Marvin Miller: Michael Anthony

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Michael Anthony : [to the viewers]  My name is Michael Anthony, and until he passed on, I was executive secretary to John Beresford Tipton, a multibillionaire. He was probably the world's most generous and most anonymous philanthropist. In addition, he frequently gave away $1,000,000 - one million dollars tax-free - to someone who never met him, or very definitely never heard of him. This is Silverstone, John Beresford Tipton's secluded estate, a 60,000-acre cradle in which many a million-dollar dream was born. One night, I was told Mr. Tipton wanted to see me in his fabulous wine cellar.

• Michael Anthony : [Anthony enters the wine cellar where he finds Tipton seated in a high back chair with two bottles of wine on the table before him. Only Tipton's hands are visible to viewers]  You sent for me, sir?

  John Beresford Tipton : Mike,

  [Displaying the bottles] 

  John Beresford Tipton : the contents of these bottles came from the same vine, were picked and crushed on the same day, and corked at the exact same moment.

  Michael Anthony : Yes, sir.

  John Beresford Tipton : And yet, Mike, one is unfit for human consumption and the other has just come into bubbling, full bodied maturity. There are people like that.

  [Tipton hands an envelope to Anthony] 

  John Beresford Tipton : This is our next millionaire

  Michael Anthony : Yes, sir.

  John Beresford Tipton : I wonder how this gift will affect her. Will she turn to vinegar, or will she give off the sparkle of sunlight long ago captured in the grape?

• Mrs. E. S. Keswick : [Anthony follows proprietor Mrs. Keswick into a common room at Lawnhaven, where Bedelia is sitting among several ladies]  Oh, Mrs. Buckley, you've got a gentleman caller.

  [Leaves] 

  Michael Anthony : Mrs. Buckley. Mrs. Bedelia Buckley?

  [Bedelia nods, acknowledging her identity] 

  Michael Anthony : Ub, could we sit in the corner alone? I have something private to say to you.

  [Bedelia motions for him to follow. The scene shifts to a few minutes later, with Bedelia and Anthony each finishing a cup of tea] 

  Michael Anthony : Now, shall we get down to business?

  [Anthony opens his briefcase] 

  Bedelia Buckley : I don't believe in talking business without a nice hot cup of tea. My dear husband, rest his soul, taught me the habit; sea-farin' man he was.

  Michael Anthony : Mrs. Buckley, I have a cashier's check for you for $1,000,000.

  [Anthony displays the check to Bedelia, who barely notices it] 

  Bedelia Buckley : Young man, are you feeling all right?

  Michael Anthony : It's a check for one million dollars, with the taxes on it already paid.

  Bedelia Buckley : [Rising thus forcing Anthony to stand, too]  My dear boy, now we've had our... our little visit

  [pats Anthony on the arm] 

  Bedelia Buckley : and everything's going to be all right.

  Michael Anthony : Mrs. Buckley, will you please look at that check?

  Bedelia Buckley : See here, young man.

  [finally examines the check closely. To Anthony] 

  Bedelia Buckley : Would you sit down for a minute, please?

  [They both sit] 

  Bedelia Buckley : This is a check for a million dollars.

  Michael Anthony : That's precisely what I was trying to tell you. And the only consideration is that you not tell anyone.

  [Producing a paper from his briefcase] 

  Michael Anthony : Now, if you will just sign this document.

  Bedelia Buckley : If I don't tell anyone? Now, who would I tell?

  Michael Anthony : Mrs. Buckley, if you will please, just sign right here.

  Bedelia Buckley : What would I do with all this money? My children take care of me here.

  Michael Anthony : [Anthony looks around with distain]  Here?

  Bedelia Buckley : As my granddaughter would say, "Dig that crazy dump!"

  [laughs] 

  Bedelia Buckley : Oh, but It is a horror, isn't it? But we girls call it...

  [Stops] 

  Bedelia Buckley : Young man, did you say that there were no strings to this gift?

  Michael Anthony : Only those indicated on this agreement you will sign.

  Bedelia Buckley : And that I could do exactly what I like with it?

  Michael Anthony : Absolutely exactly what you like.

  Bedelia Buckley : [Bedelia signs the pledge, which Anthony retains. She picks up a tea cup, winds up her arm, hurls the cup through a glass pane in the door and laughs] 

  [mockingly:] 

  Bedelia Buckley : "Where the Mature Endure" indeed!

  [picks up a teapot, winds up again, and flings it through the same glass. Anthony beams] 

• Michael Anthony : [holding a leather folder; speaks to the viewers]  This is the case history that developed after that night in the wine cellar. It's the story of Bedelia Buckley, who faced the age-old problem of an elderly woman living with her son and his family.