Oklahoma! BBC Proms

APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# There's a bright golden haze on the meadow

# There's a bright golden haze on the meadow

# The corn is as high as an elephant's eye

# And it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky

# Oh, what a beautiful morning

# Oh, what a beautiful day

# I've got a beautiful feeling

# Everything's going my way

# All the cattle are standing like statues

# All the cattle are standing like statues

# They don't turn their heads as they see me ride by

# But a little brown maverick is winking her eye

# Oh, what a beautiful morning

# Oh, what a beautiful day

# I've got a beautiful feeling

# Everything's going my way! #

Hi, Aunt Eller!

Scare me to death!

What are you doing round here?

I've come to sing to you.

# ..All the sounds of the earth are like music

# All the sounds of the earth are like music

# The breeze is so busy it don't miss a tree

# And an old weeping willow is laughing at me

# Oh, what a beautiful morning

# Oh, what a beautiful day

# I've got a beautiful feeling

# Everything's going my way

# Oh, what a beautiful day... #

APPLAUSE

If I wasn't an old woman,

and you weren't so young and smart-alecky,

why I'd marry you and get you to sit around at night and sing to me.

No, you wouldn't neither, cos I wouldn't marry you,

nor none of your kinfolk, if I could help it.

None of my kinfolk, huh?

And you can tell 'em that. All of 'em.

Including that niece of yours, Miss Laurey Williams!

Aunt Eller, if you was to tell me where Laurey was at,

where would you tell me she was at?

I wouldn't tell you at all, for as far as I can make out,

Laurey ain't paying you no heed.

She don't take to me much.

Where did you get such an uppity niece that wouldn't pay

no heed to me? Who's the best bronc-buster in this here territory?

You are, I bet.

And the best bulldogger in 17 counties.

Me, that's who!

And lookee here.

I'm handsome. Ain't I?

Pretty as a picture.

Curly headed, ain't I?

And bow-legged from the saddle for God knows how long, ain't I?

Couldn't stop a pig in the road!

What more does she want, then? A damn she-mule?!

I don't know, but I'm sure certain it ain't you.

Who are you taking to the box social tonight?

I ain't thought much about it.

Bet you come over to ask Laurey.

-What if I did?

-You asking me too?

I'll wear my fascinator!

Oh! You do!

# Oh, what a beautiful morning

# Oh, what a beautiful day... #

Oh. I thought you was somebody.

# ..I've got a beautiful feeling

# Everything's going my way. #

Is this all that's come a-calling?

It's already ten o'clock of a Saturday morning.

-You knowed it was me before you opened the door.

-No such of a thing.

You did too. You heared my voice,

and you knowed it was me.

I heared a voice talking rumbly along with Aunt Eller.

And I heared someone singing like a bullfrog in a pond.

You knowed it was me,

so you sat in there thinking up something mean to say.

I've a good mind not to ask you to the box social.

If you did ask me, I wouldn't go with you.

Besides, how'd you take me?

You ain't bought a new buggy with red wheels onto it, have you?

-No, I ain't.

-And a spanking team with their bridles all a-jingling?

-No!

-You expect me to ride on behind old Dun, I guess?

You better ask that old Cummings girl you took such a shine to

over across the river.

If I was to ask you, there'd be a way to take you, Miss Laurey smarty.

-Oh, there would?

-Mm-hm.

# When I take you out tonight with me

# Honey, here's the way it's gonna be

# You will set behind a team of snow-white horses

# In the slickest gig you ever see... #

Lands!

# ..Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry

# When I take you out in the surrey

# When I take you out in the surrey with the fringe on top

# Watch that fringe and see how it flutters

# When I drive them high-stepping strutters

# Nosy-pokes will peek through their shutters

# And their eyes will pop

# The wheels are yellow The upholstery's brown

# The dashboard's genuine leather

# With isinglass curtains you can roll right down

# In case there's a change in the weather

# Two bright side-lights winking and blinking

# Ain't no finer rig, I'm a-thinking

# You can keep your rig if you're thinking

# That I'd care to swap

# For that shiny little surrey with a fringe on the top

# Would you say the fringe was made of silk?

# I wouldn't have no other kind but silk

# Has it really got a team of snow-white horses?

# One's like snow The other's more like milk... #

So as you can tell 'em apart!

# ..All the world'll fly in a flurry

# When I take you out in the surrey

# When I take you out in the surrey with the fringe on top

# When we hit that road hell for leather

# Cats and dogs'll dance in the heather

# Birds and frogs'll sing all together

# And the toads will hop

# The wind'll whistle as we rattle along

# The cows'll moo in the clover

# The river will ripple out a whispered song

# And whisper it over and over

# Don't you wish you'd go on for ever

# Don't you wish you'd go on for ever

# Don't you wish you'd go on for ever

# And it'd never stop?

# In that shiny little surrey with the fringe on the top... #

You'd sure feel like a queen sitting up in that carriage.

Only she talked so mean to me a while back, Aunt Eller.

I've a good mind not to take her.

I ain't said I would go!

I ain't asked you.

Where did you get such a rig at, anyway?

-Well...

-I'll bet he went and hired a rig over at Claremore,

-thinking I'd go with him!

-So you know about it.

Spent all his money hiring a rig

and now he ain't got nobody to ride in it!

Have too!

I did not hire it.

I made the whole thing up...

..out of my head.

What? Made it up?

Dashboard and all!

Get off the place, you!

Aunt Eller, make himself get out of here! Telling me lies!

Making up a few pretties ain't against any law I know of.

Don't you wish there as such a rig, though?

Then you could go to that play party

and do a hoedown till morning if you was a mind to,

and then, when you was all wore out,

I'd lift you onto the surrey and jump up alongside of you,

and we could just point the horses home.

