I don't want any part of it.
Oh, you're a pessimist, Eulalie Bugle.
I'm a realist, Hetty King.
It's defeatist attitudes like your own that hold us
back every time.
Well, if I have a defeatest attitude
it's because we are always being defeated.
Ah but this year will be different; mark my words.
This year we will win.
Win what?
The Regional Drama Competition.
Is it that time of year again already?
Oh most certainly is, and what's more
it is Avonlea's turn to host the competition this year.
Another reason we are going to win.
Avonlea hasn't won in twenty-two years.
What makes you think this year will be any different?
Because, Eulalie Bugle, it so happens that I have selected
the most perfect melodrama.
Really, really it is quite masterful, if I do say so.
Which means you wrote it.
Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I did.
You want me to be in your play?
I do.
Oh, I'll not forget the last time Avonlea won the Regional
Drama Competition, it was you, Muriel Stacey who performed
the leading role.
Twenty-two years ago.
It's like sewing a cross stitch.
Once you know how, you never forget.
Oh, you know how Hetty is, Muriel.
You might as well resign yourself to being in the play.
Well, all right, I'll try my best.
But I'm not promising anything.
Wonderful.
That's done.
Now we must begin preparations at once.
Olivia you will supervise costumes, as usual.
And Rachel Lynde will be stage manager, as usual.
And you'll be my assistant as usual.
Hetty I was wondering --
Prompter Janet, certainly, as usual?
As usual.
May I paint sets or something?
I don't want to be an elf again.
There are no elves this year, Felix.
Who's the director?
Who else?
As usual.
The Seductive Roue.
Are there any elves in this one?
No.
What's a roue?
A roue?
Well, sort of a rake.
You use a rake to take up hay.
A roue is a man who thinks only of himself and mistreats others.
I wish I could play the villain?
Just once, think only of myself and mistreat people.
You're far too handsome.
Oh you're blind as a bat, woman, bless you.
Are you going to be prompter again?
Well, I'm getting tired of doing the same old thing,
time after time...
Oh, never mind.
What?
I thought it might be fun to get on stage myself.
I didn't think you ever wanted to act.
Act?
No, just get on the stage, I don't think I could act really.
I mention it because there just happens to be a small role
in here that I think I might be able to play.
Which one?
[♪]
Janet as Molly the Milkmaid?
That's absurd.
I think it's a good idea.
Janet's never been on the stage.
Yes but it's a small part.
There's only three lines.
Ah but then who would be prompter?
Oh no no no, we must have a prompter.
I could help with that.
Thank you Eliza.
Just what we need.
A prompter who's half-blind and nearly deaf.
I heard that.
If you don't want me, Hetty, I won't insist.
I don't mean to be any trouble.
Trouble?
There's no trouble?
This is simply your leading man asking for a small favor.
Since you put it that way Alec, how can I refuse?
Molly the Milkmaid.
The Rustico Dramatic Circle will perform first,
followed by Midfield, and Hillsdale on the first day.
Then Port Gallant, Malpeque, Carmody and Avonlea
on the second.
As chairman of the Organizing Committee, I must advise you
we have a new rule this year.
No play shall exceed thirty minutes in length...
What?
...regardless of how restrictive that may seem
to the various authors in question.
It's a stupid rule.
The contest begins a fortnight from now
and good luck to you all.
Please help yourself to the refreshments in the back.
Isn't this good.
Delicious.
Ahhh sampling the best, I see, Eleanor McHugh.
Oh is this your cranberry pie?
One taste should tell you.
Delicious.
Of course it is.
Excuse me Eleanor, this strudel is just marvelous.
I was wondering do you use nutmeg and cinnamon
or is this allspice I'm tasting?
That is a closely guarded family secret, I'm afraid.
But I might be persuaded to trade recipes with you.
Oh dandy --
Olivia!
Not on your life.
The recipe of the King cranberry pie has been
a family secret for three generations.
Very well.
I'm quite looking forward to this year's competition.
As am I.
Hetty King, you are an inspiration.
I am?
