Alfred Hitchcock Presents s04e19 Episode Script

Good evening.
This is the most difficult and frustrating game of croquet I've ever played.
I seem to be able to drive the ball quite well, but my shoulders keep getting stuck in the wickets.
It's all very trying.
Actually, I've consented to stand here like a watch fob in order to dramatize the subject of tonight's story.
It concerns one of our oldest institutions.
An institution which seeks to rehabilitate men by keeping them shut up for years.
Marriage.
But first, we have another equally revered institution, the television commercial.
Oh, I hope you like me.
When I show you how much I love him, you'll just have to like me.
It seems so strange.
I'll meet you for the first time today, and I've wanted to for so long, for almost five years.
Okay if I hang my slip over the heater? Oh, Pat.
For a minute, I thought you were serious.
Oh, from the looks of the place, I'd say Philip and his mother were coming to dinner.
Do you think everything looks all right? It looks wonderful, just wonderful.
You're sure, now? Well, I would make just one small suggestion.
Well, what? Put your shoes on.
Oh, Pat.
If you hadn't been here, I would have forgotten them for sure.
Wouldn't that have been awful? Oh, I think it would have made a nice, informal touch.
But to meet Mrs.
Pryor without my shoes on.
Oh, I would have just died.
You don't need shoes when you're walking on air.
It shows, doesn't it? Oh, it glows.
Yes, but not too much.
I mean, not so much that it'll frighten him away.
Well, it hasn't yet.
Don't worry about it.
On you, it looks wonderful.
I'm gonna dress now and scoot out the back way.
Relax now.
I'll punch you right in the nose.
Oh, Pat.
Hello, darling.
Hello, Philip.
Philip, your mother.
Oh, I'm sorry, Helen, Mother couldn't come.
Oh.
She sent her apologies.
Well, of course, but she's not ill, is she? Oh, she's never very well, but she did look forward to this evening so much, to meeting you.
Oh, I wanted to meet her, too.
Philip, if she's ill, shouldn't you be with her? Well, it's all my fault, really.
I knew she'd be upset, but I had to tell her.
Just the way I have to tell you.
What? Tell me what? I got my orders this afternoon.
I leave for Korea tonight.
Oh, Philip.
Oh, Philip.
I know, darling.
I know.
We didn't think it would happen so soon, did we? Oh, I hoped it never would.
Well, maybe it's a good thing it's happening fast, then.
Because all I really have time for is to tell you that I love you.
Oh, and I love you.
And all the time I'm gone, I'll be loving you more.
Oh, I don't think I could love you any more.
Well, you could try.
Oh, I don't have to try.
It won't be so bad, waiting.
As long as we know we're both waiting.
Oh, Philip, I don't want you to worry.
It's just awful worrying about somebody you love.
No, we're not going to worry, either of us.
Besides, you won't have time.
You'll be too busy writing to me.
Oh, of course I will.
I know, Philip, I'll go and see your mother some Sunday.
I'll take the afternoon train out and I'll introduce myself and we can get to know each other while you're gone.
Hey, that'd be great.
Do you think she'd really like it? She'd love it.
Only trouble is, she's going up to Boston, to stay with my aunt while I'm gone.
Oh.
Well, that'll make you feel better, having somebody to look after her.
Yeah, it sure will.
I'd hate to think of her all alone in that big old house.
I know.
We won't say any more.
Just know that someday soon, you'll answer the door and I'll be there.
Philip.
Helen, I'm sorry.
Oh, I'm all right, Pat.
I wish I could do something.
I've only known him four months.
Four months.
Maybe he won't be long.
The papers say the war can't go on much longer.
You know, I I guess it sounds funny to say it, but I never thought I could love.
Really love, I mean.
Until Philip.
When you don't have a family of your own to begin with, it's like a part that's left out of you.
You grow up knowing people a little and getting to like them and maybe getting some affection, but love, that's always something that happens to somebody else.
Until Philip.
Until Philip.
You know, Pat, it bothers me, a little of me, me being older than Philip.
Sometimes he seems just like a little boy.
Little boys grow up.
I know, and I guess he needs me.
Of course he needs you.
And you need to be loved.
It's a nice arrangement.
It's a nice feeling.
But, sometimes I'm I'm just afraid I don't deserve him.
