The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985–1992): Season 6, Episode 10 - Downwind from Gettysburg - full transcript
Walter Bayes has devoted his life to creating a robot duplicate of Abraham Lincoln to inspire the American people to recommit themselves to the nation's ideals. On the night of its unveiling, however, a maniac named Booth plots to assassinate the Presidential automaton.
[music playing]
[theme music]
RAY: People ask, where
do you get your ideas?
Right here.
All this is my
magician's toyshop.
I'm Ray Bradbury, and this is--
MAN1: Let's make an
adjustment over here
MAN2: Give me the
small screwdriver.
MAN1: All right.
Now the right eye.
MAN2: Could use a
little more oil.
MAN1: Audio link needs sinking.
MAN2: You got it.
MAN1: Head swivel?
MAN2: Check.
WOMAN: Skin is ready.
MAN1: Wrap it up.
MAN2: Audio's locked.
WOMAN: Give me the comb,
can't have him look
like he's been out all night.
MAN2: Sig checks.
MAN1: All right, give it a try.
[click]
LINCOLN: Four score
and seven years
ago, our fathers brought
forth upon this continent
a new nation,
conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.
All right.
Fantastic.
Good work.
We did it.
Great stuff.
Congratulations, boss.
Of the people, by the
people, and for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
The tomb was not your place.
Arise.
We must, oh, me must
stand, all of us,
downwind from Gettysburg.
It is the only hearing place.
And Lincoln has
dreamed himself awake.
Born again, Phipps.
We just had a call from
the television station,
asking if they could sneak
a news crew in tonight.
I told them your embargo stood.
Thank you, John.
He's not just news.
He's an affirmation.
I must admit, for some of
us in the Lincoln resurrection
brigade, there were
times we never thought
that he'd be the story to tell.
Plenty of stories, John.
Things that passion
will force a man to do.
Me at 5:00 in the
morning, Gettysburg,
listening to the
dawn chorus, trying
to capture the atmosphere.
Or at bull run in
the cleaning rain,
wanting to feel
what he must have
felt about the waste of war.
Or, in jail, Washington,
trying to explain what
I was doing crawling
around the Lincoln Memorial
with a tape measure.
I swear to you officer,
I meant him no harm.
What did you think
I was going to do?
[ominous music]
BOOTH: Destiny
Something I never
told any of you,
I figured you thought
I was crazy enough.
Lincoln, on his way to
Gettysburg, somewhere
in the crowd, waiting for
him on the battlefield,
was my great grandfather.
He must have been a young boy.
Nine years old.
The story's been in the family
through four generations.
Abraham Lincoln in the flesh,
speaking across a sea of people
to that small boy.
The lad's father was a farmer.
He hefted the boy
up on his shoulders
so that he could get a
glimpse of the great man,
and hear the words
drifting on the breeze.
LINCOLN: Four score and--
What's he saying?
LINCOLN: Seven years ago--
Four score and
seven years ago--
LINCOLN: Our fathers
brought forth--
Our fathers brought forth--
LINCOLN: On this continent
Yes? yes?
LINCOLN: A new nation,
conceived in liberty.
A new nation,
conceived in liberty.
Isn't it fine?
They will stand in the
meadow fields of Gettysburg,
and listen, learn, see, hone
the edge of their razor souls
and live!
[music - "yankee doodle"]
Thank you, sir.
Restrooms?
Right there, sir.
Less than three
minutes to curtain.
Thank you.
[suspenseful music]
[music - "yankee doodle"]
It's about to start,
Walt. Are you sure
you won't join us in the booth?
No, you go ahead, John.
Enjoy him.
I shall.
LINCOLN: Four score
and seven years
ago, our fathers brought
forth upon this continent
a new nation,
conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.
Now, we are engaged in a
great civil war testing
whether that nation, or any
nation so conceived and so
dedicated can long endure.
We are met on a great
battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate
a portion of that field
as a final resting
place for those
who here gave their lives,
that that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting,
proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense,
we cannot dedicate,
we cannot consecrate, we
cannot hallow this ground.
Brave men--
[screams]
Lincoln.
[shouting]
Let me through here,
[inaudible] Get him in there,
let's get this thing wrapped.
[inaudible]
Call front of house.
