[The Mental Health Board Series,Emotions of Every-Day Living]
[Number 4, North Carolina Board of HealthPresents]
Farewell to Childhood, Copyright 1951, M.H.F.B., Inc.]
[A Herbert Kerkow Production]
[The Mental Health Film Board,K. Appel, M.D.; T.A.C. Rennie, M.D.
L. Baumgartner, M.D.; H.P. Rome, M.D.C. Binger, M.D.; L. Saul, M.D.
J.M. Bobbitt, Ph.D.; C. SchlaiferM.R. Kaufman, M.D.; A. Altman, Exec. Sec.]
[Sponsored by the National Association for Mental Health, Inc.]
[Supervising for the Mental Hygiene SectionNorth Carolina Board of Health
J.W.R. Norton, M.D., State Health Officer, David A. Young, M.D.
Psychiatric Consultants: Thomas A.C. Rennie, M.D., John P. Lambert, M.D.
Film Editor, Stanley Cypher; Dialogue Director, Joyce Henry]
[Screen Play by Frank Beckwith
From Original Treatments by Len Peterson and Ben Kerner
Directed and Photographed By Julian Roffman]
[Music]
[Narrator:] North Carolina families live in these particular homes,
but like homes in every state, they are the expression of a love.
The love that men and women feel for each otherand for their children.
The Stuart family happens to live in this home, and like most other families,
they are held together by love.
But like other loving parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stuart can be quite angry on occasion.
[Mrs. Ellen Stuart:] Will you look at that?
If I've told her once, I've told her a hundred times.
She will not put her things away. Oh no, not Miss Leading Lady.
[Mr. Stuart:] Now Ellen, you can't expect her to run upstairs with her stuff
every time she comes in the house.
[Mrs. Stuart:] I tell you, it's nothing but temper and tantrums and sulks.
She was all over that by the time she was six.
Now she's fifteen and starting all over again.
[Mr. Stuart:] Oh, let's not go through all that again.
Can't we have any peace and quiet around here anymore?
[Mrs. Stuart:] Go ahead, take her side. You and that school counselor, Mrs. Soames.
[Mr. Stuart:] You know very well that Mrs. Soamesis supposed to advise the boys and girls at school.
That's her job!
[Mrs. Stuart:] "Advise."
[Mrs. Stuart imitating Susan:] "Mrs. Soames says I should go out for the Dramatic Society."
"Mrs. Soames says I might make a great actress."
[Mrs. Stuart:] I could have been an actress!
Anybody could.
You think she'll talk to me about it? Oh no!
I'm just left out of everything.
[Mr. Stuart:] What do you want? A pin?
Where is she now?
[Mrs. Stuart:] She said she was going to a party at Glenda Ford's.
[Mr. Stuart:] Oh.
[Music and teens dancing, eating, and drinking]
[Susan Stuart:] Pete!
Pete, you shouldn't have done it.
[Soft sobbing]
[Pete Bolton:] Golly Susan, what's the matter?
[Susan blows her nose.]
You sound like the Angel Gabriel. Honk, honk!
[Susan:] Don't.
[Pete:] Gee Susan, no matter what anybody says, there's nothing wrong about a kiss.
[Susan:] Thanks for bringing me home, Pete. I had a swell time.
[Pete:] I had a swell time, too.
[Coughing]
[Susan:] Father, mother, this is Pete.
[Pete:] I'm afraid it's all my fault, Mr. Stuart.
[Mr. Stuart:] I'm afraid it is.
It might improve matters if you went home.
[Pete:] Sorry, Susan. I'll be seeing you.
[Susan:] Goodnight, Pete.
He's the nicest boy I know, and you did everything you could to embarrass me.
[Mr. Stuart:] I don't think much of anyone who brings you home at this hour of night.
[Mrs.Stuart:] Is this the kind of advice Mrs. Soames gives you?
[Susan:] Pete Bolton is my friend.
[Mrs. Stuart:] You know we only want what's best for you, Susan.
[Mr. Stuart:] Susan, where were you?
[Susan:] Where I'd told you I'd be, at Glenda's!
[Mr. Stuart:] Oh no, you weren't! Not after 11 o'clock. I know, I called Glenda.
[Susan:] You called her!
[Mr. Stuart:] Yes, I did.
[Mrs. Stuart:] We had to, Susan. We were so worried.
[Susan:] I'm not going to be spied upon.
You make a fool of me in front of my friends.
I'm not doing anything wrong, and I have the right to lead my own life.
[Music]
[Mr. Stuart:] Susan, come back here!
[Door slamming]
[Susan:] I might as well be dead for all anyone cares.
I work, and I try.
Every other kid has a good time.
Nobody picks on them.
Every other girl has better clothes than mine.
I'll do something wonderful...
like finding a million dollars or becoming a modern Florence Nightingale.
Then look out!
If I weren't so ugly, I might join the foreign service like Mata Hari.
You're only Susan Stuart, and you have skin like an alligator.
You're a woman of mystery.
You have all the allure of the Orient.
Who are you?