It must be so depressing to lose year after year after year,
but yet there you stand, resolute and proud
in the face of certain defeat.
Yes, well we'll not lose this year.
I'm sure you'll make a valiant attempt.
Well, I am sure we'll win.
We have won the competition five years running, you have lost
22 times, but you're still ready to give it your all.
That is indeed inspiring.
You'd best prepare for the worst Eleanor McHugh,
'cause this time you're going to lose.
Would you care to make a wager on that?
I don't believe in gambling, but if I did --
I don't mean money.
What then?
If Avonlea wins, I will give you the recipe for my strudel
and if Carmody wins, you will give me the secret
of your cranberry pie.
Done.
Good day, Miss King, Mrs. Dale.
My goodness--
There's no risk Olivia.
Why, with Muriel Stacey in my new play, a fortnight from now
we will be feasting on Carmody strudel whilst that Eleanor
McHugh woman eats humble pie.
[♪]
I have come to talk to you about Mary.
[whistle]
Felix King and Elbert Werts - the color pine green
was named after pine trees.
These are supposed to be pine trees,
but that is not pine green.
Change it.
Bert Potts, be careful with those candles.
Do you want to burn down the hall?
That lady has the voice of a moose.
And all the same charm.
Let's go get the pine-green paint.
Mrs. Lynde, is there anything that I can do?
Just watch me and learn.
Archie Gillis, what is that?
They're pigs.
I know that.
What is it doing here?
I'm in charge of props.
The play doesn't call for any pigs.
The heroine's a farmer isn't she?
If she's a farmer she's got to have pigs.
We don't have to see the pigs.
What's wrong with seeing the pigs?
Francis is a lovely pig.
You wanted something to do, help Mr. Gillis out with his prop.
Simon Tremayne what have you done to your face?
What do you mean?
I'm to that ridiculous broom thing attached
to your upper lip.
Don't you think it's rather villainous?
Oh Hetty, I was thinking that Mary Truesdale
would wear a nice bright calico.
Now she's a poor woman, but I think she'd do the best
with what she has.
Yes, yes yes that's very nice, Olivia.
Where is Muriel Stacey?
It's not like her to be late.
There she is.
Finally.
Muriel, Muriel I really must insist that in future
you be more punctual.
I'm so sorry Hetty.
But I just received a cablegram from my sister-in-law.
My brother has been taken ill.
Oh Muriel.
Will he be all right?
We don't know.
It's something to do with his heart.
And I really must go and see him.
Well I suppose you must.
Well I'll simply have to rehearse around you.
But when you get back --
Hetty, my brother has moved to Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan!
Why that will take you weeks--
So I'm afraid I can't be in the play after all.
I'm, I'm so sorry.
Don't apologize.
We'll manage.
Well give your brother our love.
Thank you, I will, thank you.
My, how terrible.
How inconsiderate.
If that brother of hers had to go and have heart trouble
at least he could have waited a couple of weeks.
Oh my. Oh my.
Oh Hetty have a nice cup of tea, it will make you feel better.
Nothing will ever make me feel better.
Oh come now Hetty, it's not the end of the world.
It's the end of our chance to win the Drama Competition.
And the end of the family cranberry pie recipe,
which somebody saw fit to gamble away.
It wasn't a gamble, not when we had Muriel Stacey.
Well I'm sure you can find someone else to play the role.
We'll never find anybody in Avonlea of Muriel's caliber.
Well how would you know?
If you haven't held auditions for years.
Yes, why not try to find somebody else.
What have you got to lose?
[♪]
What a fool I was to fall for that smooth-talking cad.
He doesn't want me - he never wanted me - he wants -
...My farm.
And because of...
him...
I have lost the one...
true love of my...
life.
Oh Ned, where have you gone?
What have I done?
I have lost him!
Oh, woe is me!
Clara...
Woe! !
Oh woe! !
Clara!
Stop, desist, enough.
If you like I could try it with an accent.
No, no, you've done quite enough, thank you.
Well I may as well turn that recipe over to Eleanor McHugh
right now and be done with it.
