My name is Allison MacKenzie.
Where I was born...
time was told not by the clock or the calendar...
but by the seasons.
Summer was carefree contentment.
Autumn was that bittersweet time of regret...
for moments that had ended and things that were yet undone.
And then winter fell...
with a cold mantle of caution and chill.
It nipped our noses and our arrogance...
and made us move closer to the warm stoves of memory and desire.
Spring was promise.
But there was a fifth season, oflove...
and only the wise or the lucky ones...
knew where to find it.
[Horn Honks]
[Honking]
Whoa.
Hey, mister, which way to Peyton Place?
You go right up this road about two miles and you'll come right in center of town.
Thanks.
- [Clanging] - [Train Whistle Blows]
Lucas stole my money and he'll do it again.
He drinks everything in sight.
I spent a year and a half saving that money for a correspondence course.
Don't go, Paul. You was my first-born.
Hitting everybody who doesn't agree with him... even you.
- Only when he's drinking. - Lately that's been every night.
What'd you marry him for?
When your real pa died, you and Selena and Joey had to have some kind of father.
Lucas tries hard to be a good man.
- Good-bye, Mom. - Paul!
Selena, don't you ask me to stay.
My babysitting money. I wish there was more.
Paul!
Paul, I'll... I'll do extra work.
I'll find a job and get the money back to you.
Don't leave.
I'm... I'm sorry we... we got into a fight.
It won't happen again. I give you my word.
Paul.! Paul.!
[Grumbles]
Uh, he'll... he'll come back.
You wait and see. He'll come back.
Nellie, I'm... I'm going to try hard...
not to drink anymore.
Selena...
I'm... I'm going to try harder than I ever tried anything.
- Morning. - Good morning.
May I have a couple of fried eggs...
and a cup of coffee, please?
- All right. - Do you have a washroom where I can clean up?
- First door. - Oh, yeah. Thank you.
- What you selling? - [Snickers] Nothing.
Sorry. Thought you might be a traveling man.
Nah. I came here to get a job.
I should have known. I hear the Harrington Woolen Mills...
got some big government contracts for military uniform cloth.
Lot of people will be moving in here.
Which way is it to Harrington Mills?
Follow Elm Street to the river, then look up to your right.
You'll hate it.
[Classical Piano]
[Continues]
- Morning, Miss MacKenzie. - Morning, Nellie.
Paul left this morning.
- Left for where? - Don't know.
Says he wants to get out of this town and make something of himself...
instead of working all the time at the mill.
He wants to see the world.
- Who's going to see the world? - Paul.
He left town this morning.
Must you play records at quarter to 8:00 in the morning?
Good breakfast music.
Digest your orange juice with culture.
I'm glad about Paul, Nellie. How did Selena take it?
She's glad, too, but she ain't a mother. Neither are you.
I'd like to see the world, have a romance in Venice...
meet a tall dark stranger in Hong Kong.
- Allison, don't eat so fast. - Have to.
Senior class is giving a gift to Miss Thornton...
and I wrote a speech that Rodney Harrington is going to read...
badly, I'm sure.
What's going on?
School board's meeting to appoint a new principal since Mr. Firth died.
How do you know they'll give it to Miss Thornton?
There's nobody else who deserves it.
I'll drop by the store after school.
Good-bye, Dad.
I wish you'd stop that ridiculous performance every day.
What? Saying good-bye and hello to my father?
Saying it to a photograph.
I suppose it's silly, but it makes me feel that he's here.
You scarcely knew your father.
It's not my fault he died when I was two.
I can't remember him, I admit, but I miss him.
You mean you miss a father.
Yes, Mother.
Wouldn't it be nice if you had men friends...
or some dates or even married again?
Will you stop talking about fathers and husbands and marriage?
You miss him more than I ever realized.
I'm sorry, Mother.
I'll be late.
Forgot the speech.
- Bye, Mom. - Bye.
- Good morning, Mrs. Lancy. - Morning, Allison.
Hi, David.
Good morning, Mr. Hammond.
Morning, Miss Allison.
[Dog Barks]
Go on home, Buffy.
- Hi, Doc Swain. - Morning, Allison.
- Good morning, girls. - Good morning, Doctor.
- Good morning, Mr. Cross. - Morning.
Thank you, Norman. Everything's gone wrong this morning.
If you didn't run all the time...
Ted's bringing the gift.
[Chattering]
Rodney!
Here's the speech.
- Hey, I'll never memorize this. - Then just read it.
She's coming.! Miss Thornton's coming.!
Hey, hey.
"The job of principal of Peyton Place High School."
[School Bell Rings]
[Chattering]
Quiet.
Miss Thornton, the members of the senior class...
have asked me to say a few words...
and, on behalf of them, to present this gift to you.
The names of all of us are inscribed...
inside the cover of that dictionary.
Because there are so many different words...
that might express what we feel for you...
and your long services to Peyton Place High School...
we decided to give you all the words in the language.
We're going to lose you, but to something bigger and more important...
thejob of principal of Peyton Place High School.
So that you know we'll never forget...
you can always turn to the words "'love, '"
"'friendship'" and "'remembrance, '"
and know that we're always thinking them.
This is the loveliest thing that ever happened to me.
L...
There's another word in this book...
"gratitude."
Now let's talk about graduation.
I would like to have a report...
from the president of the class, Ted Carter.