I can just picture the whole thing.

# ..I can see the stars getting blurry

# When we ride back home in the surrey

# Riding slowly home in the surrey with the fringe on top

# I can feel the day getting older

# Feel a sleepy head near my shoulder

# Nodding, drooping Close to my shoulder

# Till it falls, ker-plop

# The sun is swimming on the rim of a hill

# The moon is taking a header

# And just as I'm thinking all the earth is still

# A lark'll wake up in the meadow

# Hush, you bird

# My baby's a-sleeping

# Maybe got a dream worth a-keeping

# Whoa, you team!

# Just keep a-creeping at a slow clip clop

# Don't you hurry little surrey with the fringe on the top... #

APPLAUSE

Only there ain't no such rig.

-You just said you made the whole thing up.

-Well...

Why do you come around here with your stories and your lies,

getting me all worked up?

Talking about the sun swimming on the hill like it was so.

Who'd want to ride alongside you, anyway?

Why don't you grab her and kiss her when she acts that a-way, Curly?

She's just aching for you to, I bet.

I won't even allow him to speak to me, let alone kiss me.

The bragging, bow-legged, wish-he-had-a-sweetheart bum!

Laurey. Laurey!

She likes you!

Quite a lot.

She liked me any more, she'd set the dogs onto me.

Hey. You get the wagon?

What wagon?

There's a whole crowd of folks coming down from Bushyhead

for the box social.

Curly said maybe you'd loan us your big wagon

-to bring 'em up from the station.

-Of course I would,

if he'd ask me.

We got to talking about a lot of other things.

I'll go and hitch up the wagon now if you say it's all right.

See what we brung you, Aunt Eller!

Hi, Will!

What happened up at the fair?

You do any good in the steer roping?

I did pretty good.

I won it!

THEY CHEER

Nobody can fling a rope like our territory boys.

I can't stay but a minute, Aunt Eller.

I gotta get over to Ado Annie. Don't you remember?

Her pa said if I was ever worth 50 dollars I could have her!

50 dollars?! That's what they give you for prize money?

-That's what.

-Well, if Ado Annie's pa keeps his promise,

we'll be dancing at your wedding.

If he don't keep his promise, I'm going to take her

right from under his nose,

and I won't give him the present I brung for him.

Look, fellas, what I got for Ado Annie's pa.

Excuse us, Aunt Eller.

You hold it up to your eye, like this,

then, when you get a good look,

you turn it around at the top and the picture changes.

Oh, well, I'll be side-gated!

THEY LAUGH

They call it the Little Wonder.

The hussy!

Ought to be ashamed of herself!

You too, Will.

How do you turn the thing to see the other picture?

Wait!

I'm getting it!

I'm a good mind to tell Ado Annie on you!

Oh, please, don't, Aunt Eller. She wouldn't understand.

SHE CACKLES

No telling what you've been up to!

Bet you carried on plenty in Kansas City!

I wouldn't call it carrying on.

But I sure did see some things I never see before.

# I got to Kansas City on a Friday

# By Saturday I learned a thing or two

# For up till then I didn't have an idea

# Of what the modern world was coming to

# I counted 20 gas buggies going by themselves

# Almost every time I took a walk

# Then I put my ear to a Bell telephone

# And a strange woman started into talk... #

-What next?

-CHORUS: Yeah, what?

What next?

# ..Everything's up to date in Kansas City

# They've gone about as far as they can go

# They went and built a skyscraper seven storeys high

# About as high as a building ought to grow

# Everything's like a dream in Kansas City

# It's better than a magic lantern show

# You can turn the radiator on whenever you want some heat

# With every kind of comfort every house is all complete

# You could walk to privies in the rain and never wet your feet

# They've gone about as far as they can go

# Yes, sir!

# They've gone about as far as they can go

# Everything's up to date in Kansas City

# They've gone about as far as they can go

# They got a big theatre they call a Burly Q

# For 50 cents you can see a dandy show... #

Girls!

# ..One of the girls is fat and pink and pretty

# As round above as she was round below

# I could swear that she was padded from her shoulders to her heels

# But later in the second act When she began to peel

# She proved that everything she had was absolutely real

# She went about as far as she could go

# Yes, sir!

# She went about as far as she could go... #

What are you doing, Will?

This here's the two-step.

All they're dancing nowadays. Catch onto it.

A-one and a-two, a-one and a-two.

Come on, Aunt Eller!

SHE SHRIEKS AND LAUGHS

Whoo!

# ..And that's about as far as I can go

# Yes, sir!

# And that's about as far as she can go! #

Oh, what are you doing now, Will?

It's ragtime. I've seen a couple of city fellers doing it.

-Whoo!

-It's crazy.

THEY WHOOP

All right!

That's it!

All right!

# ..And that's about as far as we can go... #

Hey!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Whoo!

EXCITED CHATTER

-Hello, Will!

-Hello, Curly.

I can't stop to talk. I've got to get over to Ado Annie.

I've got 50 dollars!

All right, boys. Time we get going.

Thanks for the loan of the wagon, Aunt Eller.

-Come on, Curly.

-I'll catch up with you.

Aunt Eller?

I've got to know something.

Who's the low, filthy sneak that Laurey's got her cap set for?

You.

Never mind that.

There must be plenty of men trying to spark her,

and she surely leans to one of them. Now don't she?

Well, there's that fine farmer Jace Hutchins

just this side of Lone Ellum, then that old widow man at Claremore,

makes out he's a doctor or a veterinary.

Pfft! That's what I thought.

HE SIGHS

Hello, Jud.

Hello, yourself.

Then of course there's someone nearer home

that's got her on his mind most of the time,

till he don't know a plough from a threshing machine.

