Teleplay: Richard Carr.
Story by: Ellen Corby.
Director: Philip Leacock.
Music:
Arthur Morton
"Whenever
I think back on Walton’s Mountain and about my family I remember mostly the
feeling of love and the happiness we all shared. But though the mountain never
changed, there were times, rare times, when those we thought the closest found
themselves at odds. It happens in all families I suppose, and it happened one
day in ours".
During breakfast, Mary Ellen tells her father
about a barn dance at the Livery Stable tomorrow night. John and Olivia tell
the children that they will let them know later if they can go. Esther reminds
Zeb that the caller for the dance is Oglethorpe Hansen. Zeb remembers him as Fred, one of Easter’s old dance partners.
Easter says she always saved the song My Wild Irish Rose for Zeb.
Grandpa sings the song, much to Grandma’s delight.
As the children leave for school, a truck
from the Jefferson County Electric Company drives up. The man informs Olivia
and John that he has to shut off the electricity, with their bill past due.
Without money, John drives to Anker Barnes, who owes for lumber. Olivia looks
inside her money jar, finding twenty-two cents. She asks Grandpa to go to Ike’s
for candles. But Zeb decides to detour to the Baldwin house. Miss Mamie and
Miss Emily find that he wants to fix their leaky drainpipes for two dollars,
fifty cents and use their car to drive to Charlottesville. They agree as long
as they can go along.
The children talk about the barn dance, and
Mary Ellen wonders what she should do if she doesn’t have a dance partner.
John-Boy suggests Jason learn to dance. That afternoon, as the children walk
home from school Olivia and Grandma prepare milk and snacks. Grandma is worried
because Zeb has not returned. Olivia tells John-Boy to ask Ike if he has seen
Grandpa. Jason wants to listen to Jack Armstrong, but the radio doesn’t
work. Zeb drives the ladies to Charlottesville, even though he doesn’t have a
license. They sing the song On Top of Old Smokey. John-Boy waits while
Ike talks with a couple.
Later, Ike tells him that he hasn’t seen Zeb.
Ike agrees to give John-Boy seven or eight candles, knowing that Grandpa has
the money. In Charlottesville, the three visit Ollie Harper, who supplied all
the medicines to Judge Baldwin. He always delivered them himself, sipping the
Recipe on each trip. The Baldwin sisters bring him some of the Recipe, and as
his gift makes them chocolate sodas. Grandpa decides to buy Evening Mist
perfume for Esther for thirty-nine cents. They enjoy their treats, while
Grandma continues to wait and worry.
The children put finger shadows on the wall,
entertaining themselves without electricity. When John returns Grandma asks if
Zeb is with him. But John hasn’t seen Grandpa; spending all day selling the hog
that Anker Barnes paid him. John takes Grandma to look for Zeb. At the Baldwin
house John finds no one home, but soon sees the Baldwin car drive up with Zeb
at the wheel. John tells his father that he shouldn’t be smiling. Miss Mamie
and Miss Emily greet Esther hoping she will visit. But Grandma is eager to
return home. Zeb tries to explain why he was gone all day, but Grandma won’t
listen, telling him that he’ll sleep on the couch.
Grandpa tells the kids that he’s home. At the
supper table Zeb tells his son that he paid the power bill by doing work for
the Baldwin’s, but insists he not tell Esther. Zeb finds Olivia bringing his
bedclothes to the couch. Zeb confronts his wife, telling her there are
reasonable explanations, especially for the smell of perfume on him. Grandpa
decides that if Esther doesn’t want him in their bed, then she doesn’t want him
in the house, and stomps out of the house.
In the morning John-Boy finds Grandpa
sleeping on Ike’s pool table. Zeb says he won’t return until Esther has a
change-of-heart, but John-Boy isn’t sure Grandma will apologize. Grandpa gives
Ike sixteen cents for breakfast and John-Boy includes the remaining candle
money. Grandma sweeps the kitchen floor while Mary Ellen mopes around unsure if
she’ll be allowed to go to the dance. Grandma explains how she got on her
mother’s good graces whenever she wanted to go to a dance. Suddenly the radio
turns on without explanation. Grandma learns from John that Grandpa paid the
bill with work from the Baldwin sisters. Grandma says, “There’s no fool like an
old fool!”
