PLAYHOUSE 90: IN LONELY EXPECTATION (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic anthology series. A new girl arrives at a shelter for unwed expectant teenage mothers, with a baby girl in tow. The girl, P.J., settles in and has the same decision to face as all the other girls: whether to keep her baby or give it up for adoption. However, she seems rather unconcerned with that, treating her stay in the shelter as an opportunity for relaxation. Another girl staying in the shelter, Sheila Cass, tries to befriend P.J. Sheila plans to get married to her boyfriend Billy so they can raise their baby together. However, her father learns of this and forbids her to get married, insisting that she must give the baby up for adoption. He tries to pressure Mrs. Runnells, head of the shelter, into getting Sheila to comply with his request, but she points out that ultimately the decision must be Sheila’s to make. He speaks with Sheila and reminds her that Billy is leaving for private school, although she plans to wait a few years for him to return so they can be married. She insists that she and Billy are in love, but her father feels this is a poor excuse and urges her to give up the baby, believing that it would be a “disgrace” for her to keep it. Sheila introduces P.J. to some of the other girls in the shelter: June, who is having a baby by a married man, Betty Anne, a very young and naïve girl, and Bo, whose child was conceived as the result of rape. P.J. soon draws ire from the other girls for being dismissive of their situations and for her professed promiscuity. They are angry that P.J. seems to be willing to give up her baby without a second thought. She “accidentally” spills food on June and leaves amidst their anger, but Betty Anne gets her permission for them to look at her baby. P.J. then gets everyone but Sheila to leave, and Sheila asks her about her experiences giving birth. Despite her claim that she wanted to give up her baby, P.J. seems more attached to her than she would like to admit. Sheila proposes that the two of them run away together so that they can keep both of their babies, but P.J. does not think much of the idea. That night, Sheila continues to talk to P.J. about her plan, hoping to leave with Billy and run off to Chicago together. June comes in to ask P.J. to turn down her radio and they have a physical confrontation. Sheila accidentally blurts out her plans to leave and P.J. and June get into a fight, waking all the other girls up. Mrs. Runnells and her associate Miss Schoengren manage to break up the fight, and they ask Sheila to reconsider her plans to leave. Things settle down and everyone returns to bed, although June is highly distressed at being called a “tramp” by P.J. She believes that her baby’s father intends to marry her and is in Florida at the moment, but in truth he simply wants nothing to do with her and simply chooses not to call or visit. As they shut things off for the night, Mrs. Runnells and Miss Schoengren have a discussion, believing that the other girls hate P.J. because they fear they are similar to her. They discuss the delusions that many of the girls build up around themselves and the terrible choices they are forced to make about themselves and their children. Despite this incident, Sheila still wishes to go forward with her plan, believing that everything will work out fine. Billy arrives to visit Sheila and she’s overjoyed to see him. They speak in private and she talks to him about her plan, but he does not share her enthusiasm; after private school he will be going away to college, and believes that ultimately he will not come back for her. She says that they should get married immediately to avoid that problem, but he says it would only be a marriage of convenience and would accomplish nothing. Finally he admits that he doesn’t love her and never did, and says that he wants nothing to do with her. He leaves and Sheila is devastated; even P.J. expresses her sympathies. Sheila still wishes to leave the shelter, asking P.J. to call her mother for permission. P.J. insists that keeping her baby would lead it to a bad life; she reveals that she was born in the shelter and knows what she’s talking about from experience. She also reveals that she was contemplating killing her baby, but couldn’t go through with it. Now she wants to keep her baby, the girls briefly admit the problems going on in their lives before deciding to keep their babies, reinforcing their delusions about their lives. Sheila goes into labor and is rushed to a hospital. Sheila delivers her baby girl and recovers in the hospital, where she is feeling depressed. P.J. comes to visit her and at Sheila’s request calls her mother from the hospital. She tells her mother that she has a baby and to come down and visit her, and she agrees. Miss Schoengren visits Sheila as well, telling her that her father has arrived. She discusses her epiphanies about the overwhelming concern and responsibility she feels for her child, and Miss Schoengren tells her that although she can offer help, only Sheila can decide the baby’s fate. She believes that her father will change his mind after seeing the baby, but she shows her to him and he is unchanged. She asks him to take her and the baby into their home until she can decide what to do, but news about Sheila’s pregnancy has already spread throughout the town, thus her father could not keep them secretly. Ultimately, Sheila returns to the shelter with her child in order to figure out what to do. P.J.’s mother visits her and bursts into tears when P.J. comes down to see her. She slaps P.J. and demands that she and her child leave with her. P.J. runs up in a craze and starts packing, believing she can still run away like Sheila said. However, Sheila has changed her mind since she had her child, and believes that the plan will not work. She admits that she wanted a baby in order to receive love both from it and from others, but has to give it up since she’s not in a position to give it a good life. Feeling desperate, P.J. takes her baby and falls down the stairs, killing her and making it look like an accident. She leaves with her mother, both in tears. Days later, Sheila has decided to give up her baby for adoption, and plans to go live with her aunt in Denver. Mrs. Runnells gives her advice for when she is married and ready to have children, talking about how to prevent them from making the same mistakes she did. Sheila leaves and June expresses her opposition to her plan, believing that Sheila should keep the baby and will be “punished.” At the other girls’ insistence, June tries to call her baby’s father, but cannot get through to him and still tries to insist that he will one day come for her. Sheila takes her child to the adoption office and begins filling out paperwork. Despite her determination, it is still difficult for her and she starts crying. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: April 2, 1959 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:28:57
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:44863
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1956-1960
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – Ansco camera products
- TV – Commercials – Delsey toilet paper
- TV – Commercials – Elgin watches
- TV – Commercials – Kleenex tissues
- TV – Commercials – Welbilt ovens
- TV – Promos – “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”
- TV – Promos – “Rawhide”
- TV – Promos – “Swing Into Spring”
- TV – Promos – “The Ed Sullivan Show”
CREDITS
- Herbert Brodkin … Producer
- Herbert Hirschman … Associate Producer
- Anthony Barr … Associate Producer
- Franklin Schaffner … Director
- Mayo Simon … Writer
- Jerry Goldsmith … Music by
- Diana Lynn … Host
- Diane Baker … Cast, Sheila
- Susan Harrison … Cast, P.J.
- Philip Abbott … Cast, Leonard Cass
- Kathleen Maguire … Cast, Miss Schoengren
- Beverly Washburn … Cast, Betty Anne
- Joanne Linville … Cast, June
- Buzz Martin … Cast, Billy
- Jenny Maxwell … Cast, Bo
- Virginia Kaye … Cast, Mrs. Runnells
- Mary Gregory … Cast, Mrs. Watkins
- Carolyn Horn … Cast, Miss Talbot
- Connie Davis … Cast, P.J.'s Mother
- Phyllis Standish … Cast, Carol
- Kathleen O'Malley … Cast, Nurse
- Sally Kellerman … Cast, Receptionist
- Meg Wyllie … Cast, Sewing Teacher