OUR TOWN (TV)
Summary
This program is a production of Thornton Wilder's 1938 play about the residents of a quiet New Hampshire town. The Stage Manager narrates the action, describing the layout of tranquil Grover's Corners, and opens the story on May 7, 1901.
Dr. Gibbs returns home to his wife Julia and children George and Rebecca after delivering a local woman's twins. Young Joe – destined to die in World War I, as the Stage Manager explains – delivers newspapers, and the Webb family, including siblings Emily and Wally, prepare for their day. Mrs. Gibbs meets up with Mrs. Webb and confides that a visitor offered her $350 for her vintage highboy; she confesses her desire to use the money to travel, though admits that her history-buff husband does not share her dreams of seeing the world. Mr. Webb, the newspaper publisher, offers some statistics about the traditional, conservative and largely well-behaved citizens of Grover's Corners and answers questions from unseen audience members about their humble lives and simple pleasures.
Arriving home from school, George flirtatiously praises Emily's flair for academia and explains that he intends to become a farmer. Emily asks her mother if she is pretty enough to catch a boy's attention. The Stage Manager explains that he intends to save a copy of the play for posterity so that people "a thousand years from now" will have a meaningful understanding of their daily lives; several townspeople attend choir practice as George and Emily attempt to do their homework, distracted by the brightly shining moon. The townswomen gossip about choirmaster Simon Stimson, well-known as an alcoholic, and Mr. Gibbs gives his son a firm talking-to about being more responsible around the house, adding that he is raising his allowance by 25 cents. Mrs. Gibbs tries to discuss the idea of a vacation, telling her husband that they can use her "legacy" money, but he is dismissive. Rebecca pesters her older brother as Simon staggers to his house alone, met briefly by a kindly Mr. Webb on his way home from the newspaper.
Three years later, on July 7, 1904, the town prepares for George and Emily's wedding, though Mrs. Gibbs frets that her son, having only just graduated from high school, is too young for such a commitment. A cheerful George tries to visit his bride-to-be, though the Webbs remind him that he is not to see her before the ceremony. Mr. Webb offers the young man some wise words about marriage. The Stage Manager then brings the narrative back to the day when George and Emily discovered their true feelings for one another during their junior year of high school: Emily tearfully informed George that he had become "conceited" since joining the baseball team, and George took her to the soda shop for an ice cream treat, assuring her about his gratitude for her honesty. He decided on the spot that he did not wish to attend agricultural college after all, and the two realized that they had an "important talk" about their future together. When George informed his parents of his plans, Dr. Gibbs worried that he is too young for such a decision, and Mrs. Gibbs found herself reminiscing about her children's earliest days. Returning to the day of the wedding, both Emily and George panic about the big step that they are taking together, fretting to their respective parents that they are not ready after all, but the ceremony goes off without a hitch.
Nine years later, in 1913, the Stage Manager tours the Grover's Corners cemetery, revealing that a number of citizens, including Mrs. Gibbs, Wally Webb, and Simon Stimson, have since died. He notes that the dead grow "indifferent" as they wait to pass over to the next world, and undertaker Joe Stoddard arrives with Sam Craig, a nephew of Dr. Gibbs and former resident of the town. Joe explains that Simon, consumed with unhappiness and addiction, hanged himself at home, and then reveals that he is preparing a new grave for Emily, who has died giving birth to her second child. Emily herself then arrives to watch the funeral services and greets the other dead citizens, revealing that Mrs. Gibbs did indeed sell the highboy, but gave the money to her son and daughter-in-law rather than taking her much-desired vacation. As the mourners disperse, Emily suddenly declares that she wishes to "go back" and live a day of her life over. Though the other dead try to warn her against doing so, she selects her twelfth birthday and finds herself back in her childhood home, where her parents greet her as a young girl, unable to hear her desperate warnings that years have passed and she and her brother have both died prematurely.
Distraught, Emily laments that she never really appreciated the wonderful details of life because "it goes so fast"; she returns to the graveyard after bidding the world of the living a last farewell. Simon bitterly complains that the living world is little more than "ignorance and blindness," but the other dead individuals reflect on the smaller pleasures of the world as George arrives in the flesh, consumed with grief for his young wife. Mrs. Gibbs tells Emily that "they don't understand," and the Stage Manager returns as another night falls on Grover's Corners. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: May 30, 1977 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:43:02
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:02330
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Theatre; New Hampshire; Relationships
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV, 1977
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Saul Jaffe … Executive Producer
- George Schaefer … Producer, Director
- Thomas M. Hill … Associate Producer
- Thornton Wilder … Based on the play by
- Del Kacher … Music by
- Hal Holbrook … Cast, Stage Manager
- Robby Benson … Cast, George Gibbs
- Ned Beatty … Cast, Dr. Gibbs
- Sada Thompson … Cast, Mrs. Gibbs
- Elizabeth Cheshire … Cast, Rebecca Gibbs
- Glynnis O'Connor … Cast, Emily Webb
- Scott Atlas … Cast, Wally Webb
- Ronny Cox … Cast, Mr. Webb
- Barbara Bel Geddes … Cast, Mrs. Webb
- Charlotte Rae … Cast, Mrs. Soames
- William Lanteau … Cast, Howie Newsome
- David Cryer … Cast, Simon Stimson
- Don Beddoe … Cast, Constable Warren
- Ford Rainey … Cast, Joe Stoddard
- Charles Cyphers … Cast, Sam Craig
- Allen Price … Cast, Joe Crowell Jr.
- Michael Sharrett … Cast, Si Crowell
- John Houseman … Cast, Professor Willard