-Him?

-Yeah. Jud Fry.

That bullet-coloured growly man?

Now, don't you go saying nothing agin him.

He's the best hired hand I ever had!

Just about runs the farm by himself.

Why, two women couldn't do it. You ought to know that.

Laurey'd take up with a man like that?

I ain't said she took up with him.

He's around all the time, ain't he? He lives here!

Out in the smokehouse.

I changed my mind about cleaning the henhouse today.

Going to leave it till tomorrow.

Got to quit early cos I'm driving Laurey over to the party tonight.

You're driving Laurey?

I asked her.

Well...

Wouldn't that just make you bawl?

Don't forget, Aunt Eller. You and me has got a date together,

and if you make up a nice box of lunch,

-maybe I'll bid for it.

-How are we going, Curly?

In that rig you made up?

I'll ride a-straddle of them lights a-winking like lightning bugs!

That there ain't no made-up rig, you hear me?

I hired it over to Claremore.

Lands, you did?

Sure did.

Pretty one, too!

So, when I come a-calling for you right after supper,

make sure you got your beauty spots fastened on proper

so you don't lose 'em all, do you hear?

That's a right smart turnout.

# The wheels are yellow The upholstery's brown

# The dashboard's genuine leather

# With isinglass curtains you can roll right down

# In case there's a change in the weather... #

Hmm.

I'll see you tonight, anyway.

On the way back from the station.

# ..Ain't no finer rig I'm a-thinking

# That I'd care to swap

# For that shiny little surrey with the fringe on the top... #

Hey, Curly!

Tell all the girls at Bushyhead to stop by here and freshen up.

It's a long way to Skidmores'.

Well, that means we'll have a lot of company.

-Better pack your lunch hamper.

-No, Aunt Eller,

don't go to Skidmores' with Curly tonight.

If you do, I'll have to ride with Jud all alone.

-That's the way you wanted it, ain't it?

-No!

I did it because Curly was so...fresh!

I'm afraid to tell Jud I won't go with him.

He'll do something terrible.

He makes me shiver every time he gets close to me.

You know that old smokehouse? You ever been down there?

Plenty of times. Why?

You seen them pictures he's got tacked onto the wall?

Oh, yeah, I seen them, but don't you pay 'em no mind.

There's something wrong inside him, Aunt Eller.

I hook my door at night and I fasten my windows against it.

The sound of feet walking up and down under that tree

-outside my room!

-Laurey!

-I know what I'm talking about.

You crazy young 'un.

Stop acting like a chicken with its head cut off.

Now, who do you reckon that is drove up?

Why, it's that old peddler,

the one that sold me that egg-beater.

He's got Ado Annie with him. Will Parker's Ado Annie!

Do you know what he told me?

He told me that egg-beater would beat up eggs

and wring out dishrags

and turn the ice-cream freezer and I don't know what all!

Ado Annie!

Hold your horses, peddler-man!

I want to talk to you!

-Hi, Aunt Eller.

-Hi, yourself.

-Hello, Laurey.

-Hello!

-Mwah!

-Will Parker's back from Kansas City. He's looking for you.

Will Parker?

I didn't count on him being back so soon.

I can see that. Been riding a piece?

The peddler-man's going to drive me to the box social.

I got up sort of a tasty lunch.

Ado Annie, have you took up with that peddler-man?

Not yet.

But you're promised to Will Parker, ain't you?

SHE SNIGGERS

Not what you might say promised...

I just told him maybe.

Don't you like him no more?

Course I do!

There won't never be nobody like Will.

Then what about the peddler-man?

Oh, there won't never be nobody like him neither.

Which one do you like the best?

Whatever one I'm with.

You are a silly.

Now, Laurey, don't you know,

didn't nobody pay me no mind up till this year,

account of I was scrawny and flat as a beanpole.

Think I kind of rounded up a little

and now the boys act different to me.

What's wrong with that?

Nothing wrong. I like it.

I like it so much when a fella talks pretty to me.

I get all shaky from horn to hoof!

Don't you?

I can't think what you're talking about.

Don't you get kind of sorry for a fella

when he looks at you like he wants to kiss you?

You just can't go round kissing every man that asks you.

Didn't anybody ever tell you that?

Yeah, they told me.

# It ain't so much a question of not knowing what to do

# I knowed what's right and wrong since I've been ten

# I heared a lot of stories and I reckon they are true

# About how girls are put upon by men

# I know I mustn't fall into the pit

# But when I'm with a feller, I forget

# I'm just a girl who can't say no

# I'm in a terrible fix

# I always say, come on, let's go

# Just when I oughta say nix

# When a person tries to kiss a girl

# I know she oughta give his face a smack

# But as soon as someone kisses me

# I somehow sort of wanna kiss him back

# I'm just a fool when lights are low

# I can't be prissy and quaint

# I ain't the type that can faint

# How can I be what I ain't?

# I can't say no

# What you gonna do when a feller gets flirty

# And starts to talk pretty?

# What you gonna do?

# Supposing that he says that lips are like cherries?

# Or roses or berries?

# What are you gonna do?

# Supposing that he says that you're sweeter than cream

# And he's got to have cream, or die?

# What are you gonna do when he talks that way? #

Spit in his eye?

# I'm just a girl who can't say no

# Can't seem to say it at all

# I hate to disappoint a beau

# When he is paying a call

# For a while I act refined and cool

# A-sitting on a velveteen settee

# Then I think of that old golden rule

# And do for him what he would do for me

# I can't resist a Romeo

# In a sombrero and chaps

# Soon as I sit on their laps

# Something inside of me snaps

# I can't say no! #

APPLAUSE

# ..I'm just a girl who can't say no

# Kissing's my favourite food

# With or without the mistletoe

# I'm in a holiday mood

# Other girls are coy and hard to catch

# But other girls ain't having any fun

# Every time I lose a wrestling match

# I have a funny feeling that I won

# Though I can feel the undertow

# I never make a complaint

# Till it's too late for restraint

# Then when I want to, I can't

# I can't say no! #

APPLAUSE

It's like I told you, I get sorry for 'em.