- Come on, Ted. - Miss Thornton...
I've arranged for all the necessary committees.
If they all do their jobs well...
I'm sure we'll have a fine graduation.
Vice president Selena Cross.
The programs will be printed in a couple of weeks.
I've rented caps and gowns at $2.50 apiece.
We're going to have a tea and a reception on the lawn afterwards.
Editor of the yearbook, Allison MacKenzie.
The copy's all done...
but the engraver's going mad waiting for all the pictures to come in.
So anybody who doesn't have his picture in by Wednesday won't be in the yearbook.
Senior dance, Betty Anderson.
[Wolf Whistle]
Everybody has to help with the decorations.
The tickets are printed and will go on sale a week before.
Oh, and I'm supposed to announce...
there's to be no necking in the parking lot.
[Laughter]
- Nor anywhere else, for that matter. - [Laughter]
But, Harrington, Elsie Thornton has earned the right to be principal.
She's given her life to this town.
- The least we can do is recognize it. - Doc...
as head of this school board, it's my opinion...
Miss Thornton should be retired.
I can't quite concur with you, Leslie.
- I agree with Doc Swain. - You would.
Miss Thornton's practically senile.
She's a hypochondriac. Uses sleeping pills all the time.
You want a drug addict for a principal?
Marion, it seems to me I write a lot of drug prescriptions out for you every year.
As far as Miss Thornton being senile, she's of your generation.
She is not. I am 36.
You're 45. My father delivered you...
the year they built the courthouse... 1896.
We need someone young. This fellow who's coming...
is the result of correspondence with five teachers' agencies.
And I can get him at the right price.
- Mr. Harrington, he's outside. - Yes?
He can't do us much good out there, Miss Colton.
Send him in.
- Would you come in, Mr. Rossi? - Yes, thank you.
- Good morning. - I'm Leslie Harrington.
This is the school board...
Mr. And Mrs. Partridge. He's a lawyer.
- Dr. Swain. - Doctor.
Seth Bushwell, editor of the Peyton Place Times. Please, sit down.
Now, Mr. Rossi, here's our situation.
We're prepared to offer the job as principal...
to a qualified man with a minimum guaranteed five-year contract.
Mr. Rossi is a graduate of Penn State...
summa cum laude.
He holds a master's degree in English and literature.
Was an outstanding athlete. He's single.
Personally, now that I've seen him, I like what I see.
- Did I miss anything? - Only that I've been working for a construction company.
If you're a teacher, why were you working for a construction company?
I couldn't live on the salary I was being paid as a teacher.
This job starts at 3,000 a year.
Then we're all wasting our time.
That's only $5.00 a week more than I was making as a teacher.
But this offers you security...
a long-term contract.
Guaranteed poverty is not security.
I want 5,000 a year and a raise of 500 in the second year.
We can't do it.
You own this mill. How much do you pay a foreman, about $200 a week?
This is business. These men manufacture a product that makes money.
You must be practical and face realities.
To people like you, education is just a necessary evil.
You can't see it, so it's worth nothing.
Well, let me tell you this, Mr. Harrington...
The things we can't see are the most important things on this earth.
They're called ideas.
Thank you very much for the interview.
If we offer you 5,000...
would you coach the basketball and football team?
No, I would not.
In a town like this, if you can't afford to pay your principal a decent salary...
you have no right to be running a school, much less sending your own children to it.
Mr. Rossi.
Leslie, I'm afraid you're fighting a losing battle.
Now, Mr. Rossi, frankly...
In other words, the life history of the race...
repeats itself in the individual.
[Knock Knock]
- A notice from the school board. - Thank you.
"'Effective immediately...
"the school board of Peyton Place...
"is happy to announce the appointment of a new school principal...
Mr. Michael Rossi."
- Who? - Who?
"'We trust that you will show him the same loyalty and devotion...
you displayed to the late Mr. Firth."
[School Bell Rings]
Class dismissed.
I'm sorry, Miss Thornton.
I don't know how they could do such a thing.
You should be principal. You deserved it.
Allison, a person doesn't always get what she deserves.
Remember it.
If there's anything in life you want, go and get it.
Don't wait for anybody to give it to you.
Now I have some work to do.
See you later, Al.
- Here we are. - Good-looking school, Doc.
That must be the new principal, you know?
They really give it to you, didn't they?
Like everybody else in this here town, they really give it to you.
- Have you been drinking? - Work yourself to death for them...
and then they bring in an outsider...
to pick the plum off the tree.
You have been drinking.
I've known for a long time you kept a bottle in the basement...
but I won't have you bring it into the classroom ever.
- Now don't forget that. - Might do your kids more good...
to learn how to handle a bottle of liquor...
instead of an algebra problem.
- You're talking like a fool. - Oh, be I?
I sat in this classroom four years.
I sat right here!
Everything that was important to me was learned somewheres else.
You never applied yourself. If you had, you might've learned something in school.
Oh, ho. Tell that to my wife, a cleaning woman.
Tell that to me, a janitor, cleaning toilets for a living.
- Oh, stop it! - Tell that to every mill worker behind in bills.
I said, stop it. If you had applied yourself...
you might have learned how to live intelligently.
[Laughs]
There ain't nobody in this here town living intelligently.
- Nobody. - I don't believe that.
All right, name me one important person...
graduated from this here school.
Name one! You can't.
