Our Town- George

Mrs. Gibbs: Eat your breakfast.

I gotta hurry.

EMILY: I don't like the whole change that's come over you in the last year. I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings, but I've got to - tell the truth and shame the devil.

A *change*- Wha- What do you mean?

EMILY: My!

And, like you say, being gone all that time... in other places and meeting other people... Gosh, if anything like that can happen I don't want to go away. I guess new people aren't any better than old ones. I'll bet they almost never are. Emily... I feel that you're as good a friend as I've got. I don't need to go and meet the people in other towns.

STAGE MANAGER: What's that? George Gibbs, do you mean to tell me- !

Yes, but I had reasons, Mr. Morgan. - Look, here's my gold watch to keep until I come back with the money.

MRS WEBB: George, you know's well as I do: the groom can't see his bride on his wedding day, not until he sees her in church.

Aw! — That's just a superstition. — Good morning, Mr. Webb.

MRS GIBBS: I'll speak to your father about it when he's rested. Seems to me twenty-five cents a week's enough for a boy your age. I declare I don't know how you spend it all.

Aw, Ma- I gotta lotta things to buy.

MRS GIBBS: Now, George! You put on your overshoes. It's raining torrents. You don't go out of this house without you're prepared for it.

Aw, Ma. It's just a step!

STAGE MANAGER (as Mrs. Forrest): Go out and play in the fields, young man. You got no business playing baseball on Main Street.

Awfully sorry, Mrs. Forrest. -Hello, Emily

MRS. GIBBS: Here, take a cup of coffee first.

Be back in a minute. Good morning, Mother Webb.

MR. WEBB: Every man that's ever lived has felt that way about it, George... All those good women standing shoulder to shoulder making sure that the knot's tied in a might public way.

But... you *believe* in it, don't you, Mr. Webb?

EMILY: I can't Louise. I've got to go home... G'by. G'by, Helen. G'by, Fred.

Can I carry your books home for you, Emily?

MRS GIBBS: George! You gave me such a turn.

Cheer up, Ma. I'm getting married.

MRS WEBB: She hasn't waked up yet. I haven't heard a sound out of her.

Emily's asleep?

MRS. WEBB: George, Emily's got to come downstairs and eat her breakfast. She sends you her love but she doesn't want to lay eyes on you. Good-by.

Good-by.

EMILY: I think it's awfully important, too.

Emily

EMILY: Why, George, I don't see why you have to decide right now. It's a whole year away.

Emily, I'm glad you spoke to me about that... that fault in my character. What you said was right; but there was *one* thing wrong in it, and that was when you said that for a year I wasn't noticing people, and... you, for instance. Why, you say you were watching me when I did everything... I was doing the same about you all the time. Why, sure,--I always thought about you as one of the chief people I thought about. I always made sure where you were sitting on the bleachers, and who you were with, and for three days now I've been trying to walk home with you, but something's always got in the way. Yesterday, I was standing over against the wall waiting for you, and you walked home with *Miss Corcoran.*

EMILY: But, George, maybe it's very important for you to go and learn all that about--cattle judging and soils and those things... Of course, I don't know.

Emily, I'm going to make up my mind right now. I won't go. I'll tell Pa about it tonight.

EMILY: I can't work at all. The moonlight's so *terrible.*

Emily, did you get the third problem?

STAGE MANAGER: There they are. Enjoy 'em. Yes, Mrs. Ellis. What can I do for you?

Emily, if I go away to State Agriculture College next year...will you write me a letter once in a while?

EMILY: Thank you.

Emily, why are you mad at me?

EMILY: Oh, I think *hints* are allowed. -So ,-ah -if you get stuck, George, you whistle to me, and I'll give you some hints.

Emily, you're just naturally bright, I guess.

EMILY: Well, you might as well know right now that I'm not perfect. It's not as easy for a girl to be perfect as a man, because we girls are more-- more nervous. - Now I'm sorry I said all that about you, I don't know what made me say it.

Emily-

EMILY: Now I can see It's not the truth at all. And I suddenly feel that it isn't important, anyway.

Emily... would you like an ice cream soda, or something, before you go home?

