- Welcome back to another segment
of "Behind the Scenes of The Waltons."
Today I'm continuing on
with another episode from Season 4.
This is "The Emergence."
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This episode sees the return
of John-Boy's school sweetheart, Marcia Woolery.
- Whoopee, she's coming home.
- She's been away at college,
or actually away working,
and now has returned and she's engaged.
The subplot in this involves Olivia,
who is still substitute teaching for Mrs. Fordwick.
John-Boy has received a letter from Marcia Woolery
asking him to pick her up at the bus station.
He's not quite sure exactly why.
She arrives
and shortly announces that she is engaged
to someone that John-Boy doesn't know.
But she's sending out a lot of mixed signals.
She's flirting with him,
but then when he goes to make a move on her,
she reminds him that she's engaged.
So John-Boy is completely confused
about what all these signals mean.
And of course, because it's Marcia Woolery,
she's just testing.
You know, she wants to know that John-Boy has missed her.
She'd rather have every boy interested in her
than be satisfied that she has someone
that she apparently wants to marry
and that that's good enough.
Well, it's not quite good enough for Marcia Woolery.
John-Boy eventually meets this man, Frank,
and he isn't exactly
one to inspire confidence
that this is going to be a good match
or an equal match.
He has a habit of really
belittling Marcia
and putting her down.
And one of the things that Marcia does
is she wants John-Boy to take her
by the house that she grew up in,
that now her parents are gone
and Marcia plans to sell it.
So she wants John-Boy to help her
put up a sign
and get a notice put up in the paper.
And John-Boy is, of course, suspicious.
He wants to know if Frank knew
about this piece of property
before they got engaged.
Now, of course, Marcia is immediately insulted
thinking that John-Boy is implying
that he only wants her for her money.
Which is not,
it is what John-Boy means,
but not in the way that Marcia thinks he means it,
that she wouldn't appeal to someone
unless there was money involved.
But John-Boy's really just being protective
and finding himself attracted to this new Marcia.
And I think it confuses John-Boy,
despite the fact that he has already said
he has no intention of getting back together with Marcia,
doesn't want her trying to
confuse him again.
So John-Boy's struggling with all of this.
John-Boy's take on Frank is none too subtle,
as you hear in this statement.
(gentle music)
- She's not gonna marry that.
- Of course, Mary Ellen can't help
but tease John-Boy about Marcia.
Just more of that fun relationship
between John-Boy and Mary Ellen.
At one point, Marcia explains to John-Boy
why she's marrying Frank,
that she had these dreams
of going to work in this shop
and working her way up from being in the stockroom
to maybe becoming a buyer,
but she feels that she's not bright enough
to accomplish these dreams.
And so, you know,
Frank is sort of
what she feels is her best option.
And I just thought that was sort of sad that,
particularly in earlier eras
where women felt that they didn't have a lot of options,
they didn't have a lot of job options.
They were expected to marry
and raise a family, which is fine.
But if a woman didn't feel like she had choices,
either in finding the right man to marry,
someone that she could really have a happy marriage with,
then she could end up settling for someone
and not be happy,
or if she couldn't find a job.
So it was a little sad to think
that Marcia didn't value
and think enough of herself
to feel that she deserved better.
And it made me wonder
how many women find themselves
in this position in earlier eras,
and perhaps even still today.
Feeling that Marcia should have
more options in her love life,
John-Boy decides to take her to his school dance
and let her meet some other men.
And Marcia is a big hit at the school dance
and I think her self-esteem begins to grow.
The other girls at the school are so impressed
that she has gone away to the city
and is working there and living there,
and how exciting.
And I think Marcia begins to see herself
a little differently.
Afterwards, she and John-Boy
are just sort of having fun and reminiscing.
Frank, who has gone away
to get this letter,
he wants some - Marcia
to release the funds
for her family house,
and he needs some sort of a letter.
He is gone away to get that.
And he comes back and finds John-Boy and Marcia,
and they're just,
they're not even doing anything.
