Since the beginning...
man has looked into
the awesome reaches of infinity...
and asked the eternal questions:
"What is time? What is space?
"What is life? What is death?"
Through a hundred civilizations...
philosophers and scientists
have come with answers.
But the bewilderment remains...
for each human soul
must find the secret in its own faith.
The tender and haunting legend
of the portrait of Jennie...
is based on the two ingredients of faith:
truth and hope.
There is such a portrait that hung
in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
And there was such a girl named Jennie
who sat for it.
So much is true.
For the rest,
science tells us that nothing ever dies...
but only changes.
That time itself does not pass,
but curves around us.
And that the past and the future are together
at our side forever.
Out of the shadows of knowledge...
and out of a painting that hung
on a museum wall comes our story.
The truth of which lies not on our screen...
but in your heart.
And now, Portrait of Jennie.
New York is a cold place in the winter.
It was no warmer in the winter of '34.
Yet there is a type of suffering
for the artists...
which is worse than anything
a winter or poverty can do.
It is more like a winter of the mind.
Dreadful feeling of the world's indifference.
My courage had all run out.
Yes, sir, what can I do for you?
You can buy one of my pictures, perhaps.
Yes, but of course, we buy very little,
almost nothing.
Times being what they are.
However, let me see what you have.
- Landscapes.
- Mostly.
Too bad.
These are some things I did up at Cape Cod.
That's the fisheries at North Truro.
Land's End.
Yeah, landscapes.
Here are some sketches of the city.
That's the bridge.
It's a good bridge,
but I just don't happen to like bridges.
They come here every day by the dozen.
Miss Spinney, you startled me.
This is my partner, Miss Spinney.
I don't believe I caught your name.
I didn't say it.
My name is Eben Adams.
- What are you so defensive about?
- I'm not.
"I'm Eben Adams."
It would be better if you weren't.
You might eat more.
Don't be in such a hurry.
Let's see what you've got here.
There's nothing there
that'll interest you or your partner.
You're probably right.
I'd like to see what interests you.
Sit down, Adams.
You may not sell anything,
but at least you'll rest.
I'd advise you to sit.
- You can paint a nice flower.
- Thank you.
- You ever read Robert Browning?
- Long time ago.
You remember his poem about
Andrea del Sarto, the perfect painter?
Proportion, anatomy, color...
he had everything and nothing.
He painted a perfect hand...
while Raphael drew a formless claw.
But Raphael loved his work.
Poor Andy del Sarto.
I think I get your point.
There isn't a drop of love in any of these.
- Really, Miss Spinney.
- Don't be soft, Matthews.
I'm an old maid, and nobody
knows more about love than an old maid.
What's the matter with you, Adams?
You have to learn to care deeply
for something.
We'll take the flower.
I happen to have a weakness for flowers.
He doesn't do them too badly.
Give you $12.50 for it.
If there's any argument, there's no sale.
No argument.
You pay him, Mr. Matthews.
Have you change of $1?
I haven't got a dime.
He'll owe us 50 cents.
If you want more flowers,
I've got a carload of them at home.
I was afraid of that. Good day.
Thank you very much.
Good day, Miss Spinney.
I don't think you really wanted the picture.
If I hadn't wanted it, I wouldn't have taken it.
You have beautiful eyes. Goodbye.
Oh, dear, I'm afraid that picture
isn't worth more than a couple of dollars.
No, but Adams is.
Yes, but we're supposed to be
in the business for profit, Miss Spinney.
I thought.
I bought this for myself.
It's wonderful
what a little compliment can do.
My first in 20 years, Mr. Matthews.
At last! I had a little money in my pocket.
But I think I was a little light-headed
from not having had enough to eat.
Suddenly I had the awareness
of something extraordinary.
The city sounds were muted and far away.
They seemed to come from another time...
like the sound of summer
in a meadow long ago.
It belongs to me.
Isn't anybody here with you?
No, why should there be?
It's getting pretty dark.
Oughtn't you go home?
I don't have to go home yet.
Nobody's ready for me.
Anyway, you're with me.
I'm Jennie.
- Jennie what?
- Jennie Appleton.
Father and Mother are actor and actress.
They're working
down at Hammerstein's Victoria.
- They do juggling on a rope.
- Did you say Hammerstein's?
Why?
Because it was torn down years ago,
when I was a boy.
You must be thinking of some other place,
because I was there yesterday.
- Well, now. Really...
- Let me see your pictures, mister.
Adams.
- How do you know they are pictures?
- I just know.
Those are awful little windows
for such a big church.
They have to be little,
there's so much wind in Cape Cod.
I don't like it, it scares me.
- The wind?
- No, the black water.
There should be a lighthouse
out there in the ocean.
Yes, there should be. How did you know?
I don't exactly remember.
Someday, I'll show it to you.
Out there on the rocks.
- The Land's End Light.
- Thought you said you didn't remember.
I don't, I just know.
I wish I liked your pictures, but I don't.
That's what everybody says.
That's why I can't sell them.
Maybe you shouldn't paint places.
Why don't you paint people instead?
Cecily Brown's home
is full of pictures of people.
- Who's Cecily Brown?
- She's my best friend.
I go to school every day now,
but only in the mornings.
What do you learn?
Yesterday we learned about the Kaiser.
He's the king of Germany.
He was, a long time ago.
You're wrong.
Cecily's father's in Germany now,
and he sees him all the time.
He says the Kaiser rides around
on a white horse...
and he likes to fight.
I can fight, too. I can fight Cecily.
She's bigger, but I'm stronger.
I can fight her good.
Thought you said
Cecily Brown was your best friend.
She is.
It's fun to have somebody to play with.
Don't you have anybody to play with?
No.
I'm afraid I have to go now.
It's a little lonesome here, all by myself.
So I'll walk a-ways with you,
if you don't mind.
I know a song. Would you like to hear it?
I'd love to.
Where I come from
nobody
knows
And where I am going
everything goes
The wind blows
the sea flows
Nobody knows
And where I am going
nobody
knows
- Who taught you that?