I'm going to tell you something, Miss Thornton...
something you can teach your class someday.
The minute they walk out that there door...
they walk into a dog-eat-dog world.
It's crawl in front of the big dogs...
if you want to eat, get a job.
I won't do it. I won't do it!
That's why I'm washing windows...
scrubbing walls, emptying ashes.
I never had nothing I ever wanted.
Shakespeare didn't do me no more good...
than Washington did crossing the Delaware.
You didn't help yourself.
Elsie, I'd like to have you meet Mike Rossi.
- Miss Thornton. - Hello, Miss Thornton.
- Mr. Rossi. Welcome to Peyton Place. - Thank you.
This is our utility man Lucas Cross.
- Hello, Lucas. - My hand's too dirty.
I'll start on another room.
- Does he always drink? - He's disappointed for me.
Loyalty is always more passionate than reason.
I guess that's why I came to see you first.
There was strong sentiment for making you principal.
Please don't feel uncomfortable, Mr. Rossi.
My time came too late.
- [Rossi] I hope we can work together. - Of course we can.
I suppose you have a lot of new, progressive ideas.
No, not really.
I'm rather old-fashioned, as a matter of fact.
- I have just two rules. - Oh?
First, I want this school to teach the truth, as far as we know it.
I don't want any teacher making a fairy tale out of life. It's, uh...
It's hard enough as it is without being unequipped to meet it.
That's a good rule.
Shall we sit down?
And rule two...
teach a minimum of facts and a maximum of ideas.
Our job is to teach children how to think...
not just to memorize for a couple of weeks.
If war comes for us...
these kids shouldn't fight just for historical dates...
but for the ideals behind them.
I like your rules, Mr. Rossi.
Peyton Place is very fortunate.
Thank you, Miss Thornton.
Hey, Allison, I don't know what Betty's buying from your mother...
but will you tell her to hurry up?
Okay.
Mother, Miss Thornton didn't get the job.
I know. Betty Anderson and Marge told me. They're in the back.
After giving her the gift and the speech...
it was terribly embarrassing and tragic for her.
- Well, she'll get over it. - I'm glad I'm graduating.
I don't want anything to do with the new principal.
- Mrs. MacKenzie, about graduation... - What about it, Selena?
Mother needs a new dress for the exercises.
Is there some arrangement I could make to buy her one?
After I graduate, I'll get a full-time job and I could pay you back.
You'll be needing a new dress yourself.
Oh, I can get by.
Look, with Easter and graduation coming on...
I'll be needing some help.
How would you like to work here afternoons and Saturdays?
- Oh, I'd love to! - Fine.
- Then I could buy two dresses. - Wholesale.
Gee, no girl ever had two better friends than you and Allison.
When you see how hard Mother makes you work, you won't say that.
Oh!
- Rodney's outside. - Good. Let him wait.
Aren't you afraid you'll be arrested wearing that thing?
- No. Just picked up. - Mother says women should be mysterious.
You think the dress is too old?
No. You're just too young.
Aren't you afraid people will think you're fast?
Allison, according to my philosophy...
what other people think will not pay the rent.
If you're accused of being fast, you might as well run...
that way you get to all the good things first.
Just remember, men can see much better than they can think.
Believe me, a low-cut neckline does more for a girl's future...
than the entire Britannica encyclopedia.
Allison, would you help me a moment?
Sure. Be right back.
You think Rod will like it?
When you have your 18th birthday party...
I don't want you to invite Betty Anderson.
Then I might as well not have a party.
If I can't invite Betty, Rodney Harrington won't come.
I wouldn't mind that at all.
If Rodney won't come, his friends won't, and soon nobody will accept.
I can't understand why you want to be friends with a girl like Betty.
- Mother, you don't... - I don't like the way she talks about men and sex.
It appears the only perfect individual in Peyton Place is you.
We've had 17 dull birthday parties alone.
Could you let me have one for myself, please?
Hey, Allison, what about Betty?
- Hi, Norman. - Oh, hi, Allison.
What's the matter?
Same old thing.
Grown-ups who act like children.
Hey, could I walk home with you?
Oh, no. It's out of your way. Besides, you'll get home late.
You mean your mother wouldn't like it.
- Well... - Come on, Norman, come on.
Spend the afternoon in the library again?
Yeah.
Isn't it awfully dull going there every day?
Yeah.
Oh? Then why do you do it?
Well, I like books. Good place to do my homework.
Besides, where else could I go but home?
Go down to the water, sit in the square...
take a walk in the woods.
I can't.
You know, that was a nice speech...
that you wrote for Miss Thornton.
I'm sorry I did it now.
Why didn't you read it yourself instead of letting Rodney Harrington do it?
Because I was afraid I'd cry.
Still might cry every time I think of Miss Thornton not getting that job.
You just might turn out to be a great writer.
Oh, Norman, I hope so.
You know, every time I touch a book...
or read a story...
or even when I just open the dictionary...
something inside of me goes thump...
and my heart starts pounding...
and my stomach...
You know, it's how people are supposed to feel when they fall in love.
Of course, I never have.
Oh, I wish I could be so sure of what I wanted to do.
- You must have some idea. - Mm. No.
[Sighs] No, I thought of everything...
but nothing seems to fit me.
Maybe I'll be unique and retire at the age of 18.
Norman! It's about time you got home.
Hello, Mrs. Page!
