He was the phenomenon
of the twenties.
When you think that he was
as well-known as Lindbergh...
it's really quite astonishing.
His story reflected the nature
of our civilization...
the character of our times.
Yet it was also
one man's story...
and all the themes
of our culture were there--
heroism, will,
things like that--
but when you look back on it,
it was very strange.
Well, it is ironic...
to see how quickly
he has faded from memory...
considering what
an astounding record he made.
He was,
of course, very amusing...
but at the same time
touched a nerve in people...
perhaps in a way in which they
would prefer not to be touched.
It certainly is
a very bizarre story.
The year is 1928.
America, enjoying a decade
of unequaled prosperity...
has gone wild.
The Jazz Age, it is called.
The rhythms are syncopated.
The morals are looser.
The liquor is cheaper,
when you can get it.
It is a time of diverse heroes
and madcap stunts...
of speak-easies
and flamboyant parties.
One typical party occurs
at the Long lsland estate...
of Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Porter Sutton...
socialites,
patrons of the arts.
Politicians and poets...
rub elbows
with the cream of high society.
Present at the party
is Scott Fitzgerald...
who is to cast perspective
on the twenties...
for all future generations.
He writes in his notebook...
about a curious little man
named Leon Selwyn, or Zelman...
who seemed clearly
to be an aristocrat...
and extolled the very rich
as he chatted with socialites.
He spoke adoringly of Coolidge
and the Republican Party...
all in an upper-class
Boston accent.
"An hour later,"
writes Fitzgerald...
"I was stunned
to see the same man...
"speaking with
the kitchen help.
"Now he claimed
to be a Democrat...
"and his accent seemed coarse,
as if he were one of the crowd."
It's the first small notice
taken of Leonard Zelig.
Florida, one year later.
An odd incident occurs...
at the New York Yankees'
training camp.
Journalists,
anxious as always...
to immortalize the exploits
of the great home-run hitters...
notice a strange new player...
waiting his turn at bat
after Babe Ruth.
He's listed on the roster
as Lou Zelig...
but no one on the team
has heard of him.
Security guards are called...
and he's escorted
from the premises.
It appears as a small item
in the next day's newspaper.
Chicago, Illinois,
that same year.
There is a private party...
at a speak-easy
on the South Side.
People from the most
respectable walks of life...
dance and drink bathtub gin.
Present that evening
was Calvin Turner, a waiter.
A lot of gangsters
come in the place.
They're good tippers
and take care of us.
We take care of our customers.
On this particular night,
here's a strange guy coming in.
I'd never seen him before.
So I asked the one
or the other...
I said, "John,
you know this guy?
"You ever seen him?"
So he looks.
"No. I ain't never
seen him before.
"I don't know who he is...
"but I know one thing--
he's a tough-looking hombre."
So I looked over, and then...
the next thing,
the guy had disappeared.
I don't know where he went to.
But about this time,
the music starts...
and the band
started playing.
I looked. Here's a colored boy
over there playing trumpet.
Man, he was playing back,
and I looked at the guy...
and I said, "He looks
just like that gangster...
"but the gangster was white,
and this guy is black."
So I don't know
what's happening.
New York City.
It is several months later.
Police are investigating
the disappearance of a clerk...
named Leonard Zelig.
Both his landlady
and his employer...
have reported him missing.
They tell police he was an odd
little man who kept to himself.
Two clues are found in
Zelig's Greenwich Village flat.
One, a photograph of Zelig
with Eugene O'Neill...
and one of him as Pagliacci.
Acting on a tip, they trace
his whereabouts to Chinatown...
where, in the rear
of a Chinese establishment...
a strange-looking Oriental...
who fits the description
of Leonard Zelig is discovered.
Suspicious, the detectives
try to pull off his disguise...
but it is not a disguise,
and a fight breaks out.
He is removed by force
and taken to Manhattan Hospital.