- Nobody, it's just a song.
- Do you know the game I like to play best?
- What?
It's a wishing game.
- I'll tell you what I wish most.
- What do you wish?
First you have to close your eyes
and turn around three times.
I wish that you would
wait for me to grow up...
so that we could always be together.
But you won't, I guess.
I can't talk to you anymore. Goodbye.
- I'll get your parcel.
- Thank you.
Funny kind of a kid.
- Is that you, Mr. Adams?
- Yes, Mrs. Jekes.
You always come in so extremely quiet,
I can hardly hear you.
- So thoughtful of my other tenants.
- I didn't want to disturb anybody.
Of course not, a fine gentleman like you.
- Would $5 do for a while?
- It won't, but I'll take it.
- Hope I'll have more for you soon.
- You better see that you do.
I don't suppose you'd be interested
in one of my sketches--
My bathroom's full of them now.
Where would I put another one?
In my parlor?
No, I wouldn't expect anything like that.
You certainly have a way, Mrs. Jekes.
Play with him like a cat with a mouse,
then you pounce.
But he is attractive, isn't he?
And a gentleman besides.
That's what makes it so hard
to throw him out.
But he's an ornament to your house.
Just can't understand a man fiddling away
his time, just painting things.
Of course he did shovel some snow
to pay part of last month's rent.
Painting things? Women?
Women in the...
We agreed that he was a gentleman,
they just don't paint women "in the..."
No, of course not.
Somehow the tune the little girl sang
stayed in my mind.
And I thought of the last thing
she'd said to me...
about waiting for her to grow up.
But people can't wait
for other people to grow up.
There was something different
about that child.
I wondered if my pencil could catch it.
- Hiya, Mac.
- Morning, Gus.
Morning, is it? You've slept it all away.
It's gone forever,
and a grand morning it was, too.
I worked pretty late last night.
I didn't get to sleep till dawn.
Had your breakfast yet?
No.
How about having some lunch with me?
I'm not going to eat on you, Gus,
you have to work too hard for your money.
Wait, I've got some money of my own.
- No kidding.
- I sold a picture yesterday. $12.50.
- What do you know?
- Today you're having lunch on me.
It's a great pleasure, Mac.
Just come along while I fix up the hack,
and we'll soon be on our way.
You know, Gus, I can't get you at all.
Why should you care if I eat?
Maybe I don't like to see people go hungry.
Let me put it this way, Mac:
I've a lot of respect for a guy
that's doing what he's got to...
even if, maybe, it's k*lling him.
You want to paint pictures, so...
you're going right ahead doing it, no matter.
I like that, Mac.
Most of the time, fellow's got the idea
that there's nothing much to life...
expect getting through it
as easy and as comfortable as they can.
Making a quarter here, a dollar there.
Eating, sleeping, and dying.
Then a fellow like you comes along...
who's not thinking too much
about them things.
It starts you wondering.
Wondering if maybe
you're not missing something.
Hop in. I'd like to recommend
my friend Moore...
and his corned beef and cabbage.
It's almost like home.
You couldn't pay me to eat anywhere else.
- Sorry, Mac.
- It's all right.
Oh, well.
Taken to wearing scarves?
That isn't mine. I found it.
Belongs to a little girl I met in the park.
- Pretty big scarf for a little girl.
- Funny kid.
She said her parents were acrobats
at Hammerstein's Victoria.
- Hammerstein's was torn down years ago.
- Of course it was.
- But she said she was there yesterday.
- That's kids for you.
Always dreaming up something.
What do you know?
Sarah Bernhardt's coming to America
for a farewell tour.
- Have you gone crazy?
- That's what it says here.
"Sarah Bernhardt,
distinguished French tragedienne...
"arrives next month."
Let me see.
That is what it says.
This paper's dated 1910.
an old paper like that?
That little girl in the park had it.
Her scarf was wrapped in it.
Read that ad.
"Hammerstein's Victoria."
- What about it?
- It's just what she said.
- I don't get you.
- She said her name was Jennie Appleton.
So?
Now that I think of it...
she wasn't dressed the way kids are now.
Look, Mac, you're not trying to
believe this kid, are you?
- Of course not.
- Okay, eat your lunch.
As my mother used to say:
"if you got too little in your stomach,
you got too much in your head."
I see.
You think I'm imagining things.
No, Gus, she was real enough, all right.
I saw her.
What's more, I could draw her for you.
- Hi, Gus.
- Hi, Mac, how are things?
Meet my friend, he's the owner of the joint.
- Hello, Mr. Moore.
- Everything all right, sir?
- Couldn't be better.
- I'm glad to hear you say it.
- And you, Gus, everything all right?
- Sure, I guess so.
What do you mean, I guess so?
Anything wrong?
No, I guess not.
- Is the food all right?
- Sure.
Then what's griping you?
I kind of hate to say this, Mac.
You're not the sort of man I like to hurt.
But if you don't see me around for a while,
don't be surprised.
I thought I might
start eating down at Nick's for a change.
- Nick's?
- Yeah.
- Nick's!
- What's wrong with Nick's?
Nothing the matter with Nick's, I suppose...
if you like that type of place.
So you're going to start eating
down at Nick's?
- It's a nice day we're having.
- Beautiful day.
It is, and more.
So you're going to start eating
down at Nick's?
Yeah, I thought I might.
Takes all kinds of people to make a world.
All kinds.
And some of them
hasn't a trace of friendship or loyalty.
A fella likes a change once in a while.
A change from what?
It's this room, the joint.
It's dark in here, Mac.
Dark?
You ought to brighten it up.
Brighten up the joint, Mac.
- What would you want me to do?
- I don't know, I hadn't got that far.
I suppose I could hang a stray picture
here and there.
You know, it's a crying shame...
you couldn't have a whole scene
painted right on the wall.
Of course I know that can't be done.
Why can't it be done?
Didn't you ever hear tell of muriels?
Pictures painted onto a wall.
