"My name is Allison MacKenzie." "Where I was born, time was told not by the clock orthe calendar... but by the seasons." "Summer was carefree contentment." "Autumn was that bitter-sweet 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 closerto the warm stoves of memory and desire." "Springwas promise." "But there was a fifth season of love." "And only the wise orthe lucky ones knew where to find it." "Hey, mister!" "Which way to Peyton Place?" "Go right up this road about 2 miles, you'll come right inside the town." "Thanks!" "Lucas stole my money and he'll do it again." "He drinks everything in sight." "I spent a year and a half saving for a correspondence course." "Don't go, Paul." "You were 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 did you marry him for?" "When your pa died, you, 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 baby-sitting money." "I wish there was more." "Paul!" "Paul, I'll do extra work." "I'll find a job and... get the money back." "Only don't leave." "I'm sorry we got into a fight." "It won't happen again." "I give you my word." "Paul!" "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 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 washing room... where I can clean up and shave?" "First door." "Oh, yeah." "Thank you." "What are you selling?" "Nothing." "Sorry." "Thought you might be a traveling man." "No." "I came here to get a job." "I should've known." "I hear that Harrington Woolen Mills got some big government contracts... for military uniforms cloth." "Lot of people'll 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!" "Morning, Mrs. MacKenzie." "Morning, Nellie." "Paul left this morning." "Left for where?" "Don't know." "He wants to get out of here 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." "Allison, must you play records at a quarter to eight 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." "Mr. Firth died." "How do you know they'll give it to Miss Thornton?" "They have to." "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 with us." "But you scarcely knew your father." "Not my fault he died when I was 2." "I can't even remember him, I admit, but I miss him." "You mean you miss a father?" "Yes, mother." "Wouldn't it be nice if you had some man 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." "Good-bye, mom." "Good-bye." "Good morning, Miss Lindsay." "Morning, Allison." "Hi, David." "Good morning, Mr. Herman." "Good Morning, Mrs. Allison." "Go home, Duff!" "Hi, Doc Swain." "Good morning, Allison." "Good morning, girls." "Good morning, doctor." "Good morning, Mr. Cross." "Good morning." "Thank you, Norman." "Everything's gone wrong this morning." "If you didn't run all the time..." "Ted's bringing the gift!" "Rod!" "Excuse me." "Here's the speech." "I'll never memorize this." "Well, just read it." "She's coming!" "Miss Thornton's coming!" ""...the job of principal of Peyton Place High School."" "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 in our hearts 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:" "the job of principal of Peyton Place High School." "So that you know we'll never forget... you can turn to the words "love", "friendship" and "remembrance"... and know that we're always thinking of them." "This is the loveliest thing that ever happened to me." "I..." "There's another word in this book:" ""gratitude"." "Now, let's talk about graduation." "I'd like to have a report from the president of the class, Ted Carter." "Okay." "Miss Thornton, I've arranged for all the necessary committees... and if they all do their jobs, I'm sure we'll have a fine graduation." "Vice-president, Selena Cross?" "The programs will be printed in a couple of weeks... and I've rented caps and gowns at US$ 2.5O a piece." "We're going to have a tea and reception on the lawn afterwards." "Editor of the yearbook, Allison MacKenzie." "The copies are all done... but the engraver's going mad waiting for all the pictures to come in." "Who doesn't have a picture by Wednesday won't be in the yearbook." "Senior dance, Betty Anderson." "Everybody has to help with the decorations." "The tickets are printed and will go on sale a week before." "I'm supposed to announce there's to be no necking in the parking lot." "Nor anywhere else, for that matter." "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 the school board, is my opinion she should be retired." "I'm afraid I can't quite concur with you, Leslie." "I agree with Doc Swain." "You would." "Miss Thornton is practically senile." "She's hypochondriac, uses sleeping pills all the time." "You want a drug addict for a principal?" "It seems to me that I write a lot of prescriptions for you every year!" "And as far as Miss Thornton being senile, she's of your generation." "She's not." "I'm 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 teaching agencies, and I can get him at the right price." "Mr." "Harrington, he's outside." "He can't do us much good out there, Miss CoIton." "Send him in." "Would you come in, Mr. Rossi?" "Yes." "Thank you." "Good morning." "I'm Leslie Harrington." "How do you do?" "This is the school board." "Mr. and Mrs. Partridge." "How do you do?" "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 from Penn State, "suma cum laudi"." "He holds a master's degree in English and Literature." "He 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 US$ 3,OOO a year." "Then we're all wasting our time." "That's US$ 5 a week more than I was making as a teacher, Mr. Harrington." "But this offers you security, a long-term contract." "Guaranteed poverty is not security!" "I want US$ 5,OOO a year, and a raise of US$ 5OO on the second year." "We can't do it." "You own this mill." "How much do you pay a foreman?" "About US$ 2OO a week?" "This is business." "These men manufacture products that make 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 offered you US$ 5,OOO would you coach the basketball and football teams?" "No, I would not!" "In a town like this, if you can't afford to pay the principal of your school... a decent salary you have no right to run the school much less send your children to it." "Mr." "Rossi!" "Leslie, I'm afraid you're fighting a losing battle." "Now, Mr. Rossi, frankly..." ""...the life history of the race... repeats itself in the individual."" "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?" ""We trust that you will show him the same loyalty and devotion... you displayed to the late Mr. Firth."" "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." "Well, here we are." "Good-looking school, Doc." "That must be the new principal, you know?" "They really gave it to you, didn't they?" "Everybody else in this town, they really gave it to you!" "Have you been drinking?" "You work yourself to death for them, 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 to 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 algebra problem." "You're talking like a fool!" "Oh, be I?" "I sat in this classroom 4 years!" "I sat right here!" "Everything that was important to me was learned somewhere else." "You never applied yourself." "You might have learned something here." "Tell that to my wife, the cleaning woman... tell that to me, a janitor, cleaning toilets for a living!" "Stop it!" "Tell that to every mill worker behind in his bills." "I said stop it!" "If you had applied yourself you might have learned how to live intelligently." "There isn't nobody in this here town living intelligently." "Nobody!" "I don't believe that." "All right!" "Name me one important person graduated from this school." "One!" "You can't." "I want to tell you something, Miss Thornton... something you can teach your class someday." "The minute they walk out that door, they walk into a doggie-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 more good than did Washington 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." "Our utility man, Lucas Cross." "Hello, Lucas." "My hand is too dirty." "I'll start in another room." "ls he always drinking?" "He's disappointed for me." "Loyalty is always more passion than reason." "I guess that's why I came to see you first." "There's strong sentiment for making you principal." "Please, don't feel uncomfortable, Mr. Rossi." "My time came too late." "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." "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 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 teaching to think, not memorizing for a couple of weeks." "If war comes first... 