- Bye, Norman. - Wait just a minute, will you?
- But your... - I don't want to go in just yet.
Norman, what an awful thing... hating to go home.
Come on in here.
Well, thanks for walking with me.
I enjoyed it, really.
Good-bye.
- May I walk on it, Nellie? - Sure. It's dry by now.
Your mother wants you to call her.
I really don't feel like it.
You two have a fight again?
Same fight, different round.
- Nellie. - Yeah?
You've been both a daughter and mother.
- Which one is worse? - Being a mother.
Why?
You find yourself doing the same things...
you hated your own mother and father doing.
That's very interesting.
Somewhere along the line doesn't somebody get intelligent...
and realize the children have to grow up their own way?
The mind's nothing to do with it. It's your feelings.
Kids get born, and you just worry about them, and you hope for them.
Well, I got to get going.
Good night, Nellie.
Good night, Allison.
[Classical Piano]
[Telephone Rings]
[Ring]
Hello? Oh, hello, Mother.
I just wanted to tell you I've been thinking it over...
and you can invite anyone you want to your birthday party.
Oh, Mother, thank you. Thank you very much.
I'll be home in a little while.
Bye.
Um, 2676-J, please.
[Slow Big Band]
[Chattering]
Hey, watch where you're going there, buddy, will you?
- Oh, thanks much. - Thank you.
- You don't need it. - Right now I want it. I want some!
- Would you like a sandwich, Norman? - No, thank you.
[Doorbell Rings]
Excuse me. Excuse me.
- Happy birthday! - Happy birthday, Allison. How are you?
- Betty and Rodney! - Hey, where's Ted Carter?
Right here.
Let's take that corny music off and get down to serious dancing.
- What do you mean? Those are good records. - Yeah. These are new ones.
- How about a sandwich? - I brought mistletoe.
- Mistletoe? - Hang it high, will ya?
- [Music Stops] - Only if I can kiss Betty Anderson.
Tonight, nobody's safe with me here.
Mistletoe? Christmas is eight months away.
I believe in doing my Christmas kissing early.
- Hey! - [UpbeatJazz]
- Hey, where's the punch? - It's over there, Rodney.
Oh, good. We'll add the old family formula.
- Mother says we shouldn't. - We can't do that.
- My mother wouldn't want... - Don't tell me she's here.
- No. She's at the movies. - Great!
Put the booze in the bowl.
- That's the one thing she made me promise. Please? - You want to have a party or not?
- You can't fight city hall. - I'm sorry.
Listen, forget it. I know 10 other ways to make a birthday party successful.
Now, first...
we got to make the atmosphere a little more intimate.
Rodney, aren't you the one?
[UpbeatJazz Continues]
- Evening. - Evening. Hello, Doc.
Hi, Connie.
- Just coffee, please. - Right.
Who is that, Doc?
That's Mrs. MacKenzie. She runs a dress shop.
She has a daughter in the senior class. Allison MacKenzie.
- Beautiful woman. - Yeah. A widow.
She was born here, but had ambitions and left.
Married in New York to some advertising genius.
When he died, she came back here.
- I'd like to meet her. - Wouldn't do you no good.
Bring your coffee.
Connie, you haven't met Mr. Rossi, the new school principal.
- Mrs. MacKenzie. - How do you do?
I hear about you every day from my daughter.
Uh, you been working kind of late?
No. I've been to the movies.
- Allison's giving a birthday party. - Oh.
What does your daughter plan to do after graduation?
She'd like to be a writer. I'd like her to go to college.
It's too bad she didn't have brothers and sisters.
Why do you say that?
It's just that I'm against only-child families.
Only children receive all of the attention...
and energy of the parents... good and bad.
- I don't think Allison's turned out badly. - She hasn't turned out yet.
Her life is just beginning.
Anyway, it's a little late to give her any brothers and sisters, isn't it?
- In your case, I'd say it wasn't. - [Telephone Rings]
If I didn't like you so much and know you so well...
Now, Connie, don't you go proposing to me.
- For you, Doc. - Excuse me.
Would you like a cigarette?
- Swain speaking. - Thank you.
I'll be right over.
Speak of babies, and they appear.
Mrs. Lunkle's in labor. I'll see you later.
Thanks, Doc.
- Bye. - Bye.
Doc Swain's always talking about babies.
They're his stock in trade.
Not a bad subject though.
We teach schoolchildren English and math and history...
and yet we neglect the one subject that gives them the most trouble in life.
You don't recommend classes in baby-making, do you?
[Chuckles] Only in theory.
I intend to initiate a sex-education course in the school.
Isn't that a function of the home?
You'd think it would be, yet not one parent in 10 does it.
No. Sex is taboo in the home.
And it should be in the schools.
Where would they learn it... the alleys in parked cars?
They'll learn it when they marry.
Good night, Mr. Rossi.
Doc Swain offers a special price for frostbites.
[Chuckles]
["'Blue Moon'"]
- Come on, Allison. - Rodney.
Allison!
This was supposed to be a birthday party.
We were just playing a game called photography.
You turn out the lights and see what develops.
Don't be fresh. Just leave immediately... all of you!
I'm sorry, Mrs. MacKenzie, but I just caught her under the mistletoe.
Will you please leave.!
Happy birthday, Allison. Come on, Betty.
Thanks anyway.
Thanks, Allison.
Come out here.
