Original subtitles

laughing

[Music]

starring tommy reddig as jeff miller

jan clayton as his mother ellen

george cleveland as gramps

and of course

lassie

my shot just a minute let him measure

nine

two

eight jeb shot he's close he is not

eight

against

nine i'm close you pushed my marble

you want a player you wanna fight

okay

thanks matthew

what's the big idea i can't help it if

it hit my hand it was rolling out and

you stopped it i did not you did so it's

not out of the circle what are you

beefing about i lost two aggies in the

mimi i could beat you guys anytime if

you shoot fair you saying i chi

you're not getting this one it's still

in the circle take your hand off or i'll

knock it off oh yeah i dare you iggy

your mother's ready to leave thanks mrs

miller okay keep the old marble taking

the ones that belong to me i'm seeing

that you do

last time i'm playing with you guys

suits me and if i never see you again

it's okay too you don't want to see me

and keep out of places where you don't

belong like the father and son party at

the church you got no right there you

got no father

you're nothing but a mama's boy

god beat it you're the biggest group i

ever saw in my life

you feel like playing

no

how about fishing if you want to go now

it's okay with me

i can eat later

nah don't pay no attention to that guy

he's goofy

maybe i shouldn't go to the party

don't be a dope

it's for fathers and sons

not just sons so who cares if it's for

grandfathers

i'm not sure i want to go anyway

is it on account if you haven't got a

father

sort of

so what who cares iggy he's a drip

yeah i know but

all the other kids got fathers i don't

i'm telling you nobody cares it don't

matter

maybe not to you but it does to me

there's a lot

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you know ellen i believe i'm taking on a

little weight

well there's one answer to that

yep stop eating so much right

your cooking is too good

looks like jeff doesn't agree with you

i'm not hungry mom how many apples

do i always have to talk

why jeff we don't bark at each other in

this house

i'm sorry gramps

that's all right

mom can i skip doing the dishes tonight

why

no reason i'll do

it'll give me a chance to work off some

of this food i've backed away thanks

gramps

can i be excused

now let's get into him

i don't know

you know if i acted that way when i was

a boy my mother would say yeah spring

vapors that should give me a big dose of

sunflower glasses

not sick something's bothering him all

the trouble is you fret about the boy

too much

who offered to wipe the dishes for him

look that's got nothing to do with it oh

no of course not nothing at all well

whatever it is it'll work out well i'm

sure it will but

there's no need for him to be unhappy

until it does work out

at least not if i can help him

you go on i'll do all the dishes

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come in

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hi mom

a little early for bed isn't it

i was kind of tired

fine then you'll get a good night's

sleep

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there you go

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got problems

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of

serious

not two

sometimes it helps to talk them out

i guess so

afraid i wouldn't understand

it's not that

what then

well

i don't know

oh some things you just don't want to

talk about i know

that's right

sweetheart

everybody's entitled to his own private

thoughts

don't ever worry about keeping a secret

from me i i know you'll tell me what you

think i should know

sure mom

sleep welcome

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one of the nicest things about mothers

is that they're generally around if you

want them

good night mom

thanks

good night

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do you think it'll be a wagon why

shouldn't it be

i don't know

looks kind of lopsided yet hold it still

i can nail it better

boy you're sure crabby today

you know something what

i'm not going to the father and son's

party why not

you know why not don't be a dope you can

go with your gramps can't you oh sure

ramsay do swell in a three-legged race

good as my pop

oogie's father used to play football in

college he can run fast too

he's still a drip well i'm not going i'm

taking the worm

who

cares

hi karen

jeff you gotta go

how can i

go if i did go with gramps everybody

knows he's not my father

all i know is you gotta go

all right

but i'm not promising

maybe

maybe i'll go ow

i'm sorry

good thing i ain't in a rush to get them

feeders whitewashed huh

if ever i saw a picture of speed

you ain't it

what you dreaming about

oh

nothing

well when you get them finished and they

dry

i'll help you set him back up huh

okay

[Music]

