The Twilight Zone (1959) s05e01 Episode Script
In Praise of Pip
You unlock this door with the key of imagination.
Beyond it is another dimension- a dimension of sound a dimension of sight a dimension of mind.
You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.
You've just crossed over into the twilight zone.
Is this the boy from huong hoa? That's right, sir.
We were caught in ambush.
"Multiple shrapnel, abdomen.
Extensive tissue damage.
" Well, we can't touch him here.
We'll have to send him on back.
What are his chances, sir? Not very good, i'm afraid.
"Phillips, pip.
" "Pip.
" that's an odd name.
Well, private pip, i wish you a long life.
Or, short of that, someone to mourn.
No, please! Submitted for your approval, one max phillips, a slightly the-worse-for-wear maker of book whose life has been as drab and undistinguished as a bundle of dirty clothes.
And, though it's very late in his day, he has an errant wish that the rest of his life might be sent out to a laundry, to come back shiny and clean, this to be a gift of love to a son named pip.
Mr.
Max phillips, homo sapiens, who is soon to discover that man is not as wise as he thinks- said lesson to be learned in the twilight zone.
Yeah.
Whew.
It smells like a brewery in here.
Nice, huh? Nice, no.
Typical, yes.
You got a visitor downstairs.
Some kid.
Did i ever tell you i love you, mrs.
Feeney? Often and endlessly.
Well, i do love you.
You're the queen of women.
Mailman come? Come and gone.
Anything for me? Nope.
Nothing from the kid? No.
Not this time.
But don't worry about him.
He's all right.
You ain't going to do yourself any good.
You know that.
An astute observation, mrs.
Feeney.
Oh, i love you and your astute observations.
I mean it.
I really mean it.
I know.
How 'bout it, mrs.
Feeney? It's to laugh, isn't it? Isn't it to laugh? Yeah.
Hi, mr.
Phillips.
Come on in.
Do you want a cigarette? I got one.
Got two? Thank you.
Uh shady lane lost yesterday.
That's the way of the world, georgy.
The rich get richer and the long shots lose.
So what's to do? You said he had a good chance.
You told me he ran good on a wet track.
I said that? Proving how little i know about horses, huh? What am i going to do? I bet every nickel i had on him.
It's funny, george.
Can't think of a thing.
Oh.
Big joke.
Lots of laughs.
Where'd you get the money? Where'd it come from? I got it.
From where? From from where i work.
"Where you work.
" A white-collar heist, huh? I borrowed it.
You borrowed it, sure, you borrowed it.
Without their knowing, you borrowed it.
How right am i? So what's to do, georgy? I'll go to jail.
I'll make book on that.
Poor georgy porgy, one of the breed- johnny-come-lately wisdom grafted onto a second-guesser head.
So i ask again, georgy, what's to do? Max phillips is outside.
I haven't seen you in five days.
Seems like years.
Where's everybody? Everybody's gone.
We settled accounts tonight.
Where were you? A reasonable question.
I took the wrong bus? You give me the wrong story now, you'll wind up under the wheels.
Things are looking up.
It depends on where you're doing the looking.
From where i sit, i don't like the view.
I don't understand you, maxie.
I treat you like a favorite uncle, and you double-cross me.
Egad, caught.
Kid by the name of george reynold placed a bet with you- $300, and the horse doesn't place and yet, the dough never got to me.
Why, maxie? I'll bite.
Why? Because you gave it back, that's why.
You welshed on me.
And i had to go out and find the kid and get my dough back.
I had to rough him up a little bit 'cause he was stubborn.
That was a lot of trouble.
For 300 lousy bucks.
Yeah, an awful lot of trouble.
But you know how it would be, maxie, if i let this one pass.
It would be the first of a long line.
Inside of three months, i wouldn't have a shirt.
Kid must have been persuasive.
Ask the kid.
He's been asked.
Look at his face.
If i don't get that dough back, i'm going to go to jail.
Don't you understand, mr.
