♪
♪ Come hear the genuine come hear the genuine ♪
♪ The one and only the one and only ♪
♪ Come hear the hullabaloo tickety-boom, tweedle-Dee-Dee plinkity-plink ♪
♪ Better get ready to hear and better get ready to cheer ♪
♪ The one and only, genuine original family band ♪
- Play it loud! - Play it proud! - ♪ for together here we stand ♪
♪ The one and only, genuine original family band ♪
♪ Come hear the hullabaloo of our tuba ♪
♪ Hear the tickety-boom of our drum ♪
♪ Hear the tweedle-Dee-Dee of our woodwinds ♪
♪ Hear our plinkity-plinkin' banjo strum ♪
♪ And when the razzamatazz of our brasses ♪
♪ Begins to bezaz in the air something grand ♪
♪ Better get ready to hear and better get ready to cheer ♪
♪ The one and only, genuine original family band ♪
♪ We can play with virtuosity ♪
♪ Waltzes, marches polkas and mazurkas ♪
♪ We can play them sentimentally ♪
♪ Or just like the music of the circus ♪
♪ And when the razzamatazz of our brasses ♪
♪ Begins to bezaz in the air something grand ♪
♪ Better get ready to hear and better get ready to cheer ♪
♪ The one and only, one and only one and only, one and only ♪
♪ One and only, genuine ♪
♪ Original, original family band ♪
♪ [ One note ] [ Children laughing ]
Ya done it again. Ya booped when ya should have oompahed!
I'm sorry, grandpa.
Can you just go on without me? Mr. hodgkiss just arrived with the mail.
Uh, yeah, that's about enough for me too.
I, uh, promised I'd turn sod for Katie's flower bed.
Uh, yes, I'll show you where I had in mind, dear.
My lip's tired. There, ya see?
You need practice. Build it up! Build it up!
And I sort of promised Hank winters I'd come by this mornin'.
Oh. All right. All right.
If nobody else wants to get the invite to St. Louis,
I sure don't care.
I want to go, grandpa! Me too!
Well, means nothin' to me, ridin' on a train,
stayin' in a hotel, eatin' in fancy restaurants,
maybe even playin' for the president of the United States.
All I said was "my lip's tired"! Play! Come on, please!
[ Girl ] Hey!
Alice got her letter from Joe carder!
You can tell the way she goes off by herself to read it.
It ain't a fittin' thing for a young lady writin' to a man she ain't never met!
Well, papa says you were all for Joe carder...
Until you saw a copy of his newspaper,
found out he's a republican.
No such thing! That's got nothing to do with it!
I bet she's gonna marry Mr. carder!
♪ What will he see when he looks at me ♪
♪ For the very first time in his life ♪
♪ Will he see just another country-bumpkin girl ♪
♪ Or the woman he will want ♪
♪ For his wife ♪
♪ Can my smile say, wordlessly ♪
♪ Things that I couldn't ever write ♪
♪ Will it go all wrong for me ♪
♪ Or will I be all right ♪
♪ What will I say to the man of my life ♪
♪ When the man of my life holds my hand ♪
♪ Will I just babble unable to stop ♪
♪ What if I stupidly stand there ♪
♪ For I have been saving this part of my life ♪
♪ 'Til the heart of my life would arrive ♪
♪ And seeing him there ♪
♪ May be too much to bear ♪
♪ For the happiest girl alive ♪
♪ Letter by letter my heart has learned ♪
♪ He's gentle and loving and kind ♪
♪ And letter by letter my heart has yearned ♪
♪ 'Til I'm nearly out of my mind ♪
♪ To meet him ♪
♪ How will I seem to the man of my dream ♪
♪ When the man of my dream says hello ♪
♪ Will I seem foolish or will I seem wise ♪
♪ What if he just doesn't know yet ♪
♪ That I have been saving this part of my life ♪
♪ 'Til the heart of my life would arrive ♪
♪ Can I make it clear ♪
♪ That because he is near ♪
♪ I'm the happiest girl ♪
♪ Alive ♪
I don't see no good reason why we should get all head up...
Over somebody we never met before... Rose, stop squirming!
And we'll never see again. How can i... you look lovely, dear.
I'll take that brush. Try to stay clean.
Here, let me help ya. I can't do one of these.
When I was your age, I could tie 'em.
[ Katie ] Just fine. And you look gorgeous.
Now please, try to remain clean. How about this one?
[ Alice ] Do you like it better than the green one?
Oh, yes, dear! It's just fine.
I always did love that dress.
I didn't see nothin' wrong with the white one you had on in the first place.
Oh, grandpa,
do you really like that one better than this one?
I mean, do you think it looks better on me? Honey,
you'll have 'im bug-eyed and breathless no matter what dress you're wearin'.
I just didn't want to see her get her heart broke.
But anybody that twists the truth around the way he does in his newspaper...
I sure wouldn't believe nothin' he wrote in the letter.
[ Girl ] Here he comes! He's turning at the gate!
[ Children gasping ]
[ Children clamoring ]
Look it! [ Indistinct talking ]
Get away! Get away from the window!
Come on! Oh, look it!
- Girls, get away from that window. - [ Groaning ] Do we have to?
Calvin, please.
What's he like?
He doesn't look much like his picture. He's grown a moustache!
Oh!
[ Door closes ]
[ Children oohing ] Grandpa, he'll see you!
Say, look at 'im. He sure thinks he is somebody.
Got a big, gold watch chain.
Got to show how important he is. Boys.
He don't look like he's got sense enough to pound sand in a rat hole.
You can sort of tell by looking at him.
He's just the type that would put out a republican newspaper.
[ Children protesting ]
[ Doorbell rings ]
[ Clearing throat ]
How do you do? I'm Alice.
- Uh, won't you come in? - Thank you.
[ Door slams ]
Uh, may I take your hat?
Well, at least it's turned out to be a pleasant day after the rain.
[ Sighs ] I hope you had a nice trip.
Yes, quite nice.
I-I don't... I don't think I would have recognized you...
If we'd met on the street.
It's probably your moustache. It...
Well, it-it makes you look so different.
Oh?
Um, would you have recognized me?
Well, I, uh... I don't quite recall...
Well, from my picture, I mean.
Oh. [ Laughs ]
Well, I-i know it wasn't too good of me.
[ Laughs ] Well, there've been so many things lately...
And I-i guess I don't have the best memory in the world. [ Laughing ]
My wife tells me what I should do...
Your wife?
Look, am I in the wrong house or something? I wanted to see a "rensselaer bower."
Now they told me... Rensselaer?
Well, that's my grandfather.
[ Sighs ]
You mean you're not Joseph carder?
[ Laughs ] I'm Henry white...
Of the Democratic national committee. Oh! [ Laughs ]
Mr. bower has corresponded with postmaster Dickinson.
Something about a campaign song he's written...
And a family band he'd like to take to the convention in St. Louis.
Strange.
Grandpa? Grandpa, this man is here to see you.
[ Scoffs ] He's from the Democratic national committee!
That must mean they're interested.
We're just as good as on the train to St. Louis.
[ Children cheering ]
It's sure nice of ya to come.
Mighty glad to see ya. I promised postmaster Dickinson.
Well, eh, what I had in mind was the reason I writ down.
You see, I made up a campaign song for president Cleveland.
I know.
And what I thought might be a good idea...
To take the family band to St. Louis...
And sort of introduce it right there at the convention.
Put on a whole musical show if ya want.
I read the letter.
Well, first thing, of course, before ya decide,
maybe you'd like to hear the song?
We do feel that a good, stirring song might inspire party workers...
To greater effort and devotion.
You sure come to the right place!
Been a lot of dirty, underhanded politics.
Republicans making a play for the undecided voters, the fence straddlers.
Trying to tell them grover Cleveland hasn't lived up to his campaign promises.
Shh. My daughter-in-law, Katie, don't like politic talking in the house.
Out to the barn, everybody! We're gonna play our campaign song!
[ Children cheering ] Hurray for grandpa!
[ Cheering continues ]
I took a lot of time writing this.
I want you to meet my daughter-in-law, Katie. How do you do?
My son, Calvin. How do you do?
[ Children clamoring ]
♪ [ Warming up ] Sit right down there.
Now, right here, I'm sure you'll be comfortable.
Yes, sir, I think you can see much better here.
♪ [ Instruments warming up, cow mooing ]
- [ Laughing ] - When I need any help out of you, I'll ask for it.
Come on now.
