All language subtitles for The.Member.of.the.Wedding.1952.720p.BluRay.x264-SADPANDA

NARRATOR: It happened
that green and crazy summer

when Frankie was 12 years old.

This was the summer when,
for a long time,

she had not been a member.

She belonged to no club,

and was a member of nothing
in the world.

Frankie had become
an un-joined person,

and she was afraid.

And there,
on the last Friday of August,

all this was changed.

It was so sudden,

that Frankie puzzled
the whole blank afternoon.

And still
she did not understand.

Are they cold enough?

Just a minute!

Yes, they're cold enough.

And them other two drinks
is lemonade

for you and John Henry.

JARVIS: It seems to me
this old arbor has shrunk.

I remember
when I was a child...

Look! Mint juleps!

Well!

Happiness
to Janice and Jarvis.

It was such a surprise
when Jarvis wrote home

you were going to be married.

I hope it wasn't
a bad surprise.

Oh, heavens, no.

As a matter of fact,
if only you knew how I feel.

Frankie's been
bending my ears, Son,

ever since
your letter came,

going on about
weddings and brides.

Papa!

It's lovely we can be married
at Jarvis' house.

MR. ADDAMS: it's what Jarvis'
mother would have wanted.

FRANKIE:
Oh, it will be beautiful.

Pretty soon we should be
pushing off for Winter Hill.

I have to be back
in barracks tonight.

Winter Hill is such
a lovely, cold name.

It reminds me of ice and snow.

Ice and snow! It was 102
at the base yesterday.

Oh, that feels
so good!

Sister-in-law.
Doesn't that sound wonderful?

Yes, dear.

You notice if you fix
your attention on the words,

they begin to sound funny.

Sister-in-law,
sister-in-law...

Frankie's crazy.

You should have seen
the letter she wrote to me.

I wrote you
so many letters, Jarvis,

and you never answered me.

And I sent you so many boxes
of homemade fudge,

but you never,
never answered me.

Oh, Frankie,
you know how it is.

I never saw
a human grow so fast

as Frankie
in all my life.

Last time I saw her
she was only up to here on me.

I think maybe we ought
to tie a brick to her head.

Jarvis, don't!

Don't tease
your little sister like that.

JANICE: Why, I don't think
Frankie's too tall.

And she probably
won't grow much more.

I had the biggest portion
of my growth by the time I was 13.

But I'm just 12.

When I think of all
the growing years ahead of me,

I get scared.

I wouldn't worry.

You see,

I never believed
in love until now.

Where does the music come from?
It sounds so close.

It is.
It's just behind us.

They have club meetings
and parties with boys on Friday nights.

Hey, there!

I watch them here
from the yard.

It must be nice,
having your clubhouse so near.

Well, I'm not a member now.

But they're holding
an election this afternoon.

JOHN HENRY: Frankie thinks
she'll be elected.

I don't care
one way or the other.

(ALL CHATTERING)

Well, see you Sunday.

Drive carefully, Son.
Good-bye, Janice.

Good-bye.
Thanks, Mr. Addams.

Bye, Janice.
Bye, Jarvis.

JANICE: Good-bye,
Frankie, darling.

I'd better go back
to the store, now,

and get my nose down
to the grindstone.

Berenice, you send John Henry
home for supper at 6:00.

Don't wait for me.

Yes, sir,
Mr. Addams.

You hear that, candy?

Your mama wants you home
some of the time.

I hear

(SIGHS)

I just can't
understand it.

The way it all just
suddenly happened.

Happened?
Happened?

I've never been
so puzzled.

Puzzled by what?

The whole thing.

They are so beautiful.

I believe the sun's done
fried your brains.

Me, too.

Look here at me.

You jealous?

Jealous?

Jealous because your brother's
going to be married?

No, I just never saw
any two people like them.

When they walked in
the house today,

it was so queer.

You are jealous.

Go behold yourself
in the mirror.

I can tell from
the color of your eyes.

They were the two
prettiest people I ever saw.

I just can't understand
how it happened.

Whatever ails you?
Acting so queer.

I don't know.

I bet they have a good time
every minute of the day.

Let's us have
a good time.

Us have
a good time? Us?

Yes, us. Come on. Let us play
a three-handed game of bridge.

Janice and Jarvis.

Winter Hill. The wedding.

It's all so queer.

Can't bid. Never have
a hand these days.

A spade.

I want to bid spades.

That's what
I was going to bid.

Well, that's your tough luck.
I bid them first.

Oh, you fool jackass!
It's not fair!

Hush quarreling, you two.

Tell the truth, neither one
of you got such a grand hand

to fight over the bid about.

But where is the cards?

I ain't had
no kind of hand all week.

I don't give a darn about it.
It is immaterial with me.

My heart feels I'm going away.

Going farther and farther away

while I'm stuck here
by myself.

You ain't here by yourself.

They were the two
prettiest people I ever saw.

Yet, it was...

It was like I couldn't see
all of them I wanted to see.

My brains couldn't
gather together quick enough

to take it all in.

And then they were gone.

Well, stop commenting
about it.

You don't have your mind
on the game.

Well, spades are trump
and you got a spade.

I have some of my mind
on the game.

Go on, cheater.

Make haste, candy.

I can't. It's a king.

The only spade I got
is a king.

And I don't want to play
my king under Frankie's ace,

and I'm not going to, either!

See, Berenice, he cheats.

Play the king, John Henry.

You know you got to follow
the rules of the game.

My king!

It isn't fair!

Even with this trick,
I can't win.

Well, just where is the cards?

Three days,
I ain't had a decent hand.

Begin to suspicion
something, too.

Come on let's count
these old cards.

We've worn
these old cards out.

If you would eat these
old cards, they would taste

like a combination of
all the dinners of this summer

together with a sweaty-handed
nasty taste.

Why, the jacks and
the queens are missing!

John Henry, how come you do
a thing like that?

So that's why you asked
for the scissors

and stole off
quiet behind the arbor.

Why you take our playing cards
and cut out all the pictures?

'Cause I wanted 'em.
They're cute.

See, he's nothing but a child.
It's hopeless. Hopeless!

Just have to
put him out of the game.

He's entirely too young.

(CRYING)

Oh, no, we can't put candy
out of the game.

Gotta have a third to play.

Besides,
by the last count,

he owes me close to
three million dollars.

Oh, I'm sick unto death!

Oh, I wish they'd
taken me with them

to Winter Hill
this afternoon.

I wish tomorrow was Sunday
instead of Saturday.

Sunday will come.

I doubt it.

I wish I was going
somewhere for good.

I wish I had $100
and could just light out

and never see
this town again.

Seems to me like you're
wishing for a lot of things.

I wish I was somebody else
except me.

Frankie, you serious when you
gave me the doll a while ago?

It gives me a pain
just to think about them.

It's a known truth
gray-eyed people is jealous.

(BOYS PLAYING NOISILY)

Let's go play
with the children, Frankie.

I don't want to.

Let's go.

You got ears,
you heard me!

