Good evening, fellow fans.
I suspect this is a side of me you never expected to see.
But I feel there is nothing undignified about following a sport
and rooting for one's side.
Excuse me, my team is now entering the arena.
By the way,
for the information of those of you who are unfamiliar with sports,
that was not the mascot you heard.
He is one of the participants.
Now I see they're about to throw...
Correction.
Uh, the other team is about to come onto the field.
I also see by your chalky faces
that some of you prefer more intellectual entertainment.
That is why we offer the following.
And now if you will excuse me,
I must cheer my team on.
This will be fine, Julia.
Now if we just don't have any late enrollments...
Oh, excuse me.
Yes.
Oh, ask her to come in, please.
Laura Siddons is here.
Oh, good morning, Laura.
Well, I hope you feel a little more rested today.
This is Miss Conrad,
our Vice-Principal.
We are so pleased you are going to be with us at Briarstone, Miss Siddons.
I was just telling Miss Conrad
that yesterday was the first time we'd met in 25 years.
A quarter of a century.
It sounds far more dreadful, you are saying it like that!
You know, Laura, your letter arrived at the most opportune moment.
Yes, we've been looking everywhere for a replacement in European literature.
And we were beginning to think that we'd have to start the term without anyone.
I'm glad I wrote.
Oh, you'll get on famously.
And if there are any questions or problems,
well, that's why Miss Conrad and I are here.
Thank you.
When one has been out of this country for so long,
Well, it's nearly time for my first class.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity.
Is she going to be any good?
Well, there's no doubt about her intellectual capabilities
or her knowledge of European literature.
Yes, but what about her knowledge of the American college girl?
I am sorry, Dorothy, I know she was your classmate,
but she seems so terribly foreign.
Well, what else could I do?
With Miss Martin leaving so suddenly, we had to find a replacement.
And you saw Miss Siddons' letter to me.
Yes, it was rather desperate.
We'd be just as desperate if we'd led her life.
Lost her father when she was young.
Her mother, just before we graduated.
Right after, she went off to Germany,
to visit an only living relative, her uncle.
Then the war.
She was there all through it, Julia.
The bombings, the internment.
Then the years right after,
teaching English where and when she could.
Staying on with her uncle until he passed on and she came back to the States.
You can imagine what these past few months have been like for her.
No money, no family, no friends.
Looking for work,
until she remembered me and wrote that letter.
I'll tell you something else, Julia,
if I had turned her down,
I don't know what would have happened to her.
Good morning, young ladies.
Good morning.
I am your new homeroom counselor,
Miss Siddons.
S-l-D-D-O-N-S.
I shall also teach you European Literature.
You will find I insist on punctuality and on attention.
You will also find at the end of the semester,
you will have learned European literature.
Now,
Gloria Barnes?
Present.
Vera Carson?
Present.
Constance Cowell?
Hi.
Would you care for a lift?
Oh, yes. Thank you.
I was under the impression
that you girls were not allowed to drive your cars to school.
We're not.
Gloria's a P.C.
Vera, you want Miss Siddons to get the wrong impression?
A P. C?
Privileged character.
But she's not. Lollypop's family...
Lollypop?
Gloria. Her family are still at her summer place.
She has to commute for a few days, so...
Train takes forever.
So I get to use my own car.
Where are you staying?
The Clifton Arms Apartments.
But there is no need for you to... We go right past it.
It's just a block from our soda saloon.
Maybe you'd like to split a calorie with us.
Would you, Miss Siddons?
Their choc shake's the living end.
Thank you, not today. Perhaps some other time.
Well, so you're the little lady just moved into apartment six.
I am number five. Makes us neighbors.
Proudy's my name, Ben Proudy.
You know, in a big city nobody ever gets to know his neighbors.
People go for years never so much as saying good morning
to somebody who lives across the hall or on the other side of the wall.
Oh, you can hear them talking but all the same you're not supposed to talk to them.
Well, Ben Proudy doesn't hold with that.
No, sir.
Tear the walls down, that's what I say, Miss...
Siddons.
Why should a little plaster come between people?
Tell me that, Miss Siddons. Hmm?
I really haven't thought, Mr. Proudy.
Well, we'll have to change all that.
There's a fine little bar down the street,
just neighborhood people, real neighborly folks.