♪
♪ In the frozen winter of '76 in a place called valley forge ♪
♪ Came a time for a man of destiny and his name was general George ♪
♪ 'Twas a time for a man and he was the man for the time ♪
♪ In 1861 our ship of state was sinkin' ♪
♪ Again came a man of destiny a man by the name of Lincoln ♪
♪ 'Twas a time for a man and he was the man for the time ♪
♪ 'twas a time for a man and he was the man for the time ♪
♪ In our land today there's a man who's tried and true ♪
♪ He's what this country needs but it's up to me and you ♪
♪ Stephen grover Cleveland is the man this country needs ♪
♪ Let's put it over with grover ♪
♪ Don't rock the boat give him your vote ♪
♪ Let's keep our country in clover ♪
♪ It's up to you he'll follow through ♪
♪ He made the white house shine like a lighthouse ♪
♪ Over our 38 states ♪
♪ 1889 is the time to fall in line ♪
♪ Behind one of destiny's ♪
♪ Greatest statesmen ♪
♪ Stephen grover Cleveland is the man this country needs ♪
♪ Let's put it over with grover ♪
♪ Don't rock the boat give him your vote ♪
♪ Give your vote to a man who's a leader of men ♪
♪ Let's put grover over again ♪
♪ let's put it over ♪
- ♪ With grover ♪ - ♪ don't ♪
♪ rock the boat ♪
♪ Give him your vote ♪
- ♪ Give your ♪ - ♪ vote to ♪
♪ a man who's a leader ♪
♪ Of men ♪
♪ Let's put grover ♪
♪ Over again ♪
The bower family band presents a glorification:
American patriots in living pictures.
♪ Lexington and bunker hill were only weeks away ♪
♪ When Patrick Henry said these golden words that live today ♪
"I know not what course others may take.
"But as for me,
give me Liberty or give me death."
♪ He stood proudly when he heard his fatal sentence read ♪
♪ And then with glory in his voice, young Nathan hale said ♪
"My only regret is that I have but one life to give for my country."
♪ His words rang out across the land and we recall with pride ♪
♪ A silversmith named Paul revere who took that midnight ride ♪
"The British are comin'! The British are comin'! The British are comin'!"
♪
♪ Christmas day in '76 with courage brave and rare ♪
♪ The father of our country crossed the icy Delaware ♪
♪ 'Twas a time for a man and he was the man for the time ♪
And now, ladies and gentlemen, our grand finale!
♪ Stephen grover Cleveland is the man this country needs ♪
♪ Let's put it over with grover ♪
♪ Don't rock the boat give him your vote ♪
♪ Give your vote to a man who's a leader of men ♪
♪ Let's put grover over again ♪
♪ It's the time for a man ♪
♪ And Cleveland's the man for the time ♪
It'll do it, I tell you. It's got enough zip and zing and lilt to it.
It'll bring down the house. Yes, sir, it'll put grover over again. No doubt about it!
Put grover over again. No doubt about it! [ Family cheering ]
[ Laughing, cheering continue ] No doubt about it!
[ Clamoring continues ]
You know, there's somethin' else I was thinkin'.
It'd be kind of nice if they took us back to Washington to play at the inauguration.
You know, when he's swore in again. Old grover would sure get a kick out of that.
[ Laughing ] We, um...
We've quite a few Bridges to cross before then.
One thing I will say about the song though, it really gets to you.
Makes you proud to be a democrat, doesn't it?
Well, I guess it would, if I was.
He weren't never too bright, even as a boy.
Then he growed up to be a gol-darned republican.
Do you mean,
you could sing that the way you did and still...
Who'd sing your part if the rest of you came to St. Louis?
Nobody's takin' off and leavin' me home,
not as long as there's a place to go and a way to get there.
A republican singing at a Democratic convention.
It just didn't seem the kind of a song...
They'd appreciate at a republican convention.
[ All laughing ]
Actually, to me, music stands above all this anyhow.
You don't have to be a southerner to sing, "the yellow rose of Texas"...
Or a sailor to dance a hornpipe.
You see, sir, Calvin isn't just a rockbound republican.
Mostly he votes for the man.
What's the man got to do with it? [ Chuckles ]
Well, I want to thank you, all of you, yes.
I'm going to recommend that you be brought to St. Louis.
[ All cheering ]
[ Children clamoring ]
You'll hear from me shortly. Great meeting all of you.
[ Children ] Bye, Mr. white. Bye, Mr. white.
I always told you you could buy anything with a song.
There's no door you can't open with music!
♪ Who invented music ♪
♪ We'd like to shake his hand ♪
♪ 'Cause music casts a spell on us ♪
♪ That we can't understand ♪
♪ must be some magician designed the magic plan ♪
♪ He changed his wand ♪
♪ To a Baton ♪
♪ And that's how it all began ♪
♪ When the rhythm pounds and the Harmony sounds and the melody rolls around ♪
Presto-chango!
♪ We're 10 feet off the ground ♪
♪ And when the rhythm pounds and the Harmony sounds and the melody rolls around ♪
♪ Right from the downbeat we can be found 10 feet off the ground ♪
♪ When everybody puts his heart in it ♪
♪ Everybody plays a part in it ♪
♪ That's how music magic is made ♪
♪ Everybody's toes get tappier everybody's feelin' happier ♪
♪ Lighter than air out of his chair ten feet off the ground ♪
♪ When the rhythm pounds and the Harmony sounds ♪
♪ And the melody rolls around ♪
Presto-chango! [ Group ] ♪ he's 10 feet off the ground ♪
♪ Who invented music we'd like to shake his hand ♪
♪ That's how music magic is made ♪
♪ Oh, 10 feet off the ground ♪
♪ That's how music ♪
♪ Magic is made ♪
♪ Ia-la-la-la, la-la la-la-la ♪
♪ Ia-la-la-la-la ♪
♪ Lighter than air ♪
♪ Out of his chair ♪
♪ Ten feet off the ground ♪
♪ Oh ♪
[ Gasps ]
♪ [ Stops ]
Oh!
[ Gasps ]
Oh, how do you do? You must be Mr. carder.
Yes. Mrs. bower? Joe carder. We were just having a little celebration.
Would you excuse me, please? Oh, of course. It's...
No! Go away! Alice, it's me, Joe carder!
Just leave me alone! Go away!
Please! [ Screams ]
Whoa!
Alice. I can't imagine what you must think.
Then I'll tell you what I think.
I think you must be a lot more fun than I ever realized, than I even dared to hope!
The way you were doing that, you were...
What I mean is,
I've never seen anyone clown around like that...
And look beautiful all at the same time.
You want to know something?
I-I haven't slept in a week.
J-just thinking about what I would do, w-what I would say when we first met.
I was afraid it would all be so formal like your letters.
And I-i wouldn't know what to say, I would j-just... i wouldn't think of anything.
Or maybe I'd...
And I would just start jabbering and not have enough sense to stop.
That's silly.
Why would anybody feel like that?
[ Giggles ]
Actually, I was the one who found the name of your newspaper.
I asked Alice to send that first letter.
[ Giggles ] Well, I must not have done a very good job,
selling you on Dakota. Well, uh, it isn't always that simple.
You see, a family the size of ours, we put down a lot of roots.
But if you could just realize the opportunities there are in Southern Dakota.
We're about to become a state, you know?
Must be beautiful in the black hills: Trees, lakes, little streams.
Oh, I'm sure it's very nice, but we have a good life here...
And a lot of wonderful friends.
Yep, guess I'll have to go along with that, but...
I always keep thinking there might be someplace out west just a little bit better.
We've been lucky every time we've moved,
and a man hates to quit when he's winning.
No place ever gonna be so wonderful that you couldn't dream up something better.
But you wouldn't say that, Mrs. bower, if you'd just seen the black hills.
The air has a snap to it! It's the scent of the pines.
And the sky's so blue...
You almost can't believe it.
I know what would be fun!
Why don't you and papa come along to the meeting? Hear his lecture.
Oh, and, um, grandpa, you can come too, if you'd like.
[ Katie ] Uh, well, I-i don't really know.
I'd be very flattered if you would come.
Have you gotten many people to move to Dakota?
Well, not just people, Mr. bower, but the right people.
You see, the thing that first interested our state chairman, he found that you're...
Almost 100 percent republican through this whole area.
Oh? That's mostly what you're interested in, ain't it?
Gettin' Republicans to move up there?
That's right, sir. You see, Mr. bower, this past year we've had almost a tidal wave...
