The Twilight Zone (TV Series)

Of Late I Think of Cliffordville (1963)

John Anderson: Deidrich

Photos 

Quotes 

• Feathersmith : There's enough oil on that land to fill a thousand barrels every year for the next eight decades, and you sold it to me for *$1 an acre!* I swear, I could almost feel sorry for you...! How's that for a shocker?

  Deidrich : At the time, it made *us* jump around a bit also.

  Feathersmith : *At the time?*

  Deidrich : Four years ago, when the first preliminary soil tests were made, and we were told about the oil.

  Feathersmith : FOUR YEARS AGO?

  Deidrich : Indeed, there were samples taken of the soil at that time also. And there was never any doubt that the land had oil under it. Six thousand feet under it, Mr. Feathersmith, which means that it might just as well be on the moon.

  Feathersmith : On the moon?

  Gibbons : [quoting our antihero]  Mr. Feathersmith, is there an echo in this room, or would it help if we hired an interpreter?

  Deidrich : The oil simply can't be taken out of the ground, Mr. Feathersmith.

  Feathersmith : What do you mean, it can't be taken out? You could drill down five miles, if you needed to!

  Deidrich : Well, if YOU could, Mr. Feathersmith...

  [laughs] 

  Deidrich : ... Then I'm most happy for you indeed. Because nobody else that we know of could. And, just to be a good sport about it, I suggest you start by inventing some new kind of a drill. You'll need it - to say nothing of MANPOWER... Problem, Mr. Feathersmith?

  Feathersmith : Something I ate, I think.

  Deidrich : Something you ate... Like CROW, Mr. Feathersmith?

  [laughs harder] 

• Feathersmith : ...It's odd how our lives seem to criss-cross, isn't it? I remember vividly one afternoon, when you called me into your office. You said, "Bill Feathersmith. I like your style, boy. I want you in with me." You remember that afternoon, don't you, Mr. Deidrich?

  Deidrich : Only too well, Mr. Feathersmith. I have pondered it, and cursed myself for it, greatly ever since.

  Feathersmith : You never did like me, did you?

  Deidrich : I wouldn't say that I never liked you, Mr. Feathersmith. I have disliked you, even detested you, with cordiality tempered with passion. I have found you to be - from the moment you came into my office, increasingly over the years, even by the cutthroat standards of our mutual trade - a predatory, grasping, conniving, acquisitive animal of a man... Without heart, without conscience, without compassion, and without even a subtle hint of the common decencies. Shall we go on from there?

• Deidrich : You seem to put all your eggs in one basket, Mr. Feathersmith.

  Feathersmith : I wouldn't let that concern you, Mr. Deidrich. You see, I have an exclusive contract with the hen.