Janet are you going home?
Oh I can't listen.
It's too discouraging.
No one's doing part properly and it's written so well.
Yes, it is.
How difficult can it be to do the part right?
Why, it would be hard to do it wrong.
What a fool I was to fall for that smooth-talking cad.
He doesn't want me - he never wanted me - he wants my farm.
And because of him, I have lost the one true love of my life.
Oh Ned, where have you gone?
What have I done?
I've lost him.
Well.
Good luck finding someone.
Wait!
Mrs. Lynde won't let me do anything.
What's the point of being assistant stage manager
when I don't get to assist?
Well tell her you want to do more.
You don't talk to Mrs. Lynde, you listen.
She's got the voice of a moose.
Janet?
Hello.
What took you so long?
Oh I was helping Hetty with her auditions.
Did she find someone to take Muriel Stacey's place?
Yes.
Who?
Oh Ned, can you ever forgive me?
Forgive-- You mean you?
You?
You got the part?
Yes.
I didn't even think you were interested in acting.
I've never seen you so lit up.
Well it's just that, well, Hetty King has never had
a kind word to say about anything I've ever done.
It feels so good to be appreciated.
Congratulations.
This is the happiest day of my life!
Except of course, for the day I married you dear.
And gave birth to you.
And to you, Felix.
And Cecily and Daniel.
And oh but besides that...
I told you there was talent in Avonlea.
We're not out of the woods yet.
Janet King is no Muriel Stacey.
You know.
She'll be fine, you'll see.
Who's that?
Thank you, Mr. Tremayne, Well, I shan't be long.
Take as much time as you need.
Where is the post office?
Over there.
I shall go there first.
Mr. Tremayne?
Oh, Good morning, Mrs. Dale, Hetty.
Simon.
I think I know her from somewhere.
Indeed.
Somewhat overdressed, wouldn't you say, for a simple expedition
to the post office.
Besides since when are you in the habit
of driving guests about?
I know I haven't actually met her, but I think I've seen
her photograph somewhere.
Shouldn't you be minding the hotel
or at least learning your lines?
Oh my goodness, is that Isabelle Carrington.
Correct, Mrs. Dale.
The Isabelle Carrington?
Most certainly.
I happened to catch her once in London at the Haymarket
playing Lady Macbeth.
Magnificent.
There are some who prefer Sarah Bernhardt, others favour
Mrs. Patrick Campbell, but for my money, Isabelle Carrington
is the finest dramatic actress on either side of the Atlantic.
Well whatever is she doing in Avonlea?
Keeping a low profile at the White Sands.
Apparently there was some sort of scandal involving
one of the backers of her last play.
How shall I say, the backer's wife was not amused with the way
Miss Carrington was showing her appreciation to the backer.
My goodness.
She's scheduled her stay for three weeks,
but I don't think she'll last.
She's bored already and pacing like a caged tiger.
Three weeks you said?
Hetty...
What?
I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking.
I haven't the faintest idea of what you're thinking.
Yes well where are you going?
To pay my respects to Issabelle Carrington of course.
Oh compliment her on that breathtaking performance
of Lady Macbeth.
Hetty, you didn't see it.
Oh dear.
Miss Carrington?
Hetty King Director of the Avonlea drama society.
How do you do?
Please forgive my intruding upon your privacy,
but I have to say that I am such an admirer of yours...
Oh, this is too much even for Hetty.
Never underestimate Hetty King.
But Harold daring, I'm dying to come home.
Can't you just explain away this little scandal
to Mrs. Whats-her-name?
But angel darling, I'm bored. There's nothing to do here.
I'm surrounded by cretins.
Well alright Miss Bing...
Hetty you couldn't have come at a better time.
couldn't I?
Alec and I have been learning our lines, and I'm at the point
where I talk about my father and I can't decide whether I should
be angry because he left when I was so young or sad because
I didn't get to see him enough.
I can give it either interpretation,
what do you think?
What do I think?
I think you needn't worry about any of it.
I have the most amazing news.
You must have heard of Isabelle Carrington?
