05x31 - Bud and the Debutante

[bunniefuu]

[theme music]

- [Narrator] Robert Young

and Jane Wyatt.

With Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray, and Lauren Chapin

in Father Knows Best.

- What are you doing building a birds nest?

- No, it's supposed to hold a potted plant.

[laughter]

- Oh I'm all thumbs.

- Here.

- Hi.

- Hello princess.

- Who's the new handyman?

- Just some handsomefellow that wandered in.

- Would you like to give me your

undivided attention for a moment?

I have some very interesting news for you and mother.

- What kind of news?

Local, national or international?

- Local.

According to the latestword from the grapevine

a certain high school boy was seen this afternoon

with a mysterious girl driving around town

in her long low sports car.

You know the kind that costs umpteen thousand dollars.

Like to know who the boy was?

- [Both] Mhmm.

- None other than my darling brother,

your son, Bud Anderson!

- Bud?

- Oh it couldn't have been.

- Look there's no girl in Bud's rather

limited list of female acquaintances

who could possibly have such a car.

That's Bud's speed right there.

Now if he'd beenseen with a girl

driving in something like that we could believe it.

Not one of those fancy, high priced...

[car pulling in]

- Where did you get that car?

- It belongs to Molly.

Molly Quinn.

- So she's the girl youwere riding around with.

- Bud I wish you'd explain what you're doing

with an expensive car that belongs to Molly Quinn.

- I told her I'd polish it up for her.

- I don't think we're getting through to you, son.

Just give us the how, the when,and the where, few details.

- I met her yesterday.

My car ran out of gason the Hillsborough Road

so I was walking to a gas station and

she and her brother stopped and gave me a ride.

She's a real swell girl, a lot of fun.

- Look do you know who Molly Quinn is?

- What do you mean who she is?

- Oh, if you aren't themost maddening creature.

- Well alright who is she?

She's just an average girl.

- Oh sure she's just an average girl

with an average $ sports car.

- Who's car is it?

- Her folks own practically the whole

west side of town.

Don't you ever read the papers?

Mr. and Mrs. Quinn are all over the society page.

- Oh yeah I've heard of those Quinns

but I didn't know Molly was.

You know she neversaid anything about it.

- Well who's car is it?

- Well it belongs to one of Bud's friends.

A girl named Molly Quinn.

- Molly Quinn, do you know her?

[phone rings]

I'll get it!

- Say mom, what should Iwear to a theater party?

- Well your dark suit would probably be alright.

- What theater party?

- The big premier at the palace tonight.

Molly has invited me to go.

It's okay if I go isn't it?

- Well sure but it's alittle unusual isn't it?

The girl asking the boy?

I mean on the first date.

- Well I don't know.

Well I couldn't have asked her.

You know what they get for tickets to these premiers?

About . a piece.

- Yes I know.

Well if you accepted andyou're going out tonight

then that's that.

I might suggest insteadof wiping imaginary dust

off Molly's car that youclean yours up a little.

- Oh we're not going in my car.

She'll want to take hers.

I couldn't ask her to go in that old heap of mine.

- That old heap is good enough for your other girlfriends.

- I know but Molly is different.

- Well you just got through saying

that she was an average girl.

- Well she's kind of a different average.

[doorbell rings]

- Hello, I'm Molly Quinn.

- Oh, I'm delighted to meet you Molly,

I'm Bud's father.

Won't you come in?

- I'm probably a little early.

Mother and father had a dinner date

so they dropped me off here on their way.

- Hi!

- This is Bud's smallersized sister, Kathy.

This is Molly Quinn.

- Hello Kathy.

- Hi!

- This is our older daughter Betty.

Betty this is Molly Quinn.

- How do you do?

- Nice to see you.

I saw your sports car, it's just beautiful.

- Well it's really father's idea.

I think he bought it for me so that he could drive it.

[laughter]

- Oh if you'll excuse me it's my turn

to do the dinner dishes.

I'm just sort of gonna pick things up, you know.

- It's been nice meeting you Betty.

- Kathy.

Will you call Bud please?

- Bud, Molly's here!

- Molly's here!

- Good one Kathy, Mollywill think we're living

in a store for hog callers.

- Kathy, I meant go upstairs and call him.

- Oh.

- Hi Molly.

- Molly, this is my mother, and of course you know Bud.

- I'm very happy tomeet you Mrs. Anderson.

- We've been looking forward to meeting you Molly.

I've talked to you morethan several times.

We've been on committees together.

- Well I guess we better go now.

Your cars in the back driveway.

- The cars out in back, why don't you go

through the kitchen?