Is it possible to paint a picture
right on the wall?
Of course it's possible.
It's done all the time.
See, you dumb ox?
As a matter of fact, this wall
would lend itself to a mural very nicely.
What are we thinking of?
We got one of the grandest artists in
the whole world sitting right at the table...
and why don't we ask him to do some?
You could squeeze it in, Mac.
You could squeeze it in
between all your other commissions.
Well, I don't know.
You could drop in here,
say around noontime or suppertime.
It won't cost you a cent.
Excuse me a minute. I got to post this.
Lost him. Had him, and I lost him.
Let it go, Gus,
don't say anything more about it.
Up the Rebels!
- Three beers, Mac!
- Coming up.
Did you ever see Mick Collins?
I never did, and I've often regretted it.
Here's what you should do.
Right over the bar here,
a painting of Michael Collins.
Mick Collins himself...
and he leading his men into battle
against the might of England.
Just a minute, Gus.
Man alive, it'd be the greatest thing
that ever hit this town.
Moore's Alhambra would be
the rallying place for every Irish patriot.
Why, you wouldn't have
standing room at the bar.
And it wouldn't cost you a cent.
- It sounds kind of interesting.
- Now, here's how I see it.
Or should I say,
how my friend Mac here sees it.
It's early dawn on a small hill in Ireland.
There on a carpet of shamrock...
under an old elm, stands Mick Collins.
Leaning on his g*n, waiting for zero hour.
All the Murphys and Flannegans,
and O'Sheas are waiting with him.
In a brief moment,
Mick himself will lead them into battle...
and lead them to victory.
Up the Rebels!
You've got to paint it, Mr. Adams!
Up the Rebels!
- What's this?
- Sketch of a little girl I saw in the park.
It's very good. Isn't it, Miss Spinney?
Yes, I think
you have something there, Adams.
- Do you know why I like it?
- Why?
There's a quality about the girl
that reminds me of long ago.
And there ought to be something timeless
about a woman.
Something eternal. You can see it
in all the great portraits of the past.
They make you feel you could
meet those women anywhere...
and be inspired by them.
Well, then, Mr. Adams...
I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll take that sketch.
I'll give you $25 for it,
and I don't care what Miss Spinney says.
I'm not going to say anything.
Now, Adams, you can
stop feeling sorry for yourself.
Things are looking up.
I'm getting three meals a day
for painting a mural...
and now $25, thank you, for a sketch.
A sketch, well, thank you.
- Where are you going now?
- Nowhere, anywhere.
Where I come from, nobody knows.
And where I'm going, anything goes.
- What's that?
- It's a song that little girl sang in the park.
If you don't know where you're going,
perhaps you'd like a cup of tea.
Don't care if I do.
Come along.
- Thank you.
- See you later, Mr. Matthews.
As you say, Miss Spinney.
I haven't been ice-skating
since I was a kid in Maine.
- You were brought up in Maine?
- South Paris, Maine. Pretty swanky, huh?
Nice little town. Rivers, lakes, mountains.
My father ran the general store until he d*ed.
My mother d*ed a couple of years later...
and I worked myself
through three years of college.
- Fascinating, isn't it?
- I think it's interesting.
I want to ask your advice about something.
I don't feel sorry for myself,
the way you said.
I'm facing a very practical problem.
That is something.
An artist facing a practical problem.
Not the kind you think.
I don't mind being hungry.
I don't even care about
having to dodge the landlady.
I know every artist
who ever amounted to anything...
went through a lot more than I have.
But they knew they had something.
You can take a lot of b*ating
when you know that.
But who do I think I am?
Why should I believe that...
of all the thousands of struggling artists...
I'm one who has something worth saying?
Relax, Adams.
Come and sit down.
Irritates me when you go on like that.
You know,
something about you appeals to me.
I can't imagine what.
I think you're like the beau I wanted
when I was young.
When I was doubting myself.
- Not you, too?
- Even me.
Look what it's brought me.
Just a frustrated old maid,
lecturing a frustrated young artist.
What shall I do?
I think the sketch shows you
what you can do.
All you need is a little inspiration,
any inspiration.
That little girl in the park.
I guess that does it.
How's about you and me
taking a twirl on the ice?
Go along with you.
Thanks, Miss Spinney.
Hello, Mr. Adams.
Hello, Jennie.
Isn't this fun?
- I can't believe it's you.
- Why not?
'Cause you've grown so much taller.
Maybe you didn't see me so good before.
No, I'm sure you've grown.
Of course I have. I'm hurrying.
- Don't you remember our wish?
- Sure I do.
Let's skate.
Let's go a little faster.
You look so funny.
I feel so funny, too.
By the way, I have something here of yours.
What a pretty scarf.
It was in the parcel on the bench.
You said it was yours.
Did I?
If I said so, it must be true.
Why don't you keep it for me
until I grow up?
Then I'll have one more reason
to grow up fast.
All right, I owe you a favor anyway.
You do? Why?
I did a sketch of you the other day,
and sold it.
I'm glad.
Man who bought it
told me to paint portraits.
What do you think of that?
Who would you paint, Mr. Adams?
I don't know. I haven't decided yet.
Will you let it be me?
Who else?
I'm going to have my picture painted.
Won't Emily be mad?
Emily's my best friend.
She had her picture painted by Mr. Fromkes.
And I said you were going to do mine.
How did you know that?
I wished it, then I closed my eyes
and turned around three times.
But Emily still said you wouldn't paint me,
so I slapped her.
Emily? I thought it was Cecily
you always fought with.
You don't mean Cecily Brown, do you?
She moved away to Boston three years ago.
I thought I told you.
No, you didn't.
- That's funny.
- Well, it doesn't matter.
Come on, let's skate.
I'll have to be going pretty soon.
No, don't go.
How would you like some hot chocolate?
- I love hot chocolate.
- You can get it right over there.
- How wonderful. Thank you.
- You're welcome.
Jennie, where do you live?
I'd like to come and see you.
I don't think there's any place
you can come and see me yet.
