Theater Close-Up

The Gabriels: Women of a Certain Age | Part three
Tony Award-winner Richard Nelson's three-play cycle follows one year in the life of a family in Rhinebeck, NY, during the 2016 presidential election. "Women of a Certain Age" is part three. The trilogy, starring Meg Gibson, Lynn Hawley, Roberta Maxwell, Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, and Amy Warr, was filmed at The Public Theater in March 2017. THIRTEEN area viewers may stream.
TRANSCRIPT
>> You are about to see a play
as it was written and performed
onstage.
Some may find the language
or content objectionable.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Next on "Theater Close-Up,"
it's Election Day 2016.
>> Uh, I just hope Hillary knows
that my vote is for not him.
>> And while we're all voting
for a new president,
the Gabriels are forced to sell
their family home.
>> My children grew up
in this house.
>> Join us
for the final play...
>> A play where
everyone is always cooking.
>> ...in the Public Theater
production of Richard Nelson's
"Gabriels Trilogy,"
"Women of a Certain Age"...
>> Well, she's gonna win.
The other is unthinkable.
>> ...on "Theater Close-Up."
>> I've got it all planned out,
Hannah.
♪♪
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
>> Support for
"Theater Close-Up"
is provided by...
>> Hello.
I'm Oskar Eustis, the artistic
director of the Public Theater.
I'm sitting in the Public's
restaurant, the Library,
named for the building's origins
as the Astor Library,
one of the first
and largest public libraries
in our country.
Our building has had a great
and extraordinary life,
first as a library,
then, for decades, as the home
of the Hebrew Sheltering
and Immigration Society, housing
and feeding tens of thousands
of Jewish immigrants in
World War II.
But by the mid-1950s,
this building sat empty,
boarded up, and forgotten,
on the verge of demolition,
when something happened.
Bernie Gersten -- "One Monday,
Hilmar Sallee, our manager,
came in with the Sunday
New York Times real estate
section, which, on the first
page, had a photograph of an
abandoned building, the windows
boarded up, and the headline
said something like,
'Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant
Aid Society Building Up For
Sale.'
There it was in all its
vastness -- 54,000 square feet,
a grand-looking
abandoned building."
Joseph Papp -- "I wanted to do
contemporary plays.
I'd done only Shakespeare
for so long,
and in order to make Shakespeare
alive, you have to be
in the contemporary theater,
so I needed a permanent home
that would be a theater
for new plays.
I'd passed this enormous place
a couple of times, but I'd never
thought much about it.
It was in a very dark,
off-the-beaten-path neighborhood
with a lot of violence
and robberies going on.
Then, we heard the building was
for sale, and on a terrible,
rainy day, we inspected inside.
Everything was dark and dreary.
The building looked very old
and ill-kept.
It reminded me a police station.
Downstairs, where one of our
theaters now is, had been a
synagogue, a shul.
On the floor, we found prayer
shawls, prayer books.
The whole place had been
partitioned, both into small
office spaces and into tiny
cubicles with cots and
mattresses on the floor,
where whole families had lived.
There were even little rooms
that had been put aside
with bassinets for children.
The entire building was littered
with old pictures
and file cards,
thousands of them.
Lists of people who had applied
to come over.
But if you looked carefully,
you could see the outline
of this gorgeous,
domed glass ceiling.
The interior was quite
beautiful.
It was possible to see some of
the past glories
of that building."
The new Public Theater at
425 Lafayette Street
opened on November 12, 1967,
with the premiere of a musical
called "Hair."
This year, we celebrate our 50th
anniversary here in this home.
Hundreds of plays
have been performed
by thousands of artists.
Our finest playwrights,
directors, actors, designers
have graced our six theaters
as we, a theater built upon a
refugee home built upon a
library, work to continue the
hard and necessary work
of serving the best instincts
of our citizens.
Tonight, we return to our
LuEsther Hall, named,
after some difficultly, for one
of our most generous patrons,
LuEsther T. Mertz.
As Ms. Mertz herself described,
"Joe kept saying,
'I'm going to name a theater
after you.'
'No, you're not.'
'Yes, I am.'
'No, you're not, now.
I'm not gonna have it.'
This went on
for a couple of years, and one
day, he said he was turning one
of the upstairs halls
into another theater, and it was
gonna be named after me.
I said,
'I will make a deal with you.
You can use my first name.
Who is that LuEsther Hall?
That way, strangers don't know
who I am, and that suits me just
fine.'"
We return to the LuEsther
for the third and final play
of Richard Nelson's masterful
trilogy, "The Gabriels,"
subtitled, "Election Year
in the Life of One Family,"
performed by a much honored cast
and designed by some of our most
famed designers.
Today's play is called
"Women of a Certain Age,"
and like all three plays,
it is set in the kitchen
of the Gabriel family
on South Street in the village
of Rhinebeck, New York,
which is 100 miles
due north of New York City,
a placeThe New York Times
once called
"The Town that Time Forgot."
For those of you who have yet to
see the first two plays,
"Hungry" and
"What Did You Expect?"
here is a little background.
"Hungry" takes place on
March 6, 2016, four months
after Thomas Gabriel's death
and on the day his ashes are
released into the Hudson River.
Attending are his widow Mary,
his siblings, George and Joyce,
his mother, Patricia,
George's wife, Hannah,
and Thomas' first wife,
whom he divorced
decades earlier, Karin.
Karin is the accidental
participant, having recently
moved to the area
for a temporary teaching job.
Joyce is visiting from her home
in Brooklyn.
The others all live in the
small village of Rhinebeck.
"What Did You Expect?"
takes places nearly six months
later, on September 16th.
Joyce has returned from a trip
to Europe.
Hannah and George's son Paulie
has begun college
at SUNY Purchase.
Karin now rents a room
from Mary, who still mourns.
And the week before the play
takes place, the Gabriels learn
that Patricia, some time ago,
has taken out a reverse mortgage
and extraneous loans
and now stands to lose her home
and be forced out
of her independent living inn.
"Women of a Certain Age"
takes place on November 8, 2016,
Election Day, a day we will all
probably never forget.
It will take place between
5:00 and 7:00 p.m.,
before the polls have closed,
so the characters, as well
as the opening-night audience
and the playwright, do not know
what the results will be.
The weather is beautiful,
a perfect fall evening,
and everyone is anxious.
The third and final play of
"The Gabriels,"
"Women of a Certain Age."
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[ Conversations continue ]
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[ Conversations continue ]
[ Introduction to Lucius'
"Until We Get There" plays ]
♪♪
♪♪
♪ What do you say?
♪ Is this the time
for one more try
at a happy life? ♪
♪♪
♪ So, what do you say?
♪ Is this unwise
to think my fears
will not reprise? ♪
♪♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Can't be late
♪ It's a rising tide
♪ Like an hourglass
running out of time ♪
♪ So, what do you say?
♪ What will you decide?
♪ It's a win or lose
on a rolling die ♪
♪♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪♪
♪ Gonna get out of the water
♪ Gonna leave the storm
♪ 'Cause everybody's got to get
there somehow ♪
>> Who's there?
>> I don't hear anything.
What do you hear?
>> I thought I heard a door
close, Hannah.
>> I didn't hear anything.
>> Well, I didn't.
>> The wind?
>> I'm sure I closed the door.
>> Sometimes,
if it doesn't click...
>> We didn't hear anything,
Mom.
You want us to check?
>> Why don't I just go and see?
>> So, Mom,
how about a bunny salad?
Do you remember us making that?
>> What's a bunny salad,
Patricia?
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> But show me.
>> I remember making that.
>> Cute.
>> Why is called a bunny salad?
>> No one's out there, Patricia.
>> Oh.
>> You okay, Mom?
There's nobody there.
>> It's a half a sliced pear,
see, sort of looks like a bunny
lying down.
>> Whose cookbook was this?
>> George.
>> George wrote his name
in everything.
I don't remember
a bunny salad, Joyce.
>> I do.
Candle salad.
I don't think we ever made
that, Mom.
>> I think wedid, Joyce.
>> No, don't think so.
Muffins.
[ Telephone ringing ]
>> Phone.
>> Applesauce.
Ooh, Cinderella cake.
[ Chuckles ] Too much work.
I don't think we ever made that,
either.
Choo-choo salad.
>> What's that?
>> So, Mom, who is it?
>> What?
Who's what?
>> On the phone --
who's calling?
>> What?
>> You're almost always right.
>> You are.
She is.
>> What?
>> It's your amazing gift.
>> Joyce.
>> I'm not making fun.
Mom, you almost always know,
just as the phone rings,
who is calling.
>> Know what?
>> You know you can do that,
don't you?
You know that?
>> No. I...
>> Well, I've never really
tested you.
I've wanted to.
>> Well, why would you want to?
>> I'm gonna test you.
Come on, Mom.
Tell us.
Who is it?
It's all right, Hannah.
>> I didn't say anything.
>> So who is it, Mom?
>> Probably, I think...
>> Who?
>> It's George, isn't it?
>> It's George.
>> It could be for me.
>> I'll bet she's right.
>> I don't know, Joyce.
>> No, you know.
I just don't know how you know,
but you know, and it's spooky.
>> It was George.
>> [ Gasps ]
>> See? What did I tell you?
>> She was right.
>> You're ama--
She is just amazing.
>> She knew who was
on the phone.
>> He got stuck in traffic
in Westchester.
He just got off the Taconic.
He didn't want us to worry.
He said to cook
whatever we want.
He doesn't care.
>> You've always done it, Mom.
You haven't lost your touch.
>> Pat, you really know
who's calling?
>> I don't know.
>> And Paulie?
>> Did he say anything
about Paulie?
>> Uh, no.
>> Do you want more coffee,
Patricia?
>> I sometimes know
when it's Paulie calling.
I can just sense it sometimes.
>> You're his mother.
That makes sense.
It's not uncommon with mothers.
>> I'm not always right.
There's still some left.
Anyone?
>> No thanks.
>> Mom! [ Laughs ]
Raggedy Ann salad --
can we do that?
We have to do that!
>> What do we need for that,
Joyce?
>> Joyce, your mother had
a very interesting
or fascinating dream
just last night.
It was last night, right?
Yeah.
It was last night.
We should tell her.
>> We should.
It's fascinating.
>> What dream, Mom?
>> You told us about it just
this morning
and before you got here,
and we think she dreamed
it last night.
>> What?
>> Do you remember telling me
and Hannah?
We came to pick you up to vote,
but you were too tired,
but you remembered
so many details.
I never remember the details
of my dreams.
>> Me neither.
>> In quarters?
>> Smaller.
>> All about your new roommate.
>> You have a new roommate, Mom?
>> I do.
>> Yeah, just this week.
>> You'll meet her.
>> We met her.
The roommate kept saying,
"I don't belong
in assisted living."
She wasn't saying that to us.
She was just saying it.
In your Mom's dream --
Do you remember you described
lying in your bed.
>> Your mother's bed
is now the one by the window.
>> And the roommate,
she's taking care of you.
The roommate has told Patricia
that that was now her --
the roommate's job.
>> To -- To take care of Mom?
>> Yeah, like,
she's now Patricia's nurse,
when suddenly, in the dream --
And Patricia
has her back to the roommate,
and she hears this woman...
>> Gail.
>> ...Gail, say, "Patty,
I am so sick and tired
of taking care of you,
so why don't you just
get it over with
and jump out that window?"
>> What?
>> So Patricia turns
to her and she says...
Did you remember?
>> I remember.
>> You say, "Why do you --
are you saying this to me?"
And the roommate says back,
"But I didn't say
anything to you, Patty."
>> "But I heard you say
that to me, Gail."
>> "Did you see me say it?"
Gail asks in the dream,
And, "No. I didn't."
Am I telling this right?
And your mother hadn't seen her
because, of course,
Gail is behind her.
"So, next time, Patty,
when you think you hear me
saying something,
turn around and look for me."
So Patricia rolls over with her
back to Gail again,
and -- I don't know --
maybe falls asleep.
>> And then, it happens again.
>> Yeah. She hears Gail say,
"Patty, just kill yourself."
And your mom
wants to explain to her that,
because of the stroke, she can't
get herself out of bed,
and so she starts to turn
to tell her that,
and Gail shouts at her,
"Don't look at me. Just jump!"
>> "I can't.
I can't get out of bed."
>> "I've had a stroke,"
she explains,
so Patricia just lies there.
Then, after a while, she turns,
and she says to Gail,
"Why do you keep telling me
that?
Aren't you taking care of me?"
>> And Gail just says,
"Did you see me say that,
Patty?"
She'd been told
not to turn around.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> "Then how do you know, Patty,
it was me?"
>> Does anyone in assisted
living know about this?
>> When -- When we take her
back tonight.
>> Your mom's taking
all these drugs now.
She thinks they are
what give her such dreams.
>> I'm sure Gail is taking
all sorts of drugs, too.
>> Gail wasn't there when Mom
told her your dream, was she?
