diff --git a/wp-admin/admin-functions.php b/wp-admin/admin-functions.php
index 45f821cf9..0b700b46e 100644
--- a/wp-admin/admin-functions.php
+++ b/wp-admin/admin-functions.php
@@ -755,6 +755,37 @@ function validate_current_theme() {
 	return true;
 }
 
+function get_page_templates() {
+	$themes = get_themes();
+	$theme = get_current_theme();
+	$templates = $themes[$theme]['Template Files'];
+	$page_templates = array();
+
+	foreach ($templates as $template) {
+		$template_data = implode('', file(ABSPATH . $template));
+		preg_match("|Template Name:(.*)|i", $template_data, $name);
+		preg_match("|Description:(.*)|i", $template_data, $description);
+
+		$name = $name[1];
+		$description = $description[1];
+
+		if (! empty($name)) {
+			$page_templates[trim($name)] = basename($template);
+		}
+	}
+
+	return $page_templates;
+}
+
+function page_template_dropdown($default = '') {
+	$templates = get_page_templates();
+	foreach (array_keys($templates) as $template) :
+		if ($default == $templates[$template]) $selected = " selected='selected'";
+		else $selected = '';
+		echo "\n\t<option value='" . $templates[$template] . "' $selected>$template</option>";
+		endforeach;
+}
+
 function parent_dropdown($default = 0, $parent = 0, $level = 0) {
 	global $wpdb;
 	$items = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT ID, post_parent, post_title FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_parent = $parent AND post_status = 'static' ORDER BY menu_order");
diff --git a/wp-admin/edit-page-form.php b/wp-admin/edit-page-form.php
index a94f8afe8..734d908d5 100644
--- a/wp-admin/edit-page-form.php
+++ b/wp-admin/edit-page-form.php
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ window.onload = focusit;
 	  <div><input name="post_password" type="text" size="13" id="post_password" value="<?php echo $post_password ?>" /></div>
     </fieldset>
     <fieldset id="pageparent">
-      <legend><?php _e('Page Parent') ?></a></legend> 
+      <legend><?php _e('Page Parent') ?></legend> 
 	  <div><select name="parent_id">
-		<option value='0'>Main Page (no parent)</option>
+	  <option value='0'><?php _e('Main Page (no parent)'); ?></option>
 			<?php parent_dropdown($post_parent); ?>
         </select>
 	  </div>
@@ -79,6 +79,22 @@ edCanvas = document.getElementById('content');
   <input name="savepage" type="submit" id="savepage" tabindex="6" value="<?php _e('Create New Page') ?> &raquo;" /> 
   <input name="referredby" type="hidden" id="referredby" value="<?php if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'])) echo htmlspecialchars($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']); ?>" />
 </p>
+
+<fieldset id="pageoptions">
+	 <legend><?php _e('Page Options') ?></legend> 
+   <table width="100%" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="5" class="editform">
+	 <tr valign="top">
+	 <th scope="row"><?php _e('Page Template:') ?></th>
+   <td><div><select name="page_template">
+	 <option value='default'><?php _e('Default Template'); ?></option>
+	 <?php page_template_dropdown($page_template); ?>
+	 </select>
+	 </div>
+	 </td>
+	 </tr>
+	 </table>
+</fieldset>
+
 <?php do_action('edit_page_form', ''); ?>
 </form>
 
diff --git a/wp-admin/edit-pages.php b/wp-admin/edit-pages.php
index 8dc093112..fd5e9cf37 100644
--- a/wp-admin/edit-pages.php
+++ b/wp-admin/edit-pages.php
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ if ($user_level > 0) {
 	$ping_status = get_settings('default_ping_status');
 	$post_pingback = get_settings('default_pingback_flag');
 	$post_parent = 0;
+	$page_template = 'default';
 
 	include('edit-page-form.php');
 }
diff --git a/wp-admin/post.php b/wp-admin/post.php
index aa5b217a9..99d80ffcd 100644
--- a/wp-admin/post.php
+++ b/wp-admin/post.php
@@ -200,6 +200,8 @@ case 'post':
 