But Frank gets the wrong impression, comes over,
and punches John-Boy,
and grabs Marcia,
and accuses her of cheating on him,
and basically breaks up with her.
Well, we come to find out
that the whole reason why he's broken up with her
is because he found out
that there wasn't any money in Marcia's family home.
That there were debts and there was money owed,
and by the time things were settled out,
there was no money.
And Frank needed this money,
just a little more money for a deal he had.
And Marcia thought that was okay,
but I think she is relieved to now be off the hook.
Meanwhile, John-Boy has made arrangements for Marcia
to have a job interview with another store.
- Marcia, you have to have a job.
Right, Mama?
I mean, well, you don't have your parents anymore.
You don't have any property to sell.
Right, Mama?
You really have to support yourself
so that you'd be able to pick and choose.
Don't you think so, Mama?
(car puttering)
- And she does have this meeting.
And she ends up in a flirtation with the boss,
gets the job,
and also a date with the boss.
So we are led to feel
that Marcia's gonna do just fine for herself.
As the substitute teacher,
there is a young boy, Samuel,
who everyone thinks is simple
and he misses a lot of school
because he's needed on the family farm
for the harvest season and things like that.
When he comes back to school,
he isn't doing well
and Olivia is concerned.
She feels like he just needs
an opportunity to catch up
and she wants him up front
'cause she realizes that perhaps
he doesn't see the board
from where he's sitting in the back.
But he's very tall
and he's not usually sitting in the front
because he blocks the other children's view.
All this attention that Olivia is giving to Samuel
upsets the rest of the family.
And in the meantime,
there is someone from the school board
who has been sent to check up on Olivia
as a substitute teacher.
And he has a lot of opinions
about what Olivia should and shouldn't be doing
and how she's running her classroom,
because she has a lot of
what he considers unorthodox methods
and he feels that the head of the school board
would also feel the same way.
Some of these include the fact
that Elizabeth hangs on her coattails,
but Olivia explains that Elizabeth, being the youngest,
feels she wants to be close to Olivia.
And Olivia feels that that's
what she needs to do to make Elizabeth feel comfortable.
And when Elizabeth is ready to have more distance,
that, you know, she will.
So along the way, Olivia is determined
that she wants to give Samuel
the very best shot he can.
The other children, I mean,
Ben, and Jim Bob, and Elizabeth,
were all a little,
"We thought it'd be great having Mama
"as our teacher and feel like, you know,
"we want her to not treat us like her children,
"but then we're upset
"because she seems to not treat us
"like her children at all."
So she can't quite win in this situation
with any of the family.
Olivia stands up to the school board
about the situation,
how she's teaching, her methods,
trying to help Samuel,
and she's just,
she doesn't care what the school board thinks.
She feels that what she's doing is important
and she's going to continue
doing the very best that she feels she can do
to help all of the children,
and especially in this moment, Samuel,
who she feels just needs
that little bit of extra help.
She goes to talk to his father and mother
because she feels that Samuel needs glasses.
Well, they think that's way too much money.
Olivia ends up with a solution.
They end up with an idea
to go to the five-and-ten store
and find him, rather than prescriptions,
just sort of over-the-counter glasses.
So Olivia takes him
and he tries on all kinds of glasses.
And you see the amazement for this young man
when he finds a set of glasses that work for him,
and suddenly everything that he can see
and all the possibility that this opens up for him.
And it is a moment of triumph
for both Samuel and for Olivia.
Ultimately, a successful ending for everyone.
Samuel is now able to continue with his education.
Marcia has found a new self-worth.
John-Boy has realized that, you know,
as much as he has enjoyed his relationship
on and off with Marcia,
Marcia's not the right girl for him.
And she knows John-Boy is not the right boy for her.
So life goes on with the Waltons
and everyone is a little wiser
and richer for the experience.
That's what I have for you
for this segment of "Behind the Scenes of The Waltons,"
about the episode from Season 4, "The Emergence."
I'll be back with more
"Behind the Scenes of The Waltons,"
and more "Ask Judy."
Thanks for watching.