Of shiftless, irresponsible democrats moving in.
A bunch of shysters and quacks and usury-type moneylenders.
And if we don't do something about it soon, they'll have us outnumbered!
Well, let me tell you somethin', young man. You're trumpetin' a flat tune on a worn-out horn.
'Cause you can't turn back a tidal wave,
not by puttin' out a rabble-rousin', ragtag newspaper.
And not by speech-makin' to a bunch of poor, misguided Republicans! And furthermore...
That's enough, grandpa. Now stop it.
We have a very special little rule that I have to invoke, Mr. carder,
to, to make life bearable around here.
We do not discuss, we do not even mention politics in this house.
And the summer kitchen, I consider part of the house.
I'm sorry, Mrs. bower, I didn't know.
Oh, it's all right. Oh, it's all right.
I don't blame you.
And I certainly didn't mean to offend you, Mr. bower.
- I just naturally assumed that you were republican too. - [ Scoffs ]
Alice never happened to mention anything to the contrary in any of her letters.
Well, now that's all settled.
We'd be very happy to attend your meeting, Mr. carder, if you really want us there.
Come, Alice. Let's give Mr. carder a nice piece of chocolate cake.
And another consideration.
There's enough land in Dakota so that each of your sons, as he comes of age,
can take up a homestead, start out in life owning a good piece of land,
instead of working all his life trying to get it, trying to pay off a mortgage.
Now, let me tell you something, truthfully.
You're the kind of people we need in Dakota.
Solid, decent, hard-working people,
who will help to build, who'll always belong.
Who'll share in the golden future of a glorious land!
[ Crowd murmuring ]
Up in my neck of the woods, in the black hills,
you'll find rivers, lakes and babbling streams.
And that's sweet music, my friends.
Sweet music when you're reading about another drought spreading across the plains.
Now that's why this whole westering movement...
Appeals to thoughtful, far-seeing men, who want a better life for their families.
[ Crowd murmuring ] [ Man ] What are we waitin' for?
I'm gonna go home and start packing! [ Murmuring gets louder ]
Don't forget to take along your snake-bite remedy!
- Do ya have snakes in Dakota? - No more than most places.
And your frostbite remedy too. Ya might need that even worse!
How cold does it get in the winter?
That depends. We're a very large territory.
Ain't nobody really knows. Thermometers always freeze up and bust!
[ Laughing ] [ Crowd murmuring ]
I remind you, all of you, that Mr. carder is here as an invited guest!
And we're gonna listen to him tell us about Dakota in his own way.
Without interruption! [ Crowd cheers, applauds ]
I'd be glad to tell you some more about Dakota...
Without interruption.
♪ Where the roots grow deep and the winds blow clean ♪
♪ Where the air is sweet ♪
♪ And the summer's green ♪
♪ Where virgin fields await the plow ♪
♪ A great tomorrow ♪
♪ Is dawning now ♪
♪ Dakota, Dakota ♪
♪ Where a man stands tall ♪
♪ Dakota, Dakota ♪
♪ Where there's land for all ♪
♪ Rolling rivers embrace the plain ♪
♪ Where some day there's gonna be ♪
♪ Golden oceans of blowing grain ♪
♪ Just as far as your eyes can see ♪
♪ The black hills the blue skies ♪
♪ Of the shining west ♪
♪ Dakota, oh, Dakota ♪
♪ By the heavens ♪
♪ Blessed ♪
♪ Where the roots grow deep and the winds blow clean ♪
♪ Where the air is sweet and the summer's green ♪
♪ Where virgin fields await the plow ♪
♪ A great tomorrow is dawning ♪
♪ Now ♪
♪ Dakota, Dakota ♪
♪ Where a man stands tall ♪
♪ Dakota, Dakota ♪
♪ Where there's land for all ♪
♪ Rolling rivers embrace the plain ♪
♪ Where some day there's gonna be ♪
♪ golden oceans of blowing grain ♪
♪ just as far as your eyes can see ♪
♪ The black hills ♪
♪ The blue skies of the shining west ♪
♪ Dakota, oh, Dakota ♪
♪ By the heavens ♪
♪ Blessed ♪
♪ Dakota, Dakota ♪
♪ Where a man stands tall ♪
♪ Dakota, Dakota ♪
♪ Where there's land for all ♪
♪ Rolling rivers embrace the plain ♪
♪ Where some day there's gonna be ♪
♪ Golden oceans of blowing grain ♪
♪ Just as far as your eyes can see ♪
♪ The black hills the blue skies ♪
♪ Of the shining west ♪
♪ Dakota, oh, Dakota ♪
♪ By the heavens ♪
♪ Blessed ♪
Boys take two, girls take one now.
Okay. Okay. Okay, grandpa.
I'll race you back! Okay!
[ Children laughing ]
[ Katie ] The first thing we do,
we'll make a list of all the things we want to take with us.
Then try and sell off everything else. [ Calvin ] We can't do it.
Can't do it?
Not this year. Maybe later on if things work out.
[ Katie ] But now, Calvin, you know very well that the very best land...
Will go to the first homesteaders that get there. Yeah, that sounds logical.
And if we wait a whole year, all the good land will be gone.
[ Calvin ] You've got to remember all the plotting and planning...
And scheming that went into it, to make this St. Louis trip possible.
We can't give it up now.
Well, we're not going to St. Louis...
Just so the children can get a ride on a train.
It's not the children I'm thinking about.
They've got their whole lives ahead of 'em. But what about grandpa?
When's he ever gonna get another chance like this?
We're not gonna have him with us forever, you know?
[ Katie ] Yes, I know.
[ Calvin ] don't you worry.
We'll work it out.
I think we'd be a lot better off, all of us,
movin' to rapid city, like your papa wanted to all along. [ Groaning ]
What fun's a little old mud-street town like rapid city?
And ridin' on a wagon and gettin' a side ache instead of...
I wanna ride on a train!
I want to ride on a train too!
We want to go to St. Louis! Shh, shh, shh!
Now, will you let me say what I'm gonna say?
I'll talk to Alice.
She'll be disappointed, but she'll understand.
I wish I'd thought ahead a little bit before talking to Sidney...
About him taking up his own homestead, later on.
It might be still possible that we get there next year.
Just suppose we don't get the best...
♪ [ children singing ]
♪ Where the roots grow deep and the winds blow clean ♪
♪ Where the air is sweet and the summer's green ♪
♪ Where virgin fields await the plow ♪
♪ A great tomorrow is dawning now ♪
♪ Dakota, Dakota ♪
♪ Where a man stands tall ♪
♪ Dakota, Dakota ♪
♪ Where there's land for all ♪
♪ Rolling rivers embrace the plain ♪
♪ Where some day there's gonna be ♪
♪ Golden oceans of blowing grain ♪
♪ Just as far as your eyes can see ♪
♪ The black hills the blue skies ♪
♪ Of the shining west ♪
♪ Dakota, oh, Dakota ♪
♪ By the heavens ♪
♪ Blessed ♪
[ Joe ] ♪ rolling rivers embrace the plain ♪
♪ Where some day there's gonna be ♪
♪ Golden oceans of blowing grain ♪
♪ Just as far as your eyes can see ♪
[ Joe ] ♪ the black hills ♪ [ Chorus ] ♪ the black hills ♪
♪ The blue skies ♪ ♪ the blue skies ♪
♪ of the shining west ♪
♪ Dakota ♪ ♪ Dakota ♪
♪ oh, Dakota ♪
♪ By the heavens ♪
♪ Blessed ♪
[ Crowd cheering, applauding ]
Now we met and we surpassed every requirement...
Congress could set forth. [ Crowd ] Right!
But do they Grant us statehood? [ Crowd ] No.
Do they take us into the union? [ Crowd ] No!
Do they live up to their end of the bargain? [ Crowd ] No!
And why not? Why not, I ask you?
What's wrong with us?
- Maybe you talk too much! - [ Crowd jeering ]
Well, then they'd better get used to it... Right!
'Cause there are a lot of things that need to be said. [ Crowd agreeing ]
I'll tell you what the trouble really is. They're afraid of us.
Who's afraid of you?
Because they know that when north and south Dakota become states,
and we send our senators back to Washington, we're gonna send Republicans, right?
- [ Booing ] - Sit down, you silly republican!
Why don't you be quiet, you dumb democrat?
And that just might break the stranglehold...
That grover Cleveland and his Democratic congress have held upon this great country of ours.