I think maybe
I better go home.

You just can't
eat dinner

and then go off
in the afternoon like that.

I know it.

You can go home, candy lamb,
if you want to.

But let's go out,
Frankie.

They sound like
they're having a lot of fun.

No, they're not.

They're just a crowd
of ugly, silly children.

Running and hollering.
Running and hollering.

Nothing to it.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING)

Look, those big girls!

Hey, there! I'm mighty glad
to see you. Come on in.

We can't. We were just
passing through

to notify our new member.

Am I the new member?

No, you're not the one
the club elected.

Not elected?

Every ballot was unanimous
for Mary Littlejohn.

Mary Little-john?

You mean that girl
that just moved in next door?

Pasty fat girl
with those tacky pigtails?

The one who plays the piano
all day long?

Yes. Mary is training
for a concert career.

DORIS:
You don't have enough sense

to appreciate
a talented girl like Mary.

What are you doing in my yard?

You're never to set foot
on my papa's property again!

(SNARLING)

You crooks!

I could shoot you
with my papa's pistol!

Crooks!

Why didn't you elect me?

Why can't I
be a member?

I wouldn't pay them
club girls no mind.

All my life I've been wanting
things I ain't been getting.

Besides, them club girls

are fully two years
older than you.

I think they've been
spreading it all over town

that I smell bad.

When I had those boils

and had to use that black,
bitter-smelling ointment

I know.

That old Helen Fletcher
asked me

what was that
funny smell I had.

I could shoot every
one of them with a pistol!

I don't think
you smell so bad.

You smell sweet
like a 100 flowers.

I bet I use more perfume
than anybody else in town.

Crooks!

And there was
something else, too.

They were telling big lies
about grown-up people.

I don't know what kind of fool
they take me for.

Keep telling you,
they're too old for you.

Frankie, the whole idea
of a club

is that there are members
who are included

and the non-members
who are not included.

Then what
you ought to do is

round you up
a club of your own.

That way you'd be
the president yourself.

Well, who would I get?

Oh, the little
boys and girls

you hear playing around here,
the neighborhood.

I don't want to be
the president

of all those little young
leftover people.

Well, go on and
enjoy your misery.

I bet Janice and Jarvis
are members of a lot of clubs.

In fact, the Army is
kind of like a club.

You've got two nickels
and a dime.

Now, don't be
rooting through

my pocketbook
like that, candy.

That ain't nice, rooting
through folks' pocketbook.

They might get the idea

you're trying to steal
their money.

I'm looking for
your old blue glass eye.

Here it is.

That's my new eye.
Give it here.

I still owe $64.23
on this eye.

Your old blue eye
looked very cute.

Maybe the finance company

will come out
and take it back.

(BERENICE EXCLAIMING)

They'll never repossess it

while I'm wearing it
and I'm still the same size.

You got three eyes.

Which one of them
do you see out of the best?

Left eye, precious.

The glass eyes don't do me
no seeing good at all.

Janice and Jarvis.

It gives me this pain
just to think about them.

It's a known truth
gray-eyed people is jealous.

I told you
I wasn't jealous!

I couldn't be jealous
of one of them

unless I was jealous
of them both.

I associate
the two of them together.

Well, I was jealous

when my foster-brother,
Honey, married Clorina.

I sent a warning I'd tear
the ears clean off her head.

But you see I didn't.

She got ears
just like everybody else.

J-A.

Janice and Jarvis.

Isn't that
the strangest thing?

BERENICE: What?

J-A.

Both their names
begin with J-A.

Well, what about it?

If only my name was

Jane or

Jasmine.

I don't follow
your frame of mind.

Jarvis and Janice
and Jasmine, see?

No, I don't see.

I wonder
if it's against the law

to change your name
or add to it.

Naturally,
it's against the law.

(BERENICE CHUCKLING)

Well, I don't care!
F. Jasmine Addams!

You serious
when you give me this?

I will name her Belle.

I don't know what
went on in Jarvis' mind

when he brought me
that doll.

Imagine
bringing me a doll.

Your face when you unwrapped
that package sure was a study.

John Henry, quit picking
at the doll's eyes,

it makes me so nervous.
You hear me?

In fact, take that doll
somewhere out of my sight!

The big mistake I made was
to get this close crew cut.

For the wedding
I ought to have

long brunette hair,
don't you think so?

Don't see how come long
brunette hair is necessary.

But I warned you about getting
your head shaved off

like that before you did it.

But nothing would do,

but you shave it off
like that.

I'm so worried
about being so tall.

I'm 12
and five-sixths years old.

Already I'm 5'5”

and three quarters
inches tall.

If I keep growing
like this until I'm 21,

I figure I'll be
nearly 10 feet tall!

How tall, Frankie?

I doubt
if they ever get married

or go to a wedding,
those freaks.

Freaks? What freaks
are you talking about?

The fair.

The ones we saw there
last October.

Oh, the freaks
at the fair.

She was the cutest
little girl I ever saw.

I've never saw anything
so cute in my whole life.

Did you, Frankie?

No, I don't think
she was cute.

Well, who is that
he's talking about?

That little old pinhead
at the fair.

Head no bigger
than an orange.

The hair all shaved off
and a big pink bow at the top.

The bow was
bigger than her head.

Well, that little-headed girl
was cute.

The fact is
all those freak folks

fairly give me
the creeps.

Do I give you the creeps?

You?

Do you think
I'll grow into a freak?

You? Certainly not,
I trust heaven.

Well, do you think
I will be pretty?

Maybe, if you file down
them horns an inch or two.

Seriously.

I think when you fill out,

you'll do very well,
if you behave.

But by Sunday.
I want to do something

to improve myself
before the wedding.

Then get clean
for a change.

Scrub them elbows.
Fix yourself up nice.

You'll do very well.

You'll be all right
if you file down them horns.

I don't know what to do.

I just wish I would die.

Well, die then.

Die!

Go home! Go home!

You heard me. Go home!
I'm sick and tired of you,

you little midget!
Now, just a minute...

Will you listen to me...

Go home!

Did you hear
what I said?

(SCREAMING IN FRUSTRATION)

What makes you act like that?
You're too mean to live.

I know it!

Something about John Henry

just gets on my nerves
these days.

I've got a splinter
in my foot.

That knife ain't no proper
thing for a splinter.

Seems to me
that before this summer,

I always used to have
such a good time.

Remember the spring,

how every Friday night
Evelyn Owen

would come over
and spend the night with me?

Or I'd go over to her house.

And then Evelyn had to go
and move away to Florida.

Now she won't even
write to me.

Don't that
hurt you none?

Hurt anybody else
except me.

Remember that show
Evelyn and me put on?

♪ Look ahead, look astern I

♪ Look the weather in the lee ♪

BOTH:
♪ Blow high, blow low I

♪ And so sailed we N'

You're going to meet another
nice girl like Evelyn Owen.

(HUMMING)

Frankie, what you need
is a needle.

I don't care anything
about my old feet!

