Twilight Zone: 061 The Silence (part 1 of 2)

You're traveling
through another dimension

a dimension not only
of sight and sound, but of mind

a journey into a wondrous land

whose boundaries
are that of imagination.

That's the signpost up ahead.

Your next stop,
the twilight zone.

Well, i can tell you
gentlemen

the most idiotic thing
occurred in the market today.

Just idiotic. I've been
dabbling in the syndicate.

It has some oil holdings
in texas.

Jack brewer handles
our new york operation.

He came on the floor today-
i just happened to be there.

This was about
10:30 this morning.

He has a sheaf of
papers in his hand

he waves to me.

Now, I can assure you if there is
anybody that i don't want

to see before noon
on any given day

it is jack brewer.

He's a raucous sort,
a little crude, nouveau riche-

you know the type.

Charlie, old man, you don't mind
if i sit here, do you, boy?

Well, where was i?

Oh, yes,
jack brewer.

He, uh, walks across
the floor to me

and with an
intense voice-

a voice absolutely
shaking with intensity-

he sidles up to me
and he whispers...

he's got the most miserable
habit of whispering-

sotto voce- so that everyone
in the world can hear him.

Anyway, he says to me "jim,

"i must scrape up
a quarter of a million

and you're the only one
that can handle it for me."

Now, this is brewer speaking
to me.

A quarter of
a million dollars!

And i am supposed
to scrape it up for him.

I mean, i am supposed
to scrape it up

as though it were
some kind of residue

that could be literally
scooped up off a floor!

To make a long story short

he arrives at the busiest
time of the morning

absolutely the busiest time

and he says to me

"jim, i've got an opportunity
to corner..."

i just got your letter.

Shh! Our young friend
is discoursing again.

Well, of course i looked a
little askance at him

because the boor wouldn't know
a corner of the market

from a railroad roundhouse!

The only thing worse
than his talking so much

is his transparency.

In about 30 seconds, alfred,
he will very nonchalantly ask

for a loan from
anybody within earshot.

As a matter of fact
just last week he asked me

for the loan of a quarter
of a million dollars.

The letter you sent me

is the most incredible
thing i have ever read.

Archie, we're old friends.

I must tell you...

my communication to you

was not as an old friend,
but as my lawyer.

Is the wager
i have in mind legal?

No wager is legal in this state.

Well, is it against
the law, then?

Anything criminal in it?

I don't see anything
criminal in it, no.

Alfred, that is exactly
what i wanted to hear from you.

Franklin, would you take
this note across the room

to young mr. Tennyson over there.

Archie...

you tell him it's from me.

Ask him to read it immediately.

Why, yes, sir.

The note that this man
is carrying across a club room

is in the form
of a proposed wager

but it's the kind of wager
that comes without precedent.

It stands alone
in the annals of bet making

as the strangest game of chance
ever offered

by one man to another.

In just a moment,
we'll see the terms of the wager

and what young
mr. Tennyson does about it.

And in the process

we'll witness all parties
spin a wheel of chance

in a very bizarre casino
called the twilight zone.

Do you know what i could do

with a quarter of a million
dollars in a deal like this?

Well, i can tell you this-
i could treble it, quadruple it.

Why, with an initial
investment

of a quarter of a
million dollars...

i could take this
plastics thing...

excuse me, mr. Tennyson.

A note for you
from colonel taylor.

Just put it down
somewhere, franklin.

Excuse me, mr. Tennyson,
his instructions are

that you read it immediately.

I beg your pardon.

Acts like he had
seen a ghost.

This is... this is
absolute nonsense.

What about it, tennyson?

Is this some
kind of a joke?

I mean, really, colonel,
if it is a joke,

it suggests a sense of
humor quite beyond me.

It is not a joke.

You know me
reasonably well, tennyson.

You know that humor is perhaps

the least developed
aspect of my character.

I am quite serious.

Would you mind
terribly, tennyson

if i acquainted the members
with my proposition?

Well, that's your business,
colonel, quite your business.

But i do believe that you will

make yourself highly suspect.

I'll take that risk.

I propose a wager
to mr. Tennyson here.

The wager is to take
the following form.

I will bet him $500,000...

that he cannot remain
silent for one year.

