Marvin Miller: Michael Anthony

Quotes 

• Michael Anthony : [Anthony enters the study to see Tipton seated in a high-backed chair at his desk. Only Tipton's left arm is visible to viewers]  You sent for me, sir?

  John Beresford Tipton : Mike,

  [Pointing to a scale atop his desk] 

  John Beresford Tipton : do you know what this is?

  Michael Anthony : It's a scale, sir - a balance.

  John Beresford Tipton : The elements that go to make up a friendship - a really close friendship - are mysterious. The scales must be properly, one might say, delicately balanced.

  [Tipton hands envelope to Anthony] 

  John Beresford Tipton : Let's see what a million dollars will do to the balance of just such a friendship.

  [Anthony accepts envelope] 

• Michael Anthony : [Reviewing a case history, to the viewers]  Jerry Patterson and Pete Hill never stopped to analyze what it was that made them close friends. If they had thought about it at all, they would have felt that nothing could ever hurt that friendship.

• Jerry Patterson : [Anthony knocks at the door of Jerry Patterson]  It's not locked.

  Michael Anthony : [Opening door]  Mr. Patterson?

  Jerry Patterson : Yeah.

  Michael Anthony : My name is Michael Anthony. May I come in?

  Jerry Patterson : Yeah, sure.

  Michael Anthony : [Anthony enters]  Mr. Patterson, I think I have good news for you.

  Jerry Patterson : Whatever it is, I can use it.

  Michael Anthony : I have some money for you.

  [Opens his briefcase] 

  Jerry Patterson : That I can use, too. Who owes me money?

  Michael Anthony : [Presents a check to Patterson, who barely glances at it]  This is a gift, Mr. Patterson, from an anonymous donor.

  Jerry Patterson : What's the gag?

  Michael Anthony : [Stiffly]  Oh, it's not a gag, Mr. Patterson. It's a cashier's check for $1,000,000.

  Jerry Patterson : Look, I'm pretty tired. I've... I've had a rough weekend. I don't know what your game is, but...

  Michael Anthony : [Getting annoyed]  I'm not playing a game. This is a million dollars, yours free and clear, providing you satisfy one condition.

  Jerry Patterson : Mm-hm. Like what?

  Michael Anthony : [Removing a form from his briefcase]  Just sign this document. As you see, you merely pledge yourself not to tell anyone, except your wife if you ever marry, the exact amount of this gift or how you got it. If you do, you forfeit whatever is left.

  Jerry Patterson : That's it?

  Michael Anthony : That's it.

  [Patterson signs the agreement, which Anthony returns to his briefcase] 

  Michael Anthony : Thank you.

  Jerry Patterson : [Gazing at the check]  Wow!

  [Patterson jumps up, grabs a phone and starts dialing] 

  Michael Anthony : May I ask whom you're calling?

  Jerry Patterson : Oh, it's, uh, Pete Hill, my best friend. Boy, wait'll he hears... hears about this!

  Michael Anthony : Mr. Patterson, do you remember the pledge you've just signed?

  Jerry Patterson : What? You mean I can't even tell Pete? But I tell Pete everything. We're...

  [Noting the stern look from Anthony] 

  Jerry Patterson : Oh.

  [Hangs up phone] 

• [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 a million dollars, $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.