Allison, I said come out here!
I knew this would happen if you invited Betty Anderson.
- It wasn't her fault. - You and Rodney making love.
We were kissing... one kiss. Not making love.
The house in darkness and couples necking all over the place.
I know, Mother, but everyone wanted to dance in the dark.
And I couldn't very well...
Mother, some time or other at every party in this town, they turn out the lights.
I don't want you to be like everybody in this town.
I want you to rise above Peyton Place.
It's my home and my town and why should I want to rise above it?
Because its standards are low.
Its people trying to drag each other down to their own common level.
I don't want to be perfect like you.
I don't wanna live in a test tube.
I just want to be me and have some fun and have some friends.
I'd rather be liked than be perfect.
By liked, you mean being pawed over in the dark...
by some young animal with one thing on his mind?
Mother, don't make it sound like that!
Everything has to be learned, even kissing.
And sex? Is that what you're going to practice at your next party?
You keep trying to accuse me of things I'm not even thinking about!
Oh, Allison.
I don't want you to get a reputation for a half-hour's carelessness.
I already have one... the wrong kind.
I want you to fall in love...
and at the proper time, to marry a man who respects you.
I want you to have a good name. I want...
You want! You want! You want!
Is that all you can say?
Well, if any man would seriously ask me...
I'd run away and become his mistress.
Don't you ever let me hear you say that again!
Ohh! I don't know why I said it.
I don't know why I said it.
Allison.
Well, good morning.
Hello, Prudie.
- Hello, Allison. - Hello, Joey.
- Selena will be out in a couple of minutes. - Thank you.
Come on in back. I got a new baby lamb.
Oh, I'd love to see it.
[Lamb Bleating]
Oh, it's darling.
- I didn't show you my lizard. - Uh-uh.
I keep him in a box right there.
I got some holes punched in it just so he can breathe.
His name is Pocahontas.
It used to be a man didn't have to cook...
- his own meals in his own house. - [Boy] Look at it all you want to.
Times have changed. Ma's working, and I'm late for church.
The way you parade yourself up and down...
taking off your clothes, putting on your clothes.
- I don't parade up and down. - You do!
- Like to show yourself off, don't you? - I don't like to!
Just 'cause we don't live in a palace...
doesn't mean we have to act like we're pigs or something.
We got a trash can, remember?
Well, well, well.
If you don't pick it up, somebody else has to.
And it wouldn't harm you to take the garbage out and bury it, either.
Or do you like living like a pig?
What do you think you are, a general or something? Always giving orders!
Take your hands off me!
Don't you touch her! Don't you touch her anymore!
- [Church Bells Ringing] - [Breathing Heavily]
Hey, it was just a little family fracas.
Guess my little girl's getting too big to spank.
It was my fault, Allison.
I made him mad.
Every family has fights.
They're forgotten in an hour.
Praise him, all creatures
Here below
Praise him all
Of the heavenly fold
Praise Father
[Giggling]
Come on.
Hey, Norman, you know what?
There's a place I know that I'd like to show you...
that no one knows about... not even you.
It's my secret place.
Aw, I know every spot...
within three miles of Peyton Place.
Not this one. Come on.
You were right. I never knew this place was here.
I don't think anybody does but me...
and maybe God... and now you.
[Inhales, Exhales Deeply]
It's beautiful.
I've just decided.
This is the last time I'm ever going to come here.
Uhh! Why?
Oh, I'm going to leave it for somebody else to find.
Hey, maybe your children will discover it, huh?
I'm never going to get married. I'm just going to have lovers.
Oh, Allison.
What's wrong with that?
No children to grow up unhappy.
Nobody gets hurt, except maybe me.
Yeah, but that's the worst kind of emotional maladjustment.
Who said so?
- Oh, a book I read. - What book?
Well, see, I've sent for a book.
Uh, it was $1.98 in a plain wrapper.
- A plain wrapper? - Yeah, a plain wrapper.
And, well, it was about marriage and... and sex.
I had it sent to me at the post office, general delivery.
It took me about two weeks to get up the courage to go pick it up.
[Giggling]
[Laughing]
Oh, God... God, I know it sounds funny...
but that was the only way I could find out anything.
Norman, you know what?
I sent for a book just like that...
in the same plain wrapper, general delivery.
- No? Really? The same one? - Mm-hmm.
- [Laughing] - And I read every word of it.
And I think most of it's mid-Victorian nonsense.
Maybe yours was better. Hey, want to trade books?
Oh, no.
No, I'd be too embarrassed.
That's your whole trouble, Norman.
Everything embarrasses you.
- Everything frightens you. - I know.
I'm... I'm sorry.
I'm sorry we started talking about all this.
Hey, Norman, look.
It's about time you learned...
that girls want to do the same things as boys.
And they have the right to know how.
I mean, I think we should help each other.
Are you suggesting that...
Oh, Norman, don't get me wrong.
All I want is a normal, intelligent discussion...
and maybe some normal affection between a boy and a girl.
Nothing more.
Everybody in this town hides behind plain wrappers.
You're so afraid.
You've even been afraid to ask me to the graduation dance.
Oh, Allison, I want...
Well, see, I'm just not asking anybody.
I'll be there, but I can't ask you.
- Why not? - Well, my mother.
Your mother.
Well, she wouldn't actually forbid it.
It's just that she gets... she gets jealous of anybody at all...
that I spend my time with.
