Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)

Frances Gifford: Viola Johnson

Photos 

Quotes 

• Viola Johnson : [talking about the option of schooling]  Tell me, what would you really like to do?

  Ingeborg Jensen : [with timidly piquing interest]  I see things sometimes. Early in the morning, before anybody's up I see them. You know what I see Miss Johnson?

  Viola Johnson : [intrigued]  Tell me.

  Ingeborg Jensen : [warmly aroused]  I see colors: big yellows, right out of my window, before he's up. They come down like clouds and, they melt and, then the blues come, and the other colors with... with presents in their hands - and all for me.

  Viola Johnson : [stimulatingly]  Ingeborg, if you come to school I could give you paper and paints, and you could paint all the things you see. Wouldn't you like that?

  Ingeborg Jensen : Paint?

  Viola Johnson : [assuredly]  Yes, all colors, and you could put them on paper with a brush.

  Ingeborg Jensen : [meekly insecure]  Oh I, I couldn't do that. I don't know how to do that.

  Viola Johnson : [optimistically]  But you could learn.

  Ingeborg Jensen : [gradually inspired and motivated]  Maybe... maybe I could... yes I, I could learn!

  Viola Johnson : [confidently]  We'll do it Ingeborg. You'll paint beautiful pictures.

• Nels Halverson : You know Miss Johnson, it always makes a much better item to carry a little human interest along with their news: such things, for example, as, well, where does their new school teacher come from?

  Viola Johnson : Milwaukee.

  Nels Halverson : And then it's always proper to add something like this: 'When asked how she likes Fuller Junction, Miss Johnson said... '

  Viola Johnson : But Miss Johnson doesn't like Fuller Junction, and you wouldn't quote what she'd have to say.

  Nels Halverson : Oh, that bad?

  Viola Johnson : Well among other things, i-it's awfully small.

  Nels Halverson : Well so is a diamond, Miss Johnson. Tell me, what is there to find in Milwaukee that you can't find right here in Fuller Junction?

  Viola Johnson : Well Milwaukee's a city, it isn't dull. There's concerts and lectures and theatres, good magazine stands. There's too much activity for life to ever get dreary.

  Nels Halverson : If that's what you wanted, why'd you ever come here?

  Viola Johnson : I had to Mr. Halverson, it was no choice of mine.

• Nels Halverson : Trouble huh?

  Viola Johnson : [irritated with Kurt Jensen's staunch disapproval of his daughter attending school]  I've just had a sample of your rural life, and I don't like it.

  Nels Halverson : You'll find plenty of Jensens in the city if you just look around. I'm afraid you're running into life for the first time, that's all. It is a shock to find out they're not all perfect, isn't it.

• Viola Johnson : It's funny: you want to stay here, and yet you're planning to leave.

  [referring to Nels planning on joining the Army] 

  Nels Halverson : You want me to leave and yet you want me to stay.

  Viola Johnson : It's funny, isn't it.

• Nels Halverson : I'd like to marry you.

  Viola Johnson : And live here of course.

  [Nels nods] 

  Viola Johnson : Nels, I dont want to hurt your feelings but, that's like saying, 'I want to put you in jail; I want you to associate with dull, dreary people all the rest of your life; I want to deny you all the opportunities of a civilized world.'

  Nels Halverson : I thought I was saying, 'Let me make you happy; let's live where human nature's real; let's live close to people.' Funny how different the same words can sound to two people.

  Viola Johnson : Yes it is.

• Viola Johnson : [kissing outside the schoolhouse before leaving for the neighboring town of Aurora for a 'dinner and a show']  Nels, there's something I think you ought to know.

  Nels Halverson : What's that?

  Viola Johnson : I'm, leaving here as soon as the school term's over.

  Nels Halverson : Oh.

  Viola Johnson : I couldn't spend my life here, Nels. I'd suffocate, honestly. There's so many things I want to do.

  Nels Halverson : Well, we'll have a double celebration; we're both going away.

  [referring to his officially having been accepted and enlisted in the army]