Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Dorothy McGuire – Part 9: OLD YELLER (1957) and THE REMARKABLE MR. PENNYPACKER (1959)

Our Dorothy McGuire episode this week is guaranteed to give you mood whiplash. We begin with Disney classic and Boomer phenomenon Old Yeller (1957), the most hellish depiction of the war of all against all in nature we've seen since King Kong, with a moving central performance by Tommy Kirk as a boy ungracefully slouching toward manhood with the indispensable assistance of a good dog and a seraphic mother (McGuire). After imbibing its gnostic wisdom, we turn to the very different problems facing The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959), a comedy about an early 20th century progressive businessman who adopts bigamy as part of his forward-thinking program but forgets to tell his wife (McGuire). McGuire's wife and mother roles continue to give her a wide range of things to play, while drawing on her cool efficiency in a crisis - whether that's a dog who's been torn up by hogs or a husband with a secret second family. 

Time Codes:

0h 00m 45s:         OLD YELLER (1957) [dir. Robert Stephenson]

0h 38m 06s:         THE REMARKABLE MR. PENNYPACKER (1959) [dir. Harry Levin]

0h 55m 34s:         Listener Letter from Andrew

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* Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – “Making America Strange Again”

* Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! 

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