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." "Allison, I don't know what Betty is buying, but tell her to hurry up." "Okay." "Mother..." "Miss Thornton didn't get the job." "I know." "Betty Anderson and Margie told me." "They're in the back." "After giving her the gift and the speech..." "It must have been terribly embarrassing and tragic for her." "Well, she'll get over it." "I'm glad I'm graduating." "I don't want to have anything to do with the new principal." "Mrs. MacKenzie, about the graduation..." "What about it, Selena?" "My mother needs a new dress." "is there some arrangement I could make with you to buy her a new one?" "After graduation, I'll get a full time job, and I can pay you back." "Well, you'll be needing a new dress yourself." "I can get by." "Look, with Easter and the graduation coming on, I'll need some help." "How would you like to work here afternoons and Saturdays?" "Oh, I'd love to!" "Fine." "Then, I can buy two dresses!" "Wholesale." "Oh, 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." "Rodney is 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 this dress is too old?" "No, you're just too young." "Aren't you afraid people will think you're a little fast?" "According to my philosophy, what people think will not pay the rent." "So, 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 neck-line does more for a girl's future... than the entire Britannica Encyclopedia." "Allison, could you help me a moment?" "Sure." "Be right back." "Do 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." "Then his friends won't come and, pretty soon, nobody will accept." "I can't understand why you want to be friends with a girl like Betty." "Mother... I don't like the way she talks about men!" "Mother..." "And sex!" "The only perfect individual in Peyton Place is you!" "And 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." "Could I walk home with you?" "No, it's out of your way." "Besides, you'd get home late." "You mean your mother wouldn't like it." "Well..." "Come on, Norman." "Come on!" "Did you 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?" "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 piece that you wrote for Miss Thornton." "I'm sorry I did it now." "Why didn't you read it yourself instead of letting Harrington do it?" "Because I was afraid I'd cry." "I still might cry when I think of Miss Thornton not getting that job." "You know, you might just turn out to be a great writer." "Norman, I hope so." "You know, every time I touch a book... I 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..." "It's how people are supposed to feel when they fall in love." "Of course, I never have." "I wish I could be sure of what I wanted to do." "You must have some idea." "No." "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. Paige!" "Bye, Norman." "Wait just a minute, will you?" "But..." "I don't want to go in just yet." "Oh, 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." "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 had a fight again?" "Same fight, different round." "Nellie?" "Yeah?" "You've been both a daughter and a mother." "Which one is worse?" "Being a mother." "Why?" "You find yourself doing the same things you hated your parents doing." "That's very interesting." "Somewhere along the line, doesn't someone get intelligent... and realize that your children have to grow up their own way?" "The mind's got nothing to do with it." "It's the feelings." "Kids get born... and you just worry about it and you hope for them." "Well, I got to get going." "Good night, Nellie." "Good night, Allison." "Hello?" "Hello, mother." "I just wanted to tell you I've been thinking it over... and you can invite anyone you want for your birthday party." "Oh, mother, thank you!" "Thank you very much." "I'll be home in a little while." "Bye." "2676J, please." "Hey, watch where you're going there, buddy, will you?" "Thanks much." "Thank you." "Right now, I want it." "I want some!" "Would you like a sandwich, Norman?" "No, thank you." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." "Happy birthday, Allison." "Hi!" "Hi, how are you?" "Betty and Rodney!" "Where's Ted Carter?" "Right here." "Let's take that corny music off and get down to some serious dancing." "That's a good record." "Yeah, that's a new one." "How about a sandwich?" "I brought some mistletoe." "Mistletoe?" "!" "Matt, hang it high, will you, boy." "Only if I can kiss Betty Anderson!" "Nobody's safe with me here." "Mistletoe?" "Christmas is 8 months away." "Yeah, and I believe in doing my Christmas kissing early!" "Where's the punch?" "Over there, Rodney." "Good, I'm really thirsty." "The old family formula." "Now you're talking, Rod." "Rodney, we can't do that." "My mother wouldn't want..." "Don't tell she's here!" "No, she's at the movies." "Great!" "Put the booze in the bowl!" "Come on, she made me promise." "Come on, Allison, you want to have a party or not?" "You can't fight city hall." "Don't!" "Put the liquor in the bowl!" "Allison, forget it." "I know 1O other ways to make a party successful." "Now, first... we got to make the atmosphere a little more intimate." "Oh, Rodney, aren't you the one?" "Evening." "Good evening." "Hello, Doc." "Hi, Connie." "Just coffee, please." "Right." "Who's that, Doc?" "She's Mrs. MacKenzie." "She runs a dress shop." "She has a daughter in the senior class, Allison MacKenzie." "Beautiful woman." "Yeah." "She's a widow." "She was born here, but she had ambitions and left... married a New Yorker, 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?" "Hello." "I hear about you every day from my daughter." "You've been working kind of late?" "No, I've been to the movies." "Allison's giving a birthday party." "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 some brothers and sisters." "Why do you say that?" "I'm against only child families." "Only children are on the receiving end 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 late to give her any brothers and sisters, isn't it?" "In your case, I'd say it wasn't." "If I didn't like you so much, Matt, and know you so well..." "Ah, now, Connie, don't you go proposing to me." "For you, Doc." "Excuse me." "Try a cigarette." "Swain speaking." "Thank you." "I will be right over." "Speak of babies and they appear." "Mrs. Runkle's in labor." "See you." "Thanks, Doc." "Bye." "Doc Swain's always talking about babies." "They're his stock in trade." "Not a bad subject though." "We teach school children English, Math, 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?" "Only in theory." "I intend to start a Sex Education course in the school." "Isn't that a function of the home?" "I think it would be." "And yet, not one parent in ten does it." "No." "Sex is taboo in the home." "And it should be in the schools." "Where would they learn?" "In the alleys, in parked cars?" "They'll learn it when they marry." "Good night, Mr. Rossi." "Doc Swain offers a special price for frostbites." "Come on, Allison." "Rodney!" "Allison!" "This was supposed to be a birthday party." "Mother." "We were just playing 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 caught her under the mistletoe." "Will you please leave?" "Happy birthday, Allison." "Come on, Betty." "Thanks, Allison." "Come out here." "Allison, I said "Come out here"!" "I knew this would happen if you invited Betty Anderson." "It wasn't my fault." "You and Rodney making love!" "We were kissing, one kiss." "Not making love." "Our 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..." "Well, mother, 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!" "Why should I want to rise above it?" "Because its standards are low." "These people spend time trying to drag each other down to their level." "I don't want to be perfect like you, mother." "I don't want to 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 poured over in the dark by... by some young animal with one thing in his mind!" "Oh, 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!" "Allison... I don't want you to get a reputation for a half-hour 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 ask me, I'd run away and become his mistress!" "Don't you ever let me hear you say a thing like that again!" "I don't know why I said it." "I don't know why I said it." "Allison!" "Good morning, Ellen." "Hello, Rudy." "Hello, Allison." "Hello, Joey." "Selena will be out in a couple of minutes." "Thank you." "Come out in the back." "I got a new baby lamb." "Oh, I'd love to see it." "Oh, it's darling." "I didn't show you my lizard." "I keep him in a box, right there." "I got some holes punched in it, just so he can breathe." "His name is Pocahontas." "Used to be a man didn't have to cook his own meals..." "Look at it all you want." "Times have changed." "Mom's working and I'm late for church." "The way you parade up and down." "Taking off and putting on clothes." "I don't parade up and down." "You do!" "You just like showing yourself off, don't you?" "I don't like to show myself off!" "Just because we don't live in a palace we have to act like pigs." "We've got a trash can, remember?" "Well, well, well." "If you don't pick it up, somebody else has to." "It wouldn't hurt 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?" "Always giving orders!" "Take your hands off me!" "Don't you touch her!" "Don't you touch her anymore!" "Hey." "It was just a little family fracas." "I guess my little girl is getting to big to spank." "It was my fault, Allison." "I made him mad." "Every family has fights." "They're forgotten in an hour." "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." "I know every spot within 3 