Original subtitles

How'd it go in school?

Wonderful. I got a part in the school play.

And I get to pull the curtain.

Great. What are you going to be, Buffy? The leading lady?

No, a tree.

Oh, that's fine.

But I'm the leading tree in the whole forest.

The play is about Robin Hood, sir.

Buffy will portray a denizen of Sherwood Forrest.

I think Robin Hood's more important than a tree.

No, he isn't. He has to hide behind me.

or he gets caught.

I'll go for you, Jody.

Okay. I brought a note from the teacher.

It's my penmanship.

I guess I don't do it very good.

Very well, Jody. A matter of grammar.

I guess I don't do that very good either.

What does the teacher say about his penmanship, sir?

I don't know. I can't make out her handwriting.

She writes like a doctor.

Uncle Bill!

Yeah, yeah.

Uncle Bill, may I invite Dana to spend the weekend?

Who? Dana Mason from school. We went to the matinee together.

Hi, Sissy.

Hi, Sissy.

Hi, kids.

You know what?

Dana's parents are the stars of the show.

Lois Winston and Richard Mason.

Oh.

I'm going to be in the show, too, Sissy.

I'm going to have roots and a lot of leaves.

She's in a class play.

She's a talking tree.

Whoever heard a tree talk?

Well, that's nice, Buffy.

May I, Uncle Bill?

Sure. You can always bring your friends home. Oh, thank you, Uncle Bill. You

know, you're just going to love Dana. She's so sophisticated and she knows

everybody and she's been everywhere.

Has she been to the moon?

to Switzerland and the Riviera and Paris and Rome.

England?

Of course. They keep an apartment in London.

Mr. French was born there.

Wait a minute. Now that you've said yes, maybe she can't even come. She might be

off to Portugal or Hong Kong or someplace. Maybe you better call her up

a reservation right away, huh? I'll just die if she can't come.

Don't worry, Uncle Bill. She won't really die.

That's just the way girls talk.

This will be our room.

Buffy is going to stay with Jodan tonight.

You share a room with your infant sister.

How quaint.

Well, there aren't enough bedrooms to go around.

Wait till you meet my Uncle Bill.

Sounds a bit like Larry.

Larry? Sir Larry Olivier.

Who else?

Dana, does Mr.

Olivier know you call him Larry?

Well, it used to be Uncle Larry. But once a girl's 16, she can't very well

him that anymore.

I guess not.

Anyway, Uncle Bill... Bill will be home soon.

Sissy.

I don't suppose we'll be going to any social affairs over the weekend.

There's a dance tomorrow night at the teen center.

Teen center?

Sissy, I'd hardly call that a social affair.

Oh, Dana, meet Buffy and Jody.

This is Dana Mason.

Hi. Hello.

I hope you two don't mind sharing a room so I can stay in here with Sissy.

No, I... like having Buffy for company. And I like having Jody, only after

dressing the bathroom.

Excuse me.

Oh,

why don't you kids go out and wait for Bill?

Bill? Who's Bill?

Your Uncle Bill.

Isn't he your Uncle Bill anymore?

Children.

Well, at least now we can unpack in peace.

There you go.

May I be of assistance, is it?

Oh, thanks, Mr. French. We can manage it.

Dana, this is French. This is Miss Mason, the friend who's staying over.

How do you do?

You're British, aren't you?

Yes. We have many British friends.

Larry, Rex, Noel, Alex, Sarah.

Do you happen to know them?

Well, it depends on which Larry, Rex, Noel, Alice and Sarah you meet.

Missy, Bill's here.

Bill? Oh, come on.

Hi. Hi.

This is Dana. Hello, Dana. Nice to meet you. Thank you for inviting me, Mr.

Davis. Does he look like Larry?

Around the eyes a little.

Who's Larry?

Olivier.

Oh, yeah.

Dana was invited to Truman's party this weekend, but she wanted to get away from

it all.

Oh, yeah? President Truman, huh?

Truman Capote.

Lee was going to be there.

Who's Lee?

The Princess Radziwill.

Well, gee, it's nice of you to pass up all these celebrity doings. Come visit

us.

She won't regret it, will she, Bill?

Bill.

Okay, kids, just enjoy yourselves, play your records, make some fudge, whatever

you want to do.