Well, I wouldn't feel sorry for any man, no matter what.

I'm sure sorry for poor Ali Hakim now.

Look at Aunt Eller cussing him out.

Ali Hakim? Is that his name?

Yeah. It's Persian.

You sure for certain you love him better than you love Will?

I WAS sure,

and now Will's come home,

I'm first thinking, no, he'll start talking pretty to me

and changing my mind back!

But Will wants to marry you.

So does Ali Hakim.

-Did he ask you?

-Not directly.

But how I know is,

he said to me this morning

that he wanted for me to drive like that with him

to the end of the world!

Well, if we only drove as far Catoosa,

that'd take to sundown, wouldn't it?

Then we'd have to go somewhere and be all night together,

and being all night together means he wants a wedding, doesn't it?

Not to a peddler, it don't.

All right, all right!

If the egg-beater don't work, I'll give you something just as good.

Just as good? It's got to be a thousand million times better!

My, oh, my! Whoo!

Jippity crickets, Miss Laurey.

Look how high you growed up, huh?

The last time I come through here, you was tiny like a shrimp,

with freckles. Now look at you!

A great...big...beautiful...lady.

Quit biting me, will you?

If you ain't had no breakfast, go eat yourself a green apple.

-Now, Aunt Eller...

-I ain't your Aunt Eller!

Don't you call me your Aunt Eller, you little wart.

All right, all right. Don't nobody want to buy something, huh?

How about you, Miss Laurey? Hmm?

Must be wanting something, pretty young girl like you.

Me? Course I want something.

I want a buckle made out of shiny silver to fasten onto my shoes.

I want a dress with lace. I want perfume.

I want to be pretty.

I want to smell like honeysuckle vines.

Give her a cake of soap!

I want things I heared of and never had before,

like a rubber-tyred buggy and a cut-glass sugar bowl.

I want things I can't tell you about.

Not only things to look at and hold in your hands,

but things to happen to you,

things so nice, if they ever did happen to you,

your heart would quit a-beating.

You'd fall down dead.

I got just the thing.

-The elixir of Egypt.

-What's that?

Secret formula. Belonged to Pharaoh's daughter.

Smelling salts!

But a special kind of smelling salts.

Read what is says on the label, hmm?

"Take a deep breath and you see everything clear."

That's what Pharaoh's daughter used to do

when she had a hard problem to decide,

like what prince to marry or what dress to wear to a party,

or whether she ought to cut off somebody's head.

-She'd take a whiff of this.

-I'll take a bottle of that, Mr Peddler.

-Precious stuff.

-How much?

-Two bits.

-Throwing away your money!

Helps you decide what to do?

Now, don't you want me to show you some pretty doodads?

Huh? With lace around the bottom, and the ribbons running in and out?

You mean fancy drawers?

FRENCH ACCENT: All made in Paris.

Well, I never wear that kind myself, but I sure do like to look at 'em.

Yeah. They's all right if you ain't going no place.

I can let you have 'm for 50 cents.

Four bits.

Do you want me to get that egg-beater and ram it

down your windpipe?

Bring your trappings inside and maybe I can find you

something to eat and drink.

Ask him, why don't you?

Ali...

Laurey and me's been having an argument.

Oh, what about, baby?

About what you meant when you said about driving with me

to the end of the world.

Oh, well, I didn't mean really to the END of the world.

Then how far did you want to go?

About as far as, say, Claremore. To the hotel.

What's at the hotel?

In front of the hotel is a veranda.

Inside, is a lobby.

Upstairs... Upstairs might be paradise.

I thought they was just bedrooms.

You and me, baby.

Paradise!

You see, I knew I was right and Laurey was wrong.

You DO want to marry me, don't you?

Oh, Ado Annie... What did you say?!

I said, you do want to marry me, don't you?

-What did you say?

-I didn't say nothing.

Yoo-hoo! Ado Annie, I'm back!

Oh, just when... Hello, Will!

Ado Annie!

How's my honeybunch?

How's the sweetest little 110lb of sugar in the territory?

Um, Will, this is Ali Hakim.

How are you, Hak?

Don't mind the way I talk. It's all right.

-I'm going to marry her.

-Marry her?!

On purpose?!

Sure!

-No such of a thing.

-Oh, it's a wonderful thing to be married.

-Ali?

-I've got a brother in Persia, he's got six wives.

Six wives?

-All at once?

-Sure!

-That's the way they do in them countries.

-Not all the time.

I've got another brother in Persia only got one wife.

He's a bachelor.

-Look, Will...

-Look, Will, nothing!

You know what I got for first prize at the fair?

50 dollars!

Well, that was good!

50 dollars!

You catch on.

Your pa promised I could marry you if I could get 50 dollars.

That's right, he did.

Know what I done with it?

Spent it all on presents for you.

Well, if you spent it, then you ain't got the cash.

What I got's worth more than the cash.

Feller who sold me the stuff told me.

-But, Will...

-Stop saying "but, Will".

When do I get a little kiss?

Oh, Ado Annie, honey, you ain't been off my mind since I left.

All the times at the fairgrounds, even, when I was chasing steers.

I'd rope one under the hooves and pull 'em up sharp,

and he'd land on his little rump.

Then I'd think of you.

Don't start talking pretty, Will.