>> No. She was there, listening.
>> So, Mom, let's do
the Raggedy Ann salad, okay?
>> What do we need for that?
>> Canned peaches, a cherry.
>> We don't have any of that.
>> Raisins for the buttons
and the eyes and the shoes.
>> I think we have raisins.
>> Yellow cheese for the hair.
>> Joyce, you're gonna have
to go back to Tops Friendly.
>> Oh.
I don't want to go back there.
You okay, Mom?
Mom. [ Laughs ] Mom.
♪ My Raggedy Ann was
a very old doll ♪
♪ She lay in the attic for
years ♪
>> What's this?
>> ♪ Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh
♪ My Raggedy Ann with her legs
doubled over her ears ♪
>> What?
>> Mom knows where that's from.
>> Do I?
>> Of course you do,
my little carousel record player
that turned as you played it,
my carousel record player.
She sold it in some garage sale,
like, the second I left for
college.
>> Why would I do that, Joyce?
>> I don't know.
I would love to know.
>> I have no recollection
of any such record player.
>> I think you do.
>> There's shepherd's pie,
paintbrush cookies.
That would be plenty.
>> Yeah. That's enough.
Agreed?
>> All right.
>> We'll work all this out.
So, we'll just do that.
>> Yeah.
>> I had a Raggedy Ann doll,
and I sewed it back together
so many times, it looked
like Frankenstein's monster.
[ Laughter ]
I-I used to operate on her.
>> Pat, I have
a question for you.
>> What?
>> Today, when I came back from
teaching, and Joyce was here,
she told me something, but
I think she's just teasing me.
>> Oh, that.
>> The Gabriels don't tease.
>> [ Scoffs ]
>> Do they?
>> Thomas and George.
>> About some sort of ghost,
a family ghost over in
the guest room above the office
where I'm sleeping --
the room I'm renting...
Joyce said that, as a kid...
>> And teenager.
>> ...she saw a number of times,
and I don't believe her,
but I thought I'd just ask.
There isn't any ghost, is there?
I mean, I think she's just --
she's just pulling my leg.
>> In the guest room, a ghost?
>> Yes.
>> There's never been a ghost
in that guest room, Joyce.
You know better.
>> Thank you.
I cannot believe I even asked.
I'm embarrassed to have brought
it up -- a ghost.
>> It's in the basement, Karin.
>> What?
>> In the unfinished basement
below the office
where you're staying.
Haven't you been down there?
>> I looked.
I opened the door 'cause I
didn't know where the door goes,
so I looked.
>> And you haven't
heard anything?
>> Not really, no.
>> No scratching or rapping
or digging noise?
>> Well, and if I had...
>> So you have.
>> Well, I know we have moles,
'cause didn't you tell me --
George -- he set a mouse trap
down there, and he caught a
mole.
and it's just dirt down there,
so I figure moles could...
>> I remember being over there
once, Joyce, when that was your
father's office, and cleaning up
his -- cleaning up his mugs.
He always left them sitting in
the -- in the sink,
and I went
down into the basement.
We kept a few trunks down there.
I can't remember what I went
down there for.
And, suddenly, the light went --
I was down there,
and the light went out, and,
"Well, must have burned out,"
I thought.
>> Hmm.
>> And so, it's pitch dark,
and I couldn't see anything,
but, suddenly,
I felt my -- my hand was wet.
And I went up to
the top of the basement stairs.
I -- Well, I -- I thought
I might have cut myself.
Maybe it was blood.
>> Mm-hmm?
>> And I turned on the switch,
and the light came on.
It hadn't gone out.
It had just burned out,
and I could see my hand
was completely wet,
just water, nothing dripping.
Nothing else was wet
except on one step, a puddle.
I closed the basement door,
and then I heard...
[ Knocking on table ]
...Karin, and I told you
there was nothing down there
except a few trunks,
and I heard what sounded like
chairs being thrown up against
a wall and smashed,
a whole room full of furniture
being broken up.
And then, I heard a voice --
oh, a voice.
The sound -- A voice...
>> You know she's joking,
don't you?
>> They tease, the Gabriels.
They tease.
>> Thank you for letting me
get that far.
>> We found a lot of things
stuffed in the back of closets
in the attic.
>> George said
he found dad's fiddle.
>> Yeah, he's been
playing it all week.
>> I didn't realize
Georgie played
the violin as well the piano.
>> He's a Gabriel.
>> Yeah.
>> Thomas used to play the
fiddle.
>> I didn't know that.
Hey, what else can I do?
>> Let me think.
>> Oh, look.
How about Jell-O
with cut-up fruit?
[ Laughs ] When's the last time
we had Jell-O, Mom?
You know, I bet you have
a box of Jell-O somewhere from,
like, 100 years ago.
It never goes bad like the
Twinkies you'd feed us.
>> There's no Jell-O.
We don't eat Jell-O anymore.
No one does.
>> Well, I really wanted to have
a Raggedy Ann salad.
Shit. What are we gonna do
for a vegetable?
>> We have canned peas.
Patricia likes those.
>> Mom, how can you
even eat those?
You know, they have, like,
zero vitamins.
>> She likes them.
>> It's amazing we all survived
our childhoods.
>> What?
I didn't hear that.
>> You heard me, Mom.
>> Oh. We all went on
a little scouting expedition
this morning, Patricia.
Here. I think you'll like
this -- a garage sale on
Livingston.
>> Mrs. Voorhees.
>> Not me.
>> Well, you weren't here yet.
We went right after we voted.
>> You bought stuff?
I thought you're trying to sell
stuff.
>> For like 25 cents.
September 1910,
Ladies' Home Journal.
>> I'm not that old.
>> You're not.
Neither is Mrs. Voorhees.
>> Maybe it had been her
mother's.
>> A garage sale on a Tuesday?
>> An estate sale.
>> Was Pam Voorhees there?
>> On a Tuesday, a garage sale?
>> No. She wasn't.
It was a preview.
>> What did Paulie buy?
>> He stayed outside.
He said everything
smelled moldy.
>> Chop?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Some other people
brought stuff to sell, too.
Barbara Apple had a whole
clothes rack of her uncle's
suits, jackets, shirts.
>> The actor?
>> Good actor.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Practically giving stuff
away.
George is like, "Hannah!
Look at all these neat clothes."
I had to tell him, "You wear
the same thing every day.
You're not gonna wear
those actors' things."
Sometimes, he doesn't
see himself.
>> I thought you were trying to
get George to dress better and
make him feel better about
himself.
You're always saying that.
>> She was saying
that just last night.
>> Yeah, but not those things.
That's not him.
Oh, in one of the upstairs
bedrooms, there was still
wallpaper with pictures of
cowboys.
>> Her son must be
50 years old now.
>> Joey Voorhees
was our age, Hannah.
>> He still is.
>> Was Joey there?
>> Yeah.
>> I wonder if he still sleeps
there when he comes to visit.
I almost asked him.
Little cowboys with lassos.
>> Ooh.
>> Joey told me that today was
just a preview for the village
before the weekenders
got their hands on anything.
>> Hmm.
>> He put a yard sale sign
at the town hall so we'd all see
it when we went to vote.
>> The villagers.
>> Do you think they chose
Election Day on purpose?
>> Well, we're the only ones
that would vote there.
We're the only ones
that would see it.
>> Well, good for him.
>> We went to get some tips
for our own sale, Patricia.
>> Did you get any?
>> Oh, not much.
>> Listen to this --
"The Girls' Club With One Idea:
To Make Money."
Maybe, we should all read that.
>> I haven't had a chance
to even look at that.
>> "An Open Letter to the
American Girl" -- that's us.
>> Yeah.
>> You, too, Mom.
"I want to talk straight and
without mincing words.
Has your mother
ever said to you,
'If I could have had as much
when I was your age
as you have now,
I should have been the happiest
girl in the world'?"
Hmm.
>> You didn't used to say things
like that to your children,
Patricia, did you?
>> Joyce?
>> Take a lock.
"The chance are that,
when your mother was a girl,
she did have an overdose
of self-denial
and unsatisfied longing."
>> Pat, is that how you felt
growing up?
>> That's my mother,
my mother to a "T."
>> You want to say
anything else, Mom?
That's all we're gonna get.
>> "Your mother had
precious good times.
She dressed simply,
and when you came long,
her children, the memory
of her own girlhood heartache
stirred all her tender love of
you, and so she gave you
whatever you wanted.
She gave you clothes which
her own judgment told her
were not suited to you."
Well, Mom, we just fought over
my clothes, didn't we?
>> I don't remember
any fighting, Joyce.
>> Oh, who didn't fight
with their mom about clothes?
>> I wore a lot
of my mother's clothes.
>> Wow.
>> "Your mother gave you money
of whose value you had
not the faintest conception."
We'll skip that part.
>> I'd like to hear
more about that.
>> Yes. "She gave you
praise you hadn't earned."
>> Is that true, Patricia?
>> Maybe. That's maybe true.
I'll give you that one, Mom.
"She gave you privileges
which you just abused."
>> True.
>> "She gave you devotion
that you accepted as a
matter-of-course situation."
>> Pat, true?
>> Take a lock.
>> Oh. Maybe I didn't appreciate
everything you did, Mom.
>> Take a lock.
>> One of Thomas' students,
when -- when Thomas was
teaching...
>> Mm-hmm.
>> One day he comes home, "Mary!
The student said
the most amazing thing today."
This relates to that.
The student told him that
her parents keep telling her
they just want her to be happy,
but she told Thomas,
"Don't my parents realize
the pressure that puts on me?"
>> I don't understand.
What do her parents do wrong?
>> Pressuring her to be happy,
Patricia.
>> Why was that...
>> Sometimes, Mom, I understand
just what Thomas' student meant.
Sometimes, it's helpful to think
about being happy as something
that's -- I don't know --
not in our own control.
There are other factors,
and so, if -- when --
we aren't happy,
maybe then we won't feel
so damn guilty about that.
Like, we fucked up
or have let others,
our parents, down.
Karin, here's an article
for you.
>> What's that?
>> "How I furnished
my entire flat from boxes."
>> Save that.
>> Okay.
>> I'm gonna need that.
Let me see.
Can I see?
>> Why does Karin need boxes?
>> For her new apartment.
I still don't know how you're
going to do that commute every
day.
>> Mnh-mnh.
>> From Kingston...
>> We'll see.
>> ...to Hotchkiss.
>> I thought you were living
in our guest room.
>> Well, she is, Patricia,
but she's moving on.
>> Hey, look.
Here's an ad for Jell-O.
>> Well, we should have
had Jell-O.
>> It looks good.
>> It alwayslooks good.
>> My mother was like
one of those mothers
in that magazine.
>> Why, Mom?
Why was she like that?
Tell us.
>> She never wore makeup
in her whole life.
I can still hear her voice.
You're very lucky, Joyce.
I could have been my mother.
>> Here's a color picture
of the Raggedy Ann salad.
>> Patricia, do you know
where the cookie cutters are?
You used to have full boxes
of all kinds of cookie cutters.
>> Hannah, there's a picture
of paintbrush cookies somewhere.
>> I know where they are!
I saw them the other day --
2 bucks a cookie cutter.
They were way in the back
of the pantry.
I was cleaning stuff out.
I can get them.
Should I get them?
>> Sure.
>> I-I'll get them, then.
>> Thanks, Karin.
[ Footsteps ]
Karin knows where the cookie
cutters are.
>> Hey, Mary.
Is Karin wearing
one of Thomas' shirts?
I've been waiting to ask.
>> Mary gave it to her.
>> Well, she's been helping to
clean out Thomas' clothes
closet, and we've been
going through stuff.
It's dirty work.
She's only got nice clothes.
>> Mm.
>> Why was Pam Voorhees
having a garage sale?
Has she died, Hannah?
>> Last month, when you were
in the hospital.
We'll need paintbrushes, too,
the little ones.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Patricia, do you
still have that...
>> Where -- Where --
Where they've always been,
out in the junk cabinet
in the living room.
We haven't started
on the living room yet.
>> Is Pam's son there?
>> Yes. He even asked after you.
He'd heard you'd been ill.
>> Pam probably told him.
>> Probably, and he'd heard
about you selling the house.
Joey hasn't changed as much
as a lot of men do.
>> That's good to hear.
>> You all right, Patricia?
>> When Joey Voorhees
was something like 8 --
See if you remember this, Mom.
Joey was just across the street
in the schoolyard, playing ball.
I was, I think, jumping rope,
and, um, these two older boys
came along, and they --
they grabbed Joey,
and they started hitting him.
And [laughs] all of a sudden,
Mom, you came running across the
street and -- and into the
schoolyard, and you pushed those
boys away, and then you brought
Joey into here.
I found you both in the kitchen,
and you had given him a piece of
cake.
You remember that?
>> No.
>> You don't?
Come on, Mom.
You need to remember
the good things you do, too.
>> Oh, I can take those, Karin.