Some time when you're... I don't drink.
Oh.
Well, maybe a movie some night? Hmm?
Thank you for the invitation. I expect to be very busy for some weeks to come.
Good day, Mr. Proudy.
It is now generally known that the author of the classic European horror story,
Frankenstein,
was the wife of the English poet Shelley.
To be precise, the full title of Mrs. Shelley's famous novel is
Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus.
Now, do you all know who Prometheus was...
Vera. Yes, ma'am.
Put your shoes back on.
This is the third time this month that you have been late.
I'm sorry, Miss Siddons.
Being sorry doesn't help, Vera,
unless you also do something about it.
Perhaps you will tell me what Prometheus means to you.
Isn't that one of those funny little things we studied in zoology?
I presume you mean a paramecium?
Yes, that's it!
Vera.
The Ancient Greeks regarded Prometheus as the creator of the human race and...
I don't see why we have to waste our time
on a lot of people who've been dead for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Your presence in this class indicates your need for an education,
does it not?
Yes, but isn't education to make one think?
I mean, the brain isn't just a place to dump a lot of unimportant facts and figures.
The brain requires discipline.
Discipline and diligence.
And as long as I am your teacher
I shall make sure that you do not forget that.
Miss Siddons.
It's about Mary Shelley.
You mentioned her novel The Last Man, about the destruction of the human race.
It sounded so timely, even though you said she wrote it in 1826.
That was the year it was published.
I'd love to read it, but I've called the public library and they don't have a copy.
Perhaps I could find it for you.
Would you, Miss Siddons? Thank you.
Gloria,
I should like to say something.
I've been so pleased with your work in class.
If only the other girls had the same interest.
Well, I'll see what I can do about the book.
Goodbye, Gloria. Goodbye, Miss Siddons.
Miss Siddons.
Would you care to come home with me and have tea?
We can talk about Mary Shelley and,
anyway, I'd like you to meet my mother.
I should like that very much, Gloria.
I wouldn't want your problems, Miss Siddons.
It's time for your pill, Mother.
The child's relentless.
Or Mother simply has to stop charging around like she used to.
She should settle down to a good book.
Much rather play cribbage with your father when he comes home.
Such an unchic game.
But he loves it.
He daren't admit it though.
Daddy's in the State Department.
Most of his colleagues prefer bridge to cribbage.
And where is he now?
In Iraq.
Thank goodness he'll be coming back soon.
Oh, Mother.
Perhaps I should go.
No.
No, no, stay and have your tea.
I'm quite all right, really.
It's been so pleasant to meet you.
I hope you'll be up and about very soon.
I could drop you home. No, dear, stay with your mother.
I'm getting so handy with the buses.
Oh, Mother.
Well, evening, Miss Siddons. Good evening, Mr. Proudy.
Well, school must be going great guns, huh?
You're all smiles this evening.
I had a lovely afternoon.
Well, then let's not break the spell.
There's a nice little place down the street.
Nothing fancy, but the food's good.
Why not come and have a bite? Hmm?
Thank you, I've already had my supper.
But, another night if you still feel like asking me.
Oh, you sure don't know old Ben Proudy.
You bet I'll ask.
Well, good night. Good night.
Good evening, may I help you?
Good evening, I was looking for an edition of Mary Shelley's The Last Man.
Or a collection of her works that might contain it.
I'm not quite sure. Let me go see.
Gloria?
How about that?
I do have one. It's a rare one though, ten dollars.
Well, do you want it?
Oh.
Ten dollars? Yes.
Thank you.
Sorry. No ladies allowed without escorts.
You wouldn't want the club to get a bad name, now, would you, lady?
Now,
who would care to describe what we mean when we say
the Gothic novel?
Class dismissed.
Gloria, may I speak to you a minute, please?
Be out in the hall, Lollypops!
Where did you find it so fast?
In the second-hand bookshop, last night.
You must let me pay you for it!
It's a gift.
Miss Siddons, I'm sorry about just now in class.
I guess I dozed off, didn't I?
Were you up late? All night.
You see, Mother wasn't feeling well and I didn't want to leave her alone.
I don't know what's been wrong with me lately.
It must be the strain of Mother's illness and Daddy's being away.
I know you're disappointed in me, Miss Siddons,
but I'm really cracking my books tonight.
When finals come, you'll see.