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." "It's beautiful!" "I've just decided." "This is the last time I'm ever going to come here." "Why?" "Oh, I'm going to leave it for somebody else to find." "Maybe your children will discover it." "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?" "A book I read." "What book?" "Well, see, I've sent out for a book..." "It was US$ 1.98 in a plain wrapper." "A plane wrapper?" "Yeah, a plain wrap..." "And..." "Well, it was about marriage and sex." "I had it sent to me at the post office, general delivery." "It took me about 2 weeks to get up the courage to go pick it up." "Golly..." "Golly, 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." "Really?" "The same one?" "And I read every word of it." "And I think most of it is just mid-Victorian nonsense!" "Maybe yours was better." "Hey, you want to trade books?" "Oh, no." "I'd be too embarrassed." "That's your whole trouble, Norman." "Everything embarrasses you." "Everything frightens you." "I know." "And I'm sorry." "I'm sorry we started talking about all this." "Hey, Norman, look... it's about time you learn that girls want to do the same things as boys." "And you have the right to know how." "I think we should help each other." "Are you suggesting that..." "Oh, Norman, don't get me wrong." "All I want is some 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..." "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 jealous of anybody 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 anymore, Norman." "Please, Allison, I have to tell somebody." "She won't let me have friends." "She..." "She makes me tell her 1O 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 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..." "Hello." "I guess I should've 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." "It 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." "It's a very comfortable room." "Good books, pictures..." "My own hotel room is 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 a house." "I'm trying to." "In the meantime, I have my room, which I clear out of after dinner." "You said you had something you wanted to tell me." "I was telling you something, but you weren't listening." "Your husband?" "He died when Allison was 2." "And Allison?" "Well, a few years ago." "She's grown a bit since then." "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 a conspiracy." "A meeting is an assignation... and getting to know one another is a scandal." "I think you're hard on the town and on yourself." "No, I..." "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, that 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." "We need another chaperone for the dance." "Why don't you help us out?" "Will you come?" "I think I'd like that." "Fine." "Good night, and thanks." "Good night." "Good night." "Betty Anderson's father stopped me in the shop today." "What did he want?" "Ask me when you're going to marry Betty, before or during college." "I hadn't exactly thought of marrying her." "I wouldn't hear of it even if you wanted to!" "Anderson is a good foreman, but his daughter's something else." "I agree." "Then stop seeing her." "I can't stop seeing her right away." "I invited her to the dance." "Uninvited her." "Oh, dad, I can't do that!" "You're going to!" "Do you realize what would mean if you were to marry the local tramp?" "When you marry, you're going to marry someone your own level." "Call her and tell her it's off." "Are you trying to kill me?" "Call her!" "Oh, please, dad..." "Go on, call her!" "1O42W, please." "I can understand you wanting to see this girl, but not in public." "You know what I mean." "Okay, nobody is fighting you." "I'll be as big a Harrington as you are." "I'll marry a cold fish from Boston, have one child, and cheat for life." "An apple doesn't fall far from the tree." "Yeah, but, dad, the graduation dance is important." "You want a new car, don't you?" "Betty?" "Hello, Betty." "This is Rodney." "Look, Betty, this is so terrible I don't know where to begin." "Tell her!" "The graduation dance is off." "She hung up." "What a fine graduation!" "I know someone you can take." "Who?" "Allison MacKenzie." "Her mother kicked me out for kissing her on her birthday." "I'll talk to her mother." "Allison is a girl of quality." "Quality is a good thing on woolen cloth, but very dull on a big date." "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." "Oh, really?" "Some more, Mrs. Mackenzie?" "No, thanks, Miss Thornton." "May I have this dance, Mrs. MacKenzie?" "I haven't danced for such a long time I'm afraid I'd be terrible." "Dancing isn't something you forget." "Listen, Allison, I promised a dance to Betty... the second one after intermission." "Do you mind?" "Not if you promised it to her." "I'll see you around, okay?" "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." "They do?" "Hi, Norman." "Hi." "Dance with me, Norman." "I don't know how." "Just try." "Where are we going?" "You'll see." "Hey, Rodney, you got a new car!" "Come on, get in." "Rodney, it's beautiful!" "Here we are snug as peas in a pod." "Where are we going?" "Nowhere." "I'm mad at you." "Come on, Betty." "You really want to kiss me, don't you?" "Oh, I do." "Tell me how much." "Betty, I..." "Tell me." "I want to kiss you more than anyone in the world." "I want to kiss you a thousand times, and never want to stop kissing you." "That's pretty good." "I'll give you one kiss." "What would Allison say?" "Why bring her name up at a time like this?" "Only one kiss to a customer." "Betty, I couldn't help it." "My father made me call you." "Would you rather be with me?" "Yes." "Yes." "Tell me how much." "In the whole wide world there's nobody I'd rather be with than you." "Give me another kiss." "Oh, honey, honey..." "You want to make love to me?" "Oh, yes, of course I want." "Now, go make love to Allison MacKenzie!" "Go get the girl you brought to the dance and try with her!" "And the next time I go out it will be with a man not a papa's boy!" "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"." "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." "Should acquaintance Be forgot" "And never brought to mind" "Should 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" "It's an odd feeling being in the school when it's so quiet." "I always think of it as being sleeping... resting up from the pounding it takes during the day." "Do you work here at night?" "Oh, yes, quite often." "You don't realize 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?" "I didn't want 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 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..." "I said it's too late." "I made my choice." "Long ago." "Please, take me home." "Sure." "Selena, let's get married." "You mean now?" "Sure, I can get a full-time job." "What about college and Law School that you've always talked about?" "It's just a dream." "I can't do it." "My old man doesn't make..." "But 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 is the biggest: the money." "Well, then, get over that, and the rest should be easy." "Selena, 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 do it 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." "Mom?" "Mom?" "Joey?" "I thought you were something out of a dream." "Where are mom and Joey?" "Let's..." "Let's have a drink, celebrate your growing up." "Where are mom and Joey?" "Working at a party at Harrington's." "Come on, let's have a drink." "Rather stay in the dark, getting kissed by Ted Carter." "I'm going to bed." "About time I started teaching you something." "Lucas, let me go!" "Lucas!" "Never had nothing I wanted!" "Never had a beautiful woman!" "Let me up!" "Let me offer to the class of 1941 this fun farewell." "The world outside waits for you." "It is a world full of love and rich in opportunity." "That may be dangerous... but if you hold firm to your purpose and your ideals... you'll 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." "At first, the diploma seemed like a reward forthe 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 ourchildish piggy banks of their play money." "Yet,others of us eager to feel adult... or,out of necessity, begin ourwork early." "Put the bottle on one step." "Here?" "And gradually,as the happy confusion of summer faded... one by one we knew the 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 liable, 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." "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?" "It's what I hope to find out from you." "Then I suggest college." "With your talent and ideas..." "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 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 some place to get me going, some place to start." "All right." "If that's how you feel about it, then let's do it." "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." "We're the most sentimental slobs in the world." "The softest touches there are." "Prove it." "All right." "When do I start?" "All I want is a chance to show what I can