[
first lines]
Narrator:
This story is about Howard Beale, the acclaimed news anchorman on UBS T.V. In this time, however, he was a mandarin of television with a HUT rating of 16 and a 28 audience share. In 1969, however, his fortunes began to decline. He fell to a 22 share. The following year, his wife died, and he was left a childless widower with an 8 rating and a 12 share. He became morose and isolated, started to drink heavily, and on September 22, 1975, he was fired, effective in two weeks. The news was broken to him by Max Schumacher, who was the president of the news division at UBS. The two old friends got properly pissed.
Howard Beale:
[
on the street] I was at CBS with Ed Murrow in 1951.
Max Schumacher:
Must've been 1950 then.
[
Beale nods]
Max Schumacher:
I was at NBC, uh, associate producer. Morning News. I was just a kid. 26 years old.
[
Not interested, Beale wanders off, until Schumacher stops him]
Max Schumacher:
Anyway... anyway... they're building a lower level of the George Washington Bridge.
[
Interested, Beale listens]
Max Schumacher:
We were doing a remote from there.
Howard Beale, Max Schumacher:
[
start to laugh and snicker in unison]
Max Schumacher:
And nobody told me!
[
Beale keeps laughing, very interested]
Max Schumacher:
Next morning I get a call, "Where the hell are YOU? You're supposed to be in the George Washington Bridge!"
[
Beale and Schumacher exchange laughs]
Max Schumacher:
I jump outta bed, throw my raincoat over my pajamas, I run downstairs, I run into the street,
[
Schumacher runs into the street]
Max Schumacher:
SO I TAIL A CAB, AND I SAY TO THE CABBY, "TAKE ME TO THE MIDDLE OF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE!"
[
Beale laughs]
Max Schumacher:
And the cabby turns around and he says...
[
giggles]
Max Schumacher:
he says "Don't do it, buddy! You're a young man! Ya got your whole life ahead of ya!"
Howard Beale, Max Schumacher:
[
shriek in hysterics, as Beale gives Schumacher a hug]
Max Schumacher:
Did I ever tell ya that one before?
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