How old were you, Berenice,

when you married
your first husband?

13 years old,

and I ain't
growed an inch since.

Can marriage really
stop your growth?

Marriage don't
stop nothing.

You never loved any of
your four husbands but Ludie.

Ludie Maxwell Freeman
was the only husband I loved.

The rest was
just scraps.

Did you marry
with a veil every time?

Three times
with a veil.

If only I just knew
where he's gone.

(CHIRPING)

Charles!

Now, quit worrying
about that old alley cat.

Charles!

He's gone off
to hunt a friend.

To hunt a friend?
Certainly.

He roamed off to find
himself a lady friend.

Well, why don't he bring
his friend home with him?

He ought to know
I would be only too glad

to have a whole family
of cats.

Well, you done seen the last
of that old alley cat.

I ought to notify
the police force.

They will find Charles.

I wouldn't do that.

I want the police force,
please.

Police force?

I'm notifying you
about my cat.

Cat!

He's lost.
He's almost pure Persian.

As Persian as I is!

But with short hair,
a lovely color of gray,

with a little white spot
at his throat.

And he answers
to the name of Charles.

But if he don't
answer to that,

he might come if
you called, “Charlina.”

What?

Oh, my name is

Miss F. Jasmine Addams.

That gels it.
That gels it.

And the address is
124 Grove Street.

(GUFFAWING)

Gal, they're coming in here
and tie you up

and drag you off
to Houghtonville.

Just picture them
fat blue police

chasing tomcats
up and down alleys, all,

“Come here, Charles,
come here, Charlina!"

Merciful heavens!

Oh, shut up!

Trouble with you, you got
no sense of humor no more.

Maybe I'd be
better off in jail.

Sit down, Frankie.
You make me nervous.

I bet Janice and Jarvis
are almost to Winter Hill by now.

(CHUCKLING)

Did you hear
what Jarvis said?

No. What?

They were talking about

whether to vote
for C.P. MacDonald.

And Jarvis said,

“Why, I wouldn't vote
for that scoundrel

“if he were running
to be dog catcher.”

Why, I never heard anything
so witty in my life.

And you know
what Janice remarked

when Jarvis mentioned
about how much I'd grown?

She said she didn't think
I looked so terribly big.

She said she got the major
portion of her growth

before she was 13.

She said I was
the right height,

and had acting talent,

and ought to go to Hollywood.
She did, Berenice.

Okay, all right.
She did.

She said I was
a lovely size

and I probably wouldn't
grow any taller.

She said, anyway,

all fashion models
and movie stars...

She did not, she did not.
I heard her from the window.

She only remarked

you had probably
reached your growth.

But she didn't
go on and on like that,

or mention anything
about Hollywood.

She said to you...
She said to me...

That's a serious fault,
Frankie.

Somebody just chance
to make a loose remark,

you've cozen in
that mind of yours

till nobody
would recognize it.

Like the time
your Aunt Pat mentioned

you had sweet manners.

The next thing I know, you was
going all around bragging

how you had
the finest manners in town,

you ought to go to Hollywood.

That's a serious fault.

Quit preaching at me!

I'm not preaching at you.

It's the solemn truth,
and you know it.

Well, I admit it.
Well?

A little.

What I need to know is this.

Do you think
I made a good impression?

Impression?
Yes?

Well, how would I know?

Well, I mean, how did I act?
What did I do?

You didn't do nothing
to speak of.

Nothing?

No, you just stood there.

Watched the pair of them
like they were ghosts.

And when they start talking
about that wedding,

them ears of yours
stiffened out

the size of cabbage leaves.

They didn't!
They did.

Someday you're going to find
that big fat tongue of yours

pulled out by the roots

and laying there before you
on the table!

Oh, quit talking so rude.

I'm so scared I didn't make
a good impression.

Oh, come, sugar,

Berenice didn't mean it
that way.

They were so pretty.

They must have
such a good time,

and they went away
and left me.

Frankie, I want you to sit up
and behave yourself.

They came and went away
and left me with this feeling!

(EXCLAIMING)

I bet I know something.
Frankie's got a crush.

Frankie's got a crush.

Frankie's got a crush
on the wedding.

Quit it!

Frankie's got a crush.

You better quit!

Put that knife down.

Make me.

Put it down, devil.

Well, throw it.

I'm the best knife thrower
in this town.

Say whatever contest,
I would win.

Frances Addams,
you're going to try

that stunt once too often.

Warned you to stop
picking at me.

You just ain't fit
to live in a house.

Won't be living
in this one much longer.

I'm gonna run away
from home!

Good riddance
to a big old bag of rubbish.

You wait and see.
I'm leaving town.

Where do you think
you're going?

I don't know.

You're going crazy,
that's where you're going.

No.

This coming Sunday,
after the wedding,

I'm leaving town.

And I swear by
my two eyes

I'm never coming
back here anymore.

Sugar, you're serious?

Of course.

Do you think
I would stand here

and swear that swear
and tell a story?

Sometimes, Berenice,

I think it takes you longer
to realize a fact

than ii does anybody
who ever lived.

But you say you don't know
where you're going.

You're going,
but you don't know where.

And that don't
make sense to me.

Well, I feel
just exactly like

somebody's peeled
all the skin off me.

I wish I had some good
cold peach ice cream.

But every word I told you
was the solemn truth.

I'm leaving here
after the wedding.

Oh, hello, T.T. and Honey.
I didn't hear you coming.

Hello.

What's the matter?

Your foster-brother, Honey,
got into a ruckus again.

Standing on the sidewalk
in front of Sam's Café,

and the police
cracked him on the head.

What?

Why, ifs a welt
the size of a small egg!

Times like this I feel like
I've got to bust loose or die.

What was you doing?

Nothing.

I was just passing down the street
and minding my own business,

when this drunk soldier
came out of Sam's

and bumped into me.

I looked at him
and he gave me a push.

I pushed him back
and he started a ruckus.

Then this M.P. came up
and slammed me with his stick.

It was just one of
those accidents.

Could have happened
to anybody.

Toot some of
your horn, Honey.

Now, don't bother
my horn, Butch.

(PUFFS)

(MIMICKING TRUMPET)

Told you
not to touch my horn!

Look at it! You got it full of slobber
inside and out. It's ruined!

Now don't touch
that little boy,

or I'll stomp
your brains out!

John Henry knows
when he needs a good shake.

Don't you, Butch?

Now, you run
on home, candy.

It's way past
your supper time.

John Henry, which hand
is the money in?

You can keep it
if you can guess right.

I won.
Much obliged.

Thai sure is a cute suit
you got on, Honey.

Yesterday I heard somebody
speak about you

as Lightfoot Brown.

I think that's
a grand nickname.

Ifs on account
of your going to Harlem,

and all the different places
where you've run away.

Lightfoot.

I wish somebody would
call me Lightfoot Addams.

Suit me better if
Honey Camden had brick feet.

Keeps me anxious
and keeps me worried.

Come on, let's go.

Now, Frankie, I want you
to forget all that foolishness

we were discussing.
You hear?