In the ambulance,
he rants and curses...
in what sounds
like authentic Chinese.
He is restrained
with a straitjacket.
When he emerges from the car
twenty minutes later...
incredibly, he is no longer
Chinese, but Caucasian.
Bewildered interns place him
in the emergency room...
for observation.
At 7 a.m., Dr. Eudora Fletcher,
a psychiatrist...
makes her usual rounds.
When I first heard
about this emergency case...
I didn't think
anything peculiar...
and when I first
laid eyes on him...
it was a bit strange because
I mistook him for a doctor.
He had a very professional
demeanor about him.
As a young psychiatrist...
Eudora Fletcher is fascinated
by Leonard Zelig.
She convinces the conservative
staff at the hospital...
to allow her to pursue
a study of the new admission.
So, what do you do?
Oh, me? I'm a psychiatrist.
I work mostly
with delusional paranoids.
Tell me about it.
There's not much to tell.
I work mostly
on the continent...
and I've written quite a few
psychoanalytic papers.
I worked with Freud in Vienna.
We broke over the concept
of penis envy.
Freud felt that it
should be limited to women.
It's not that he was
making any sense at all.
It was a conglomeration
of psychological double-talk...
that he had apparently heard...
or was familiar with
through reading.
The funny thing was
his delivery was quite fluid...
and might have been
convincing...
to someone
who did not know any better.
Who was this Leonard Zelig
that seemed to create...
such diverse impressions
everywhere?
All that was known of him
was that he was the son...
of a Yiddish actor
named Morris Zelig...
whose performance as Puck...
in the Orthodox version of
"A Midsummer Night's Dream"...
was coolly received.
The elder Zelig's
second marriage...
is marked by constant violent
quarreling, so much so...
that although the family
lives over a bowling alley...
it's the bowling alley
that complains of noise.
As a boy, Leonard is frequently
bullied by anti-Semites.
His parents,
who never take his part...
and blame him for everything,
side with the anti-Semites.
They punish him often
by locking him in a dark closet.
When they are really angry...
they get into the closet
with him.
On his deathbed,
Morris Zelig tells his son...
that life is a meaningless
nightmare of suffering...
and the only advice he gives him
is to save string.
Though brother Jack
has a nervous breakdown...
and sister Ruth becomes
a shoplifter and alcoholic...
Leonard Zelig appears
to have adjusted to life.
Somehow, he seems to have coped.
And then, suddenly,
increasingly strange behavior.
Fascinated
by the Zelig phenomenon...
Dr. Fletcher arranges
a series of experiments...
and invites the skeptical staff
to observe.
With the doctors watching, Zelig
becomes a perfect psychiatrist.
When two Frenchmen
are brought in...
Zelig assumes their characters
and speaks reasonable French.
In the company
of a Chinese person...
he begins to develop
Oriental features.
By now, word has gotten out
to the press...
and the public, thirsting
for thrills and novelty...
is immediately captivated.
The clamor is so great...
that Dr. Allan Sindell
is forced to issue a statement.
We're beginning
to realize the dimensions...
of what could be the scientific
medical phenomenon of the age...
and possibly of all time.
Fresh stories roll off
the press every day...
about Zelig
and his puzzling condition.
Although the doctors claim
to have the situation in hand...
no two can agree
on a diagnosis.
I'm convinced
it's glandular in nature...
and although there's
no evidence of misfunction...
further tests will show
a problem in the secretions.
It's something he picked up
from eating Mexican food.
This manifestation
is neurological in origin.
This patient is suffering
from a brain tumor...
and I should not be surprised
if within several weeks he died.
We have not been able
to locate the tumor...
but we're still looking.
Ironically,
within two weeks' time...
it is Dr. Birsky himself
who dies of a brain tumor.
Leonard Zelig is fine.
Throughout the weeks
of testing and speculation...
Eudora Fletcher
begins to feel...
that the patient
might be suffering...
not from
a physiological disorder...
but from a psychological one.
