Don't Interrupt story
The Templetons are on a train with their young son, Johnny, who they have trouble controlling. The Templetons offer Johnny one silver dollar if he can be quiet for 10 minutes while elderly cowboy Mr. Kilmer tells a story. When the train stops, Johnny sees a man outside the window, caught in the blizzard and begging for help, but Johnny cannot speak up, having promised not to. Directed by: Robert Stevens. Story by: Sidney Carroll.
12 total · 2 choice · 7 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| keeping a promise when circumstances have changed | choice | Johnny had to choose between keeping his promise, and speaking up about a man who was freezing to death outside. |
| what if I told the truth and nobody would believe me | choice | Because of his habit of make belief, nobody would believe Johnny when he told about the freezing man outside the window. |
| dealing with children | major | The Templetons struggled to make their unruly son to behave aboard the train. |
| desire vs. conscience | major | Should Johnny pipe up and tell everyone that there was a man about to freeze to death outside or keep quiet and get the shiny silver dollar that'd been promised to him so long as he didn't interrupt Mr. Kilmer while he told his lengthy story? |
| discipline of a child | major | Larry's rewarding Johnny for doing things he should be expected to do was contrasted with Mary's no-nonsense approach to disciplining the boy. |
| father and son | major | Larry Templeton and his unruly young son Johnny. |
| human vs. the elements | major | Mr. Kilmer related a story about the worst thing there was: Freezing in the cold. Underlying a story within the main story, Johnny saw someone outside the window apparently freezing to death. [cold] |
| husband and wife | major | Larry and Mary Templeton quarreled over how to best discipline their young son, Johnny. |
| mother and son | major | Mary Templeton and her unruly young son Johnny. |
| human childhood | minor | Little Johnny was running around on the train playing the make-believe children's game "Cowboys and Indians". |