Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
Callie starts to watch the movies, which focus on her then spouse Irwin and their three children as they lived in one of the townhouses that aligned MacDougal Gardens. Her children and other played together while their parents flirted with one another until a bored and tired Callie turned to neighbor Sam Messenger for lessons in sex. Tired of Irwin the ad exec she dumps him for Sam, but finds nothing to further foster inner harmony except mother’s little helper pills prescribed by a string of uninvolved psychiatrists. That is until she takes the three kids to L.A.
Callie is an interesting lead character whose metamorphosis from stay at home having affair motherhood to confident employed single mom makes for a fine historical tale as the heroine looks back to the defining moments that changed her life. This gives the tale an autobiographical feel as fans see 1960s lower Manhattan mostly through Callie’s prism. However, that also leads to the key other two characters in the triangular relationship that changes her seemingly one dimensional as the audience never gets to understand what motivates either Irwin or Sam. Still MACDOUGAL STREET GHOSTS is a solid character study that fans will enjoy reading.