See a lot of beautiful girls in Kansas City.

Didn't give one a look.

How did you see 'em if you didn't give 'em a look?

I mean, I didn't look loving at them.

Like I look at you.

Oh, Will, please don't look like that.

I can't bear it.

I won't stop looking like this till I get a little old kiss.

Oh, what's a little old kiss?

Nothing, unless it comes from you.

Oh, you do talk pretty...

No, I won't!

# Supposing that I say that your lips are like cherries?

# Or roses or berries?

# What are you going to do?

# Can't you feel my heart palpating and a-bumping?

# Waiting for something Something nice from you

# I gotta get a kiss and it's gotta be quick

# Or I'll jump in a creek a die

# What's a girl to say when you talk that way? #

-CHORUS:

-# Oh, what a beautiful morning

CURLY: # Oh, what a beautiful day

# I've got a beautiful feeling

# Everything's going my way... #

Say, Curly,

better take the wagon down to the trough

-and give the teams some water.

-Right away, Aunt Eller.

Can I come too?

Just love to watch the way you handle horses.

That's about all I can handle, I reckon.

Oh, I can't believe that, Curly.

Not from what I heared about you.

CACKLING LAUGH

Looks like Curly's took up with that Cummings girl.

What do I care about that?

GASPS AND LAUGHTER

Come on, boys! Let's get these hampers out

under the trees, where it's cool.

I thought Curly was stuck on you.

I'd say he ain't stuck on her no more.

# Why should a woman who is healthy and strong

# Blubber like a baby if her man goes away?

# A-weeping and a-wailing how he's done her wrong

# That's one thing you'll never hear me say

# Never gonna think that the man I lose

# Is the only man among men

# I'll snap my fingers to show I don't care

# I'll buy me a brand-new dress to wear

# I'll scrub my neck and I'll brush my hair

# And start all over again

# Many a new face will please my eye

# Many a new love will find me

# Never have I once looked back to sigh

# Over the romance behind me

# Many a new day will dawn before I do

# Many a light lad may kiss and fly

# A kiss gone by is bygone

# Never have I asked an August sky

# Where has last July gone?

# Never have I wandered through the rye

# Wondering where has some guy gone

# Many a new day will dawn before I do... #

Come on, girls!

# Many a new face will please my eye

# Many a new love will find me

# Never have I once looked back to sigh

# Over the romance behind me

# Many a new day will dawn before I do

# Never have I chased the honeybee

# Who carelessly cajoled me

# Somebody else just as sweet as he

# Cheered me and consoled me

# Never have I wept into my tea

# Over the deal someone doled me

# Many a new day will dawn

# Many a red sun will set

# Many a blue moon will shine

# Before I do... #

APPLAUSE

MELODY CONTINUES

# ..Many a new face will please my eye

# Many a new love will find me

# Never have I once looked back to sigh

# Over the romance behind me

# Many a new day will dawn before I do

# Never have I chased the honeybee

# Who carelessly cajoled me

# Somebody else just as sweet as he

# Cheered me and consoled me

# Never have I wept into my tea

# Over the deal someone doled me

# Many a new day will dawn

# Many a red sun will set

# Many a blue moon will shine

# Before I do... #

APPLAUSE

Ali Hakim?

Hello, kiddo.

I'm sure sorry to see you so happy cos what I've got to say

is going to make you miserable.

I've got to marry Will.

HE GROANS

Oh, that is sad news for me!

Well, he's a fine feller.

Don't hide your feelings, Ali.

I can't stand it.

I'd rather you come right out and say your heart is busted in two!

Are you positive?

You've got to marry Will?

Sure shooting.

And there's no chance to change your mind?

-No chance.

-All right, then,

my heart is busted in two.

Oh, Ali, you do make up pretty things to say.

Is that you, Annie?

Hello, Pa.

What you been shooting?

Rabbits.

Is that true what I hear about Will Parker

getting 50 dollars?

-That's right, Pa, and he wants to hold you to your promise.

-Too bad.

Still and all,

I can't go back on my word.

-See, Ali?

-I advise you to get that money off of him

before he loses it all.

Put it in your stocking or inside your corset

where he can't get at it.

Or can he?

-But, Pa, he ain't exactly kept it.

-Huh?

He spent it all on presents.

You see?

What did I tell you?

Well, now he can't have you.

I said it had to be 50 dollars, cash.

But Mr Carnes...is that fair?

Who the hell are you?!

This is Ali Hakim.

Well, shut your face!

Or I'll fill your behind so full of buckshot

you'll be walking round like a duck for the rest of your life.

Ali, if I don't have to marry Will,

then maybe your heart don't have to be busted in two, like you said.

-I didn't say that.

-Oh, yes, you did.

-Oh, no, I didn't.

Are you trying to make out my daughter to be a liar?

No, just making it clear

what a liar I am if she's telling the truth.

What else you been saying to my daughter?

Oh, an awful lot.

-When?

-Last night in the moonlight.

-Where?

-Alongside a haystack.

-Listen, Mr Carnes...

-I'm listening!

What else did you say?

He called me his Persian kitten.

Why did you call her that?

-I don't remember.

-I do!

He said I was like his Persian kitten,

cos they was the cats with the soft, round tails.

That's enough!

In this part of the country,

-that had better be a proposal of marriage!

-That's what I thought!

Is that what you think?

Look, Mr Carnes...

I'm looking!

-I'm no good!

-Uh...

I'm a peddler.

A peddler travels up and then down and then all around.

You'd never get to see your daughter no more.

That'd be all right.

You take care of her.

Son.

Take care of my little...

..uh...rosebud.

Oh, Pa, that's pretty.

Are you sure for certain you can bear to let me go, Pa?

Are you sure, Mr Carnes?