- Why?
- Oh, it's just the way it is.
When will you start my portrait?
Whenever your parents will let you.
Where are they now?
At Hammerstein's.
They're still at Hammerstein's?
And they've got wonderful new tricks,
way up on a high wire.
But sometimes it scares me to watch them.
Of course that's silly.
That's why they're so famous.
They scare everybody.
I'd like to see them.
Then I could ask their permission
for you to come and sit for me.
Why don't you take me to Hammerstein's
to see them?
Yes, do let's go. I can get us in free.
- Could you go to the matinee Saturday?
- I think so.
Where will we meet?
Let's meet here in the park,
at that bench where we met before.
I'll be there at 2:00. At least, I'll try.
That was wonderful chocolate.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Well, I really must go now.
- Must you?
I hate it to stop,
because when will we ever have it again?
- Well, goodbye.
- Goodbye.
Looking for someone, Adams?
I was just watching the little girl
I was talking to you about.
I know now that Spinney didn't see Jennie.
But all I knew then
was that she kept a watchful eye on me...
as though I were a patient
that needed watching.
I was happy when I realized
it was Saturday...
and I could scarcely wait to find out...
what Jennie was going to present to me
as Hammerstein's.
But alas, there was no sign of Jennie.
Apparently she had forgotten.
On impulse, I decided to find out for myself
what I could...
about Jennie's parents.
I had a bet with a friend of mine.
I wonder if you can help me.
- Remember the old Hammerstein theater?
- Do I remember it?
You came to the right party
to ask about Hammerstein's.
I claimed it used to be here,
and my friend thinks--
Your friend loses.
Hammerstein's used to stand right there,
where the Rialto is now. Yes, sir.
I want to ask you one more question.
- Do you remember the Appletons?
- The Appletons?
- They used to have an act. Trapeze.
- Trapeze. It seems to me...
Look, you go over to the Rialto,
and ask old Pete.
He's a doorman or something.
He used to play Hammerstein's.
Pretty good song-and-dance man in his day.
- He might know.
- Thanks a lot.
Yeah, there were the four Appletons.
That was in 1902. They were clowns.
They were very good, too.
Right from Vienna.
This was a high-wire act,
husband and wife. 1910.
Then there was
Mike and Pat Appleton, Irishers.
They did some songs and pitter-pattering.
That was 1904 or 1905 maybe.
Please, let me do it my way.
I have to go backwards
and then start from the beginning, you see?
Otherwise, I will not remember,
and I don't like not to remember.
Then I'll think
I'm getting a little old, you see.
I'm sorry to put you to all this trouble.
No trouble at all.
I have a very good memory.
It's only sometimes
that I don't remember things very well.
- Clara will know.
- Clara who?
Clara Morgan. She was with
the wardrobe at Hammerstein's.
Everybody went to her with his troubles.
Those colored people, very wise people.
They know what trouble is.
- Do you know how I can find her?
- Sure I know where you can find her.
- Well, where does she live?
- Live?
- Thank you very much.
- Good memory, no?
- Just wonderful. Goodbye.
- Thank you so much.
They were all wonderful acts.
For me, they had more glamor
than anything you see today.
You sort of felt as though
you knew all the artists personally.
Here it is.
These are the Appletons.
Mary and Frank Appleton.
- This little girl...
- That's their daughter, Jennie.
- Their daughter?
- Yes.
Isn't it possible that
this child is their granddaughter?
Oh, no. I knew Jennie
when this picture was taken.
She was a darling little girl
with big, sad eyes.
She used to come backstage
and sit on my lap.
I used to give her rock candy.
- Do you know where she is now?
- No.
I lost track of her after her parents
were k*lled that night on the trapeze.
That was many years ago. The wire broke.
Jennie was in the theater looking
when it happened.
You're sure you don't remember
what happened to her?
Well, it seems as if I remember some talk...
about her aunts wanting to put her
in a convent.
Jennie wasn't a Catholic...
but her aunt said
a convent was the best place for a girl to be.
Thank you very much, Mrs. Morgan.
- I appreciate your giving me your time.
- Thank you, Mr. Adams.
It isn't often I have a chance
to share my memories.
I do hope you find Jennie.
She was a dear little girl.
I hope so, too. Thank you again.
That night, everything seemed
like a dream to me.
The towers of the city, the myriad lights.
But now I knew that Jennie
was not just an imaginative child.
Not just a child denying time and reason.
Instinctively, I found myself
approaching the bench in the park:
Jennie's bench.
And as I did...
I was conscious
of an unaccustomed atmosphere.
As though time were melting with the snow.
Were the sobs that I heard
part of the illusion?
Jennie, what's the matter?
- What are you crying about?
- Father and Mother.
Father and... Something's happened.
They've had an accident.
- I knew it would happen.
- The wire broke.
I knew it would happen.
I was always scared it would happen.
- And tonight--
- Tonight?
Jennie, I know how you feel.
I know how much it hurts.
But it isn't hurting them.
Please try to think of it that way.
- But they're dead.
- We all die sometime.
I loved them. They loved me.
You mustn't be too unhappy.
They wouldn't want you to be, would they?
- Would they?
- No.
And they told me once,
they said if anything happened to them...
I mustn't be unhappy...
because they were doing
what they wanted to do, and if they...
If anything happened,
it would happen to them both...
at the same time, the way they wanted it.
There, you see?
Yes.
- So I shouldn't cry, should I?
- No.
They wouldn't like it.
- They d*ed the way they wanted.
- That's right.
So I guess I'm only crying for myself...
because they're gone...
- and because I'm lonely.
- No, don't, Jennie.
But maybe I won't always be lonely.
I don't know why...
but I don't think I will be lonely very long...
because I'm hurrying. I'm hurrying fast now.
- My aunt is sending me to a convent and--
- A convent?
- You want to go?
- Of course I do.
After that, I'll be grown up,
don't you understand?
No, Jennie, I don't understand.
I wish I did, but I don't understand any of it.