Now, if your papa
ain't home by good dark,

go over to your Aunt Pat's
and play with John Henry.

Since when have I
been scared of the dark?

You'll find your supper
on top of the stove

and pie in the icebox.

Good night, sugar.

(SOFTLY)
John Henry!

John Henry!

John Henry!

Yes, Frankie?

You asleep?

No. What do you want,
Frankie?

Come on over and
spend the night with me.

I can't.

Why?

Just because.

Because why?
We could have a good time.

Frankie, I don't want to.

Oh, you fool jackass!
Suit yourself!

Only asked you

because you looked so ugly
and so lonesome!

Why, I'm not
a bit lonesome.

Well, I don't want to go
into that empty,

ugly house all by myself.

I'm mad at you.

I think somethings wrong.
It's too quiet.

I've a peculiar, supernatural
warning in my bones.

I'll bet you $100
it's going to storm.

I don't want to
spend the night with you.

A terrible,
terrible dog-day storm.

Or maybe even a cyclone,
or a tornado, or a tidal wave!

Frankie, if you're afraid,

I'll get my weekend bag
and come over.

Suit yourself.
Then I'll stay here.

You don't need
a weekend bag.

You're not going up
to Savannah, just here.

Go tell your mama.

She's at the show.

Well, she'll know where
you are. Come on.

Now I lay me down to sleep.
If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord
my soul to take.

God bless Berenice,
Mama, Uncle Royal,

Honey, T.T.,
the Americans and Frankie.

(TRUMPET PLAYING SOFTLY)

Frankie,
when Berenice said...

(SHUSHING)

That sounds like Honey.

(TRUMPET STOPS)

He stopped to bang
the spit out of his horn.

Please, Honey,
go on, finish.

I bet a policeman
stopped him.

To me it is the irony of fate,
the way they come here.

Those moths
could fly anywhere,

yet they keep hanging around
the windows of this house.

I told Berenice
I was leaving town for good.

She did not believe me.

Sometimes I honestly think

she's the biggest fool
that ever drew breath.

You try to impress something
on a big fool like that,

and it's just like talking
to a block of cement.

I kept on telling
and telling and telling her.

I told her I had to leave
this town for good,

'cause it is inevitable.

Inevitable!

What's “inevitable”?

Don't bother me, John Henry.
I'm thinking.

What you thinking about?

About the wedding.

About my brother
and the bride.

Everything's been
so sudden today.

I never believed before about
the fact that the Earth turns

at about the rate of
1,000 miles a day.

But now it seems to me,

I feel the world
going around very fast.

I feel it turning,
and it makes me dizzy.

Turn the other way.

I'm going with them!

What?

I tell you,
I'm going with them!

It's like I've known it
all my life.

Tomorrow I will
tell everybody.

After the wedding,
Huh?

I'm going with them
to Winter Hill.

You serious?

The trouble with me

is that for a long time

I have been
just an “I" person.

All people belong
to a “we,” except me.

When Berenice says “we,”

she means her church,
and lodge, and colored people.

Soldiers can say “we”
and mean the army.

Until this afternoon,
I didn't have a “we."

But now, after seeing Janice
and Jarvis, I suddenly realize

that the bride and my brother
are the “we" of me.

So, I'm going with them.

I'm going with them
and joining with the wedding.

This coming Sunday,

when my brother
and the bride leave town,

I'm going with them
to Winter Hill,

and after that, to whatever
place that they will ever go.

I love the two of them
so much,

and we belong to be together.

I love the two of them
so much,

because they are
the “we” of me.

You're going into tar,
if you ain't careful.

I'm leaving town tomorrow.

After the wedding, I'm going
with my brother, Jarvis

and Janice to Winter Hill.

And after that,

for the rest of our lives
over the whole wide world.

That's a solemn fact.

I'll probably never see
this old street again

for the rest of
my whole life. Good-bye!

Take care.

Good morning, Papa.

Good morning.

Papa, there's something
I have to tell you.

After the wedding,
I'm going away.

Mmm-hmm.

Papa?

How many times do I have to
tell you not to touch things.

If you break that,
it will cost me $5.

Papa, please,
listen to me.

All right, I'm listening.
What is it?

I'm trying to tell you that
after the wedding, I'm...

Frankie, you take
that lipstick off.

Now, what was it
you wanted?

I have to buy
a wedding dress.

All right, you charge it
at O'Rourke's.

And wedding shoes
and a pair of sheer stockings.

You get what you need.

I'll call up and tell them
it's all right.

Now, you get
something nice.

I'll write to you, Papa.
I'll write you every day.

(HONEY PLAYING TRUMPET)

Pretty good, huh?

Yes. You on that
stuff again?

Of course not.

Stop lying, Satan.
That much wind ain't natural.

That's gin blowing.

What's gin, Berenice?

Now, you go inside, candy,

and if you get caught
high like that,

you're going to be
in trouble for sure.

The parole man says so,
and remember, I've warned you.

MR. ADDAMS: Honey,

I need some help
down at my store.

My porter's failed me again.

I wonder if you could help me.

I ain't got the time.

He's got a job.

He plays nights
at Sam's Café, Mr. Addams.

Keep Frankie home.
I won't be back for supper

I don't want her
running wild in the streets.

All right, Mr. Addams.

Liar! And you got
me lying, too.

You're in Sam's
all night, playing,

but you're playing
for nothing.

And when you
ain't playing,

you're drumming up
liquor parties.

But I feel good
when I play.

Berenice, I got to
have a dollar.

You're barking up
the wrong tree, boy.

One of these days,
I'm getting me a good job.

Save my money,
get out of this town.

You're just mean enough
to do that.

Can't get a job to earn
your rent money,

but you can to go away
and leave me alone to worry.

Berenice,

I got to have
a dollar.

Here. At least
it'll stop you from stealing.

Well, guess I'll be
dancing off now.

Go away, boy.
You ain't fooling nobody.

Don't worry.

One buck ain't gonna
get me no ticket to Chicago.

Frankie, I'll thank you
to do one thing or the other,

eat or comb.

I'm about to show you
something.

What?
Frankie, what?

You'll see.

Now, don't come in here, mind.

And don't peek!

(EXCLAIMS)

Now, close your eyes,

and don't open them
until I tell you.

These are
the wedding clothes.

Oh, how pretty!

Well, what's the matter,
Berenice? Don't you like it?

No. It don't do.

What do you mean,
it don't do?

Exactly that.
It just don't do.

But I don't see what
you mean. What is wrong?

Well, if you can't see
what is wrong,

I can't explain it to you.

Look at your head
to begin with.

Done had all your hair
shaved off like a convict.

You tie this ribbon around
this head with no hair,

it looks peculiar.

But I'm going to wash

and try to stretch
my hair tonight.

Stretch your hair?

How you going to
stretch your hair?

And look at them elbows.

Done bought a grown woman's
evening dress.

All that brown crust
on your elbows.

The two things don't mix.

Take it back.
Take it back to the store.