The actress?
The actress yes, yes the actress well.
She happens to be staying for several weeks
at the White Sands Hotel.
And I happened to run into her today and she has agreed
to perform the leading role in our play.
What you think about that?
What are you talking about?
You've given that role to Janet.
This is Isabelle Carrington.
It's all right.
I can still be Molly the Milkmaid.
Oh how stupid of me.
When you took the lead I gave that part to...
Clara Potts.
Well you're going to have to tell
that you've changed your mind.
Well I can't very well do that to Clara Potts.
Well, you're doing it to Janet.
That's different.
Janet's family.
Well then, as your brother -- I quit.
Alec...
Oh...
Alec for pity sake.
I mean it.
Listen to me, don't make this worse than it is.
Well look she has no right--
Two wrongs don't make a right.
And if Isabelle Carrington is willing to play the part
maybe she'll improve our chances of winning.
I don't care about winning.
I care about you.
Then stay on as a favor to me.
I'm asking you not to make a big to-do about this.
Please.
All right.
Isabelle Carrington, that's wonderful.
See, I told you it would all work out.
Felix King, and Elbert Werts.
Look at this, two dollars for paint and lumber.
You're making a backdrop, not the Taj mahal.
Aunt Hetty said she didn't want pine trees.
I don't care what your Aunt Hetty says you are not to spend
a single red cent more unless you check with me first.
If you like I can supervise their work.
I need you with me.
Mr. Potts, please be very careful with those candles
for the footlights.
He's going to burn us down, I know it.
What is this?
It's a pig.
It's made of wood.
So?
Well it's totally unbelievable.
Everyone will know it's not real.
Well you made me get rid of the real one, didn't you.
Besides, it's a drama, people are supposed
to use their imagination.
No one has that much imagination.
"Who is at the door?"
"It's an interesting theory, but you have no way of proving it."
"You are a blackguard and a villian."
"Get out or I shall throw you out."
Now should I simply go out or give him a look first?
Simply walk away.
Your famous actress is late.
She's an artist, Rachel, an artist.
We make allowances for artists.
Good morning everyone.
There you are.
Thank goodness we were a little concerned.
Oh, am I late?
Oh no, no no not at all.
Miss Carrington, May I present Rachel Lynde, our stage manager.
I hope you don't crack the whip too hard.
Her assistant, Felicity King.
Lucky for me the part doesn't call for an ingenue,
you'd be perfect.
And Olivia Dale, my sister, she's in charge of costume.
I have a few ideas about what I'd like wear.
We should talk after the rehearsal.
All right.
Of course you're already well acquainted with Simon Tremayne,
he will play Uriah Leech.
The villains always get the best lines, don't they?
Janet King your prompter.
My lifeline.
And Alec King here, will be your Ned.
My leading man.
Well, it will certainly be easy to play the love scenes.
[laughter]
Well now everyone shall we rehearse?
[♪]
"Ah, what a glorious morning..."
Line.
"But alas there's much work to be done."
Yes, yes, I've got it.
"Ah, what a glorious morning.
But alas, there's much work to be done.
A farmer's lot is a hard one but harder still for the longly
woman managing her farm by herself."
Um, that would be lonely.
Pardonez?
You said "longly woman" it should be "lonely woman."
Are you sure?
Oh yes quite, quite sure.
In my script it says "longly."
Well, it's a misprint I suppose.
That "g" should have been an "e."
Oh.
Well, I rather like "longly."
It has a poetic quality to it.
As I see it, my character has a certain longing...
Yes, yes the trouble is "longly" isn't actually a word.
Very well.
"Lonely" it is.
I think it went rather well for the first day of rehearsal.
There's still so much to be done.
Ah, Mrs. Dale.
There you are.
I haven't had a chance to discuss my costumes with you.
Costumes?
Yes.
Well, the play only calls for one.
I shall need at least three.
Three.
The whole play takes place in the course of one day.
Well I thought the costumes should reflect my various moods.
Moods-- No, no Miss Carrington.
You see your character is a very poor woman.
