DOLLY PARTON'S HEARTSTRINGS: DOWN FROM DOVER (TV)
Summary
One in this series of anthology dramas inspired by the songs and stories of country music legend Dolly Parton. Parton introduces the episode, explaining that the 1969 single "caused a lot of fuss" at the time because of its controversial subject matter, but is now regarded as a meaningful message of love and acceptance.
The story opens in 1967 as black teenager Lincoln Dollarhyde graduates from high school, observed by his loving grandmother, and then privately meets up with his white girlfriend, Delilah "Dee" Covern, who is a year younger. A teacher, Helen Cunningham, spots them together and promises to keep their secret. Dee is upset to learn that Lincoln has chosen to forgo college and enlist in the Marines. About a year later, Lincoln returns from boot camp and finds that Helen has landed in hot water for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance at school, owing to her disagreements with America's actions in Vietnam and the racial turmoil in the country. Lincoln speaks up for his former teacher, defending her right to follow her conscience. But the presiding reverend maintains that her actions were "un-American," and therefore deserving of dismissal.
Lincoln, who is deploying in two days' time, goes on a long walk with Dee and ends up proposing to her. Dee takes him home and nervously introduces him to her father — the reverend from the hearing — and explains that they have fallen in love. Lincoln formally asks permission to marry Dee, and Reverend Covern seems to accept the idea on the condition that they wait until Lincoln's return from war. Once alone, he furiously tells Dee that he will never allow her to marry a black man who supports ideas like Helen's. Lincoln's grandmother also opposes the match, but the young lovers remain determined to stay together. Shortly after Lincoln's departure, however, Dee realizes that she's pregnant. Helen, now working at a grocery store, promises to help and urges Dee to be honest with her father. However, the reverend explodes with rage over his daughter's "shame and disgrace" and decides to ship her off to a home for unwed mothers, where she will give the baby up for adoption and return to her life "as if it never happened."
At the girls' home, Dee protests that she wishes to keep her baby, but the woman in charge, Myrna Jorgensen, informs her that raising an illegitimate child will "color her entire life" and instructs her to sign away all legal rights. Dee's roommate Irma seems relieved by the secret adoption plan, but another girl, Mare, confides that she, too, wishes to keep her baby. Meanwhile, Lincoln writes to Dee every day, unaware that Dee is no longer at home and her father is intercepting the letters. His fellow Marines come to regard his dutiful tradition as something of a good-luck charm. Meanwhile, Myrna pressures Dee to sign the papers, and she and Mare eventually opt to run away rather than lose their children. They are quickly picked up by Lily Grover, a nun turned nurse turned midwife who runs a different kind of home for pregnant girls; she promises to help them both. Mare soon gives birth to a baby girl with Lily's help, and Lily gently tries to help Dee accept the idea that Lincoln may never come home.
Myrna tells the reverend that Dee has run away from the home; elsewhere, Lincoln and his platoon are caught in an explosion as Dee goes into premature labor. Despite Lily's best efforts, Dee is heartbroken to learn that her daughter is stillborn. Later, Helen visits the reverend and confronts him about his missing daughter; when the reverend protests that Dee was "all he had left" after his wife's death, she points out that he chose to abandon her in her hour of need. She then produces a telegram sent to Lincoln's grandmother. Acting on Myrna's tip, Reverend Covern finally finds Dee mourning her loss at Lily's home, and he delivers all of Lincoln's letters, which he found himself unable to burn. He helps Dee to give her baby a heartfelt funeral. Soon, Lincoln returns home to the States, missing a leg but alive. He is warmly greeted by Dee, the reverend, his grandmother and Helen.
Details
- NETWORK: Netflix
- DATE: November 30, 1999
- RUNNING TIME: 1:10:16
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 140105
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; African-American Collection - Drama; Vietnam War; Teenage pregnancy
- SERIES RUN: Netflix - Internet series, 2019-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Sam Haskell … Executive Producer
- Patrick Sean Smith … Executive Producer
- Dolly Parton … Executive Producer, Based on the stories and songs of
- Hudson Hickman … Co-Executive Producer
- Joe Lazarov … Co-Executive Producer
- Lisa Melamed … Co-Executive Producer
- Steven Summers … Coordinating Producer
- Billy Levin … Coordinating Producer
- William Klug … Co-Producer
- Erica Dunton … Director
- John Sacret Young … Writer
- Velton Ray Bunch … Music by
- Mark Leggett … Music by
- Dolly Parton … Host
- Robert Taylor … Cast, Reverend Covern
- Holly Taylor … Cast, Delilah Covern
- Shane Paul McGhie … Cast, Lincoln Dollarhyde
- Mary Lane Haskell … Cast, Helen Cunningham
- Camryn Manheim … Cast, Lily Grover
- Bellamy Young … Cast, Myrna Jorgensen
- Quinn Cooke … Cast, Mare
- Onye Eme-Akwari … Cast, O'Brien
- Cullen Moss … Cast, Hackmeyer
- Matthew Barnes … Cast, 40 Watt
- Ana Mackenzie … Cast, Irma
- Matthew Cornwell … Cast, Principal Harold
- Kathryn Kelly … Cast, Melissa Meeks
- Vanessa Aranegui … Cast, School Nurse
- Tatom Pender … Cast, Assistant
- Brandon Morris … Cast, Drill Sergeant
- Jan Harrelson … Cast, Officer
- Carolyn Jones Ellis … Cast, Lincoln's Grandmother
- Ed Wagenseller … Cast, Postman
- Mahdi Cocci … Cast, Chopper Pilot
- Justin Randell Brooke … Cast, Mr. Inge
- Myron Parker Wright … Cast, Classmate