Oh, you don't know her.
You don't have to live with her.
But she's my mother. There's nothing I can do about that.
You don't have to tell me any more, Norman.
Please, Allison. I've got to tell somebody.
She won't let me have friends.
She... Oh.
She makes me tell her 10 times a day how much I love her.
She's afraid she'll die alone in a poorhouse.
Oh, and marriage...
marriage, she says, is misery...
and a woman can only cause me trouble.
Oh, Norman, I can't believe it.
Nobody would.
Now maybe you know why I hate to go home...
why I live in the library...
why l... I can't dance or kiss girls...
or look anybody in the eye.
You see, I'm a sissy and a coward.
No, you're not, Norman.
No one around town stopped to think...
and give you a chance.
You shouldn't be afraid of girls.
I know, but I am, and I don't know what I can do about it.
- I know what you can do. - What?
You can start with me.
I'll prove everything your mother ever said was wrong.
Would you kiss me, Norman?
- I don't think I can. - Yes, you could.
Kiss me.
I don't know why I should act so experienced.
It was only my second kiss this year.
It wasn't as good as Rodney's, was it?
No.
[Doorbell Rings]
Hello. I guess I should have phoned...
- but I was in the neighborhood... - No, that's all right.
I have a message for Allison. Is she home?
No. She and Selena...
have just gone over to Kathy Ellsworth's house.
Gives me a good excuse to talk to you.
- May I come in? - Oh, of course.
You have a lovely house.
Thank you. Please come in.
This is a very comfortable room.
Good books, pictures.
My own hotel room's a bit basic...
I have a mirror for shaving, a basin for washing...
and a closet where I hang my coat... and that's about it.
- You ought to find yourself a house. - I'm trying to.
In the meantime, I still have my hotel room...
which I clear out of right after dinner.
Uh, you said you had something you wanted to tell me.
I was telling you something, Mrs. MacKenzie, but you weren't listening.
Your husband?
He died when Allison was two.
And, uh, Allison.
Well, a few years ago.
[Chuckles] She's grown a bit since then.
Oh, I came to tell you that...
Allison has been named valedictorian.
Oh, that's wonderful. She'll be terribly pleased, and so am I.
She's a fine girl... bright and sensitive.
You should be very proud of her.
Yes, I am.
Well, that's what I came about.
Good night, Mrs. MacKenzie.
You are lonely here, aren't you?
- It's not the worst thing that can happen to you. - Isn't it?
You can learn to live by yourself.
You can get used to it.
Maybe, but that doesn't make it the best way to live.
The best way? What would that be?
People meeting, talking.
Well, in Peyton Place...
two people talking is... is a conspiracy.
A meeting is an assignation...
and getting to know one another is a scandal.
I think you're hard on the town. You're hard on yourself.
No, I'm quite all right the way I am.
What were you going to do tonight?
Wash your hair? Read a book? Go to the movies alone?
Well, it makes time pass.
Time shouldn't just pass, Mrs. MacKenzie.
It should be used.
I wouldn't know where to begin.
Begin at the beginning. Begin by getting out.
Look, we need another chaperone for the graduation dance.
Why don't you help us out?
Will you come?
- I'd think I'd like that. - Fine.
Good night, and thanks.
- Good night. - Good night.
Betty Anderson's father stopped me in the shop today.
Yeah? Well, what did he want?
He asked when you was gonna marry Betty, before college or during?
I hadn't exactly thought of marrying her.
I wouldn't hear of it even if you wanted to!
Anderson's a good foreman, but his daughter's something else.
- Yeah, I agree. - Then stop seeing her.
I can't stop seeing her right away, Dad. I invited her to the graduation dance.
- Uninvite her. - Aw, now, Dad, I can't do that.
You're gonna.
Do you realize what it would mean if you was to marry the local tramp?
When you marry, you're gonna marry someone on your own level.
Call her and tell her it's off.
- You trying to kill me? - Call her.
- Aw, please, Dad. - Go on, call her!
1042-W, please.
I can understand you wanting to see this girl...
but not in public.
You know what I mean.
Okay, okay, Dad. Nobody's fighting you. I'll be as big a Harrington as you.
I'll marry a cold fish from Boston, have one child, and cheat the rest of my life.
An apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
But the graduation dance is important.
You want a new car, don't you?
Uh, B-Betty? Um, hello, Betty.
Look, this is Rodney.
Look, Betty, this is, uh, so terrible, I don't know where to begin.
Tell her.
- Betty, the graduation dance is off. - [Click]
Aw, she hung up. What a fine graduation!
- I know someone you can take. - Who?
- Allison MacKenzie. - Yeah. Her mother kicked me out of the house...
for kissing her on her birthday.
I'll talk to her mother. Allison's a girl of quality.
Dad, quality's a good thing in woolen cloth...
but it's very dull on a big date.
["Chattanooga Choo-Choo"]
I didn't know you were such a good dancer, Allison.
- Thank you. - Yeah, sure.
- Hi, Rod. - Hi there, Allison.
Hi.
Hey, Rodney, looking for someone?
After the dance, shall we go to Rockland?
Okay. [Giggles] Oh, really?
[Giggling]
Some more, Mrs. MacKenzie?
No, thank you, Miss Thornton.
May I have this dance, Mrs. MacKenzie?
Well, l... I haven't danced for such a long time, I'm afraid I'd be terrible.