do." "Write something up this week and I'll run it on Friday." "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." "Just remember there's no such thing as a cheap lawsuit." "Hold on!" "We haven't discussed pay." "You don't have to pay me." "I'll do it for experience." "The first thing that experience teaches us is to get paid." "Five dollars a column to start, more later." "Gee." "That's more..." "Well, I wouldn't want these stories to fall in the wrong hands." "Thanks, Seth." "There's no question about it." "The tests confirm you're pregnant..." "I'd say about 3 months." "Who's the father?" "I won't tell you." "What kind of rot is that?" "You're not the 1st who ever had to get married." "Not 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 want to have the baby." "Give me something." "There's nothing I can give you to take that could 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 who it is." "Please, just give me something." "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 men 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!" "Hi, Doc." "Come on in, have a drink." "l've got Selena in my office." "Selena?" "What for?" "She's pregnant." "I told her she'd get in a mess of trouble." "Always rassling around with that Carter boy." "She wouldn't listen." "You low, miserable crazy slime!" "Don't you go shoving around..." "It's your child Selena's carrying." "It ain't!" "I can prove it, Lucas!" "I've got proof on you to put you in jail for the rest of your life!" "I never touched her!" "Here, sign that." "It's a statement of the facts." "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 don't have to sign nothing that says I did." "All right." "You don't want to sign this paper, that's up to you." "Doc, Doc..." "You know I could never do something as awful as that, don't you?" "I'm going back to my office... and start telephoning every father in Peyton Place." "You wouldn't." "Don't know what they'll take it into their heads to do but I know this:" "you're the janitor in a school full of young girls." "And an hour from now, I don't want to be in your shoes." "Doc, doc, don't do it." "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 just one thing that will stop me." "You sign that." "If I sign it, what are you going to do with it?" "I'll lock it up in my safe." "Give your pen." "Now get out of here and leave a man to work." "No, Lucas, 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." "If you don't, I'll use it against you." "I signed it!" "Don't you ever come back here." "Not next week, not next year, not ever!" "If you do, I'll kill you myself." "Well, you little..." "Mary... unofficially, this was a miscarriage." "Officially and for the records, it's an appendectomy." "But that's a lie!" "I removed her appendix." "Do you understand?" "You want to ruin a girl's life with one word?" "No, but falsifying records?" "I'll make them up personally." "And if you ever tell anybody that this wasn't an appendectomy..." "I'll tell the whole town about you and that drug supplies salesman." "Doctor, that's blackmail." "It sure is." "Nellie, she's all right now." "She's just fine." "Thank God." "What a disgrace!" "Disgrace!" "Disgrace!" "Nellie, Nellie." "Don't talk that way." "No one is ever going to know but the 3 of us." "People find out." "They always find out." "No." "No one is going to find out as long as you don't say a word." "Understand?" "No." "No, I won't." "Good." "Now you run on home now." "Thank you, doctor." "That's a good girl." "Thanks." "Thanks." "Don't worry about your job." "It will always be waiting for you." "Thanks for the beautiful bed jacket." "Hi, Mrs. Mackenzie, hi, Allison." "Hello, Ted." "We were just leaving." "Don't let me rush you out." "We have to go anyway." "Bye." "Bye, Selena." "See you soon." "It will bloom for a month... and you can plant it in your yard as a reminder of your operation." "Here's a book on humor." "Surgery's nothing these days." "You'll be up and about before you know it." "I went to see Mr. Rossi today, talk about how to get to college." "He said he might be able to wangle me a scholarship." "In the meantime, he talked Partridge into take me as an office boy." "How about that?" "That's just fine." "The only thing though, if I work there a year... it will be 8 years instead of 7 before I can pass the Bar exam." "Gee, Selena, I don't want to wait that long." "I want to marry you now and become a lawyer too." "Gee, honey, don't cry." "There's nothing to cry about." "Please, go, Ted." "Just go." "Okay." "I guess I picked the wrong time." "I'll come back tomorrow when you're feeling better." "Morning, Mrs. MacKenzie." "Nellie." "You didn't have to come to work today." "Work keeps my mind off of things." "Selena's all right now, isn't she?" "She'll be at the store tomorrow." "Everything is just trouble, Mrs. MacKenzie." "Just trouble." "Nellie... don't do any work today." "Just sit around and relax." "Happy Labor Day, mom." "Something's wrong?" "She's upset." "Can't blame her, with that Lucas being gone for 2 weeks... and nobody knows where he is." "I've got to run." "Bye." "Hi, Norman." "Hi!" "How are you?" "Fine." "Come on!" "Hello, Mike." "Where did you come from?" "Back there." "Go ahead." "Nothing's as dull as a Labor Day speech." "I didn't bring you here to explain how management and labor... must pull together, and not in opposite directions." "You've got living proof of it in our prosperity!" "And there's more to come." "Meet me halfway, and you'll never be unemployed... not as long as men and women don't go back wearing fig leaves." "And if they did, I bet we'd be in the fig leaf business... sooner than anybody East of the Alleghenies." "Now, aside from this celebration... this is a proud moment of my life." "Tomorrow, my son Rodney leaves for Harvard." "Let's get the fun started and give him a send-off!" "End of speech." "I'm just beside myself." "First, Paul goes, and then Lucas." "I don't know how Selena and me can keep on working and and take care of Joey." "You just have to keep trying." "I've been trying all my life." "With a husband who was drunk all the time and... a grown girl dressing and undressing in front of him... and him staring at her all the time." "Staring at her and thinking..." "Oh, Nellie." "We all have our problems." "Staring at her." "Staring at her." "Hello." "Hello!" "What are you doing out here all by yourself?" "I'm not used to being at home all day with Nellie." "She has too many problems." "And as for the Harrington Outing, I've seen them all." "Let's go for a drive, try to find something interesting to do... far away from Peyton Place." "Now you're beginning to think like a true suspicious native." "All right." "Are you ready?" "Yeah!" "Are you ready?" "Yeah!" "Ready, set, go!" "Give me two hot dogs." "I'll take five." "I want a hot dog." "A hot dog!" "Now is the time" "You tell me" "Your dream I tell you mine I tell you mine" "Hi, Harvard." "Going to invite me to the big game?" "Well, if it isn't my childhood sweetheart." "How are you, Betty?" "Take a look." "Draw your own conclusions." "You certainly have improved with age." "Things must have been pretty dull for you these past months." "You know, you're right." "Come on, let's take a walk." "What would your father say?" "Betty, I don't care about that." "Come on." "Outings leave me cold." "Let's grab some sandwiches. I've got a pint in the glove compartment." "We could go down to Crystal Pond." "The place will be deserted today." "Hey, you can think for yourself once in a while, can't you?" "Come on." "Okay." "Genevieve" "Sweet Genevieve" "The days may come" "Let's go get a hot dog or something." "Okay." "Good." "But still a hand of memory" "The blissful dreams" "Let's go swimming of something, huh?" "Did you see that?" "What?" "Allison MacKenzie and Norman Page down to Crystal Pond to swim all by themselves." "So what?" "They're young, happy." "Maybe in love." "What trouble can they get into?" "If you don't understand, I'm not going to explain." "More?" "Why not?" "Your father said to give you a big send-off!" "Rodney?" "Will I ever see you again?" "I mean, can I compete with those Boston girls?" "What are your qualifications?" "Can't you guess?" "Seeing is believing." "I think you're 1O% man, and 9O% talk." "You're a1OO% woman." "25O% woman." "Maybe 5OO% ." "It's going to take a lot more than money to keep me." "You know what you're doing to my temperature?" "Okay." "Let's cool it off." "Let's go for a swim." "But we didn't bring any bathing suits." "You're all ready, Norman?" "Yeah!" "I forgot my cap." "What did you say?" "Norman, you're making me blush all over." "I'm sorry." "Let's go in swimming, huh?" "What did you whistle for?" "Just saw a young girl and a fellow swimming without a stitch on." "Where?" "They're gone now." "They got out of the water and ran into the woods." "Naked?" "Naked." "It was Allison MacKenzie and Norman Page." "I didn't really get a good look at them." "Don't you lie to me, Charles." "Marion... we've got to pull out of here and forget we even saw." "Do you know how much I like