Each time I see you, you've changed.
You're older.
You talk about things that happened,
well, that happened long ago.
Did they?
Sometimes I kind of think that, too.
But maybe that's because
I have to find something.
Find what?
I'm not sure.
But I think I'll know someday.
I think I'll know when I find it.
Do you know what? I think you'll know, too.
I hope so.
You'll wait for me, won't you?
You'll give me a little more time?
All right, Jennie.
Listen.
It's the stars. Can't you hear them?
Listen to the stars coming out.
Cold, cold months
followed each other that year.
From the mystery which surrounded Jennie,
my thoughts turned themselves away.
It was not in my hands,
nothing was in my hands...
any more than I could bring
the spring nearer before its time...
or keep the winter from clinging to the earth
with a bitter grip.
Skipper!
- You bad boy. Hello, Adams.
- Hello, Mr. Matthews.
He always runs away
when we get near the park.
Thank you very much for catching him.
I didn't catch him.
He just ran right up to me.
That's a great compliment from Skipper.
He doesn't usually take to strangers,
unless he thinks they're in trouble.
Trouble?
What kind of trouble
could he have sensed about me?
I suppose most artists go through
something of the sort, sooner or later.
It's not enough for them just
to live and paint, and have enough...
or nearly enough, to eat.
No.
Sooner or later, they want recognition.
They want to sell their work.
Good men, even great men,
have failed to do that.
But I don't think
that's all that's bothering you.
Mr. Matthews was right.
There was something else.
My memory was beginning
to play tricks on me.
I was seized by memories so urgent...
that they were more real to me
than what was before me.
Everything reminded me of Jennie.
"Where I come from, nobody knows
And where I'm going, everyone goes"
Finally, spring broke through.
I tried to work.
But mostly I was content to do nothing.
I knew in my heart
that I would never be anything...
until, and unless, Jennie returned.
I needed to tell someone,
and who was there to tell but Spinney?
Maybe I will paint
only one important painting in my life...
but that much I know I can do.
- A portrait of Jennie?
- Yes.
It's the first and only thing
I've ever been sure of in my life.
- But you couldn't do it without her.
- Of course not.
Suppose she doesn't make
another appearance?
- I can't even think of that.
- I didn't realize how much you needed her.
It took you a long time to find something
to bring your talent to life.
You couldn't find it, so--
So you think I created her,
because I needed her for--
An inspiration? Perhaps.
Maybe you really saw her, maybe you didn't.
What's the difference?
As you grow older, you'll learn to believe
in lots of things you can't see.
Better get that canvas ready for her.
Come in.
- Hiya, Mac.
- Gus.
It's a grand day outside, for New York.
What are you doing in here?
- Preparing a canvas for a portrait.
- You don't tell me.
- So that's the way you do it?
- That's the way you do it.
Speaking of paintings...
- I dropped in at Moore's yesterday.
- I know.
He's upset
because I haven't finished the job.
- After all, you made a deal, Mac.
- I let him down, huh?
Mick Collins is a little upset, too, Mac.
Waiting to lead his men into battle,
and having only half a leg to stand on.
You tell Moore I'll be in soon.
- I'll finish it somehow.
- Sure.
Don't think I'm ungrateful.
It's all right, Mac. As my mother used to say:
"if there's stardust in your head,
sure there's a jumble in your soul."
You were right, Gus.
- There isn't standing room at the bar!
- I told you.
It was a grand idea.
Quiet, everybody.
The unveiling's about to take place.
There's a lad to lead us all
Says the Shan Van Vocht
'Tis Mick Collins brave and tall
Says the Shan Van Vocht
And will Ireland then be free?
Says the Shan Van Vocht
Yes, Ireland shall be free
From the center to the sea
Then hurrah for Liberty!
Says the Shan Van Vocht
Then hurrah for Liberty!
Says the Shan Van Vocht
Hurrah for Eben Adams!
Hurrah for Eben Adams, hurrah.
The cheers were hollow in my ears,
for I knew the mural was worthless.
I knew in my heart that I was worthless.
Suddenly I felt fear.
The world seemed curiously empty
and silent.
One note would bring it all to life.
One note would make an instrument of it.
But apparently,
that note was not to be played.
The world of my art
was to remain an empty box.
No, it isn't true.
- It can't be you.
- Yes, it is. See?
I tried to get here sooner, but I couldn't.
- You're beautiful! You've grown so.
- Of course I have. I'm hurrying.
I'm in my first year of college at the convent.
Wonderful. The dress...
- Do you like it? It's our Sunday dress.
- It's lovely.
Look, you can see the bridge from here.
Eben, I've thought of you so much...
it could fill an eternity.
What did you think?
About how wonderful it all is...
how I've searched and searched...
and now, how we'll be together always.
I'm almost sure...
- Do you know what Emily wants to know?
- What?
When you're going to marry me.
Don't laugh at me, Eben.
I know I'm not old enough yet,
but I will be soon.
What's that?
That's a sketch of Radio City.
Radio City? I've never heard of it.
It hasn't been built very long. Do you like it?
- That's strange.
- What's the matter, Jennie?
- That's Land's End Light.
- That's right. Land's End Light.
How do you know?
Have you ever been there?
I don't know.
I think...
It's an old deserted lighthouse
up on Cape Cod.
I did that sketch several years ago.
It makes me unhappy.
In that case, we'll just put it aside.
Look, Jennie, the canvas.
- Canvas?
- The canvas for your portrait.
Your portrait. The one we planned.
Eben, you're going to do it.
I was sure you'd be here one day.
I've been able to do nothing else. Sit here.
- Over here?
- Please.
Right there, where I've dreamed you'd sit.
- The girls will be so jealous.
- Turn your head.
Some of my friends take the veil
next Sunday.
It will be lovely to watch.
Will you come with me?
I'd love to. Now please hold still.
Turn your head.
A few of my classmates will be leaving, too.
I hate to have them go.
Jennie, your hand.
Turn your head.
There, hold that.