You're a beautiful actress, the most beautiful actress in the whole world!
And I love you.
Goodnight, my beloved.
You dope!
[Music and chatter]
[Susan:] That's the most adorably divine cardigan I've seen in years!
[Girl 1:] Dassett's, they've got a new shipment.
[Susan:] That's a pretty ribbon too, but I think a coral one
would look prettier in my hair.
[Pete:] Hey, looks like Mac Martin's got himself a new date.
[Girl 1:] Yikes! Look at those clothes.
[Susan:] Oh, she's high society. She always dresses like that.
[Girl 1:] Maybe that's what her mother wants her to wear.
[Susan:] Don't talk about mothers to me. Why can't they grow up like the rest of us?
[Girl 1:] They don't get out much.
[Boy 1:] Hey Pete, did you hear that Jim Harrow's old man is making him work
in the store to pay for that fender?
[Pete:] He'll be there for life.
[Susan:] Parents!
[Boy 1:] My pop's giving me fits. One day it's grow up and be a man,
and the next day you're out too late.
[Girl 1:] Here comes your friend.
[Pete:] Hi, Mac. [Girls:] Hi, Mac!
[Susan:] That's my part in the play!
[Girl 2:] No, it isn't.
You're going to play Katie.
[Susan:] Kate! That's the old woman.
[Girl 2:] Yes!
Well, goodbye now.
See you later.
[Susan:] They can't do this to me.
I'm going to go tell Mrs. Soames.
That was my part in the play.
I was just right for it.
Kate's as old as my mother.
I'll show them: I'll resign from the Dramatic Society.
[Pete:] Hey, take it easy.
[Susan:] Oh, you're just like all the rest, but I'll resign.
Just you wait and see, or I'll kill myself first!
[Girl 1:] Susan!
[Boy 1:] What gives with her?
[Pete:] Who knows? Women...
Come on, sit down.
[Mrs. Stuart:] Not at all, Glenda.
Now, I'm not trying to check up on Susan the way she thinks.
I just wondered whether you'd happened to see her, and if she said where she was going.
Oh, she said she was going to see Mrs. Soames.
Well, then that's probably where she is.
No.
Then of course I won't worry!
Thank you, Glenda.
Bye-bye.
So that Soames woman again!
Doesn't she know we expect that child home in time for dinner?
I've a good mind to go over there and tell her exactly what I think.
[Mr. Stuart:] Why don't you?
[Mrs. Stuart:] No, I didn't mean exactly that.
Naturally, I'm worried about Susan and so are you,and it does seem...
[Mr. Stuart:] Why don't you go and see her then?
[Mrs. Stuart:] Now don't go on insisting on my going.
[Mr. Stuart:] Why not?
She may have some advice for us.
[Mrs. Stuart:] All right.
Dinner can wait, and you're coming with me.
She's your daughter too, you know.
[Susan:] Why, why did it have to be me?
It frightens me.
Not getting the part frightens me.
I must be a dreadful person.
[Mrs. Soames:] No, you're not dreadful.
[Susan:] Don't try to tell me that. I know!
[Mrs. Soames:] I'm not a very brilliant person...
[Susan:] Oh, you are! You know you are!
[Mrs. Soames:] But I've seen enough young peopleafter years of teaching, to know
to know that you're not a bit different from the rest of your crowd.
[Susan:] Then why am I lonely?
[Mrs. Soames:] You're not alone.
Your classmates have the same sense of "being at sea."
Childhood is an island.
You've left that behind.
On the edge of the sea is a mainland.
You'll be grown up when you reach it.
On this sea your traveling, grownups can sometimes seem pretty obstinate and trying.
Mother and fathers sometimes have problems,worries you may not know anything about.
Sometimes parents can seem awfully unreasonable.
It's hard for them to change.
Easier for you, you're younger.
Will you try to understand them as people Susan,to give in a little here and there?
[Susan:] I will if you say so.
I trust you.
Mrs. Soames, if only I had a...
[Doorbell rings.]
Oh darn, should I go?
Mother!
[Mrs. Soames:] This is a pleasure. Come in, won't you?
[Mr. Stuart:] Thank you.
[Mrs. Stuart:] I've, uh, wanted to talk to you about Susan, Mrs. Soames.
I guess I've waited long enough.
[Mrs. Soames:] I'd like that.
Susan, why don't you run along with your father?
[Mr. Stuart:] That's a good idea.
[Susan:] But I don't want to.
[Mrs. Soames:] I'm sure you don't.
[Mr. Stuart:] It's awfully nice of you to see us, Mrs. Soames.
[Mrs. Soames:] It's a pleasure, Mr. Stuart.
[Mr. Stuart:] I hope we're not intruding.
[Mrs. Soames:] Not at all.
[Susan:] G'night, Mrs. Soames.
[Mrs. Soames:] Goodnight, dear.
[Mr. Stuart:] Goodnight.
[Mrs. Soames:] Goodnight, Mr. Stuart.
[Mrs. Soames:] Won't you sit down, Mrs. Stuart?