>> What else do
we need for the cookies?
>> Paintbrushes.
>> There are paintbrushes
in that cabinet
in the living room.
>> Are there?
>> The junk cabinet, I call it.
Do you want me to get them?
I can get them.
>> Yeah, sure.
>> All right.
>> Thank you, Karin.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Karin.
>> You're a big help.
They might need to be washed.
>> You can use the downstairs
bathroom sink.
>> You've done a lot
of good things. nice things.
You need to remember them, too.
>> I don't remember
those things, Joyce.
>> Yes, you do.
You're just being stubborn.
Hey, Mom, Mary's been finding
all sorts of things
cleaning out stuff.
>> I know.
>> Well, Mary told me on the
phone about a box of letters.
I don't think she said
anything...
>> To Patricia, no, not yet.
>> Hannah, may I see that?
I'd like to pick mine before
Joyce takes the good ones.
>> A box she found way in the
back of your and Dad's bureau,
and on the top of the box --
she just showed it
to me when I got here --
you had written,
"Burn after I die."
Well, Mary decided not burn
them, Mom, 'cause you're not
dead.
>> Well, not just Mary.
I agreed, too.
So did George.
>> Mary, George, and Hannah
have read them, Mom.
I read them while Mary was
picking you up.
They're all about your sister.
>> Yeah. I was just cleaning out
the bureau, Patricia.
>> I know the box, Mary.
>> All of the letters are to you
when you were a girl.
I'm sorry.
Everyone was when Ellie died.
Nothing we read seemed like it
needed to be burned.
Did anything to you?
>> I'm sorry if I should have
destroyed them, Patricia.
>> Do you need help?
>> Yeah, sure.
>> I want to talk with you
about this.
>> What's this, Joyce?
>> Reading the letters
and seeing you
as a girl of 13
and how people wrote to you,
how your dad wrote to you,
the fact that he wrote to you.
I mean, you were living
in the same house, weren't you?
Or had you gone away?
One of the addresses was away.
>> I went to live with my aunt
for a while.
>> Yeah, I hadn't known that.
[ Chuckles ]
How could I know that?
Ellie was my aunt.
Of course, I never met her, but
that picture you keep at the
home, that's when she got
married, right?
She's so beautiful
in that photo.
You once told me --
I bet you've forgotten this.
You told me that she had been
your best friend.
>> She was older.
>> Mm. What was her husband's --
George knew the name.
>> Yeah.
>> George told me something
really interesting on the phone.
I don't think he's told you yet.
>> He hasn't.
>> He did some exploring
on the Internet, right?
Ellie's husband, he was a model
for advertisements, wasn't he?
>> Yes.
>> He was a really handsome man,
very attractive, and George
even ran across one of the ads
he was in for hats.
He told me some other
very interesting things, too.
I think they're interesting.
I think -- I think we all do.
The best man at Ellie's
wedding -- Do --
Do you want to know?
>> Know what?
>> There had been this big
scandal.
Someone even recently wrote
about -- made a play out of it.
Some Harvard students, way back,
were thrown out of school
for being homosexuals,
being gay.
And George discovered that one
of these students
was Ellie's husband's best man,
Mom, at their wedding.
Do you know what I'm suggesting?
Here, Mom.
>> Hannah.
A shooting star -- I didn't know
we had one of those.
>> I'll stop. Never mind.
Do you want me to stop?
George speculates -- and this
does make a whole lot
of sense to me, Mom --
What if your sister --
What if she hadn't known
that her husband was a gay man?
He might have thought he needed
a cover.
That's what gay people
had to do back then.
There's actually a name
for this.
The world made us do that then.
So...maybe Ellie, at this
Christmas party she went to that
night -- She had gone --
They had gone to a Christmas
party, right?
>> Yes.
>> And -- And she sees something
at this party that makes her
realize her situation.
She leaves her husband
at the party.
We know she did that.
She goes back
to their apartment.
We know she did.
She leaves no note.
What could she write, Mom?
>> My sister was high-strung.
>> What does that mean?
Anyway, just suppose what
I'm suggesting is what happened.
Just think what your big sister
would have been going through.
She was trapped.
She was 19 -- 19.
She couldn't talk
to your parents.
She couldn't tell your mom.
Grandma would have told her to,
"Make the best of it, dear,"
right?
>> I don't know, Joyce.
>> "You're doing something
wrong" -- that is what Grandma
would have said, right?
Right?
>> He was a good swimmer.
>> Mom.
>> He played sports.
>> You know better.
It wasn't her fault,
and it wasn't your fault.
>> I never said...
>> What?
You never said...what?
You didn't have to say,
but I think that is
what you thought,
that it was your fault.
I read these letters to this
13-year-old child,
and everyone is saying,
in their own way,
the exact same thing --
"Patty, it's not your fault."
Cousins and uncle,
Grandma's friends,
one of your teachers --
"It's not your fault, Patty...
or your mother's
or Ellie's or her husband's."
What we can say to make you
believe that?
>> I don't know, Joyce.
Who's going to mix the paint
for the colors?
>> I will, Patricia.
How many colors?
>> Karin can come back in,
can't she?
>> Karin.
She can't hear me.
>> I think we have four colors
of food coloring.
We can make more from that.
>> You all right?
[ Chuckling ] Mom, there's a
letter here from Betty Crocker
herself, right in the front.
"Dear boys and girls,
cooking is an adventure.
It's really easy to cook once
you know how.
You'll be trying all sorts
of things, even at supper
for the family some night
to give Mother a holiday."
>> [ Chuckling ] Oh, Joyce.
There never was a Betty Crocker.
They made her up.
>> [ Chuckling ] I know, Mom.
>> Sorry, Karin.
>> It's just the front door,
Patricia.
It's just George.
He's back from taking Paulie
to his college.
>> When he's ready,
he'll come and join us.
>> Mm-hmm. Mary's here, staying.
Found this old songbook in the
attic, Mom.
>> Paulie was upset?
>> He was.
It must have been a shock.
You know, he grew up playing
in this house.
It's his grandma's house.
I'm sure he's calmed down by
now.
[ Chuckling ] He'll get over it.
>> "Sing for America -- George."
>> I used to sing that to my
dog, Cleo.
>> Mom, you used to sing this
to me, "My Old Dog Tray."
Do you remember?
>> I never sang it to Paulie.
I don't know it.
>> Do you want to sing it with
me?
>> I think I know the chorus.
>> ♪ Old dog Tray's ever
faithful ♪
>> You okay, Patricia?
>> ♪ Grief cannot drive him
away ♪
♪ He's gentle
>> [ Laughs ]
>> ♪ He is kind
>> ♪ I'll never, never find
♪ A better friend than
old dog Tray ♪
[ Fiddle playing ]
>> We found your father's old
fiddle tune book.
It was in the attic, too.
George was thrilled.
He said he'd forgotten most of
the tunes, so he's just been
practicing.
Yesterday, he broke a string.
We found a whole package of
strings in the case --
still good.
>> May -- May I see?
>> Yeah.
You know, there's research out
now, um, that -- that shows that
a child's brain isn't completely
formed until his mid-20s.
>> I didn't know that.
Did you know that?
>> She's told me. Good to know.
>> And yet we expect them to...
>> [ Chuckling ] To what?
>> To understand, Joyce,
complex, confusing things --
loss, life.
>> Kids. Hannah, I don't know
how you do it.
>> Me neither.
>> You do what you do.
Paulie's a good guy.
>> He is. He's smart.
>> Yeah.
>> I love having him around.
I miss that.
>> Although, sometimes, as you
saw today, Joyce...
>> You should see
some of the actors I deal with.
That was nothing.
>> We knew he'd be upset.
>> Well, you know kids.
They go away to school -- they
like everything to be exactly
the same when they come home.
>> This was a bit more than
that.
>> Yeah, I know. I know.
>> I bet I was way worse
than Paulie was, right, Mom?
>> When, Joyce?
>> As a kid.
I know I said things to you
and to Dad, too.
I'm sure I gave you some pretty
rough times there for a while.
>> Oh, God.
You really did, Joyce,
and you said things.
>> Okay, you don't have to say
it like that, and I don't think
I was any harder on you
than Thomas or George.
The things they said and did
and got away with?
>> Joyce, you were much,
much worse than your brothers.
>> Are you joking?
>> Much worse.
>> Is she joking?
What are you talking about?
>> I'm not saying that you're
like that anymore.
Not that you're perfect now.
>> Are you all right there,
Patricia?
You need anything?
>> [ Chuckling ] I'm fine.
Thank you, dear.
>> Joyce, you want to do
the potatoes?
You always do great mashed
potatoes, never a single lump.
>> I get out my aggressions,
my frustrations.
>> Look at this one, Patricia.
What do you think this is?
>> It's a Christmas stocking,
Mom.
>> Oh, a Christmas stocking.
I love the little ones.
I'm so glad that you didn't
throw those out, Patricia,
>> Yeah, unlike my little
carousel record player.
>> When you got here this
morning, Paulie seemed
so excited about voting.
>> It was his first time.
>> He's gonna be scarred.
>> No, he was like a little kid.
He couldn't stop smiling.
He probably wouldn't have wanted
you to see him like that.
He'd say, "How do I do it, Mom?
I want to do it right."
Fill in the circles.
Put it in the machine.
You're his cool aunt
from New York City.
He wouldn't have wanted you
to see him like that.
>> I was really looking forward
to calling him tonight,
once the election
results, you know...
We talked about --
it was his first time,
and if his vote mattered,
if it counted in any race.
>> Teachout-Faso.
>> It's a nice aunt thing to do.
>> Well, I think the kids need
to hear that, that it matters.
>> Yeah, so do I.
>> I won't bother him tonight.
Should we try him later
in the week?
>> Mary, you can't sell this
in your garage sale.
>> What? Why?
>> I thought the idea was --
Well, look at this picture.
Look -- it's a little white boy
in blackface.
>> Throw it out.
>> Jesus.
>> Recycle it.
>> It's racist.
>> Mom, that you keep.
>> And this was in your attic?
>> I will -- I'll put it out
later with the newspapers.
>> Incredible.
>> I'll rip out that page.
Hi.
>> Mom, you're looking good.
How do you feel?
>> How's Paulie?
>> He left his favorite sweater.
>> Yeah, he was in a hurry
to get out of here.
>> We told your mother.
>> Why did you have to tell him,
George?
>> He needs to start
taking out loans, Mom.
>> We told you this.
>> He needs to sign stuff.
He needed to know why.
>> We didn't want him coming
home for Thanksgiving
to see just a sign on the lawn.
>> We only waited till today
so we could tell him in person.
>> Do you want anything?
There's beer.
>> I'll get you a beer.
>> Was Paulie upset?
>> He's still just a kid, Mom.
>> It's good to see you in your
kitchen, Mom.
>> He's not a kid.
>> George.
>> You don't get to see that
very often anymore.
>> Tell me what Paulie said.
>> In the car, Mom?
In the car -- let's see.
[ Chuckling ] His exact words?
>> What's funny?
>> What were our son's exact
words to his father?
Mom, I think they were something
like, "Dad, so you're just gonna
let them fuck Grandma over?"
>> What?
>> What does that mean?
>> Sorry, Mom.
>> He said that to you?
>> What does he think we can do?
Who's them?
>> After saying, like,
nothing for half an hour,
just staring out the window,
then, "Dad, you're just gonna
let them fuck Grandma over?"
I mean, that's what I said, too,
Hannah.
"Who's them?
Paulie, who -- who is them?"
>> Where to begin?
>> Right.
Right, where to begin?
[ Chuckles ]
I tried to explain to him
it's not gonna help anything
by getting angry.
Getting angry will not help you.
Mom, the best we can do, to hope
for, is to make all this as
painless as possible for
Grandma.
>> Well, he must have understood
that?
He had to hear that.
>> He asked why we hadn't told
him, Hannah.
"I'm a grown-up now, Dad."
>> Come on.
We waited so we could tell him
in person.
>> That's what I said to him.
>> He's been loving his school.
>> I know.
>> He hasn't wanted to come
home.
>> I know.
>> Today, we got him home to
vote.
>> He's a kid.
>> He's not a kid, Joyce.
>> Uh, you said you were going
to mash the potatoes.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> For what it's worth, the
things some of my students say
and with so much confidence,
so damn confident,
and then, the next day,
something else.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> What's all this?
What are you -- What are you
doing?
Oh, my God, I haven't seen
these old cookie cutters for
years.
>> We're making dinner, George,
and we all decided -- everyone
agreed that everything has
to come out of this book.
"Betty Crocker's Cook Book
for Boys and Girls."
>> I remember this.
>> Mary and Hannah found this
in the attic.
>> Shepherd's pie,
paintbrush cookies.
>> Yeah, and we even
thought about making Jell-O.
>> Remember Jell-O?
>> You used to love your Jell-O.
Or was that Thomas?
