The 2 plays that were my only must-sees -- Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll and Aaaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention (about Philo F. and the invention of TV) -- both closed last week.
Regarding Aaron Sorkin & Philo Farnsworth (long-winded layout, but bear with me, as I'm sure part of the historical basis of his play is in here).
Didja know that between
The American President &
West Wing Sorkin did a sitcom called
Sports Night? As in
WW he wrote every episode (the second season of which overlapped with
WW, so he ultimately bailed on
SN, so 2 seasons was all there was). Which was too bad, because not many saw
SN, & it was f***ing
BRILLIANT. I've got the DVD set to prove it. If anyone ever asks me what my nominee would be for the best 30 minutes in the history of TV - I would say
without hesitation the episode from
Sports Night titled "Cliff Gardner". Seriously.
Before the dialogue below, Dramatis Personae:
Robert (Benson) Guillame is 'Isaac Jaffee' (a SAG nominated role), the Head of Production for the fictitious Sports Night program. At this juncture he is under fire from corporate because the program is underperforming.
William H. Macy is 'Sam Donavan' in a recurring role as a hard-as-nails yet highly unconventional consultant brought in by Isaac to boost their ratings. (Felicity Huffman, his real life wife, is the main female character on the show if you didn't know.)
'J.J.' is a corporate hack (in the context of this episode), who along with an entourage has just given the Sports Night team a series of Dilbert-esque annotated notes on how they can improve their show, with the implied threat that if Isaac doesn't follow their suggestions heads will roll. In the previous couple episodes to this point the audience is presuming that 'Sam' is also a corporate hack intent on gutting the show, so keep that in mind when you get to the end of Sam's monologue.
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Sam interrupts the conference room meeting to pull J.J. & his entourage outside.
Sam Donovan: Take a walk with me, will ya?
J.J.: Where?
Sam Donovan: It's a surprise. You guys know who Philo Farnsworth was?
J.J.: Philo Farnsworth?
Sam Donovan: Yeah.
J.J.: What's going on?
Sam Donovan: He invented television. I don't mean he invented television like Uncle Milty. I mean he invented the
television in a little house in Provo, Utah, at a time when the idea of transmitting moving pictures through the air would be like me saying I figured out a way to beam us aboard the Starship Enterprise.
J.J.: Yeah, look, I - I -
Sam Donovan: He was a visionary. He died broke and without fanfare. The guy I really
like though was his brother-in-law, Cliff Gardner. He said, "Philo, I know everyone thinks you're crazy, but I want to be a part of this. I don't have your head for science, so I'm not going to be able to help much with the design and mechanics of the invention, but it sounds like you're going to need glass tubes."
Female entourage member: J.J., I-I don't think -
Sam Donovan: You see, Philo was inventing the cathode receptor, and even though Cliff didn't know what that meant or how it worked, he'd seen Philo's drawings, and he knew that he was gonna need glass tubes. And since television hadn't been invented yet, it's not like you could get them at the local TV repair shop. "I want to be a part of this," Cliff said, "But I don't have your head for science. How would it be if I were to teach myself to be a glass blower? I could set up a little shop in the backyard. And I could make all the tubes you'll need for testing." There ought to be Congressional Medals for people like that.
Male entourage member: Maybe so -
Sam Donovan: I've looked over the notes you've been giving over the last year or so, and I have to say they exhibit an almost total
lack of understanding of how to get the best from talented people.
Female entourage member: Excuse me, but -
Sam Donovan: You said before that for whatever reason, I seem to be able to exert some authority around here. I assure you it's not 'cause they like me. It's 'cause they knew two minutes after I walked in the door I'm someone who knows how to do something. I can help. I can make glass tubes
. That's what they need.
One last thing, the first and last decision-making authority on this show will rest with Isaac Jaffee until Isaac Jaffee says otherwise, and if you disrespect him in my presence again, I will rededicate the rest of my life to ruining the rest of yours. And if you think I'm just mouthing at you, you should ask around about me. I have absolutely no conscience about these things.
J.J.: Sam, why did you bring us out here?
Sam Donovan: Because there's the exit. That's it. The meeting's over. 