Show's cancelled,
folks should go home.
ATTENDANT: Got it.
[music starts]
No!
[inaudible] Shut that off!
BOOTH: Sic semper tyrannis.
So always is the
fate of tyrants.
BAYES: No.
Hes uh, dead, is he?
Yeah, it was me.
[gun clicks]
PHIPPS: Walt!
It's a derringer,
there's only one bullet.
I know.
You'll find a knife on him.
Tell them.
Tell them who you are.
Your name, what is it?
My name is Booth.
John Wilkes Booth.
What happened to
the other Mr. Booth.
They--
Yes?
They killed him.
I'm Norman Nouellen
Booth, actually.
But the last name is the same.
[knocking]
It's the Police, I bet.
You'd better hide that.
PHIPPS: Who is it?
ATTENDANT: It's Steve.
We cleared the lobby and found
some things you should see.
PHIPPS: That's how he got in.
A forged invitation, quite good.
Spirit gum.
So, everything like the
real John Wilkes Booth.
Derringer, knife, spirit
gum, of course, mustache.
Now tell me you're
an actor, as well.
Walter, the police
will soon be here.
Yes, arrest me,
get it over with.
No.
Not yet.
Move.
Where?
To him,
Hey, come on, this is stupid.
The police should be
reading me my rights.
Here are your rights, sir.
Now Tim, I want
houselights at half.
I want the upstage
center spot on
and numbers 20 and 22
white [inaudible] spots on.
He's crazy.
You got to stop him, you guys.
Afraid?
He's dead.
[clicks]
Now, Mr. Booth, you have
lights, an audience, you're on.
Well--
I have a question,
one I always wanted
to ask the other Mr. Booth.
Why?
I don't know.
Booth, Lincoln, it was
too good a chance to miss.
PHIPPS: Walt, no!
No, sir, please.
It's all right, it's
all right, it's all right,
I will not be tried for
murder because I killed
a man who killed a machine.
I won't repeat your stupidity.
It'd make quite a story.
Quite a story, yes.
There's no problem, John.
All of you, no problem.
I just want to understand.
The a-- the other Mr. Booth, he
was a professional actor, sir.
How good are you?
Convince me of your performance,
your character, motivation,
why you really did it.
It's not that difficult, surely.
All right, point of discussion
for our little drama class.
Subtext, you're a coward.
- No.
- Yes.
No.
Not a coward, brave.
Brave enough to know I had
to do something about fear.
Fear of what?
Things, people, places,
things I wanted to have
but never took, people I wanted
to boss around and never could,
places I wanted to
go and never went.
So I thought if you can't find
something to be glad about,
find ways to be sad.
Find something awful
to do and cry about.
Well, you've done it.
[sirens]
I'll soon have to answer
for my bravery, huh?
We have time.
Tell me more.
You interest me.
Have you ever killed a turtle?
They live forever, at least,
long after we're dead.
When I was 10, I took a brick
and broke a turtle's shell.
And he died.
PHIPPS: That's the police.
BAYES: Go and meet them,
John, uh, keep them outside.
That's uh--
PHIPPS: Right.
BAYES: Very interesting,
about the turtle, Mr. Booth.
What does it have
to do with tonight?
Don't you see?
I'm jealous.
Jealous of anything that
works, anything that lasts,
anything that's perfect.
- Machines.
Damn right, machines.
I could never be
as perfect as that.
That eternal president.
A machine doesn't
know what it is.
And who do you
think you are, anyway?
God?
Are you playing God,
trying to recreate him?
Well, I played
God, too, didn't I?
Taking him out for
the second time.
It was meant, destiny,
Booth and Lincoln.
I had to come.
You have to arrest me.
Can't you see it?
Times square-- Booth
shoots Lincoln again.
PHIPPS: Walter, the police
are here in the foyer.
Send them away.
PHIPPS: What?
Send them away, John.
There's no problem.
What-- What do you
mean, no problem?
I--
Sit down.
Would the rest of you
step outside, please?
Mr. Booth as explained
himself very well.
We just need a few more minutes.
Liar.
Show's over.
Your performance
lacked conviction,
as critics might say in
the papers, had any of them
been here tonight.
We still have not been
told the real reason.