Just try changing my mind.

PA CHUCKLES

Oh, Ali Hakim, ain't it wonderful?

Pa making up our minds for us,

and he won't change, neither.

Once he gives you his word you can have me,

why you got me!

I know I got you.

Mrs Ali Hakim,

the peddler's bride.

Oh, wait till I tell the girls!

Trapped!

Tricked!

Hood-blinked!

Ham-bushed!

# Friend, what's on your mind?

# Why do you walk around and around

# With your hands folded behind

# And your chin scraping the ground? #

20 minutes ago,

I'm free, like a breeze.

Free, like a bird in the woodland wild.

Free, like a gypsy.

Free, like a child.

I'm unattached!

20 minutes ago, I can do what I please.

Flick my cigar ashes on a rug.

Dunk with a doughnut, drink from a jug.

I'm a happy man!

I'm minding my own business, like I ought to.

Ain't meaning any harm to anyone.

I'm talking to a certain farmer's daughter.

Then I'm looking in the muzzle of a gun?

# It's getting so you can't have any fun

# Every daughter has a father with a gun... #

MEN CHATTER

# It's a scandal, it's an outrage

# How a gal gets a husband today... #

If you make one mistake when the moon is bright,

then they'll tie you to a contract so you make it every night.

# It's a scandal, it's an outrage

# When a farmer surrounds you and says

# You gotta take and make a honest women out of Nell... #

To make you make her honest, she will lie like hell!

# It's a scandal

# It's an outrage

# On our manhood it's a blot!

# Where is the leader who will save us

# And be the first man to be shot?

-Me?

-Yes, you!

-Oh, no!

# It's a scandal

# It's an outrage

# Just a wink and a kiss and you're through!

You're a mess, and in less then a year, by heck

There's a baby on your shoulder making bubbles on your neck.

# It's a scandal

# It's an outrage

# Any farmer will tell you it's true

A rooster in a chicken coop is better off than men.

He ain't the special property of just one hen.

# It's a scandal

# It's an outrage

# It's a problem we must solve

# We gotta start a revolution!

# All right, boys. Revolve! #

They're here!

APPLAUSE

CACKLING LAUGHTER

Hello, Laurey. Just packing your hamper now?

-I've been busy.

-You got gooseberry tarts too.

Wonder if they is as light as mine.

Mine'd like to float away if you blew on 'em.

I did blow on to one of mine, and it broke into a million pieces.

CACKLING LAUGH

Ain't she funny!

Hey, Gertie!

Better come inside, and cool off.

-You comin' inside with me, Curly?

-Not just yet.

Well, don't be too long.

And don't forget when the auction starts tonight -

mine's the biggest hamper!

CACKLING LAUGH

So that's the Cummins girl I heared so much talk of.

-You seen her before, ain't you?

-Yeow.

But not since she got so old.

Never did see anybody get so peeked-lookin' in such a short time.

Yeah, and she says she's only 18.

I bet you she's 19!

What you got in your hamper?

That's just some ole meat pies and apple jelly.

Nothin' like what Gertie Cummins has in her basket.

You really goin' to drive to the Box Social with that Jud feller?

Reckon so. Why?

Nothin'. It's just that everybody seems to expect me to take you.

Then maybe it's just as well you ain't.

We don't want people talkin' 'bout us, do we?

You think people do talk about us?

Oh, you know how they are - like a swarm of mudwasps.

Always gotta be buzzin' about somethin'.

Well, what're they sayin'?

-That you're stuck on me?

-Uh-uh.

Most of the talk is that you're stuck on me.

-I can't imagine how these ugly rumours start.

-Me neither.

# Why do they think up stories that link my name with yours?

# Why do the neighbours gossip all day behind their doors?

# I have a way to prove what they say is quite untrue

# Here is the gist, a practical list of "don'ts" for you

# Don't throw bouquets at me

# Don't please my folks too much

# Don't laugh at my jokes too much

# People will say we're in love! #

Who laughs at your jokes?

# Don't sigh and gaze at me

# Your sighs are so like mine

# Your eyes mustn't glow like mine

# People will say we're in love!

# Don't start collecting things... #

Like what?

# Give me my rose and my glove

# Sweetheart, they're suspecting things

# People will say we're in love!

# Some people claim that you are to blame as much as I

# Why do you take the trouble to bake my favourite pie?

# Grantin' your wish I carved our initials on that tree

# Just keep a slice of all the advice you give, so free!

# Don't praise my charm too much

# Don't look so vain with me

# Don't stand in the rain with me

# People will say we're in love!

# Don't take my arm too much

# Don't keep your hand in mine

# Your hand feels so grand in mine

# People will say we're in love!

# Don't dance all night with me

# Till the stars fade from above

# They'll see it's all right with me

# People will say

# We're in love! #

APPLAUSE

Don't you reckon you could tell Jud you'd rather go with me tonight?

-Curly! I couldn't.

-Oh, you couldn't?

Think I'll go down here to the smokehouse, where Jud's at.

See what's so elegant about him,

makes girls want go to parties with him.

-Curly!

-What?

Nothin'.

# Don't sigh and gaze at me

# Your sighs are so like mine

# Your eyes mustn't... #

Got your hamper packed?

Aunt Eller... Yes, nearly.

Like a hanky?

What'd I want with a ole hanky?

Ooh, you got a smudge on your cheek - just under your eye.

APPLAUSE

-Howdy.

-What do you want?

I done got through my business up at the house.

Just thought I'd pay a call.

You got a gun, I see.

-Good 'un. Colt 45.

-What do you do with it?

-Shoot things.

Oh.

That there pink picture - that's a naked woman, ain't it?

Your eyes don't lie to you.

