Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)

Margaret O'Brien: Selma Jacobson

Photos 

Quotes 

• Selma Jacobson : Ma?

  Bruna Jacobson : Hmm?

  Selma Jacobson : Why don't you want Pa to have a new barn?

  Bruna Jacobson : I'd like him to have a new barn, Selma. I'd like anything that makes your pa happy. But, new barns aren't easy. Sometimes they take too much out of a man like your father.

  Selma Jacobson : But if you'd like him to have a new barn, why do you always talk like you didn't?

  Bruna Jacobson : Well, what you'd like people to have and what people are able to have - those are two different things. Right now your pa's out in the barn mendin' harness when he ought to be here with us gettin' some rest. With the old barn, he works more than any man should. To pay for a new one, he'd be workin' longer; he'd never be able to stop for a minute. He's growin' old and dreamin' at night of his debts. Oh, it's better Selma - it's better never to have a thing than to have it and be afraid. Some of these days when you're older, you...

  [hears rustling movement and discreetly shushes their conversation] 

  Bruna Jacobson : ... That's your pa, isn't it?

• Selma Jacobson : We're home ma.

  Bruna Jacobson : Ring the dinner bell, and then you and Arnold go wash.

  Selma Jacobson : Alright ma.

  [They run over to the dinner bell] 

  Arnold Hanson : You should let me pull it.

  Selma Jacobson : Why?

  Arnold Hanson : Cause I'm the guest.

  Selma Jacobson : But you always pull the bell when you're here.

  Arnold Hanson : That's because I'm always the guess.

  Selma Jacobson : Oh alright.

• Selma Jacobson : [inquisitively worried while sitting in the barn]  Pa, Editor isn't going to be a soldier, is he? Arnold says he is, but he isn't, is he!

  Martinius Jacobson : Yes.

  Selma Jacobson : But won't he get hurt if he's a soldier?... Will he?

  Martinius Jacobson : Well, ya can't tell jenta mi, it's just whatever happens.

  Selma Jacobson : But why is he going?

  Martinius Jacobson : Because he thinks he ought to.

  Selma Jacobson : But why? I don't think it's true about 'peace on earth, goodwill toward men' if, if Editor's gonna get hurt maybe.

  Martinius Jacobson : Well, uh, look jenta mi, uh

  [sets down the two pales of fresh milk that he's holding] 

  Martinius Jacobson : you know these things they're, they're awful hard to explain.

  [kneels down with the children] 

  Martinius Jacobson : Now, uh, now you take milk - now, milk's a good thing, isn't it?

  [she nods] 

  Martinius Jacobson : Well, it's good for calves, for children, for grownups, for... for everybody. Isn't that so?

  Selma Jacobson : Yes.

  Martinius Jacobson : Well, just because it's good is no reason we get it free. We have to work for it. Now does that make any sense?

  Selma Jacobson : Yes.

  Martinius Jacobson : Well, uh, the way I look at it, it's the, the same thing with 'peace on earth, goodwill toward men.' It's good for everybody and it don't come free either; you have to work for it. And, uh, somebody comes along, tries to take it away from us - well, we've got to fight for it; it's that good jenta mi. Now I guess, uh, that's why Editor's going. Does that help you to understand?

  Selma Jacobson : Does understand mean I've got to be glad about it?

  Martinius Jacobson : No.

  Selma Jacobson : Well then I guess I understand.

  Martinius Jacobson : Good.

• Selma Jacobson : [riding down a country road in Nels's car]  Mother said Ingeborg Jensen isn't quite right.

  Arnold Hanson : That's because she's crazy. That means crazy in the head. That's because her father always beats her all the time.

  Selma Jacobson : He beats Mrs. Jensen too.

  Nels Halverson : Mrs. Jensen is very sick right now, so I guess he isn't beating her. And Ingeborg isn't crazy; it's just that she's not quite as smart as we are, that's all.

  Selma Jacobson : Arnold didn't know about Ingeborg not being right until I told him.

  Nels Halverson : Maybe somebody had to tell you too, Selma, before you knew.

  Selma Jacobson : I suppose so.

  Arnold Hanson : Yeah, see?

• Arnold Hanson : [sitting around the dinner table eating pancakes for supper and talking about the Jacobson's new calf]  Sure is funny how I keep on not getting a calf.

  Bruna Jacobson : Well what Selma's pa meant was that it was just pretend her calf.

  Selma Jacobson : [looking disheartened]  But pa didn't say it was pretend - he said it was all mine.

  Bruna Jacobson : Well everything on the farm is all yours Selma, yours and ours - the things that keep us warm, the food we have - it couldn't just belong to one of us any more than... the sunshine,

  [waves her hand] 

  Bruna Jacobson : or these pesky flies. I'm sure that's what your pa meant, isn't it Martinius?