come along our eyes

i guess so

need some help i'm pretty good painter

no thanks

you still got the glooms

sort of

two nights a day for that

yeah

i've got a good idea you finish your

chores and then the two of us will drive

into town

all right

seems to me that i heard something said

about a keen new baseball glove at

jennings store how would you like to go

and buy it when we go to town

okay

well i'll call you when i'm ready

mom yes

gramps is real nice and he always does

things for me even when he doesn't feel

like it

yes well it doesn't seem right to make

him go through a lot of trouble just on

account of me

well he enjoys doing things for you not

everything

i can't very well answer that until i

know what you have in mind

the party friday night at the church

gramps wouldn't have a good time he's

only gone because of me

i don't care about it honest i don't i'd

rather not go

is that all you've been worrying about

oh gosh mom i wouldn't want to have

gramps come and not have any fun i'd

rather not go

oh you silly goose he doesn't mind a bit

i'd still rather not go

let's sit down a minute son

now then what's this all about

do i have to tell you

no but i'm i'd like you to

i'd like to have some sort of

explanation to give grams he's expecting

to take you to the party

i can't explain to him

pardon me

i don't want to go

i don't belong

because you have no father

well gramps is swell but this is a

father and son party

he's not my father

and i'm not his son

i just don't want to go

you don't have to go dear but i do

i'm a kind of higgy

called me a mama's boy

he said i didn't belong at the party so

i gotta go

i gotta prove that he's not scaring me

away i can't chicken out

you understand don't you mom

i think i do

so if i gotta go i'd rather go alone

that's okay isn't it

sure it's okay

anything you want to do is 100 okay

thanks mom

[Music]

hello helen hello mr harding thanks so

much for coming out i just couldn't get

away i don't get up here often enough

the country minister has a widely

separated flock

come on in thank you

sit down

oh

sorry

yes yeah i guess you've given up

baseball some years ago no you wouldn't

think so if you could see me shagging

flies out in the field with the boys

when they need another outfielder i used

to play a very fair first base call me

sometime

i've never liked women who who hollered

for help when they couldn't face their

problems

well if no one needed help on problems

i'd be looking for another job seems to

me that's what ministers are for

well i i shouldn't need somebody to pat

me on the head and tell me that

everything will be all right

well i can't tell you that everything's

going to be all right until i know it's

wrong

jeff of course oh not that he's done

anything wrong no don't apologize for

jeff

protective instinct

no there's no need to apologize

jeff hasn't done anything but

something's been done to him

i knew this would happen someday and

now it has

jeff's bumped his head against the fact

that his father is dead

and he's hurt what brought this on

the father and son party

dad was going to take him but all of a

sudden jeff bought

seems that one of the youngsters called

him a mama's boy and

told him that he didn't belong at the

party now he doesn't want to go but he's

afraid he'll lose face if he if he isn't

there so he's going alone well no harm

in that

well

no no

no harm but

it sets him apart

after all he has no father even though

i've tried to be

there i go again

half feeling sorry for myself and half

patting myself on the back

you're about to say that you tried to be

both mother and father to him

i think that's wrong ellen

i've been wondering when you were going

to think of another father for jeff

but in the meantime you've been a good

mother

that's a full-time job don't attempt the

impossible

all you can hope to do and you've done

it very well

is to make jeff realize

how lucky he is to have a mother like

you

no wishing for the moon huh it doesn't

help much

well i

feel better i think

i'm gonna holler for help more often

well do i send him to the party alone

you're in charge of the refreshments

aren't you

but when you bring them why don't you

drop jeff at the party

i've got the glimmering of an idea first

i'll have to talk to some of the men who

are going to be there and i'll phone you

tomorrow morning

any special formula for saying thank you

to a minister who who's eased your mind

a great deal

have to think that over to let you know

tomorrow when i phone you i'll be

waiting

come

on come on dear

that sounds like they have a good time

okay

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[Applause]

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[Applause]

i was just gonna drop my share of the

food off and leave i don't know why i

should do all of the work and you have

all of the fun you think uh think a

mother could spy on the father and son

party if so i think i'd like to stay

sure

thank you as a matter of fact we need a

referee for some of the games of high

skill like the potato and three-legged

race who was going to referee i was

stuck

you still are no discrimination count me

in on the games of skills please mom

all right everybody now grab a chair and

form a circle right here

[Music]

all right

everybody everybody anyway now look i

want everyone to take two crackers you

see two crackers this is a contest of

skill and coordination two crackers hey

how come you're so late i thought you'd

never get here i got here

is

the ability to whistle and that's vital

no

[Laughter]

are two crackers you understand

and the one who whistles first wins and

don't think that it's easy

all right everybody

everybody ready

[Laughter]

congratulations

[Applause]

and remember no hands no hands remember

no hands are you ready

go

[Applause]

i don't know about the rest of you but

i'm beginning to suspect we have a

ringer here uh how about it are you

gonna let her run off with everything no

is it really a woman's word

legs all tied boys

all right now remember you have to touch

the ribbon twice

on your marks sir

you're ready yeah

go

how's it going fine the vestibule door's

open all right i'll be right in

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oh here you are mom thank you gee mrs

miller

you are terrific you won everything

hi mom

everything all right dear sure

did you have a nice time at the party it

was swell oh i'm glad

hey jeff what you got out of the covers

hunter

oh darling

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you