But I can't take it back,
it's bargain basement.

(SIGHS)

Well, lei me see
what I can do with it.

I think you're just
not accustomed

to seeing anybody
dressed up.

(EXCLAIMS)

I ain't accustomed to seeing

human Christmas trees
in August.

Frankie's dress looks
like a Christmas tree!

Two-faced Judas!

You just now said
it was pretty.

Old double-faced Judas!

Step... Step back a little.

Now, don't you honestly think
it's pretty?

Give me
your candy opinion.

Frankie, I never knew
anybody so unreasonable.

You ask me my candy opinion.

I give you my candy opinion.

You ask me again,
I give it again.

But what you want
is not my honest opinion,

but my good opinion
on something I know is wrong.

Do you think they'd think
it looked funny?

Yes, sugar, I honestly do.

I only want to look pretty
for Janice and Jarvis.

Frankie, you still
got your mind set

on going with them,

when you know
in your soul

this mania of yours
is pure foolishness.

I don't wish to have
to remind you anymore.

Please call me
F. Jasmine.

(EXCLAIMS ANGRILY)

Furthermore,
I want to emphasize

that everything good of mine

has got to be
washed and ironed

so I can pack them
in the suitcase.

Everybody in town
believes that I'm leaving.

All except Papa.

He's stubborn as
an old mule.

No use arguing
with people like that.

Me and Mr. Addams
has got some sense.

I told Papa this morning
I was going,

but he wouldn't
listen to me.

He never listens
to what I say.

Sometimes I wonder
if Papa loves me or not.

Of course he loves you.

He's just a busy widowed man
set in his ways.

I wonder if I can find
some tissue paper

to line this suitcase.

Look at me!

Take that off!

You gave it to me. You said...
Take it off!

You just put it on
to make a show of me!

Truly, Frankie,
what makes you think

they want you tagging
along with them?

Two is company,
three's a crowd.

That's the main thing
about a wedding.

You wait and see.

Remember back
to the time of the flood.

Remember Noah and the ark?

And what has that
got to do with it?

Remember the way
he admitted them creatures?

Shut up,
you big old mouth!

Two by two he admitted
them creatures. Two by two.

That's all right. But you wait
and see, they will take me.

And if they don't?

And if they don't,

I will kill myself.

Kill yourself? How?

I will shoot myself
in the side of the head

with the pistol
that Papa keeps

under his handkerchiefs

with Mother's picture
in the bureau drawer.

You know what
Mr. Addams said

about you playing around
with that pistol.

I've heard of a many
a peculiar thing in my day,

but this idea of yours
is the most peculiar.

I've known men to have fallen
in love with girls so ugly,

you'd wonder if their eyes
are straight.

Even known boys
to have fallen in love

with women older
than their mothers.

Take Honey.
He's in love with that horn.

I've known people to have
fallen in love with their selves.

Dear Lord, we thank thee

for what we're about to
receive to nourish our body.

Amen.

And what was we talking about
in the first place?

About peculiar things.

Yes. As I was
just now saying,

I've seen and heard of many
a peculiar thing in my day,

but one thing I ain't never
seen or heard tell of,

no, sir, never in all
my boring days

have I ever heard of anybody

falling in love
with a wedding.

And you have to think...

You know, I've come
to a conclusion.

What you ought to be thinking
about, young lady, is a beau.

Nice little beau.

I don't want any beau.
What would I do with one?

Do you mean something
like a soldier

who would maybe take me
to the Blue Moon'?

Who said anything
about soldiers?

I'm talking about
a nice little white boy beau

your own age.

How about that
little old Barney next door?

Barney McKean.
That nasty Barney?

Certainly.
You can make outwith him

till someone better
comes along. You do.

You are the biggest crazy
in this town.

Crazy calls
the sane the crazy.

Him and that girl
down the block.

They go to the alley
behind that Pats garage.

I think maybe they smoke
or something.

They don't lei
anybody watch them.

I watched them once.

What do they do?

They don't smoke.

(PIANO KEY PLAYING)

The piano tuning man.

I seriously believe
this will be the last straw.

JOHN HENRY: Me, too.

If it isn't Mary Littlejohn
practicing, it's this.

They tell me that when
they want to punish

the crazy people
in Houghtonville,

they tie them up and make them
listen to piano tuning.

We could turn on the radio,
drown him out.

I don't want the radio on.

But I advise you to keep
the radio on after I leave.

You may very likely hear us
speak over the radio.

Speak about what,
pray tell?

Oh, I don't know
what about exactly,

but probably some
eyewitness account

about something
we'll be asked to speak.

Don't follow you. What are
you going to eyewitness?

Who could ask
us to speak?

What, Frankie?

Who's speaking on the radio?

When I said, “We,"
you thought I meant

you and me
and John Henry West,

to speak over
the world radio.

(CHUCKLING)

I've never heard
about anything

so funny since
I was born.

Who? Why?

(SHOUTING)

(GIRLS CHATTERING)

The club of girls.

What do you crooks mean
crossing my yard?

How many times
do I have to tell you

not to set foot
on my papa's property?

Get out of here!

You just ignore them.

Make out like you don't
see them pass.

I hope they die.

Oh, Frankie, you mustn't
say things like that.

We all die soon enough.

You going to die,
Berenice'?

Certainly, precious,
everybody's got to die.

Everybody? Are you
going to die, Frankie?

I doubt it.

I honestly don't think
I'll ever die.

What is “die”?

It must be terrible
to be dead.

Nothing but black,
black, black.

Yes, baby.

How many dead people
do you know?

I know six dead people in all,
not counting my mother.

Ludie Maxwell Freeman is dead.

I didn't count Ludie,
it wouldn't be fair,

because he died
just before I was born.

Berenice, do you think
very frequently about Ludie?

You know I do.

I think of the five wonderful
years we had together.

All the bad times
I've seen since.

Sometimes I almost wish
I had never knew Ludie at all.

It makes you
too lonesome afterwards.

You go home
from work at night,

a terrible lonesome quench
comes over you.

Take up with
too many sorry men

to try and get over
the feeling.

But T.T. is not sorry.

Oh, I wasn't
referring to T.T.

He is a fine upstanding,
colored gentleman,

that's walked in the state
of grace all his life.

But are you going
to marry with him?

I'm not going
to marry with him.

But you are
just now saying...

I was just now saying
how sincerely I respect T.T.,

and how sincerely
I regard T.T.

But he don't make me
shiver none.

Listen, Berenice.

There's something queer
I have to tell you.

It's... It's something
that happened to me

when I was riding
around town today.

Now, I don't exactly know
how to explain what I mean.

Then what is it?

Well, I was riding along

and I passed two stores
with an alley in between.

The sun was frying hot.

And just as I passed
this alley,

I caught a glimpse
of something

out of the comer
of my left eye.

A dark double shape.

And this glimpse brought to
my mind, so sudden and clear,

my brother and the bride,
that I just stopped

and couldn't hardly bear
to look and see what it was.