It is Zelig's unstable makeup,
she suggests...
that accounts
for his metamorphoses.
The governing board of doctors
is hostile to her notion.
They conclude
that Zelig's malady...
can be traced to poor alignment
of the vertebrae.
Tests prove them wrong...
and cause a temporary problem
for the patient.
Now the press and public
hang on every bit of news...
thoroughly absorbed
in the real-life drama.
The continuing saga
at Manhattan Hospital goes on.
This morning, doctors report,
experiments were conducted.
Several women were placed
in proximity to the subject...
but no change occurred...
Ieading authorities
to conclude...
that the phenomenon
does not occur with women.
Doctors will experiment
with a midget and a chicken.
Leonard Zelig continues
to astound scientists...
at New York's
Manhattan Hospital...
where numerous tests
have led nowhere...
in determining the nature of
this astonishing manifestation.
He is confronted
by two overweight men...
at the request of the doctors.
As the men
discuss their obesity...
an initially reticent Zelig
joins in...
swelling himself
to a miraculous 250 pounds.
Next, in the presence
of two Negro men...
Zelig rapidly
becomes one himself.
What will they think of next?
Meanwhile, Americans all over
have their own reactions.
I wish I could be Lenny Zelig,
the changing man.
I'd be different people.
Someday my wishes
will come true.
Leonard Zelig is
one of the finest gentlemen...
in the United States of America.
He is the cat's pajamas.
Trying a new approach...
Dr. Fletcher places the subject
under hypnosis.
Tell me why you assume
the characteristics...
of the person you're with.
-It's safe.
-What do you mean safe?
Safe...
to be like the others.
You want to be safe?
I want to be liked.
Probing Zelig's unconscious...
Dr. Fletcher gradually
puts together the pieces...
of Zelig's behavioral puzzle.
Dividing her time
between the hospital...
and the 42nd-Street Library,
she writes her report.
A closed meeting
of doctors listens...
as Dr. Fletcher describes Zelig
as a human chameleon.
Like the lizard
that is endowed by nature...
with a marvelous
protective device...
that enables it
to change color...
and blend in with
its immediate surrounding...
Zelig, too, protects himself...
by becoming
whoever he is around.
The doctors listen,
and their reaction is skeptical.
"Impossible," they claim.
"Preposterous."
"If he's a lizard,"
quips one doctor...
"then we shouldn't spend
hospital money feeding him...
"but simply catch him
some flies."
We knew we had
a good story this time...
because it had everything in it.
It had romance.
It had suspense.
This fellow Zelig,
he grew up poor.
My city editor said, "Ted...
"we want this story
on page one every day."
In those days, you'd do anything
to sell papers.
To get a story,
you'd jazz it up...
you'd exaggerate,
play with the truth.
Here was a story.
It was a natural.
You told the truth,
and it sold papers.
It never happened before.
Overnight,
Leonard Zelig has become...
the main topic
of conversation everywhere...
and is discussed with amusement
and wonder.
No social gathering is without
its Leonard Zelig joke...
and in a decade
of popular dance crazes...
a new one
sweeps the nation.
What's brown, white,
and yellow with four eyes?
Leonard Zelig
at the League of Nations.
Not everyone, however...
was entranced
by the human chameleon...
and amongst the fanatics...
he was a handy symbol
of iniquity.
This creature
personifies Capitalist man.
A creature who takes
many forms to achieve ends...
the exploitation of the workers
by deception.
To the Ku Klux Klan, Zelig...
a Jew who was able
to transform himself...
into a Negro or lndian,
was a triple threat.
Meanwhile, Dr. Fletcher...
certain that her findings
are correct...
begs for time
with her patient...
to put her theories
into operation.
You recall
the first time you began...
behaving like the people
you were around?
In school,
some very bright people...
asked me if I read "Moby Dick."
I was ashamed to say
I never read it.
And you pretended?
