Peyton Place Experiences - May 27, 2009 Aylmer Street with Inci

Füsun Atalay ~ Copyright © 2009


First episode lights up flashbacks of our family gathering around the television twice every week in our Barclay Street apartment, having dropped everything (homework included) huddled close in delicious anticipation for that evening’s episode of Peyton Place. A daring night-time soap opera of the 60s which not only taught me and my sisters- recent immigrants from Turkey- English because of the simplicity of its characters’ lines and their enunciation of the words but also because of its slow paced, engaging story line.

Today Inci and I sat on the futon to take a break from painting her cosy den to a fresh layer of light apricot, and slightly light-headed after our second gin ‘n tonic to watch the recently released DVD of the first episode of Peyton Place since its debut on network television on September 14, 1964. As scenes, music and story line unfolded from their dormancy in our memory and came alive on the screen in black and white, we inevitably re-visited a rite of passage in our lives that coincided with our growing up experience at that point in the continuum of Life.

Seeing the characters whose names somehow, miraculously defeated oblivion from our memories, my sister and I started commenting on their behaviors, appearance, manners and the values of a bygone era in general — which was part of us. Yet this was only a prelude to our kindred passage—hand-in-hand— in time and relieve (albeit so briefly) the family TV evenings whenever we gathered to watch a program on our 19 inch, black and white television set.

Anne used to ask constantly for one of us to translate. Obliging her interfered with listening and following. Frustrated and feeling ignored, our mother then felt free to loudly voice to the characters her fears, advice, criticism and warning based on her interpretation — all in Turkish; or cry out in empathy when an oncoming truck hit and paralyzed the protagonist. We tolerated her then - but with muted annoyance.

Today, my sister and I could not resist the temptation of blurting out the same comments, warnings, praise or disdain at the same scenes and the same characters of Rodney and Betty; Leslie and Julie as our Mother had done 45 years ago. Then Inci and I realized that our Mother was talking through us, or rather we were echoing her words as a confirmation of our endorsement of her values.

Inci and I laughed our heads off — amused yet not amazed —at how we could be so ‘Right On !’

Into a few episodes on Part One, we realized that now we could predict the shady intentions of a character or his motives for his behavior not only because we might have a hazy recollection of the episode from 45 years ago, but 45 years later, even if we had never seen the fictional story, we felt we had the solid support and convictions of our life experience. My sister and I, as a confirmation of our endorsement of our Mother— by whom we felt irritated teenagers — were, to our disbelief echoing her very values !

Füsun Atalay ~ Copyright © 2009