- Goodbye all, we'll see you later.

- It was very nice meeting you

I hope I'll see you again.

- Hope so too, Molly. - Have a good time.

- Goodbye!

- Bye.

- Hey, Molly's pretty nice.

- Oh she's very nice.

But thank goodness she's here and gone, I'm exhausted.

- I wish I had adress like hers.

- Thanks a lot for the evening Molly.

The premier was great, I really enjoyed it.

- It was nice of you to go.

This is the first time I've been out

with anybody since Igot back to Springfield.

- Oh well you'll probably be going out a lot

now that you're home.

- Who with?

I don't know many people in town.

I haven't really lived in Springfield

since I was a little tiny girl.

- Oh well you'll meet a lot of people.

- How?

I mean I just don't know how.

Like tonight, if youhadn't gone out with me

I would have stayed home.

Who wants to go to a show alone?

- Well no that's not much fun.

- You probably go outa lot with other girls.

- Well sometimes but youknow they're just girls.

- Where do you go when you go out?

- Oh no place.

Well I mean the regular places.

- I suppose you haveplans for this weekend.

- No, nothing really definite.

- I don't have plans either.

But you probably have a date Saturday night.

- No, nothing definite.

- I don't have a date either.

I have two tickets to the Pops concert Saturday night.

Would you like to go?

- Yeah, sure!

If you'd like me to.

- I'd like you to.

What time do you want to pick me up?

- Well how about,

well yeah let's see.

You want me to pick you up huh?

- I thought you'd might want us to go in your car.

- Well yeah I would except that I'm going

to do some work on it and I mean,

I'm going to have some work done on it.

I don't know if it'll beready by Saturday night.

- That's alright, we can take mine.

- I mean if you're sure that it's okay.

- Sure.

- Well I'll see you Saturday night then.

- Thank you Bud.

- Thank you.

Goodnight.

- Goodnight.

- Wow what an evening!

- Yeah?

- Does that mean it waswow good or wow bad?

- Oh it was good!

And talk about plushy.

You should have seen the seats we had

they must have cost fortune.

- Well well, Bud Anderson, boy Cinderella.

How are things up at the palace?

Did you dance with the princess?

Oh I see you didn'tlose your glass slipper.

- Oh you are the witty one.

- Did you stop at the malt shop afterwards?

- The malt shop?

Molly?

We went to the Belvedere Gardens

for after theater supper.

- Belvedere Gardens, boy you really did go first class.

How much did it cost you?

- Well Molly signed the check.

She put it on a charge account I guess.

I don't know how much it was.

And I've got a date withher Saturday night too.

- Well that's fine son where are you taking her?

- Well I'm not taking her.

I can't afford to take her to the kinds of places she goes.

She invited me to the Pops concert.

- [Kathy] Guess I shouldn't have teased him.

- Well it's all wrong.

And someone is gonna have to straighten him out.

- Well one thing is sure,

he can't make a career out of being

the guest of Molly Quinn.

Your mother and I have been giving some thought to this

Molly Quinn situation.

- Oh?

- Yeah it seems to us that

it's about time you ask her out.

- Yeah I know.

But how can I dad?

I don't have that kind of money.

- Well that's where you're off base Bud.

Money shouldn't figure in this at all.

- Well you can't go to the fancy places without it.

- You think these are the only places she'll go,

these fancy places?

- Well

you don't understand dad.

She's been to school in Switzerland and

she's been to London and Paris.

She talks better in French than I do in English.

- What of it?

- What of it?

Well I just can't take a girl like that

to the places that I can afford.

Can you see her going to a movie?

Or going bowling?

Going rollerskating?

- Look Bud,

let me ask you one question.

Do you and Molly enjoy each other's company?

- Yeah, yeah I think she's great.

And I think she likes me.

- Alright then do me a favor.

Forget all these high flown ideas.

Just be yourself.

Ask Molly to go out some place that you can afford.

- But dad-

- Now wait, if she doesn't want

to go to these places with you,

then she's not the girl for you.

Believe me Bud this is the straight truth.

Now I've never steered you too far wrong

in the past have I?

- Well no, but-

- No buts about it.

And I'm going to go even one step further

and say that if you accept Molly's invitation

for Saturday night, that you have to invite her out first.

Not for one of those fancy evenings either.

- Well okay I'll ask herfor a date Friday night.

- Something simple and inexpensive right?

- Okay.

- Don't look so sad about it.

It's not going to be a dreadful ordeal.

- Well you can say that.

You're gonna be sitting here at home nice and safe.

I'm the one who's gonna be taking all the chances.