She can barely get food to the table.
She can't afford three dresses and even if she could
she wouldn't wear them all not on the same day.
Well you see I couldn't possibly wear the same dress
in the proposal as I wear in the mortgage scene.
Why not?
Well, if you have to ask, you'll never understand.
Now Miss Bing.
Ah King, with a K.
Surely you understand, you saw me in the Scottish play.
MacBeth.
Don't mention the name of that play, it's bad luck.
Miss Carrington Please, alright three dresses it shall be.
Olivia three.
Thank you.
Good day.
Hetty King, I don't have time to sew three costumes for her.
Now Olivia we are dealing with an artist here.
So we have to try to make her happy.
"I know I've just met the man, but I don't trust him."
"Nonsense, Ned.
He's a man of great sophistication."
"I don't know if I would call it that."
"Why Ned, you're jealous."
I believe it would help the moment
if when I said the jealousy line I caress his cheek.
"Why, Ned, you're jealous."
Interesting idea, it is very interesting, still I find it
difficult to imagine, your character making
such a forward gesture.
I believe my character is an earthy, peasant woman
uninhibited by middle-class ideas of morality.
Well yes still I think you'd find that an "earthy,
peasant women" as you put it, of this type in that time
on Prince Edward Island she'd be very inhibited indeed
in her ideas regarding morality.
Well the scene simply doesn't work without something.
Perhaps you could find something a trifle more subtle.
Hetty, do you like the dress?
Yes yes Olivia it's perfect!
Isn't it perfect?
Well it's quite lovely...
But what?
I don't wear blue.
You don't wear blue.
I once had to wear a blue dress while playing Desdemona
in a production of Othello -- it ruined my performance.
Blue will never do.
Well I wish you had said something about it
when I showed you the material.
Well I thought it was for Molly Milkmaid.
It's not important what she wears.
Ah yes well we can discuss this later, Olivia.
Let's resume rehearsal shall we?
Where were we, Janet?
Mary had just said "Ned I believe you're jealous."
Ah, and then Uriah enters.
Simon..
"Dear Miss Mary, allow me to assist you.
A flower such as yourself should not have to --"
What did you say?
Miss Carrington that's not your line.
Well I know it's not my line.
I simply couldn't understand what the man was saying.
Forgive me, you really ought to drop the phoney accent.
Phony accent?
The audience will never understand what you're saying.
Miss Carrington, this is the way I speak.
Well can't you change it?
I understood him perfectly.
Ah I think we'll call it a day, very good work.
Bright and early in the morning everyone.
Ah Miss Carrington?
[♪]
Oh Alec I wondering.
Have you spent much time on the stage before?
Professionally speaking I mean.
No no, just these local plays.
You have a flair for drama.
That's very kind of you to say.
Thank you.
I think between the two of us we can make the play work.
I only wish we had more time.
Well, it's not coming along too badly.
Well we could use more work on the proposal scene.
I have an idea, why don't we practice at the White Sands.
Well it's a bit busy to rehearse at the White Sands isn't it?
Nobody's going to bother us in my room.
We can concentrate on the essentials
without being interrupted.
I don't think that's necessary.
Ooh look at you.
You look so worried.
We're only going to rehearse.
Well we could rehearse, at Rose Cottage with Hetty.
We don't need Miss Bing.
This is something that you and I should work out between us.
And anyway I'm not going to bite.
You're blushing.
Just what is it you're thinking?
Well I'm thinking that maybe I should be getting home.
That's not what I was thinking.
You just let me know if you want to... rehearse.
Alec.
It is not as bad as it looks.
Oh yes it is. - Janet...
You think I can't see?
It's not what I'm saying, it's just...
She's got the mortgage scene all wrong.
What?
And the proposal scene...
well, there will be children in the audience.
You're worried about how she's playing the scene?
Yes, isn't that what you were going to say?
Oh yes, no, no, aren't you jealous?
Why, are you interested?
Maybe... if she was the last woman on earth.
Trees look good.
Backdrop looks good.
What did it cost?
