Few strangers ever came to Walton's Mountain.
We got our news of the outside world from the radio...
or from an occasional copy of a magazine.
But I remember when I was about 17, four visitors arrived...
and gave me my first unexpected glimpse...
of the other world beyond our mountain.
$1.81, $1.82, $1.83....
$1.84, $1.85, $1.86, $1.87....
No, stupid, that's a nickel. That makes it $1.92.
I'm not stupid, I can count just as good as you can, Erin.
Okay, now just calm down, both of you, right now.
How can I get it right if you keep interrupting me?
John-Boy, if you don't get a move on...
that carnival's gonna be gone before you get there.
I know.
I think we have a total of $2.22.
Have we earned enough?
To see the bearded lady, the strong man...
and the dancing bear?
We've earned enough for all that...
and enough left over for a stick of cotton candy to share.
All right, upstairs, all of you, and get washed up.
Half the county will be at that carnival.
I don't want my children looking like ragamuffins.
-John-Boy. -Yes, Mama?
Are you gonna leave this money lying around here?
I'll get it on the way down.
You'll do it now. Your grandma and me need the table.
Yes, ma'am.
Take good care. You all have a good time.
We will, Mama.
And watch out Ben don't eat too much of that cotton candy.
That boy's got a jumpy stomach...
and the Lord only knows what they put inside that stuff.
I'm just a clumsy old woman.
No, it's my fault.
I shouldn't have put them where you couldn't see them.
No. Grandpa's right.
He's always saying that when I get to talking...
I only put half a mind to what I'm doing.
You can't do without them. That's for sure.
I'll wrap them and send them to Charlottesville to be fixed.
Where are you going to get the money?
We've got $2 emergency money saved up.
You know as well as I do that that $2 emergency money...
already went for Jason's new shoes.
Maybe I can see if John can ask--
Daughter, I'll not have you borrowing on my account.
Now, if we Waltons can't pay cash, we do without.
Never could get used to the things anyway.
They're more bother than they're worth.
Sisters!
-John-Boy, will you get that? -All righty.
Listen, you all...
I know Grandma won't admit it, but without her glasses...
she can't even see to read and write her own name.
Or crochet. You know how Grandma loves to crochet.
What do you think we should do, John-Boy?
The money belongs to all of you
and I can't tell you what to do with it.
But I'm going to contribute my share
to getting Grandma's glasses fixed.
You can have my share, too, John-Boy.
Yeah, and mine, too.
And mine.
Who cares about an old carnival anyway?
Probably wouldn't have been any good, anyway.
You won't get to see the bearded lady and the dancing bear.
None of us will.
Thanks, Elizabeth.
All of you. That's nice.
Well, I won't hear of it and that's that.
Grandma, that carnival doesn't matter.
I never did believe that eye doctor over in Charlottesville.
Telling me I needed glasses.
My eyesight's just as good as it ever was.
Come on, Elizabeth.
Come on.
-Mr. Godsey. -Hi, kids.
How was the carnival?
We didn't go, Mr. Godsey.
Grandma broke her glasses...
and we have to send a money order--
Elizabeth!
We need a $2 money order, Mr. Godsey.
Okay. I see.
Now, let's see.
With the postage to Charlottesville
and the money order that comes to $2.11.
I didn't see you all at the carnival.
Seemed like about everyone in town was there except you all.
I do declare...
in my entire life, I have never attended
a more exciting carnival.
Sorry you all had to miss it.
Elizabeth!
Mary Ellen, here's your receipt,
and I'll get it off as soon as I can.
Thanks, Mr. Godsey.
-Bye, kids. -Bye.
-That ought to hold her. -Thanks, John-Boy.
-Afternoon, Olivia. -Afternoon, Sheriff.
John-Boy.
Wash day?
Every day is wash day with this crowd.
John around?
He and Grandpa are up at Rockfish
delivering some railroad ties.
-Know what time he'll be back? -About a half hour, I reckon.
Something wrong, Sheriff?
I just wanted to tell John tonight before he goes to bed...
lock up all them doors and windows.
-Why? -It's that carnival.
Last night after the show, the manager ran off with the cash...
and left them all stranded.
Took the snake charmer's wife along with him.
Anyway, I guess the rest of the folks figured...
there wasn't much point sticking around...
so they hightailed it out of town with their trucks.
Trouble is they've left four people here.
-Where are they now? -I don't know.
Skulking around somewhere, I guess.