And then I turned
slowly and look.

And you know
what was there?

Ii was just two boys.
That was all.

But it gave me
such a queer feeling.

This is the most remarkable
thing I ever heard of.

What I mean is...

I know. I know
what you mean.

You mean right here
in the corner of your eyes,

you suddenly catch something.

A shiver runs through you.
You whirl around,

stand there facing
you don't know what.

But not Ludie,
not who you want.

And for a minute,
you feel like

you've been dropped
down a well.

Yes, that's it.

It's mighty remarkable.

It's a thing been happening
to me all my life.

Yet, just now is
the first time

I ever heard ii
put into words.

Yes, that's the way it is
when you're in love.

I always maintained
I never believed in love.

I never
believed in love.

I have something to tell you,
and ifs to be a warning.

You hear me, Frankie?
You hear me, John Henry?

Yes. I hear you,
Berenice.

I'm here to tell you
I was happy.

No human woman
in all the world

was happier than I was
in them days.

And that includes
everybody.

The five years
you were married to Ludie.

From that autumn morning
when I first met him

on the road in front
of Campbell's Filling Station,

up until the very night
he died,

November, the year 1940.

The very year and
the very month I was born.

Ii was Thursday.
Thursday, long towards 6:00.

Around this time of day,
only November.

I remember
I went to the passage

and opened the front door.

Dark was coming on.

An old hound
was howling far away.

And I go back in the room
and lay down on Ludie's bed.

And I lay myself over Ludie

with my arms spread out

and my face on his face.

And I prayed
and asked the Lord

to contage my strength,
my strength to him.

I even asked the Lord
to let ii be anybody,

but please don't
let it be Ludie.

I laid there, I prayed.

Oh, how I've prayed.

Prayed for a long time,

until night.

Yet, that night he died.

I tell you he died.

Ludie.

Ludie Freeman.

Ludie Maxwell Freeman died.

(HUMMING MOURNFUL TUNE)

It seems to me,
I feel sadder about Ludie

than any other dead person,

although I never knew him.

I know I ought to cry
sometimes about my mother,

but it looks like I can't.

But Ludie...

Maybe it was because I was
born so soon after Ludie died.

But you were starting out

to tell some kind of
a warning.

Don't you see
what I was doing?

I loved Ludie.

He was the first man
I ever loved.

Therefore, I had to go
and copy myself forever after.

And what I did
was to marry off

just little pieces of Ludie
wherever I run across them.

And it was my misfortune

they all turned out to be
the wrong pieces.

But my intentions
was to repeat me and Ludie.

Now don't you see?

I see what
you're driving at.

But I don't see how it is
a warning applied to me.

You don't?

Then I'll tell you.

You and that wedding tomorrow,

that's what
I'm warning you about.

I see what you have in mind,
don't think I don't.

You think you're going to
march up to the preacher,

right in between
your brother and the bride.

You think you're going
to break into that wedding,

and heavens only knows
what else.

No.

I don't see myself walking
to the preacher with them.

I see through them eyes,
don't argue with me.

And what I'm warning you
is this.

If you fall in love with some
unheard of thing like this,

what is ever going
to happen to you?

Will you be trying
to break into weddings

the rest of your days?

It makes me sick
to listen to people

who don't have any sense!

You just like to talk
about Ludie, that's all,

it's got nothing
to do with me!

You're setting yourself
this fancy trap

to catch yourself
in trouble,

and you know it.

They will take me,
you wait and see!

I'm only trying
to reason seriously,

but I see it's no use.

You're just jealous!

You're just trying
to deprive me

of all the pleasure
of leaving town.

(PIANO PLAYING
SCALE REPEATEDLY)

(SCREAMING) Do, Re, Me,
Fa, So, La, Ti, Ti, Ti!

It could drive you wild!

Well, you didn't say anything
about Willis Rhodes.

Why'd you marry him?

He have a mashed thumb,
or a code or something?

(SCOFFS)

Now that...
That really was something.

(CHUCKLING)

I only know
he stole your furniture.

He was so terrible,
you had to call the law.

That ain't all.

He was always running off
somewhere.

So, imagine a cold, bitter
January night, if you can.

Me laying by myself

on a big old pile of bed
and no one in the house,

'cause everybody had gone out
for the Saturday night.

Me, mind you,
hates to sleep

in a big old empty bed
by myself at anytime.

Well, come past 12:00

on this cold,
bitter January night...

Can you remember
wintertime, John Henry?

Well, imagine, suddenly
there come a sloughing sound,

and a tap,

tap,

tap, on the window,

and Miss me...

(GUFFAWING)

I-u-

So what? What happened?

The way you look.
Will you look at yonder.

Just look at my two pigeons
and their four big ears.

(LAUGHING)

What happened?

Come on, sugar.

Let's roll out the dough
for the wind cookies.

If ifs anything
I mortally despise,

ifs a person who starts off
to tell something

and works up people's interest
and then stops!

I admit it. I'm sorry,
but it was one of them things

I suddenly realized

I couldn't tell you
and John Henry.

You could've sent him
out of the room and told me.

Oh, no, precious,

Berenice couldn't
do that either.

Don't think I care a particle
about what happened.

I just wish Willis Rhodes
had come in about that time

and slit your throat.

I wish you'd stop
talking so rude.

Now, here, candy.

Here's a scrap of dough
for you

to make your cookie then.

Cookies. Cookies. Cookies!

I intend to take
two baths tonight.

One long soaking bath
and scrub with the brush.

I'm gonna try and scrape
this crust off my elbows,

then let out the dirty water,
take a second bath.

Great. Good idea.

I'd be glad to see
you clean for a change.

I will take two baths.

Why is ii against the law
to change your name?

What's that on your neck?

Thought that was a head
you carried on that neck.

Just think.

Suppose I ups and calls myself
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.

John Henry here tries
to palm himself off as Henry Ford.

Don't talk childish.

That's not the kind of
changing I mean.

I mean from a name

that doesn't suit you
to a name you prefer.

Like I'd change
from Frankie to F. Jasmine.

But it would still
be confusion.

Suppose we all decided
to change

to entirely different names.

Nobody would know
who anybody was talking about.

The whole world
would go crazy.

FRANKIE: I don't see what that
has to do with it.

Because things accumulate
around a name.

You have a name,

one thing after another
happens to you,

things have accumulated
around your name.

But what has accumulated
around my old name?

Nothing, see?

My name just didn't
mean anything.

Until yesterday,
nothing ever happened to me.

But it will.
Things will happen.

What?

Halt.

Take off my shoes,

my hat, my pocketbook,
and I thank you very much.

Listen, Berenice.

Doesn't it strike you
as strange

that I am I,
and you are you?

Like when you
walk down the street

and you meet somebody,

and you are you,
and he is him.

Yet, when you
look at each other,

the eyes make a connection.

Then you go off one way
and he goes off another way.

And maybe you never see
each other again,

not in your whole life.

Do you see what I mean?

Not exactly.

That's not what I meant
to say anyway.