you?" "I remember... faintly." "I found out that you can't always do or say what you want to." "That is unless your father lets you." "Rodney, are you going through all your life only doing... what your father let you do?" "Only having the friends that he picks out for you?" "Wearing what he tells you to wear?" "Thinking his thoughts?" "Well, Betty, I'm old enough, but he's a tough man to handle." "You've got to do it someday." "Yeah, but how?" "I have a selfish idea." "It has to do with you and me." "It's called marriage." "Wouldn't that just bowl him over?" "I'm sure it would." "And me too." "But... don't think of doing it just to bowl him over." "Betty, you're the only girl I've ever wanted." "Rodney..." "Rodney, not that way..." "What good is life if I go through it not having guts to do it my way?" "Rodney... I've really loved you for such a long time." "It must take a lot of patience to make something so beautiful." "That's what they tell me." "All done." "Thank you." "Naked as the day they were born." "Not a stitch on them." "Saw them with my own eyes!" "Sorry, don't think it 'd be ethical to tell you their names." "Good-bye." "Marion?" "Thanks for today." "Anytime." "How about tomorrow, for instance?" "I can't remember when I had so much fun." "I'd almost forgotten the wonderful things there are for people to do." "It isn't over yet." "Mike, please... I don't think... we'd better..." "I mean it!" "All right, let's talk about this." "I don't want to talk." "I just want you to leave." "Just like that?" "That's right." "We're not kids, we're adults!" "And we're going to behave as such." "I kissed you, you kissed me." "That's affection, not carnality or lust." "You ought to know the difference." "And what do you call a man who thinks about nothing but..." "Human." "All men are alike." "The approach is different, but the result is always the same." "Sooner or later, we'd get around to this." "If all I wanted was a woman, I could get one any place." "In a bar, in a hotel lobby, on a street corner..." "Or in my home?" "I'm not going to let you make anything dirty out of this!" "Then what do you call it?" "I'm going to tell you a hard truth about yourself." "It isn't sex your afraid of." "It's love that you can't handle." "And that's what you're offering me, with your hands all over me?" "That's only one expression of it, backed up by many things." "I haven't asked for any of them." "You'd better understand what you're saying no to." "When I take you in my arms, I'm committing myself to you all the way!" "That means that I intend to worry about you, take care of you... and that's what I want back from you!" "Without any reservations, or shame, or embarrassment!" "Either you're up to that or not!" "I have my standards and my pride." "Not enough." "You need someone to trust, to love." "No, I don't." "I don't!" "Just leave me alone." "I can, but I don't want to." "Connie, let me help you." "I don't care if you hang back." "If it takes time, I'll give all you need." "I can't!" "The offer is always open." "I don't know if you'll take it up but... perhaps it will make you feel better knowing it's there." "Hello?" "Yes, Marion." "I don't believe it!" "Are you positive?" "No, I'll call Mrs. Page myself." "Operator, would you please connect me with Evelyn Page?" "I don't believe Norman did what you said he did!" "2 people saw them." "Marion Partridge has probably spread all over town!" "Don't you dare say a word against Norman!" "If you brought your son up with some intelligence, decent principles..." "He has no interest in girls!" "He never had." "He never learned about sex at home." "The word was never mentioned." "Hello, Mrs. Page." "Come in here." "Where is Norman?" "Outside, just going home." "Mother." "You just stay right here." "What's the matter?" "Norman!" "Come in here!" "What is it, mom?" "Where were you today?" "What is it, mother?" "You were seen at Crystal Pond swimming in the nude with Norman." "Oh, that's a lie!" "How could you think such a thing?" "You were seen clearly and plainly by two people!" "We went swimming, Mrs. MacKenzie, but we had our suits on." "And by now everybody in Peyton Place knows about it!" "So help me if anything is wrong with her because of this!" "I didn't do anything." "We didn't do anything, did we, Allison?" "No!" "You'd better take your boy and go." "I've never, never been so humiliated and disgusted!" "Allison!" "Come back here immediately!" "If you keep this up, someday I'll do what you keep accusing me of." "I don't doubt it." "You're just like your father about sex!" "In that way, you're just like him!" "Don't you say things about my father." "He was a wonderful man!" "Wonderful." "Fine and good to you." "That's what you told me." "So don't blame him for anything!" "Wonderful, and fine, and good." "That's what I told you?" "I lied." "I lied about him because I was ashamed of him and of myself." "Then why did you marry him?" "I didn't!" "And he didn't marry me because he already had a wife!" "You don't mean that, mother." "I do mean it." "Don't you understand?" "No..." "He had a wife!" "No!" "Nellie!" "Allison!" "Connie, everybody reacts differently to suicide." "With Allison, severe shock." "But she looks so, so..." "Shock is just a kind of a sleep." "It's an escape when the mind can't accept what it sees." "A few days care and she'll be out of it." "I guess I'd better tell Selena." "And, Connie, just because it happened in your house... don't think that any of it was your fault." "Somehow I do." "You've got one thing to think of:" "Allison." "If you were going to get married, why didn't you tell me?" "Because you wouldn't have approved." "You never gave me a chance." "At least, it would've been a proper marriage... not a cheap sneak-off weekend affair." "Don't say that!" "Well, what was it?" "I'd like to talk to you alone." "You can talk to both of us." "This has to do with the business, not your wife." "I'll wait outside." "Okay, honey." "I can get it annulled." "Look, dad, I don't want any trouble between us." "I was in love with Betty and I wanted to marry her, that's all." "You weren't in love." "You had an itching for her." "She took you, son." "Good-bye, dad." "Don't bring her to the house." "Then I won't be there either." "Rodney, what about college?" "I'm not going." "I have a wife to support." "You can have a job here if you work like everyone else." "That's good enough for me." "Thanks, dad." "I know you weren't coming down for lunch, so I thought..." "It's such a beautiful day, darling." "Why don't you get dressed and go for a walk?" "You haven't spoken with me for over a week, since..." "Allison, I understand how you feel." "You'll just have to accept what's happened... make the best of it." "Mother?" "As soon as I can, I'm going to get dressed... pack my things and leave Peyton Place." "I never want to see this town or you again." "You can't mean that." "I mean it." "I'm going to New York." "Please, Allison, I was only trying to protect you." "I was an accident that you hated and tried to hide." "But I loved you from the moment you were born." "Try to believe me." "Well, how will you live?" "What will you do for money?" "I have enough to get there." "I'll find a job." "Suppose you can't find a job." "Then I'll live off some man, the way you did." "Oh, God..." "God, help me!" "Allison!" "Allison!" "I didn't want you to come down here." "I couldn't say good-bye to you." "You know I don't want you to go." "But I'm going just the same." "Stay here!" "You belong here, both of us, together!" "We've been friends ever since..." "Good-bye, Selena." "But your mother?" "How can you leave her alone?" "Mother's always been alone." "Oh, Selena... I cried all the way to New York... and my eyes were the color of the oak leaves... that had started to fall back home." "For days, I struggled to keep alive... and I shivered with loneliness in the back room of nowhere." "There were times when lwanted to crawl home... but somehow I managed and I stayed." "I learned what I could endure." "But none of us in New York or in Peyton Place... could guess how much would be demanded of us that winter... of deep despair." "I knew families at home would be getting up on frosty mornings... driving their sons to a place of hurried good-bye." "I prayed forthem." "Come on, fellows, get your last cup of civilian coffee." "That army stuff is used for waterproofing shingles." "That's what I heard." "Make yourself." "Take a cup." "Did you hear what Norman Page did?" "Yeah, became the first 4-F in town." "No, he enlisted in the paratroopers." "No kidding!" "Our Norman?" "Norman Page?" "He volunteered." "The paratroopers." "It's the funniest thing I've heard in years." "Maybe they'll drop his mother with him." "She'd kill 1,OOO Japanese before letting one touch her little boy." "Brought you a donut." "Here." "Rodney, I'm going to cry." "No, and don't say anything silly." "Betty, you know how glad I am that I married you?" "Oh, Rodney, I hope so!" "Your dad is over there." "Go say good-bye to him." "Go on, go say good-bye to him." "He loves you as much as I