Original subtitles

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Do you have the feeling that we are moving ahead too swiftly?

That in our quest for fame, for material wealth,

we are neglecting some of the old traditions,

the old customs from whence we once drew our strength?

This, for example.

This may look like a see-saw built for one,

but it is a docking stool.

In Puritan times, if a woman were a scold or a goship,

she was placed here.

The seatbelt was fastened securely

and a number of brave men and true

proceeded to dunk her in a pond

as though she were a doughnut.

It was most invigorating, I'm sure.

Unhappily in modern days,

we have no such convenience.

Today, if a woman is a goship,

she isn't docked, she's syndicated.

Tonight's story has a connection however remote

to the proceeding.

While our sponsor has a connection, however,

obviously to the following.

SUMMER SHADE

IS THERE A HEX ON YOUR HOUSE HUNTING? Ask for Miss Grimalkin

Thanks again.

Maybe we'll have better luck next time.

I'm inclined to agree with Miss Grimalkin.

- I didn't like her. - Neither did I.

Ah, but she had one *year of reputable* point.

To find a house a hundred years old with...

modern kitchen for you...

a study for me, and a tree for Kate's swing,

three bedrooms and central heating all for $9,000 down

would take Miss Grimalkin's entire staff of witches

plus the wizard of Oz.

Now we got to look for something smaller.

We're going to find just the house we want, I'll guarantee it.

- How do you know? - Since I got a feeling.

Had it all day.

Turn right at the next intersection.

- What? - Turn right at the next intersection.

What for?

Well, I don't know why. Let's just try it.

Oh, go on, dear. Don't be an obstructionist.

FOR SALE to discriminating buyer

There you are, what did I tell you?

Honey, I don't like that 'discriminating buyer'.

What does that mean?

- Expensive. - Positive thinking now.

Don't be a pessimist.

Look, mom. There's a creek down there.

Oh, you be careful, Kate.

Just what I dreamed upon.

You suppose it's really a hundred years old?

- Looks like it. - A hundred and seven.

Oh. I'm so sorry.

I didn't mean to startle you.

I'm Amelia Gastell.

Oh, how do you do? We are the Kendalls.

- We saw your sign and... - We are in fire* within.

- You're house *? - Indeed we are.

- Oh. - Mom!

Mom!

Mom, it's the most wonderful creek with frogs and everything.

Kate, darling. You have interupted Miss Gastell.

Not at all.

- So, this is Kate? - Yes, ma'am.

Kate's nine.

Nine? Oh, that's a wonderful age to be, isn't it, Kate?

Haven't tried many others.

Wait till you tried seventy-four like I have.

Eh, that's why I'm selling, you see,

going to move into the village.

I'm getting too old to running back and forth all the time.

Oh...

well, for a minute, I thought you changed your mind.

About selling?

Nonsense.

Oh, why do you suppose I put up that sign?

Well, you'll want to look over the house.

- Come along. - Ah, just a minute.

Maybe before that we'd better talk about...

- About terms? - Yes.

Well, if you like it,

we could always find a way to manage.

There's always a way, you know. Come along.

SALEM Van and Storage Co.

Now I'm not just saying that, you know.

If there's anything I can do to help you get settled

you call on me.

Will you report tomorrow morning at 8?

We'll put you to work painting the kitchen.

Haha, I paint a pretty good kitchen.

You'll be careful, Reverend,

he has a contract in his back pocket.

It was wonderful of you to call.

- Thank Miss Gastell. - She's a wonderful old woman.

Yes, isn't she?

You know, she's quite an institution around here.

Her family goes straight back to the Puritans.

Lot of them are buried on our own church yard.

- Really? - If you have any time to come down

I'll give you a person to conduct a tour.

Oh, dear. I must've stayed long.

Well, I shall hope to see you on Sunday.

We'll try to be there.

Bring Kate. We'll try her find a play mate.

- Okay. Bye, Reverend. - Good bye. / Good bye.

You know, that's the only fly in otherwise beautiful ointment.

Kate?

It says there is an other family with children a whole length of this road.

Could be little lonesome before the school starts.

Well, it's only a couple weeks away.

Well, shall we talk about the kitchen?

What are you up to, young lady?

How much * frog be?

Well, usually a creek full*

Where did you find it?

I didn't. Lettie did.

Who?

Lettie.

*The girl I was playing with.

Well, now there you are.

That Lettie is a little girl about nine and a half just like you?

How do you know?

You see?

Where does she live, honey?

I don't know. I didn't ask her.

Why didn't you invite her in?

She had to go to a meeting.

She said her mom had a gig ready. And didn't dare be late.

The gig?

Yeah.

What is a gig?

Some kind of a car?

- What do you suppose*? - Well, it's a...

It's kind of buggy people used to ride around in years ago, Katie.

Lettie ride them * all the time.

They always go to a meeting there.

I'd better take him* outside.

Tomorrow you bring Lettie up to me.

Sure.

A gig?

Sounds like some kind of a religious sect or something.