I d-- I just--
I just--
It all boils down to this,
very clean, very simple,
you'd love to see your picture
in the papers, wouldn't you.
Like to see yourself
coast to coast
on the front pages of magazine?
Hmm?
No.
Get free time on TV.
No.
Be interviewed for radio.
No.
You'd like trials.
Lawyers arguing whether a man
can be tried for proxy murder.
hmm?
No.
That is, attacking,
shooting a humanoid .
Machine
No!
It would be great to have
200 million people talking
about you tomorrow morning,
or next week, next month,
next year.
Fine to sell your personal,
exclusive true real story
to the international
syndicates for a large chunk
of money, hmm?
Shall I tell you
the answer to all--
all of these questions that
I've been asking, Mr. Booth?
Shall I?
Hmm?
No.
N-O.
You-- you can't.
I--
Can't Mr. Booth, I can do
anything I wish with this case.
And I wish not to press charges.
This assassination
never happened.
You can tell your story,
but we'll deny it.
You were never here.
No shot, no gun,
no computerized,
data processed assassination.
No outrage, no panic,
no shock, no mob.
Have I turned your fun
around on you, Mr. Booth?
Good.
Ah!
Put your coat on.
You-- you can't make--
No?
If you ever tell any living
human being, anyone, any man,
woman, or child, your wife,
an aunt, an uncle, a cousin,
or some friend, or an employer,
or a complete stranger,
if you ever tell even yourself
out loud, late at night
when you're trying to go
to sleep about this thing
that you've done, do
you know what I am
going to do to you, Mr. Booth?
I'm going to follow you
myself for a dozen, or 100,
or 200 days.
And then, least when you expect
it, some day, some night,
some noon, I will be there.
And then, do you know what
I am going to do to you?
Huh?
It will be so
awful, so terrible,
that you'll wish you
had never been born.
That's what I'm
going to do to you.
That's how awful and
terrible it's going to be.
What did I just say
to you, Mr. Booth?
Y-- You'll kill me.
Say it again.
You'll kill me.
Put your jacket on.
So long, Mr. Nobody.
I think it's fitting, that
you leave by side exit.
Get out.
Wait.
I had to do that just once.
Go.
Get!
Fool.
Why [inaudible] stop?
You are dead.
And I have let your murderer go.
LINCOLN: Four score
and seven years ago.
[music playing]
[theme music]
RAY: People ask, where
do you get your ideas?
Right here.
All this is my
magician's toyshop.
I'm Ray Bradbury, and this is--
MAN1: Let's make an
adjustment over here
MAN2: Give me the
small screwdriver.
MAN1: All right.
Now the right eye.
MAN2: Could use a
little more oil.
MAN1: Audio link needs sinking.
MAN2: You got it.
MAN1: Head swivel?
MAN2: Check.
WOMAN: Skin is ready.
MAN1: Wrap it up.
MAN2: Audio's locked.
WOMAN: Give me the comb,
can't have him look
like he's been out all night.
MAN2: Sig checks.
MAN1: All right, give it a try.
[click]
LINCOLN: Four score
and seven years
ago, our fathers brought
forth upon this continent
a new nation,
conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.
All right.
Fantastic.
Good work.
We did it.
Great stuff.
Congratulations, boss.
Of the people, by the
people, and for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
The tomb was not your place.
Arise.
We must, oh, me must
stand, all of us,
downwind from Gettysburg.
It is the only hearing place.
And Lincoln has
dreamed himself awake.
Born again, Phipps.
We just had a call from
the television station,
asking if they could sneak
a news crew in tonight.
I told them your embargo stood.
Thank you, John.
He's not just news.
He's an affirmation.
I must admit, for some of
us in the Lincoln resurrection
brigade, there were
times we never thought
that he'd be the story to tell.
Plenty of stories, John.
Things that passion
will force a man to do.
Me at 5:00 in the
morning, Gettysburg,
listening to the
dawn chorus, trying
to capture the atmosphere.
Or at bull run in
the cleaning rain,
wanting to feel
what he must have
felt about the waste of war.
Or, in jail, Washington,
trying to explain what
I was doing crawling
around the Lincoln Memorial
with a tape measure.
I swear to you officer,
I meant him no harm.
What did you think
I was going to do?