That Joe gets himself wound up, don't he?
Yeah! [ Laughing ]
[ Joe ] We'll declare ourselves the free and sovereign states of north and south Dakota!
[ Crowd cheering ]
One thing, they got a pretty good crowd out to cheer us across the finish line.
Really, grandpa? Why do you always have to spoil a good story...
By asking, "really, grandpa?" [ Laughing ]
[ Crowd cheering ] Isn't that Joe carder?
Right? We're free men.
We're free men. We'll hold our own elections!
[ Crowd agreeing ]
We'll draw up a constitution for the sovereign states of north and south Dakota!
[ Crowd cheering ]
Now, grandpa, you're not gonna get into a political squabble...
Before we even got our feet on the ground.
You know what they're trying to do? They're trying to divide Dakota into two states!
The only reason's so they can send four republican senators back to Washington...
Instead of just the two they're supposed to have! Now, take it easy.
Hey, Mr. carder! We made it!
[ Children ] Hello, Mr. carder!
- Another good republican family come to join us. - [ Crowd booing, cheering ]
[ Crowd murmuring ]
Oh. Oh.
Why, thank you, sir.
Ah, Ernie stubbins at your service.
Alice. Oh! [ Giggles ]
You made it. Good. Oh, how are you?
Alice, uh, this is Ernie stubbins, one of our local... yeah.
We already swapped names and done our howdies.
Alice, uh, Mr. wrenn, the president of the school board.
I told Mr. wrenn that you might be interested in a teaching position.
Miss bower, it's a pleasure. If you'll come this way, my dear,
I'll see that you're signed up. Oh, well, we just got here...
And I haven't even, uh... Miss bower,
our school is closed for lack of a teacher. We can't afford to waste another day.
Oh, excuse me, Mr. wrenn. Uh, Mr. and Mrs. Calvin bower.
How do you do? [ Both ] How do you do?
Mr. wrenn is president of the school board. Oh, and their family.
[ Children ] Hello, Mr. wrenn.
I've located a house for you, Mr. bower. Good.
It's out on rapid creek. It's not new, but it's big.
So, I guess you'd better get signed up here in town. Save a trip back, huh?
This won't take long. Then I must get word to the children that school opens tomorrow.
[ Children groan ] Would you wait just a minute, Mr. wrenn? I'll be right back.
♪ [ Banjo ]
Frank? Yeah? Yeah?
Carry on for a few minutes, will you please? I'll be right back. Who, me? All right.
All right, all you children wait here with grandpa. [ Children ] All right.
But let's just look at the national situation and consider where we're drifting...
If something isn't done to clear up the mess in Washington.
[ Crowd ] What mess? What are ya talkin' about?
Let me ask you. Let me ask you.
What has grover Cleveland ever done to reduce the federal surplus?
[ Crowd ] Yeah! [ Frank ] He just goes on...
Collecting his tariff and piling more and more dollars into the treasury.
[ Crowd ] That's right!
[ Frank ] Think what it will be like in another 50 or 75 years.
Right. Every dollar in the United States piled up in Washington!
[ Crowd yelling ]
We're gonna have the richest government...
And the poorest people in the history of the world!
[ Crowd agreeing ]
We've got to remember to send men back to Washington...
Who aren't too tightfisted to spend a dollar now and then. Right?
♪ [ Band playing ]
♪ [ Continues ]
♪
♪ In the frozen winter of '76 ♪
♪ In a place called valley forge ♪
♪ Came a time for a man of destiny ♪
♪ And his name was general George ♪
♪ 'Twas a time for a man and he was the man for the time ♪
♪ 'twas a time for a man and he was the man for the time ♪
♪ In 1861, our ship of state was sinkin' ♪
♪ Again came a man of destiny ♪
♪ A man by the name of Lincoln ♪ [ Cheers ]
♪ 'Twas a time for a man and he was the man for the time ♪
♪ In our land today there's a man who's tried and true ♪
♪ He's what this country needs but it's up to me and you ♪
- ♪ Stephen grover Cleveland is the man this country needs ♪ - [ Crowd disagreeing ]
♪ Let's put it over with grover ♪
♪ Don't rock the boat give him your vote ♪ [ Crowd clamoring ]
♪ Let's keep our country in clover ♪
♪ It's up to you he'll follow through ♪
♪ He made the white house shine like a lighthouse ♪
♪ Over our 38 states ♪
♪ 1889 is the time to fall in line ♪
♪ behind one of destiny's greatest statesmen ♪
♪ Stephen grover Cleveland is the man this country needs ♪
Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Hold it down! Get down from that wagon!
Look, there's no reason to get upset. [ Crowd ] Oh, yeah?
This is all just kind of in fun. [ Crowd disagreeing ]
Wait a minute! Wait a minute!
Look, this is a real fine, talented family: The bowers.
[ Crowd clamoring ]
Now wait! They've had a long trip.
And, as I've told you before, they're gonna be settling down here.
- Gonna be our neighbors. - That's a mighty odd sense of humor!
Come to a statehood rally in Dakota and sing about grover Cleveland!
[ Clamoring ]
You own the streets here, do ya?
Keep 'em reserved just for speeches by Republicans? [ Crowd laughing ]
I kind of thought this was a free country! [ Crowd agreeing ]
Yeah, that's a good one. "I thought this was a free country."
That's a good way to put it! [ Crowd clamoring ]
- All right, grandpa. don't you think you've said enough? - No, not nearly enough!
I'm gonna find out if we're still in the United States of America,
or if we made a wrong turn back there somewhere! [ Man ] You should have turned.
Now turn around and go back home!
We don't want ya here!
It isn't going to do any harm if they sing a little song about grover Cleveland.
[ Crowd disagreeing ]
Do you think that's all it would take to get him reelected?
[ Crowd ] No!
Let me tell you somethin'!
Grover Cleveland's gonna be reelected by the biggest landslide in history!
[ Crowd scoffing, cheering ]
Well, that's what makes horse races.
Well, I'll bet ya! I'll bet ya!
[ Crowd clamoring ]
I'm not a bettin' man.
Aw, come on! Come on!
Wait a minute. In the newspaper business, you can't afford to be.
- Wound up, I'll tell ya that. - All right, I'll tell ya what I'll do.
I'll give you a free ride down this here street in a wheelbarrow...
If Benjamin Harrison wins. [ Crowd laughing ]
[ Crowd clamoring ] That's right.
But now, listen, listen! But you give me a ride if grover Cleveland wins!
- [ Crowd laughing ] - You can afford that, can't ya?
[ Crowd ] Come on, carder! Come on, Joe!
All right, Mr. bower! I'll take ya up on that! [ Crowd cheering ]
Oh, mama, I feel terrible not helping you with all these things.
It's just so hard to get ready.
Don't worry about me, dear. I'm getting along just fine.
Grandpa's using your dresser mirror to shave. [ Children talking ]
I hope we make a lot of friends. Me too.
You're just starting to put on your hat?
Why don't all of you go on ahead?
Don't worry about me. I'll be there.
Yes, Alice, dear, I think that's a very good idea.
Come on, children, now. Off to school. Come on now. Good-bye, mama.
Got your lunch? Got your handkerchief? Bye, mama.
Good-bye. Oh, Quinn, do stop eating. Bye, mama.
Good-bye, darling. Bye.
Good-bye. Now, mind your manners. Bye.
[ Children laughing ] [ Sighs ] [ Sighs ]
Say, I'm all done with that mirror now, if you want it.
No, grandpa. This is all right. It's fine.
Say, this thing Joe carder's talkin' about yesterday,
that they gonna set up their own state government...
If the president and the congress don't do it for 'em.
Grandpa, please, not now. Now, you best listen 'cause something's being started...
That could hurt a lot of people. A person, place or thing:
Boy, dog, St. Louis, chair. Anytime men think they're gonna turn agin the president...
And the congress, take the law into their own hands... A pronoun replaces a noun:
And set up their own government, he, him, she, it, they, us.
Then there's gonna be trouble.
A verb is a word that denotes action or state of being.
Grandpa, that will do!
Well, I'm just tellin' her for her own good.
Better off if she got somebody else.
Ah, say, that young cowboy that held that horse for ya yesterday.
What's his name again?
Um, Ernie stubbins?
[ Chuckles ] You remember his name, huh?
[ Laughing ]
Sure is a handsome devil, ain't he?
Well, I don't know.
Yeah. Big he-man type. You know, I like that.
Um, final inspection. Oh, just lovely, dear.
