Spring Byington

Mrs. Marshall: You must have been looking forward to it, Mary.
Mary Marshall: I was looking forward to seeing you, Aunt Sarah.
Mrs. Marshall: Oh, that's sweet of you, dear.
Mary Marshall: As a matter of fact, selfish. I've been doing a lot of thinking in the past three years, Aunt Sarah, and...
Mrs. Marshall: What sort of things were you thinking, Mary?
Mary Marshall: Coming out into the world and... Even coming here, I had a feeling that ...
Mrs. Marshall: Honey, you've got to stop being afraid. You've got to stop feeling that you're branded like people were in the old days. You've done something. You're paying your debt to society. Most people are willing to let it go at that.
Mary Marshall: I know, Aunt Sarah, but coming out into the world and seeing everybody in uniform, everybody doing something... I just don't belong. I don't fit in. And dreams that I've had for the future are just impossible.
Mrs. Marshall: Well, most dreams are, Mary. It's just the dreaming that counts. Nobody gets exactly what he wants out of life. One of the first things you learn is to make compromises with your dreams.
Mary Marshall: But I'm not talking about palaces and rainbows, Aunt Sarah. I'm talking about a home. A home like this with a kitchen and a stove and an icebox, and a husband, and a child.
Mrs. Marshall: Yes, I have all that. Yet I used to dream about palaces and rainbows.
Mary Marshall: But you're happy.
Mrs. Marshall: Of course. Because I didn't hold out for too much. I accepted what I thought was second best and made that do. Oh, it's something that everybody learns sooner or later. You have to get used to accepting what you think is second best, and then you find out it's first best after all.

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Mary Marshall: [Trying on the dress in the dressing room] How much is this dress?
Saleslady: Sixty-nine dollars.
Mary Marshall: Oh? Would you take the tag off, please?
[Handing her some money]
Mary Marshall: Look, here's thirty dollars. And when my aunt asks you the price, will you tell her that it's thirty-nine instead of sixty-nine dollars?
Saleslady: It's a bargain.
Mary Marshall: Thank you.
Mrs. Marshall: [Saleslady leaves the dressing room, and joins Mrs. Marshall outside] Miss, how much was that dress?
Saleslady: Thirty-nine dollars.
Mrs. Marshall: Look, I'll give you twenty dollars. When I ask you again, how much it was, you tell me it's nineteen dollars.
Mary Marshall: [coming out of the dressing room] Do you like it?
Mrs. Marshall: Oh, it's darling on you.
Mary Marshall: Isn't it sweet?
Mrs. Marshall: It was made for you. Um, Miss, how much is this dress?
Saleslady: Nineteen dollars.
Mrs. Marshall: Oh, that's a wonderful buy.
[Mary realizes what happened and laughs]

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Zachary Morgan: [Mrs. Marshall comes in with a flaming plum pudding] I never could figure out why the pudding never gets burned.
Mary Marshall: I've never been able to figure that out either. Must be the alcohol in the brandy.
Zachary Morgan: I think.
Mr. Marshall: Personally, I think it's a shame to burn good brandy. That quart I brought home last week was imported cognac.
Mrs. Marshall: Oh, don't worry, Henry, I didn't burn up the whole quart.
Barbara Marshall: Oh, I wouldn't trust Mom with it, Dad.
Mr. Marshall: Maybe you're right. Remember last year, how Mom got going on just a glass of sherry?
Mrs. Marshall: Now I'm not going to listen to that again!
Barbara Marshall: You may not believe this about your dear Aunt Sarah, but last year she got high as a kite.
Zachary Morgan: If they're trying to drag out a family skeleton, Mrs. Marshall, I won't listen to them.
Mrs. Marshall: Oh, it's just one of those little things that happen, people start exaggerating.
Mr. Marshall: Exaggerate, my eye! It's as true as I sit here. Last year, Mother and I had a glass of sherry to bring in the new year. And then we went to a little gathering, all the way across town, it was. Mother had her skirt on backwards!
Mrs. Marshall: See here, Henry, if you're in such good voice, how about a Christmas carol?

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