  Martinius Jacobson : Well uh, that may be what I meant to say; but I did tell her it was all hers. Well maybe your mother's right Selma. Maybe we, uh, ought to kinda figure it like she said instead of, uh, what we spoke about.

  Bruna Jacobson : Well Heaven sakes Martinus, you can't take it away from her if you gave it to her like that. Maybe it's a good thing; I think your pa's right. She needed something to take care of. She'll have work to do, just like a grownup.

  [Selma smiles and nods] 

• [first lines] 

  Selma Jacobson : [walking down a dirt road in the country]  Georgie's gonna be a farmer when he grows up, and he's gonna raise buffalo.

  Arnold Hanson : Buffalo have all been killed - I know, my father killed them all.

  Selma Jacobson : All the same, they aren't all dead. Anyway, that's what Georgie's gonna be when he grows up.

  Arnold Hanson : When I grow up I'm gonna be a soldier, and shoot all the time.

  [pretends to shoot a gun with a stick in his hand] 

  Arnold Hanson : I'll be fearless.

  Selma Jacobson : I'm gonna be a WAC and I'm gonna shoot more than you do cause I'm older.

  Arnold Hanson : No you won't, you're a girl.

  Selma Jacobson : Girls fight just as well as boys.

  Arnold Hanson : Looky!

  [points at a squirrel eating a nut on a tree stump] 

  Selma Jacobson : When I'm a WAC I'm gonna pull out my gun...

  Arnold Hanson : WAC's don't have guns.

  Selma Jacobson : I'm gonna pull out my gun and go *bang*, just like that.

  [throws a rock toward the squirrel but actually unintentionally hits it] 

  Selma Jacobson : Oh!

  Arnold Hanson : [they walk over to the squirrel]  You sure killed him, Selma. You killed him dead.

  Selma Jacobson : [sadly sniveling]  But I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to kill you little squirrel. It was just pretend.

  Arnold Hanson : Shucks, it's only a red squirrel. They're bad.

  Selma Jacobson : But he wasn't doing anything bad. He was just eating his dinner - when I picked up a rock, a-and I almost never hit where I aim, a-and...

  [Ingeborg Jensen briefly joins the children before her father Kurt sternly calls her to get back to her work. Then Nels Halverson - driving down the road - happily offers the children a ride home] 

• Martinius Jacobson : [smoking his pipe on the porch and contemplatively enjoying the night sky]  Did you ever see so many stars?

  Selma Jacobson : Pa, do people live on the stars?

  Martinius Jacobson : They do, if you want them too.

  Selma Jacobson : Why's that?

  Martinius Jacobson : Mm, well because nobody can tell for sure that they don't.

  Selma Jacobson : I wonder if the people who live on the stars have free barns.

  Martinius Jacobson : Mm, of course jenta mi. Up there, every man has a big red barn and a fine herd of cows. It's guaranteed with his birth certificate.

  Selma Jacobson : I guess that's why they call it the Milkyway, isn't it.

  Martinius Jacobson : Mm, naturally.

  [points up and to his left] 

  Martinius Jacobson : See the Big Dipper? Almost running over with milk.

• Selma Jacobson : [after Martinius turns down Pete Hanson's offer to drive him to the grange meeting]  Why didn't you wanna go, Pa?

  Martinius Jacobson : [smoking his pipe on the porch and contemplatively looking up at the night sky]  Oh, I don't know. On a night like this with a lot of people around, I... I get lonesome feeling.

  Selma Jacobson : Can you be lonesome with people?

  Martinius Jacobson : Sometimes.

  Selma Jacobson : Are you lonesome now?

  Martinius Jacobson : No.

  Selma Jacobson : [pointing to herself]  But I'm people.

  Martinius Jacobson : [sitting down]  No, jenta mi. You're my daughter.

  [They smile and warmly embrace each other] 

• Arnold Hanson : [in response to Selma not letting him try out her new roller skates]  You're a big old pig.

  Selma Jacobson : I am not.

  Arnold Hanson : You're a big old pig and you eat slop.

  Selma Jacobson : [gasps in shock]  Ah! I was going to let you have a turn, but now I won't.

• Selma Jacobson : I don't believe in Santa Claus.

  Arnold Hanson : Shucks, I won't either if I don't get my electeic train.

