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John Wayne on Superstition:
Transcript, Language Functions, and Role-play Situations
[Time on Video CD: 9:13-13:21]
The scene opens in the middle of a circus Wild West show
with cowboys, horses, and a stagecoach.
A young female circus performer named Tony
is standing on top of three horses
riding them around the circus ring.
As she rides she sees a bird flying around
at the top of the circus tent.
Distracted, she makes a mistake
and falls off the stagecoach to the ground.
People run to her to find out if she's all right.
Matt (John Wayne) comes to take her back to her
trailer and along the way they get into
a heated discussion about superstition.
Part 1: An Accident
- Man: Tony, you all right?
Are you hurt?
- Tony: No.
- Man: Are you sure?
- Tony: Yes.
- Man 2: Are you all right, Tony?
- Tony: It's nothing.
- Matt: (Unintelligible word here) Get that next act, John.
Have May ride for Tony.
Are you sure you're all right?
- Tony: Yes.
Part 2: Superstitions, make-believe, and raising a child right.
- (Tony gets up and they start walking towards her trailer.)
- Matt: Well, what happened?
- Tony: There was a...bird in the tent.
- (drum roll)
- M.C.: Ladies and Gentlemen
We offer you tonight a task of daring,
a hair-raising feat of skill.
- Matt: Still seeing things, huh?
- Tony: It was there, that's why I slipped.
A bird in the tent is one of the very worst
omens.
- Matt: There's no sense to superstitions, Tony.
It's unreal. It's a...part of a make-believe world.
- Tony: What's wrong with a make-believe world.
- Matt: It's for weak people to hide in.
- Tony: I'm not hiding in anything, Matt.
- Matt: Look at that rabbit's foot around your neck,
horse hair in your handkerchief,
and owl feathers.
You can't perform with things like that on
your mind. It's dangerous.
- Tony: Matt, those are good omens, like you. You are a good omen.
All good omens make good things happen.
- Matt: I guess I raised you wrong.
- Tony: No, you haven't. You've raised me as good as
(unintelligible: ever? any?) a real father could.
- Matt: What are you afraid of, Tony?
- Tony: (chuckles) Almost everything.
I was scared of going to Europe
and then this morning I found a milk
white butterfly.
That means I'm going to have a wonderful trip.
- Matt: (In an exasperated tone of voice) A butterfly is a moth.
A moth means moth holes. It's all bunkum.
Omens, hexes, voodoos... It's all bunkum.
Come on, I'll prove it to you.
Part 3: Proof
- (They walk towards her trailer.)
- Tony: (unintelligible)
- (They enter the trailer.
Matt puts his hat on the bed.)
- Tony: O Matt, please.
- Matt: Leave the hat there.
Leave it there, Tony.
Now, oh hoh hoh, stand back,
cause I'm going to bust a ten dollar mirror,
but it'll be cheap if it proves to you that
superstitions are for crazy heads...
- (Matt breaks the mirror, but he hurts himself.)
- Tony: Oh!
- Matt: Ooo!
- Tony: Oh, oh, don't be scared. It doesn't count if you do it
on purpose.
- Matt: Scared? That mirror business is all bunkum.
I was just a little careless.
- (Sits down on the bed.
She tries to stop him, but he sits on his hat.)
- Tony: Uhh. (sighing) It's a good thing it was a Stetson.
- (The whole bed collapses.)
- Matt: (Sighs) Well, you can't say I didn't try.
- Tony: Matt, I don't worry about omens when your around,
because when you love somebody nothing can hurt you
and I love you Matt.
- Matt: You sure cheer a fellow up.
Well, you better get to finishing your packing.
I'll get Steve to pick you up.
Oh...uh, I'm glad you found that lousy milk white
butterfly.
- (Matt leaves the trailer and bumps into a friend.)
- Friend: Hey, that was an awful lot of yelling you were doing
to Tony.
- Matt: Family discussion.
Information
- Topics: superstitions, accidents.
- Functions: asking if someone is ok after they're hurt,
responding when someone asks how you are after you're hurt,
expressing disbelief, expressing dissatisfaction with someone's behavior,
expressing dissatisfaction with yourself after a failure,
expressing appreciation when someone tries to make you happy
- Role-play Situation 1: Your friend just slipped on the floor and hurt her ankle.
You're afraid she sprained her ankle, so you ask her if she's ok.
- Role-play Situation 2: Your friend won't eat chicken because he thinks it'll
bring bad luck, but there's nothing good on the menu except chicken.
Try to convince your friend that there's nothing wrong with chicken.
- Role-play Situation 3: You're trying to think of all the things that might
go wrong during the trip you're about to make with your wife.
Your wife tells you to stop talking about these things, because
if you talk about them they'll come true.