Writer:
Earl Hamner.
Director:
Harry Harris.
Music:
Jerry Goldsmith.
"Most
of us on Waltons Mountain prided ourselves on our friendly hospitality, our
family's good name, and our dignity as individuals, but in a remote hollow
lived a man named Lutie Bascomb with his daughter Lois May. If Lutie prided
himself on anything, it was his cussedness".
Lutie Bascomb walks his daughter, Lois May,
to school as he reminds her to walk straight home after school, to look away if
a boy looks at her, and to tell him if the teacher tries to fill her with
blasphemy. Lois May quickly enters the schoolhouse, late again. Miss Hunter has
begun the lecture on aboriginal man, assigning Addison to collect ancient
implements, John-Boy to keep notes and write the report, and Lois May to
perform the research. At home, Olivia places new covers on the living room
chair with Grandma’s help, just as the men arrive for dinner. They don’t notice
the new chair coverings, much to the women’s chagrin.
Back at school, John-Boy and Lois May perform a chemistry experiment when Miss
Hunter suggests Lois May try some experiments at home.
After school John-Boy walks with Lois May,
although she is uneasy that her father will discover them. She explains that
her father doesn’t want her to turn evil like her mother, who left when she was
younger. Soon Lutie comes up on the pair, telling John-Boy to stay away.
John-Boy doesn’t understand. After father and daughter leave, John-Boy finds
Ike beating old furniture with a chain after a city
lady bought one of his battered tables saying it was a “perfectly divine
antique table”. Figuring other city ladies would buy more tables, Ike has
decided to quickly add to their value, and sell them tomorrow in Charlottesville.
John-Boy asks if he would pay him to help so
he could buy a needed dictionary at Jarman’s Bookstore.
The next morning John-Boy tells Jason to
inform Miss Hunter that he is sick, as he heads to Ike’s store. But that night,
when John-Boy returns, he finds that Martha Rose Coverdale tattled on him.
John-Boy faces his father, mother, and Miss Hunter, explaining why he skipped
class. John responds, “You know my heart’s cravin’ that all my children finish
high school, even college if I can live that long.” Miss Hunter says that
John-Boy can make up the lost schoolwork.
The next day while Miss Hunter explains about
early man, Lois May asks if they knew of Jesus. Miss Hunter said that the
people lived 45,000 to 100,000 years before Jesus. Lois May says that the Bible
indicates that mankind is about 8,000 years old. When Miss Hunter says that the
Bible is symbolic Lois May walks out, saying that her father told her to leave
if atheism is taught. Miss Hunter continues with her lesson, after Lois May
says the school will “burn in the fires of hell”.
John-Boy walks to Lois May’s house to talk
about what happened. Lois May said her father was awfully mad when she told
him. At school, Lutie confronts Miss Hunter by writing, “REPENT” on the
blackboard. He argues with her, saying she is not a teacher when she talks
about humans coming from apes. He pounds on the desk, breaking a human skull,
then walks out. As Miss Hunter walks home, Grandpa and John drive by. She
explains what occurred with Lutie, and Grandpa agrees about his strangeness.
Later, John asks John-Boy what happened. John-Boy says that Lois May became
mixed up in what Miss Hunter said, but that the situation could become like the
“Scopes” trial.
Miss Mamie and Miss Emily listen to their
Papa’s Victrola when they suddenly hear an intruder break into the Recipe room.
They rush to Ike’s store. Inside, the hysterical sisters tell Ike, John,
John-Boy, and Hawthorne Dooley what they just experienced. Scared to go back,
John reassures them, saying they will accompany them back and check the house.
Lutie breaks into the school with a jar of the Recipe in his hand. He throws
over bookcases and lights a match after spreading the Recipe on the floor.
After knocking down furniture, Lutie accidentally falls and knocks himself
unconscious with flames all around. Later, the community gathers to battle the
fire, but to no avail as the school burns down. Miss Hunter watches in
disbelief.