Me taking Molly Quinn to a two bit movie

followed by a hamburgerand the malt shop.

Boy I can see my namegoing down in her book.

Bud Anderson, cheapskate.

- Wasn't that a good movie?

I just loved the partwhere they were in Rome.

Did you like it?

- Sure.

- I thought I'd die when-

Why are you looking at me so funny?

Something wrong?

- No, no I'm just surprised that you.

Well actually it was a pretty ordinary movie.

- I thought it was wonderful.

- I guess dad was right.

- What?

- Nothing.

- Oh.

- I'm starved how about you?

- Me?

Always!

- Well then lets go.

- Hey Molly! - Hi!

When'd you get back?

- Were you in the theater?

We didn't see you.

- Janice, Bud Anderson,Bud Janice Welsh

and Earl Conway.

- How was Paris?

- Hey I didn't know you were back from Switzerland.

I was in Europe a month ago with my

mother and father andwere gonna look you up.

Oh but my father was in a hurry and he

had to meet someAmbassador or something

from Stockholm.

- Earl is my cousin, we see each other

about once every six years.

- Oh Molly you simplymust come over tomorrow

and see the dresses mother brought me from New York.

They're utterly fabulous.

Well look where were you two going?

- Well I

- We were just gonna get something to eat.

- Well lets all go together.

- Great!

- Where should we eat?

- Well wherever Bud and Molly want to.

Any place we can get some decent food.

- Well it doesn't really matter

any place is okay with me.

- Well we're with you Bud, where will we go?

- Well what about the Belvedere Gardens?

- That's fine with me, it's the best place in town.

- Frightfully expensive,but I love it.

Let's go!

- Well whatever you andMolly are having Bud,

we'll have alright Earl?

- That's fine with me.

- Well the roast beef I guess.

- Roast beef forfour, very good.

- You know of course the roast beef

is a deluxe item in this place.

- Sure.

- I'll say this Bud, yousure know how to live.

- So I said well I'll start on my diet tomorrow.

After it isn't really what you eat

it's the vitamins or calories or something.

Aren't you eating anything Bud?

You hardly touched your roast beef.

- I'm a light eater.

- Will there be anything else sir?

- That crazy little place, it's um

- Well no I guess that's all.

- Very good.

- [Earl] I can't remember what the name of the street is

but there's this big tall building right here.

You take that street and you go down

and it splits off and over here is a great bistro

and they play the wildest music.

- Well when I was in Paris we went

and they only played this American rock and roll music.

- [Earl] That must have been the place!

[dramatic music]

[distant chatter]

- Thank you.

- Sorry I thought-

- Bank day?

- Yeah I had clean out my savings

and everything to pay Molly back for last night.

I've been hockedthe whole world.

- You're mailing it to her?

- Yeah I can't give it to her face to face.

Not after what happened.

- But you have a date with her tonight

at the Pop's concert.

- Well I'm not going to keep it.

I couldn't dad.

- You think that's being fair to Molly?

Before you do something that might

make her feel pretty badly,

I suggest you ask yourself a couple questions.

You might ask yourself when you first met Molly,

if you liked her as a person

or because she had a fancy car you could drive around?

I know that sounds rough but I want you to be honest.

I'm not going to tell you what to do

but just keep this one fact in mind:

going to that expensiverestaurant last night

wasn't Molly's idea,

it was yours.

So um,

you take it from there son.

- Something must have happened.

Bud wouldn't be this late without letting you know.

- I don't think he's coming.

After last night he probably hates me.

- Now Molly, it wasn't your fault.

You did the only thing you could possibly do.

- Sometimes I justhate being Molly Quinn.

I wish I was just a nobody of a nobody.

- I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I'm late.

- It's alright it doesn't matter.

Come in.

- I wasn't even gonna come over tonight.

I didn't think you'd ever want to see me again.

- Bud no!

- I don't know Molly.

Maybe I just did everything wrong.

I thought that if

you and your friends would just laugh at me

if I asked you to go to some place,

well some ordinary place to eat.

That's why

why it happened the way it did,

I'm sorry.

- Bud where we godoesn't matter, honest.

If a girl wants to be with a certain boy,

she'll be happy if he asked her

to walk to the library with him.

It's true!

Bud I'd go any place with you.

Just ask me.

Please, ask me.

Would you like to go to the malt shop?

- I'd love to!

- In my car?

- Yes, yes!

- You haven't seen my car.

It's pretty awful huh?

- It's beautiful.

Wait, I'll tell mother we're going.

Mother.

- I wonder how dad knowsso much about women.

[applauding]

[theme music]