No Friends to Defend Her?
I'd think she'd have more support than what she did. She grew up with these people, surely some would come to her defense. But then the story could be exaggerating to prove a point.
shareI know, huh. You'd think the chubby bank teller or the guy, Archie, that started the note asking Ruth on a date would stand up for her. Especially if they know what a slimeball Connie is.
I expect the girls to go along with spreading fake rumors and exaggerations. That kind of cold hearted bitchiness isn't too shocking.
The middle aged women in town who helped spread the rumor should be ashamed of themselves. Their lives must be empty husks to spend all that time talking smack about what's going on with a young single lady in her 20s.
This is the kind of movie that discourages people from moving to a small town.
No two persons ever watch the same movie.share
There's another movie from this era called PARTY WIRE (1935) that shows small town gossips as even more vicious. The old gossips start a rumor that Jean Arthur has gotten herself knocked up (due to some old biddy listening in on a private conversation via a party line and misintrepreting what she heard), she loses her job, is completely ostracized in town, and even has somebody leave a baby carriage at her doorstep with a nasty note!
Back to the OP, I can see how a rumor in a small town, especially in the 1930's, could completely destroy a girl's reputation and how other people would not rush to her defense for fear they were condoning her "actions" or that they might be thought to have similar morals.
I expect the girls to go along with spreading fake rumors and exaggerations. That kind of cold hearted bitchiness isn't too shocking.
Wow. I'd hate to live in your world. share