Harold and the Purple Crayon (1959)/Transcript

[The short opens with Harold appearing from the left side of the screen. He walks while his purple crayon draws a line behind him. The line becomes twisted as the title card appears. “HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON.” After the opening credits, we see the line has stopped. Harold walks in and stares at it before drawing it straight.]
Narrator: One evening, after thinking it over for some time, Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight. There wasn't any moon, and Harold needed a moon for a walk in the moonlight.
[He draws a crescent moon up above.]
Narrator: And he needed something to walk on. He made a long, straight path so he wouldn't get lost.
[He draws two lines from the big line, creating a path.]
Narrator: And he set off on his walk, taking his big purple crayon with him.
[Harold walks on the path, but he finds that he isn’t going anywhere.]
Narrator: But he didn't seem to be getting anywhere on the long, straight path.
[He gets off the path and walks while drawing with his crayon. The crescent moon follows him.]
Narrator: So he left the path for a shortcut across a field. And the moon went with him.
[Harold makes a gap between two purple lines.]
Narrator: The shortcut led right to where Harold thought a forest ought to be. He didn't want to get lost in the woods, so he made a very small forest with just one tree in it.
[Harold draws an apple tree between the two lines.]
Narrator: It turned out to be an apple tree. The apples would be very tasty, Harold thought, when they got red. So he put a frightening dragon under the tree to guard the apples.
[Harold draws a dragon under the apple tree. The dragon is so scary that Harold backs away while shaking the crayon in his hand.]
Narrator: His hand, holding the purple crayon, shook.
[As he backs away, his shaking hand draws up waves.]
Narrator: Suddenly, he realized what was happening. But by then, Harold was over his head in an ocean.
[He falls into the ocean and pops out.]
Narrator: He came up, thinking fast.
[He draws up a boat to get on, adding a sail on it. The boat then sets sail.]
Narrator: He quickly set sail. And the moon sailed along with him. After he had sailed long enough, Harold made land without much trouble.
[Harold draws land and gets off the boat. He adds an anchor to it to keep it from floating away.]
Narrator: He stepped ashore on the beach, wondering where he was. The sandy beach reminded Harold of picnics, and the thought of picnics made him hungry.
[Harold starts making a picnic blanket with nine pies on it.]
Narrator: There was nothing but pie. But there were all nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best. 
[Fade to see Harold with each pie having one piece eaten in the tins.]
Narrator: When Harold finished his picnic, there was quite a lot left over. 
[Harold decides to draw up a moose.]
Narrator: So Harold left a hungry moose...
[Then, he draws a porcupine.]
Narrator: ...and a deserving porcupine to finish it up.
[Harold walks off.]
Narrator: And off he went, looking for a hill to climb... to see where he was.
[Harold stops and draws a slanted line.]
Narrator: Harold knew that the higher up he went, the farther he could see.
[He climbs up and continues drawing the line.]
Narrator: So he decided to make the hill into a mountain. If he went high enough, he thought, he could see the window of his bedroom.
[He stops for a bit.]
Narrator: He was tired, and he felt he ought to be getting to bed.
[Harold draws the top of the hill and gets on it to look down.]
Narrator: But as he looked down over the other side, he slipped...
[Harold slips and falls.]
Narrator: ...and there wasn't any other side of the mountain. Luckily, he kept his wits and his purple crayon.
[While falling, Harold draws a hot air balloon and gets on it. He looks around for his window.]
Narrator: He had a fine view from the balloon, but he couldn't see his window. He couldn't even see a house. So he made a house with windows.
[He draws up a house with six windows and lands on the yard.]
Narrator: None of the windows was his window.
[He walks off and draws a line behind the house. He then draws a building with tons of windows.]
Narrator: He made some more windows.
[We see that he's made a city full of buildings with windows.]
Narrator: He made lots of buildings full of windows. He made a whole city full of windows. But none of the windows was his window.
[He walks off with his purple crayon in hand.]
Narrator: He couldn't think where it might be. He decided to ask a policeman.
[Harold draws a policeman with his hand pointing to the right.]
Narrator: The policeman pointed the way Harold was going anyway.
[Harold salutes him and walks off.]
Narrator: And he walked along with the moon, wishing he was in his room and in bed. Then, suddenly, Harold remembered. 
[Harold stops and remembers something.]
Narrator: He remembered where his bedroom window was when there was a moon.
[He draws a window around the moon, complete with curtains.]
Narrator: It was always right around the moon.
[Then, Harold draws his bed.]
Narrator: And then Harold made his bed, got in it, and he drew up the covers.
[He gets in bed and goes to sleep, dropping his purple crayon on the floor.]
Narrator: And Harold dropped off to sleep.
[Fade to black. Roll credits. After the credits, the short ends.]
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Category:Short Film Transcripts