Dancing isn't something you forget.
Hey, listen, Allison, I promised a dance to Betty.
The second one after remission. Do you mind?
No. Not if you promised it to her.
- I'll see you around, okay? - Okay.
[Chattering, Laughing]
Allison, did you see your mother dancing with Mr. Rossi?
- No, I've never seen my mother dance. - Standing right over there.
They make a good-looking couple.
- ["You'll Never Know"] - They do?
- Hi, Norman. - Hi.
Dance with me, Norman.
I don't know how.
Just try.
- Where we going? - You'll see.
Hey, Rodney, you got a new car.
Yeah. Hey, come on. Get in.
Oh, Rodney, it's beautiful.
[Laughing] Here we are...
snug as peas in a pod.
- Where we going? - Nowhere.
Hey, I'm mad at you.
Come on, Betty.
- You really wanna kiss me, don't you? - Boy, do I.
- Tell me how much. Tell me. - Betty...
I wanna kiss you more than anyone in the world.
I wanna kiss you a thousand times. I never wanna stop kissing you.
That's pretty good. I'll give you one kiss.
What would Allison say?
Oh, why bring her name up at a time like this?
One kiss to a customer.
Betty, I couldn't help it. My father made me call you on the phone.
Wouldn't you rather be with me?
Oh, yes. Yes.
Tell me how much.
In the whole world, in the whole wide world...
there's nobody I'd rather be with than you, Betty.
Give me another kiss.
Oh, honey, honey.
- Wanna make love to me? - Oh, yes, yes, of course I want to.
Now go make love to Allison MacKenzie.
Go get the girl you brought to the dance and try it with her.
And the next time I go out it will be with a man...
not a papa's boy.
[Applause]
[Fanfare]
Ladies and gentlemen...
pupils and faculty of Peyton Place High School...
and especially the seniors...
they tell me it is a tradition here to end each graduation dance...
with "Auld Lang Syne."
Well, since I'm new here and not yet part of your traditions...
I think the song should be led by a woman who has been with you long...
Miss Elsie Thornton.
Thank you, Mr. Rossi.
We're a small spot in a small town on a great big map.
And maybe Peyton Place High School...
isn't a name that shakes the world...
but it's a part of each of you forever.
Make it great by honoring it...
and come back to see us whenever you can.
Now let's form a big circle...
everyone holding hands.
["Auld Lang Syne"]
Should auld acquaintance
Be forgot
And never brought to mind
Should auld acquaintance
Be forgot
And days of auld lang syne
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We'll take a cup of kindness yet
For auld lang syne
[Switches Clicking]
It's an odd feeling, being in a school when it's so quiet.
I always kind of think of it as sleeping...
resting up from the pounding it takes during the day.
[Chuckles] Do you work here at night?
Oh, yes. Quite often. You don't realize...
all the work and preparation it takes to be a teacher.
It's like... well, it's like all these kids were my own.
I love them. I want so much for them.
It's more than a job to you, isn't it?
[Chuckles] I didn't mean to sound like the dedicated idealist.
Well, there's nothing wrong in that.
Connie, I did want to thank you for coming tonight.
Well, you don't have to. I enjoyed everything.
Including the, uh, dancing?
Including.
You're wasting your time, Mike.
I had my love a long time ago.
And when my husband died, I came back here...
and I've had no time for anything...
but Allison and the dress shop.
- You've got time now. - It's too late.
- Look, Connie, if I were to... - I said it's too late.
I made my choice...
long ago.
Please take me home.
Sure.
[Train Whistle Blows In Distance]
[Train Chugging]
Selena, let's get married.
- You mean now? - Well, sure.
I can get a full-time job.
But what about college...
and law school that you've always talked about?
Oh, that's just a dream. I can't do it.
- My old man doesn't make enough money... - Well, whose father does?
Not everyone in college is a millionaire's son.
Don't get so steamed up.
Ted Carter, you've always wanted to be a lawyer.
Now go be it. Don't crumple up at the first obstacle.
The first obstacle's the biggest... the money.
Well, then get over that...
and the rest should be easy.
Selena, do you know how long it takes to become a lawyer?
What difference does it make?
It's what you want to do in life.
One of the things I want to do in life is marry you.
If I don't now, maybe I never will.
Ted, the only family I'll ever have will be half yours.
I'll wait, no matter how long it takes.
Good night.
Good night, Selena.
Ted.
Thank you.
Ma?
Joey?
I thought you was something out of a dream.
Where's Ma and Joey?
Let us... Let's have a drink...
- cel-celebrate your growing up. - Where's Ma and Joey?
They're... They're working at a party at Harrington's.
Come on. Let's have a drink, huh?
Rather stay in the dark...
getting kissed by Ted Carter.
I'm going to bed.
About time I started teaching you something...
Lucas, Lucas, let me go! Lucas!
Never had nothing I ever wanted. Never had a beautiful woman.
Lucas, let go!
Let me up!
[Train Passes By]
Let me offer to the class of 1941...
this fond farewell.
The world outside waits for you.
It is a world full of love and rich in opportunity.
There may be dangers...
but if you hold firm to your purpose and your ideals...
you will storm the ramparts of success and capture them.
Tomorrow, you grow up and your true happiness begins.
- Thank you. - My best wishes to you.
Selena Cross.
Norman.