Three dollars... and twenty-two cents.
Thirteen cents under budget, excellent.
My my, this will never do.
What's wrong?
Any fool could see it's the wrong color for my complexion.
These are maple trees, they have to be this color.
Well then make them some other colour.
I won't go on with those in the background.
Mr. Potts I've told you before about those candles.
You've got too many of them.
Too many?
Well how is anybody supposed to see the play
if it's not properly illuminated?
He'll burn down the hall.
Oh nonsense.
Mr. Peeps. - Potts
...try bunching some of them closer together
so she can understand what I'm talking about.
Do you know that any decent theatre has gas light,
but we're in the provinces...
Look out!
I better be careful with the candles.
Miss Carrington, We have a new dress for the proposal scene.
Well, it's, it's...it's common.
Well it's supposed to be simple, Mary lives on a farm.
But Isabelle Carrington does not.
You'll have to try again, dear.
Miss Carrington we're ready to rehearse.
When you are.
We'll start from your entrance Simon.
"Uriah, what is it?"
"I've news about Ned."
"I know.
He... He..."
Line.
"He was just here with news about you."
Are we keeping you awake, Dear?
I'm sorry I couldn't tell if you were acting or forgetting.
If prompting is too difficult for you, perhaps we could get
one of the children to do it.
I believe you're right.
Janet...
No, I'm obviously not the right person to help Miss Carrington.
Don't act hastily.
Hastily?
The woman has been impossible since the day she walked in.
Please Janet try to understand, a great actress
is like a fine race horse.
Oh yes, they can be high-strung and difficult, yes but that's
part of what makes them great.
Yes and if a fine race horse gives you trouble you ship it
them off to the glue factory.
I just don't think that great talent in any area is an excuse
for bad manners and selfishness.
Anyway you wanted Isabelle Carrington, you've got her.
I'm going home.
Well...
let's continue, shall we?
"He came here earlier with news about you."
"He's not to be...
He's not to be trusted, you know."
Now you should be moving towards me then.
As you say the line.
Moving towards you?
Yes.
Uh, no.
He wouldn't move...
You see Uriah's strategy here is to make you,
Mary, her trust him.
Oh well one false and you, she might take it as a threat,
to become afraid of him.
But Uriah can't control his passion for Mary.
You don't understand you see he's not interested in you,
her, Mary romantically.
No, he's only here for the farm.
You have missed the whole subtext of the scene.
Let me show you.
Very well.
"He's not to be trusted, you know."
"I'm afraid it's you who's not to be trusted."
That's not the line.
I changed the line.
You changed it?
As a matter of fact, I've rewritten the entire scene.
You what?
Mary is entirely too gullible.
Gullible?
She is not gullible.
She is innocent, innocent to the ways of the world and Uriah here
is taking advantage of that.
That's not the way I see it.
It's the way the author sees it.
But I never pay much attention to the words.
You saw my performance in the scottish play.
"Be gone you odius blotch."
That is not Lady MacBeth.
Miss Carrington the words are the play.
And you, my good woman, are merely an interpreter
of one part, you are not the creator of the whole.
I am the person on this stage having to recite
this drivel and make it work.
Drivel?
Ah you wouldn't understand.
Believe me.
I've read some dreadful plays in my life.
That's drivel.
An understandable opinion -- coming
from a blithering numbskull.
Pardonnez-moi?
I called you a blithering numbskull.
How dare you.
And how dare you be so rude, vain, childish, ungracious...
Pig-headed?
Pig-headed, yes, self-centered - why, you are the most...
Inconsiderate?
Inconsiderate excuse for a human being I have yet to meet.
And you, Miss Bing...
King, you nit.
You are an amateur.
And as far as I am concerned you and your two-bit,
group of provincial hayseeds can sink into the Atlantic.
I quit.
[applause]
Hetty, who's going to play Mary now?
The competition is tomorrow night.
[♪]
What are you up to?
Copying out the King Cranberry pie recipe for Eleanor McHugh.
You left out the cherry juice.
It's just as good without it.