Wish me luck, mama. Oh, you'll be fine, Alice.
Grandpa, I love you. Thank you.
If I said anything that upset ya, I didn't mean it.
I just don't want to see ya get in over your head before ya realize it.
[ Knocking ]
Oh. Oh, I'm glad I caught you.
Good morning, Mrs. bower. Mr. bower.
Alice, there's been a little problem come up.
It's a technicality, really, about your credentials.
The school board wants to meet with you and ask a few questions before you start teaching.
Before I start teaching? Well, that's less than an hour.
[ Joe ] You'll have to call off school, just for today.
I don't understand.
I thought everything was taken care of yesterday.
They told me that...
By now the children are probably on their way.
Mr. bower, uh, you know where the schoolhouse is, don't you?
Say, this thing you were talking about yesterday...
About how you were going to set up your own state government... grandpa, same rules as before.
There'll be no discussing politics in this house either.
Do you think you could go to the schoolhouse and send the children home?
Tell them there won't be any school today after all. Do I think...
Thank you, sir. Ah...
I'll bring her back, Mrs. bower. And it's nothing to be concerned about, just a technicality.
All right.
Whoa. Whoa.
I just want to show you the place I wrote you about. Remember?
But I don't think we should if the school board is waiting.
Alice, there are a couple of ladies on that school board...
That wouldn't get to a meeting before 10:00, no matter what.
It's the "what" I'm worried about. Look, it's nothing, believe me.
Mr. wrenn happened to hear about the ruckus in town yesterday...
When your grandfather sang his grover Cleveland song.
Oh, what's that got to do with me? I guess he wants to talk to you.
Just to make sure that you're not inclined to stir things up.
Well, that's a very odd thing.
Maybe he wants to make sure it doesn't run in the family. Oh?
[ Laughs ] Come on! [ Laughs ]
Wait.
There. Oh, it is beautiful.
But let's come back some other time. Why?
Well, we want to be there when the school board is ready to meet.
[ Stammering ] Then I have to get back and help mom unpack.
Well, 'cause there are floors to be scrubbed and dishes to be washed...
And-and-and...
I want to plan more for my first day at school. [ Giggles ]
And...
♪ 'bout time 'bout time ♪
♪ We had a little taste of wastin' time ♪
♪ Like lovers do ♪
♪ I'll waste a little time alone with you ♪
♪ 'Bout time we two ♪
♪ Were livin' out a lovely dream come true ♪
♪ 'Bout you, 'bout me ♪
♪ 'Bout love ♪
♪ 'Bout time, 'bout time ♪
♪ We spent a little time with no one near ♪
♪ To watch me while ♪
♪ I say a little somethin' in your ear ♪
♪ 'Bout how I care ♪
♪ 'Bout how I want to make my feelings clear ♪
♪ 'Bout you, 'bout me ♪
♪ 'Bout love ♪
♪ We're in deep water, darlin' ♪
♪ Clear over our head ♪
♪ 'bout time to either sink or swim ♪ ♪ let's swim ♪
♪ 'Nuff said ♪
♪ 'Bout time, 'bout time ♪
♪ We didn't have to always steal a kiss ♪
♪ 'Bout time, 'bout time ♪
♪ I had my arm around your waist like this ♪
♪ My whole life through ♪
♪ I wanna make you feel the way I do ♪
♪ 'Bout you, 'bout me ♪
♪ 'Bout love ♪
♪ We're in deep water, darlin' ♪
♪ Clear over our head ♪
♪ 'Bout time to either sink or swim ♪
♪ Let's swim ♪ ♪ 'nuff said ♪
♪ 'Bout time, 'bout time ♪ ♪ 'bout time, 'bout time ♪
♪ We should be pickin' out a weddin' day ♪
♪ July ♪ ♪ no, June ♪
♪ My folks were married in the month of may ♪
♪ 'Bout now, 'bout all ♪
♪ That's left to do is let the secret out ♪
♪ 'Bout you, 'bout me ♪
♪ 'Bout us, 'bout we ♪
♪ 'Bout your love ♪
♪ And mine ♪
'Bout time. 'Bout time. [ Giggles ]
[ Grandpa ] So, there's gonna be no school today and ya might as well all go home.
[ Children cheering ]
[ Children laughing, shouting ]
[ Laughing, shouting continues ]
What's the matter, honey? You get hurt?
Somebody bump you?
What's your name? Edna.
What are you crying for, edna, if you haven't been hurt?
I memorized a piece to speak...
And got dressed up...
And I slept all night...
With my hair put up in rags...
And now...
There's gonna be no school. [ Sniffles ]
[ Chuckles ] Why don't you speak it for me?
'Cause we ain't in school. That's what I learned it for.
Well, now, wait a minute.
There ain't no reason why we couldn't have just a little bit of school.
But you said, "go on home." What I meant...
I didn't mean right now.
I didn't say, "go home right now."
I never said that.
[ Children laughing, shouting ]
Hey!
Come on back here, all of you! Where you goin'?
Get back here! Don't go tryin' to sneak off...
The minute my back is turned!
You told us to go. You said there wouldn't be any school today.
Yeah! I was just testin' you, that's all.
You gonna believe anybody that comes along, no matter what they tell you?
[ Grandpa laughing ]
You got a lot to learn, boy. You better stay around.
[ Ringing ]
[ Ringing continues ]
[ Children chattering ]
[ Chattering continues ]
All right, sit down now. Come on. Sit down.
Come on, get your seats. Sit anywhere.
Hey!
Well, now, this here, as most of you know, is the first day of school.
[ Children booing ]
And, for the time bein', I'm gonna be your teacher.
[ All ] What? Now, we're gonna have...
Just a few little things, and then I'll let you go home.
[ Cheering ]
Now, little edna here, she's learned a piece to speak,
and she's gonna come right up in the front, and she's gonna speak it.
And you're gonna pay attention.
You don't need to wave good-bye. We ain't goin' no place.
[ Laughing ] I wanna ask you something.
What's your name, son? Johnny dejohn.
- All right. What you want to ask? - Are you a regular teacher?
Well, no, my granddaughter Alice, she's gonna be your regular teacher.
I'm just fillin' in for the time bein'.
What I want to know... Would you set yourself down?
Now, you go ahead, honey. We're all listenin'.
The mountain and the squirrel had a quarrel.
The former called the latter, "little prig."
Bun replied, "if I am not so large as you,
"you are not so small as I.
"If I cannot carry mountains on my back,
neither can you crack a nut."
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
[ Chuckling ] Oh, that's fine!
That's fine. [ Chuckling ]
Something bothering you, Johnny?
I was trying to find out, sir... did you graduate from the eighth grade?
Do you have a certificate to show you're a regular, qualified teacher?
Well, now, I'll tell you this, boy.
If I know something you don't know, then I'm qualified to teach you.
Providing, of course, you got sense enough to learn.
[ Children laughing ] Could I ask, sir, have you ever taught before?
Well, yes, you might say so.
I recollect a time there was about 50 men...
I learned them all to shoot and take care of their rifles. I was the only teacher they had.
But in school? That was in the army.
In the civil war! Right there's the first thing I'm gonna learn ya!
The proper name is "the war between the states," 'cause that's what it was!
[ Johnny ] You can look in the history books.
They call it the civil war. What about that? Yeah!
I don't need to look in no books!
I was there, Shiloh to appomattox,
and you can take my word, there weren't nothin' civil about it!
[ Children laughing ] That's 'cause you were a ringtail rebel!
Otherwise, you wouldn't object to it being called the civil war!
I done my fighting for the confederacy...
And general Lee, if that's what you mean.
I thought so. I knew it from the start.
The important thing ain't what you know from the start, it's what you learn goin' along.
We should have learned one lesson from that war:
About our country staying united!
Abraham Lincoln said, "a house divided against itself cannot stand."
[ Grandpa ] Folks from Lincoln's own party...
Want to divide up Dakota, the north from the south.
It just don't make sense.
My father says majority rules,
and they voted to make it two states.
[ Grandpa chuckling ] You put your finger on it right there when you says...
They voted on it.
But who's gonna run this state after us old codgers is gone?
It's gonna be you young people, that's who! But anybody ask you to vote?
[ Children shout ] No! [ Grandpa ] No, sir.
They try to tell you they voted on it!
And you got no say-so!
That's your idea?
Just sit back and let them chop the wagon in two...
When you know it's gonna be you that's got to drive it?
How can we do anything about it if we're not old enough to vote?