• Selma Jacobson : [reciting the Christmas Story in church]  It was tax time in Palestine, and all the people had to go to the county seat to pay what they owed. And some of them had to go to the town of Bethlehem, and among these were Joseph and Mary who lived in the town of Nazareth. Joseph led a donkey, and Mary rode on the donkey, but they were getting very worried because it was getting very dark and Mary was going to have a baby. So when they got to Bethlehem, they went straight to a hotel. But the man in charge of the hotel said, 'I'm sorry, but we haven't got any rooms at all. We are all filled up, you will have to go somewhere else.' But when Joseph-he explained that they needed a room very badly, the manager thought for a minute; then he said, 'You may go out into the barn. I'll have the hired man throw some hay into the manger for you.' So he went out into the barn. Out on the hillside beyond Bethlehem, a shepherd was lying there sleeping, when suddenly he woke up with a light shining in his face. He saw a star hanging in the sky, low over Bethlehem, and on the hillside around him he could see his sheep like little lumps of silver against the earth. And he heard sounds on the road, and looking off, he saw three camels with three riders going toward Bethlehem. The three men rode their camels straight to the hotel, and got down from them and went to the manger - because it was there that the stars shone most brightly. There they found a man, and a woman, and a little baby; and they gave presents to the little baby, and then the air was filled with the sound of angels singing. 'Peace on earth,' sang the angels, 'good will toward men.' The mother heard it, and Joseph heard it, and out on the hillside the shepherd heard it. And the people of Bethlehem heard it, and in Jerusalem the king heard it. Then Joseph and Mary and the little baby were left alone. And suddenly the mother looked down at the little baby and said to Joseph, 'Why look, there's a light around the head of our baby': the shine of the soft white moonlight; and Joseph looked and nodded. And then he looked at Mary and said, 'There's a light around your head too.' And then the mother hugged her baby closer to her, as if she were afraid for it. And then the three of them listened to the song of the angels, which filled the whole world... and the baby cried.

• Martinius Jacobson : [proudly, while toasting wine with their local friends on Christmas morning]  Oh, I have some news to tell. I talked to the bank and, uh, they think we should put up a new barn here.

  Bjorn Bjornson : Well...

  Bruna Jacobson : [concernedly]  When?

  Martinius Jacobson : Soon as the winter breaks.

  Bjorn Bjornson : Then we drink to a Merry Christmas, and a new barn.

  Mr. Faraassen : Well, especially the new barn - we already have the Christmas.

  Selma Jacobson : [excitedly]  Oh, jeepers Pa!

  Bruna Jacobson : What are you gonna do with the old barn?

  Martinius Jacobson : Use it for storage.

  Bjorn Bjornson : Ja, you always need more storage space around the farm.

  Bruna Jacobson : And the debt? What shall we do with the debt?

  Martinius Jacobson : Well, we'll drink to it too.

  Martinius Jacobson , Bruna Jacobson , Bjorn Bjornson , Mr. Faraassen , Selma Jacobson : Skol!

  [They all toast each other while Bruna looks worried] 

• Arnold Hanson : Well, what'll we do now?

  Selma Jacobson : We could play school.

  Arnold Hanson : No, you're always the teacher.

• Selma Jacobson : [deciding what specific boat-themed game to play while floating in washtub outside after heavy rains]  We could be explorers.

  Arnold Hanson : I'll be Leif Erikson.

  Selma Jacobson : And I am, I am... no, I'll be Leif Erikson.

  Arnold Hanson : [annoyed]  But you're a girl.

  Selma Jacobson : But you're only five years old and I'm seven.

  Arnold Hanson : It doesn't matter how old you are, but you're still a girl.

  Selma Jacobson : But you're not old.

  Arnold Hanson : [discouraged]  I can catch up Selma, I can catch up.

  Selma Jacobson : [kindly obliging]  I'll tell you what, you be Leif Erikson.

  Arnold Hanson : [reinvigorated]  Ok.

  Selma Jacobson : And now we're going to paddle.

  Arnold Hanson : Ok.

• Arnold Hanson : You know what would happen to a fish if it was out in all that rain?

  Selma Jacobson : No, what?

  Arnold Hanson : He'd be drowned, drowned dead.

• Selma Jacobson : [pointing up at the sky]  Wild geese coming back.

  Arnold Hanson : Just like airplanes, only they don't drop bombs.

  Selma Jacobson : They're friendly planes.

  Arnold Hanson : Why do airplanes drop bombs?

  Selma Jacobson : To kill bad people.

• Selma Jacobson : I wonder what would happen to all the meadowlark if they didn't have anybody to get their nests out of the way during plowing?

  Arnold Hanson : They'd all be killed, killed dead.

• Martinius Jacobson : [while in the barn during a thunderstorm]  Know what kinda weather this is, jenta mi?

  Selma Jacobson : No, what?

  Martinius Jacobson : Checker weather.

  [They head inside under Martinius's raincoat and start playing checkers] 

  Selma Jacobson : Your move, Pa.

  Martinius Jacobson : Yeah, my move. You've got me in a bad spot, jenta mi, awful bad spot. You're getting too fierce for me. I don't think I've got a move.

  Selma Jacobson : Oh, sure ya have, right there.

  [She points at a piece and he moves it forward. She then jumps him twice and collects the pieces, only to be outdone when he jumps her four times on his next move] 

  Selma Jacobson : Now you're getting fierce.

  [He chuckles amusingly]