When did the changes
begin happening automatically?
Years ago.
Saint Patrick's Day.
I wandered into a bar.
Wasn't wearing green.
They made remarks.
I turned lrish.
You told them you were lrish?
My hair turned red.
My nose turned up.
Spoke about
the great potato famine...
and the little people.
We do not agree
with Dr. Fletcher's ideas.
We believe those ideas
are pipe dreams.
We believe that any change
in Zelig's condition...
is going to be brought about...
through certain
experimental drugs...
which although risky,
have been known to work wonders.
Zelig is treated
with the experimental drug...
somadril hydrate.
He undergoes
severe mood changes...
and for several days
will not come off the wall.
Then suddenly...
as Dr. Fletcher is beginning
to make some progress...
the question of Zelig's fate
takes a new twist...
as his half sister Ruth
removes him from the hospital.
"He can be better cared for
at home," she tells the doctors.
He'll be looked after by her
and her lover Martin Geist--
a businessman
and ex-carnival promoter.
There is very little resistance
amongst the doctors...
who are relieved to be rid
of the frustrating case.
Only Dr. Fletcher cares
about Zelig as a human being.
She insists he desperately needs
special care...
but it is to no avail.
No one was questioning
her legal right to Zelig.
She was his half sister
and his guardian...
but she had a strange
boyfriend called Geist.
He'd been in jail
for real-estate fraud.
He was selling
the same piece of property...
to a lot of people.
A Delaware Congressman
bought it twice.
The crowds
that line the roads...
to glimpse the human chameleon
tie up traffic for days.
He's a sight to behold
for tourists and children.
People from all over the country
fight for space...
to peek at this new wonderment.
Selling mementos
while her brother...
is allowed
to be on exhibition...
is only the beginning
for Ruth Zelig and Martin Geist.
Admission is charged for
twice-daily demonstrations...
of Leonard's stunning prowess.
He does not disappoint...
changing appearance
over and over upon demand.
Overnight, he has become
an attraction, a novelty...
a freak.
In this 1935 film
based on the life of Zelig...
called "The Changing Man"...
the atmosphere
is best summed up.
We can't give up
custody of Leonard.
I know, if given the chance,
I can cure him.
Even our attorney
says it's hopeless.
Dr. Fletcher--
may I call you Eudora?
Somewhere behind
that vacuous face...
that zombielike stare...
is a real human being,
and I can bring it out.
How?
Some new way, some technique.
Whatever it is,
it will have to be personal.
There's not much
I can do legally.
They don't care.
They'll exploit him.
They see a chance to make money.
Look. They're selling
this Leonard Zelig doll.
The film did not exaggerate.
There weren't only Leonard Zelig
pens and lucky charms...
but clocks and toys,
watches and books...
and a famous Leonard Zelig doll.
There were aprons,
chameleon-shaped earmuffs...
and a popular
Leonard Zelig game.
There were many popular songs...
inspired by Leonard Zelig,
tunes that swept the nation.
In addition to
the products and endorsements...
there are
the endless exhibitions.
In Hollywood,
he's a great favorite...
and is offered a film contract.
Clara Bow invites him
for a private weekend...
and tells him to bring
all his personalities.
In Chicago, he meets heavyweight
champion Jack Dempsey...
who clowns with Zelig
at his training camp.
In Washington, D.C.,
he is introduced...
to both Calvin Coolidge
and Herbert Hoover.
In France, he is hailed
as Le Lezard.
He is the toast
of the Parisian music halls.
His performance endears him to
leading French intellectuals...
who see in him
a symbol for everything.
His transformation
into a rabbi...
is so realistic
that certain Frenchmen...
suggest he be sent
to Devil's lsland.
At the Folies Bergere...
Josephine Baker does her version
of the Chameleon Dance...
and later tells friends...
she finds Zelig amazing,
but a little lost.