Eben, promise you won't forget me.
Hello, Eben!
- Hello, Eben.
- Hello, Jennie. I was afraid...
you might not be here.
I told you I'd be here.
We'd better hurry
if we want to see the ceremony.
See, those with the candles
are the ones who are taking the veil.
Our teachers are in back of them.
The first one is old Sister Mary Margaret.
She teaches history.
Then next to her is Sister Mary Euphemia,
who teaches science.
And over there, near the entrance,
is my favorite, Sister Mary of Mercy.
I'm so glad you're waiting for me, Eben.
Give us our daily bread.
And forgive our trespasses...
as we forgive those that trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Isn't it beautiful?
I always feel a little closer
to the truth of things in here.
As if, pretty soon...
I would understand.
How beautiful the world is, Eben.
The sun goes down in the same lovely sky...
just as it did yesterday, and will tomorrow.
When is tomorrow, Jennie?
Does it matter? It's always.
This was tomorrow once.
"Where I come from, nobody knows
And where I'm going, everything goes"
I've heard that somewhere.
Of course you have.
You sang it to me that first day in the park.
Did I? I've forgotten.
"The wind blows, the sea flows
"And God knows"
I think he knows, Eben.
So this is where the master works.
Well, it isn't much of a place.
Sit over here, Spinney.
Of course, it isn't finished yet.
Don't be coy. Let's see it.
What do you think?
Well, Adams,
you've found what you were looking for.
Do you like it?
Adams, I've been selling pictures
for many years.
And in my business, it's always a dream
that someday you'll come across...
shall we say, a great picture.
This is, I feel now,
a sort of fulfillment of mine.
- He means he likes it.
- I'm glad.
Do you remember my saying there ought
to be something eternal about a woman?
Something not of the present,
nor of the past.
Well, here you've got it.
It's the face of that same little girl.
Yet what you've seen in that face
is without age or time.
It isn't finished. It really isn't.
Take it easy, Adams. It's a great picture.
Carried forward on a wave of exultation,
I worked eagerly to complete the portrait.
The face framed in its dark hair,
the brown eyes tenderly dreaming.
I began to realize...
that I was caught by an enchantment
beyond time and change.
I knew at last that love is endless...
and today's little happiness only part of it.
Somehow I knew I'd find you here.
I've looked for you here so often.
I had to see you tonight.
You know, I've just graduated from college--
That's wonderful.
Now we can be together always.
I'm afraid we'll have to wait a little longer.
You see, my aunt is ill, and she wants me
to go away with her for the summer.
- When do you have to go?
- Tomorrow.
- I couldn't go without saying goodbye.
- Goodbye?
It will only be for a few months.
Anyway, we have until the morning.
I think a little more.
Jennie, I'll be lost without you.
No, don't say that, Eben.
We can't both of us be lost.
Look at the moonlight on the water.
It makes a pathway across the river.
The Jersey Hills are over there, aren't they?
In the distance.
You say it sadly. Aren't you happy?
I've been thinking.
No matter how far away
that kind of distance is, it can be reached.
Over there,
beyond the hills one can drive to.
North among the pines, eastward to the sea.
It's the only kind of distance
I ever knew anything about before.
But now I feel
there's another kind of distance.
A crueler distance.
A distance of yesterday and tomorrow.
And it frightens me.
It frightens me
that there's no way to bridge it.
There is. At this moment, I know there is.
I want it to be forever.
It will be. Have faith.
How still it is.
Listen.
The whole city sleeping.
- No one left in the world but us.
- No one but us.
Life's beginning, again.
Look, the little boat put its lights out.
The night's over. It's tomorrow.
I'm not going to think of this summer,
or the future at all.
I'll leave that to you.
Why we met, how it came about,
I don't know.
I know we were meant for each other.
The strands of our lives
are woven together...
and neither the world nor time
can tear them apart.
Eben, I wish you'd finish my portrait.
Do you think people can know
what lies ahead?
I mean, what's going to happen to them?
You know how you feel sad
about things sometimes?
About things that have never happened?
Perhaps they're the things
that are going to happen to us.
Perhaps we know it...
and we're just afraid
to admit it to ourselves.
I guess that's silly.
I guess it's just my funny mind.
Jennie, I...
Jennie?
- Jennie, Jennie!
- Oh hello, Eben.
- Where are we?
- Together.
Poor darling, you must be worn out.
I'm sorry.
- I fell asleep.
- Yes. Come here.
Look.
It's finished.
- Is it really of me?
- It's you.
A portrait of Jennie.
- I think it's a fine painting.
- Do you?
I think it will make you famous.
I think someday it will hang in a museum...
and people will come
from all over the world to see it.
If they do,
it won't be my work they've come to see.
- It will be you.
- Thank you, Eben.
And now you must sign it.
Eben Adams.
I want always just to sit
and watch you paint.
Now that I've found the perfect model,
I'll paint her again.
I didn't mean that. I mean, I want you
to paint all the beautiful things in the world.
You're the most beautiful thing in the world.
But, Eben, these pictures of yours...
of the sea, and Land's End Light...
each time I see them,
my heart seems to stop.
Curious. I suppose it is
a forlorn sort of place.
Don't let's talk about it anymore.
- Tell me about Paris. Did you study there?
- Yes, indeed.
Eben, I wish we could be there together.
It would be such fun.
We'll do it, Jennie.
I'll take you to the Luxembourg,
then to the fair in Fontainebleau.
Yes, Eben, yes.
We'll go out to the forest of Saint Cloud
in the spring...
and drink new wine under the trees.
I feel as though we were there already...
as though we'd been spending
our whole lives together.
What is it that makes a man
and a woman know that...
of all the other men and women
in the world, they belong to each other?
Is it just chance, their being alive
in the world at the same time?
Do you think it's possible...
that there might have been others
in other times whom we might have loved...
who might have loved us?
No, no others.
Among all the people who lived
from world's end to world's end...
there's just one you must love,
one you must seek, until you find him.
You, Eben. You, my darling.
