User Reviews

This is one of the very few film appearances in which I've seen Audrey Meadows outside of her most famous role as Alice Kramden in "The Honeymooners". I won't outline the plot but she's superb here in the title role of Nancy Palmer. I knew she was a good actress but I truly was astounded by her performance, especially in the latter half when the plot takes a decided turn. Her character evokes 2 different personalities, totally convincing in both. Jack Cassidy plays her husband, the usual weasel-like, smiling charlatan type of part at which he excelled. He's equally good here. Their interaction is quite natural & believable. Make no mistake, though, this episode is an unsparing, full-fledged drama, mercifully devoid of forced humor. Even the usual weekly, corny, cringe-inducing banter between the train's crew & the unappreciated & much teased cook, Charlie Wooster, is downplayed & quite limited. The episode's marred only a little by the usual familiar faces of that early 1960's-era assortment of folks making up the train's Pacific-bound emigrants, somewhat detracting from the requisite historical realism. This has no effect on the main, well-conceived & well-written plot, however, or Ms. Meadows' stellar performance. In addition, by the end, she undergoes a remarkable transformation. Try to catch this superior episode when you can, as you won't regret it!

For those of you who only know Audrey Meadows as the long suffering wife of Jackie Gleason on the Honeymooners, this episode of Wagon Train will be something of an eye opener. Meadows plays the title role in The Nancy Palmer Story and she's a long suffering wife of a different sort.

Meadows is married to Jack Cassidy and both have seen much better days before the Civil War as Southerners. She was the daughter of a Confederate general killed at Shiloh and Cassidy was your typical southern dandy, at home in the drawing room of many plantations.

Meadows has made herself a beloved figure on the Wagon Train, always ready and eager for babysitting duties, she's most popular among the children on the train. Cassidy holds himself quite a bit above the rest of the rabble on the train. He nurses a bitterness about his come down in life and plans to do something about it.

This was one of those episodes which was clearly meant for Ward Bond in which Horton simply took his lines. There was a reference to Flint McCullough having been at Shiloh. Followers of the series know that Major Adams was the one at Shiloh and he sustained a serious wound there. But in another couple of episodes the Wagon Train got its new wagon master.

For a different Audrey Meadows, fans of her's should definitely check out The Nancy Palmer Story.