[ Children shouting ] Yeah!
There's always ways to do things once the body puts his mind to it.
I recollect a boy, wasn't much bigger than you are, if at all!
When the war between the north and south had only just begun,
a little fella ran away and joined up with his drum.
♪ He became a drummer ♪
♪ In a rifle company ♪
♪ The youngest bravest drummer boy ♪
♪ In history ♪
♪ 'Cause he kept ♪
♪ Drummin', drummin', drummin' ♪
♪ While the enemy kept a'comin' ♪
♪ Drummin' drummin', drummin' ♪
♪ Unafraid he held his ground ♪
♪ Drummin' drummin', drummin' ♪
♪ While the enemy kept a'comin' ♪
♪ Drummin' while the shot and shell was burstin' all around ♪
♪ [ Drumming ]
♪ [ Continues drumming ]
♪ In the middle of a battle ♪
♪ That looked like sure defeat ♪
♪ [ Drumming ] ♪ all the ranks began to break ♪
♪ And someone yelled "retreat" ♪
♪ But not that little drummer boy ♪
♪ He stood there like a stone ♪
♪ And played and played the battle roll ♪
♪ All alone ♪ ♪ [ Drumming fingers ]
♪ [ Drumming continues ] ♪ yes, he kept ♪
♪ Drummin', drummin', drummin' ♪
♪ While the enemy kept a'comin' ♪
♪ Drummin' drummin', drummin' ♪
♪ Unafraid he held his ground ♪
♪ Drummin' drummin', drummin' ♪
♪ While the enemy kept a'comin' ♪
♪ Drummin' while the shot and shell was burstin' all around ♪
♪ When the soldiers that were fleeing ♪ ♪ drumming ♪
♪ Heard his drum and saw that sight ♪ ♪ drumming ♪
♪ It was almost like a miracle ♪ ♪ drumming ♪
♪ Their fear it turned to fight ♪ ♪ keep it drumming ♪
♪ And how they fought and how they won ♪ ♪ drumming ♪
♪ Is history today ♪ ♪ drumming ♪
♪ Because that little drummer boy showed the way ♪
♪ Yes, he kept drummin' drummin', drummin' ♪
♪ While the enemy kept a'comin' ♪
♪ Drummin', drummin', drummin' ♪
♪ Unafraid, he held his ground ♪
♪ Drummin', drummin', drummin' ♪
♪ While the enemy kept a'comin' ♪
♪ Drummin' while the shot and shell was burstin' all around ♪
They say a rose that blooms in summertime...
Must die when winter comes,
but the memory of its perfume lives...
Like the memory of those drums.
Well, now the war between blue and gray is fadin' in the past,
but the courage of that drummer boy...
Is something that will last.
Wasn't that Johnny Shiloh?
Yeah, I guess that's what some called him after... he was a yankee.
- He didn't fight for the confederacy. - I never said he did.
But he was an American. He didn't sit around and say,
"I'm only a little boy. What can I do?" I'll tell my pa,
"if I'm old enough to help with the milking,
I'm old enough to have some say about things!"
[ Children cheering ]
And we gotta keep talkin', talkin', talkin' like he kept drummin', drummin', drummin'!
What are you trying to do, Mr. bower?
Get Alice fired before she starts?
Oh, hold on... moving in, taking over a school.
I didn't exactly take over. I asked you to send the children home,
to tell them there wouldn't be any school today.
Now, Joe... the young'uns were already there.
Most of them was all gussied up, bein' the first day of school.
It just seemed a shame to send them home.
I don't think he meant any harm.
Right while you and I were meeting with the school board, giving our word of honor...
That nothing like this would ever happen! It won't ever happen again.
I figured if Alice knowed enough to teach them for a whole year,
I knowed enough to teach them for one day; Just part of a day, actually.
But that's just the point! You didn't teach them!
Joe, please! You got them cornered in the schoolhouse...
And then you delivered a political oration...
About not dividing Dakota, about making it one state!
It oughta be one state! If you had a lick of brains, you'd see it for yourself!
Grandpa, that's enough!
I'm sorry, Mrs. bower.
Let's just hope none of the other students go home and start talking.
I wouldn't figure on that!
Joe! Joe.
After this, if it's anything to do with my family, just let me handle it.
[ Sighs ]
Look, it isn't just about your family.
That's a public school. I know.
I also know that you don't know grandpa the way I do.
To you, he's probably just a cantankerous old man...
That's not the point! He might be the sweetest man in the whole world!
But if he's gonna take over a public school,
inject politics into the classroom, then...
Then it's not just a little thing that you can patch up at home.
I'll say one thing for you.
For a man that goes around preachin' treason agin our United States government,
you sure make a big fuss over a little thing like me teachin' school for a couple hours.
What do you mean "treason," Mr. bower?
This business you keep talkin' about settin' up your own government,
defying the president and the congress that's been elected by the people!
Mr. bower, I don't mind you arguing politics, so long as you don't do it in a schoolhouse.
You're entitled to your own opinion, even if it is completely ridiculous!
But when you go around, start accusing people of treason...
Joe, stop it! Grandpa, get back in that house!
[ Joe ] I don't care if he is your grandfather, he's not gonna accuse me of treason!
It ain't just my idea. It's in the Democratic digest! Grandpa!
The president himself may send troops... be quiet!
I'm asking you as nicely as I know how, please leave.
Alice. Alice.
No!
[ Door slams ]
[ Whinnies ]
Best thing could have happened for Alice,
break it off with a man like that.
Cause her nothing but heartache the longer she knowed him.
I... think it's time for the two of us...
To have a little talk.
In here as good a place as any.
Remember the last time I took you to the woodshed?
When you fought that barros boy and bloodied his nose.
Never forget how you kept a'wigglin' around. [ Chuckles ]
I had me a big old kindlin' stick,
but mostly it kept a'whangin' away in the air,
never connectin' with nothin'.
And all the time you was a'howlin' like a banshee.
I'm gonna tell you something.
Most of the time I was missin' the purpose.
This isn't gonna be easy. Just don't know how to say it.
"This is gonna hurt me more than it does you,"
is the customary way to start off.
Least ways, that's how I always got into it.
You know, I had a hunch you never listened to me.
Pa...
I have tried, all the years that you've been with us,
to make you feel welcome... wanted.
And you have been.
There have been times when, well, I've overlooked things that you've done...
More than I would for any other member of the family.
What kind of things? But I won't have you making trouble for Alice and Joe.
Me cause trouble?
Joe carder's making his own trouble; More than he realizes.
Thinks just 'cause he runs that little no-account newspaper...
I want you to promise me one thing:
That you will never again argue politics with Joe carder.
Well, now, it weren't just me.
Don't you ever say one word to him about whether Dakota should be one state or two.
Suppose he says something first?
I'm not talking about him, I'm talking about you. I'm talkin' about him!
What do you think I'm gonna do? Just sit like a ninny and not say nothin' if he pops off?
I've said my say. You've heard me.
That's the way it's gonna have to be.
Now, that's the way it ain't gonna have to be. I'll tell you that much.
If you think I'm gonna give up my right of free speech...
That men fought and died for...
Just so Joe carder can have everything his own way...
Will you listen to me? You think I'm gonna sit like a bump on a log...
Whilst maybe my own granddaughter is fixin' to marry some...
Benedict Arnold! I'll tell you what I think!
If you're gonna remain here as a member of this family,
then you better start to exercise a little self-control...
Just the same as everybody else!
You said that.
If'n I'm gonna stay here?
Every time i... hello, grandpa.
Hello, grandpa. Mine is shinier than yours.
That has a little dent on it though.
[ Children continue chattering ]
Grandpa, what are you doin'?
I know when I ain't wanted.
I don't have to be hit on the head...
With a 10-foot pole.
What are you talking about, "not wanted"?
I ain't so old or so feeble or so hard up that...
I have to stay with folks that don't want me.
Calvin, what's going on here?
I just made a very reasonable request of grandpa, no more.
Actually, a lot less than I might make any day of any member of this family.
But i... Excuse me, Katie.
Grandpa, please don't go.
Grandpa, you can't leave!
[ Crying ] How can we practice or anything?
[ Children ] Grandpa, please don't go! You can't!
Grandpa, please.
Grandpa, please! Grandpa, please don't go!
Please, grandpa.
Calvin, what did you do to him?
All I did... I asked him not to argue politics with Joe.
Then you better get it straightened out right now,
before he gets his neck bowed any more than it is.