I hear tell they got no respect for other peoples' ways...
or property.
Drinking, smoking, carrying on.
Mind you, you tell John to keep everything under lock and key.
John-Boy, I want you to keep a sharp eye on the children...
until those people are gone.
I will, Mama.
"An' they seeked him in the rafter-room
"an' cubby-hole, an' press
"An' they seeked him up the chimbly-flue
an' ever'wheres, I guess
"But all they ever found was just his pants an' roundabout!
"An' the Gobble-uns'll git you ef you don't watch out!"
Come on, goblin, time for bed.
Come on.
Come on, goblin.
Come on, John-Boy, read some more.
Tomorrow night. Come on, under the covers.
-Are there really goblins? -No, they're just make-believe.
Now go on, sleep. Don't let the bed bugs bite you.
Goodnight, dolly.
You going downstairs to listen to the radio?
I figured I'd just write a bit first.
Come on, get back to bed, goblin.
Goodnight, goblins.
"An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you Ef you don't watch out!"
I didn't want to ask the others
especially Jim-Bob and Elizabeth.
It's hard for them understanding...
that Grandma's glasses are more important...
than going to a carnival.
Elizabeth, come here.
Wake up.
8:00.
The train is just going over the trestle at Rockfish.
It makes a lonesome sound and far out there in the night.
it fills me with a kind of restless feeling...
I don't rightly understand.
It won't budge.
-Hit it with your shoe. -It'll scare the monkey.
It's not a monkey. It's a goblin.
Now, what are you two doing?
It's a goblin, John-Boy, outside.
-It's gone. -Yeah, it's gone. Come on.
Off to bed before Mama catches you and you both get a licking.
-But it was there, John-Boy. -It was not.
You get off to bed, too, before I give you a goblin.
-Goodnight. -Just go to sleep.
-More coffee, Grandpa? -Two cups are enough for me.
-I'd sure like to see that. -What's that, son?
The World's Fair in Chicago. Just opened up.
We've been hearing about that on the radio.
"A Century of Progress." Isn't that what they call it?
A century of progress and here we are...
in the middle of a depression.
"The scientific and industrial theme...
has been all but eclipsed...
"by an unknown film actress named Sally Rand.
"Enthusiastic crowds are flocking....
"Continued on Page 37."
Sally Rand.
-Go on, son. -Yep.
"...are flocking to see the 28-year-old beauty...
"as completely naked...
"she performs her daring and provocative fan dance...
"inspired from watching the white herons in the moonlight
"flying over my grandfather's farm.'"
John-Boy, what are you reading?
Why, that's just a magazine article.
Bringing a thing like this in here
for your brothers and sisters to see.
The boy didn't mean any harm.
Besides, it sounds right pretty to me.
Can't you just picture it?
I mean these beautiful white herons...
gently flying over her granddaddy's farm?
Stop it.
Funny thing about World Fairs.
There was one in the last century in Chicago...
about 40 years ago.
They had a dancer there, too, like Sally Rand.
They called her Little Egypt.
She raised quite a ruckus, too.
Just goes to show you things haven't changed much.
Old man!
Times have changed.
It just proves that men's foolishness hasn't!
It won't be up there. Goblins don't live in trees.
Monkeys do.
Jason, where do goblins live?
Just about anywhere, I reckon.
How about monkeys?
You won't find any around here.
Well, what do you know?
Jason!
Over here, John-Boy.
Hey, children.
You seen any strangers around here?
-No. Just the monkey. -What monkey?
There he sits.
Did you get up close to him?
Took a piece of applesauce cake right out of Jim-Bob's hand.
-Didn't bite nor scratch? -He's real friendly.
He's a cute little devil.
Hey, come here. Come on.
Come here.
-Are you going in there, -Sure.
Bet it's dark in there.
No. Come on, let's go. Come on.
Excuse me, ma'am. I'm sorry.
Allow us to introduce ourselves.
This is Marco the Magnificent...
so named for his amazing feats of magic and legerdemain.
Feats that have astonished not only...
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
but King George V of England...
Queen Mary, and the entire family.
And this is...
Tommy Trindle...
a direct descendant of the one, the only, the original...
Colonel Tom Thumb.
Me, I'm Pete Harris...
billed in the business as "Panhandle Pete...
"the Hobo Clown. Never asks for a handout. Only a laugh."
This is Belle.
It's all right, you can come out now.
Better known as Beautiful Belle Brown...
world famous, death-defying, aerial artiste.
