There was a pretty good epi of Wagon Train the other day with The Matthew Lowry Story starring
Richard Anderson, Cathleen Nesbitt, Dorothy Provine and
Jacqueline Holt. Normally, I find a block of wood and
Richard Anderson interchangeable, but this particular role actually took advantage of the man's inherent stiffness. He played a former Harvard student who had left medical school to tend to the wounds of the men in the Civil War. In the process, he lost his left arm, and became so horrified by what he had seen in the hospitals and in himself, he became a Quaker, along with his much younger brother, Benjy (Ronald Anton). We know Anderson is a Quaker because of his flat brimmed hat, his dark clothes and his tendency to say everyone's full name twice when he is having a conversation with others, as he does several times, when speaking to "Seth Adams. I am a Quaker. Do thee understand what that means, Seth Adams?" Actually,
Anderson's quiet efforts to subdue his impulses to lash out at those who mock him and his beliefs and his strength of character were very well expressed by the actor, whose shy manner was really quite touching.
![Image](http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac140/moirathefinn/a0727826.jpg)
Others on the train include Rebecca Pruitt (
Cathleen Nesbitt), an illiterate woman of about 90, whose lively character comments on the foibles of all those around her, including her vixenish granddaughter (
Dorothy Provine, in a push-up bra and a really bad peroxide wig), whose idea of a good day is when she can get two fellas fighting over her. In this instance,
Provine pays undo attention to
Richard Anderson's Malcolm, a man too haunted by his past and wrapped up in his lofty ideals to be really interested in s-e-x.
Provine's more ardent (and irrational) suitor is a lout named Jed Otis (
John Pickard), who keeps trying to pick a fight with
Anderson's mild-mannered man of peace. When discussing this disruptive young lady, Maj. Adams (
Ward Bond) and Charlie Wooster (
Frank McGrath) have a nice exchange when Charlie claims that the young hussy even flirted with him. Doing a double take,
Ward Bond mutters, "She may be trouble, but she's not
that desperate!!"
Above: Dorothy Provine and her, *ahem*, acting equipment.
The wagon train, trying to make it through a narrow, stony canyon to California, is halted by the sight of several covered wagons blocking the pass and a young woman (
Jacqueline Holt), telling them to turn back and not come near since all of the travelers but she have cholera there. Matthew Lowry (Anderson), aware of ways to treat one form of cholera, immediately offers to go help them, though Ward Bond warns him that he probably won't come back. He is soon joined in this mission of mercy by a loyal Benjy and by Rebecca Pruitt (Nesbitt), who is game for anything--especially since she is pushing 90 and has nothing much to lose. Soon, Holt and Anderson are making goo-goo eyes discreetly across the mute forms of the sick folk.
Above: Jacqueline Holt and Richard Anderson bonding over the sickbed.
Their attraction vexes
Dorothy Provine enough for her to come over to the cholera ridden wagons to "discuss" the matter with Miss Holt. Meanwhile, faster than you can say "Fletcher Christian," Jed Otis (
Pickard) challenges the status quo arrangement, arousing the fearful and malcontents among the wagon train to lead a rebellion against
Ward Bond's decision to sit tight. They overwhelm
Bond and his boys, who are later freed by
Anderson, who breaks his vow as a peacemaker by slugging some miscreants. They soon overpower Mr. Otis, but not before an outraged Jed can put a bullet in that hussy
Dorothy Provine's belly for disobeying his edict about fraternization with the "enemy" (Richard Anderson), (that'll teach her to be a sensualist!).
Long story short, Jed gets his just desserts,
Provine pulls through, and the sick get better eventually, after
Anderson has arranged for Ward and his men to lift the wagons from the stuffy canyon with a crane and pulley system (using what looks like leftover footage from
The Big Trail and
Westward the Women).
Holt and
Anderson form a sweet if awfully docile couple. However, the understanding that the practical
Holt relays to
Anderson when he describes his wartime experiences does indicate their bond is not superficial. Not to nit-pick, but Malcolm Lowry never expresses any regret or qualm about his acts of violence necessary to free
Ward Bond and his men, leaving one large gap in the script. I guess they needed to squeeze in a few commercials, so there wasn't any time to refer to this complete betrayal of his Quaker beliefs. Then again, since Miss Holt's loving and understanding nature made
Anderson put his conscience to rest about the war, maybe Malcolm Lowry rationalized his need to punch and pistol whip a few baddies with the immortal "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."
![Image](http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac140/moirathefinn/fc261875.jpg)
The real star of the show for me, however was Granny Pruitt, especially in scenes such as the one where Benjy reads the obituaries aloud to Rebecca when a newspaper from back home arrives in the mail. The old woman's salty comments on those who have met their maker were particularly amusing, as she comments on the drinking habits, or stinginess of another, relishing the news of the dead like they were the sports pages.
Cathleen Nesbitt gets to have the fun of playing a wise if illiterate American frontier woman with a lot of sass and not a trace of the Mayfair accent, the glamorous wardrobe or makeup that were usually her stock in trade. I figure that Nesbitt took this role in 1957 when she was in America to appear in
Separate Tables (1957). The cameraman on this show must have loved Cathleen, because he gave her so many loving closeups of her still beautiful, expressive then 69-year-old face.
![Image](http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac140/moirathefinn/3abcd05b.jpg)