Moran? I'm going to go to jail.
You're tearing me to pieces, kid.
Right in here.
You know what's the matter with you, fella? You listen to guys like max phillips.
That was mistake one.
Max phillips never gave anything away in his life.
How right am i, maxie? Very right.
A heel with a robin hood complex, but thin and short-lived, georgy porgy.
Remember that the next time somebody tries to hand you something for nothing.
Consider the source.
Yeah.
Who? He's busy now.
All right, all right.
It's your landlady.
Says there's a telegram for you.
Yeah, mrs.
Feeney.
Open it up.
Department of the army? Well, read it to me.
No.
No no, i'm all right, mrs.
Feeney.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Pip is dying.
My kid is dying in a in a place called south vietnam.
There isn't even supposed to be a war going on there, but my son is dying.
It's to laugh.
I swear, it's to laugh.
Hey, max, oh, hey, kid, i'm sorry.
My kid used to love amusement parks.
I used to take him on saturday night.
It ain't like the kid's dead already.
What i mean is when i wasn't too drunk, or when i wasn't out conning for you, i used to take him to the amusement park.
You know something, moran, i think you're wrong.
I think i've given something away.
My kid, pip.
The good part of me.
The clean part.
The part i was proud of.
Georgy, you put this back where it came from.
Now, maxie, i'm sorry about your kid, but no more! No more! spit right in your eye.
i should have known how little time a man has to raise his son.
A little belated honor now, george.
You get out of here.
Walk as fast as you can.
Don't look behind you.
Moran, if your boy is reaching for a cigarette, tell him the smoke bothers me.
If he's reaching for anything else, tell him i'll cut his heart out before he halfway reaches it, then i'll go to work on you.
Get out.
Get out of here! Move! I was going to change.
That's a fact, pip.
I was i was going to change.
I was i was going to meet you when you got off the boat.
So now there's no more bets, and there's no more bottles but, oh there's no more pip either.
Oh, god, if i if i could just talk to him, you see? If i could just see him if i could just tell him all right, my friends, that'll do it.
Let's see if he'll survive for an hour.
If he can hang on for that long, i think he'll hang on for good.
Well, good luck to you what was his name? Pip? Good luck to you, pip.
Pip? Pip.
Hey, pip.
Hey, pop, i've been waiting.
Hey, pip! Hey, pip.
Pip, my boy.
Pop, i've been waiting for so long.
Hey, pip.
Oh, pip, hey! Pip.
You're ten years old again, pip.
How come you're ten years old again? That's what i am, pop.
I'm ten years old, and it's saturday night.
You said to meet you on the midway, and i've been waiting.
I was afraid you weren't going to come.
But i don't understand.
I really don't understand.
Sometimes you don't show up, pop.
Sometimes when you're sick or something.
You remember what i used to say, pip.
You remember? I remember.
I used to say hey, pip, who's your best buddy? Hey, pop, you're my best buddy.
Oh! What do you want to do? How about some rides, pop, or some cotton candy? Sure.
Some rides and some cotton candy.
Anything you want.
Anything at all.
But, pip, you're ten years old again.
I don't understand that.
It doesn't make any difference now.
We're here, and we're together, and we can go on some rides.
Sure we can.
Sure we can, pip.
Let's go.
Hey.
Come on, pop.
Whoa! Pop, help, help.
Ah.
How about this? Ooh, neat.
Come on, dad.
Work the gun, not the jaws.
You hit a duck.
Pip, you hit a duck.
You hit it.
Pip.
Who's your best buddy, pip? You, pop.
You're my best buddy.
What's the matter, pip? What happened? Pip, what's the matter? Pip, listen to me.
Pip.
Pip! Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
You have to understand this.
You have to try and listen and understand.
Those times when i wasn't around, when i was out conning and being a shill, or when i was too drunk, and when i'd drag you from one rooming house to another it doesn't make any difference now, pop.
It makes a difference, pip.