They're hiding out in a barn.
Four of them, just like the Sheriff said.
Three men and a woman.
The lady's real pretty, wearing a slithery pink bathrobe...
just like that Jean Harlow in the talkies.
That's enough out of you, Jason.
They got cigarettes out there, and whiskey?
I don't know. I reckon maybe.
But they seemed like awful nice people to me.
John-Boy Walton...
out there in that barn...
are three men and a woman in a bathrobe...
drinking whiskey, and the Lord knows what else beside...
and you stand there telling me they're real nice.
I didn't see any whiskey, and I didn't see any cigarettes or....
It's them!
-Who, the carnival folk? -They're coming here.
I will not have those people inside this house.
You can't judge people by where they come from...
or what they wear, or what they do.
We've never turned anyone away from this door...
and we're not gonna start now.
All right, children, up to bed.
Hurry up, all of you. Get ready for bed now.
-Go ahead. -Right this minute.
Listen to your mama. Upstairs.
We'll never be able to see them.
-You can see them later. -No.
Get ready for bed.
Go ahead, upstairs.
-Evening. -Good evening.
-Won't you come in? -How nice. Yes, thank you.
-Good evening. -Evening.
Hello.
We just come to return the kettle which we borrowed.
Thank you.
We would've returned it sooner, but, well....
We didn't have nothing to heat hot water in, you see.
A most unfortunate situation.
We apologize if we've caused you any inconvenience.
Yeah.
-Yes. Well, goodnight. -Goodnight.
Have you folks had supper?
Come on, there's plenty of food for everyone. Come on in.
When we were with the big circus...
we traveled the length and breadth of this country
on the company train.
Private rooms, hot and cold running water...
mahogany paneling.
And in the dining car, real red plush velvet on the walls...
and crystal chandeliers.
You should have seen it. Beautiful.
We played all the grand cities.
New Orleans, San Francisco, St. Louis, Seattle.
-Don't forget New York. -New York?
Did you all see the Empire State Building?
-See it? Got engaged on it. -Engaged?
Yes, ma'am, to Belle here.
One night Belle and I got on the elevator...
and rode to the very top. 102 stories.
That's where I popped the question.
That's pretty.
From up there you can see for miles and miles.
Seems like the whole world is just stretched out before you...
glittering and shimmering away...
and far below are the transatlantic liners...
moving slowly down the river on their way to Europe.
Hundred and two stories. Must touch the clouds.
More coffee, anyone?
Yeah, I'll have some more, please.
Pass the sugar, please.
Maybe I will have another cup after all.
Where are you folks headed?
We hope to get to Chicago, to the World's Fair.
Yeah. We've all been promised jobs at the fair.
Chicago is a mighty long way off.
How do you figure on getting there?
We had hoped by train.
At night in the barn, we've heard one in the distance.
That'd be the freight.
Stops at Rockfish, 6 miles from here.
Can we get on it?
It might be difficult. You see...
the railroad company's put on these security guards.
Hobos and folks who can't get a job...
they've been jumping the railroads...
and riding free.
Maybe we'll have to think of another way.
It just so happens I know one of the agents over there.
-Who's that, John? -That's young Sam Holden.
Do you think he'd help us?
Only one way to find out.
The next time I go over to Rockfish, I'll ask him.
That's wonderful. Thank you.
I tell you, I never saw folks put away so much food.
They must have eaten a whole week's supply of food.
And that Marco, that quiet one, he must've had six helpings.
What's the matter?
I wish they'd never come here.
It's not the food or the extra mouths to feed.
-That'll be hard, I know. -Then what?
It's John-Boy.
-He's going to leave us, John. -One day.
Tonight I really saw it for the first time.
Why did they have to come here...
with their stories, filling his head with ideas?
Those ideas were there before.
They just swirled around a little tonight.
I don't think I'll ever have the strength to give him up.
You had the strength to raise him.
You'll have the strength to let him go.
Mama made too much.
Said in this kind of weather it wouldn't keep.
Your mama's a real uptown lady.
Mary Ellen, Elizabeth's touching things that don't belong to her.
That's all right, honey.
You touch those things all you want.
That's pretty.
That's pretty worn out.
-You can have it, if you want . -Really?
-Sure. -Thanks. Look at that.
I like this.
Honey, I need that for my act.
I'm sorry, I can't let you have that one.
On the tightrope. It helps her keep her balance.
What's a tightrope?