[Susan:] You two absolutely ruin everything.
By the time that conversation is over, I may as well leave town.
The dickiest thing you could have let her do.
Why did you?
[Mr. Stuart:] I thought it was a good idea.
[Susan:] Golly, who wants to have their friends dragged into a family argument?
[Mr. Stuart:] Susan, maybe your mother knows best.
[Susan:] Why?
Why does it just naturally have to be that parents know best?
[Mr. Stuart:] We're trying, Susan.
That's why your mother went to Mrs. Soames.
[Susan:] Oh, why can't you see things my way?
[Mrs. Stuart:] I'm afraid you don't know what it's like to live with Susan day after day, Mrs. Soames.
[Mrs. Soames:] That's true enough, although we do see a great deal of her at school.
[Mrs. Stuart:] She just does whatever comesinto her mind.
[Mrs. Soames:] We think it's quite a good one.
[Mrs. Stuart:] Mind of a 15-year-old?
[Mrs. Soames:] When do you want her to start using it, this 15-year-old mind?
When she's 18? Or 24?
Surely you don't want that, Mrs. Stuart.
[Mrs. Stuart:] No....
[Mrs. Soames:] Cream and sugar?
[Mrs. Stuart:] Thanks, I'll have a little cream.
[Mrs. Soames:] Her disatisfaction is her strength.
She's got to think with the mind she has, Mrs. Stuart.
You and I, we must never be guilty of holding life back.
[Mrs. Stuart:] But it's, it's as though I couldn't share her life anymore.
She's never at home.
When she is, she's so irritable and contrary.
Why?
[Mrs. Soames:] Don't worry about it, Mrs. Stuart.
They all have to go through it.
This period of struggle, uncertainty, revolt. That's how they grow up to be independent people.
Trust Susan.
She can handle freedom because you've given her a good foundation of sound values.
[Mrs. Stuart:] Tell me, what's happened between me and my daughter?
[Mrs. Stuart:] She needs her friends and her gang.
They all do.
She needs to know some boys.
You wouldn't want to have her unattractive, ignored.
Oh, I know it's a difficult period.
She's hotheaded.
Disagrees with you about everything, wants to run life on her own terms.
Just now she's kicking over some of the traces,but never was there a time when she needed you more.
We can help, if we can only remember to keep hands off.
If we don't declare war on them, we can only remember that underneath it all,
they're so uncertain about everything.
Make her your friend.
Give her about three more years in which to grow.You're going to be very proud of her.
[Susan:] I don't know what's gotten into you.
You never used to pick on me.
[Mr. Stuart:] Oh baby, you mustn't feel that way.
[Susan:] I'm not a baby!
And I don't want to be cuddled.
I...I want to be understood.
[Mr. Stuart:] Sure. Sure you do, Susan.
We all want to be understood, even your mother.
I'll try.
I'll try real hard, Susie.
[Door slamming]
[Mrs. Stuart:] Mrs. Soames told me about the part, Susan.
I'm sorry you didn't get the one you wanted.
I thought...you know that white lace dress of mine?
Well, Mrs. Soames and I thought it would be just perfect for your second act!
That is, if you think it's right.
[Susan:] Oh brother!
[Mrs. Stuart:] It's hanging in the closest in my hall, and don't say brother!
[Mr. Stuart:] Say, it looks as if you made out all right.
[Mrs. Stuart:] Yes.
You know she's eleventh in a class of 46?Susan!
[Mr. Stuart:] Say, that's fine!
[Mrs. Stuart:] I can remember now a little more of what it was like.
She's going through a very difficult period.
[Mr. Stuart;] Yes, and we've got to give her a lot of understanding.
We've got to show her, make her really know that we love her.
[Susan:] Mother.
Mother, it's wonderful. It's wonderful!
It's just perfect for me and just right for the part.
Oh Mom, you're wonderful.
[Mrs. Stuart:] I feel as though I've lost you.
[Susan:] Oh Mom, don't be silly!
You know what, it's not bad.
It's not bad at all.
I wonder if Pete'll like it.
[Mr. Stuart:] Well now, it's not supposed to be boy bait!
[Susan:] Well, I like that!
You loved it on Mother.
Always trying to take the fun out of...
[Mrs. Stuart:] Susan, don't bother your father when he wants to read.
Turn around.
Go over here, I want to see it that way.
[Susan:] Some people!
You know, I was wondering, if we let it up in the front and down in the back,
maybe it wouldn't wiggle so.
[Mrs. Stuart:] Looks pretty good to me just the way it is.
[Mr. Stuart:] Well, it looks as if you girls are going to work things out all right, for now.
[Narrator:] No, the trials of adolescence aren't settled in one day.
They must be lived through day after day, year after year.
Parents are dismayed by rebellion strangely mixedwith the need for guidance and support.
Adolescents are mortified by inner and outer forces urging them toward maturity while holding them back,
and for both generations, the only answers are love and understanding.
[Music]
[THE END. This film has been approved byNational Institute of Mental Health,
Public Health Service, Federal Security Agency]