do." "Go on." "Take care of yourself." "And, whatever you do, do it honorably." "That's the family motto." "Say, do me a favor, dad." "Certainly, son." "Take care of Betty if she needs anything." "She won't ask you, but she might need it." "I'll keep an eye on her." "The draftees assemble over here." "Come right in close." "Now... as chairman of the Draft Board, let me say that all of us regret... having to send any of you men off to war." "You carry our love, our devotion and our undying gratitude." "Please, try to come back safely to your homes." "We've prepared some gift packages." "Step up here, I'll hand them out." "Peyton Place draftees, in the bus, on the double." "Let's go." "Hubba, hubba, hubba!" "Come on, boys, hurry it up." "Make the good-byes short." "Name, loud and strong." "Last name." "Clark, Cline, Clackey..." "Culver, Jones, Charlie." "Keep going right in, boys." "You boys are going to love the army." "Elliot." "Elliot." "Right." "Hurry up in the back of the bus, all the way." "Nothing in this world is going to stop me from coming back." "I love you, Selena." "I love you, Ted." "Hurry up, hurry up." "On the double." "Let's go, boys!" "Cut them off." "Hey, you!" "Snap it up." "On the double, let's go." "You know, you can write to her later on government stationary." "Good-bye." "Let's go!" "That first winter away from home, I took shape as an individual... and toughened." "With spring came the promise that perhaps I'd found my place in life." "But part of me would keepescaping." "I'd find it running in memory back through Peyton Place's fields... orwandering down the streets, now emptied of young men." "I've got a couple of funny ones." "This is from Ted Carter." "He says:" ""The food they serve here must have been warmed over from World War I"!" "Oh, you remember Fred Cole." "Yes, I know him." "He says: "Dear Hyde, I joined the Navy because I liked the way... they kept their ships:" "neat and tidy." "But I never knew, until now, who kept them that way: me"!" "Yeah, the boys are certainly getting around these days." "I've had a V-mail letter just the other day from Norman Page." "You remember Norman?" "Oh, sure!" "He said something about..." "He dug a foxhole so deep it was just short of desertion." "And then the seasons spun by so fast they've seen to become one." "The war news was too big to grasp and too unhappy to understand." "Selena wrote me often about Peyton Place." "and I treasured her letters." "She always tried to mention my mother... and tell me what people were saying to each other." "Orwere not saying." "Eventually,I broke the ice of my intentions... and subscribed to the "Peyton Place Times"." "Iwas hungry for names that meant something to me... but among them,unhappily,came the names of those gone forever." "Betty..." "Rodney asked me to take care of you." "I don't need your help." "But I need yours." "Rodney was a better boy for having married you." "When I was 6 years-old, I was in love with Rodney." "For years afterwards, I never even thought of anybody else." "I was a kind of flashy girl, I know, but..." "Rodney liked flashy girls, so that's the way I was going to be." "Funny thing is Rodney always loved me as much as I loved him." "But you taught him appearance was worth more than feelings." "I was wrong." "Rodney discovered it." "Let's..." "Let's keep of what's left of the family together." "No, a little brighter one, please." "Did you hear about Mr. Rossi." "No, what?" "He's leaving town." "Leaving?" "Well, not really leaving." "They're trying to make him principal of a high school in Portland." "Are you sure?" "Of course." "I got it first hand." "From Mr. Rossi?" "From Kathy, who got it from Betty, who got it from Miss Thornton." "I suppose that's first hand." "I guess we won't be able to keep him here." "This is nice." "Can I try it on?" "Sure, come on." "Merry Christmas." "Come in." "Merry Christmas." "It's been a long time and it is Christmas." "You don't have to explain a gift." "Thank you." "Come in." "Let me take your coat." "I can only stay a moment." "I have to deliver a few more things." "Can I fix you a drink?" "No, thank you." "Well, come in, sit down." "Well, I really came to... ls it really true that you might go to Portland?" "I received the offer." "It's a larger school and, naturally, more money." "So of course you'll take it." "I have a week to make up my mind." "Sit down." "Michael." "Yes?" "You were right." "I never thought I could say it but you were right." "About what?" "During the past months, I've been able to come to a few conclusions about myself." "And what were they?" "Well, Michael, I've lied for so long." "I was everything you said, specially that night in the kitchen." "I wanted you more than you could've never wanted me." "I had no right to say those things." "Yes, you did." "And I'm here to tell you the truth." "You don't owe me explanations." "Allison didn't leave home because of Nellie's suicide... but because she hated me." "She won't answer my letters or phone calls." "Why not?" "The night you walked out, Marion Partridge called me." "She told me Allison and Norman..." "I know about the phone calls." "Well, I've always been so afraid of scandal." "I believed Marion." "I believed that phone call." "And, without thinking, when Allison returned I told her some terrible things." "What things?" "Come on, Connie, what things?" "I'm Allison's mother, but I've never been married." "Not to Angus MacKenzie, not to anyone." "I went to New York and lived with a married man." "After he died, I came back here and lied." "And I've been lying ever since." "You want the truth." "And when you get it, you're just like everybody else." "They want anything but the truth!" "Connie!" "Connie!" "I told you once that the offer was always open." "I told you that I'm committing myself to you all the way... that I plan to worry about you and take care of you." "I meant that." "Oh, Michael!" "How's that?" "Fine!" "I'll get it." "Merry Christmas!" "Aren't you going to invite me in?" "Not very friendly after practically breaking my back getting here." "Hi, Joey!" "Say, there's a blizzard blowing out, a big one!" "You got a drink?" "I'm froze." "You're nowhere near froze with all you've got in you already." "I see the Navy hasn't managed to cure you of drinking." "Cure me?" "Honey, the Navy started me in tricks you never heard of." "Say!" "You sure made a lot of changes around here, ain't you?" "You bet we have." "And, for a start, you can pick up your things and go." "Ain't nobody going to tell me what I can't do in my own house." "This isn't your house anymore!" "I don't care what you did." "This is still my place." "Don't forget it!" "Did you just come back here to make trouble?" "You heard about mom, didn't you?" "Yeah." "Heard about her." "Hey, Joey, here's a quarter." "Run along now, huh?" "Come on, pick it up." "Pick it up, Joey!" "Lucas, you leave him alone." "Honey, don't start a fight." "Me and you, we got to know each other a little too well for that." "Say, I didn't think you could improve, but you sure have." "Oh, it ain't like I was your real pa, you know?" "You dirty filthy animal!" "Still a little wildcat, ain't you?" "As we worship together this Easter morning... and more of we pray to Him who died and rose again... that we might have life and have it more abundantly... let us remember especially... those who have gone from this country and this town... to live and die in far old places for a like purpose." "May they know His mercy, His comfort and His peace." "May we uphold them with our prayers... encourage them with our letters... honor them with our love, and may our lives... not less than theirs, be dedicated to that same Lord... who alone can give to life a perfect freedom and a final peace." "Let us pray." "Our Father, who art in heaven Hallowed be Thy name" "Thy kingdom come Thy will be done" "On earth as it is in heaven" "Give us this day our daily bread" "And forgive us our debts As we forgive our debtors" "And lead us not into temptation" "But deliver us from evil" "For Thy is the kingdom And the power" "And the glory, forever" "Amen." "Thank you." "Come again." "Yes?" "I'd like to see Miss Cross." "Selena." "Miss Cross, you have a father in the Navy, Lucas Augustus Cross?" "My stepfather." "Have you seen him lately?" "Not for a year and a half." "What's wrong?" "He went on leave, didn't come back." "He's listed as a deserter." "Miss Cross, are you sure you haven't seen him?" "I didn't even know for sure that he was in the Navy." "He hasn't called you or written you?" "No." "He disappeared from town... a year and a half ago, deserting his family." "Well, it looks like he's running true to form." "If you do hear from him get in touch with 1st." "District Shore Patrol." "I will." "Oh, Selena, don't get upset." "It's not your fault they can't find him." "What is it?" "What's wrong, Selena?" "Mrs. MacKenzie, I've got to tell somebody." "I can't keep it to myself any longer." "Every time I go out in that yard..." "What are you talking about?" "Lucas didn't desert." "How do you know?" "Because I killed