Plumb stark naked as a jaybird.

No. No, she ain't. Not quite.

Got a couple of thingamabobs tied on to her. Shucks.

That ain't a thing to what I got here.

Lookit that top one.

Ooh! I'll go blind!

That'd give me ideas, that would.

That's a dinger, that is.

Yeah, that sure is a dinger.

Hey. That's a good-lookin' rope you got there, Jud.

Spins nice.

You know Will Parker? Sure can spin a rope.

It's a good strong hook you got there.

You could hang yerself on that.

I could what?

Hang yerself.

Easy as fallin' off a log!

Fact is, you could stand on a log -

or a chair if you'd rather -

right about here - see?

And put this here around your neck.

Tie that good up there first, of course.

Then all you'd have to do would be to fall off the log -

or the chair, whichever you'd rather fall off of.

In five minutes, or less, with good luck, you'd be dead as a doornail.

What do you mean by that?

Then folks would come to your funeral and sing sad songs.

-Yeah!

-They would.

You never know how many people like you till you're dead.

You'd prob'ly be laid out in the parlour.

You'd be all diked out in your best suit

with your hair combed down slick,

and a high starched collar.

Would they be any flowers, d'you think?

Sure would, and palms, too - all around your coffin.

Then folks 'ud stand around you

and the men 'ud bare their heads

and the women would sniffle softly.

Some'd prob'ly faint - ones that had tuck a shine to you

when you was alive.

-What women have took a shine to me?

-Lots of women.

Only they don't never come right out

and show you how they feel less'n you die first.

I guess that's so.

They sure would sing loud, though, when the singin' started.

Sing like their hearts would break!

# Pore Jud is dead

# Pore Jud Fry is dead!

# All gather 'round his coffin now and cry

# He had a heart of gold

# And he wasn't very old

# Oh, why did such a feller have to die?

# Pore Jud is dead

# Pore Jud Fry is dead!

# He's lookin', oh, so peaceful and serene

# And serene!

# He's all laid out to rest

# With his hands across his chest

# His finger nails have never been so clean! #

Then the preacher'd get up and he'd say "Folks!

"We are gathered here to moan and groan

"over our brother Jud Fry who hung hisself up by a rope

"in the smoke house."

Then there'd be weepin' and wailin'

from some of those women.

Then he'd say,

"Jud Fry was the most misunderstood man in the territory.

"People used to call him a dirty skunk and a ornery pig-stealer.

"But-the folks 'at really knowed him,

"knowed 'at beneath them two dirty shirts he always wore

"there beat a heart as big as all outdoors."

# As big as all outdoors

# Jud Fry loved his fellow man

# He loved his fellow man... #

He loved the birds of the forest

and the beasts of the field.

He loved the mice

and the vermin in the barn,

and he treated the rats like equals - which was right.

He loved little children.

He loved everything and everybody in the world!

Only he never let on, so nobody ever knowed it!

# Pore Jud is dead

# Pore Jud Fry is dead!

# His friends'll weep and wail for miles around

# Miles around

# The daisies in the dell

# Will give out a different smell

# Because pore Jud is underneath the ground

# Pore Jud is dead

# A candle lights his head

# He's layin' in a coffin made of wood

# Wood

# And folks are feelin' sad

# Cos they used to treat him bad

# And now they know their friend has gone for good

# Good

# Pore Jud is dead

# A candle lights his head!

# He's lookin', oh, so purty and so nice

# He looks like he's asleep

# It's a shame that he won't keep

# But it's summer and we're runnin' out of ice

# Pore Jud!

# Pore Jud!

APPLAUSE

Yes, sir. That's the way it'd be.

Sure be a interestin' funeral.

Wouldn't like to miss it.

Wouldn't like to miss it, huh?

Well, maybe you will.

-Maybe you'll go first.

-Maybe.

Let's see now, where did you work at before you come here?

Up by Quapaw, wasn't it?

Yes, and before that, over by Tulsa.

Lousy they was to me. Both of 'em. Always makin' out they was better.

-Treatin' me like dirt.

-And what'd you do - get even?

Who said anythin' about gettin' even?

No-one that I recollect. It just come into my head.

If it ever come to gettin' even with anybody, I'd know how to do it.

That?

Nah!

There's safer ways than that, if you use your brains.

'Member that fire on the Bartlett farm over by Sweetwater?

Sure do.

'Bout five years ago. Terrible accident.

Burned up the father and mother and the daughter.

That warn't no accident.

A feller told me the hired hand was stuck on the Bartlett girl,

and he found her in the hayloft with another feller.

And it was him that burned the place?

It tuck him weeks to get all the kerosene -

buying it at different times -

feller who told me made out like it happened in Missouri,

but I knowed it was the Barlett farm.

What a liar he was!

And a kind of a murderer, too. Wasn't he?

Oof! Let's get a little air in here.

You ain't told me yet what business you had here.

We got no cattle to sell nor no cow ponies.

The oat crop is done spoke for.

You sure relieved my mind considerable.

There's only one thing on this farm you could want -

and it better not be that!

-But that's just what it is.

-Better not be!

You keep away from her, you hear?

You know, somebody oughtta tell Laurey what kind of a man you are.

And for that matter, somebody oughtta tell you once about yerself.

You better get outta here, Curly.

A fella wouldn't feel very safe in here with you

if he didn't know you, Jud.

But I know you.

In this country, there's two things you can do if you're a man.

Live out of doors is one. Live in a hole is the other.

Long as you live in a hole, you're scared,

you got to have protection.

You can have muscles, oh, like iron - and still be as weak

as a empty bladder.

How'd you get to be the way you are, anyway -

sittin' here in this filthy hole

and thinkin' the way you're thinkin'?