- I must go.
- Please don't go, Jennie.
I don't want to,
but we'll meet again when summer ends.
- Are you sure, Jennie?
- I don't know quite where.
The wind blows, the sea flows.
I want to be sure. Tell me you're sure.
I'm sure, Jennie.
I'll get my things.
- What a lovely scarf.
- It's yours, Jennie.
A present for me?
I thought you'd like it.
I've been saving it for a long time.
Ever since we first met in the park.
In the afternoons,
the sun slanted lower over the city.
Sometimes at evening,
a wedge of wild duck...
wavered southward
against the Manhattan sky.
Summer turned away into fall,
but Jennie did not return.
I felt a dreadful loneliness.
Where was she?
Yonder, yonder
Was the home of my sweetheart
Yonder, yonder
'Twas so long ago
I remember my lover
And the kiss of no other
No other love
Yonder, yonder
Was so long ago
Was so long ago
I suppose I ought to be minding
my own business...
but you're carrying quite a load, Mac,
all by yourself.
Gus, you don't understand.
Supposing, now remember,
I'm only supposing--
Supposing what, Gus?
Supposing she didn't ever come back?
She's got to.
- Can't be that--
- Yeah, but if something happened to her?
Don't you have to go on living, pal?
Don't you?
You've never believed anything,
have you, about Jennie?
- Don't be putting words in my mouth.
- It doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter whether you
or anybody believes it...
- because I know.
- Sure you do.
But weren't you telling me
she goes to a convent?
She's not there anymore. She graduated.
Yes, but the sisters are great ones
for keeping in touch.
She liked the sisters.
There was one who was her favorite.
Why don't you ask her?
Jennie said she felt closer to the truth there.
I'll drive you out first thing in the morning,
if you'll promise to sleep well tonight.
- You have to let me owe you for the ride.
- Your money don't signify.
As my mother used to say, "if you've got
friendship in your heart, sure you don't--"
What was it my mother used to say?
I don't know what I expected to find
at the convent.
I knew only that it was there
that Jennie had found some inner truth.
It was there that she had said to me,
"I think he knows, Eben."
For the first time since I had last seen
Jennie, I had a feeling of not being alone.
A feeling that the world
and Jennie and I were one.
What if, for a while, we had lost our way?
Yesterday rose again ahead of us.
We had found beauty together,
and we could never lose it.
What was it you wished to see me about?
I wanted to ask you about a girl
who graduated from here.
I thought, possibly, you might have
some information as to where she is.
I might. We often keep in touch
with the girls after they leave.
- What was her name?
- Jennie Appleton.
Jennie Appleton?
Yes. You remember her, don't you?
Yes, I remember Jennie very well.
Even though she was not of our faith,
Jennie was one of my favorite pupils.
A lovely girl,
with a strange, spiritual beauty...
and a gentle kind of sadness
that always troubled me.
I think that describes her perfectly.
Have you any idea where she is?
Why, Jennie d*ed.
- When?
- Years ago.
I'm afraid I've shocked you.
No.
We obviously aren't speaking
of the same person.
Did you know her family?
No, I just know
they were k*lled in an accident.
A wire broke?
They were trapeze performers?
I'm afraid it must be
the same Jennie Appleton.
Her aunt brought her to us,
shortly after her parents' death.
She stayed with us until she graduated.
Then her aunt came and took her up
to New England for the summer.
We corresponded a great deal.
Would you care to have me read you
one of her letters?
Please.
Won't you sit down?
I was so touched by her letters
that I saved them.
This is the last one she ever wrote to me.
"My dear Sister Mary of Mercy,
we are returning very soon.
"The summer has been a very long
and lonely one.
"How I want to see you and sit and talk
to you about all that has been worrying me.
"I know you tried to teach me
how beautiful the world is...
"and how it keeps on
being beautiful every day...
"no matter what happens to us.
"But sometimes I have the dreadful feeling...
"that this beauty
will never be complete for me...
"that I will never find someone to love
who will love me.
"It's a thought that terrifies me, dear Sister.
"And I need your comfort
and your wisdom to help me.
"Your loving Jennie."
That was the year the terrible tidal wave
hit the New England coast.
October 5th. I remember it well.
I always offer my communion
for Jennie on that day.
I afterwards learned that Jennie was
in the habit of sailing out every day, alone...
to a little cove
near an abandoned lighthouse.
Land's End Light.
During one of those trips, the wave struck.
That was the last anyone ever saw of her.
Land's End Light, that's where I'll find her.
But Jennie is dead, Mr. Adams.
You must accept that fact.
- Hard as it may be--
- I won't accept it. Don't tell me she's dead.
I held her in my arms three months ago,
not ten years ago.
I love her. I want her back.
What vision has been vouchsafed to you,
I can't say...
but don't doubt the ways of Providence.
You must have faith.
We know so little, so very little.
I don't mean to be abrupt,
and I'm grateful for your kindness.
When did you say
that wave struck the coast?
October 5th.
- And today is?
- October 1st.
That leaves me four days.
But, Mr. Adams, that October 5th
was many years ago.
Are you so sure?
You say we know so little.
You say Jennie's parents were k*lled.
I found her sobbing on a bench
the night it happened.
You say she was a student here.
I visited her here.
You say she went to New England
with her aunt.
I was with her just before she left.
Then how can you say it all happened
many years ago?
Yes, we know so little.
And yet, now, I know a little more.
I know now the pattern of Jennie's life.
But I also know that I am part of it.
She herself said that strands of our lives
were woven together...
and that neither time nor the world
could break them.
This I have faith in.
Thank you, Mother, I must hurry.
Thank you for your kindness.
Where have you been keeping yourself?
What's wrong?
I'm going away, Spinney.
I don't know for how long.
Here's my portrait of Jennie.
Can you store it till I come back?
Of course.
- Where are you going?
- I know where she's going to be.
I've got to be there waiting for her.
Little place up on Cape Cod
called Land's End.
Well, Adams.
Where have you been?
