On Moonlight Bay (1951)

Ellen Corby: Miss Mary Stevens

Quotes 

• [Wesley has stolen Marjorie's letter to Bill for his homework] 

  Miss Mary Stevens : Wesley Winfield, you may read your letter.

  Wesley Winfield : But ma'am...

  Miss Mary Stevens : [sternly]  You may read your letter!

  Wesley Winfield : Yes, ma'am.

  Miss Mary Stevens : Have you prepared one?

  Wesley Winfield : Yes, ma'am.

  Miss Mary Stevens : But, uh, you're going to find out that you've forgot to bring it, aren't you?

  Wesley Winfield : [takes the letter out of his schoolbook]  No, ma'am, I got it.

  Miss Mary Stevens : Well, we'll listen to what you've found time to prepare. For once.

  [Wesley stands in front of the class and reads "his" letter aloud] 

  Wesley Winfield : "Dear friend, you called me beautiful, but I'm really not beautiful, and at times, I doubt if I'm even pretty. Though my hair may be beautiful and if it is true that my eyes are like the blue stars... in... Heaven..."

  [the class laughs] 

  Miss Mary Stevens : [to Wesley]  Go on.

  Wesley Winfield : [to himself]  Oh no...

  Miss Mary Stevens : Proceed!

  Wesley Winfield : "A-A tremor thrills my being when I recall... your... last words to me... that last... that last..."

  Miss Mary Stevens : [impatiently]  Go on.

  Wesley Winfield : "That-that last... evening... in... the moonlight when you... you..."

  Miss Mary Stevens : Wesley, you will go on. And you will stop that stammering!

  Wesley Winfield : "You-you kissed my shoulder and-and said that you would like to love me forever and ever... and ever... and ever..."

  Miss Mary Stevens : Wesley...

  Wesley Winfield : "A-And that if you believed in marriage you would... want me to... Yours respectfully, Wesley Winfield."

  [Wesley quickly sits back down, embarrassed, while the class laughs at him] 

• Miss Mary Stevens : [to Wesley]  Now, do you know the difference between a proper and improper fraction? Wesley, if you don't pay attention, you'll never learn.