Up Goes the Curtain - a Penny Parrish book

I picked up this book at Atlanta Vintage Books when we went through Atlanta this past summer going up to Kentucky to visit my Dad.  Having done community theater, I have grown rather fond of reading stories about the theater (such as the Mary Perkins, On Stage newspaper strips, the Carol Page theater stories, Terry Carvel's Theater Caravan, and the Backstagers series for young adults).  So, when I saw this cover, I did not hesitate to buy the book.  I have heard the author, Janet Lambert, mentioned in various book groups to which I belong, but I've never actually owned or read any of her books.  I had always assumed her books were simply young adult romance stories, but this book definitely proves me wrong.  This story was clearly based on Lambert's own experiences, both on Broadway as an actress and as an Army wife (both of these elements playing a large part of this story).  And what surprised me even more is that this book, while having a stand-alone story, is actually part of a series - the fourth book in a series of novels about Penny Parrish (with three prior books being published in 1941, 1942, and 1943 respectively, and two more after this book being published in 1947 and 1950).  Knowing this, I'm more than likely going to track down the other books in the series to see how the character evolves over the course of the decade in which the books were published.  (NOTE - Lambert also wrote series about Tippy Parrish, who is Penny's younger sister, as well as other characters, suich as Parri MacDonald, Candy Kane, Dria Meredith, etc.)

 

Up Goes the Curtain actually contains two separate stories, although Lambert does intertwine them a bit. The book opens with Penny excited about her part in an upcoming Broadway play (her background sounds very similar to that of Carol Page - spent a summer in a stock company training, went to New York, and finally lands a part in a play (p. 10), and, just like Carol Page, she makes a vow that not matter what, she will succeed, so she does not have to return home (p. 12)).  But, since the rehearsals do not begin for three weeks, Penny decides to visit her family, who are staying at Fort Knox, Kentucky where her father and brother are stationed, which begins the mystery that surrounds a young woman named Marcia McMain (what is with the alliteration in names?  Penny Parrish?  Marcia McMain?), who is being escorted to Fort Knox by Terry Hayes, a young man that had previously shown an interest in Penny. Penny is somewhat taken aback by Terry's attitude towards her, but it slowly begins to dawn on her that since Terry is serving in the military, perhaps the woman was a job - perhaps he was actually keeping tabs on her because she was a spy!  (What she does not know, but what the reader does learn thanks to a point-of-view switch to Penny's brother and his wife, who are fully aware of the situation, is that the woman is indeed a spy, and it is Terry's job to flush her out in the open!)  Of course, a lot of miscommunications ensue as the family tries to convince Penny to stay out of it, but Penny is determined to prove her theory - and, of course, she ultimately does through a fateful night at a movie theater when she witnesses the exchange of a note between the woman and a young serviceman.  Penny is able to get a hold of that note, and its contents end up giving the Army everything they need to capture the woman and her accomplice, as well as to foil the damage these spies intended to do.

 

The second half of the book features Penny's return to New York with her sister-in-law (whose name just happens to be Carrol), where they stay at the lavish multi-bedroom apartment Carrol had inherited from her family.  A young woman by the name of Letty, whose husband also happens to be in the military and fighting overseas, joins them in the house, keeping Carrol company while Penny begins her rehearsals and eventually opens the show.  And, in yet another similarity with the Carol Page series, Penny ends up having difficulties with a stage manager who seemingly dislikes her, going out of his way to make things difficult for her - but she eventually learns the truth behind his gruff attitude, and the two develop a friendship of sorts.  In addition (like Carol Page), she happens to personally know the big-name actress who is headlining the play, and because of that, the other actors try to get in her good graces - all except one actor, Miltern Wilde (what a name!), who makes every effort to upstage Penny in every scene they share.  Penny's courage grow, however, to the point where she turns the tables on him one night when he purposefully steps on her toe, causing it to bleed, and she steals the scene from him, getting a thunderous ovation (p. 157) that leads to her gaining his respect.

 

The book ends on a rather sad note, with Penny receiving news that a young man she knows was shot down in a plane over Germany, and it is uncertain whether he survived or not.  There is also uncertainty regarding her growing friendship with the stage manager, and no resolution whatsoever about her feelings for Terry Hayes.  Instead, the book ends with Penny putting on her makeup for another performance of the play, sighing to herself, "It doesn't matter about me - the show must go on" (p. 189).  That ending alone is enough to make me want to hunt down the next book in the series to see where Penny goes from here. 

 

While I had a bit of disappointment in the fact that entire book was not focused on the theater, I did rather enjoy that spy/mystery part in the first half of the book.  The second half that did feature the theater - well, I wish we could have gotten an entire book on that, so the reader could get more fleshed out characters and feel more of the drama and tension among the cast.  As it is, we only get touches upon each of the characters, and I, as the reader, do not really know enough about them, nor spend enough time with them, to really care about how they interact with Penny and how she treats them.  I will be curious to see if any of the other books in the series follow Penny's acting career.  Definitely not a bad read, and one that has me curious enough to read more.

 

RATING:  7 large cokes with lots of ice out of 10 for an unexpected combination of war, spies, theater, and drama - like getting two books for the price of one!