Fudge? Doesn't he have a fabulous sense of humor?

Want to make some fudge?

And every day, Robin Hood and his merry men ride...

ride... I forgot.

Ride merrily past me.

Ride merrily past me. What's next, Mr. Frank?

Look yonder. Here they come now.

Look yonder. Here they come now.

I'm Robin Hood.

I take money from the rich and give it to the poor.

And I am Robin Hood's favorite horse, George.

I don't see that line, Mr. David.

I just want to get in the act.

Uh,

what is going on here?

Buffy's in a plane. We're helping.

Can't Buffy turn her lines by herself?

Oh, yeah, but we like to do things together. It's more fun.

I'm a tree.

What kind?

I don't know. The teacher didn't tell me.

Oh, you must know everything you are. Or how can you portray it? That's part of

the method.

Any method's a little advanced for her.

Dana, don't you think that school plays are terribly quaint?

Right. You couldn't drag me to one.

Well, you couldn't keep me away.

Well, it's my night off, but I'll be there.

And I'm giving up a chance to go to the circus.

Who asked you to go to the circus?

Nobody. But in case somebody does, I'm not going.

I'm a tree in a sherwood forest.

And every day, Robert Hood and his merry men...

Ride past me.

Asleep?

No.

No, I've been thinking what a fun weekend it is.

I've been thinking too.

Must really be Dovesville to you.

Dovesville isn't bad for a change of pace.

Do you want to hear something funny?

What?

I was thinking back to when I was a little girl.

My folks were trying to make it in the theater.

It must have been quite a struggle.

Their first break was in a little theater off Broadway on 41st Street.

The pageant.

We were so broke we had to talk the doorman into letting us live in a

room. In a dressing room?

Yes.

I remember sitting in front of the mirror in that dingy little cubbyhole,

faces in it while my folks were out there on stage.

That sounds dreadful.

No, not really.

Well, you've sure come a long way since then.

A long, long way.

I really envy you.

All those important people.

Sissy. Hmm?

You think I could stay here a few more days?

Are you serious?

You really want to?

Yes.

Well, what about your folks?

They're absolute bears to live with when they're in a show.

They'd be ecstatic to get me out of the way.

Sure.

I'll fix it up with Bill.

Oh, excuse me, sir.

Yeah. It's about Miss Dana, sir. Well, she's been here five days and... Well,

I've been wondering, sir.

You're wondering how long she's going to stay?

Oh, my.

Well, something doesn't seem quite right, sir.

Well, you'd think her folks would call or something. I don't know how they can

let her stay with strangers for almost a week.

Well, that's precisely what I've been wondering, sir.

Maybe that's the way the in crowd does it, huh?

I'll let you, sir. I'm glad we're out.

Oh, my.

Well, tomorrow's just rehearsal, and I don't know my lines. And if I get stuck

in the middle of the show, I'll faint.

Let's see if I can help you.

She's busy with Dana.

Well, Dana will help you then. She knows all about being in plays.

She thinks it's for kids. She says she doesn't want to fall with off -Broadway

stuff.

I'm a genius.

Wow.

Oh, hi, Bill.

Would you like to do me a little favor?

What is it, Mr. Davis?

Well, Buffy needs some help with her lines for the play, you know, and she's

kind of shy about asking you, and the dress rehearsal's tomorrow.

They call it dress rehearsal, those kids?

Oh, sure.

Could you do it? It'd mean a lot to her.

All right, Mr. Davis. Be glad to.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well...

Hey, don't you think Dana's parents are getting a little anxious about her?

Oh, no.

It's inconvenient for them to have her around while they're doing a play.

It's inconvenient?

I guess you don't understand how the jet set lives, Bill.

I guess I don't, Catherine.

I'm learning.

Good morning.

Hey, all set for the dress rehearsal?

Uh -huh. Dana helped me just fine.

Well, thank you, Dana.

Cash will break up when I tell him I coached a tree.

Hey, what's your home phone number?

My home phone number?

It's, uh, it's unlisted.

I know. I tried to get it. I wanted to talk to you folks.

Why?

So I could introduce myself.

You don't have to do that.

Besides, they're hardly ever at home.

Okay. Maybe I'd get them at the theater, huh?