>> I don't remember. I don't --
>> Raggedy Ann salad.
>> I don't understand.
Why?
>> Well, sort of Paulie's idea.
>> Paulie's?
>> Yeah, when he first got here
today, before we told him
anything.
Remember how happy he was?
>> Yeah.
>> He told us about a game
his friends played sometimes...
>> Well, this is where we got
the idea, from Paulie.
>> ...at dinner in the
cafeteria.
If you knew this was your last
meal and you could have
anything, what would you have?
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> Why would they play that?
>> I don't know, George -- kids.
It's an ice-breaker, he says.
>> And he said that the
responses -- they always
fell into two categories --
those who would choose something
extravagant to indulge
themselves -- a fancy bottle of
wine, like --
>> Wine? He's 18.
>> God knows what.
>> Come on, Joyce.
>> ...or some meal
from some expensive restaurant.
>> Oh, is that what Paulie
would want?
>> No.
>> And the other category was
those who would choose something
that they remember
having already had,
so with a nice memory attached,
a nostalgic thing, I guess.
>> He wanted that, George.
>> What are kids doing thinking
about last meals?
I don't even think I'd be hungry
if I knew it was my last meal.
I wouldn't be thinking about
what to eat.
>> It was a game, Karin.
And Hannah and I had just
found, in the attic, this
"Betty Crocker's Cook Book
for Boys and Girls."
>> Oh, come on.
>> So we all got this idea
to make everything out of that.
>> Well, he loved it.
He was so excited.
He had agreed to stay to dinner.
I hadn't told you.
I was going to surprise you.
And not only was he going to
stay -- he was going to help us
cook.
>> Where was I?
>> Paulie and Mary and I were in
line to vote.
I think you were talking
to someone.
This could be the last chance to
all have a dinner together here.
We'll make a dinner
in your house, this house.
>> You said that to Paulie?
>> No.
>> So, we had to tell him,
Hannah.
He's not a kid.
>> No, I know.
>> [ Sighs ]
So, when will this
fantastic dinner...
>> Don't make fun of it, George.
>> In about an hour.
>> And, Mom, I am gonna go play
Dad's fiddle for a bit.
I'm getting better.
>> You sounded good.
>> Well, it's all coming back.
>> George, when you were gone,
the real estate agent
for the house came by.
He just walked in the kitchen.
He didn't even knock.
>> What did he want?
>> He just took some pictures.
Can he do that, just walk in?
>> Well, he has keys.
>> He scared your mother.
>> [ Sighs ]
[ Chuckles ]
I'm sorry, Mom.
[ Sighs ]
>> "Sing for America." Recycle?
>> Yeah. Thanks, Karin.
>> Paulie was upset?
>> I think more like
disappointed, Patricia, in us --
not you -- not you, just in us.
>> Pat, then she says,
"Part of the problem with
empathy is that empathy
doesn't do us anything.
We've had lots of empathy,
but we feel that, for too long,
our leaders have used politics
as the art of the possible,
but the challenge now is to
practice politics as the art of
making the impossible possible."
>> She's like 20 years old,
Patricia, and w-we don't see
this side of Hillary now.
>> Well, she's got to be in
there somewhere.
>> Well, I don't see it.
>> Wellesley.
>> She's like, 20, 21.
Karin did a lot of it
for us last night.
>> She said, "We are,
all of us, exploring a world
that none of us understands
and attempting to create
within that uncertainty."
>> Well, that is true.
>> But there is a feeling
that our prevailing culture
and its corporate life --
>> Corporate life?
Come on, where is this Hillary?
>> Corporate life, which
tragically includes
universities...
>> Oh, Thomas would really agree
with that.
>> Yeah.
>> ...is not a way of life for
us.
>> This is Hillary Clinton,
Patricia, at 21.
>> Mm. Rodham. Hillary Rodham.
>> Yeah, here's something the
kids at Vassar couldn't believe.
>> She did her show last week
at Vassar.
>> "Trust," she said.
>> Listen to this.
>> "'Trust' is the one word
when I asked the class
at our graduation rehearsal
what it was they wanted me
to say to them in my speech.
Everyone came up to me and said,
'Talk about trust.'"
>> I wonder if she remembers
that.
>> I wonder if,
when she looks back...
Well, does she look back?
Can she look back?
...what she thinks.
>> But I end my play with a poem
she recited, also at her
graduation.
"My entrance into the world
of so-called social problems
must be with quiet laughter
or not at all.
The hollow men of anger
and bitterness
must be left to a bygone age."
>> "With quiet laughter
or not at all."
Karin said she wanted to end
her show hopeful.
>> Well, I think that's
important, especially this year,
especially with kids.
>> What does hollow men...
>> Of anger and bitterness...
>> They've been left behind?
>> You going to come with us?
What time's your show?
>> Where?
>> The Theatre Society.
>> Who wants to be alone
tonight?
>> The Barn.
We've been there.
We saw "Godspell" there.
You want to come?
We're all going.
>> I don't think so.
>> Oh, come on, Patricia.
>> Mom.
>> It's a special night.
>> If you get tired,
we'll bring you back to the inn.
>> 9:00, around 9:00.
I don't think things are that
tightly scheduled.
>> Sure.
>> I think it depends on how
things go tonight, but
sometimes...
>> We'll see.
>> ...after the polls close,
it's just excerpts,
like 20 minutes.
>> I voted today for that
Hillary.
She's got to be in there
somewhere.
Don't you think she's in there?
>> Yes.
>> Long lines in Brooklyn?
>> Very long, and I got to
talking with the young woman
in front me, and I said,
"It's pretty exciting, right?"
And she goes, "Uh, I just hope
Hillary knows that my vote is
for not him."
>> [ Chuckling ] Gosh.
>> You want to make some
cookies?
Want to choose a cookie cutter?
>> I should get ready soon.
>> Oh, and Karin's wearing
your glasses, Patricia.
>> What? Why?
>> Well, no, no, not those.
We're not taking away those.
We'll have fun tonight
with us girls.
Joyce is right.
It's good to be together
tonight.
But, Karin, you found some other
neat stuff for your show.
What's the weird bit,
about the collars?
>> What bit?
>> Why is that weird?
>> She'll like it.
It's about clothes.
>> She says, "Instead of the
closed collars I usually wear,
I've been told to change my
wardrobe to a more open-neck
look to convey, I'm told,
more openness."
>> One of Bill's pollsters told
her to do that.
Do what the pollsters tell you
to do.
That will make you seem human.
>> Yeah, but then she just says,
"But I just tell them
I get colds frequently,
and I need to keep my neck
warm to avoid them."
>> Good for her.
>> Well, that makes sense tome.
[ Laughter ]
What? Doesn't that make sense?
>> Hillary's just saying,
"Fuck you."
>> Yeah.
>> You think so?
>> Totally saying, "Fuck you."
"Convey more openness."
A man definitely told her
to do that.
>> Yeah, maybe Bill.
>> "Fuck you," so, where is
that Hillary now?
[ Fiddle playing ]
>> Mary.
Patricia, want to cut out
some cookies?
>> Famous paintbrush cookies.
We have plenty of dough.
>> Why don't we get Patricia set
up, so we can...
>> We've been choosing
cookie cutters.
I'll give her this --
she never quits.
I do like that.
>> I do, too.
>> Oh, Patricia, here.
>> Thanks.
>> Karin bought a pantsuit.
[ Laughs ]
>> A pantsuit?
>> Yes.
>> Why?
>> To be Hillary for tonight.
>> Pantsuit?
>> Yeah, I guess she couldn't
fit into any of yours, Mom.
>> [ Laughing ] Joyce.
[ Telephone ringing ]
>> I have a pantsuit?
>> No.
>> We can all hang around here
until about 9:00,
and then go together
and see Karin's show.
And if you get tired or
whatever, we'll bring you back
to the inn.
I don't want to think of you
alone in your room
on this election night.
>> She has a roommate.
>> I would like an apple.
>> You want an apple?
>> Are you hungry, Patricia?
>> I would like an apple,
please.
>> Here. Do you want me to cut
it into slices?
>> I can cut it.
>> Help her cut it.
>> Here. Let me.
>> I can cut it, Hannah.
>> Here, Mom.
>> So, are you wearing your
pantsuit on your date tonight?
>> Date?
>> Be careful, Mom.
>> Date.
>> Karin has a date, Patricia.
She's not eating with us,
Patricia.
She's just been helping us out.
>> Hannah told me.
>> It's just your family
tonight.
>> A date.
>> It's not a real --
>> Well, he's taking you to
Gigi's.
That sounds like a date to me.
>> Sure you don't want some help
with that?
>> He's part of the
Rhinebeck Theatre Society.
I think he just wants to
thank me for the show.
I'm not being paid.
There might even be, you know,
other people with us at the
restaurant.
>> Don't hurt yourself, Mom.
>> It's a date if she bought a
dress.
>> At Marshall's.
>> She bought a new dress.
>> I got new jeans.
>> What do you mean?
>> My boss.
If you promised to vote,
she said she'd get you
a new pair of jeans.
>> Isn't that patronizing?
>> She's rich.
Welcome to my life, Hannah.
If you canvass in Ohio, she said
she'd get you new boots.
I came here instead.
>> What'd they cost --
the jeans?
>> I don't know.
She's here like two months,
and she's got a date?
>> He's in, um, real estate,
uh, the date.
>> Is he selling my house?
>> No, Mom.
They've gone with someone else
for that.
>> My children grew up
in this house.
>> I'm one of your children.
I know.
Can I please do this for you?
It's really hard
with just one hand.
See, here.
>> You want something else,
Patricia?
>> What do you need, Patricia?
>> Where are you going?
>> Tell us what you need.
>> I want to go home.
>> What do you mean?
>> You are home.
>> This is...
>> Patricia, what's wrong?
>> I'm sad.
>> Wait. Okay.
You can't stand on this leg.
>> Please, Mary,
please take me home.
>> Mom, we're making dinner.
>> Joyce is here.
She came for dinner.
>> It's all right.
Patricia, it's all right.
>> Come on, come on.
>> Where's my chair, Mary?
>> Can you get George,
tell him we need him?
>> Mary, where is it?
>> It's right over there.
It's just folded up.
>> It's -- It's right there,
Mom.
Mary's got it.
George!
>> Joyce.
>> Mom, Mary's got it.
It's coming.
>> Mom?
>> It's right there.
>> What's going on?
>> Your mother wants to go home.
>> Nothing.
She said she's sad.
>> Mom, I thought you were gonna
have dinner with all of us.
>> Yeah, you've been helping us.
>> We're gonna be making us
a real nice dinner.
>> She doesn't want to be here.
>> Joyce is here.
Mom, it...
>> George.
>> I'm right here.
>> You know, maybe...
>> I'm right here.
>> ...maybe you need to go to
the bathroom first, Patricia.
Do you want to go to
the bathroom before we go home?
>> Oh, I do.
>> Yes, she needs to go
to the bathroom,
but, no, not on your own.
Not on her own.
>> All right.
>> You can't move that leg,
remember?
So you let George help you.
>> All right.
>> Hold on.
>> Put your arm around my...
>> You don't want that.
>> ...neck and hold on tight.
Okay, I'm gonna swing you
around.
We've done this many,
many times.
There. Good.
Good work.
Really good work.
I think you just got tired.
I think that's what --
I think it's what she wants,
the bathroom,
But, Joyce, will you take her?
>> No, I'll do that.
Joyce, I can do that.
>> I can do it.
>> George, has she been
in the living room
since they picked up the piano?
>> We alway-- We always come in
through the back, up the ramps.
>> Fuck.
>> No, I think -- I think she's
been in there.
She's seen.
I'm sure. Never mind.
>> I should get changed soon...
for my date.
You don't need me for...
>> No, no. Nothing.
Thanks, Karin.
>> You all okay?
>> I thought it wasn't a date.
>> Oh.
>> Mary gave her one of Thomas'
shirts.
>> [ Chuckling ] What?
>> Do you think Mary needs help
getting her off the toilet?
>> She's a doctor.
>> I can -- I'll -- I'll go see
if she needs help.
And I'll drive Mom back to her
inn.
Sorry, Joyce.
>> I'll go with you.
I have to get up really early,
and I want to make sure to say
goodbye.
Ohh, I really thought she was
gonna hurt herself on that
apple.
I couldn't watch.
She does seem a little better,
though.
When I was up last month...
>> You know, she'd just begun
PT then.
She's better.
>> I'm glad we're taking her
home.
She's tired.
Mom.
[ Chuckles ]
>> What?
>> Ohh. [ Chuckles ]
This -- This afternoon, when I
was [clears throat] up in Mom
and Dad's room reading the
letters, and -- and while I was
lost reading, and --
and I hear this, "Hi,"
like, this high-pitched voice,
"Hi."
[ Chuckles ]
And I look around --
nobody's there.
"Hi."
I'm like, "Mom? Mom?"