It does make a difference because i want you to know that no man oh, listen to me, son.
No man ever, everloved a boy any more than i love you.
It was because well, because i dreamed instead of did.
I wished and hoped instead of tried.
But as god is my witness, pip, i loved you.
See, i wouldn't be able to put it into words 'cause there isn't any language, but but i love you.
Pip.
You can't leave me now.
You can't go away from me now.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip! Pip.
Pip.
Pip? The hour's up now, pop.
I have to go.
I don't belong here.
You see, pop, the hour's up, and i'm dying.
You you're just a kid.
You're just a little boy, pip.
You can't die.
I want to spend the rest of my life being with you and doing things for you and giving you things.
That's all that life means to me anymore.
That's the only thing that's important.
And, pip, i promise you that they'll be no more bottles, and no more con job, nothing, and no more having to wait for me.
Pip.
Pip! I'm dying, pop.
I'm sorry, but i have to go back.
Why, pip? Why? Hey, god? Hey, god i'll make a deal with you.
I give you i give you the sodden carcass of an aging, weak idiot.
I give you me.
All you have to give back is pip.
Please, god, don't take my boy.
Please.
Take me.
Take me.
You all right, pip? Oh, sure.
I'm fine.
It's this leprechaun grandkid of mine.
She wants to go on the ferris wheel.
You want to come with us? Ah, no, thanks.
I'll just sorta walk around.
You know, this place reminds me of your father, god rest his soul.
He used to talk about taking you here all the time.
Yeah, we sure had some good times.
Oh, we had some wonderful times.
Look, we'll meet you over by the ferris wheel when we get off, huh? Okay.
Have a good time.
Yeah.
You watch out, huh, pip? Work the gun, not the jaws.
That's what my pop used to say.
Hey, pop, you're my best buddy.
You always were.
Very little comment here save for this small aside.
That the ties of flesh are deep and strong.
That the capacity to love is a vital, rich and all-consuming function of the human animal and that you can find nobility and sacrifice and love wherever you may seek it out- down the block, in the heart or in the twilight zone.
Beyond it is another dimension- a dimension of sound a dimension of sight a dimension of mind.
You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.
You've just crossed over into the twilight zone.
Is this the boy from huong hoa? That's right, sir.
We were caught in ambush.
"Multiple shrapnel, abdomen.
Extensive tissue damage.
" Well, we can't touch him here.
We'll have to send him on back.
What are his chances, sir? Not very good, i'm afraid.
"Phillips, pip.
" "Pip.
" that's an odd name.
Well, private pip, i wish you a long life.
Or, short of that, someone to mourn.
No, please! Submitted for your approval, one max phillips, a slightly the-worse-for-wear maker of book whose life has been as drab and undistinguished as a bundle of dirty clothes.
And, though it's very late in his day, he has an errant wish that the rest of his life might be sent out to a laundry, to come back shiny and clean, this to be a gift of love to a son named pip.
Mr.
Max phillips, homo sapiens, who is soon to discover that man is not as wise as he thinks- said lesson to be learned in the twilight zone.
Yeah.
Whew.
It smells like a brewery in here.
Nice, huh? Nice, no.
Typical, yes.
You got a visitor downstairs.
Some kid.
Did i ever tell you i love you, mrs.
Feeney? Often and endlessly.
Well, i do love you.
You're the queen of women.
Mailman come? Come and gone.
Anything for me? Nope.
Nothing from the kid? No.
Not this time.
But don't worry about him.
He's all right.
You ain't going to do yourself any good.
You know that.
An astute observation, mrs.
Feeney.
Oh, i love you and your astute observations.
I mean it.
I really mean it.
I know.
How 'bout it, mrs.
Feeney? It's to laugh, isn't it? Isn't it to laugh? Yeah.
Hi, mr.
Phillips.
Come on in.
Do you want a cigarette? I got one.
Got two? Thank you.
Uh shady lane lost yesterday.
That's the way of the world, georgy.