[ominous music]
BOOTH: Destiny
Something I never
told any of you,
I figured you thought
I was crazy enough.
Lincoln, on his way to
Gettysburg, somewhere
in the crowd, waiting for
him on the battlefield,
was my great grandfather.
He must have been a young boy.
Nine years old.
The story's been in the family
through four generations.
Abraham Lincoln in the flesh,
speaking across a sea of people
to that small boy.
The lad's father was a farmer.
He hefted the boy
up on his shoulders
so that he could get a
glimpse of the great man,
and hear the words
drifting on the breeze.
LINCOLN: Four score and--
What's he saying?
LINCOLN: Seven years ago--
Four score and
seven years ago--
LINCOLN: Our fathers
brought forth--
Our fathers brought forth--
LINCOLN: On this continent
Yes? yes?
LINCOLN: A new nation,
conceived in liberty.
A new nation,
conceived in liberty.
Isn't it fine?
They will stand in the
meadow fields of Gettysburg,
and listen, learn, see, hone
the edge of their razor souls
and live!
[music - "yankee doodle"]
Thank you, sir.
Restrooms?
Right there, sir.
Less than three
minutes to curtain.
Thank you.
[suspenseful music]
[music - "yankee doodle"]
It's about to start,
Walt. Are you sure
you won't join us in the booth?
No, you go ahead, John.
Enjoy him.
I shall.
LINCOLN: Four score
and seven years
ago, our fathers brought
forth upon this continent
a new nation,
conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.
Now, we are engaged in a
great civil war testing
whether that nation, or any
nation so conceived and so
dedicated can long endure.
We are met on a great
battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate
a portion of that field
as a final resting
place for those
who here gave their lives,
that that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting,
proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense,
we cannot dedicate,
we cannot consecrate, we
cannot hallow this ground.
Brave men--
[screams]
Lincoln.
[shouting]
Let me through here,
[inaudible] Get him in there,
let's get this thing wrapped.
[inaudible]
Call front of house.
Show's cancelled,
folks should go home.
ATTENDANT: Got it.
[music starts]
No!
[inaudible] Shut that off!
BOOTH: Sic semper tyrannis.
So always is the
fate of tyrants.
BAYES: No.
Hes uh, dead, is he?
Yeah, it was me.
[gun clicks]
PHIPPS: Walt!
It's a derringer,
there's only one bullet.
I know.
You'll find a knife on him.
Tell them.
Tell them who you are.
Your name, what is it?
My name is Booth.
John Wilkes Booth.
What happened to
the other Mr. Booth.
They--
Yes?
They killed him.
I'm Norman Nouellen
Booth, actually.
But the last name is the same.
[knocking]
It's the Police, I bet.
You'd better hide that.
PHIPPS: Who is it?
ATTENDANT: It's Steve.
We cleared the lobby and found
some things you should see.
PHIPPS: That's how he got in.
A forged invitation, quite good.
Spirit gum.
So, everything like the
real John Wilkes Booth.
Derringer, knife, spirit
gum, of course, mustache.
Now tell me you're
an actor, as well.
Walter, the police
will soon be here.
Yes, arrest me,
get it over with.
No.
Not yet.
Move.
Where?
To him,
Hey, come on, this is stupid.
The police should be
reading me my rights.
Here are your rights, sir.
Now Tim, I want
houselights at half.
I want the upstage
center spot on
and numbers 20 and 22
white [inaudible] spots on.
He's crazy.
You got to stop him, you guys.
Afraid?
He's dead.
[clicks]
Now, Mr. Booth, you have
lights, an audience, you're on.
Well--
I have a question,
one I always wanted
to ask the other Mr. Booth.
Why?
I don't know.
Booth, Lincoln, it was
too good a chance to miss.
PHIPPS: Walt, no!
No, sir, please.
It's all right, it's
all right, it's all right,
I will not be tried for
murder because I killed
a man who killed a machine.
I won't repeat your stupidity.
It'd make quite a story.
Quite a story, yes.
There's no problem, John.
All of you, no problem.
I just want to understand.
The a-- the other Mr. Booth, he
was a professional actor, sir.
How good are you?
Convince me of your performance,
your character, motivation,
why you really did it.
It's not that difficult, surely.
All right, point of discussion
for our little drama class.
