Belonging To The Group - Respect As A Human Value (1953)

[Music] here in Fairview people are about as sociable as anywhere else most of us feel the need to live as members of a social group first it's the family group the builders need later we make acquaintances you form circles of prey [Music] to have the respect and dissection of other people is one of the most important things in life yet we don't think about it much except when we're outside of the group wanting to belong [Music] this is something Ruth and Charlie Thompson and their parents had to think about when they came here to Fairview a year ago all strangers in a strange community I think the Astor family had to think about two young Willie and Hilda and John and you can see they belong to the group now but a lot had to happen before they found their places in our community it all began that day a year ago when the Oscars first arrived in Fairview oddly enough the Thomson's came to town on the same train they were all strangers then strangers to each other strangers to the rest of us in town though they didn't know it then the two families faced together the problem of establishing themselves in a new community of finding their places in the group [Music] to the Thompsons fairview was much like their old hometown but to the Auster's this was all entirely new they were fresh from across the ocean from a land where the way of life was very different and they felt alone now like any community we have all kinds of people here in Fairview we have our upper crust and our rank-and-file are snobs and our friendly sociable people no sir the people are here don't care where you come from it's what you are to come you will find we have a fine bunch of people running this town with so many Outsiders coming to Fairview these days our old families are becoming completely lost I say if you hold your job and pay your bills you're just as big as anyone else in town but in spite of their differences Fairview people pretty well agree on one thing the newcomers have to show what they can do before they are accepted in any of the town's social groups the youngsters came up against this problem right away on their first day to go to their new school to Ruth and Charlie Thompson it was just a problem of getting acquainted and then choosing and forming a new circle of friends but to Willy Auster it was a far more serious matter he was entering a world where everything was strange and everyone might be hostile he had learn new ways of doing things to overcome the differences in attitudes language and customs that set him apart from the group my first pick Jim Tony Charlie and Jim Dave Phil dick now Melvin's sandy Eric Sam Charlie John I guess I gotta take you Willy found it wasn't easy to gain acceptance in the group but he was determined to try oh we have so much fun in our drug got to fruit you really ought to join especially since you've already got some of your badge you really ought to come a long route it's a good bunch and I'm sure you'll fit in perfectly enough to the meeting slighted by I favor did you get the history segment for tonight yeah what's that playing the doll this this i whittled yeah what is it it is one of the little people my father told me about the four styles of the old country forest oh yes my father says people used to believe in them he taught me how to carve one she will he made this was only a jackknife you teach me how to whittle like this and I'll make a first baseman are you okay from then on Willie made Fred once he had shown what he could do he was accepted in the group but Cheerilee Thompson was having a problem of his own it wasn't easy for him to meet new people on their own ground especially since he expected them to make all the advances it seemed to him that all the other fellows were only interested in football and other sports and he wasn't much of a player when the fellows made fun of him over this he was hurt and it took a family conference to set him straight and the leader is mrs. Jenkins from down the street she seems awfully nice and they go on hikes and yeah yeah yeah can't you pipe down tchau there isn't a very nice way to talk but you have been Catherine Ruth something wrong son no nothing wrong rose you'd better start your homework well Charles come on out with it well I don't suppose it really matters much it's just that the fellows around here they don't seem too friendly not friendly are you sure they are the ones who are standoffish and not you after all you're the new one yes very but maybe he's right you know kids can be pretty rough on a newcomer sometimes Charlie what makes you think they're not friendly well gee what do you have to do I try and be nice with them but they're not having any and just because I don't play football they act like I was poisoned football are there any other activities around school perhaps it's up to you to break the ice isn't there a camera Club you used to belong to one well I guess maybe there is well if I were you I wouldn't let them get me down why not get in the glee club or the dramatic Club and you like history isn't there some sort of a group there I sure there's lots of clubs and activities at school I guess I could get into one of them then why don't you Charles well I guess it is up to me to break the ice from then on Charlie did better he discovered the common interest he shared with others and threw himself into their activities this gave them a chance to learn to like him and to respect him