00:00:28Transcription by CastingWords
00:00:38CastingWords
00:01:25CastingWords
00:01:37The United States Steel Hour from New York
00:01:45Now, Cliff Robertson stars in Man on the Mountaintop,
00:01:49a drama of explosive emotions,
00:01:51co-starring Paul McGrath and Salome Jens.
00:01:54piano plays in Man on the Mountaintop,
00:02:23a public,
00:02:48educational,
00:02:48googling,
00:02:4880,
00:02:4980,
00:03:12This is Gerda, uh, this is Gerda, uh, this is Gerda, uh, Charlie Simpson, nice to meet you, too.
00:03:16Yes, you know, you're cute, but you're not singing.
00:03:18Well, I don't sing very well.
00:03:20Everybody from Iowa sings, don't they?
00:03:22I thought it was a Midwestern institution to be a community singer.
00:03:25You come from a community, you gotta sing.
00:03:28I'm an actor.
00:03:29I know, Charlie told me.
00:03:31Well, now, you're not singing. Come on, let's sing.
00:03:34I'll teach you how to project. I'm very good at projecting.
00:03:37Lily, you're gonna scare her.
00:03:39Like, uh, not a chance.
00:03:40Like, I'm gonna show her how to become like Beat in one easy lesson.
00:03:43Yeah, well, meantime, we're out of beer, so would you mind going down to the Dollar Potest and getting us
00:03:47some beer?
00:03:47All right, sure, you come with me.
00:03:49This is your chance.
00:03:50Your big chance to see the village after midnight.
00:03:53You can write home in the morning to the folks in Iowa that you did the whole thing.
00:03:57Uh, uh, wait a minute, have you got any money?
00:03:59Oh, no, I haven't, but I'll go back and get my first...
00:04:01Never mind, I'll get it from your brother.
00:04:12Horace.
00:04:15Horace, I know you're in there.
00:04:16Go away.
00:04:17Horace, I've got to talk to you.
00:04:20I don't want to talk.
00:04:21It's about that position Dr. Wilson offered.
00:04:24Horace, you must listen to me, do you understand?
00:04:27Now, look, Horace, I'm trying to be reasonable, but I'm not going to try to tell you anything.
00:04:31If you won't even see me or answer my letters...
00:04:34Go away!
00:04:35Horace, haven't you had enough of this?
00:04:37Isn't it about time you came to your senses?
00:04:39There comes a point...
00:04:41Go away!
00:04:42...when I feel that you are being completely foolish about this whole thing.
00:04:46Now, look, Horace, I'm telling you.
00:04:50Don't tell me anything.
00:04:52Go away or I'll kill you, do you hear me?
00:04:53I'll kill you!
00:05:08They had to take up a collection, that impoverished mom.
00:05:10Willie, who's that?
00:05:12Who lives in there?
00:05:13Oh, in there?
00:05:14Oh, that's the genius, you know.
00:05:16The genius?
00:05:17Oh, yeah, the prodigy.
00:05:18Horace Mann Borden, the great prodigy.
00:05:22Some prodigy, that creep.
00:05:23Come on, let's get the beer.
00:05:37The trouble with your brother, Charlie, is a member of the What Is It School of Painting.
00:05:41The kind you look at, you say, what is it?
00:05:42Willie, we've been gone almost an hour.
00:05:44He's a painter who thinks, you know.
00:05:45He paints the inner man.
00:05:46If I want to know what the inner man looks like, I've got to go to a doctor.
00:05:49I've got an x-ray.
00:05:50Cows.
00:05:51He ought to paint cows, trees, an occasional flowerpot,
00:05:54and you ought to agree with me because you're from Iowa.
00:05:57Well, wouldn't you rather see a cow hang on a wall than a What Is It?
00:06:00You know, you think too much.
00:06:01You never say anything.
00:06:02I think we ought to go back.
00:06:04The beer's getting warm.
00:06:05Don't you know it's dangerous to think too much?
00:06:06Look at that genius there, the prodigy.
00:06:09You see what happens when you think?
00:06:10Shh, Willie, he'll hear you.
00:06:11No, he doesn't mind.
00:06:12No, you mind, prodigy?
00:06:14See, he doesn't say anything.
00:06:15He lives in a world of his own, a dark, creepy world full of dark thoughts.
00:06:19Willie, please, let's go.
00:06:20Look, if we went right back, your sister-in-law would faint.
00:06:23When you're beat, you've got to do things inconsistently.
00:06:26That's what makes character.
00:06:27Prodigy, clean up the coffee cups, will you?
00:06:31That's a good prodigy.
00:06:33If you ever wanted to know what a prodigy looked like,
00:06:35that's a prodigy.
00:06:36That's a real prodigy.
00:06:38See what happens when you have brains and you think too much?
00:06:40You work in a crummy cafeteria.
