Grace Metalious
563:: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
486:Inside Peyton Place: The Life of Grace Metalious
349:(1970), but this series had only modest sales.
545:. Archived from the original on March 16, 2006
517:"Leona Nevler, Editor, Dies at 79; Shepherded
463:"Leona Nevler, Editor, Dies at 79; Shepherded
200:accounts say her publishers changed the name.
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684:"Grace Metalious: Peyton Place's Real Victim"
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211:, a freelance manuscript reader, read it for
1046:American people of French-Canadian descent
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720:"Bullock to star as 'Peyton Place' author"
489:. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 96.
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701:Delinsky, Barbara. "Summary and Contents"
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509:Nevler would go on to spend 26 years at
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1041:Alcohol-related deaths in Massachusetts
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587:. St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture
1061:Writers from Manchester, New Hampshire
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682:Callahan, Michael (January 22, 2007).
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183:town. The novel had the working title
1081:People from Manchester, New Hampshire
1056:Manchester Central High School alumni
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742:"Finally, a return to 'Peyton Place'"
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1076:People from Gilmanton, New Hampshire
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445:Metalious, George, and June O'Shea,
1066:20th-century American women writers
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515:Fox, Margalit (December 15, 2005).
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16:American-French writer (1924–1964)
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977:Peyton Place: The Next Generation
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636:. Houghton Mifflin. p. 311.
634:Simpson's Contemporary Quotations
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606:Garner, Dwight (July 31, 2005).
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153:. Writing from an early age, at
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632:Simpson, James Beasley (1998).
386:In 2006, it was announced that
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155:Manchester Central High School
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107:T.J. Martin (1958-1960; div.)
269:prime-time television series
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141:was born into poverty and a
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395:University of New Hampshire
347:Temptations of Peyton Place
163:University of New Hampshire
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722:. Today.com. March 9, 2006
447:The Girl from Peyton Place
383:is about their community.
203:Metalious found an agent,
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337:After Metalious's death,
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1051:American women novelists
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377:Looking for Peyton Place
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189:The Tree and the Blossom
185:The Tree and the Blossom
167:Gilmanton, New Hampshire
139:Marie Grace DeRepentigny
46:Marie Grace DeRepentigny
424:Illegitimacy in fiction
297:(1959) was followed by
1003:Return to Peyton Place
970:Murder in Peyton Place
962:Return to Peyton Place
869:Return to Peyton Place
539:"AP: "50 Years Later,
299:The Tight White Collar
294:Return to Peyton Place
193:Andover, New Hampshire
1071:Deaths from cirrhosis
375:as a springboard for
343:Evils of Peyton Place
223:Publishing phenomenon
159:Durham, New Hampshire
75:Boston, Massachusetts
657:Toth, Emily (2000).
583:Lent, Robin (2002).
511:Fawcett Publications
483:Toth, Emily (1981).
473:, December 15, 2005.
352:In 1968, songwriter
887:Constance MacKenzie
371:used Metalious and
740:Schweitzer, Sarah
612:The New York Times
525:The New York Times
471:The New York Times
367:In 2005, novelist
231:The New York Times
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907:Rodney Harrington
608:"Inside the List"
585:"Grace Metalious"
543:Memories Remain""
496:978-1-60473-631-1
358:Harper Valley PTA
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549:December 10,
547:. Retrieved
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70:(1964-02-25)
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1031:1964 deaths
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1006:(1972-1974)
998:(1964-1969)
782:Vanity Fair
688:Vanity Fair
354:Tom T. Hall
345:(1969) and
301:(1961) and
287:Later works
181:New England
143:broken home
1020:Categories
987:Television
880:Characters
775:Faded Page
281:Tom Sawyer
213:Lippincott
134:Early life
82:Occupation
51:1924-09-08
897:Joe Rossi
726:August 7,
617:August 7,
591:August 7,
323:John Rees
315:cirrhosis
259:Hollywood
243:Gilmanton
147:mill town
777:(Canada)
704:Archived
559:cite web
402:See also
305:(1963).
112:Children
85:Novelist
255:Belmont
247:Laconia
241:towns:
145:in the
965:(1961)
957:(1957)
872:(1959)
864:(1956)
853:Novels
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541:Peyton
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333:Legacy
273:ABC-TV
102:Spouse
77:, U.S.
60:, U.S.
430:Notes
309:Death
251:Alton
946:Film
793:IMDb
728:2008
663:ISBN
638:ISBN
619:2008
593:2008
565:link
551:2010
491:ISBN
253:and
65:Died
43:Born
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