[ Chuckles ]
It sounds like it's coming
from Mom's closet,
so I'm about to get up and go
check when I realize
it's just my stomach.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> "Hi."
Doesn't that sound like,
"Hi! Hi!"
[ Both laugh ]
You know, when your stomach
gurgles, but it's,
like, it's a thrown voice,
like it's out there somewhere?
And it's just my stomach.
Hey, is everything all right?
>> That was fast.
>> You okay?
>> Yeah, we -- we're fine,
aren't we, Patricia?
Yeah, we're just fine.
>> I'm gonna go with George,
take you back home, Mom.
>> No, no, that's no longer
necessary.
Patricia wants to stay, don't
you?
You want to stay
with your family.
How often do we have dinner
with Joyce, right?
Do you want to sit at the table
or stay in your chair?
Oh, she's wearing...
She just forgot she was,
and she got worried.
T-That happens.
No one likes to
embarrass herself.
What about that chair?
You sometimes like to sit
in the beautiful chair.
>> Chair.
>> Okay.
It's more comfortable.
>> You're staying for dinner --
Mom, that's great.
Mom's staying for dinner.
>> Yeah, I know.
>> Here. Let me help you.
>> Change of scenery.
>> Oh, Dad's old chair.
>> Hold on to me.
>> That was a -- That was a
really good idea to bring that
in here.
How much did you get
for the desk?
>> Um...$85 on eBay.
>> There.
I reminded Patricia
about what today is.
You'd forgotten.
>> I forgot, Mary.
>> Thomas would want all of us
here.
He'd have been very upset.
It's been one year,
one very long year.
>> What about a chair
for your feet?
>> What can I do?
>> Why don't -- Why don't we put
a towel down under and...
>> Here.
>> Can you -- Well, no, can you
get a -- a towel from the sink
drawer, Hannah?
We'll use one of those.
So, um, you just -- you just
forgot about what today was --
that's all.
But, you know, actually,
it's not till tomorrow, the 9th,
but Joyce has to get back.
So, here we go.
Okay.
There.
Now you can sit here in comfort
and just watch over everybody.
[ Both chuckle ]
You do like doing that,
don't you?
>> And give advice.
Mom, you always loved to give
advice.
>> I do?
>> What were we talking about?
I was at the Kingston Mall
the other day.
>> I always hated
the Kingston Mall.
>> Yeah, what -- what a
depressing place that has
become.
>> You used to like it.
We used to go together.
>> As kids.
>> Half the stores are closed.
>> You all right, Mom?
>> Oh, I'm just enjoying
watching these girls working.
>> I think she means us.
>> I was in that, uh, that big
shoe store -- what's that
called?
And I was the only person
in there.
And I'm sitting, and I look up,
and there's this mirror
on a pillar.
>> What?
>> For some reason,
I wasn't prepared.
I-I had makeup on, and I think,
"Well, maybe I put
it on a little too quickly."
You know, the light
in the upstairs bathroom.
>> Yeah.
>> You need natural light.
>> Yes.
>> You know, I'd -- I'd
certainly looked hard at myself
before and see what else might
need to be done.
Should I start coloring my hair?
I think now it's a bit late for
that.
>> Hillary still colors her
hair.
>> Yeah, but to start now?
Who wants those questions?
But, still, I just -- I'd never
been surprised like I now was.
It was startled.
And I look up, and isn't just,
"Oh, look, there's something
new -- another, you know,
whatever to be covered up."
But what I see is --
it's a stranger, and do --
do I want to know this person?
[ Chuckling ] Who's there?
>> What?
>> Oh, just -- Oh, Thomas --
Thomas used to always say that,
one day, he wanted to write
a play with that opening line.
He says it was the greatest
opening line of all time, of --
of any play.
>> What? What? What line?
>> "Hamlet," it was there.
>> "Every play should begin that
way," he said.
"Who's there?"
I didn't understand.
>> All right.
>> Mom?
>> Okay.
Straighten up.
>> You're gonna live to be 105.
[ Laughter ]
And I think that's a really good
thing.
It means I've got those genes.
You, too.
>> You know, I read somewhere,
some book, about dealing with a
loved one's death, how it was
the custom years and years ago,
in a lot of places in America,
in the home where there'd been
a death, to drape black curtains
over all the mirrors.
>> Why?
>> I-I just remembered this --
and over any painting
or photograph of landscapes.
[ Chuckling ] Landscapes.
So that the spirit,
as it left the body,
would not be distracted
by a reflection of itself
or by a last look at the world
now being lost.
It was out west somewhere,
um, log cabins.
>> Oh, you probably saw all that
as a kid, Mom.
>> I don't think so.
>> My boss, in her office in the
shop -- she keeps a print of
Titian's "Venus."
>> Mary, you think you could get
me another egg for the painting?
>> You know, the one where she's
a plump girl, she's lying on the
bed, naked and proud of herself
and her sexiness.
My boss says that it's her
inspiration and her solace and
her joy.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> Is your -- Is your boss
chubby?
>> No. She's really thin, but
maybe that's how she sees
herself.
>> I don't understand.
>> Never mind. Here.
You want to paint some cookies?
>> You and Thomas always
loved to paint the cookies.
>> Did they, Patricia?
>> I don't know.
I can't remember.
Maybe.
>> What do you want to do,
George?
Do you want to do a fish?
Ooh, here's a fish.
Or how -- how about a duck?
>> Let him pick his own
cookie cutters.
>> Hey, Mom, what do you think
this is?
What's that supposed to be?
I think it might be a squirrel.
>> It's Santa with a sack.
>> I think it's a squirrel, Mom.
>> Paulie didn't seem bothered
by having to take out loans.
That didn't seem to be
what really upset him.
>> I don't think it was.
Did he say anything about loans
during your car ride?
Did you bring it up?
>> I did.
He said, "What the fuck, Dad?
I'll just default. Fuck them."
>> Fuck who?
Who does he think is out there
to fuck for having to take out
loans?
>> You mean, where do you start?
>> Maybe that's what he means.
Maybe, Hannah.
>> Fuck them.
Maybe.
Sorry, Patricia.
Well, good luck, Paulie.
Go ahead and try.
See how far you get.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> George, tell your sister
what you wrote
underneath that guy's desk.
>> Oh.
>> What desk?
>> So, George built
this small desk for a client.
What does he do?
>> He's a financial guy.
>> For his home.
>> No. He has a home office
in his weekend house.
It's some scam to get
a tax deduction, I'm sure.
>> Yeah.
>> I mean, I used to think
there were rules.
To them, just a game.
>> So, what about the desk?
>> So, George wrote
underneath...
So, say this guy
drops his Montblanc pen
and needs to crawl
under to get it,
and happens to look up.
What will he see?
What did you write?
It's a quote --
he knows it by heart.
Tell her.
>> "I speak not the triumph
of the sword,
nor the wonders of science,
nor of grandiose
economic achievement,
but only of the brotherhood
of man."
>> That's what you wrote?
All that?
That's a lot to write
under a desk.
>> It's from the grave
of a famous poet.
>> And what does it mean?
>> It's obvious what it means.
>> I'm not saying it's gonna
change anything, Joyce.
>> What could it change?
You scribbled it underneath.
>> It's not scribbled.
>> I thought it was
a pretty cool thing to do.
>> I'll -- I'll...
It made me feel good.
>> He wrote it in pen, Joyce.
>> All dressed up!
>> Oh, don't tease.
>> Oh, look at you.
>> I'm not teasing.
>> It's not a date.
>> She looks great.
Doesn't she look great?
>> Yeah, but is it too...
>> No. You -- You look really
good, Karin, and it fits you
great.
I, for one, cannot believe
she got that at Marshalls.
I can never find anything there.
Did you -- Did you want to wear
my, um...
>> Oh, these are fine.
What's wrong with them?
It's not really a date.
>> Mary got asked out on a date.
>> She doesn't want you to.
>> No, please, please, please.
>> Who was he?
>> She doesn't want to talk
about it.
>> It's a good thing, Mary.
A year is a long time...
>> Please, please
don't talk about me.
>> ...and you were taking care
of him, all those years.
>> Shut up. Please shut up.
>> Put an apron on, over that.
>> I'm just...
>> I agree.
>> There's one on the, um --
What time is he...
>> Any time.
It's not a date.
>> Hannah, Paulie also said
in the car, "Uncle Thomas
would have fought all this."
>> What's all this?
>> How?
>> The mortgage?
>> I guess everything.
>> How would he, Mary?
>> I don't know.
>> I think Paulie said it
to hurt me.
I mean, he misses his uncle,
too.
We've -- We've watched this,
haven't we, Hannah?
>> Yeah. We have.
>> And we've tried to talk
to him about it.
We all know Thomas would not
have known how to fight
any more than we do, or who.
>> No. No.
I don't think he would. No.
>> But I just started thinking,
driving back,
of just remembering,
kept popping back into my head
about when Thomas had just gone
off to -- to college...
>> Mm-hmm.
>> ...and how that was really
hard on me.
You know, I felt such
an incredible loss.
My big brother gone,
and I didn't tell
anyone I felt that.
You were too young.
And, finally, he came home at
Thanksgiving, and he didn't seem
all that different.
He still seemed interested
in me and spent time with me
and told me about school.
And, Mom, do you remember how he
and Dad fought at dinner?
They really fought.
"We're gonna make things
better, Dad!"
>> [ Chuckling ] Oh, Thomas?
>> "More just!"
"Well, you just do your
homework, commie."
"Dad!"
>> Dad.
>> "And never sign your name
on any kind of petition,
Tommy, never!"
He was always afraid of that.
Oh, he was really worried
about us doing that.
"You're there to get
an education, period!
That's why you're in college."
[ Laughter ]
You remember?
>> I remember.
>> And Thomas looked
across the table at me.
He winked at me, I remember --
and I -- and I knew what he was
thinking -- "Little brother,
look how scared our father is."
Thomas was exactly Paulie's age,
and Dad was mine.
[ Sighs ]
>> Paulie and George had a big
fight about Bernie this summer.
>> Oh, I -- Bernie is looking
better every day, Hannah --
maybe the only one who is.
>> You need to tell Paulie that.
Mary, guess what Paulie shouted
at George when they were
fighting over Bernie.
>> What? What?
>> "Dad, what about us?"
>> Oh, he did. He did!
>> That is what Thomas
would always do!
>> We know that.
We all know that, George.
>> Just like Thomas,
"What about us?"
Just like Thomas.
>> Your father only wanted you
not to make a mistake
that you'd later regret.
He always said he only wanted
his children to be happy.
>> [ Chuckling ] Happy.
Mom, remember what Mary just
told us about Thomas' student?
>> What? What?
That's all -- That's all we want
for Paulie, too.
That's what we always say,
isn't it, Hannah?
"Just -- Just be happy."
>> I wanted more for you
than that.
>> Hannah's, uh, uh -- She's
been working as a maid now,
Joyce.
>> What?
What are you talking about?
>> And they haven't told Paulie
yet.
You didn't -- I didn't think you
knew.
>> No.
>> Just part-time at
the Rhinecliff Hotel.
>> We're not hiding it, Mary.
>> No, we just haven't told
anyone.
>> When did this start?
>> We need the money.
[ Laughter ]
Catering has slowed.
Who gets married in November?
>> She makes the beds,
and she cleans the rooms
and cleans the bathrooms,
and, um, I think you told me
that you were the only maid
there who speaks English,
and so she's been helping out
the other maids, now,
um, on your breaks, right?
Yeah, with their English,
and good for you.
That is a good thing to do.
>> Thank you.
>> I didn't know.
>> Well, just until Mom can come
and live with us.
Assisted living
is even more expensive.
>> You are getting so much
better, Patricia, every day.
We're just taking things
month to month.
We're working through our
savings, Paulie's funds.
>> You know what's funny, Joyce?
>> What? What is funny?
>> Less than 2 miles from the
Rhinecliff Hotel...
>> Mm-hmm.
>> ...is the Astor estate.
Joyce, our grandmother,
Dad's mother --
she was a maid there...
>> I know that!
>> ...at the Astors',
so I keep kidding Hannah,
"This is like we've gone back
in time.
We've gone backwards."
>> I don't think
you should tease her about that.
>> I have, like, the same
damn job as your grandmother.
[ Laughter ]
>> So, Mom, you are moving in
with Hannah and George.
I didn't know that was
completely decided.
>> When she's ready.
>> When she can. Yeah.
>> Her bedroom will be the
living room because of the
stairs.
>> Don't you need a --
a living room?
>> I have a kitchen.
[ Doorbell rings ]
>> Oh, Karin, there is your
date.
>> It's not a date.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> What are you doing?
>> I'm gonna answer the door.
>> No!
>> I'll go with you.
>> I don't think she
should do it by herself.
>> Isn't that right?
Should she answer the door?
>> No.
>> No.
>> Hang on. Hang on.
>> Oh.
>> Just eager.
>> Order something really
expensive.