In the carnival, honey, it's the rope I walk on.
We didn't get to see the carnival.
I thought you had.
I thought every kid in the country was there.
We were going but--
We wanted to go, only....
We had some family matters to attend to.
Drum, horns, whistles, harp, just like mine.
Yeah. What's this?
I don't know. I reckon they call it a cymbal.
That's a motor horn.
Come on, Jason, we gotta go.
Mama said just to leave the food, and not to hang around.
Mary Ellen.
-So long, and thanks a lot. -Bye-bye. Thank you.
-Bye. -See you soon.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Ben!
Just in time for the show, Mama.
We're just playing carnival. Marco showed me how to juggle.
You pick those pieces up at once.
And then go straight to your room.
And mind you don't cut yourself.
I want a word with your son.
My son is down to Ike's to fetch me some axle grease.
When he comes back, tell him I want to see him.
I'll warn him.
-Livie? -Yeah?
Sounds to me like somebody's scrambling around on the roof.
What is it?
Hi, Ma.
Look at Mary Ellen!
-She's good! -I'm coming up.
She'll fall.
How am I doing?
Hello, sweetness.
Hi, Pa.
Mary Ellen!
Ten verses, young lady. Ten.
And put that thing away.
"Man that is born of woman is of few days...
and full of trouble."
What?
I don't know. Suppose something should go wrong.
Sam, you are a family man with four mouths to feed...
and it ain't so easy these days.
Next week it'll be five, Mr. Walton.
Well, I declare.
With all those children we don't want you to take any risks.
Heck, it ain't gonna be no risk.
You just have them here at 9:00 sharp tomorrow night...
-I'll see they get on the train. -We sure appreciate that, Sam.
You'd better warn them it ain't gonna be no first class.
I reckon they know that already.
That the right time, Sam?
It must have stopped again.
Homer'd have my scalp if he knew I let his clock run down again.
That Homer Ferguson must be a regular old priss.
Priss isn't the word for it.
Everything's got to be just so-so.
Told me in all the years he'd been with the railroad...
he hasn't missed one single day.
Good old Homer.
I hear tell that come lately...
Homer Ferguson's more dedicated to his own service...
than he is to that railroad company.
Is that so?
Just hearsay, won't bear repeating.
Come on, Pa. We'll be late for supper.
Good luck with the new kid, Sam.
Tommy?
Hi.
-We got it all fixed up. -The train?
Daddy, me, and Grandpa will pick you up in the truck at 8:30.
Great. You know, three or four days from now...
I guess we'll all be in Chicago working at the fair.
You know, I read a magazine article about that.
About how the night the fair opened...
some scientists trained a big telescope way out in space.
Heard they got a beam of light from a star.
It set off some kind of electrical impulse.
Suddenly all the lights at the Fair went on at the same time.
-I heard about that. -Yeah.
How about them stories of Petes'. They all true?
Pete sometimes exaggerates a bit.
I'd sure like to go to those places, meet those people.
More than anything else, I want that.
You will one day.
Shucks, I'd like to go right now.
Lately it seems that anything I read, or see, or hear, just....
I don't know, makes me restless.
Even in school.
Last week, Miss Hunter was reading us something...
by Herman Melville.
Shoot, all I wanted to do was just...
get up in the classroom and run, shout, laugh, just do something.
What did she read you?
About this whaling ship.
And how at night with the sails folded and the ship to rest...
all the life in the ocean...
was just teeming and rushing underneath it.
Moby Dick.
That's right.
"...furls his sails...
"and lays him down to rest...
"while under his very pillow...
"rush herds of walruses and whales."
That's just how I feel.
Just like I'm really asleep right here...
and life is just rushing past me.
And one day, when it's too late, I'll wake up...
and find myself high and dry like a ship that's run aground.
It won't happen if you don't let it.
-Here let me help you with that. -Thank you.
See, Tommy, I want to be a writer...
but I just know if I stay here, I won't ever be one.
When the time comes for you to leave, John-Boy...
and it will, nothing will stop you.
How do you know that?
Once I had to make a decision about leaving home...
and it wasn't easy.
You see, for me, too...
there was a couple of things standing in the way.
And we thank you, Lord, for this food...
and we beg you to lead us soon out of this depression--
Amen.
Amen. Let's eat.
Come on, now, Ben. Don't take it all.
-Pass it. -Elizabeth!
There's a letter under the door.
Thank you, Daddy.