EMILY: Why... uh... thank you. It isn't far.

Excuse me a minute, Emily. Say, Bob, if I'm a little late, start practice anyway. And give Herb some long high ones.

MR WEBB: Golly, I never got a kiss from such a great lady before.

Excuse me, Mrs. Forrest.

EMILY: Y-yes, George.

GEORGE: Emily, if I *do* improve and make a big change ... Would you be... I mean: *could* you be...

EMILY: Well, up to a year ago I used to like you a lot. And I used to watch you as you did everything... because we'd been friends so long...and then you began spending all your time at baseball ...and you never stopped to speak to anybody any more. Not even to your own family you didn't...and, George, it's a fact, you've got awful conceited and stuck-up, and all the girls say so, They may not say so to your face, but that's what they say about you behind your back, and it hurts me to hear them say it, but I've got to agree with them a little. I'm sorry if it hurts your feelings...but I can't be sorry I said it.

GEORGE: I...I'm glad you said it, Emily. I never thought that such a thing was happening to me. I guess it's hard for a fella not to have faults creep into his character.

EMILY: Well... I was really ready to make a speech about the Monroe doctrine, but at the last minute Miss Corcoran made me talk about the Louisiana purchase instead. I worked an awful long time on both of them.

Gee, it's funny, Emily. From my window up there I can just see your head nights when you're doing your homework over in your room.

DR GIBBS: They're all getting citified, that's the trouble with them. They haven't got nothing fit to burgle and everybody knows it.

Get out, Rebecca. There's only room for one at this window. You're always spoiling everything.

MRS GIBBS: Goodness sakes!--This has got to stop.--Rebecca. Rebecca! Come and get your breakfast.

Good morning everybody. Only five more hours to live.

MRS. GIBBS: You look real nice, Rebecca. Pick up your feet.

Good-by

EMILY: Good-by, Lizzy.

Good-by, Lizzy. -I'm awfully glad you were elected, too, Emily.

Well, since you ask me, I might as well say it right out, George, - Good-by, Miss Corcoran.

Good-by, Miss Cocoran. -Wha- what is it?

EMILY: Hello.

Hello!

EMILY: Well, thank you. I would.

Hello, Stew, -how are you? -Good afternoon, Mrs. Slocum.

MRS. GIBBS: Strawberry phosphates--that's what you spend it on.

I don't see how Rebecca comes to have so much money. She has more'n a dollar.

EMILY: Why, yes, George -that's the easiest of them all.

I don't see it. Emily, can you give me a hint?

EMILY: You're welcome. My isn't the moonlight *terrible?* And choir practice going on. -I think if you hold your breath you can hear the train all the way to Contoocook. Hear it?

Hmm... What do you know?

Mrs. Webb: Millions have folla'd it, George, and you don't want to be the first to fly in the face of custom.

How is Emily?

SIMON STIMSON: ...Get it out of your heads that musics only good when it's loud. You leave loudness to the Methodists. You couldn't beat 'em even if you wanted to. Now again. Tenors!

Hssst! Emily!

MRS SOAMES: Perfectly lovely wedding! Loveliest wedding I ever saw. Oh, I do love a good wedding, don't you? Doesn't she make a lovely bride?

I do.

EMILY: Well, if you love me, help me. All I want is someone to love me.

I will, Emily. Emily, I'll try.

MR WEBB: A girls' apt to be a mite nervous on her wedding day.

I wish a fellow could get married without all that marching up and down.

STAGE MANAGER: That's all right. Keep your watch. I'll trust you.

I'll be back in five minutes.

EMILY: N-no.

I'm celebrating because I've got a friend who tells me all the things that ought to be told me.

EMILY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Morgan. It was nothing.

I'm ready.

DR GIBBS: Make yourself comfortable, George. I'll only keep you a minute. George, how old are you?

I? I'm sixteen, almost seventeen.

EMILY: I'll tell you one thing: The answers in yards.

In yards? How do you mean?

DR GIBBS: Let's see... tomorrow's your payday. You can count on it.--Hmm. Probably Rebecca'll feel she ought to have some more, too. Wonder what could have happened to your mother. Choir practice never was as late as this before.