That's all I wanted to hear.
Forgive me for being so rude as to fall asleep.
It won't happen again.
And thanks so much for the book.
Thank you, Ben.
I enjoyed both the pictures.
They do help you to escape a little, don't they?
There's nothing wrong with that, Laura.
No, I suppose not.
You've been very kind.
No, no, no, Laura, it's my pleasure.
I mean, most men would have stopped inviting me after so many excuses.
What are neighbors for?
To be neighborly, of course! All the same, I do appreciate it.
I'm afraid I haven't been very good company,
but I've had so much on my mind lately.
Nonsense, Laura.
Say, how about having a...
You look as if you'd seen a ghost.
Something wrong?
Ben, it's that girl.
She's one of my pupils.
She oughtn't to be in a place like that. I'm sure her parents wouldn't approve.
Please, please get me a taxi.
I must find out where she's going.
Well, the car's right here. I'll drive you.
Oh, thank you. Thank you.
The name on the mailbox is Paul Dunlap. Apartment 2-K.
How long have they been up there now?
Oh, now look, Laura, there's nothing you can do about it.
How long?
Let me take you home. No.
Laura,
young people have different ideas about things today.
What was wrong when we were young...
Is still wrong!
Laura?
Don't worry. I am not going to disturb them.
I'm just going to leave a note under the door.
Who's it? Gloria!
Excuse my appearance but Saturday morning is...
How dare you trail me?
I had to. Had to?
Had to pry into my life?
What business is it of yours?
Gloria,
to someone your age,
teaching, for that matter, teachers
must appear terribly dull.
And, for the most part, you're quite right.
Year after year the same facts,
the same words, the same unimportant dates are repeated.
Year after year, to hundreds and hundreds of girls' faces.
Just faces.
Rows and rows of smiling, scowling faces.
And then one day, if you're lucky,
you may discover a rare and wonderful thing sitting there before you.
One child who was born understanding.
One child who seeks more, who demands more from education.
And in that instant it all becomes worthwhile.
And you find justification for all the years of nothing.
And that's why I couldn't let you be harmed.
It's not what you thought, Miss Siddons, I'm not harmed.
I'm just married.
Wonderfully, blissfully, married.
You see, I don't dare tell Mother while she's so sick.
So I'm waiting for Daddy to come home so I can tell him.
She's so excitable and she'd be convinced I wouldn't finish school.
Paul is such a wonderful person, Miss Siddons.
I'm so much in love with him.
Connie knows about us but she's the only one.
And now you.
And all the time I...
I thought he was some terrible gangster,
taking you to that dreadful night club.
Seventh Heaven?
His father owns it, Miss Siddons. And several other clubs.
Paul's learning the business.
I'll keep your secret, Gloria.
Thank you, Miss Siddons.
Good morning.
Well, what'd she have to say for herself?
It's a secret. You never know about a woman.
Last night, you were really steamed up and this morning...
Well, what'd you decide to do about it? Nothing.
Her father will be home next week.
He'll know what to do and her mother isn't up to any kind of crisis just now.
Like I told you last night, Laura,
there's nothing you can do about a thing like that. It's up to the parents.
Sometimes the children seem to manage very well for themselves, Ben.
Good morning, girls.
It's from Gloria.
Miss Siddons.
This is really an open letter because my friend Connie
read it to the class before you came in.
I honestly liked you.
I thought it was lucky it was you who found out about Paul rather than somebody else.
Now I know better.
I know the reason you spied on us.
You and your loathsome friend, Ben Proudy.
You were in partnership, weren't you?
He did the dirty work, you were too ladylike to do it yourself.
Well, he did it all right.
He tried to blackmail Mother.
He demanded $20,000. Otherwise, he was going to the principal
and tell her about what he called "my affair."
The police have him now and he's confessed.
He says you planned the whole thing.
Mother is in a coma and perhaps won't even regain consciousness.
If she dies, it will be more than blackmail.
The police are coming for you.
They know what to do, with people like you.
We lost.
Our first defeat.
We shall protest, of course.
I think the policy of allowing the other team to carry weapons
is definitely un-sportsman like.
I have already reported the matter
to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
We seem to be late this evening,
so I must rush through the remainder of our show.
That concludes our entertainment for this evening.
Next time we shall be back with another story. Until then, good night.