Go back to the table and behave yourself.
Come on, now. Don't take it all.
It looks like some kind of invitation. Yeah.
"To all the Waltons.
"We most humbly request the pleasure of your company...
"at 7:15 tonight in the barn."
Is that all it says?
That's all. It's got their names signed at the bottom.
Pete, Belle, Tommy, and Marco.
Want to see it?
7:15. The train doesn't leave till 9:30.
-I wonder what they want. -Sounds mighty peculiar to me.
Here, take a look.
Now, come on with those pancakes, Ma.
-Place looks deserted. -Hope nothing's wrong.
Welcome, and good evening.
-What do you know! -I don't think anything's wrong.
Please, this way.
Come on, let's go.
Come on, then.
Please, dear lady, allow me.
Don't step on with me, now.
If you please.
Much obliged.
-You could stand here. -I'll be fine right here.
Daddy, there's a box over there.
Such lovely manners.
Don't fool me none with these gigolo ways.
Ladies and gentlemen!
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you here tonight.
And now, direct from La Scala in Milan...
il maestro, Pietro!
-Homer? -Mr. Ferguson to you.
Get your dirty boots off of my desk.
Yes, sir.
How many times have I got to tell you to button your uniform?
This is the railroad you're working for...
not some socialist New Deal outfit.
-You better get on home. -Why? What happened?
Your wife. The baby's on the way.
Excuse me.
Watch it.
Belle...
my husband once told me...
that you shouldn't judge people by where they come from...
or what they do.
He was right.
And I was wrong.
Can I give you a hand?
Pete's always after me about carrying all this stuff.
He says a carny's gotta travel light.
Something is gonna have to come out.
I know.
Hold this a second. I'll carry that with me, under my arm.
Really pretty.
That's my hobby. I've been doing them for years.
Just like a picture. Look at those flowers.
I never had a chance to settle anywhere long, to grow my own.
Here, take it.
Thank you.
What's it like?
What?
Having a home, raising children.
Always being in one place.
It's the only way I know.
It must be lovely.
Nothing to be scared of all the time.
Sometimes I think it's probably a little bit like...
walking that wire up there.
So, with your experience, you ought to be very good at it.
If I ever get the chance.
Hold on, don't let him go now.
Bye.
-John-Boy? -Yes, Mama?
It's nothing.
All right, everyone.
Bye.
Hey, Sam!
What are you all doing here at this time of night?
Homer.
We just dropped by to see Sam.
Well, well, well!
Look like you've got yourself a real traveling circus.
These folks are real good friends of ours.
I see. I'll bet the Sheriff would like to meet them, too.
They haven't broken any law.
Let's keep it that way.
Nobody is sneaking a free ride on my railroad train.
That's what you had in mind, didn't you?
Homer, now, these folks have to get to Chicago.
They've got jobs waiting for them there.
Ain't no concern of mine.
Now why don't you and your friends...
just get right back in that truck and drive on off of here.
Else I'm calling the Sheriff...
and having you all arrested for violating railroad rules.
Now, hold on, Homer--
While you're reporting us as violators...
why don't you add one more name to that list?
I had in mind that train that
pulls out here every week on Thursday night.
What train?
The one that loads six cases of bootleg whiskey on it...
just as soon as your back is turned.
I gotta get this train moving.
After 25 years of devoted service...
to the railroad, they should be all mighty interested...
in your Thursday night special.
How did you find out about this?
I forgot just now who did tell me.
Could be, come morning...
I might forget about the whole thing.
Get them on board.
You're a good man, Homer.
-I'll take it. -All right.
Hurry up, before it leaves.
Come on. Good boy.
Come on, let's go.
-All right, John-Boy. -Get it up there.
-Up. Hurry, get up. -All aboard!
All aboard!
We'll send you a card from the fair.
Tommy, you dropped something.
It's yours.
And so the carnival people left Walton's Mountain.
The postcard we received from them
said they'd arrived safely in Chicago...
and were working at the World's Fair.
You all right, son?
I'm all right.
Some years later, when I left to go to college...
the book which Tommy gave me...
was one of the possessions I took with me.
Now, whenever I open it, I remember those four people...
who gave a 17-year-old boy his first glimpse...
of the outside world.
John-Boy?
-What is it? -Will they'll ever come back?
I don't know, Elizabeth.
Wish I could see that lady walk along the rope again.
One day maybe.
Hope so. Good night, John-Boy.
Good night, Elizabeth.