It's only half last eight, Pa.

MRS GIBBS: George Gibbs, where are you going?

Just stepping across the grass to see my girl.

EMILY: George!... Life is awful funny! How could I have know ? Why, I thought-

Listen, Emily, I'm going to tell you why I'm not going to Agriculture School. I think that once you've found a person that you're very fond of... mean a person who's fond of you, too, and likes you enough to be interested in your character... Well, I think that's just as important as college is, and even more so. That's what I think.

MRS GIBBS: No, no, George. You're a man now.

Listen, Ma, -for the last time I ask you... All I want to do is be a fella-

MRS GIBBS: George! George! What's the matter?

Ma, I don't want to grow old. Why's everybody pushing me so?

MR WEBB: I'm giving away my daughter, George. Do you think you can take care of her?

Mr. Webb, I want to... I want to try. Emily, I'm going to do my best. I love you, Emily. I need you.

MR WEBB: Good morning, George.

Mr. Webb, you don't believe in that superstition, do you?

EMILY: George, please don't think of that. I don't know why I said it. It's not true. You're--

No, Emily, you stick to it. I'm glad you spoke to me like you did. But you'll see: I'm going to change so quick - you bet I'm going to change. And, Emily, I want to ask you a favor.

MRS GIBBS: Why, George... you wanted it.

No, ma, listen to me-

EMILY: They're so expensive.

No, no, - don't you think of that. We're celebrating our election. And then do you know what else I'm celebrating?

EMILY: I'll have a strawberry phosphate, thank you, Mr. Morgan.

No, no, Emily. Have an ice-cream soda w me. Two strawberry ice-cream sodas, Mr. Morga:

MR WEBB: Oh, yes; oh, yes. Don't you misunderstand me, my boy. Marriage is a wonderful thing,-- *wonderful* thing. And don't you forget that, George.

No, sir. Mr. Webb, how old were you when you got married?

MRS GIBBS: Let me catch my breath a minute.

Now, Ma, you save Thursdays nights. Emily and I are coming over to dinner every Thursday night...you'll see. Ma, what are you crying for? Come on; we've got to get ready for this.

MR. WEBB: Well, George, how are you?

Oh, fine, I'm fine. Mr. Webb, what sense could there be in a superstition like that?

EMILY: I always expect a man to be perfect and I think he should be.

Oh... I don't think it's possible to be perfect, Emily.

EMILY: In *square* yards.

Oh... in square yards.

REBECCA: I did, but there's no moon there... George, do you know what I think, do you? I think maybe the moons getting nearer and nearer and there'll be a big 'splosion.

Rebecca you don't know anything. If the moon were getting nearer, the guys that sit up all night with their telescopes would see it first and they'd tel about it, and it'd be in the newspapers.

STAGE MANAGER: Hello, George. Hello, Emily. What'll you have? - Why, Emily Webb, - what y been crying about?

She...she just got an awful scare, Mr. Morgan. She almost got run over by that hardware-store wagon. Everybody says that Tom Huckins drives like a crazy man.

EMILY: I... I am now; I always have been.

So I guess this is an important talk we've been having.

MRS WEBB: Good afternoon, George.

So long, Emily.

DR GIBBS: You'll be willing, will you, to get up early and milk and feed the stock... and you'll be able to hoe and hay all day?

Sure, I will. What are you... what do you mean, Pa?

DR: GIBBS: ...George, I've decided to raise your spending money twenty-five cents a week. Not, od course, for chopping wood for your mother, because that's a present you give her, but because you're getting older- and I imagine there are lots of things you must find to do with it.

Thanks, Pa.

EMILY: Which?

The *third?*

EMILY: I certainly will. I certainly will, George. . . It certainly seems like being away three years you'd get out of touch with things. Maybe letters from Grover's Corners wouldn't be so interesting after a while. Grover's Corners isn't a very important place when you think of all New Hampshire; but I think it's a very nice town.

The day wouldn't come when I wouldn't want to know everything that's happening here. I know that's true, Emily.

Mr. Webb: Are you going to raise chickens on your farm?