>> Oh, I will.
>> Karin...
do you have protection?
>> Oh, fuck off!
>> Joyce teases too much.
>> Yeah.
>> I am going to call
Paulie tonight.
>> He's not gonna answer.
Hannah, he doesn't want
to talk to us.
>> Then I'll call his roommate.
I have the number.
>> How'd you get that?
When we moved him in.
The mothers exchanged
phone numbers.
Moms do that.
"Just in case," we said.
>> [ Sighs ]
>> Please, don't try to talk me
out of it, please.
>> George, do you remember
your grandmother
and the mashed potatoes?
>> No. Mom, no.
[ Chuckling ] I don't.
>> She cleaned out the cracks
of their dining room table.
>> Whose?
>> The Astors.
She cleaned out
the mashed potatoes
with a knife.
They let their kids shove
the potatoes into the cracks,
and she heard one of them
saying once, pointing at her,
"That maid will clean it up."
>> He had his nose pressed
against the window.
>> Did you get to meet him?
>> She wouldn't let us.
>> I think she bruised my arm.
She was out the door in,
like, one second.
>> He looks like a real-estate
agent.
>> That's what I thought.
>> Isn't that what he is?
>> Yeah, but he alsolooks like
one.
I-I think I've seen him around.
>> Joyce, you probably don't
know this, either, about Mary.
>> What?
>> She can't renew
her doctor's license.
>> Oh.
>> It's not just one test.
She'd have to take everything
all over again.
>> I can't -- I can't do that.
I'm too old.
I was so stupid.
>> She's thinking about being
a substitute science teacher
over in Ulster.
>> Yeah. They -- They need them,
and, um, even if you don't have
a teacher's license,
you can substitute for up
to 16 weeks in the district.
So I figure that I will just
register in three or four
districts, and I should be able
to get enough work.
>> You know about this?
Kingston, Ulster?
>> And my daughter has now made
it clear that she doesn't
want me in Pittsburgh.
>> She hasn't actually said,
Mary.
>> She's said, Hannah.
I-I think it's her father.
She just doesn't want to upset
him, and they're -- they're --
they're close.
>> When did this happen?
>> Her daughter called last
night.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> What?
>> She's like -- It's like she
discovered Hillary.
Like, every time -- Like,
two months ago, she wouldn't
have anything to do with her.
"I'll never trust her."
>> Ohh.
>> And -- And now she's calling
me, reminding me to vote, 'cause
"This really matters, Mom."
And, "Oh, she came to Pittsburgh
today, Mom.
I saw her in person.
No, we can't let him win."
And, "Oh, remember,
she's a woman."
>> I think we already knew that.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> Well, she's in Pennsylvania,
so that's good.
>> Kingston -- you're moving
there.
>> Mary, tell Joyce
about that lawyer's office.
>> What?
>> No. You tell her.
>> There's this law office.
>> Oh, it's, like, two houses
down from where Karin's new
apartment is.
>> Yeah, we all went to look
at Karin's new apartment,
and you -- you, too, Patricia --
you came with us.
Do you remember?
>> Rounds & Rounds,
Attorneys At Law.
"Rounds & Rounds" we go.
>> "We've got you coming
and going."
>> "And we will take forever
doing it."
[ Laughter ]
>> Something out of Dickens.
>> You're right. It is.
>> Like us.
>> We are. He's right.
>> We could all start a NORC.
>> What's that?
>> We would all take care
of each other.
Grown-ups. Who needs kids?
>> A NORC, Patricia --
it's a community of people
of a certain age.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And they take care of each
other, and they live together.
>> [ Chuckles ]
When I was in Paris,
I went to this...
>> Oh, Paris.
"I go to Paris."
>> Shut up!
This is an entirely different
subject.
>> Oh.
>> I visited this famous old
cemetery.
>> By the way, a cemetery
and NORC...
>> Huge old place.
>> Is this really a difference
subject?
>> It's like a city itself,
and lots of famous people are
there -- Oscar Wilde.
>> Huh.
>> Lots.
A -- A crematory, where the
ashes are put into wall
in, like, little slots.
>> Uh-huh.
>> Oh, Isadora Duncan is there.
It just says "Dora Duncan."
I guess her whole name
didn't fit.
[ Laughter ]
There's a workman there,
cleaning out one of these slots,
and, um, and I learn later
that these slots
are just rented, so when...
Then, you're forgotten...
>> Thrown away?
>> I don't know.
Anyways, he's just there,
cleaning out this slot,
and there's another empty slot
just above that one,
and he's put his plastic bottle
of apple juice in there.
So I'm looking, and, you know,
there's all these names,
and then there's this
plastic bottle of apple juice,
taking up its own slot.
>> Yeah.
>> Why do I keep remembering
that?
>> NORCs. Cemeteries.
When are we gonna start
talking about our illnesses?
[ Laughter ]
Come on.
we're fucking Gabriels.
>> That's right.
>> What does that mean?
>> I don't know, Mom.
Does anyone know?
>> Karin, why are you back?
>> Are you okay? Where is he?
>> Yeah. [ Chuckles ]
>> What? What?
>> Oh, he's gone to dinner.
>> Okay.
>> I want a beer.
>> Oh. I've got...
>> I-I can get it.
>> I got it.
>> Well, we got as far
as the traffic light,
and we're standing there,
waiting for the walk sign --
Oh, God, sometimes
that seems to take forever.
>> Well, it can.
>> Do you want a glass?
>> I do.
>> She wants a glass.
>> I'd like a glass.
He asked if, later,
he could see upstairs,
your second floor.
For a minute, a very stupid
minute, I thought, you know,
he thought I was sleeping up
there.
Thanks.
So I said, "No. I'm staying
in the office in back, upstairs
there."
He said, oh, he'd probably like
to look at that, too.
>> I don't understand.
>> But upstairs here really
interested him.
"How big are the bedrooms?"
Square footage.
He had a tape measure with him.
>> What?
>> The second we left,
he started asking about
the house -- leaks, basement.
We're walking down the street,
and that's all he could talk
about -- how, when it's listed
with him, this week, it could
still be listed with him, too.
"They do that.
We can do that."
He's got someone interested.
I said to him, "Are we only
gonna talk about the house?"
And he said, "Is that
all right?"
>> You never even got
to the restaurant.
>> [ Chuckling ] No.
I have a headache.
>> The buzzards are circling.
>> Yeah.
>> What does that mean?
>> Get me my gun.
We're not dead yet.
>> I don't understand.
>> It's all right, Mom.
>> You'll have to eat
with us, Karin.
>> Yeah.
>> No. No. I can't do that.
This is your --
It's a family thing.
>> Oh, come on.
>> I know that.
One year after Thomas' death.
>> Karin.
>> Well, almost. It's tomorrow.
>> You are the widow.
>> Karin.
>> You're welcome to join us.
>> No.
>> Come on. Come on.
>> Stay with us. Sit down.
>> Paint a cookie.
>> Paint a cookie.
We're all Gabriels.
>> Oh, I just kept the name.
My agent told me
I shouldn't change it.
>> We've only chosen our shapes.
>> Yeah.
Do -- Do -- Do you want to
change your dress?
>> Oh, it's fine.
>> It looks like George is doing
Christmas trees.
>> I will take off these.
Oh, crap.
>> Where is Patricia's apron?
>> They'reautumn trees, Joyce.
I'll paint them
with fall foliage.
>> They'll look like lights,
and those are supposed to be
Christmas cookies.
>> Leave him alone.
They'll end up looking
beautiful.
Everything George touches
ends up looking beautiful.
He's an artist.
>> Ah, a craftsman.
>> That's an artist, too.
>> Give her a cookie.
>> Pick what you want.
>> Man, why didn't we have the
Raggedy Ann salad?
That would have made my day.
Aren't I easy to please, Mom?
Mom is asleep.
>> Well, let's not get
your play script dirty.
>> Oh. I meant to show your
mother these.
>> What?
>> Your mother's glasses.
>> Those are your mother's,
for Karin's show.
>> She had glasses just like
these -- young Hillary.
>> Yes.
>> My daughter was 15 when the
whole Monica mess, and I was
visiting her and her dad.
They -- They're in Pittsburgh
And she said to me
about Bill and Monica,
"Oh, I would never stay married
to someone who cheated on me."
I-I know she -- she meant to
hurt me, and I tried to explain
to her that things are --
are complicated.
>> Mm.
>> But, well, she's --
she's calling more often.
>> Good.
>> She's just feeling guilty.
>> Karin, I can't believe that
real estate guy, your date.
Unbelievable.
>> Well, now everyone knows
it wasn't a date.
>> Hey, Joyce, the real-estate
guy for this house called me
last Friday.
Joyce, he -- he said he had some
potential clients
visiting from the city --
could he bring them around?
And I-I told him,
"It's not even listed yet."
>> Mm.
>> And so I hang up.
Can you pass me the green?
>> I use this brush?
>> Use whatever you want.
Don't even ask.
>> He then called me right back
and said he -- he wished to
remind me of the fact that we
don't actually own this house
anymore, and so he was just
being polite and neighborly,
and they'd be here in an hour.
I tell him, "We're busy."
And he says he doesn't give a
fuck and please don't ever hang
up on him again.
Now can I have the red?
>> Why Kinderhook?
>> This very rich gallery owner
from Manhattan...
>> Old Kinderhook -- "Okay."
>> ...bought their high school.
>> What?!
>> I-I don't know --
Why don't I know about this?
>> Their high school, right
in the middle of Kinderhook.
I guess they built a new one.
I don't know.
I hope so.
>> Yeah.
>> And completely renovated it.
>> Open one day a week.
>> How do they make any money?
>> I don't think they have to,
Joyce, but I don't understand
that, either.
>> I don't -- I don't know how
these games are played.
>> So we saw this show
by this African artist --
Anatsui?
>> Yeah.
>> I guess that's how you say
it?
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Do you know his stuff?
>> No.
>> Oh, he makes these giant,
very colorful...
>> Beautiful.
>> ...like, objects.
Most of them hang on the wall.
>> Out of, like, thousands
of little, tiny bottle caps,
all sewed together with wire.
>> Yeah. They end up looking
like magnificent tapestries,
don't they?
>> Oh, incredible! I mean...
>> They flow.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, and then you get
close, and you see it's just all
these found things.
>> It's just all real stuff.
>> Then you step back again,
and it's like -- whhhh!
[ Laughter ]
Magnificent or spiritual.
>> That's how we felt.
>> It made me happy just to be
there among his whatever
they are, in their presence.
>> From bottle caps.
>> Yeah. George and I said
almost the same thing.
It's like they're overflowing
with life.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> You know, we -- we kept
thinking they're living and
breathing and human, real,
these sewn-together tiny
bottle caps.
But it says on the wall that
they're from liquor bottles,
the sort imported into Africa
from Europe, so I guess
there's something dark, too.
>> Ah.
>> Colonialism.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> But, you know, out of that,
from that, these things are
created, and they're beautiful.
We were both just blown away.
And then, on the way out,
there's this little
room with some books,
like catalogs about the work
and Anatsui's life.
And George picks up one...
>> And I happen to turn to a
page with this intriguing
photograph of one of Anatsui's
big works hanging in the lobby
of the Bill and What's-Her-Name
Foundation...
>> I forget.
>> ...Bill and What's-Her-Name
Gates Foundation.
Anyway...
>> M something.
>> ...and alongside the work,
hanging on their lobby wall,
there's this handsomely
printed description
about the making of it,
and it describes how the village
children in the artist's African
town...
>> And there's a little
photograph of them.
>> ...how they helped to hammer
the bottle caps and tie them
together with the wire.
And for this, the artist,
Anatsui, he repays their labor
by sending them to school.
>> And this is obviously
something that this foundation
wants to celebrate,
to trumpet how,
through his artwork,
this great artist gives back
to his community by sending
poor children to school.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Why is that a bad thing?
It seems like it's a good...
>> No, well, it explains
all this in the catalog,
and then it says
that this is not true.
>> What isn't?
>> Oh.
>> That someone at the
Gates Foundation
seems to have made all this up.
>> What?
>> There's a photograph in the
catalog of Anatsui looking
incredulous, like, "Where --
Where the hell did they
come up with this idea?"
He never paid for poor kids
to go to school.
It probably never even occurred
to him to do that.
He -- He pays them what he pays
them, the going rate for where
he lives and works, a rate we'd
probably cringe at, but that's
what they get.
They're paid to help him make
art, which doesn't have
to justify itself
by quote-unquote
doing something else.
Just art, which shows or proves
the capacity we human beings
have to create out of our mess.
I'm trying to quote him, now.
"And while never denying that
the mess is there,
we, using just stuff,
even found stuff,
bits of this and that,
even everyday, normal stuff,
even if it's bottle caps,
we celebrate being human."
>> I like that.
>> Yeah.
>> But billionaires, we guess --
didn't we, Hannah? -- must need
to feel that they're buying more
than just that, things they can
turn into something else.
