Marvin Miller: Michael Anthony

Quotes 

• Michael Anthony : [Anthony enters the Tipton study, where he discovers Tipton seated in a high-backed chair at his desk. Only Tipton's left arm is visible to the viewers as cigar smoke wafts above his head]  You sent for me, sir?

  John Beresford Tipton : Mike,

  [chuckles, pointing to a bust on a pedestal] 

  John Beresford Tipton : what do you think of my new friend?

  Michael Anthony : [Anthony walks over to examine the bust, which is that of a prehistoric man]  Very interesting, sir. It's a representation of Cro-Magnon man, isn't it?

  John Beresford Tipton : Right, Mike. And the most reputable scholars disagree on how many hundreds of thousands of years ago he lived. But he was a man, Mike. And as a man, there was one thing, I daresay, that he had in common with every man and every woman living today.

  Michael Anthony : What is that, sir?

  John Beresford Tipton : The one thing everybody has always wanted,

  [Tipton waives at the bust] 

  John Beresford Tipton : even this fellow: love, which, of course, has many forms.

  [Tipton hands over an envelope to Anthony] 

  John Beresford Tipton : When you deliver this, Mike, you may see a kind of love that you've never quite known about before.

  [Anthony bows and turns to depart] 

• Michael Anthony : [Reviewing a file folder, to the viewers]  Jerry Bell, like each one of us, wanted love, and he had much love to give in return. Yet he was almost thirty years old when this story started, and he had not yet found the love he wanted.

• [first lines] 

  Michael Anthony : [to the viewers]  My name is Michael Anthony, and until his death, I was executive secretary to John Beresford Tipton, a multibillionaire, who had the strange hobby of giving away $1,000,000 tax-free, to an individual who had never met him, who indeed had never even heard of him. This is Silverstone, John Beresford Tipton's 60,000-acre estate. Mr. Tipton was a man of amazingly wide interests - so wide that one never knew what to expect when called into his presence.

• Michael Anthony : [Anthony enters Jerry Bell's room]  Mr. Bell?

  Jerry Bell : Yes.

  Michael Anthony : My name is Michael Anthony. I'd like to speak to you for a moment.

  Jerry Bell : You know, Mr. Anthony, you picked a pretty bad time. I'm kind of busy here. And if you're selling something I got...

  Michael Anthony : No, Mr. Bell, I'm... I haven't come to *sell* anything. I've come bearing a gift.

  [looks around] 

  Michael Anthony : It's rather confidential. May I close the door?

  Jerry Bell : Well, sure, go ahead.

  [Anthony enters and shuts the door] 

  Jerry Bell : What's the gift?

  Michael Anthony : [Opening his briefcase and withdrawing a check]  A million dollars. It's a gift to you from an anonymous donor. And it's yours, free and clear

  [Goes into his briefcase again and removes a form] 

  Michael Anthony : providing you sign this document. As you see, you pledge yourself not to tell anyone, except your wife in the event that you marry, the exact amount of this gift or the way you got it. If you do, you forfeit what's left.

  Jerry Bell : A million dollars.

  [signs the agreement, which Anthony retains; he then hands Jerry the check] 

  Michael Anthony : Well, that's that.

  Jerry Bell : That's that.

  [gazing at check; laughs] 

  Jerry Bell : Mr. Anthony, a million dollars. When you say, "That's that", using it to sound like it's to be the end of something. Why... why this is the be... be... beginning of something. A million dollars. Oh, the things I can do. Myra.

  Michael Anthony : I beg your pardon?