for the things he could do well at the plant where John Auster and Arthur Thompson went to work together they were up against the same problem Arthur had to establish himself as the new assistant production manager but he got off on the wrong foot right at the start [Music] Wow be gonna dock us for quitting early to go to the basketball game who does he think he is we've been doing this for years nobody works when ice goes in a basketball tournament is he Arthur had ignored a custom of the group and like all groups they resented this from a newcomer ah did you put this out why yes of course you should have checked to me the men have been doing this for years well it just didn't seem right to me or maybe not but we have a good hard-working bunch here and one reason is that we let up on them once in a while and let them see their kids play basketball well shouldn't that be on their own time well maybe so but it's been going on for so long at the men think it's their right all you've done is to get the mad at you you better get out of it are you going to have a hard time Arthur realized he wouldn't get along with anyone in the plan unless he admitted his mistake ran back and down huh well anyway he's willing to admit he was wrong Arthur's next problem was to show the men in the plant that he knew how to handle his job you wanted to see me mr. Thompson yes I've been looking over these blueprints for that turbine job I'm afraid as a miscalculation as this dimension won't do for a taper like that yeah that was easy I wish I'd learned to use one of those things all right oh this handy little gadget be the slip stick well I can show you how to use it in no time at all from that time on Arthur was accepted as a member of the group but John Oster remained an outsider he kept himself apart out of shyness over his ignorance of the ways of people in this new world many of the other men at the plant regarded him with the suspicions people often feel toward someone strange and alien but a few tried to get acquainted you got the basketball game master basketball game I do not know about it what you don't know about the game the big game I'm sorry I do not know what's the matter with that guy who let him into this place anyway that's all right he's a good machinist he knows his job and he does it and as so what you can't even talk English good he's smart he'll learn say listen why don't we get him to go bowling with us Thursday nights go all in with us nothing doing I don't want to get mixed up of that kind what have you got against emag after all your old man wasn't born this country either so what if you want to square it like Oscar in a bowling club you can cut me up all right I just thought we might get acquainted after all we got to work with them setter pain you know time well they're vain there's their fame how can I do it Hilda in the city when we were living with other people from the old country it did not matter Here I am different how do you do it so well I listen to Willie ah he tells me such things and I here the way he says them now you try it again there's Fame it's no use Hilda I cannot wrap my tongue around this language ah it does not really matter job Hilda was right the language really didn't matter except that it emphasized the differences that made Hilda and John Outsiders in Fairview to some of us the Astor's alien background was an insurmountable barrier to our accepting them into the group but to Mary Thompson who knew what it would like to be a stranger this was a challenge to our fairness and democracy I'd like to place Hilda after from membership in the guild well madam chairman doubtless mrs. elf is a very fine woman in her place but what do we know over that ground Jane I think you're being silly are we interested in what your background is or in what she herself is really like this is the oldest church in Fairview some of the finest and oldest families in town belong to this church now after all Jane but mrs. Oscar Peterson visit we got along beautifully she's a sweet woman and has a wonderful disposition and after all don't we believe that everyone is entitled to an equal chance I think we could all agree on that how did the rest of us feel Hilda did join the guild and soon she and John were members of the [Music] Hilda I can't tell you how pleased everyone is that you're in the guild even if I do have a cake in the contest I know you're going to win oh good thank you everybody's been so nice to us since we came to Fairview seems like you've lived here all your life thank you you will be happy to know our minister just consented to judge the cake I shouldn't like to be in his shoes I just said that I'd see that they were judged but I have an infallible jury please may I have your attention we have come to the finals and I've been to use the vernacular put on the spot but I think I found a way out of it here are the best judges I'm sure they know far more about these matters than do I or anyone here you can guess which cake is going to win the best one of course [Music] but this is the story of two families finding their places in a strange community learning what it takes to become members of a new social group it's also the story of every one of us in all our relationships with families and friends acquaintances and working associates every one of us have to learn the ways to live work and play together the ways to acquire that feeling of belonging to the group that's so essential to everyone's happiness [Music] you