>> Do you think your mother
is comfortable there?
>> Oh.
>> Don't wake her up, please.
[ Chuckles ]
I'm just kidding.
>> Hey, I'm so glad you guys
finally got her wearing those
things.
>> Depends?
>> Yeah.
Thank you for doing that.
>> Are you taking credit for it?
It wasn't your idea.
>> George told me this story
about Alexander the Great
and this great, great artist.
>> You said that it was sexist.
>> Not when I tell it.
What art can do is just art,
like, what it shows us
or allows us to see.
So Alexander commissions
a portrait of his mistress,
and when he sees the painting,
finished, he realizes that this
painter must understand her
better and appreciate her more
than he, Alexander, ever could.
He sees that.
He sees what he hasn't been
seeing, so he just gives his
mistress to the painter.
[ Laughter ]
That's the sexist part.
>> Yeah.
>> A friend of mine from Yale --
She, um -- I don't know why
that made me think of this.
Ancient Greece, I guess.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> But she wrote to Thomas maybe
three or four days before he
died...
>> So, like, a year ago?
>> Yeah, and she's a Greek
and Biblical scholar,
and she wanted to tell Thomas
about some new research
into the New Testament,
and there's all sorts of
electronic research going on
now.
>> Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
>> And she said -- And so it
seems that the word for the
profession of Saint Paul is --
I forget what the Greek word is,
but forever it's been translated
as "tent maker," but now, they
think that's not what it really
means.
>> Well, you never told me this.
>> Well, I guess I still have
some secrets.
[ Laughter ]
>> What does it mean?
>> "Prop maker."
>> Ah!
>> What?
>> You're kidding.
>> What?
>> Prop maker, like, in theater.
The -- The person who does
props, in a -- in a play.
>> Oh.
>> So it now seems that
Saint Paul,the Saint Paul --
he got his start in theater.
>> Thomas must have loved that.
>> Thomas.
>> Was he even able
to hear that?
[ Laughter ]
>> He -- He always said that
theater and religion, you know,
they were like this,
and I don't think I ever
fully understood what he meant.
>> Do you mind if I, um...
>> No.
All her words.
I've added nothing.
I jump from quote to quote.
Oh, here.
I like this.
She's trying to find
her feet again as First Lady,
after that mess.
>> Which mess?
>> Healthcare, 'cause at this
point, she's -- she's really
lost.
>> Not for the first time
and not the last.
>> Mm.
>> "How best to make sure that
children and families flourish."
>> Yeah, I think she's trying
to find her way back to that at
this point.
>> In the early '90s?
>> The children --
Yeah, with, uh, healthcare...
>> Now I remember.
>> You know, to -- to try to
remember who the hell she really
is.
>> You think she keeps
forgetting?
>> "What we need is a new
politics of meaning."
That just sounds ridiculous now.
"A society that fills us up
again and makes us feel
that we are part of something
bigger than ourselves."
Good luck with that.
[ Chuckles ]
"Coming off the last year,
when selfishness and greed...
What does it mean
to be educated?
What does it mean in today's
world to be human?"
Askhim that. Ask him.
Where is this Hillary now?
>> Mostly from letters,
speeches...
>> E-mails.
>> I-I loved her in the moment
when she's, uh, changing
her name to Clinton,
'cause she both did
and didn't want to do that.
>> Mm.
>> I understand that.
>> The séance. What séance?
>> Her dark days
in the White House,
debilitating self-doubt.
>> I don't know anything
about that.
How could I not know about that?
I thought we knew
everything about Hillary.
>> They tell me
she was quite religious.
>> I didn't know that.
>> Look who she wanted
to talk to.
"Are you there,
Eleanor Roosevelt?"
>> Ah!
>> "Eleanor, how did you put up
with all this?
Did you ever feel that you were
carrying the history
of womankind on your back?"
>> Do you think Eleanor
answered back?
>> Mm. [ Chuckles ]
Mom told me this week
on the phone that she had voted
twice for Eleanor Roosevelt.
No, you didn't, Mom.
She didn't run for anything.
>> Can I see?
Do you mind?
>> I went back to Val-Kill
recently.
>> When did you?
>> Six, seven weeks ago?
After coming here, when Mom had
her stroke and I came up.
A friend met me there.
>> What friend?
>> She had never been.
She lives over in New Paltz.
She had never been to Val-Kill.
Anyway, you know Hillary's
photograph is all over it.
>> She loves Val-Kill.
I was just gonna say that.
>> My friend and I...
>> Who is she?
>> ...we were the only two
people in the little gift shop
there, besides the -- the woman
who works behind the counter.
And my friend asked if
the planks out on the front lawn
were where the original
swimming pool used to be,
and the woman explained that
the first pool was over
on the other side of the house,
and, "Why are you ladies
interested in the pool?"
And my friend explained
that she was just, you know,
curious about the,
you know, friends of Eleanor's
who lived there with her,
the -- the women who --
who lived there, the couples.
And, um, so, anyways, the woman
kind of looks us up and down
and sees, obviously, we're the
only two people in the shop.
And she says, "Look."
And she pulls out, from under
the -- the counter, this kind of
scrapbook of photos.
She opens it up, and there's all
these black-and-white
photographs of Eleanor
in her bathing suit,
by the pool, laughing.
And she's -- she's sitting with
another woman.
They have their arms around one
another.
They're both laughing.
And I don't know.
She's just being herself, you
know?
Just allowing herself
to be herself.
>> Did you tell your mom that?
>> About Eleanor?
>> Everything, visiting there
with a friend.
>> Why should I?
>> Well, you should.
>> Well, I don't think
she'd be very interested.
>> Don't just assume.
>> Your mom and I went
on a séance.
>> Why would you ever...
>> I didn't know about this.
>> I think she still remembers.
It was her idea.
And it was some place
on Long Island,
and you pay $600.
>> When was that?
>> $600.
>> Last winter.
>> We didn't know we were broke
then.
And we had read about it in
The Times, about how even being
around people pretending,
how that can be helpful.
So we went to try to talk
with Thomas.
>> I didn't tell you this,
George.
>> And Mr. Edward was the
medium, and, well, he called
himself something else, but...
And there were seven of us,
and each one of us,
I guess, was just not ready
to let go of someone.
>> Did you talk to Thomas?
>> [ Chuckling ] No. No.
No, of course not.
It was in his basement rec room.
It was just, like, golf trophies
in a bookcase and, oh, there --
fold-up Ping-Pong tables.
[ Laughter ]
But there was something in it,
though, that I-I think
we all needed.
>> What?
>> [ Breathes sharply ]
Um, I-I suppose to accept that
it was okay to not want to just
cut it off, to accept that it
can be, and maybe even sometimes
should be a long journey and --
and not to try too hard to move
on, but, rather, when things get
really bad, that you can tell
yourself, "It's okay just to
move."
>> Yeah.
>> But, I mean, it's --
it's Election Day.
We -- We should be talking about
that, shouldn't we?
>> Paulie's first time.
>> Hannah said Paulie was so,
excited he was like a little
kid.
>> Yeah, holding his nose.
Just before he went behind the
voting desk, he turned back to
me, and he held his nose like a
kid.
>> He was joking.
>> And then, when we were
walking out of the town hall,
and he turns to me and he says,
"Dad, could have
been about so much more."
>> Sorry, son.
They're not usually like this.
>> We're better than this,
Paulie.
>> You sure about that?
>> "I thought I'd be inspired,
Dad, not just scared."
>> Oh, he said that?
>> Wrong election.
>> My first time voting, like
Paulie, I'd come back to vote,
just for the day, from college.
My dad wanted me to go with him.
And he -- For some reason,
we waited until around this time
of night to go, so it was dark.
It was a beautiful fall night...
[chuckles] like tonight,
and the crunch of the leaves
underfoot, and the
Dutch Reformed Church bells,
and the -- the town hall lit up.
Dad says to me, "Everyone should
have his first experience voting
for Jimmy Carter."
[ Laughter ]
>> Oh, Dad.
>> "Dad. Dad."
>> The first time I voted...
>> Oh, where were you?
>> Pine Plains then.
>> Oh, you were with that guy
with the really long...
>> Yeah. I got Mondale, and I
finished, and I pulled
that lever to open the curtain
and suddenly thought,
"Did I do it right?"
>> What do you mean?
>> "Did I make a mistake?"
>> I often feel that way. Yeah.
>> What choice did you have?
>> No, George, I mean,
I remember there were going to
be questions, but then I didn't
see any.
And then, later, my mom asked
if I did -- if I voted "yes" on
some very, very important
question.
I felt like I fucked up.
>> Because you fucked up.
[ Laughter ]
>> Yeah, I-I was visiting my
daughter, and they -- they just
moved to Pittsburgh to be with
my ex's family.
And I-I was staying at a motel,
and my daughter was allowed to
come and stay one night with me.
And I had completely forgotten
that it was Election Day.
Well, I'm sure that happens.
I'm sure that happens to a lot
of people when you're
overwhelmed.
>> Yeah.
>> And so I turn on the TV,
and the results come in.
And we're each lying in our own
twin bed.
[ Laughter ]
I-I -- Natalie Merchant starts
to sing.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And we then see the two of
them walk out holding hands.
This, of course,
is in Little Rock.
And my daughter says --
she's all excited --
"Oh, she looks so beautiful."
[ Light laughter ]
So I look over at my daughter
lying in her bed, and I say...
"She's the wife."
I reminded her of that last
night, Hannah, when she called.
>> Oh, did she remember?
>> Yeah, she did.
I was surprised.
I said, "Well, she's not
just the wife now."
>> Mnh-mnh.
[ Chuckles ]
>> Natalie Merchant
l-lives in Rhinebeck.
>> Does she?
>> We've seen her two or three
times in the health-food store.
I think she moved.
>> Can I paint a cookie?
>> Mary.
>> Oh, hey, it's right here.
There's a paintbrush.
>> Give her a paintbrush.
>> This is for you.
>> You know, by now, Teachout
and Faso together have spent
$13 million, $14 million to win
our little rural district.
>> Yeah. I read that, too,
in theFreeman.
>> Yeah. And nearly all of it --
both sides, they say --
comes from people
who don't live here.
This morning, I left that circle
empty.
>> In my show, I want people
to see Hillary, the person.
One of the women who invited
me -- she kept saying, "Tonight,
just do the nice parts.
Only the nice parts."
>> Just her better angel.
>> Right.
>> I got a letter from a friend
the other day.
She lives in Chicago.
And she wrote me that there's a
billboard up in one of the
really tough neighborhoods on
the South Side.
>> Oh, where all of those kids
are getting killed.
>> Yeah. And it says,
"Your ticket out of here."
And it's the state lottery.
It's the Illinois State Lottery.
And my friend wrote to me,
"You see, Mr. Trump,
he's not alone.
What have we become?"
Who are we?
Who's there?
>> Ooh, careful.
You're gonna drip on this.
M-Maybe I'll put it --
the script -- over...
>> Oh, good idea.
>> Just so it doesn't get...
>> Thanks. Yeah.
>> Mom's dreaming.
Hey, George, did you hear
what Mom said?
>> What?
>> "I always wanted
more than that for you."
More than what?
>> I don't know.
>> Do you ever feel like this?
T-Take a shower, and all
I'm thinking is, "Well,
I'll be over with that soon."
And I'll eat breakfast
while thinking, "What's next?"
You know?
Putting on my face --
getting that over with.
Check.
Check mark.
Over with that.
Done with that.
[ Bell rings ]
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> Now what?
What now?
>> Your timer.
>> Yeah. Dinner.
Somebody should set the table.
>> I can do that.
>> God. Listen to this.
I just read this.
This is one
of Thomas' notebooks.
>> No, no, no. Leave it --
Leave that in the bag.
>> Mary.
>> What is it?
>> He's written here, "A play
where everyone is always
cooking."
>> No, we read that.
>> Oh, Joyce,
just give that to me.
>> No, hold on, Joyce.
There -- There's something else
in that notebook.
>> Karin, Karin.
Just give it to me.
>> Show them what we did
in that notebook yesterday.
>> Why is this in this notebook?
>> Well, I'll show you.
>> Let me have it.
>> No, no, no.
Don't give it to her.
Karin, they do not need
to see this.
>> See what?
>> Joyce.
>> Mary, I've never seen you
like this.
>> Give it here.
I think they do, Mary.
I think they'd be really
interested in this.
>> I am interested,
because Mary is blushing.
Why are you blushing?
>> This is not funny.
You know, fuck you.
Oh, just -- Oh, just give me
that book, Karin.
>> I'm -- I'm interested.
>>We wrote something.
>> What? In Thomas' notebook?
>> In this one, didn't we?
Ooh, what did we write?
>> George, tell her to give me
back the notebook.
The -- Dinner is ready.
>> Here it is.
It's a monologue.
We just came across this,
didn't we?
He'd written the whole thing
out, right?