Everyone used to be
at my place--
everyone who was someone--
and occasionally
someone would bring Zelig in--
Leonard in.
Cole Porter
was fascinated by Leonard...
and he once
wrote a line in a song...
"You're the tops.
You're Leonard Zelig."
But then he couldn't find
anything to rhyme with Zelig.
I'm flying high
'Cause I've got a feeling
I'm falling
Falling for nobody else but you
You caught my eye
Now I got a feeling I'm falling
Show me that ring,
and I'll jump right through
I used to travel single, oh
We chanced to mingle, oh
Now I'm a-tingle over you
Hey, Mr. Zelig, stand by
'Cause I've got a feeling
I'm falling
Falling for nobody else but you
Wow!
Though the shows and parties...
keep Zelig's sister
and her lover rich and amused...
Zelig's own existence
is a nonexistence.
Devoid of personality...
his human qualities long since
lost in the shuffle of life...
he sits alone,
quietly staring into space...
a cipher, a nonperson,
a performing freak.
He who wanted only to fit in,
to belong...
to go unseen by his enemies
and be loved...
neither fits in nor belongs...
is supervised by enemies,
and remains uncared for.
The board at the hospital
has all but forgotten Zelig.
Only Dr. Fletcher continues
to fight for his custody.
The court turns
her final appeal down.
Throughout her valiant
legal battle...
she is frequently in the company
of her attorney Charles Koslow.
He falls in love with her...
and presses
for her hand in marriage.
She is ambivalent.
Reluctantly,
she is beginning to abandon...
all hope of recovering
Leonard Zelig.
That summer,
Geist has booked them in Spain.
It is the last leg
of a European tour...
that has been wildly successful.
Relations between Martin Geist
and Ruth Zelig...
have grown strained.
They have become bored
with one another...
and quarrel frequently.
The situation grows worse
when she meets Luis Martinez...
a mediocre
and cowardly bullfighter...
with whom she falls in love.
Though he wishes
to impress Ruth Zelig...
Martinez displays
his usual panic in the arena.
Good fortune is
with him, however...
as the bull gives himself
a brain concussion.
Martinez takes credit
for the kill...
and cutting off
the bull's ear...
presents it to his lover
with great bravado.
That evening,
in a jealous rage...
Martin Geist returns
to his hotel room...
and confronts Ruth Zelig.
He demands that she
give him the ear.
She refuses.
Geist insists upon
possession of the ear.
They quarrel furiously,
and Martinez is discovered...
hiding in the closet.
Geist pulls a revolver
and shoots him.
He turns the gun on Zelig's
half sister and kills her.
Then he takes his own life.
In an orgy
of jealous violence...
Leonard Zelig's life
is turned upside down.
At first, the news reverberates
around the world.
Then, just as quickly...
the thrill-hungry public
becomes apathetic.
Fresh scandals appear
and make headlines.
Events in the Jazz Age
move too rapidly...
Iike Red Grange.
A population glutted with
distractions is quick to forget.
The twenties come
to a crashing climax...
and still, Leonard Zelig
is nowhere to be found.
Dr. Eudora Fletcher
searches in vain to locate him.
When several leads
prove disappointing...
she gives up, discouraged.
I felt it was a shame.
Here was this unique case...
that I could make
my reputation on.
Not that I knew
how to cure him...
but if I could
have him alone...
and feel my way and be
innovative and creative...
I felt that I could
change his life...
if I only had the chance.
300,000 of the faithful are
waiting before St. Peter's...
for the appearance
of Pope Pius Xl.
Borne on the shoulders
of twelve attendants...
the seat of the Adjustortoria
carrying the Holy Father...
is drawn out
to the central balcony...
where he bestows his
blessings on all the world.
This is the first time this
ritual has been performed...
in 63 years and brings
to a climax on Easter Sunday...
the religious ceremonies
of Holy Week.
What's this? A commotion
next to the Papal Father?
Somebody doesn't
belong up there.
