Marvin Miller: Michael Anthony

Quotes 

• Michael Anthony : [Anthony enters the workshop where he observes Tipton turning a screw on an ancient wooden device. Tipton is off-camera with only his hands visible to the viewers]  You sent for me, sir?

  John Beresford Tipton : Mike,

  [Chuckles] 

  John Beresford Tipton : do you know what this is?

  Michael Anthony : It's an old-fashioned pillory, isn't it, sir? The kind they used in colonial times.

  John Beresford Tipton : You know that as late as nineteen-hundred and five, people were being confined in things like this in some parts of the United States.

  Michael Anthony : I believe Delaware was the last to abolish it.

  John Beresford Tipton : Yes. All of us are confined, Mike, one way or another. By fact or by circumstance. Some of us are confined by too little money; some of us by too much.

  [Tipton hands an envelope to Anthony] 

  John Beresford Tipton : Here's our next millionaire.

  [Anthony accepts the envelope and bows] 

• Michael Anthony : [Reviewing a case history, to the viewers]  The next millionaire turned out to be Bob Fielding, a clerk in a large metropolitan hotel.

• [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 - one million dollars, 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 with a wide range of interests. One day, he called me to the workshop.

• Bob Fielding : [Anthony knocks at the door of Fielding's small office. Fielding is present with his fiancée, Sharon. Fielding opens the door]  Yes?

  Michael Anthony : I'm looking for Robert R. Fielding.

  Bob Fielding : I'm Bob Fielding.

  Michael Anthony : Mr. Fielding, I have a very important matter to discuss with you in private.

  Bob Fielding : [Sharon leaves]  Step right in.

  Michael Anthony : [Anthony enters]  Mr. Fielding, my name is Michael Anthony.

  [Opens his briefcase and withdraws a check] 

  Michael Anthony : I've been authorized to give you this check for $1,000,000.

  [Hands Fielding the check] 

  Michael Anthony : It's all yours.

  Bob Fielding : They don't very wait long, do they? Some gag. Get me all excited, and then tomorrow, your buddy comes around, takes it all away from me.

  Michael Anthony : [With a frown]  Mr. Fielding, I don't quite follow you, but, uh, if you think there's some sadistic motive behind this, you're mistaken. The money is yours as a gift.

  Bob Fielding : Who is it from?

  Michael Anthony : I can't tell you that, but it's a cashier's check, and it's made out to your name.

  Bob Fielding : You mean that someone is... is is really giving me a million dollars?

  Michael Anthony : And paying the gift tax on it.

  Bob Fielding : Why can't you tell me who it's from?

  Michael Anthony : That's one of the conditions of the gift.

  [Anthony removes another form from his briefcase] 

  Michael Anthony : You will never know who gave you the money. And you must never tell any person, other than your wife, exactly how much money you received or how you came by it. If you do, you will be required to surrender any amount you may have left. Will you sign this agreement to that effect?

  Bob Fielding : Mr. Anthony, why couldn't you have arrived with this 24 hours sooner?

  Michael Anthony : As a matter of fact, I was here at the hotel last night, but nobody seemed to know where you were.

  Bob Fielding : I was playing poker. I won three-thousand six-hundred 'n' fifty dollars.

  Michael Anthony : [Chuckling]  Well, congratulations.

  Bob Fielding : I'm afraid it's going to cost me a million.

  [Anthony gets a disturbing look on his face as Fielding signs the pledge]