Like those people who won't wear buttons.

Well, buttons are no button.

She is nine and a half. And...

likes frogs.

I'll give you... Lettie.

Hear, hear.

Katie.

Katie. Where are you?

Down by the creek.

It's lunch time.

Can't we go on playing?

You come up right this minute.

Katie, do you hear me?

Why she always have to call me right in the middle of something?

Katie.

Mom.

Lettie and I are building a dam.

Can we finish it, mom?

Would Lettie like some lunch?

She says no thanks.

All right, dear. I'll bring yours down to you.

Where's Lettie?

She had to go home.

Why?

I don't know.

Ask Lettie.

Come on, honey. Let's go and change those clothes.

You said I could eat here.

Look, I know. But Lettie's gone

and I don't like you to play here alone.

Come on.

What do you and Lettie talk about mostly?

I don't know, daddy. A lot of things.

Well, give me a sample.

Oh, lots of things. School and...

Lettie go to school?

Yeah.

Funny kind of school if you ask me, though.

They don't use real books, just horn books.

What's horn book?

I don't know. Ask Lettie.

Honey bun.

You keep telling us to ask Lettie.

But we can't seem to get this same ballpark with it.

She just likes me, I guess.

Well, now, can't you do a selling job?

Tell her what tremendous people your parents are.

We kinda like to meet her.

- I'll ask her, daddy. - Okay.

Where this come from?

A child's history of New England.

You remember. Miss Gastell left here.

Oh, yes. Have you been reading it?

I just look at the pictures.

Honey bun.

You mind if your old man tells you a secret about little girls?

What?

Well, you see...

if sometimes they get lonesome

and they start wishing they had someone to play with, and...

they wish it so hard that begin to think it's true.

You think I'm making Lettie up?

Oh, no. Not exactly. No.

Well, I'm not.

I only said you might have thought about it so much.

She was here the day we came. Down by the creek.

She was lonesome and she saw we bought the house.

And she was down there waiting for me.

I didn't draw this. She did.

When?

Yesterday.

Who is it?

Lettie's aunt Bridget.

What's her last name?

Same as Lettie. Bishop.

Lettie's real, daddy. I didn't make her up.

What's the matter?

I think you've got a little fever.

Come on now, it's after 8. It's time you hit the sack.

Still think I made her up?

Now we'll talk about that tomorrow.

Go on. Hop into bed.

What did the doctor say?

She's running a fever all right, but it's just a cold.

We'll have to keep her in for a day or two.

She's telling him all about Lettie.

Yeah, well it's all in here.

Church meetings, Cotton Mather. Gigs and horn books.

This is where she got it.

Why didn't she say so?

I don't know. You're a girl. You tell me.

Look, it's nothing to make jokes about it.

Well, now, look. It's nothing to get upset about either.

Alice in Wonderland... grow up to be a fine, normal woman.

And so okay.

Alice in Wonderland?

Oh, Mrs. Kendall is little upset about Katie's friend Lettie.

What do you think, doc?

Well, I'm afraid Lettie is a bit out of my field.

But... I could refer you to a good child psychologist in Salem.

You think she's imagining it?

I would say so, yes.

Have you run into this before, Doc?

I have two daughters myself.

I wish I were so confident.

Now, Phyllis.

I'm sorry. I just can't help it.

Well, this is Lettie's aunt Bridget.

- I'm sure Kate didn't draw that. - Now Phyl. You're not making sense.

But you aren't either.

Kate, nine and a half.

She doesn't care a hang about the... history of Puritans or even books.

We could even get her to read the Sunday funnies.

What makes you think she's suddenly sat down with...

a dry old tome like that and bone up on the Pilgrims.

Puritans.

All right, the Puritans.

Well, maybe she's tutoring with Lettie's aunt Bridget Bishop.

I don't know.

Who?

Oh, that's Lettie's Puritan aunt.

Name is Bridget Bishop.

Katie probably invented her too.

No, I don't think so.

Why not?

Well, I'm not up too much on my local history, but...

that name rings a bell.

Bishop, Bridget,

page 73.

Yeah, here she is. There's a picture of her. She...

She what?

The trial of Bridget Bishop of Salem Village

by the Elders of the church.

Convicted of witchcraft and hung, June 1692.

Hey, don't try and kid your old man's muscle.

I couldn't sleep.

Neither could I with the light in my eyes.

Do you know it's after midnight?

I was just thinking. That's all.

Well, uh... fever has gone down, but it could come back.

Now look. You...

you keep that light out long little sec*, I'm okay.

What... kind of beads are these?

They're buzzard bones. Lettie gave it to me.

Buzzard bones?

To keep off the pox.

- What? - That's what Lettie said.

Now look, Katie.

You may not realize it, but...

you've upset your mother pretty badly with all this...

this talk about Lettie.

Now it's time you...

you stop making things up and started telling the truth.

- But, daddy. - Now let me finish.

Now when we were cleaning up around here the day we moved in,

there was a pile of nick-nacks and junk Miss Gastell left behind.