I'm talking about this town.

There are all
those people here in town

that I don't even know
by sight or name.

And now I'm leaving town

and there are all those people
I will never know.

Well, who is it
you want to know?

Everybody.

Everybody in the world.

Well, just listen to that.
It would take you

over 200,000 years
to know everybody.

That's not what I mean.

That's not what
I'm talking about!

Then what do you mean,

and what are you
talking about?

Let's play out, Frankie.

No, you go!

This is what I mean.

What on earth
is wrong with you?

Man, oh, boy! Boy, oh, man!
When we leave Winter Hill,

we're going to more places

than you ever thought about
or even knew existed.

Just where we'll go first,
I don't know,

and it don't matter,

because after we go
to that place,

we're going on to another.

Alaska, China, Iceland,
South America.

Traveling on trains,
riding a rip on motorcycles,

flying all over the world
in airplanes!

Here today and gone tomorrow,
all over the world!

It's the whole truth.
Boy, oh, man!

Now, Frank...

And talking
of things happening,

things will happen so fast,

we won't hardly have time
to realize them.

Captain Jarvis Addams
wins highest medals

and is decorated
by the president.

Miss F. Jasmine Addams
breaks all records.

Mrs. Janice Addams

elected Miss United Nations
in beauty contest.

One thing after another,

happening so fast,
we'd hardly realize it.

Hold still...
And we'll meet them.

Everybody.

We'll just walk up to people
and know them right away.

We'll be walking down
a dark road

and see a lighted house
and knock on the door,

and strangers will rush
to meet us and say,

“Come in! Come in!”

We will know
decorated aviators,

and New York people,
and movie stars.

And we'll have thousands
and thousands of friends.

We'll belong to
so many clubs

that we can't even
keep track of them all.

We will be members
of the whole world.

Boy, oh, man!

Man, oh, boy!

Hush, child, child.

(swarms)

(SOBBING)

Come, child.
Come to Berenice.

Berenice knows.
Berenice understands.

And now, Berenice wants you
to sit on her lap

so she can quiet you down.

You know you're trying
to grow up too fast, Frankie.

(SOBBING)

Leave Frankie alone.
She ain't bothering you.

I'm sick.

Oh, no, you're not.

And don't you
grudge your cousin

a little bit of love.

Old mean bossy Frankie.

What is she doing
so mean right now?

Just laying here,
all wore out,

trying to get some rest.

If I have to be me
for the rest of my life,

I think I'll go crazy.

Sometimes I feel like
I just can't breathe anymore.

I feel like I just wish

I could tear down
the whole town.

So, I've heard you mention,
but that don't help none.

We go around trying
first one thing

and then another.

Yet, we're still caught,
just the same.

That's the way I see it
in my mind's eye.

Berenice, which eye is
your mind's eye?

Don't yank my head back
like that, candy.

Me and Frankie
ain't going to float

through the ceiling
and leave you.

I wonder if you've ever
thought about this?

Here we are, right now,
this very minute, now.

While we're talking right now,
this minute is passing,

and it will never come again,

never in the whole world.
When it's gone, it is gone,

no power on earth
could bring it back again.

♪ I sing because I'm happy I

♪ I sing because I'm free I

♪ For His eye is
on the sparrow I

♪ I know He watches me ♪

♪ Why should
I feel discouraged ♪

♪ Why should
the shadows come ♪

♪ Why should
my heart be lonely ♪

♪ Away from heaven and home I

♪ For Jesus is my portion I

♪ My constant friend is He I

♪ For His eye is
on the sparrow I

♪ And I know He watches me ♪

♪ His eye is
on the sparrow I

♪ And I know ♪

♪ That He watches me ♪

♪ So I sing ♪

♪ Because I'm happy I

ALL: ♪ Oh, I sing I

♪ Because I'm free ♪

♪ For His eye I

♪ ls on the sparrow ♪

♪ And I know ♪

♪ He watches me N'

Frankie, you got the sharpest
set of human bones

I ever felt.

(ALL CHATTERING)

(PLAYS HERE COMES THE BRIDE)

Dearly beloved, we are
gathered together here,

in the sight of God,

and in the presence
of these witnesses,

to join together
this man and this woman

in holy matrimony.

Do you, Jarvis, take Janice
to be your wedded wife,

to have and to hold
from this day forward,

for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish
till death do you pan?

I do.

And do you, Janice,
take Jarvis

to be your wedded husband,

to have and to hold
from this day forward,

for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish
till death do you pan?

JANICE: I do.

PASTOR: The ring.

Repeat after me, Jarvis.

With this ring, I thee wed.

JARVIS:
With this ring, I thee wed.

Give me that.

Lei go! Let go!

Frankie! Frankie!

(ALL CHATTERING EXCITEDLY)

A toast!

A toast
to the bride and groom!

(ALL CHEERING)

Congratulations!

(GUESTS CHATTERING)

Frankie?
Frankie?

I'm going with you.

With us?

But, Frankie, you can't
I love you.

We have to be together.

Wherever you go,
I'm going, too.

Frankie,
this is our honeymoon.

What is it?

Frankie, get out of there.
No, no, no!

Janice and Jarvis are
taking me with them.

This is the absolute limit.

Frankie, get out of there
or I'll pull you out.

No, don't touch me!

Dad, let me talk to her,
please.

Frankie, your brother and I
are married now,

and we only have
three days together

before he has
to go back to camp.

You don't want to spoil it
for us, do you?

I know you love us
and we love you, but...

We. We. When you say 'we?
you only mean you and Jarvis,

and I'm not included.

JARVIS: Frankie,
you're spoiling our wedding.

No, I'm not! I'm not!
Take me! Take me!

All right, you'll have
to be shown then!

Will you get out of here!

I've had enough
of this nonsense.

(SCREAMING)
Take me! Take me!

(SOBBING)

Come on, baby.
Come on, baby, in the house.

(SOBBING LOUDLY)

(ALL MURMURING)

They put old Frankie
out of the wedding.

They hauled her
out of the wedding car.

That's sufficient, John Henry.
You leave Frankie alone.

My heart feels so cheap.

Now, what makes you want to
leave your old papa like this?

I love them so.

Frankie, don't cry.

Now, please be reasonable,
Frankie.

I just wish
the whole world would die.

Listen.

Tell me what you'd like,

and I'll try to do it
if it's in my power.

All I wish in the world

is for no human being
to speak to me again

as long as I live.

Well, bawl then, misery.

Well, it looks like
the show is over

and the monkey's dead.

You think it's over,
but it's not.

Now, now, now, now, now.

You want to come down and help me
in the store tomorrow?

Polish some silver
with the chamois rag?

You can even play
with those old watch springs.

(SNIFFING)

If you think
it's all over,

that only shows
how little you know.

(TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACKING)

They all complimented
the wine punch.

You got a touch
with liquor, T.T.

I do for a fact.

Well, I reckon it's because

I keep the liquor
on the outside of me

instead of on the in,
most of the time.

(CHUCKLING)

Who's that?