 	if ($post_status = 'static') {
 		generate_page_rewrite_rules();
+
+		add_post_meta($post_ID, '_wp_page_template',  $_POST['page_template'], true);
 	}
 
 	exit();
@@ -233,6 +235,8 @@ case 'edit':
 		$post_parent = $postdata->post_parent;
 
 		if ($post_status == 'static') {
+			$page_template = get_post_meta($post_ID, '_wp_page_template', true);
+
 			include('edit-page-form.php');
 		} else {
 			include('edit-form-advanced.php');
@@ -438,6 +442,10 @@ $now_gmt = current_time('mysql', 1);
 
 	if ($post_status = 'static') {
 		generate_page_rewrite_rules();
+
+		if ( ! update_post_meta($post_ID, '_wp_page_template',  $_POST['page_template'])) {
+			add_post_meta($post_ID, '_wp_page_template',  $_POST['page_template'], true);
+		}
 	}
 
 	do_action('edit_post', $post_ID);
diff --git a/wp-blog-header.php b/wp-blog-header.php
index 7abdbe958..f6bbe4fd9 100644
--- a/wp-blog-header.php
+++ b/wp-blog-header.php
@@ -215,10 +215,9 @@ if ($pagenow == 'index.php') {
 			$wp_did_template_redirect = true;
 			include("$wp_template_dir/single.php");
 			exit;
-		} else if (is_page() &&
-							 file_exists("$wp_template_dir/page.php")) {
+		} else if (is_page() && file_exists(get_page_template())) {
 			$wp_did_template_redirect = true;
-			include("$wp_template_dir/page.php");
+			include(get_page_template());
 			exit;
 		} else if (is_category() &&
 							 file_exists("$wp_template_dir/category.php")) {
diff --git a/wp-includes/functions.php b/wp-includes/functions.php
index 0cfa04061..c63b68ceb 100644
--- a/wp-includes/functions.php
+++ b/wp-includes/functions.php
@@ -447,11 +447,15 @@ AND meta_key = '$key' AND meta_value = '$value'");
 	return true;
 }
 
-function get_post_meta($post_id, $key) {
+function get_post_meta($post_id, $key, $single = false) {
 	global $wpdb, $post_meta_cache;
 
 	if (isset($post_meta_cache[$post_id][$key])) {
-		return $post_meta_cache[$post_id][$key];
+		if ($single) {
+			return $post_meta_cache[$post_id][$key][0];
+		} else {
+			return $post_meta_cache[$post_id][$key];
+		}
 	}
 
 	$metalist = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT meta_value FROM $wpdb->postmeta WHERE post_id = '$post_id' AND meta_key = '$key'", ARRAY_N);
@@ -463,12 +467,25 @@ function get_post_meta($post_id, $key) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	return $values;
+	if ($single) {
+		if (count($values)) {
+			return $values[0];
+		} else {
+			return '';
+		}
+	} else {
+		return $values;
+	}
 }
 
 function update_post_meta($post_id, $key, $value, $prev_value = '') {
 	global $wpdb, $post_meta_cache;
 
+		if(! $wpdb->get_var("SELECT meta_key FROM $wpdb->postmeta WHERE meta_key
+= '$key' AND post_id = '$post_id'") ) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
 	if (empty($prev_value)) {
 		$wpdb->query("UPDATE $wpdb->postmeta SET meta_value = '$value' WHERE
 meta_key = '$key' AND post_id = '$post_id'");
@@ -1820,6 +1837,26 @@ function get_template_directory() {
 	return $template;
 }
 
+function get_page_template() {
+	global $wp_query;
+
+	$id = $wp_query->post->ID;	
+	$template_dir = get_template_directory();
+	$default = "$template_dir/page.php";
+
+	$template = get_post_meta($id, '_wp_page_template', true);
+
+	if (empty($template) || ($template == 'default')) {
+		return $default;
+	}
+
+	if (file_exists("$template_dir/$template")) {
+		return "$template_dir/$template";
+	}
+
+	return $default;
+}
+
 // Borrowed from the PHP Manual user notes. Convert entities, while
 // preserving already-encoded entities:
 function htmlentities2($myHTML) {