The rich get richer and the long shots lose.
So what's to do? You said he had a good chance.
You told me he ran good on a wet track.
I said that? Proving how little i know about horses, huh? What am i going to do? I bet every nickel i had on him.
It's funny, george.
Can't think of a thing.
Oh.
Big joke.
Lots of laughs.
Where'd you get the money? Where'd it come from? I got it.
From where? From from where i work.
"Where you work.
" A white-collar heist, huh? I borrowed it.
You borrowed it, sure, you borrowed it.
Without their knowing, you borrowed it.
How right am i? So what's to do, georgy? I'll go to jail.
I'll make book on that.
Poor georgy porgy, one of the breed- johnny-come-lately wisdom grafted onto a second-guesser head.
So i ask again, georgy, what's to do? Max phillips is outside.
I haven't seen you in five days.
Seems like years.
Where's everybody? Everybody's gone.
We settled accounts tonight.
Where were you? A reasonable question.
I took the wrong bus? You give me the wrong story now, you'll wind up under the wheels.
Things are looking up.
It depends on where you're doing the looking.
From where i sit, i don't like the view.
I don't understand you, maxie.
I treat you like a favorite uncle, and you double-cross me.
Egad, caught.
Kid by the name of george reynold placed a bet with you- $300, and the horse doesn't place and yet, the dough never got to me.
Why, maxie? I'll bite.
Why? Because you gave it back, that's why.
You welshed on me.
And i had to go out and find the kid and get my dough back.
I had to rough him up a little bit 'cause he was stubborn.
That was a lot of trouble.
For 300 lousy bucks.
Yeah, an awful lot of trouble.
But you know how it would be, maxie, if i let this one pass.
It would be the first of a long line.
Inside of three months, i wouldn't have a shirt.
Kid must have been persuasive.
Ask the kid.
He's been asked.
Look at his face.
If i don't get that dough back, i'm going to go to jail.
Don't you understand, mr.
Moran? I'm going to go to jail.
You're tearing me to pieces, kid.
Right in here.
You know what's the matter with you, fella? You listen to guys like max phillips.
That was mistake one.
Max phillips never gave anything away in his life.
How right am i, maxie? Very right.
A heel with a robin hood complex, but thin and short-lived, georgy porgy.
Remember that the next time somebody tries to hand you something for nothing.
Consider the source.
Yeah.
Who? He's busy now.
All right, all right.
It's your landlady.
Says there's a telegram for you.
Yeah, mrs.
Feeney.
Open it up.
Department of the army? Well, read it to me.
No.
No no, i'm all right, mrs.
Feeney.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Pip is dying.
My kid is dying in a in a place called south vietnam.
There isn't even supposed to be a war going on there, but my son is dying.
It's to laugh.
I swear, it's to laugh.
Hey, max, oh, hey, kid, i'm sorry.
My kid used to love amusement parks.
I used to take him on saturday night.
It ain't like the kid's dead already.
What i mean is when i wasn't too drunk, or when i wasn't out conning for you, i used to take him to the amusement park.
You know something, moran, i think you're wrong.
I think i've given something away.
My kid, pip.
The good part of me.
The clean part.
The part i was proud of.
Georgy, you put this back where it came from.
Now, maxie, i'm sorry about your kid, but no more! No more! spit right in your eye.
i should have known how little time a man has to raise his son.
A little belated honor now, george.
You get out of here.
Walk as fast as you can.
Don't look behind you.
Moran, if your boy is reaching for a cigarette, tell him the smoke bothers me.
If he's reaching for anything else, tell him i'll cut his heart out before he halfway reaches it, then i'll go to work on you.
Get out.
Get out of here! Move! I was going to change.
That's a fact, pip.
I was i was going to change.
I was i was going to meet you when you got off the boat.
So now there's no more bets, and there's no more bottles but, oh there's no more pip either.
Oh, god, if i if i could just talk to him, you see? If i could just see him if i could just tell him all right, my friends, that'll do it.
