Peggy

Fresh from his Academy Award in 1943 and his Rag Award in 1946, Charles Coburn became the most in-demand lovable character actor of the decade. He headlined cutesy comedies for the next ten years, including the silly fluff piece Peggy. On a personal note, since I've always lovingly referred to Coburn as "Piggy" because of his indelible role in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I couldn't wait to watch a movie called Peggy starring Piggy.

Piggy stars as a fussy professor who relocates his two daughters, Diana Lynn and Barbara Lawrence, to Pasadena. They're immediately shocked by the different way of life in Southern California, namely the obsession with the Rose Bowl and the Rose Parade. Both daughters are roped into entering the Rose Queen pageant by the domineering neighbor Charlotte Greenwood, and as Charlotte quickly horns in on every aspect of their lives, Piggy becomes quite annoyed. Where's the snag in this cutesy "young people" movie? The contestants in the pageant must be unmarried women, and Diana secretly eloped with her football star boyfriend, Rock Hudson, before they left town. Piggy hates Rock, which is why they had to keep their marriage a secret. But what happens when the young men in town think Diana is single? You'll have to rent Peggy to find out.

I've seen most of Charles Coburn's movies, and this one isn't my favorite. It's just a silly story with many of the obstacles easy to avoid. The best part to me was the footage in the end of the Rose Parade's floats. For more of Piggy, check out How to Murder a Rich Uncle or The Devil and Miss Jones.

You would think that any father would mark it as a source of pride if he had two daughters in contention to be Rose Bowl Queen. But not crusty old history professor Charles Coburn who has daughters Diana Lynn in the title role and Barbara Lawrence both entering the contest as ant young unmarried resident of Pasadena is entitled.

Coburn and the daughters have just moved to Pasadena after he retired after years of teaching history at Ohio State. Lynn regrets leaving Ohio and halfback Rock Hudson mainly because they were secretly married. What Lynn finds out is that Rock left her something to remember him by.

Peggy has a wonderful cast of familiar character players all doing their shtick. It's Coburn who bellows his way through the film as the lovable tyrant of a father. Wonder why he never did Life With Father. Coburn however is evenly matched by Charlotte Greenwood as his ever helpful neighbor who has a son in Charles Drake who takes a liking to Barbara Lawrence.

After 70 years Peggy holds up well as family entertainment reflecting a more innocent time than our's.

He was definitely eye candy in this film with some merit in the story. In the 50's he was a younger version of Cary Grant with his tall, dark looks, and should have been used by Hitchcock in the 50's rather than the 60's. His single breasted suits and thin ties were interesting to look at, and I guess by today's standards that it would be trendy if it was worn today.

Perhaps it's a testament to her acting skills, but I found the performance of Charlotte Greenwood as the interfering neighbour "Mrs. Fielding" extremely annoying! She imposes herself on the newly arrived folks next door - the "Brookfield" family consisting a bookish professor (Charles Coburn) and his two daughters "Peggy" (Diana Lynn) and "Susan" (Barbara Lawrence). Thing start to get complicated when this bossiest of women insists on enrolling the girls in a local beauty contest and even more so when her son "Tom" takes a shine to our eponymous girl unawares that she's already got eyes for the all-American boy "Scat" (Rock Hudson). Looks like "Tom" (Charles Drake) might have to shift allegiance to the other sister? I like Coburn, he had a gift as a curmudgeonly comedy actor, but here his character is just overpowered by Greenwood's and I found him rather underused. The last fifteen minutes are quite fun, though, as the hapless father finds himself unsure as to which, if any, of his daughters is married - and to whom, as well as discovering that the future of his long-term research project is now in the hands of his neighbourly nemesis. It doesn't hang about, and takes quite an interesting swipe at the whole pageant mentality that must have been pretty popular in 1950. I am not sure I'd ever watch it again, but it passes the time ok.

Professor Brookfield (Charles Coburn) has moved with his two daughters from his teaching position at Ohio State to a new school in Pasadena, California. Upon arriving, two things are very apparent...that he is a grouch AND his new neighbor seems very attracted to grouches! Mrs. Fielding (Charlotte Greenwood) is determined to run the professor's life and he naturally resents it.

Another serious problem is the professor's daughter, Peggy (Diana Lynn). It seems she is married but no one knows it. Why does she keep it a secret? Because her new husband is a star football player (Rock Hudson)....and the Professor HATES football players as he doesn't see them as serious students. Not knowing she's taken, Mrs. Fielding's son (Charles Drake) is actively pursuing Peggy...until Peggy's sister, Susan, takes up with the young man. So what's to come of all these folks with romance in the air?

This is a cute family comedy that Hollywood did so well in this era. With films like "Life With Father", "On Moonlight Bay" and "Peggy", it's easy to enjoy the genre--as the movies are fun, well written and nice, light comedies. "Peggy" is a sweet and enjoyable film...made more so because of so many nice performances.



By the way, when you see Lynn playing the piano you can be sure it was really her, as she was a concert-quality pianist in real life. Also, Hudson's character is nicknamed 'Scat'. Scat is another word for excrement....hardly a moniker most folks would want! Why didn't any of the crew or cast say anything about this ill-chosen name?!