I've got a lot of commissions for you.
In that case,
perhaps you'll advance me $100.
Give him the $100, Mr. Matthews.
What's the matter?
Is there something wrong?
- Never mind that. Just pay him.
- As you say, Miss Spinney.
Thank you. Thanks for everything.
- Bye, Mr. Matthews.
- Goodbye, my boy. Have a good rest.
We'll do big things together later.
Paint me a little church while you're there.
A little white church with a big steeple.
And don't get yourself drowned in the sea.
What makes you say that?
Men do such foolish things.
I'm afraid of the ocean.
You're tough. The sea wouldn't get you.
Tough ones drown, too, you know.
Bye.
Any warning of the storm yet?
- What storm is that?
- The hurricane that's coming up.
No hurricane coming up around here,
young fella.
Fair weather.
That's what it says right there.
How far in advance would
the barometer show if one were coming up?
Far enough.
Didn't show far enough when
we had that hurricane back in the '20s.
I heard about that hurricane.
Happened just about this time of year,
didn't it?
Eh?
By golly.
Come to think of it, it was October 5th.
I remember.
Because October 4th is my birthday.
Today.
I'd like to get out to Land's End Light.
You know where I can charter a boat?
Land's End Light?
Can't think of any reason...
why anybody'd want to go out there.
Never mind my reasons.
Do you know someone with a boat?
My pa's got a trim little boat.
That's fine.
Would you mind taking me to your pa?
No.
Come to think about it, I don't think Ma
would like him to rent the boat.
I reckon you'd better get down and see Eke.
I've heard he rents his boat sometimes.
Where will I find Eke?
It ain't hard to find Eke.
He's always sitting in the same place.
- Where's that?
- I'll tell you now.
You go down to the jetty,
and ask for an old codger named...
Mighty nice of you to rent me a boat.
You could darn near buy a new one
for what you're paying me.
What I don't see is...
how you figure to get her out tomorrow
in all this muck.
Ain't a breath of wind stirring.
There'll be wind, all right. Plenty of it.
Maybe. Never been too sure
about them things.
Not since that hurricane we had
back in the '20s.
What about the wave?
I heard something about a great wave.
Great wave? Yeah.
There was a wave, all right.
Sometimes I think I never seen it.
That I just read about it.
Like something in the scriptures.
It come up out of the sea, like a mountain.
Coming toward the land,
like the Day of Judgment.
You didn't happen to know a girl,
a visitor, who was caught by the wave?
Her name was Jennie Appleton.
You know,
it's q*eer you should ask me that.
I used to rent her my boat.
I shall never forget her till the day I die.
Did you know her?
Yes, I knew her.
Pretty little thing, wasn't she?
Such big, sad eyes she had.
Big, sad eyes...
There was something about her
that seemed to come from far away.
What happened exactly?
Where was she when the wave struck?
She reached Land's End point,
that much is certain...
'cause I found the bow of my boat
tied to the wharf there.
Anyway, what was left of it.
Let me ask you something.
If she had made the lighthouse,
she might have been saved.
- Isn't that so?
- Yes.
But she didn't make it.
No, I know.
It was a pretty tough climb up them rocks...
in all that wind.
- Especially for a female.
- I suppose it would.
Alone.
"And a great and strong wind
rent the mountains...
"and break in pieces the rocks
before the Lord...
"but the Lord was not in the wind."
Jennie!
Jennie!
Jennie!
Eban!
Eban!
Jennie!
Eban!
I was afraid I wouldn't find you.
I'll never let you go again, never.
It's been so long, Eben. Let me look at you.
Jennie, the wave is coming.
It's all right, whatever happens--
Whatever happens?
It's you I want, not just dreams of you.
Please believe me.
The wave will strike again, and soon.
- We can have a whole life--
- We have all eternity together.
Can't you see? We were lonely, unloved.
Time made an error.
But you waited for me,
and so we found our love.
- Now we must lose it?
- No, now we're just beginning.
There is no life, my darling,
until you've loved and been loved.
And then there is no death.
- We must reach the lighthouse, fast.
- But you're fighting nothing, Eben.
Please, Eben, go without me.
No, there's nothing in life,
nothing at all without you.
You must live on, Eben, but with faith.
- Here it comes.
- Goodbye, my darling.
There, young fellow.
A shave will make you feel better.
- Good morning, Captain Cobb.
- Good morning.
- Spinney.
- Hello, Adams.
What are you doing here?
Frankly, I was worried about you.
I thought I'd come up
and see how you were doing.
Captain Cobb kindly let me visit you.
So you see, we're both his guests.
- That's nice of you. Thanks.
- It ain't nothing.
But let me tell you, young fellow.
It's a mighty lucky thing you told Eke
where you was aiming to sail for.
Or t'ain't likely we'd ever have been
able to find you at all.
No siree bob.
Did they find anyone else?
There weren't nobody else darn fool enough
to keep a boat out in that blow.
But her boat?
What's he saying?
She had a boat.
I don't rightly know
what you're talking about, young fellow.
But there weren't no other boat at all...
put out from any place
around these parts that day.
And you can bet your boots on that.
Can't figure out why Eke
ever rented him his boat.
You saw Jennie again, didn't you, Adams?
It was awful.
I tried to hold on to her.
But the wave...
Take it easy.
At least you saw her again.
Yes, I...
I'm glad you at least believe...
about Jennie.
Yes, Adams.
You do, don't you?
You believe it. That's all that matters.
What?
Where did you get that scarf?
This? It was near you,
when they found you on the beach.
Yes, Spinney. I saw Jennie again.
You mean, this is Jennie's?
It's all right.
I haven't lost her.
Everything's all right now.
"Portrait of Jennie."
Isn't she beautiful?
- I wonder if she was real.
- She must have been.
What does it matter? She was real to him,
or she couldn't look so alive.
How very wise you are.
Is it really of me?
I think someday it will hang in a museum...
and people will come
from all over the world to see it.
Portrait of Jennie (1948)
Moderator: Maskath3