Berenice.

What are you
doing out there?

Douse the light.
What are you doing out there?

What are you
afraid of?

Turn off the light.

Are you drunk?

I'm scared
out of being drunk.

You in trouble.

The law's after me.

Honey, what have
you done now?

Well, I borrowed
this car, and...

(RUSTLING)

John Henry, what are
doing here like that?

You want to
catch your death?

I feel funny, Berenice.

No, you don't.
Now, go home to bed

before your mama comes back
and finds you here.

I'm sick, Berenice.

No, you're not.
You just want attention.

Now, run on home,
candy.

I don't have the patience
to fool with you tonight.

What happened?

Well, I borrowed this car.

The car hit a man hard,
like, to kill him.

And you run away?

You fool, Honey Brown,
you fool.

Was it a white man?

I think so.

Berenice,
you got to help me.

They put me on the road again
for this for sure.

If I'm lucky,
they put me on the road.

Don't talk like that.

T.T., I have to ask you
to do this for me.

Here's all the money I got.

You want me to take him
out of town in my car?

Please.

Berenice, l...

Honey. Honey.

You will be careful.
You be careful, both of you.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

Lord, you took Ludie,

won't you please
watch over Honey Camden?

He's all the family
I've got left.

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING)

(PIANO PLAYING)

(DOOR SLAMMING)

WOMAN: You heard me,
pick that up!

MAN: Pick it up yourself.

You clean that up.

I'm not your slave
to walk around

after you
and clean up your din.

You pig, you. Get out!

Get out of here!
Go someplace and die!

(SLAPPING LOUDLY)

(WOMAN SHRIEKING)

(SCREAMS)

(LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING)

(RINGING)

Hey, there.

I saw you through
the window.

Hello.

(BUZZING)

Where are you going?

I don't know,
Savannah, I guess.

I have to go back
to camp tomorrow.

Boy, I sure will be glad
to get out of this old town.

Three days I've been here,
three days,

and nobody has
even said hello to me.

All they want to say
is how much something costs.

What's the matter?

Well, what's the matter?

I think they're after me.

My father
might have sent them.

You see, I've decided
to leave home.

There's a back room.

We can go in there.

Come on. Bring the beer.

Well, let's sit down.

Drink up.

No, I don't think
I want anymore, thank you.

Well, don't be scared.

Let's go outside.
They probably went away.

It's nicer in here.

Let go!

(GLASS SHATTERING)

Papa.

Berenice? Berenice?

Berenice?

John Henry. John Henry!

(SHUSHING)

John Henry's bad sick.
Don't make any noise.

I'll come up.

You stay there.

The doctor doesn't know
what ails John Henry yet,

it might be catching.

But he'd like to see me.

He's too sick, Frankie.
Now you go to bed.

How bad is he sick, Berenice?

He's... He's...

The whole house
seems so hollow.

It gives me
a creepy feeling

watching them
take our things out.

Occasionally, when it gets
so quiet like this,

I have a strange feeling.

Ifs like John Henry
is hovering in this kitchen,

solemn-looking
and ghost-gray.

I don't see
why he had to suffer so,

that poor little soul.

I never believed
John Henry would die.

Ifs funny.

I felt so sad,
and I missed him so much,

but lately I can hardly
even picture him.

He's like
a little white ghost

going further
and further away.

And to think I said,
“Run along, candy.

“I don't have the patience
to fool with you."

it's just judgment on me.

I'm forgetting
about him.

Sometimes I never think
of him once, all day long.

That's natural.
You're growing up.

I'll thank you
not to be banging

that old sewing machine
around like that.

I've had 22 years
service out of it,

and there's still
plenty use in it yet.

Okay, okay.

Berenice, I wish you didn't
have to give quitting orders

just because
we're all moving together.

But your papa
won't be needing me

with your Aunt Pat
keeping house.

What's that?

Rachmaninoff.

I'm just mad
about Rachmaninoff.

Mary is just beginning
this concerto.

She may play it for her debut
when she is 18 years old.

Mary playing the piano,

and a whole orchestra

playing at one
and the same time, mind you.

Awfully hard.

Mary Little-john?

I don't know why
you always have to speak

her name in a tinged voice
like that.

Have I ever said anything
against her?

All I said was
she's too lumpy,

marshmallow white,

and she makes me nervous

to see her sitting there
sucking on them pigtails.

Braids.

Furthermore, there's no use

our discussing
a certain party.

You could never
possibly understand,

it's just not in you.

Be that as it may,

let us not fuss or quarrel
our last afternoon.

I don't want
to fuss either.

Besides, it's not
our last afternoon.

I'll come and
see you often.

(CHUCKLES)

No, you won't, baby.

You'll have
other things to do.

Your road is already
strange to me now.

You still have the fox fur
that Ludie gave you.

Somehow this little fur
looks so sad, so thin,

with a sad little
fox-wise face.

Got every reason
to look sad

with what's happened
these past few months.

And I just don't know...

I don't know
what I've done to deserve it.

The way Honey looked
when the judge said 10 years.

John Henry,
my little boy, gone.

It's peculiar the way
it all happened so fast.

First Honey caught,

then later in that same week,
John Henry died,

and then I got to know Mary.

As the irony of fate
would have it,

we first got to know
each other

in front of the lipsticks
and cosmetics counter

at Woolworth's.

And it was the week
of the fair.

Frankie. Hey, Frankie.

Yes, Barney.

Is Mary there?

No.

It's Barney McKean.

I'm meeting her
at our new house at 5:00.

Come on in, Barney,
won't you?

Okay-

Barney puts me in mind
of a Greek god.

Barney puts you
in mind of what?

Of a Greek god.

Mary remarked that Barney
reminded her of a Greek god.

It looks like
I can't understand

a thing you say no more.

You know,
those old-timey Greeks

worshipped those
Greek gods.

But what has that got to do
with Barney McKean?

On account of the figure.

Hi, Greek god Barney.

This afternoon
I seen your initials

chalked down on the sidewalk.

“M.L. loves BM.”

If I could find out
who did it,

I'd rub it out
with their faces.

Did you do it, Frankie?

I wouldn't do
a kid thing like that.

I even resent you
asking me.

Resent you asking me.

Mary can't stand me anyhow.

Yes, she can stand you.

I'm her most intimate friend,
I ought to know.

As a matter of fact,
she's told me

several lovely
compliments about you.

I'm riding on the moving van
to our new house.

Would you like
to come along?

Sure.
Okay.

You can ride back
with the furniture,

'cause I'm riding on the
front seat with the driver.

We got a letter from Janice
and Jarvis this afternoon.

Jarvis is stationed with
the occupation forces in Germany,

and they took
a vacation trip to Luxembourg.

Luxembourg.

Don't you think
that's a lovely name, Berenice?

Kind of pretty name,

but it reminds me
of soapy water.

Mary and I will most likely
pass through Luxembourg

when we are going
around the world together.

I'll see you soon, Berenice.

Sure, baby.

(HUMMING)