We swept it into a corner in the keeping room

and I remember you playing there.

Now, that's where you found these, isn't it?

- I'm sleeping. - Katie, answer me.

Can I keep them?

If you tell me where you found them.

Yes, daddy. It was in that pile.

Well...

All right.

Now look. No more making things up. Understand?

- Good night. - Good night.

Lauretta Bishop Aged Nine years Died of the Pox May 16, 1694

Lauretta Bishop.

That would be Lettie for short, wouldn't it?

Yes, I should think so. Why?

Died of the pox.

Oh, that must have been a terrible epidemic smallpox at that time.

It took aweful lot of the children.

I didn't realize that.

Yes, medicine was about on pox with the methods of an African witch doctor.

You know, charms, fetishes, broths of lizards' tales and fingernails.

And buzzard bone necklaces.

Yes. Against the pox.

Also, they practiced exorcism of demons.

- Exorcism? - It was ancient rite of the church.

Driving out an evil spirit.

How did they do it?

Well, as I recall, it was pretty involved sort of ritual.

Is it still done?

Oh, fairly rarely nowadays.

Could you do it?

Aye, but my dear child, why would I?

Well, I... I mean if there were real need for it.

Well, I'd have to investigate for this throughly.

But if it is possible,

I mean, you could do it or have it done?

Yes, I suppose so. But why?

I can't tell you. Not yet anyway, but...

I may have to ask for some help.

Thanks for the tour. Goodbye.

Curious, isn't it?

No idea where it came from.

It turned up from somewhere a* moving time,

and I just tossed it off the scrapy*.

You suppose it's really a Puritan?

Well, I don't know.

I don't really care.

I think, you know what our problem is, Miss Gastell,

Kate's alone all day.

Hmm, she should have playmates.

Yeah, we realized that when we first moved in.

I... I guess we didn't appreciate how important it was.

She didn't have one, so she made one up.

- Dear me. - A little girl named Lettie.

Lettie? That's an old-fashioned name.

Oh, she's an old-fashioned girl.

Strict Calvinist.

Goes to church meetings everyday and a gig.

Listens to "Cotton Mather" preach,

those all about the stocks and the ducking stool.

And wears this buzzard bones to keep away the pox.

Katie got it all out of that old history book you left here.

You know, I don't think I could get her to study that book for $100.

But if this keeps up much longer, she's...

she's going to be the world's youngest PhD in Puritan history.

Did you find out about it?

Just as I said.

Was is it yours?

Well, of course, I should have gotten rid of that trash.

She's asleep now.

Make sure she keeps the cover*, will you?

Don't worry. We'll get along just fine.

We'll have to find a little playmate.

It isn't right for a child to be alone so much.

Well, if you hear of an agency that rents out little girls

you let us know, won't you?

I'll put on my thinking cap.

Okay. Come on now. Come on.

Have a good time.

Oh, thanks a lot for being our sitter.

We won't be too late.

And don't count on that either.

- Goodnight. - Goodnight.

- Mom? - Yes, dear.

What's exorcism?

What's what?

Exorcism.

Why do you ask that?

- I don't know. - Katie.

Now, Katie, tell me. Where did you hear about that?

On TV last night.

What is it?

Well, it's kind of hard to explain.

If you exorcise somebody,

does it hurt?

Oh, no. Of course not.

It's just a ceremony. A...

a very serious one that has to do with driving away something harmful.

And they never come back?

The person you make go away?

Well, we hope not.

Did...

Lettie tell you?

Lettie?

Your little friend, Katie.

Oh, daddy.

You know, she wasn't real.

I just made her up.

Can I slice banana in my cereal?

Wow. Good morning.

Good morning, good morning.

This is Judy Davidson.

Judy. This is Mrs. Kendall.

How do you do, Judy?

How do you do?

- Please come in. - Oh, thank you.

Kate. Come here.

Judy's father is my new milkman.

She'll be taking the same school bus with Kate.

Kate? This is Judy Davidson.

- Hi, Judy. - Hello.

Uh, Judy may stay all day, if you like.

And then I'll take her home tonight.

Katie. Why don't you take Judy upstairs and show your play room.

Sure. Come on, Judy.

Miss Gastell. If my wife weren't a jealous woman,

I... I think I give you a great big hug right here now.

Well, I told you, Mr. Kendall.

I told you. I'll put on my thinking cap.

Well, thank you. Bye bye.

Good bye.

Twas a fine notion, mistress Kate.

Would that we had started it sooner.

"I wish we had thought of it sooner."

I wish we had thought of it sooner.

Listen, Lettie.

If I can remember to call you Judy,

you should remember not to talk in that old-fashioned way.

Do you want to get yourself exorcised?

Then who am I going to play with?

I hope you enjoyed our story Summer Shade.

Because that will give you strength to face this next item

after which I'll return.

That is all of tonight's entertainment.

We shall return next week with more of the same.

Now. I must hurry up.

I'm shooting a picture.

Good night.