It took me a long time, Katie, before I finally got around to saying anything.
I don't believe I've been unreasonable, and I'm not going to back down.
But...
I guess you know best.
[ Children pleading ] Grandpa, please don't go!
[ Pleading continues ]
Thanks, Katie, for a lot of things.
I'll be seeing you again sometime.
Grandpa, please don't go!
Please, grandpa!
Grandpa, don't go! Please, grandpa!
Papa, you've got to stop him. You can't let him go.
We love you. [ Crying ] Please, grandpa!
Please don't go. Grandpa.
Grandpa.
[ Calvin ] Mayo...
Come back here.
[ Crying ] If grandpa's goin',
then I'm goin' too.
[ Calvin ] Mayo.
Did you hear me?
I wish we hadn't even heard about Dakota,
[ sobbing ]
Let alone... Let alone comin' here.
[ Children crying ]
I don't see any reason to review what happened at the school that day.
Indeed, I think some of you parents have already heard more than you care to hear.
[ Crowd murmuring ] I'm going to ask miss bower...
If she has any statements she would care to make.
[ Crowd chattering ]
I wish you would all understand this:
Anything my grandfather did, he did out of the goodness of his heart.
He didn't mean to do anything wrong. [ Crowd groaning ]
[ Gavel pounding ] You will all have your opportunity to speak.
Now, shall we behave like adults and allow miss bower to continue...
Without interruption?
[ Quiet murmuring ]
And actually, I can't see the harm in anything my grandfather did.
He merely... miss bower, do you mean that you approve of what he did?
[ Crowd murmuring ]
I mean...
If we're going to educate the children,
I don't see why... I can't see any harm...
In letting them hear both sides of the question.
What do you mean, "both sides"?
This question of statehood has already been settled.
[ Loud agreeing ] We've worked hard to get it settled.
That's not what I'm talking about.
[ Wrenn ] Let me ask you one thing.
When your grandfather went there to the school to poison the minds...
Mr. bower's too much of a gentleman... [ Shouting ]
[ Gavel pounding ] Mr. wampler, sit down!
To poison the minds of the children,
did he do so with your knowledge and consent?
I knew where he was going, yes,
[ crowd murmuring ] But I don't think he poisoned any minds.
Now, wait just a minute! Let me get one thing straight!
I was the one that sent her grandfather there...
To the schoolhouse that morning. [ Crowd ] You were?
Not Alice. Not miss bower. Alice?
Joe, you promised. I'm not gonna watch you get ripped apart...
For something that wasn't even your fault.
Don't say another word. You just don't realize.
Your board questioned this young teacher extensively.
She assured us that nothing of thi...
[ man ] Well, who invited him here?
What's he doing here?
[ Crowd murmuring ]
[ Man ] Of all the nerve!
[ Murmuring continues ]
Now that Mr. bower is here,
I'd just like to ask him a couple of questions.
So would we. Yeah, we would too.
Isn't it true, Mr. bower... no! Stop it!
There's no need to go on with your meeting any more.
And there's no need to vote on whether or not to fire me...
Because I quit, as of right now.
[ Crowd ] Good. That's good.
[ Joe ] Alice, you're being foolish.
Maybe I don't know your grandfather as well as you do,
but even he wouldn't want you to take the blame for something that he did.
Don't you understand anything at all?
He left because he thought we didn't want him...
I'm all for family loyalty. I think it's a wonderful thing.
But there are limits to all things!
Including my Patience!
Now, will you just leave me alone?
Alice, will you listen?
[ Horse whinnies ] Whoa!
[ Sighs ]
May I escort you up the street, miss bower?
Delighted, Mr. stubbins.
Until such time as we can find another teacher,
meanwhile, the school will be closed.
Now, if there's no further business to be brought before the board...
I got something to say. [ Angry murmuring ]
[ Gavel pounding ]
I will not have this meeting...
Turned into another political debate or debacle!
What I got to say, I don't think anybody's gonna argue with.
If we was to pick out the worse thing that could possibly happen,
that would be to have that school closed again...
When it just barely got open.
Yeah, that's right.
The point is...
If I'd have took time to thought about it...
I'd have realized I was doin' wrong.
Movin' into that school that way,
passin' on ideas that I happen to believe in.
Well, I tell you,
that's been one of my troubles...
All my life.
I don't generally stop and think...
'Til after it's too late.
But this time I got it all thought out ahead,
and I'd like to make you just a little proposition.
What kind of a proposition? [ Loud murmuring ]
What kind of a proposition?
Well, you get hold of Alice and talk her into takin' the job back as teacher...
And you'll keep that school open.
[ Crowd ] That's a good idea. That's fair.
And I give you my solemn promise,
I won't say one other word about politics...
Or whether Dakota oughta be one state or two...
Until the whole thing has been settled for good.
And then there ain't much use to say nothin' after that.
[ Crowd murmuring ]
He is absolutely right! [ Loud chattering ]
[ Knocking ]
It ain't locked. Just give a little push.
Just come over to tell you that both Katie and I think...
It was a fine, generous thing you did this morning.
We were proud of you.
Goin' somewhere?
I thought maybe.
Any place special in mind?
You figure it'd be easier just to run off...
Rather than to stay here and face it day by day.
I just wonder what people...
What people might say, that's all.
You haven't forgotten that bet you made with Joe carder the first day we came to town.
Some of the boys have got a wheelbarrow all decorated up, ready for the payoff.
Seems like if you left town now,
they might say that you were running out on a bet.
They probably figured you were afraid you'd lose.
Afraid I'd lose! Do you want to know something?
In my whole life I've never been more...
Well,
I can't discuss that without gettin' mixed up in something I promised not to talk about.
Oh, and another thing. The family band has been invited to play...
At the rapid city election carnival,
the night the returns come in.
Trouble is, we haven't had a band practice since you left.
Confound it, Calvin! You're supposed to be the head of the family.
You ought to see to it.
The whole family's been kind of upset.
Upset or not, that don't matter!
You gonna have a band, you got to practice, practice, practice!
Mostly we need you, pa.
Why don't you come home where you belong?
I know you'd let me wait my life out, you'd never give in.
So I'm askin' you. Please?
For Katie and the children...
And me.
What do you say?
Seems like if we was to get started instead of standin' here talkin',
maybe we'd get there in time for supper.
That election night thing is gonna be our first real chance to show off the family band.
♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
[ Hooting ] ♪ west of the wide mo west of the wide mo ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ [ Hooting ]
♪ You'll work all day 'til sun goes down ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ Then everybody comes to town west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ Hoedown music starts to play ♪
♪ You whoop it up 'til the break of day ♪
♪ Then it's back to stackin' hay ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ West of the wide mo west of the wide mo ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪
♪ The gals have eyes that twinkle and shine west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ They kiss as sweet as dandelion wine west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ Eastern ladies may be fine delicate and feminine ♪
♪ But every gal's a Valentine ♪
♪ Every gal's a Valentine west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ West of the wide mo west of the wide mo ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
[ Hooting ]
♪
♪ Love's a treetop towering thing ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ Every man becomes a king west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ Even in a gingham gown a gal's a queen without a crown ♪
♪ The day she settles dilly-aye down ♪ ♪ dilly-aye ♪
♪ Dilly-aye, dilly-aye down west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ West of the wide mo west of the wide mo ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ Fellas don't wear citified clothes ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ But, oh, they know their do-si-dos ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ Eastern fellas may be slick smell as sweet as a peppermint stick ♪
♪ But the boys that make us dilly-aye tick ♪
♪ The boys that make us dilly-aye tick ♪
♪ Are west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ [ Crowd hooting ]
♪
♪ West of the wide west of the wide ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪
[ Crowd hooting ]
♪ West of the wide west of the wide west of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
♪ West of the wide west of the wide ♪
♪ West of the wide Missouri ♪
[ Dancers hooting ]
[ Crowd cheering ]
My compliments.
And ours to both of you.
Hey, you might as well give up.
You're never gonna learn him how to dance! [ Laughing ]
I think he's sweet. [ Giggling ]
Aww! [ Laughing ] That's enough!
First reports! First reports!
[ Crowd cheering ]
They just come in! First reports!
[ Chattering ]
Just fragmentary, scattered returns from New York.
For Benjamin Harrison... [ Crowd murmuring ]
337. [ Cheering ]
- For grover Cleveland... - [ Crowd shouting ]
294. [ Groaning ]
Delaware, with less than two percent of the vote in: Yes? Yes, come on.
