Pollyanna (1960)

Reverend Ford: If we could all just be a little more quiet, cooperative, orderly please. If we could all just stop shouting and cooperate, I'm sure...
Aunt Polly Harrington: There is nothing wrong with that building! All it needs is new plumbing.
Mayor Karl Warren: Today the plumbing, tomorrow the roof, and the Lord knows what - excuse me, Reverend - and who knows what's going to happen next!
Aunt Polly Harrington: You were very happy when my father donated the building to the town.
Mayor Karl Warren: Oh, for pete's sake, Polly Harrington, listen to reason! It's a dilapidated old relic! The dining hall, the dispensary. Even my nephew Dr. Chilton there, he noticed that. Ed, tell them what you said.
Dr. Edmond Chilton: I don't think I ought to say anything.
Mayor Karl Warren: No, no, now, tell them what you said. I want them to hear it.
Dr. Edmond Chilton: Well, I got a pretty good look at the dispensary when I fixed Mr. Geary's arm, and I imagined it seemed a little inadequate for thirty-two children.
Mayor Karl Warren: There, now you've heard it.
Aunt Polly Harrington: We all thank you for your interest, Edmond, but it's an equipment problem. We're talking about Harrington House, which is a landmark in this town, and I intend to see that it stays that way.
Mayor Karl Warren: It would cost more to fix that dilapidated old wreck than it would to put up a new one!
Aunt Polly Harrington: It won't cost this town one cent! My father donated the building to the town, and I will stand the cost of the pipes or the plumbing or whatever it is that's necessary. It's my duty, and I will not shirk it.
Mayor Karl Warren: And I suppose there's not one person here who has the gumption to stand up and say what you think? Is there? What about you, Reverend?
Reverend Ford: No, no, I never take sides in these matters.

---

Angelica: Stuffy in here. Not much of a room, is it?
Pollyanna Whittier: But it's my own, anyway. I'm glad of that. Ooh, and the bed's soft! And it's got a lovely window.
[Pollyanna looks out the window and sees Nancy embracing a man]
Pollyanna Whittier: Who's that man down there with Nancy?
Angelica: None of your business. Just be sure you're dressed in time for dinner. Think she'd do better than this for her own niece.

---

Pollyanna Whittier: I'm sorry about the dress, Aunt Polly. My Father said it was a size too big, but that I should be glad it wasn't a pair of boy's trousers.
Aunt Polly Harrington: Well, that's hardly anything to be glad about.
Pollyanna Whittier: Well, my father always used to say...
Aunt Polly Harrington: Yes, well, never mind what your father used to say. Pollyanna, this is going to be your new home now, and I hope you'll be very happy with me. Nancy will show you to your room.
Pollyanna Whittier: I'm very glad you sent for me, Aunt Polly. Your home is very lovely.
Aunt Polly Harrington: Thank you.
Pollyanna Whittier: It must make you awfully glad.
Aunt Polly Harrington: Glad?
Pollyanna Whittier: That you're so very rich!
[Reverend Ford starts to cough. Nancy takes Pollyanna out of the room]
Nancy Furman: Honestly!
Pollyanna Whittier: Did I say something wrong?
Nancy Furman: Well, let's just say there are about sixty-eleven things you could've said besides that!

---

read more quotes from Pollyanna...

Hayley Mills' first filmed scene was with Karl Malden: Reverend Ford is practicing his sermon in an open field. Distracted and losing her concentration, Mills hadn't got anything "in the can" by the time cast and crew broke for lunch. Her father, John Mills, took her aside to ask what was wrong. "Do you know what you are like?" he said. "You are like a great big white cabbage! Yes, really boring. Go on, pull your finger out." The afternoon's shooting went fine, but it was a long hot day "and Karl, I remember, got awfully sunburned. I always felt rather responsible."
The film opens with a close-up of a naked backside of young blond boy, who swings from a rope swing away from the camera jumping into a river. The boy is played by William Betz, who was 7 at the time of filming, who recalled in 2009 that at the time of filming, people weren't really allowed to swim in that river, White Sulfur Springs. He said his mother also had a very brief background extra role as one of the ladies at the train station where Pollyanna is picked up. Neither of them were actors but just locals where the movie was filmed. He is amused that the small Vermont town depicted in the movie was actually a mix of various locales miles apart in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, California.
Apart from playing Jimmy Bean, Kevin Corcoran also did the narration for the Storybook Recording - a record that came packed inside the back cover of a softcover storybook you could read while listening to the record. Two of the songs that were dropped from the movie - "Pollyanna" and "The Glad Game" - were also included on the Storybook Recording.
read more facts about Pollyanna...