Now, that's a lot of nonsense.
Listen, I like Philip fine, but when you get married, I'm going to make it a point to be around to remind him that he's the lucky one.
Oh, I missed him so.
I know you must have, too.
If only we'd met that night, I could have comforted you while Philip was away.
Remember how it was when he came back? Just to see him and touch him and hear his voice.
Then you're proud of me? You know I am.
I feel like a kid with a good report card.
I want my head patted.
You mean, like this? Just like that.
I have a whole box of gold stars waiting for when they make you a vice president or something.
Oh, I don't think either of us will live that long.
It's just a small publishing house, Helen.
I don't think you get promoted unless someone dies.
Well, maybe they'll retire somebody, then.
Oh, not from the looks of Mr.
Pearson.
I'll bet he's 75, at least.
He was your father's friend, wasn't he? Mmm.
And Mother's.
For years, Mr.
Pearson wouldn't publish a book unless Mother read it first.
She gets a kick out of my job.
All the reading I have to do.
I know she's proud of you, too.
And of you.
I almost forgot, I told her you were going to night school.
Hmm.
To improve myself? Silly.
Mother knows you weren't able to go to college.
She thinks it's wonderful that you want to go on with your studies.
Well, I'm glad if she does.
It's all your fault, you know.
I mean, I didn't mind not being well-read and things like that, until you.
Darling, I like you just the way you are.
Philip, have you told her about us? Well, sure.
I've told her all about you.
I said "about us," Philip.
Well, of course.
Philip, you're home again and you've got a good job, and if we're going to get married soon, we ought to tell her.
I know, I know.
Just a little longer, Helen.
A couple more months.
She's just getting used to having me around the house again.
You understand.
She needs me.
After all, I'm all she's got.
A couple of months.
That's all.
Hey, I'm gonna have to run all the way back.
We're very punctual at the Pearson Company.
Philip I couldn't shake the thought from my mind that you and I, the ones who loved him most, were pulling him apart.
I knew I had to meet you.
So, one day last spring, after work, I took the train out from town.
I felt we had to talk, to get to know each other, for Philip's sake.
Mrs.
Pryor! Mrs.
Pryor, I'm Helen Brewster.
There's no one home.
No one home at all.
I felt so frustrated, so ashamed to think that you wouldn't even see me.
I thought I could never tell Philip.
But that Wednesday, when we had dinner together And the reason I think it's going to be good is because you never really know until the last sentence in the manuscript that he's going to go back to his wife.
Sounds like one of those sudden endings.
They always leave me dangling, somehow.
Well, how would you have it end? "And they lived happily ever after"? Oh, Philip, there's nothing wrong with a happy ending.
Well, now, did I say there was? I'm all for them, myself.
Well, it just seems to me that there's enough realism in life.
You don't have to face up to it every time you read a book.
Something's wrong, Helen, and I don't know exactly what it is.
We were just talking about a book.
I just don't think I'd like it, that's all.
No.
Before the book, all evening.
Don't you feel well? Oh, of course I feel well.
All right, darling, we'll forget it, huh? Oh.
Maybe this will make you feel better.
Mother sent it.
Your mother? Mmm-hmm.
I think she felt a little sorry for you.
I told her that you were struggling through War and Peace.
David Copperfield.
Mmm.
Mother loves Dickens.
That's one of her favorites.
She wanted you to have it.
Philip, I just don't understand.
Well, what's there to understand? She just sent you a book.
I know, but Philip, I wasn't going to tell you this, but Monday, after work, you stayed in town to have dinner with Mr.
Pearson, remember? Mmm-hmm.
Well, I took the train to go out and see your mother.
Oh, well, that was a nice thing to do.
But, she didn't tell me about it.
Because she didn't see me.
That is, she wouldn't see me.
She wouldn't? Philip, she ran from the house.
And I called to her and I told her who I was, and then she just ran away.
She ran from the house? Well, she stopped for a minute when I called to her, and then she said, "There's no one home.
There's no one home at all.
" And then she just ran off.
But Mother wouldn't do that, she couldn't.
Well, it was so obvious that she just doesn't want to meet me.
Oh, it couldn't be that, Helen.
Mother's very anxious to meet you.
You must know that.
I can't understand.
And you can't make me understand it, Philip.