him!" "I killed him Christmas Eve in the shack!" "I don't believe it!" "I did!" "I buried him in the sheep pen." "Selena... you've got to call the State Police." "No." "No, I can't!" "You've got to!" "You should've done it long ago." "Oh, please, don't make me!" "Listen to me, Selena." "Listen." "One of us has got to call." "I can't!" "No..." "You must call them now." "I can't..." "Pardon me." "Allison!" "Norman!" "Oh, gee!" "What a surprise!" "Yeah!" "Come here." "Hey, you guys." "You know." "You look older and all grown up." "Well, the uniform helps." "And all the decorations." "What have you been doing?" "Living in New York." "Have you been doing any writing?" "You've always loved to write." "Yes, I did some writing." "Did you get any of it published?" "No, I got a job working for a book publisher." "He didn't by any chance publish those books with the... the plain wrappers, do you remember?" "Yes, you do." "Remember?" "You were always afraid, and everything frightened you." "I can't get over how wonderful you look." "Really, you look great." "Thanks." "Though you never said good-bye to me when you left Peyton Place." "Never even said good-bye." "I'll never forget that Labor Day." "I won't either." "I see you have 2 Purple Hearts." "What brings you home?" "Vacation?" "Haven't you heard about Selena?" "No, what?" "She killed her stepfather, Lucas." "The trial starts in two days for murder." "Lucas was always a bad Joe, but she always seemed to put up with him." "Who ever knows what anyone's able to put up with in this world?" "Well, that's true." "It sure took me a lot enough time... to know a little about myself, understand Peyton Place." "Cigarette?" "Thanks." "I'm going to go back and try to work things out with my mother." "Maybe we'll both be happier." "If not, maybe at least I've made the effort." "You know?" "I always wondered why you enlisted." "In the Paratroopers, I mean." "I don't know." "I guess I wanted to get knocked off or something." "But as soon as I got away from my mother... I suddenly realized how wonderful life really was!" "And then I fought like a tiger to stay alive!" "I was running away from problems." "You know what I mean." "Yeah, I know." "Something's bothering you, isn't it?" "Yeah..." "Can I help?" "No, you can't." "Better not to talk about it." "All right." "Hey, have you had dinner?" "No." "Would you like dinner with me?" "Okay!" "All right." "Doc Swain?" "Evening, Selena." "I'll be right with you." "My wife loved these flower gardens." "I try to keep them up for her." "Ah, watch your feet." "Are you going to tell them about me?" "I'll have to, Selena." "Nobody in town must ever know." "But, if I don't, you'll be risking your life." "I know that." "Well, then, why?" "Because of Ted." "What are you afraid of?" "What he will think?" "He loves you." "It would ruin his life marry to a girl who..." "Doc, you know not a respectable person in town would accept him." "Respectable!" "What kind of respectability are you talking about?" "The people with enough money to hire him as a lawyer." "Don't you understand?" "We're talking about your whole life!" "Prison can be a kind of dying!" "Losing Ted would be a worse kind of dying." "Besides, you mustn't get involved." "Now, never mind about me." "Promise me you won't tell them." "Promise me, please, promise!" "All right, Selena." "I'll promise you." "Selena, you don't seem to realized." "You face a possible life sentence!" "I need much more to work with." "There is no more." "Lucas was drunk, brutal." "When he tried to beat me, I killed him." "Killing in seIf-defense is understandable... but you hid the body and acted like a criminal." "I know." "But she was fighting for her life!" "The State is sending a prosecutor for one purpose: to convict Selena." "I've seen him work." "He's competent, relentless as the law itself." "Yes, tell her to come in." "There must be something you haven't told me." "He tried to kill me, and I killed him first." "But you hid the body!" "Why?" "Come in, Allison." "Allison!" "I was never happier to see anyone in my life." "Are you all right?" "Hi, Ted." "Hi, Allison." "Mr. Partridge, I can testify about Lucas." "I saw him beat her." "It will help, believe me." "We appreciate you coming for the trial." "You're going to get her off?" "We're going to do the best we can." "But the jury decides on the one thing:" "evidence." "Now, it adds up to this:" "we have a murder and a defense that's too simple to be good." "It's open to attack from many sides." "Selena, have you told me the whole story?" "I'm sorry!" "There's no more to tell." "Yeah, I'll take the dress shop before, okay?" "Hello, Allison." "You look well." "With the drink in my hand?" "Would you care for something?" "I moved hoping I'd be left alone." "You haven't learned, have you?" "Oh, yes, I have, mother." "I learned to smoke and drink." "And go to bed when I want to." "And when to kiss whenever the impulse gets over me." "Allison, we all make mistakes." "But if we face them, truthfully, they can be overcome." "Can we overcome the fact of my birth?" "That I'm illegitimate?" "I think so." "With love." "Thank you." "And good-bye, mother." "As soon as this trial's over, I'll take the 1st. train out of here." "Good-bye, mother." "Court will come to order." "Everybody rise." "Be seated, please." "The recess in the trial of the State versus Selena Cross is over." "Gentlemen, you may proceed." "Prosecution wishes to call Joseph Cross to stand." "Joey..." "I told you my name was Joseph." "Joseph..." "this morning, just before recess... we were talking about lying and telling the truth." "Joseph, have you ever told a lie?" "Yes, sir." "Big ones or little ones?" "Some little ones and some medium ones." "You'd lie to save your sister from prison, wouldn't you?" "Yes, sir." "A big lie?" "The biggest lie you ever heard." "I object!" "Sustained." "Now, Joseph, we heard your testimony this morning." "Was it true?" "It was all true." "And you claim that your sister killed your stepfather... because he grabbed her." "He was a strong man." "We were both afraid." "If Lucas was as strong as you and everybody else has said... how could your sister possibly overpower him?" "She was madder than he was and scareder." "Lucas was 195 lbs... your sister, 11O lbs." "Did she sneak up behind him... and hit him with that piece of firewood when he wasn't looking?" "No, sir." "Were you watching every second?" "Well, I might 've looked away once or twice." "Did you see Selena hit him the first blow?" "I don't know." "is there any doubt in your mind as to how that 1st blow was struck?" "I..." "I don't know." "It all happened so fast." "Joseph... you said that you told your sister to bury your stepfather." "That's right." "She didn't want to." "I see." "And how old were you when you told her, when she did what you wanted?" "About 8." "In other words... a19 year-old girl didn't know what to do with the body... until an 8 year-old boy told her." "Yes, sir." "I have no further questions." "No questions." "You may step down, Joseph." "I wish to recall Selena Cross to the stand." "Miss Cross, yesterday you told the jury that your stepfather... disappeared from home a year and a half before you killed him." "Do you have any idea why he left?" "I'm not sure." "I'd only be guessing." "You hesitated." "Why?" "I don't know." "You know what he did during that year and a half?" "He was in the Navy, he said." "Do you imply that he came home from the war, from combat duty just to beat you up?" "We object, your Honor!" "The defendant has implied no such thing." "Sustained." "Did your stepfather... own the house you live in?" "My brother and I fixed it up." "Answer the question, please." "It wasn't a house when..." "Please, answer the question." "Yes." "But it was a dirty shack, and nothing else!" "But you had the freedom to come and go, and... invite boys in... and answer to no one while Lucas was gone, didn't you?" "Yes, I had the freedom, but I never did!" "When you thought he was going to change all that, did you kill him?" "No!" "Lucas was drunk and tried to beat me!" "The coroner testified... that Lucas was unconscious from the first or second blow... so you'd say you'd end the beating then, but you didn't stop." "Why?" "I don't know." "You kept beating him until you crushed life out of him." "Why?" "I don't know!" "I couldn't stop." "I couldn't stop." "When you finally killed him, why didn't you call the police?" "I wanted to, but I was afraid." "You hadn't committed any crime, defending yourself." "What was there to fear from the police?" "I don't know." "I was just afraid." "You had nothing to fear." "Until you hid Lucas' body, isn't that right?" "But the moment you buried your stepfather's body you had a great deal to fear." "That's right." "But you buried him!" "You must have had a reason... a powerful reason!" "And don't tell it was simply because you were afraid." "I was!" "Are you sure?" "That is the only reason!" "Fear is panic." "And clearly burying the remains of a man you just murdered requires cold, careful thought!" "Objection!" "You knew what