00:06:42Prodigy, say hello to your neighbor.
00:06:43Well, they don't.
00:06:44Wait, I'll show you.
00:06:45I'll get an idea.
00:06:46A prodigy, I'll tell you what I'm going to do.
00:06:4950 cents if you give me the answer to the following question within three seconds.
00:06:53Gerda, listen to this.
00:06:54This is the way he makes his movie money,
00:06:55because this prodigy goes to two or three movies a day.
00:06:58All right, you ready, Horace Mann?
00:07:00Give me the answer in three seconds.
00:07:02What is 578 times 309?
00:07:07178,602.
00:07:09Just a minute, I'll check it.
00:07:1028 and carry the two.
00:07:11Right.
00:07:12Absolutely right.
00:07:14Fabulous.
00:07:14Isn't it fabulous, Gerda?
00:07:15That's what you can do when you think.
00:07:17Let's take the beer back.
00:07:19Good night, genius.
00:07:21Come on, Gerda.
00:07:21No, please, don't touch me.
00:07:24Gerda, Betty, what did I do?
00:07:26You're a monster.
00:07:27A vicious, horrible little monster.
00:07:31I'll take the beer back.
00:07:32I told you, you think too much.
00:07:37I want to apologize.
00:07:39Please don't think that...
00:07:41I mean, that was a terrible thing he just did.
00:07:44And since we're going to be neighbors,
00:07:45you see, I'm going to live with Charlie and Betty,
00:07:47I think I ought to introduce myself.
00:07:50My name is Gerda.
00:07:51Gerda Blake.
00:07:55Don't cry.
00:07:57Please don't cry.
00:08:04You must let me alone.
00:08:07You must let me alone.
00:08:32Oh, hi, Charlie.
00:08:33Is the party over already?
00:08:35Oh, leave the door open, huh, Gerda?
00:08:36Let's get some air in here.
00:08:37Yeah, the party's over, all right.
00:08:38What happened to you?
00:08:39Willie came back over an hour ago.
00:08:41I figured maybe first day in New York, you got lost.
00:08:44I was sitting in Washington Square.
00:08:46I didn't feel like coming right back.
00:08:50Charlie, I met the strangest man,
00:08:52the saddest man I've ever met.
00:08:54Oh, brother, who?
00:08:55He lives next door.
00:08:56His name is Borden, Horace Mann Borden.
00:08:59What, that flip?
00:09:00Charlie.
00:09:01That's what he is.
00:09:02He's a real flip.
00:09:03Oh, I know all about him.
00:09:04What do you know?
00:09:06Oh, he was famous.
00:09:08Yeah, I guess you wouldn't remember.
00:09:10His father had some kind of theory about kids being able to learn.
00:09:14And like by the age of three months, this kid was building with blocks.
00:09:17And by three years, he could read, he could translate Greek.
00:09:21He memorized the complete works of Shakespeare.
00:09:23Oh, you know, he graduated from college when he was 12.
00:09:27No wonder he's so lonely.
00:09:30Hey, are you?
00:09:32Now, listen, Goethe, don't start feeling sorry for this character.
00:09:35He's, well, he's gone, you know what I mean?
00:09:39What a waste.
00:09:40What a terrible waste.
00:09:41Oh, look, Betty, will you talk to this girl?
00:09:42This is the girl who brought home the stray cats.
00:09:44This is the compassionate member of the family.
00:09:46So?
00:09:47I thought that's why she was your favorite sister.
00:09:53Oh, hi.
00:09:55Charlie, leave him alone.
00:09:56I'm going to ask him in for a coffee.
00:09:58Hey, how would you like to join us for a coffee?
00:10:01Charlie, don't you see he's scared?
00:10:03Scared?
00:10:04What has he got to be scared of?
00:10:06Well, people have called me a genius, too, you know.
00:10:09Charlie, you're as bad as Willie.
00:10:11Charlie.
00:10:20Oh, here.
00:10:22Do you want these?
00:10:24My, how many are there?
00:10:28Oh, Sunset Boulevard.
00:10:30Isn't this from Sunset Boulevard?
00:10:33Well, sure it is.
00:10:35There's William Holden in that scene with Gloria Swanson in her bedroom.
00:10:38You know, I think he's one of my favorite actors.
00:10:43Uh, do you collect them?
00:10:45Yes.
00:10:46May I have them, please?
00:10:47Well, where do you get them?
00:10:49Some of these are from very old pictures.
00:10:54Second-hand stores and, uh, movie houses.
00:10:59Why are you afraid of people?
00:11:01Are you afraid of me?
00:11:03Shouldn't you get to know someone before you decide whether to be afraid of them or not?
00:11:09People make fun of you, don't they?
00:11:10Like that terrible Willie, and they get angry with you like my brother Charlie.
00:11:16Do you have a cigarette?
00:11:18No.
00:11:20Oh.