The guards are summoned
amidst chaos...
as His Holiness Pope Pius Xl...
tries to swat the intruder
with his sacred decree.
The faithful can't believe it.
It is, of course, Zelig.
He's returned
to the United States...
by ltalian authorities...
and readmitted
to Manhattan Hospital.
I welcome this opportunity
to treat Leonard Zelig...
now that he is back
as a ward of the hospital.
I'm grateful the board
has given me this chance.
I sincerely hope
to return him to society...
a useful,
self-possessed citizen...
no longer a curiosity
with no life of his own.
Dr. Fletcher has no time now
to think of marriage.
All her attention must be
devoted to Leonard Zelig.
Her plan is to bring him
to her country home.
She will set up a neutral
environment away from society.
She will begin searching for
some new way to treat him...
in the hopes of penetrating
his unique malady.
Aware of the significance
of her work...
Eudora Fletcher arranges
to keep a filmed record...
of the proceedings.
For this, she contacts
her first cousin Paul Deghuee...
an inventor
and part-time photographer.
She said, "I want to make
a record of this case...
"for future generations
and the world of science.
"I want you to keep
the camera very quiet."
I said, "Why not just
take notes and write it up?"
She said, "Paul, when a man...
"changes his physical
appearance, you want to see it.
"You can't read about it.
"Besides which,
I am planning to make history."
The white room
is carefully arranged...
for maximum serenity.
It is a small study
in Dr. Fletcher's house...
sparsely furnished.
Clumsy photographic lights
are nailed to the wall...
to provide
sufficient illumination.
Microphones are hidden
in specially selected places.
The camera shoots
through a pane of glass...
which renders it
relatively unobtrusive.
The noise of the motor
is a problem.
This is muffled with a blanket
and anything else handy.
From this cramped
vantage point...
photographer Paul Deghuee
will record...
the famous
White Room Sessions--
a remarkable document
in the history of psychotherapy.
By today's standards...
the White Room Sessions
would seem very primitive...
and yet they were
really quite effective...
in developing a very strong
personal relation...
between doctor and patient.
The question whether
Zelig was a psychotic...
or merely extremely neurotic...
was a question
that was endlessly discussed...
among us doctors.
I myself felt that
his feelings were really...
not all that different
from the normal...
maybe what one would call...
the well-adjusted
normal person...
only carried
to an extreme degree...
to an extreme extent.
I myself felt that one could...
really think of him
as the ultimate conformist.
Leonard, do you know
why you're here?
To discuss psychiatry, right?
You're a doctor?
Yes, I am.
Perhaps you've read
my latest paper...
on delusional paranoia.
Turns out
the entire thing is mental.
Suppose I tell you
you're not a doctor.
I would say
that you're making a joke.
Incidentally, is it
always so bright in here?
I'm recording these sessions
on film, if you don't mind.
There's somebody
behind there, right?
That's right.
That's a camera.
Why don't we start
with simple reality.
Leonard, you're not a doctor.
You're a patient,
and I'm the doctor.
I wouldn't tell it to
too many people if I were you.
Leonard, you're not a doctor.
Is she going to be all right?
I've got to get back to town.
Really. I have
an interesting case--
treating two sets
of Siamese twins...
with split personalities.
I'm getting paid
by eight people.
"The first week's sessions
did not go too well..."
writes Dr. Fletcher
in her diary.
"Leonard identifies with me...
"and is convinced
that he is a doctor.
"He is guarded and suspicious.
"There is something
very appealing about him, too.
"He's quick-witted
and energetic.
"Perhaps it is his very
helplessness that moves me.
"I must keep flexible
and play the situation by ear."
How are you today, Leonard?
Fine.
I got to get back to town soon.
I teach a course...
at the Psychiatric lnstitute
on masturbation.
I see.
I'm a doctor, and l--
Guilt-related masturbation.
Not guilt-related.
I teach advanced.
