FATHER KNOWS BEST: BETTY'S GRADUATION {SECOND SEASON FINALE} (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about the Anderson family -- Jim and Margaret and their children Betty, Bud, and Kathy.
Betty is graduating from high school and is busy preparing for the graduation dance and her valedictory speech. When she receives a corsage from her boyfriend Ralph, she suddenly bursts into tears and runs upstairs for no discernable reason. Jim and Margaret are mystified by Betty’s behavior. Later Jim tries to talk about it with Betty but she is not forthcoming with answers. Meanwhile, Kathy has gotten hold of an old diary, but is not aware of what she possesses.
Eventually Jim and Margaret realize that Kathy found Margaret’s old diary from when she was a teenager in the attic and chide her for taking it without permission. Ralph calls and Betty and Jim overhear her saying that she’s not going to the graduation dance. She will not say why. When her parents question her, Betty indicates that she is terrified at the thought of graduating, unable to bear being separated from her high school experience. Margaret and Jim conspire to get Betty to attend her dance anyway.
Betty goes missing and Margaret receives a call from her school: she didn’t show up for graduation rehearsal. This causes Margaret and Jim some concern. Betty calls them from Sycamore Grove Park, which was her “thinking spot” when she was a child. Jim drives out to get her, taking Margaret’s diary with him. He finds her by a stream and tries to get her to understand that change is a natural and needed part of growing older, but Betty won’t listen. He reads her a passage from Margaret’s diary, indicating that she felt the same way when she graduated from high school, but got over it and moved on with her life. This convinces Betty to come out of her stupor and rejoin her graduating class. The episode ends as Betty makes her valedictorian speech, now incorporating Jim’s words of wisdom. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: May 30, 1956 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:25:51
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:18481
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1954-1955 / 1958-1960; NBC - 1955-1958
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Eugene B. Rodney … Producer
- William D. Russell … Director
- Roswell Rodgers … Writer
- Ed James … Based on characters created by
- Robert Young … Cast, James "Jim" Anderson
- Jane Wyatt … Cast, Margaret Anderson
- Elinor Donahue … Cast, Betty "Princess" Anderson
- Billy Gray … Cast, James "Bud" Anderson Jr.
- Lauren Chapin … Cast, Kathy "Kitten" Anderson