Subtext, you're a coward.
- No.
- Yes.
No.
Not a coward, brave.
Brave enough to know I had
to do something about fear.
Fear of what?
Things, people, places,
things I wanted to have
but never took, people I wanted
to boss around and never could,
places I wanted to
go and never went.
So I thought if you can't find
something to be glad about,
find ways to be sad.
Find something awful
to do and cry about.
Well, you've done it.
[sirens]
I'll soon have to answer
for my bravery, huh?
We have time.
Tell me more.
You interest me.
Have you ever killed a turtle?
They live forever, at least,
long after we're dead.
When I was 10, I took a brick
and broke a turtle's shell.
And he died.
PHIPPS: That's the police.
BAYES: Go and meet them,
John, uh, keep them outside.
That's uh--
PHIPPS: Right.
BAYES: Very interesting,
about the turtle, Mr. Booth.
What does it have
to do with tonight?
Don't you see?
I'm jealous.
Jealous of anything that
works, anything that lasts,
anything that's perfect.
- Machines.
Damn right, machines.
I could never be
as perfect as that.
That eternal president.
A machine doesn't
know what it is.
And who do you
think you are, anyway?
God?
Are you playing God,
trying to recreate him?
Well, I played
God, too, didn't I?
Taking him out for
the second time.
It was meant, destiny,
Booth and Lincoln.
I had to come.
You have to arrest me.
Can't you see it?
Times square-- Booth
shoots Lincoln again.
PHIPPS: Walter, the police
are here in the foyer.
Send them away.
PHIPPS: What?
Send them away, John.
There's no problem.
What-- What do you
mean, no problem?
I--
Sit down.
Would the rest of you
step outside, please?
Mr. Booth as explained
himself very well.
We just need a few more minutes.
Liar.
Show's over.
Your performance
lacked conviction,
as critics might say in
the papers, had any of them
been here tonight.
We still have not been
told the real reason.
I d-- I just--
I just--
It all boils down to this,
very clean, very simple,
you'd love to see your picture
in the papers, wouldn't you.
Like to see yourself
coast to coast
on the front pages of magazine?
Hmm?
No.
Get free time on TV.
No.
Be interviewed for radio.
No.
You'd like trials.
Lawyers arguing whether a man
can be tried for proxy murder.
hmm?
No.
That is, attacking,
shooting a humanoid .
Machine
No!
It would be great to have
200 million people talking
about you tomorrow morning,
or next week, next month,
next year.
Fine to sell your personal,
exclusive true real story
to the international
syndicates for a large chunk
of money, hmm?
Shall I tell you
the answer to all--
all of these questions that
I've been asking, Mr. Booth?
Shall I?
Hmm?
No.
N-O.
You-- you can't.
I--
Can't Mr. Booth, I can do
anything I wish with this case.
And I wish not to press charges.
This assassination
never happened.
You can tell your story,
but we'll deny it.
You were never here.
No shot, no gun,
no computerized,
data processed assassination.
No outrage, no panic,
no shock, no mob.
Have I turned your fun
around on you, Mr. Booth?
Good.
Ah!
Put your coat on.
You-- you can't make--
No?
If you ever tell any living
human being, anyone, any man,
woman, or child, your wife,
an aunt, an uncle, a cousin,
or some friend, or an employer,
or a complete stranger,
if you ever tell even yourself
out loud, late at night
when you're trying to go
to sleep about this thing
that you've done, do
you know what I am
going to do to you, Mr. Booth?
I'm going to follow you
myself for a dozen, or 100,
or 200 days.
And then, least when you expect
it, some day, some night,
some noon, I will be there.
And then, do you know what
I am going to do to you?
Huh?
It will be so
awful, so terrible,
that you'll wish you
had never been born.
That's what I'm
going to do to you.
That's how awful and
terrible it's going to be.
What did I just say
to you, Mr. Booth?
Y-- You'll kill me.
Say it again.
You'll kill me.
Put your jacket on.
So long, Mr. Nobody.
I think it's fitting, that
you leave by side exit.
Get out.
Wait.
I had to do that just once.
Go.
Get!
Fool.
Why [inaudible] stop?
You are dead.
And I have let your murderer go.
LINCOLN: Four score
and seven years ago.
[music playing]