(22 December 1977)
Writer: Marion Hargrove.
Director: Gwen Arner.
Music: Alexander Courage.
"Nature I
think intended my father to be a dreamer and a poet. Instead, he became the
head of a large hungry household. The one thing he feared and despised was
debt, and yet it clung to him as devotedly as it clung to all of his neighbors.
He tried never to borrow, never to buy anything on time, and never to fall
behind on things like taxes and doctor bills. As careful as he was, there came
a day in 1940 when he looked at his finances and was astounded by what he found
looking back at him....".
John is perplexed at the
paperwork for the house and mill mortgage when he absentmindedly goes off in
the truck. John is still in a daze when he greets Rev. Buchanan in Rockfish.
Hank has just eyed Marcia Woolery walking down the street. John walks over to
John Martin Renshaw, a friend skilled in finances, so he could look over the
papers. John Martian declares that with only two more payments John will have
his mortgage paid off. John can’t believe it! Hoping
to pay it off early, John visits a track superintendent to inquire about work
orders. The man says three hundred fence posts are needed
within two weeks for the old paper mill in Rittleton that has been converted to
a defense plant. John takes the huge order.
Rev. Buchanan shops for
groceries at Ike’s store while Maude Gormley and Mary Ellen look on. Corabeth can not understand how he can keep up his strength on a diet
of canned goods. Ike is proud of his purchase of fifty Arctic Queen electric
refrigerators. After Hank leaves, Corabeth, Maude, and Mary Ellen talk about
finding an appropriate bride for their minister. Maude comments that, ‘If I was
fifty years younger, I’d give that preacher a run for his money!’ When the
threesome has problems thinking of a suitable woman
Maude suggests Marcia Woolery. Corabeth is aghast at Maude for even bringing up
‘that type of woman’.
Over supper, John
announces that if everyone pitches in with the order the family will be out of
debt. While riding Old Blue, who is pulling a downed log, Elizabeth asks
Grandpa, ‘Am I poor people?’ Grandpa relates one time in 1877 when he was really poor. He had seen something never imagining to ever
possessing. But that Christmas he received it.
Elizabeth wonders what it could be. Grandpa answers, ‘It was an orange’.
Olivia and Corabeth
enter Rev. Buchanan’s parsonage in order to measure for new curtains. Corabeth
gossips about finding Hank a wife while Olivia works. Corabeth states that Hank
possesses a ‘remarkable degree of animal magnetism’ and, therefore, needs to be directed toward a proper woman for his wife.
John drives to Ike’s
store to purchase more creosote for the work order. He runs into banker J.J. Brendamore who gives John a cigar, trying to convince him
to take out another loan. While John smokes his new cigar, Ike tells him that
he stands to make a handsome profit of seventy-five dollars for each icebox.
Corabeth warns her husband not to divulge that amount to just anyone.
After an exhausting day
working on the order, the family rests under a shade tree. Inside the house,
Mary Ellen and Erin prepare supper while gossiping about Corabeth’s attempt to
find Hank a wife. Erin says that being the wife of a Baptist preacher means
‘being as poor as Job’s turkey’. During supper Elizabeth suggest they celebrate
being out of debt. John and Olivia decide to have a Sunday picnic where
everyone brings a picnic basket. Without a mortgage, John wants a new truck and
Olivia wants to drive to the Grand Canyon.
The next day Ike shows
Horace his new electric iceboxes but to no avail since his house is without
electricity. Failing to realize many of their neighbors are without
electricity, the Godsey’s wonder if they made a mistake. Horace greets John
outside the store and informs him to watch out for Ike who will try to sell him
one of the iceboxes. As John enters the store he jokes
to Ike that if he did buy a refrigerator he would buy one at a chain store in
Charlottesville. Ike does not like the joke, blaming John for his troubles.
On the front porch,
Grandpa anxiously waits for the truck returning with John and Olivia. When it
arrives, they announce that ‘tomorrow we burn the blame thing!’ The house is decorated for the party and Jason is singing and playing
his guitar. Neighbors come to share in the happiness. John Martin arrives
without his mother who is ‘locked in her room either counting her cash money or
with a bottle’. Corabeth arrives with an English trifle dessert but without
Ike. (Her husband is examining a refrigerator when the banker visits.) Hank
Buchanan arrives with a mysterious woman that Grandpa, Corabeth, and Mary Ellen
realize is Marcia Woolery wearing a revealing two-piece outfit. Corabeth faints
at the sight. Olivia tells Corabeth, ‘Behave herself
or I’ll pour a pitcher of lemonade on your head’. Marcia asks Erin if Hank is
dating anyone locally. When Erin says that he isn’t
Marcia thinks he is ‘ripe for picking’. Mary Ellen then tells Erin that
Corabeth fainted thinking they might get married. Erin informs her older sister
that Marcia isn’t the one because she has always known
who will marry him.
Hank announces in his
best preaching voice that the Lord has delivered John Walton from a large
mortgage. With that fanfare John burns the papers
while Jim Bob sets off fireworks. Ike then arrives to say it is the ‘end of the
world’ because the refrigerators don’t work and the
bank wants its money back or will repossess the store. Corabeth faints again.
Taking her inside they discuss the problem. John
Martin states the only logical solution is to use John’s good name as
collateral for the needed seven hundred fifty dollars. John and Olivia
privately discuss the matter. At first Olivia is
against the idea but John convinces her when he asks, ‘What is the Christian
thing to do?’ Back on the porch, John announces that being debt-free did not
last long. Ike adds that John had a great deal of help from him.
"And there it was, our
parents' great occasion went as quickly as it came, and this that followed was
the moment of meaning, the time of celebration. Our parents, like our
grandfather on that Christmas morning a hundred years ago, were
blessed with one lovely moment of being rich. And perhaps they knew,
like my grandfather, that they would never be poor again".
John: This time I mean it. Goodnight everybody.
Jim Bob: Daddy?
John (sharply): What?
Jim Bob: That goonie Marcia was with the Reverend
today. Remember when John-Boy was chasing after her?
John: Yes I do!
Jim Bob: Just think, suppose John-Boy had caught her....
Erin: Goodnight Jim Bob....
Jim Bob: Know what she'd be saying right now? Goodnight Mama Walton,
goodnight Daddy Walton, goodnight Jason.
(everybody): Goodnight, Jim Bob....
Notes:
John’s mortgage is with
the Mercantile Bank and Trust Company.
John Martin Renshaw and
his mother own a dry goods store in Rockfish.
John Martin has problems
with his mother who is inclined to drink at times.
Horace Brimley’s wife is named Amy.
The two advertisements hanging on the front door of Ike’s store is for ‘Lambert’s Coffee’ and ‘Fresh Eggs’.
Ike paid fourteen dollars for each refrigerator and is selling each of them for eighty-nine dollars, ninety cents.
Ike’s two-year loan to John Martin’s mother, with John’s co-signature, is for five-percent. The payments are thirty-two dollars, ninety cents each month, which is two dollars, ninety cents less than the old bank mortgage.
Also appearing:
Ike Godsey (Joe Conley);
Corabeth Godsey (Ronnie Claire Edwards); Rev. Hank Buchanan (Peter Fox); Marcia
Woolery (Tammi Bula); J.J.
(Joe) Brendamore (Jack Manning); Maude Gormley (Merie Earle); Track
Superintendent (Hal Riddle); Horace Brimley (A. Wilford Brimley).