John-Boy rides up on Old Blue to say he saw
Grandpa at the store. Olivia tells Grandma where Zeb spent the night,
speculating he probably “feels hurt and put out”. Grandma decides to go to
Ike’s to “price a few things”. As John-Boy drives her, he imagines that Grandpa
will lit up when he sees her, be kind to her, and say, “Let’s go home, old
woman.” But at the store Ike tells them that Zeb left earlier for the
Baldwin’s. Grandma says to John-Boy, “Real life isn’t like a story!”
Zeb asks the Baldwin sisters if they have
seen Esther’s gift. Miss Emily searches while Miss Mamie gives Zeb some Recipe
for his aching joints. Miss Emily finds the perfume in her purse. Both ask Zeb
if he will be attending the dance tonight. As Zeb walks back he runs into
John-Boy driving the truck. John-Boy tells Zeb that Esther was at the store
when Ike told her that he was at the Baldwin house. Zeb says, “Jealousy, that
green-eyed monster!” He gives John-Boy the perfume to give to Grandma and to
tell her why he was at the house. John-Boy says that he and Grandma couldn’t
remain apart “any more than the Sun and the Moon”. Grandma handles her perfume
as Olivia brings her lunch. Grandma says the perfume is the first gift that Zeb
has given her that wasn’t something she needed. Esther tells Olivia that she is
too proud to go back to Ike’s, and Zeb is too proud to come here.
As Mary Ellen completes the ironing Olivia tells
her daughter that the children can go to the dance. Mary Ellen says she is
curious to see Grandma’s old beau, the one Grandpa used to be jealousy of.
Olivia tells Grandma she is going to the dance because jealousy can go both
ways. John-Boy stops by Ike’s all dressed up to tell Grandpa that Grandma is
getting ready for the dance, probably to see Fred Hansen. Grandpa wonders why
she would want to see “that long-legged squirt”. Grandpa decides to go to the
dance.
Fred Hansen is calling the dance, the children
are dancing, and Miss Mamie and Miss Emily are clapping to the music. Soon Fred
comes over to Esther. She introduces him to John and Olivia, he asks her to
dance as the band plays My Darlin’ Clementine, and while dancing Ike,
Grandpa, and John-Boy arrive. Grandpa sees Esther, but asks Miss Emily to
dance. Grandma also sees Zeb dancing. At the end of the song, John makes a
special request to Hansen. With Esther sitting down, Zeb asks Miss Mamie to
dance but realizes that the song is My Wild Irish Rose. He excuses
himself, motions for John-Boy to dance with Miss Mamie, and walks to his wife
saying, “At first I didn’t recognize the tune.” Grandma says, “I always saved
it for you.” and Grandpa responds, “So you did.” As the family watches on,
husband and wife dance together.
That night John-Boy writes in his journal:
“We are all dancers. In each of us
there is a need to move to the beat of music, to circle, to tempt, to embrace,
and finally to move together in pairs. And when all else of 1934 is forgotten I
will still treasure this house, this year, and this night.”
Grandma:
Zeb!
Grandpa: (snorts).
Grandma:
Do you suppose Miss Mamie was offended when you quit dancing with her?
Grandpa:
She's an understanding woman.
Grandma:
I'm glad.
Grandpa:
Goodnight, Esther.
Grandma:
Goodnight, Zeb.
Grandpa:
Your feet are cold!
Notes:
The year is 1934 according to the entry in his journal.
My Wild Irish Rose is Grandpa and Grandma’s favorite song to waltz. The lyrics appear at http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/eire/mywild.htm.
Grandpa and the Baldwin sisters sing the song On Top of Old Smokey on the way to Charlottesville. The lyrics appear at http://www.bassnote.com/usa/ontopof.html.
The lyrics for the song My Darlin’ Clementine, played by Fred Hansen’s band, is found at: http://www.fed.qut.edu.au/tesol/students/winter99/kazuto/clementine.html
Grandpa has a cousin in Fluvanna County. (Fluvanna County is located east of Nelson County and northeast of Buckingham County.)
The license plates on John’s truck are T-B4905.
Also appearing:
Ike Godsey (Joe Conley), Miss Mamie and Miss Emily Baldwin (Helen Kleeb and Mary Jackson), Ollie Harper (John J. Fox), Fred “Oglethorpe” Hansen (William Paterson), Anker Barnes (Ancel Cook), Electric Company Man (Ed Call).
(synopsis written by William Atkins and edited by Arthur Dungate)