I'm quite
a respected doctor there.
Let your eyes follow this pen.
Just let yourself
breathe deeply.
Relax.
You're trying to hypnotize me.
-Do you mind?
-Yes, I mind. I'm a doctor.
You're not a doctor.
I am a doctor.
Just relax.
I can't.
I'm due back in town.
I have this
masturbation class.
If I'm not there,
they start without me.
As the weeks go by...
Dr. Fletcher grows
more and more frustrated.
"Leonard continues
to insist he is a doctor...
"and even refuses to let me
hypnotize him," she writes.
"I believe his experiences
of the past year...
"have made him
more defensive than ever.
"It is discouraging."
She was under great pressure.
You could tell.
She was moody and nervous.
He was fine, napping,
sitting in his chair reading.
He referred to himself
as Dr. Zelig.
He was reading
books on psychiatry.
I told her to get away
for a day and relax.
The strain was
becoming too much.
Leaving Zelig alone...
Dr. Fletcher takes
Paul Deghuee's advice...
and she and her fiance
spend some hours off, relaxing.
They go to Broadway, then
to a well-known nightclub...
where, despite
a lively stage show...
Dr. Fletcher
is distracted and uneasy.
She is unable to think
of anything but her patient.
The atmosphere with
her fiance Koslow is awkward.
He is put off by her
total obsession with Zelig.
Ironically, it is in the noisy,
smoke-filled atmosphere...
of the nightclub
that Eudora Fletcher...
is struck by a brilliant
and innovative plan...
that will create a major
breakthrough in the case.
Dr. Zelig.
I wonder if you could
help me with a problem.
I could certainly try.
Of course,
we can't promise anything.
Last week, I was with a group
of fairly erudite people...
who were discussing
the novel "Moby Dick."
I was afraid to admit
I hadn't read it, so I lied.
I want so badly to be liked...
to be like other people
so I don't stand out.
That's natural.
I go to such extreme
lengths to blend in.
You're a doctor. You should know
how to handle that.
But the truth
of the matter is...
I'm not an actual doctor.
You're not?
I've been pretending
to be a doctor...
to fit in with my friends.
You see, they're doctors.
That's something.
But you're a doctor,
and you can help me.
You have to help me.
I don't feel that well,
actually.
My whole life's just been a lie.
I've been posing
as one thing after another.
You need help, lady.
Last night, I dreamt I was
falling into fire.
What does that mean?
That's terrible.
I don't know.
Doctor, I know
I'm a complicated patient.
-I don't feel that well.
-What am I suffering from?
How should I know?
I'm not a doctor.
You're not?
-No. Am l?
-Who are you?
What do you mean?
These are tough questions.
Leonard Zelig?
Definitely. Who is he?
You.
I'm nobody. I'm nothing.
I--catch me.
I'm falling.
Playing on
Zelig's identity disorder...
Dr. Fletcher
has manipulated him...
into momentary disorientation.
With his guard lowered, she
quickly puts him under hypnosis.
Using posthypnotic suggestion...
she will now be able
to induce a trance at will.
My brother beat me.
My sister beat my brother.
My father beat my sister
and my brother and me.
My mother beat my father...
and my sister and me
and my brother.
The neighbors beat our family.
People down the block beat
the neighbors and our family.
I'm twelve years old.
I run into a synagogue.
I ask the rabbi
the meaning of life.
He tells me
the meaning of life...
but he tells it to me in Hebrew.
I don't understand Hebrew.
Then he wants to charge me
$600 for Hebrew lessons.
Dr. Fletcher's therapy consists
of a two-pronged attack.
In the trance state,
the personality will be...
deeply probed
and then restructured.
In the conscious state...
she will provide
love and affection...
unconditional positive regard.
You will be completely honest.
You're in a deep trance.
You will become not who you
think I want you to be...
but you will be yourself.
Now, how do you
feel about it here?
It's the worst.
I hate the country.