No, no, the cherry juice is what makes it.
Alright then I'll substitute lemon juice.
Hetty King...
Why should we be made to suffer all on account of that
unspeakable Isabelle Carrington?
Hetty, we haven't lost yet.
If we don't have an actress, we don't have a play
and if we don't have a play, we can't possibly win.
We still have Janet.
I don't think Janet would even consider playing the part.
Oh no, not after I booted her out
in such an unseemingly fashion.
Would she?
Well, I know how much it hurt you to lose that part,
but Isabelle Carrington is gone.
You're the only woman who knows the lines.
And I think you should offer to go back.
After the way Hetty treated me?
Well don't do it for Hetty.
And don't do it to "save" the King cranberry pie recipe.
I don't know why everyone wants to keep it a secret
in the first place.
Do it for yourself.
Do it because you're good and you'd enjoy doing it.
I'll get that.
Alec.
Oh Hetty, it's you.
Come on in.
Looks who's here.
Hello, Janet.
Hetty.
I'll just go put on the tea.
How are you?
Fine.
I imagine that Alec has told you about our little mishap
with Miss Carrington.
Yes.
Yes, well, I realize now that perhaps I was slightly
insensitive giving that part to Isabelle
after I had given it to you.
Slightly?
Alright considerably, insensitive.
And not for the first time, either.
Well, I suppose it isn't.
My goodness, if I had a nickel for every ill-considered remark
or ungenerous action taken against me
over the last twenty-odd years...
I know I'm somewhat headstrong at times.
I shouldn't be, I know that but I am, so there it is.
For what it's worth Janet, I do apologize.
And I wonder if you might consider
coming back to the play?
Well Hetty you said so yourself -- I'm no Isabelle Carrington.
Thank heaven for that.
Will you come back, to the play Janet?
Please?
Of course.
[♪]
[applause]
And so with that our play is done
We hope you've all had loads of fun
And so until we meet next year
We wish you all the best good cheer.
[applause]
"Best good cheer."
Now that's drivel.
Alright everyone, we're on, hop to it.
Rachel, what's the matter?
Go on, get everyone ready.
What?
Gracious providence.
You've lost your voice.
Don't worry I know exactly what to do.
Alright everyone hop to it.
Let's get the backdrop unfurled.
Felix King, Elbert Werts get a move on with those trees.
[♪]
Mr. Potts, yes, setup the candles.
Now mind you don't burn the place down.
Mr. Gillis --
I've got your pig.
What?
Absolutely not.
But --
No.
She looks lovely Olivia.
Oh, Hetty, I don't know who am I trying to fool?
I'm no actress.
Well now Janet, you were wonderful in rehearsal,
you'll be wonderful now.
Hetty, my legs are shaking
I don't know how I can walk on stage.
I understand each new school year, when I'd face that class
of young and eager faces, I was always a nervous wreck.
You were?
Oh yes, What I did was put all that nervous energy
into the task at hand.
And that's what you must do, put it into your performance.
Come now you know you have my upmost confidence.
If you fail, you can always blame it on the writer.
Good Luck.
[♪]
[knocking]
"Who is at the door?"
"I don't know who it would be at this late hour.
I'll go see."
[knocking]
"Good Mistress, you are a welcome sight
for these weary eyes."
"Would that I could turn back the clock
and undo what's been done.
I can not.
I can only tell you from the bottom of my heart, I loved you
then and I love you now and the greatest joy I could imagine
is for you to say you want me still to be your wife."
"Make me the happiest man on the island, marry me."
[applause]
Now as writer-director of this year's award-winning play,
I think the first should go to Hetty.
This apple strudel is courtesy of Eleanor McHugh.
Thank you.
With the greatest pleasure.
Well?
How is it?
Something is not quite right.
I followed the recipe to the letter.
I think she's altered the recipe.
Of all the under handed tricks.
I would like to propose a toast.
To the finest actress in Avonlea.
Here, here...
And here's to the finest actress on the whole island,
to Janet King.
[applause]
You were very beautiful Janet.
She was, wasn't she?