- Harrison... 219. - [ Shouting ] Come on!
[ Cheering ]
Cleveland...
[ Indistinct chattering ]
- 348. - [ Cheering ]
[ Republicans groaning ]
If Harrison can't even carry Delaware, he's got no chance! [ Laughing ]
♪
♪ Let's put it over with grover ♪
♪ Don't rock the boat give him your vote ♪
♪ Give your vote to a man who's a leader of men ♪
♪ Let's put Stephen grover over ♪
♪ Over again ♪
[ Crowd cheering ]
Never said a word, not a word.
Mr. bower. Frank. Mr. wrenn.
Ladies and gentlemen.
♪ ♪ now, Cleveland says the future looks bright ♪
♪ Yes, that's right the future looks bright ♪
♪ Ah, that's politics ♪
♪ The dollar is sound and the market is right ♪
♪ Yes, that's right the market is right ♪
♪ Ah, that's politics ♪
♪ Harrison says the market is right the dollar is sound ♪
♪ The future looks bright ♪
♪ Ah, ah, ah that's statesmanship ♪
[ Scoffing ] No democrat politician, he.
A great republican statesman. An inspiration to us all!
♪ Oh, Benjamin Harrison ♪
♪ He's far beyond comparison ♪
♪ He'll keep our land a Garrison ♪ [ Booing ]
♪ Of life and Liberty ♪
♪ Cleveland promises no new states ♪
♪ No new states no new states ♪
♪ Ah, that's politics ♪
♪ No new senators low tax rates ♪
♪ Low tax rates low tax rates ♪
♪ Ah, that's politics ♪
♪ Harrison promises two new states ♪
♪ Four new senators low tax rates ♪
♪ Ah, ah, ah that's statesmanship ♪
[ Democrats ] Ha! Statesmanship? A giant!
A great man! The future president of the United States!
[ Shouting ] Grover! Over here!
♪ Oh, Benjamin Harrison ♪
- ♪ He's far beyond comparison ♪ - [ Indistinct shouting ]
♪ He'll keep our land a Garrison ♪
♪ Of life and Liberty ♪
♪ Grover Cleveland grover Cleveland grover Cleveland ♪
[ Crowd cheering ]
Harrison says that his moustache is bright!
[ Angry clamoring ]
Stand back! Stand back!
More returns! More returns!
Wait a minute, wait a minute! Returns, returns!
[ Crowd clamoring ]
[ Crowd cheering ]
[ Laughing, cheering ]
[ Cheering continues ]
Hey, Joe, come on! You owe us a ride! Come on! Get in!
Come on, Joe! Doesn't mean the end of our fight for statehood.
We've just begun to fight.
Kind of has a nice ring to it somehow.
[ Crowd shouting ] Joe carder! Shh!
[ Laughing ] It's about time me and you went for a little ride.
I'm afraid you're gonna have to walk! [ Laughing ]
That's a good one! "Afraid you're gonna have to walk"!
[ Laughing ]
I always said, for a newspaper publisher, you'd make a good wheelbarrow jockey!
When the official word comes over the wire,
then we'll start paying any bets, not before!
[ Groaning ]
No, Mr. wrenn.
I'm ready if you are, Mr. bower. Come on. Ya-hoo!
[ Crowd clamoring ]
[ Cheering ]
[ Man ] Hold everything! Hold everything!
Hold everything.
[ Woman ] What now? Harrison won.
[ Democrats scoffing ]
It's Ben Harrison. Come on, cut it out.
Elected president. That ain't even possible.
[ Man ] What does it say? [ Joe ] It's true.
True? The electoral college...
Has named Harrison president.
What's some college got to do about it? What about the votes?
[ Man ] That's right! That's not the point.
Our president is always named by the electoral college.
That don't even make sense! Right!
If Cleveland got the most votes, he's got to be president! [ Men ] Right!
[ Democrats cheering ] No! No!
That's the way it's set up, in our constitution! We won!
[ Indistinct chattering ]
Don't you know anything at all about American history? don't you realize...
All I realize is that the democrats elect a president,
then the Republicans cheat 'em out of it!
[ Laughing ]
♪ [ Band playing ]
♪ Oh, Benjamin Harrison ♪
♪ He's far beyond comparison ♪
♪ He'll keep our land a Garrison ♪
- ♪ Of life and Liberty ♪ - [ Laughing ]
[ Shouting, laughing ]
All right! Listen!
We beat you fair and square!
[ Indistinct shouting ]
[ Children shouting, cheering ]
They got Harrison!
All right, let's get Cleveland!
Ah, come on, fellas!
[ Hooting ]
[ Indistinct shouting ]
[ Women screaming ]
♪ [ Band playing "my country 'tis of thee" ]
♪ [ Crowd quiets ]
♪ [ Continues ]
- ♪ [ Stops ] - [ Shouting resumes ]
Don't start anything! I can keep playing all night if I have to!
♪ [ Band resumes ] don't start anything!
Apparently, the next President of the united states has been chosen.
[ Crowd shouting ]
[ Calvin ] And the future of Dakota has been settled!
[ Indistinct shouting ]
And nothing we can do here now...
Is going to change things one iota.
[ Man ] Not one thing.
I know some of you have been bitterly disappointed.
[ Crowd murmuring ] I want to pass along to you...
Something that was told me many years ago...
By a man whom I have respected and admired...
More than any man I have ever met.
A man who never wavered in his conviction...
That we here together can build the greatest...
United country in the whole bloomin' world...
If you'll just remember one thing.
There's a time to stand up and fight for what you believe in...
[ murmured agreements ]
And there is a time to join hands and work together,
or all the fighting doesn't mean a thing.
He's just makin' that up.
Wasn't no important man at all. Just something I told him.
I know that this man...
Swallowed more disappointment than any of you did tonight.
This was back in '65...
When he had just returned home from appomattox.
My father, rensselaer bower.
Where is he? Where is he? Here he is!
Here he is.
And so I suggest that this is a time for joining hands,
a time for making up.
Well, if he's gonna quote such a good authority, I guess I can't argue with him.
[ Crowd laughing ]
All right, to lead off, I'm invitin' Joe carder...
To come and get his wheelbarrow ride.
[ Crowd cheering ]
Hey, that a boy, Joe! That a boy!
And I apologize for anything I might have said that was out of line, at any time.
[ Crowd cheering ]
[ Horn clattering ] [ Gasps ]
[ Cheering ]
Alice!
[ Crowd hooting ]
[ Indistinct shouting ]
[ Cheering continues ]
[ Joe ] ♪ we're in deep water, darlin' ♪
♪ Clear over our head ♪
♪ 'Bout time to either sink or swim ♪
♪ 'Bout time, 'bout time ♪
♪ We put an end to all our bickerings ♪
♪ 'Bout time, 'bout time ♪
♪ We got around to more important things ♪
♪ Like golden rings ♪
♪ And pickin' out the perfect furnishings ♪
♪ For you, for me ♪
[ Joe ] ♪ for us ♪
♪ for we ♪
♪ For your home and mine ♪
- 'Bout time! - 'Bout time! - 'Bout time!
- [ Cheering ] - News! Big news!
Quiet! Listen, everybody!
News! Big news! Listen!
Quiet, everybody! [ Crowd shouting ]
[ Shouting continues ]
[ Crowd chanting ] Up! Up! Up!
Big news! Listen!
"President Cleveland announced tonight...
"He will Grant statehood to north and south Dakota...
Before Harrison takes office."
[ Cheering ]
People! People! Listen to me!
This will do it!
Now we can send four more republican senators to congress and give Harrison...
The edge he needs! [ Crowd cheering ]
There's more!
All right, there's more. Listen!
"He will also Grant statehood to Montana and Washington."
[ Democrats cheering ]
Washington and Montana! They'll both go Democratic!
You send four more Republicans back to Washington,
we send four more democrats!
Wipe out every gain you've made!
We're right back where we started!
One thing for grover Cleveland:
He listens to the mandate of the people!
Ah, that's politics!
That's statesmanship!
- [ Laughing ] - ♪ [ Band playing ]
♪
♪ And when the razzamatazz of our brasses ♪
♪ Begins to bezaz in the air something grand ♪
♪ Better get ready to hear ♪
♪ And better get ready to cheer the one and only ♪
♪ One and only, one and only one and only ♪
♪ One and only, genuine original ♪
♪ Original family band ♪
Encoded by dw817 (Aug 19th 2015)