Oh, they don't like to be disturbed.

Honey, I just want to talk to your parents.

Will you give me their number?

Well, I'm sure Dana's parents know she's all right, Uncle Bill.

Well, is there some reason why I shouldn't call them?

No. I'd just rather you didn't.

Why not?

Because they don't know I'm here.

My mother thinks I'm with my father.

My father thinks I'm with my mother.

Well, I guess that kind of calls for a little explanation, doesn't it?

It's very simple.

My parents have separated.

They don't live together anymore.

They're separated?

Sure. It happens all the time.

That's the kind of world it is.

People only live happily ever after in kids' fairy tales.

But we just saw them the other day. They're starring in a play together.

So?

They're civilized people.

They've learned to adjust.

Why should their careers suffer just because they don't get along?

I'm sorry, Dana.

I guess it's pretty difficult for you.

It's a ball.

I just change off.

Spending one week with my mother, one week with my father.

To Jamaica with one, to Acapulco with another.

They knock themselves out doing things for me.

I've got it made.

Sure, I'm not putting down the relationship you have, but it's just too

homespun for my kind of people.

Then why were you so anxious to stay with us?

Gosh, Uncle Bill, I thought for sure that her parents knew that she was here.

You better go on in there with her, honey. I'll see if I can get her mother

the theater.

Do you know what that was all about?

Whatever it was, it sure cost a lot of great leftovers.

Dana.

Dana, you should have told me about your folks.

I would have understood.

Would you?

Would you have understood what it's like to be divided up between your mother

and your father?

Like a polite note they keep passing back and forth.

I'm sorry, Dana.

You know why I wanted to stay here?

Because you're a real family.

The way we used to be when we lived in that little dressing room.

And I envied you.

I do a great acting job, don't I?

Must be in my blood.

Well, I wish you'd stay.

Thanks, sissy.

Don't worry about me.

The one thing I don't need now is anybody's pity.

I'll get ready.

Let's see.

Where's Dana?

She's gone.

I'm sorry I tried to stop her, but... She just took off.

Where did she go?

I don't know.

You sure you're not hiding something to protect her?

No, she wouldn't tell me.

Sissy doesn't lie.

Think, Sissy. Did she say anything? Anything at all that would be a clue?

No.

Sissy, please, try to think of something. Some way we can find her.

You really care so much?

We love her.

Each in his own way.

Of course we do.

Well, at night time, sometimes we'd talk in bed.

She always seemed to talk about the same place.

Where in the world could that be?

It's a funny, dingy little dressing room where you were all a happy family.

I can't remember any place like that.

Neither can I.

On 41st Street, the pageant?

That rat trap?

She thought those were happy days?

Evidently. Well, I'm not sure that's where she went. She didn't say.

Well, it's a place to start looking, anyway.

And if I were Dana running away, that's where I'd go.

What a dreadful place this has become.

It was bad enough in those days.

I never dreamed it meant home to Dana.

Where's your old dressing room?

Last one down the hall on the right.

Hi, sweetheart.

Hello, Mother.

You both came.

Of course we did. We were very worried about you.

Oh, Daddy. All three of us. Right here where it all began.

We're together again.

Not quite, Dana.

You're not back together?

No.

We're going through with a divorce.

As planned.

Then you don't love me.

You don't, not really.

Our separation has nothing to do with our love for you.

I love you. Lois loves you.

Nothing can change that.

But darling, sometimes a man and a woman stop loving each other.

We'll have to learn how to be happy again.

Not in the old way, but in new ways.

But I wanted us to be a real family.

Like Sissy and Mr.

Davis.

Dana, being a real family has nothing to do with the number of people in it or

having your mother and father together.

I haven't even got a real mother or father.

a family has to do with somebody loving you, but especially you loving them

back.

For the tenth time, you were great. You said every word. Now, what other tree

can make that statement?

Mr. French, did I really look like a tree?

Buffy, if I were a bird, I would be proud to build my nest on you.

But you would break your branches, Mr. French.

Buffy, aren't you going to read the card on the flowers?

Oh, yeah.

It's right inside there.

Here.

Buffy Davis.

From secret admirers who love you very, very much.

I wonder what that could be.

I guess I'll never, never...