Come on. It's funny.
Mary said he used to do that in
his notes for a play to use
later.
We came across a whole bunch of
them.
Different people,
but this one...
>> What?
>> This one -- do you want to
explain?
>> Mnh-mnh.
>> We -- We -- We just happened
across it.
It's about a...
>> What?
>> ...a female doctor.
>> Mary.
>> Oh, Thomas wrote something
about Mary.
>> Very same age -- the doctor
here -- Exactly Mary's age
when he wrote it.
>> So what about Mary?
>> We figured that out,
didn't we?
Well, we wrote in the date.
I mean, she had never seen
this monologue.
She'd never heard about it,
knew about it.
He never showed.
Anyway, so Vi --
he calls her Vi the Doctor.
>> Vi the Doctor.
>> You want to tell them?
>> No, no.
>> All right.
She comes home from -- from work
one day, from her practice,
and she is wearing a brown
pantsuit and a pretty much
nondescript -- his words --
gray sweater.
>> Well, it wasn't really gray.
And I don't know why it was
nondescript.
>> She knew the sweater.
>> It was very comfortable.
>> And Vi -- she throws herself
into a chair -- that seems
to be the set, one chair --
and she begins to what --
complain, worry?
Well, she'd been checking up
on something at work.
>> No. She's not complaining.
>> Well, you told me that you
said some of these same things
about feeling hopeless...
>> Not -- Not all the time.
>> ...impotent being a doctor.
In this, that very day, she'd --
she'd -- she'd seen one of her
patients die.
>> Here, I think he was trying
to turn her into one of those
Russian doctors from those plays
he loves so much.
>> Mm.
>> Full of frustration.
>> Right.
>> Mary -- I-I read it to Mary,
and she says, "Let me see that."
And she takes a pencil,
and she just begins
crossing everything out...
>> Inhis notebook.
>> ...and adding things.
What did you add?
Tell them.
>> We cut the pantsuit.
That's the first thing we cut.
[ Laughter ]
>> "Vi now enters, having
changed from her drab doctor's
work clothes into a powder-blue
silk dressing gown with a sweet
butterfly pattern..."
Where online did we find that?
We researched.
>> I can't believe this.
>> When was this?
>> I mean, she wrote all over
it.
>> What website?
>> "...that catches all the
lovely curves of her exquisite
body."
>> No, no, no.
You added that part.
>> What? No.
>> What website?
>> No, it is just way beyond
J.Crew.
Hannah, it is way beyond
your imagination.
>> What does that mean?
>> You know, you ought to shop
online with Karin sometime.
>> We put her into some really
nice pajamas, and I would
like to have those pajamas.
Well, then, here, as she's
beginning to talk to us,
she makes herself a cocktail.
>> Yeah. Karin knows the names
of all of these fancy cocktails.
What did we decide?
>> Well, we hadn't made
a final choice.
We were testing.
>> Yeah. I don't even know
how she knows all of them.
>> Were you both drunk?
Was this at night?
>> Mary has a cocktail --
Vi has a cocktail, not Mary.
"Middle of the day.
She is not -- no longer
sitting on a chair,
but now she sits on a divan."
>> I've always wanted a divan.
Thomas said they were too
pretentious.
>> No.
>> What?
>> "She leans back on the
divan."
Oh, this was a nice touch.
"As she begins
to calmly talk to her..."
>> Oh, I added the "calmly."
What -- What did he write?
>> Well, he crossed it out.
I can't read it.
"...one hears the soft,
sensual rustle of her nylons
as she crosses her legs."
[ Telephone rings ]
>> Phone.
>> Oh, I got it. I got it.
I got it.
>> That could be Paulie.
>> I can't believe you two did
that.
>> I thought she had pajamas on.
>> What do you mean?
>> But, then, why is she wearing
nylons?
>> We have to change that.
>> It's so unlike you.
It's childish.
>> I know, but he is not here,
Hannah.
So fuck him.
He shouldn't have died.
>> Well, then, I guess
it serves him right.
Can I see?
Fuck him.
>> There's almost nothing left
of the thing Thomas wrote.
We spent like -- what? --
like five hours on this.
>> [ Chuckling ] Let me see
that.
[ Chuckles ]
Come on.
She -- She doesn't just
complain.
She's not always unhappy.
[ Voice breaking ] Yeah.
She is fucking sexy,
and she's hopeful,
and she's getting on
with her goddamn life.
[ Notebook thumps lightly ]
Mm.
Mm.
[ Clears throat ]
Or she will.
[ Light laughter ]
So let's have dinner.
>> Good.
>> I think George is supposed
to be setting the table.
>> I can do that.
I'll do that.
>> Does she know which plates?
>> The white ones!
>> [ Chuckling ] She knows.
She knows, Joyce.
I just want to finish painting
my damn cookie.
So, I think you -- you should
probably wake up your mother.
>> I almost forgot she was here.
I didn't.
Mom, I kept hearing
your voice all day today.
>> I thought that was just
your stomach.
>> She does sound
like my stomach.
I'm putting on a show.
Mary, I don't know if it's
'cause of all of the stuff you
guys have been digging through,
but Mom -- Mom used to do --
for my birthday --
I just remembered this --
these wonderful puppet shows.
Did you know that?
>> I remember those.
>> Down in the rec room?
>> She'd ring that
little bell and say,
"We're putting on a show."
Well, you could be crying or
fighting, and that was her
solution for everything.
"We're putting on a show."
All of my friends thought
you were so amazing.
>> I know I did.
>> Mom.
Hello.
Mom.
Mom, wake up.
We're having dinner.
>> What?
>> You fell asleep.
>> What?
>> I think you were voting
for Eleanor Roosevelt.
Mom.
Someone just phoned.
Can you tell us
who's on the phone?
Use your magical powers?
>> I wasn't asleep, Joyce.
>> You've always done it, Mom,
and I've always found it
really creepy.
So, is it Paulie?
We think it might be Paulie.
>> Joyce, your mother's
wheelchair is there.
Will you do it?
>> I'm busy, Joyce.
>> So, is it Paulie?
We think it might be Paulie.
>> It's Paulie.
>> It's your son.
He's on the phone.
>> It's Paulie.
>> We know, Mom.
We know.
You always know.
How do you open this up?
>> Figure it out.
>> You have to learn.
>> Why are you doing this?
>> Doing what?
>> I'll take in the salad, Mary,
see how Karin's doing.
Was it Paulie?
>> No, it was Karin's date.
>> Mom.
>> What, Joyce?
>> Calling to apologize?
>> Oh, fuck him.
I'm on a roll.
>> He wanted to know how far
back the property goes.
How can I help?
>> Karin's setting the table.
>> Can you help me do this?
>> No, no. Let her do it.
She'll work it out.
>> Ohh.
>> Are we drinking wine?
Are we...
>> No.
I don't think we want wine.
Do we?
>> We might need it.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> Okay.
>> There, look. Yeah.
She did it.
>> Here we go.
>> Good for you, Joyce.
>> Yeah, but put on -- put on
the brakes.
>> Where's the brake?
>> Put on the brakes.
They're those things back there.
>> This?
>> Are we doing tablecloth
or place mats?
I set out place mats.
Hannah thinks we should have
a tablecloth.
Mary, if you want
a tablecloth...
>> Place mats are fine.
>> Mom, are you gonna put your
arm...
>> She can't move that arm.
>> I know.
>> They're doing fine.
Just let them.
>> Here. So, um, hey, George,
what did that guy who came up
from New York to look
at the house think of it?
He did come, didn't he?
I'm just curious.
>> He said it's too small.
>> Two. Three.
>> I-I heard him asking if
the house could be knocked down.
>> Knocked down?
>> Okay. Yeah.
We don't own it anymore, Mom.
[ Chuckles ]
>> I-I guess so he can build
something bigger.
>> Ohh.
>> Are you in?
[ Chuckles ]
You're in.
I did it.
[ Chuckles ]
[ Sniffles ] Okay.
I'm gonna go into the
dining room with Mom.
Fasten your seat belt.
Just kidding, Mom.
I know you're not a child.
So, I'll sit with Mom
in the dining room.
Just please don't be long.
So, Mom, do you want to sit
at the table in your wheelchair
or in a grown-up chair?
I'm just joking, Mom.
Don't be long.
>> Let's give them about
a half an hour alone now.
[ Laughter ]
>> Hey, I thought the village
was an historic district and you
can't just knock things down?
>> No, they get around that.
They let -- They let the
property go to hell.
They let you knock it down then.
>> That is not right.
>> What does right have to do
with anything?
I'll set out glasses.
>> The church across the street
did that with a house,
just let it go.
The church.
>> Karin, will you also
take out the peas?
>> My mother used to always say,
"Pray for peace and spiritual
food and for wisdom and for
guidance, for all those are
good, but don't forget the
potatoes."
>> It smells good, Mar.
>> Okay, good.
I put on a tablecloth.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> Are we still taking Patricia
to vote?
>> There if there's time.
Is there time?
>> I think she might have
forgotten about it.
>> Well, she's gonna win.
The other is unthinkable.
>> And if she doesn't?
>> Maybe we follow the crowds
to the cliff, hold hands,
and jump...
shouting, "What about us?!"
We -- We should probably ask
Patricia, let her decide.
There's still time.
>> Karin was just telling me
she's thinking about moving on
Friday.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> She's in a hurry.
>> It's only one day sooner.
And she doesn't teach on Friday.
And Kingston's nice.
>> I'll get George to help
Karin.
>> She doesn't have a lot of
stuff.
>> What cookie did you choose?
>> I didn'tchoose anything.
There was -- There was only one.
It's -- It's a person, but look.
I gave her a nice big smile,
Hannah.
>> I think Uptown Kingston's
kind of like Rhinebeck used to
be -- you know what I mean?
It's only the people who live
there.
>> Hm.
>> That's nice.
>> Yeah, it is.
>> George was just telling me
that, a few doors down
from Karin's new apartment,
not the lawyers out of Dickens,
but in the other direction
is the house where
John Wilkes Booth's brother,
the famous actor, where he hid
out after his brother
had shot Lincoln.
>> Hm.
>> He just came and stayed
and, I guess, felt safe there.
George said, "See?
Even then, no one went to
Kingston."
[ Both laugh ]
>> That's funny.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> Hannah.
>> Yeah?
>> Things do work out.
That is what we have got to keep
telling ourselves.
Damn it.
>> Thomas?
>> Yeah.
>> Mm.
[ Footsteps ]
>> [ Sighs ]
[ Chair creaks ]
Mm.
[ Drawer slides open ]
[ Whispering ] Okay.
[ Piano music plays ]
♪♪
♪♪
What do you need?
>> George wants wine.
I saw an open bottle of white.
I will smell it.
Joyce doesn't like my salad
dressing.
She wants the Paul Newman.
I'll call Paulie after we eat,
see if he answers.
This seems fine.
Patricia wants a pillow
for her back.
Joyce got her in a chair.
>> Hannah...
we -- we -- we did -- we did
sell the piano, didn't we?
And they took it away.
[ Music continues ]
I still hear him, um, even --
even after a year.
He used to play this for me.
You can't hear it?
>> No.
What are you going to do?
>> [ Chuckles ]
Well, I finished my cookie.
Um...
I'm gathering the others.
I will put them in the oven.
Then I'll set the timer.
And remind me.
We might not hear it
in the dining room.
Oh, then I'll bring in
the shepherd's pie.
We'll have dinner.
I've got it all planned out,
Hannah.
I-I'll be right in.
[ Footsteps ]
[ Music continues ]
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
[ Music stops ]
Mnh.
You done?
[ Oven door creaks ]
[ Oven door creaks ]
[ Lucius' "Until We Get There"
plays ]
♪♪
♪♪
>> ♪ What do you say?
♪ Is this the time
for one more try
at a happy life? ♪
♪♪
♪ So, what do you say?
♪ Is this unwise
to think my fears
will not reprise? ♪
♪♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
[ Applause ]
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Can't be late
♪ It's a rising tide
♪ Like an hourglass
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪ Running out of time
♪ So, what do you say?
♪ What will you decide?
♪ It's a win or lose
on a rolling die ♪
♪♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪♪
♪ Gonna get out of the water
♪ Gonna leave the storm
♪ 'Cause everybody's got to get
there somehow ♪
♪ And I won't wait another day,
another day ♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
♪ Ooh-hoo-hoo
>> [ Vocalizing ]
>> ♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
>> [ Vocalizing ]
>> ♪ Won't know until we get
there ♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ You know I wanna get there
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Won't know until we get
there ♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ You know I wanna get there
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Won't know until we get
there ♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ You know I wanna get there
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ Won't know until we get
there ♪
♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo
♪ You know I want to get there
♪ Mm, mm
>> I hope you enjoyed tonight's
presentation.
You can also watch this
and other plays
on thirteen.org/theatercloseup.
I'm Neal Shapiro.
See you next time.
♪♪
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
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