00:11:21Well, I don't smoke anyway, not as a general rule.
00:11:24Just every once in a while to be sociable.
00:11:28Well, there are your pictures.
00:11:31Good night.
00:11:32Good night.
00:11:47Good night.
00:11:49And so after I got out of college this spring, Mom and Dad wanted me to stay in Iowa and
00:11:53start teaching right away, but I didn't think I wanted that.
00:11:57So a couple girlfriends and I decided to take a crazy tour of Europe, where all we did was get
00:12:02on and off buses, and when I was in Europe, I decided that maybe I'd study in New York for
00:12:09a while, take a couple of teachers' courses at Columbia, you know.
00:12:14Maybe even teach in New York for a while, and then Charlie said that I could stay with him and
00:12:18Betty until I found a place of my own.
00:12:22Well, I have two other brothers and two sisters, but I'm the youngest.
00:12:28Are you an only child, Horace?
00:12:32Please don't call me that.
00:12:34Well, what should I call you?
00:12:37I've got to call you something if we're going to talk, if we're going to be friends.
00:12:42Borden.
00:12:44Borden.
00:12:45Well, are you an only child?
00:12:51Don't you know about me?
00:12:53No.
00:12:54If you want to know about me, you can read about me in books.
00:12:59Go to the library, look under the card.
00:13:01Borden, Horace Mann, cross-reference, child prodigy.
00:13:07You're laughing.
00:13:08Oh, no.
00:13:09I was just thinking I never knew anyone before who was a subject of books.
00:13:13That must mean that you're very important.
00:13:16And now you're laughing at me.
00:13:18I find it inconceivable that anyone could be so naive.
00:13:24Important.
00:13:24I'm not important.
00:13:25I don't want to be important.
00:13:27I will tell you something.
00:13:30I stand here talking to you and listening to you talk, and I ask myself why.
00:13:33I ask myself that question because I have learned I must do without people.
00:13:38That's a terrible decision.
00:13:40It's the least painful.
00:13:41Take my word for that.
00:13:43But why?
00:13:44Knowing people, being friendly with people, liking people, how can that be painful?
00:13:53Nineteen years ago, when I was 12, I graduated from the university, summa cum laude.
00:13:59And I was asked to deliver my honor thesis before the combined physics staffs of Harvard and MIT.
00:14:04The subject of my papers was Einstein's theory of the expanding universe, its meaning and application.
00:14:14Do you understand what I've just said?
00:14:18Do you understand the implication of what I've just told you?
00:14:24It means that I am a freak, a freak and a monster, a freak and a monster cannot live in
00:14:32this world of normal people.
00:15:01Oh, hi, Charlie.
00:15:03Oh, hi, Gator.
00:15:05Am I late?
00:15:07Uh, dinner's almost ready.
00:15:10Uh, Willie's inside.
00:15:13Willie?
00:15:14All right, I'll be right in.
00:15:16What?
00:15:19Thank you for the coffee.
00:15:21It's all right.
00:15:22I didn't have to pay for it.
00:15:24Oh, I didn't mean that.
00:15:26Will we talk again some other time?
00:15:30Why?
00:15:32Does there have to be a reason?
00:15:37There's another book you should read.
00:15:40It's not about me, but I think you should read it.
00:15:43Philip Wiley wrote it.
00:15:45And it's about a doctor who has a serum, a Superman serum.
00:15:50And he injected it into his newborn child, his son, as an experiment.
00:15:53And sure enough, the son grew up to be a Superman.
00:15:57The serum was good, but there was one problem.
00:15:59The world, this world we live in, is too small and too narrow for a Superman.
00:16:09People are afraid of Superman, just as they are afraid of monsters.
00:16:12Being a Superman is a beautiful fantasy for the tormented and tortured little people,
00:16:16but those same little people can't stand it when the Superman comes along.
00:16:21In this world, that Superman is crucified.
00:16:24Is that what happened to the Superman in Wiley's book?
00:16:30That poor creature
00:16:32ended up on a mountaintop
00:16:35shouting his defiance at God
00:16:36until lightning came from the sky and destroyed him.
00:16:41Reduced him to nothing, absolutely nothing.
00:16:44Must be a very sad story.
00:16:46It's a true story.
00:16:49But
00:16:50what was there for people to fear?
00:16:53Why must everyone be afraid?
00:16:57Don't you see?
00:16:58No.
00:17:20Last night, I was looking through the collection of my photographs,
00:17:24and I came across some pictures of William Holden.
00:17:27You said that you liked him.
00:17:32Would you
00:17:35like to come in and look at them?
00:17:46This is the United States Steel Hour, and now, George Hicks.
00:18:11I came across some of my arpe Edson Disney Store.
00:18:13I definitely cannot see it.
00:18:13Don't you think it can mean anything?
00:18:15I don't know if you are.
00:18:37Maybe Mr.
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