Let's see if he'll survive for an hour.
If he can hang on for that long, i think he'll hang on for good.
Well, good luck to you what was his name? Pip? Good luck to you, pip.
Pip? Pip.
Hey, pip.
Hey, pop, i've been waiting.
Hey, pip! Hey, pip.
Pip, my boy.
Pop, i've been waiting for so long.
Hey, pip.
Oh, pip, hey! Pip.
You're ten years old again, pip.
How come you're ten years old again? That's what i am, pop.
I'm ten years old, and it's saturday night.
You said to meet you on the midway, and i've been waiting.
I was afraid you weren't going to come.
But i don't understand.
I really don't understand.
Sometimes you don't show up, pop.
Sometimes when you're sick or something.
You remember what i used to say, pip.
You remember? I remember.
I used to say hey, pip, who's your best buddy? Hey, pop, you're my best buddy.
Oh! What do you want to do? How about some rides, pop, or some cotton candy? Sure.
Some rides and some cotton candy.
Anything you want.
Anything at all.
But, pip, you're ten years old again.
I don't understand that.
It doesn't make any difference now.
We're here, and we're together, and we can go on some rides.
Sure we can.
Sure we can, pip.
Let's go.
Hey.
Come on, pop.
Whoa! Pop, help, help.
Ah.
How about this? Ooh, neat.
Come on, dad.
Work the gun, not the jaws.
You hit a duck.
Pip, you hit a duck.
You hit it.
Pip.
Who's your best buddy, pip? You, pop.
You're my best buddy.
What's the matter, pip? What happened? Pip, what's the matter? Pip, listen to me.
Pip.
Pip! Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
You have to understand this.
You have to try and listen and understand.
Those times when i wasn't around, when i was out conning and being a shill, or when i was too drunk, and when i'd drag you from one rooming house to another it doesn't make any difference now, pop.
It makes a difference, pip.
It does make a difference because i want you to know that no man oh, listen to me, son.
No man ever, everloved a boy any more than i love you.
It was because well, because i dreamed instead of did.
I wished and hoped instead of tried.
But as god is my witness, pip, i loved you.
See, i wouldn't be able to put it into words 'cause there isn't any language, but but i love you.
Pip.
You can't leave me now.
You can't go away from me now.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip.
Pip! Pip.
Pip.
Pip? The hour's up now, pop.
I have to go.
I don't belong here.
You see, pop, the hour's up, and i'm dying.
You you're just a kid.
You're just a little boy, pip.
You can't die.
I want to spend the rest of my life being with you and doing things for you and giving you things.
That's all that life means to me anymore.
That's the only thing that's important.
And, pip, i promise you that they'll be no more bottles, and no more con job, nothing, and no more having to wait for me.
Pip.
Pip! I'm dying, pop.
I'm sorry, but i have to go back.
Why, pip? Why? Hey, god? Hey, god i'll make a deal with you.
I give you i give you the sodden carcass of an aging, weak idiot.
I give you me.
All you have to give back is pip.
Please, god, don't take my boy.
Please.
Take me.
Take me.
You all right, pip? Oh, sure.
I'm fine.
It's this leprechaun grandkid of mine.
She wants to go on the ferris wheel.
You want to come with us? Ah, no, thanks.
I'll just sorta walk around.
You know, this place reminds me of your father, god rest his soul.
He used to talk about taking you here all the time.
Yeah, we sure had some good times.
Oh, we had some wonderful times.
Look, we'll meet you over by the ferris wheel when we get off, huh? Okay.
Have a good time.
Yeah.
You watch out, huh, pip? Work the gun, not the jaws.
That's what my pop used to say.
Hey, pop, you're my best buddy.
You always were.
Very little comment here save for this small aside.
That the ties of flesh are deep and strong.
That the capacity to love is a vital, rich and all-consuming function of the human animal and that you can find nobility and sacrifice and love wherever you may seek it out- down the block, in the heart or in the twilight zone.