Why don't you do something healthy once in a while?

'Stead of stayin' shut up here-a-crawlin' and festerin'!

GUNSHOT

Well, you oughtta feel better now.

Hard on the roof, though.

I wish you'd let me show you somethin'.

There's a knot-hole over there about as big as a dime.

See it a-winkin'.

I just want to see if I can hit it.

GUNSHOT

Ooh-oh!

Bullet right through the knot-hole,

slick as a whistle, without touchin'.

I knowed I could do it.

You saw it, too, didn't you?!

Oh, somebody's a-coming, I 'spect.

Who fired off a gun? Was that you, Curly?

Don't set there, you lummy, answer when you're spoke to.

Well, I shot...once.

What was you shootin' at?

-See that knot-hole over there?

-I see lots of knot-holes.

Well, it was one of them.

Well, ain't you a pair of purty nuthin's,

a-pickin' away at knot-holes and scarin' everybody to death!

Oughtta give you a good Dutch rub

and iron some of the craziness out of you!

It's all right! Nobody hurt.

Just a pair of fools swappin' noises.

Mind if I visit with you, gents?

It's good to get away from the women for a while.

Now then, we're all by ourselves.

I got a few purties, private knick-knacks for to show you.

Special for the menfolks.

I'll see you gentlemen later.

I gotta get a surrey I hired for tonight.

-Art postcards.

-Who you think you're takin' in that surrey?

-Aunt Eller - and Laurey, if she'll come with me.

-She won't.

Maybe she will.

She promised to go with me, and she better not change her mind.

She better not!

Now, I want ye to look at these straight from Paris.

I don't want none o' those things now.

I tell you what I'd like, if you got one.

You ever hear of one of them things you call "The Little Wonder"?

It's a thing you hold up to your eyes to see pictures,

only that ain't all there is to it. Not quite.

You see, it's got a little jigger on to it,

and you touch it and out springs a sharp blade.

-On a spring, eh?

-You say to a feller, "Look through this."

Then when he's lookin', you snap out the blade.

It's just above his chest and, bang!

Down you come.

OHH! That is a good joke to play on a friend.

No, I, er, I don't carry anything like that.

Too dangerous. What I want to show you is my new stock of postcards.

I'm sick of them things.

I'm going to get me a real woman.

I'm tired of all these pictures of women!

So you want a real woman.

Say, do you happen to know a girl named Ado Annie?

I don't want her.

I don't want her either. But I got her!

I don't want nuthin' from no peddler.

I want real things!

What am I doin' shut up here -

like that feller said - a-crawlin' and a-festerin'?

What am I doin' in this lousy smokehouse?

# The floor creaks

# The door squeaks

# There's a fieldmouse nibblin' on a broom

# And I sit by myself

# Like a cobweb on a shelf

# By myself in a lonely room

# But when there's a moon in my window

# And it slants down a beam 'cross my bed

# And the shadow of a tree

# Starts a-dancin' on the wall

# And a dream starts a-dancin' in my head

# And all the things that I wish for

# Turn out like I want them to be

# And I'm better'n that Smart Aleck cowhand

# Who thinks he is better'n me!

# And the girl that I want

# Ain't afraid of my arms

# And her own soft arms keep me warm

# And her long yeller hair

# Falls across my face

# Just like the rain in a storm!

# The floor creaks

# The door squeaks

# And the mouse starts a-nibblin' on the broom

# And the sun flicks my eyes

# It was all a pack o' lies!

# I'm awake in a lonely room

# I ain't gonna dream 'bout her arms no more!

# I ain't gonna leave her alone!

# Goin' outside

# Get myself a bride

# Get me a woman to call my own. #

APPLAUSE

And in your future, I see a dark handsome man!

THEY LAUGH

Girls, could you - could you go somewheres else and tell fortunes?

-I gotta be here by myself.

-Look!

She bought 'at ole smellin' salts the peddler tried to sell us!

It ain't smellin' salts.

It's goin' to make up my mind for me. Lookit me take a good whiff now!

SHE COUGHS

That's the camphor.

Please, girls, go away.

Hey, Laurey, is it true you're lettin'

Jud take you tonight instead of Curly?

I'll tell you better when I think everythin' out clear.

I'm beginnin' to see things clear already.

I can tell you what you want.

# Out of your dreams and into his arms

# You long to fly

# You don't need Egyptian smellin' salts

# To tell you why!

# Out of your dreams and into the hush

# Of falling shadows

# When the mist is low

# And stars are breaking through

# Then out of your dreams you'll go

ALL: # Into a dream come true

# Make up your mind, make up your mind, Laurey, Laurey dear

# Make up your own, make up your own story

# Laurey dear

# Ole Pharaoh's daughter won't tell you what to do

# Ask your heart

# Whatever it tells you will be true

# Out of my dreams

# And into your arms I long to fly

# I will come as evening comes

# To woo a waiting sky

# Out of my dreams

# And into the hush of falling shadows

# When the mist is low

# And stars are breaking through

# Then out of my dreams I'll go

# Into a dream with you. #

WOLF WHISTLE

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

THREE GUNSHOTS

Wake up, Miss Laurey. It's time to start for the party.

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

WHOOPING

# The farmer and the cowman should be friends

# Oh, the farmer and the cowman should be friends

# One man likes to push a plough, the other likes to chase a cow

# But that's no reason why they can't be friends

# Territory folks should stick together

# Territory folks should all be pals

# Cowboys dance with the farmers' daughters

# Farmers dance with the ranchers' gals

-ALL:

-# Territory folks should stick together

# Territory folks should all be pals

# Cowboys dance with the farmers' daughters

# Farmers dance with the ranchers' gals

# I'd like to say a word for the farmer... #