you were doing!" "I didn't!" "I didn't!" "He's not cross-examining, but harassing the witness." "Objection sustained." "I withdraw the question." "I have nothing further." "Miss Cross... at all times during the quarrel that led to the death of Lucas Cross were you in fear of bodily harm?" "Yes, I was." "I have no further questions." "You may step down." "I wish to call Miss Allison MacKenzie to stand." "Raise your right hand." "Do you swear to tell the truth... the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "Yes." "Be seated." "State your name, please." "Allison MacKenzie." "Miss MacKenzie, how long have you known Selena Cross?" "Ever since I was a child." "We went all through school together." "Miss Cross is my best friend." "Ms. MacKenzie, you've testified that when you saw Lucas beating Selena... you thought that your presence prevented things from going further." "I know it did." "You don't know, you assume." "Well, he was embarrassed to find me watching." "How many times did Lucas hit Selena?" "Once." "Once?" "Now, did he hit her with his fist or a weapon?" "Well, it was kind of a slap." "A slap?" "Have you ever been slapped, Miss Mackenzie?" "Yes." "By a stranger?" "No." "By a member of the family?" "Do I have to answer this?" "I'm sorry, but you do." "By my mother." "As hard a blow as Selena Cross' stepfather gave her?" "No." "How could you tell?" "I don't think so." "You don't really know what happened inside that house, do you?" "Yes, I do know." "First, you talk about a beating... and then we find out all you're discussing is a single blow." "Would you say that the arguments in the Lucas Cross house... were more or less violent than any other family arguments?" "Objection!" "What's the purpose of that question?" "The witness must define her terms if the jury and this court... are to clearly understand what she means." "A beating becomes one blow, a blow becomes a slap?" "Perhaps the slap will become something else." "Objection overruled." "I have no further questions." "No questions, your Honor." "You may step down." "The prosecution would like to call Mrs. Constance MacKenzie." "Raise your right hand." "Do you swear to tell the truth... the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "I do." "Be seated." "State your name, please." "Constance MacKenzie." "Mrs. MacKenzie, I understand you've known the defendant a long time." "Yes, since she was a baby." "Did Selena ever complained that her stepfather had beaten her... at any time?" "What?" "Did Selena ever complained..." "Oh, no." "No." "Did you ever see any marks on her, injuries?" "No." "You knew the defendant 's mother well, did you not?" "Nellie worked for me as a house maid." "Did she ever mentioned Lucas' brutality or... described any beating he had ministered?" "No, she said he was drunk and and lazy, and he deserted her..." "Mrs." "Mackenzie..." "She committed suicide over the kind of life Lucas brought them to." "We're not concerned here over Mrs. Cross' suicide." "But I don't see why not." "There was something terribly wrong in the Cross family life." "Mrs." "Mackenzie, if you please..." "Something wrong when a woman... had to raise her daughter up almost alone and trying to help her, and..." "Mrs." "MacKenzie..." "...not being able to help." "Mrs." "MacKenzie..." "Not being able to give..." "Mrs. MacKenzie, I'm aware of your deep concern over the suicide... but that's not the point at issue." "Did your daughter ever tell you she had seen Lucas beating Selena?" "No." "Don't you think that if she had seen such a shocking incident... she would've mentioned it to you?" "I don't know." "Well, wouldn't she?" "Well..." "Mrs. MacKenzie, didn't your daughter ever bring home her problems?" "How many times do I have to answer your questions?" "Until we find out the truth." "The truth is... my daughter did bring her troubles home... and I wouldn't understand." "Well, if she did bring her problems home, did she ever... I wouldn't understand!" "The court will adjourn for a short recess." "Come in." "What have I done to Selena?" "You had no choice." "But I did have a choice." "Maybe the wrong one, but..." "I'll never forgive myself." "You blame yourself too much." "You did what you morally had to do." "Here." "Charlie, can I speak with you?" "Surely." "The court will come to order." "Remain seated, please!" "Has the prosecution completed its questioning of Mrs. MacKenzie?" "Yes." "The prosecution rests." "No more questions." "You may step down." "We call Dr. Matthew Swain to the stand as a witness for the defense." "Raise your right hand." "Do you swear to tell the truth... the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "I do." "Be seated." "State your name, please." "Dr." "Matthew Swain." "Dr. Swain, do you know of any act of force or violence... which Lucas Cross perpetrated against the defendant?" "I certainly do." "We've spent too much time torturing a girl who's emotionally unable... to speak for herself." "Lucas Cross was a drunken, and a wife beater... and a child abuser!" "I object! "Child abuser" is an exaggerated and inflammatory word." "When I say "child abuser", I mean it in the worst way possible!" "I object, your Honor." "The deceased is not on trial." "Lucas Cross' character as to force and violence is on trial here." "You may continue, Dr. Swain." "The night that Lucas Cross left town... I performed what I recorded as an appendectomy on Selena Cross." "It was not an appendectomy." "I falsified my records." "I assisted her in a miscarriage." "A miscarriage of Lucas Cross' baby." "I said that it was Lucas Cross' baby that Selena Cross carried." "I object to admitting any such statement as evidence!" "On what grounds do you base your objection?" "It's the unsupported conclusion of the witness." "Except that it is true." "Can you testify of knowledge?" "I can!" "Objection overruled." "Continue." "I have here a complete admission of guilt... signed by Lucas Cross." "Will the attorneys please approach the bench?" "I offer Lucas Cross' confession in evidence, your Honor." "I object, your Honor." "The confession of a person who's neither a witness nor a party... is totally inadmissible." "The prosecution may have a sound point." "But I'll reserve my ruling until I've heard that witness testimony." "And, if I find it inadmissible, I'll order it stricken." "Dr. Swain's whole testimony stricken from the record, your Honor." "I'll rule on that when I've heard it." "You will complete your statement, Dr. Swain." "I'm sure the prosecutor will see that the State investigate my records." "And perhaps I could lose the privilege of practicing Medicine." "And it's time that someone spoke up and paid whatever price is asked... for the privilege of speaking." "Selena killed Lucas out of fear." "Fear of being forced to submit to him again." "And then she hid her crime... for fear of how we'd react to her being assaulted by her stepfather." "She couldn't trust us with the truth." "Selena had no one to go to but me." "She only came to me because she had to, for medical reasons." "She swore me to secrecy." "Now, I'm violating that secrecy for a bigger purpose." "We're all prisoners of each other's gossip." "Killed by each other's whispers, and it's time it stopped." "Our best young leave as soon as they learn the price of a bus ticket." "They contribute the best of their characters to other communities... because they're stifled in Peyton Place." "We're not interested in Dr..." "Matthew Swain has come forward... at considerable risk to himself, and I intend to hear him through... without any more interruptions." "I will rule on your objection when he's finished." "You continue, Dr. Swain." "We're a small town, but we're a prosperous one... and yet we allow tar-paper shacks to stand!" "We have half a dozen churches, which most of you attend... and then don't practice the word they preach... once you walk down the steps." "We have a fine school, but you take it for granted." "We have a town's paper with a most intelligent editorial page... which you use for wrapping garbage." "It's time you people woke up." "Perhaps today you will, because there's something much bigger... than the tragedy of Selena Cross on trial here:" "our indifference... our failure as a community to watch over one another... to know who needs help and to give it!" "Selena's been living in a prison of her own, one we helped to build." "I have nothing more to say, your Honor." "The objection of the prosecution is not sustained." "The jury may consider this statement as evidence." "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?" "We have, your Honor." "The foreman will read the verdict." "We find the defendant not guilty." "Court is adjourned." "Come on, Joey." "You come home with me." "Selena, would you like to go now?" "Good going, Doc!" "Selena, I'm so very happy for you." "Selena, I'm so happy for you." "Mother?" "Come on, Norman!" "We finally discovered that season of love... it is only found in someone else's heart." "Right now,someone you know is looking everywhere for it." "And it's in you." "Captions:" "Videolar"