Uncle Luke's never been much interested, but I thought -

REBECCA: Well, let me look just a minute.

Use your own window.

EMILY: Yes... yes.

Wait just a minute and I'll walk you home. Mr. Morgan, I'll have to go home and get the money to pay you for this. It'll only take me minute.

EMILY: In square yards of *wallpaper.*

Wallpaper - oh, I see. Thanks a lot, Emily.

REBECCA: George, is the moon shining on South America, Canada, and half the whole world?

Well - prob'ly is.

EMILY: Well, my *father* is, and as far as I can see, *your* father is. There's no reason on Earth why you shouldn't be, too.

Well, I feel it's the other way round. That men aren't naturally good; but girls are.

MR. WEBB: Oh, I don't know. - Was I going to say something?... And, oh, yes! he said never, never, *never* let your wife know how much money you have, never.

Well, Mr. Webb... I don't think I could...

REBECCA: And the postman brought it just the same.

What do you know.

REBECCA: But listen; it's not finished: The United States of America; Continent of North America; Western Hemisphere; The Earth; the Solar System; the Universe; the Mind of God-- that's what it said on the envelope.

What do you know?

MR: WEBB: Well, you see: I'd been to college and I'd taken a little time to get settled. But Mrs. Webb- she wasn't much older than what Emily is. Oh, age hasn't much to do with it, George- not compared with... uh... other things.

What were you going to say, Mr. Webb?

REBECCA: I never told you about that letter Jane Crofut got from her minister when she was sick. He wrote Jane a letter and on the envelope the address was like this: It said: Jane Crofut; The Crofut Farm; Grover's Corners; Sutton County; New Hampshire; United States of America.

What's funny about that?

MR WEBB: So I took the opposite of my father's advice and I've been happy ever since. And let that be a lesson to you, George, never to ask advice on personal matters.--George, are you going to raise chickens on your farm?

What?

MRS GIBBS: George! If anyone should hear you! Now stop. Why, I'm ashamed of you!

What? Where's Emily?

MRS WEBB: Goodness! You frightened me! Now, George, you can come in a minute out of the wet, but you know I can't ask you in.

Why not—?

DR GIBBS: What do you want to do after school's over?

Why, you know, Pa. I want to be a farmer on Uncle Luke's farm.

EMILY: Well, I'll try to make my letters interesting.

Y'know. Emily, whenever I meet a farmer I ask him if he thinks it's important to go to Agriculture School to be a good farmer.

MR. WEBB: Well, you see- on her wedding morning a girls head apt to be full of... clothes and one thing or another. Don't you think that's probably it?

Y-e-s. I never thought of that.

EMILY: Why, George--

Yeah, and some of them say that it's even a waste of time. You can get all those things, anyway, out of the pamphlets the government sends out. And Uncle Luke's getting old, he's about ready for me to start in taking over his farm tomorrow, if I could.

EMILY: Well, I always feel it's something you have to go through.

Yeah.

EMILY: Yes, George, don't you see?

Yeah.

EMILY: I don't mind it really. It passes the time.

Yeah. -Emily what do you think? We might work out a kind of telegraph from your window to mine; and once in a while you could give me a kinda hint or two about one of those algebra problems. I don't mean the answers, Emily, of course not... just some little hint...

EMILY: I figure that it's just the way a person's born.

Yeah. But, you see, I want to be a farmer, and my uncle Luke says whenever I'm ready I can come over and work on his farm and If I'm any good I can just gradually have it.

EMILY: You mean the house and everything?

Yeah. Well, thanks... I better be getting out to the baseball field. Thanks for the talk, Emily. Good afternoon, Mrs. Webb.

DR GIBBS: Oh, George, can you come down a minute?

Yes, Pa.

DR. GIBBS: I don't know why she's in that old choir. She hasn't any more voice than an old crow... Traipsin' around the streets at this hour of the night. Just about time you retired, don't you think?

Yes, Pa.

EMILY: Why, can you?

You certainly do stick to it, Emily. I don't see how you can sit still that long. I guess you like school.

EMILY: H'lo

You made a fine speech in class.

EMILY: I'm not mad at you.

You've been treating me so funny lately.