Later, Sheriff Bridges and John visit the
Bascomb house. After knocking on the door without an answer they suddenly hear
a moan from inside. They find Lois May beaten up and half conscious. Back home
Olivia and Grandma mend her wounds as John, Grandpa, and John-Boy ask her
questions. Lois May says her father was roaring drunk when he hit her and left
to “punish the heathens”.
The next morning John-Boy finds Miss Hunter
looking over the destroyed school, ready to visit the County Seat to ask for
supplies and a place for the school next year. They talk about Lois May’s
promise in science and her unstable father. Suddenly John-Boy sees a pair of
shoes in the rubble, that of Lutie Bascomb.
Without school, Mary Ellen tells Grandma she has nothing to do. Grandma tries
to teach her to crochet, but Mary Ellen says she is going to be a career woman.
Grandma states that being married and raising a family is a career. John,
Olivia, Grandpa, John-Boy, and Lois May return from the funeral. Olivia tells
Lois May that she can stay to get her thought together. Lois May wonders if
someone should contact her mother.
At the store Miss Hunter thinks Ike’s
poolroom could hold school for the older children. The County Seat will rebuild
the school in the summer, but six weeks are left in the current school year.
Ike agrees to let the students use the space, mostly so they can make his
tables and chairs more antique looking. During first day of class, Hawthorne
interrupts the class, as do the Baldwin sisters, when they enter the store.
Miss Hunter notices that Lois May is absent, deciding to visit her. Miss Hunter
tries to convince Lois May that she recognized her abilities, but went about it
the wrong way. Lois May returns home, hearing the harsh voice of her father,
then hearing the affirmative voice of Miss Hunter.
As class starts the next morning, Lois May
arrives with a positive look on her face. Miss Hunter begins the class with
chapter nine of “The Living Earth”. After class Lois May’s mother and Olivia
greet Lois May. The woman admits writing letters and wanting to see her
daughter, but being scared of Lutie. Lois May is hesitant to establish a
relationship with her mother. Olivia intercedes, and mother and daughter walk
together, getting to know each other.
"I
can only ask you to take my word for the end of the story of Lois May Bascomb
for truth is far stranger than fiction. I was to meet her many years later when
she had become not a scientist but the wife of a diplomat. She now lives abroad
and I expect that sometimes her memories as mine do, return to those Depression
years, and Waltons Mountain".
Grandpa:
Esther you know that shoe Miss Emily lost? I found it today, and she offered me
a reward.
Grandma:
What did she offer?
Grandpa:
A kiss, or some of the Recipe.
Grandma:
And which one did you choose?
Grandpa:
Both!
Grandma:
You old fool! (Grandpa chuckles).
Extract from John Boy's journal:
The house is hushed now, the hour
is late, the night is still except for a whippoorwill that calls from the
crabapple tree. In the kitchen, I hear the voices of my mother and father as
they speak quiet private things to each other. Sleep flows through the house
like a silent river. Soon our sleep will join in the flow of that quiet river
and each of us will dream our separate dream.
Notes:
Lois May’s mother lives in Wilmington, Delaware.
The sign in front of the school states “Walton’s Mountain School—Jefferson Co., Virginia”.
Their Papa home taught the Baldwin sisters.
Lester Adams is mentioned in the class role, but doesn’t appear. Beaumont, Addison, and Jeanett appear as students.
Also appearing:
Ike Godsey (Joe Conley), Sheriff Ep Bridges (John Crawford), Miss Mamie and Miss Emily Baldwin (Helen Kleeb and Mary Jackson), Miss Rosemary Hunter (Mariclare Costello), Hawthorne Dooley (Theodore Wilson), Lois May Bascomb (Laurie Prange), Lutie Bascomb (Richard Bradford), Lois May’s Mother (Nancy Jeris), Beaumont (Scott McCartor), Addison (Mark Montgomery), Jeanett (Lisa Eibacher).
(synopsis written by William Atkins and edited by Arthur Dungate)