[Allison Narrating] At first, a diploma seemed like a reward for the past...
but once in your hand, it became an obligation to the future.
Independence was a distant word that we suddenly owned...
and we exploded with it.
Some of us splashed away the summer...
or swooped and stretched with joyfulness...
and emptied our childish piggy banks of their play money.
Yet, others of us, eager to feel adult...
or out of necessity, began our work early.
- Put the bottle up on top. - Here?
And, gradually, as the happy confusion of summer faded...
one by one, we knew the Monday morning of responsibility was at hand.
- Hi, Mr. Rossi. - Hello, Allison.
Did you read those stories I gave you?
Yes, I read them.
- Well? - When did you write them?
All summer, ever since graduation.
Has anybody else seen them?
Only Selena.
She thinks I'm a genius.
What do you think? Are they good enough to send to a magazine?
Yes, if you want to end up in prison.
Those stories were full of enough libel and slander...
and double entendre to hang us all.
Allison, is that how Peyton Place really looks to you?
They were only fiction. I didn't use any real names.
- You didn't have to. I recognized everybody in town. - Oh.
But let's get down to the important part.
You have a talent. Those stories were a good start.
Now where do you go from here?
That's what I hoped to find out from you.
Then I suggest college. With your talent and your ideas, you could...
Thank you, but I don't want to go to college.
- I never have. - Why not?
Because I don't want to study about writing. I want to write.
Nobody has to tell me that Shakespeare was a wonderful writer...
or that a million wonderful books have already been written.
Allison, those books tell you how and why.
I'd rather find that out myself at a typewriter.
I need someplace to get me going, someplace to start.
All right, if that's how you feel about it, then let's do it.
Hmm? Let's start at the Peyton Place Times.
Who said I was a cynical, hard-hearted newspaperman?
Aren't all newspapermen supposed to be?
Allison, that's a myth. Why, we're the most sentimental slobs in the world...
- the softest touches there are. - Prove it.
[Chuckles] All right.
When do I start? All I want is a chance to show what I can do.
Well, write something up this week, and I'll run it on Friday.
Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr. Bushwell.
I'll start right away. I'll dig up a story you'll never forget.
- I don't doubt it. - Thank you.
Uh, just remember, there's no such thing as a cheap lawsuit.
- Oh. - Hold on. We haven't discussed pay.
You don't have to pay me. I'll do it for experience.
Allison, the first thing experience teaches us is to get paid.
Five dollars a column to start. More later.
Oh, gee...
that's more than...
Oh, I wouldn't want these stories to fall into the wrong hands, you know.
Thanks, Seth.
There's no question about it. The tests confirm that you're pregnant, Selena.
I'd say about three months.
- Who's the father? - I won't tell you.
Aw, now what kind of rot is that?
You're not the first girl in the world who ever had to get married...
or in this town for that matter.
- Who's the father? Ted Carter? - No!
- Don't you lie to me. Don't lie! - I'm not lying to you.
Doc, help me.
- I need your help. - What do you mean by help?
I don't wanna have the baby. Give me something.
There's nothing I can give you to take that will help.
Just tell me who's responsible. Maybe I can help you that way.
- You can get married. - He's already married.
Well, then he'll have to take care of you and provide for the baby.
- Just tell me who it is. - Doc, please, just give me something.
Selena, I've done a lot of things in my time...
but I've never broken the law.
What you're asking me to do is break the law of man and God.
Now tell me, who is the man?
Selena, tell me who he is!
- Who is he? - It's my stepfather.
It's my stepfather. It's Lucas. It's Lucas.
Hi, Doc. Come on in. Have a drink.
I've got Selena in my office.
Selena? What for?
She's pregnant.
I told her she'd get in a mess of trouble...
always wrestling around with that Carter boy.
I told her. She wouldn't listen.
- You low, miserable, slime. - Don't you go shoving a man with an ax in hand.
- That's your child Selena's carrying. - It ain't!
I can prove it, Lucas.
I've got enough proof on you, Lucas, to put you in jail...
for the rest of your unnatural life.
- I never touched her. - Here. Sign that.
It's a statement of the facts.
No. Are you out of your mind?
I never touched her.
Maybe you'd like the state police to sweat it out of you.
I never touched her, and I ain't gonna sign nothing that said I did.
All right. You don't want to sign this paper, that's up to you.
Hey, Doc. Doc. [Chuckles]
Y-You know I couldn't do nothing as awful as that, don't you?
I'm going back to my office.
And then I'm gonna start telephoning every father in Peyton Place.
Oh, oh, you wouldn't.
I don't know what they'll take it in their heads to do, but I do know this.
You're the janitor in a school full of young girls.
In an hour from now, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes.
Doc, Doc, don't... don't do it.
L-I wouldn't think of fooling around with any other girls.
It was just Selena, Doc.
Well, there was something about her. It was just Selena.
Please, Doc, don't.
There's only one thing that will stop me.
You sign that.
If... If I sign it, what are you going to do with it?
I'll lock it up in my safe.
Give me the pen.
Now get out of here and leave a man to work.
No, Lucas. You get out.
You get out of Peyton Place before dark.
Doc, I signed it for you.
If you do, I'll keep this paper in my safe.
- But if you don't, I'll use it against you. - I signed it!
Don't you ever try to come back here...
not next week, not next year, not ever.
If you do, I'll kill you myself.
Why, you little...