I never felt so rejected.
Helen, listen to me.
It couldn't have been Mother.
You say this woman ran from the house.
Mother's practically bed-ridden.
She can't walk without support, let alone run.
Well, I wouldn't know.
I've never met her.
I'll bet it was Mrs.
Beasley.
It must have been Mrs.
Beasley.
She comes to clean three days a week.
But the woman said there was nobody at home.
If your mother can't walk without support, how could she Wait a minute.
You said this was Monday? Yes, this past Monday.
Well, that explains it.
Mrs.
Fairbain and Connie came over to take Mother for a drive.
She's an old friend and her daughter.
Connie can manage Mother almost as well as I can.
I'm sorry, darling, after that long train ride.
You're sure she wasn't home? She really wasn't home on Monday? I just told you.
Here.
That's Mother.
Is she the one you saw? No.
Oh, Philip.
Of course it isn't your mother.
Oh, how silly I've been.
She wouldn't run away from you.
No one would.
Oh, about Mother, I've had some bad news.
I spoke to her doctor yesterday.
He told me her heart isn't so good.
But he warned me, any shock Well, it's my duty to guard her against them if I can.
I don't know what makes this a holiday.
I never work this hard at the office.
It's a change.
It's supposed to be diverting.
Oh, keen.
Helen, this is a furnished apartment.
Save your energies for when you take over the Pryor mansion.
The thought's never crossed your mind? Well, I never thought of "taking over," if that's what you mean.
All right.
Marrying Philip, then.
Well, of course I think of it.
But But hooey.
Listen, there's a trite old expression that fits like a you-know-what.
"You're not getting any younger.
" Well, do you know anybody that is? All right.
I'm not getting any younger, either.
But at least I'm playing the field, keeping the old eye peeled for somebody really eligible.
Well, Philip's really eligible.
It's just that he It's just that he's all his mother's got.
Listen, I'm all for mothers.
But there's a special breed of women with only sons that lingers on for years.
If I were you, I'd give that a little thought.
I've given it a lot of thought.
But I just don't know what to do.
Lay it on the line.
You get married right away, or farewell Philip.
It's just no good anymore, Philip.
Just these few evenings together, Saturday afternoons.
Do you realize that this has been going on for four years? I know I can't remember not knowing you.
I don't want to.
Soon it'll be five years.
That's a long time to wait for something.
Well, there was the war.
Oh, Philip, that was a long time ago.
Well, all right, there's Mother.
You've always understood about her.
I can't change that, Helen.
Well, you don't have to.
That's what I'm trying to tell you, I guess.
You don't have to change, but I do.
You mean, you don't want to see me anymore? Well, the way it is now, no.
No, I don't.
Helen, it won't be much longer.
I promise you, it won't.
Mother's beginning to perk up now.
It won't be any longer, Philip.
I'm not going to be seeing you anymore.
But I don't know what I'd do without you.
I mean it.
I don't know what I'd do without you.
Helen! Helen! We won't wait any longer.
We'll get married tonight.
Tonight? Yes, right now, tonight.
People drive across the state line all the time.
There aren't any delays.
And we don't want any.
Oh, Philip.
Mother's room.
She's sure to be sleeping.
I don't think we ought to bother her tonight.
Unless, of course, you insist, darling.
After all, you're the boss now.
No.
No, tomorrow will be fine.
We'll tell her tomorrow.
Tomorrow is here, Mrs.
Pryor.
Perhaps Philip's already told you, but I know that I can't wait any longer.
Mrs.
Pryor? Mrs.
Pryor? "Mrs.
Mary Langley Pryor died "at her Elmville Lane residence early today.
"Native of Boston, widowed three years ago.
"Only survivor, a son, Philip, of the home.
" Philip.
Philip, I don't understand.
She's been dead for seven years.
You never remember to keep warm, Mother.
You'll get another chill if I don't watch over you every minute.
Oh.
Oh, no.
No.
No, no.
Ah, there you are again.
These may look like rocks to you, but they're really clusters of atoms.
This is a very important job.
And now, here's a scene from next week's show.
After which, you will find me still firmly anchored here.
If you liked that sample, you will love next week's show, for it will contain three such scenes.
After seeing that one, however, I've put in an order for a set of these for each of our viewers.
Good night.