The wager carries with it
the following conditions:

He will be placed
in a room for observation

by me or by any one of us,
at our discretion.

He will be furnished
with anything he desires

by way of diversion.

But he will not be able to speak
one single word for 12 months

not one single word.

He will make his wants known

in writing, not by voice.

What about it, tennyson?

Well, may i ask what is
the reason for this wager?

What I'm about to say might
horrify the average person

but to someone
as insensitive as you

it probably won't
mean a thing.

I dislike you
intensely, tennyson.

It goes much beyond
the ordinary distaste

i feel for someone
without breeding

without principles,
without manners.

Your voice has become
intolerable.

I sit here each night and
the sound of it makes me wince!

I cannot ask you
to resign from the club.

I haven't got that right.

So it occurred to me

that i'd be willing
to offer a large sum of money

just to have some quiet.

You see, tennyson

you could not possibly
remain silent for a year.

It's not in your nature.

You're a shallow, talkative,
empty-headed ne'er-do-well

and to remain silent
would destroy you.

So what i assume
will happen

you will perhaps
withstand the pressures

for three or four weeks,
maybe a couple of months

and then you will succumb.

That's, again, your nature.

In the meantime, i will derive

oh, several months
of exquisite silence.

Well, tennyson

does it appeal to
your sporting blood?

Oddly enough, it does
appeal to my sporting blood.

Now, that, too,
is patently ridiculous.

There's nothing sporting
about you, tennyson.

I happen to know
you're delivering

your nightly
financial folderol

because you're in
desperate straits.

You've run through
your inheritance

your debts are
insurmountable

and you'd do practically
anything for money.

Except, perhaps, to
remain silent for a year.

If this were europe, or the
company were more sophisticated

i should be forced
to invite you out

for the things
you've said to me.

The ground rules
here, however, are different.

I can either ignore you
or call your bluff.

Well, i choose to do the latter.

I accept your wager.

Uh, just a few questions.

Where am i to be
incarcerated?

Well, in the old
game room downstairs.

It isn't being used.

With the permission of
the board of governors

i'll have some work
done on it.

You'll be in a glass-enclosed
living room and bedroom.

There will be microphones
placed all around the room

which you are
to leave untouched.

Your every movement
will be recorded

and so will your voice
when you decide to give up.

You will permit me
or any one of us

to observe you at any time.

When, uh, is this
supposed to start?

Well, the room could be
prepared by tomorrow night.

I've made all
the necessary inquiries.

You could enter
anytime after 10:00 p.m.

And so, at 10:00 p.m.,
june 3, 1962

you may leave the room.

At that time i will have

a check for $500,000
waiting for you

assuming, of course,
that the impossible happens

and you're able to remain silent
for those 12 months.

I'll be back tomorrow night.

Uh, colonel, i would like
to have that check certified

and placed on deposit
in my name

a photostat of it available

and witnessed
by every member of this club.

That might be
the usual procedure

in a fish market or a pawn shop

but not in this club
and not with me.

My credit is well-known

so is my honor, as every
member here will vouch for.

There will be no check
placed on deposit.

You'll have to take my word.

I see.

It's my courage
against your credit.

Well, a year
from tomorrow night

both can be proved.

Franklin, get me my coat.
- Yes, sir.

Tennyson, i've known colonel
taylor for a long time.

This is not
a capricious man.

I warn you,
he is in deadly earnest.

Do you know my wife, sir?

Her name is Doris.

She's a lovely thing-
frail, beautiful, fragile.

Like a cameo brooch

but her tastes run
to unfragile things-

sizable baubles to
sizable price tags.

She shops at tiffany's the way
other women enter a supermarket.

My miserable misfortune is

that i happen to be very
much in love with her.

I am also desperate
in need of money.

I may sound melodramatic,
but it happens to be true.

Any time now, mr. Tennyson.

Any time.

Oh, mr. Tennyson's dinner, hmm?

Yes, sir.

Is he eating well,
appetite good?

Not very much up
to a week ago, sir

but he's eating very well now.

Well, that's nice.

And i hope he stays
in perfect health.

I wouldn't want this experience

to damage him in any way.

Quite the contrary, sir.

He seems in excellent spirits

and it's nine weeks now, sir

nine weeks today that
he's been in there.

Nine weeks...