I hate the grass
and the mosquitos.
And cooking--
your cooking is terrible.
Your pancakes--
I dump them in the garbage
when you're not looking.
And the jokes
you try and tell...
when you think you're amusing
are long and pointless.
There's no end to them.
I see.
And what else?
I want to go to bed with you.
Well, that surprises me.
I didn't think you
liked me very much.
I love you.
You do?
You're very sweet...
because you're not as clever
as you think you are.
You're all mixed up and nervous,
and you're the worst cook.
Those pancakes...
I love you.
I want to take care of you.
No more pancakes.
I started out...
by trying to use Leonard
to make my reputation.
Then I found I had
very strong feelings for him.
I never thought
I was attractive.
I never had a real romance.
Charles Koslow
was the type of man...
my mother felt I should marry.
Feeling more confident
every day with her patient...
Dr. Fletcher takes him
for a cautious outing--
an afternoon at her sister's
house in nearby Teaneck.
Meryl Fletcher
is an aviatrix...
a fine professional pilot.
Eudora Fletcher
is an amateur pilot...
and the afternoon
is spent relaxing...
and retelling
old flying experiences.
As the weeks pass...
Zelig is encouraged
to open up more and more...
to give his own opinions.
What was guarded at first
soon becomes expansive.
I hated my stepmother.
I don't care who knows it.
I love baseball.
It doesn't
have to mean anything.
It's just very beautiful
to watch.
I'm a Democrat.
I always was a Democrat.
Is it OK if I don't agree
with you about that recording?
Of course.
Brahms is just always
too melodramatic for me.
You have to be
your own person...
and make your own
moral choices...
even when they do
require real courage.
Otherwise, you're like
a robot or a lizard.
Are you really going
to marry that lawyer?
I would much rather you didn't.
I don't agree.
I think this guy Mussolini
is a loser.
Are we ever going to make love?
It has been three months...
and the board wishes
to examine the patient.
Dr. Fletcher says Zelig isn't
ready to leave the premises.
The doctors agree
to visit him there.
The date is set--
four days hence.
If progress is insufficient...
she will be removed
from the case.
I was very nervous
because in his waking state...
he never remembered anything
from his trance state...
and I wondered
if there could be some way...
of locking
these two things together.
And then I also was worried...
that if he was
with strong personalities...
he might lose his personality.
Sunday at noon,
the doctors arrive.
They are greeted
by Eudora Fletcher...
and Leonard Zelig and are shown
around the grounds.
Though Dr. Fletcher
is tense and alert...
Leonard Zelig seems calm
and at ease.
Despite the fact that he
is surrounded by physicians...
he does not turn into one.
The encounter appears to be
a resounding success...
when Dr. Henry Mayerson
comments innocently...
about the weather,
saying that it is a nice day.
Zelig tells Dr. Mayerson
that he does not agree...
that it is a nice day.
Dr. Mayerson is taken aback...
at the firmness
of Zelig's conviction.
He points out that the sun
is shining and that it is mild.
Zelig, trained to voice his own
personal opinions fearlessly...
is too aggressive.
He has been molded too far
in the other direction.
He has become
over-opinionated...
and cannot brook any
disagreement with his own views.
I'd taken him too far
in the other direction.
He struck Dr. Mayerson
and several board members...
with a rake.
This wasn't what we wanted...
yet I felt I'd
accomplished something.
If I could have him
two more weeks...
I could do some fine-tuning...
and turn Leonard Zelig
back into his own man.
Dr. Eudora Nesbit Fletcher,
the hero--
or should we say, heroine--
of the hour.
The beautiful and brilliant
young psychiatrist...
never lost faith
in her conviction...
that Leonard Zelig,
the human chameleon...
was suffering
from a mental disorder.
Working with her cousin...
cameraman Paul Deghuee,
the doctor managed...
to keep a vital record
of the proceedings...
including rare footage
of Zelig hypnotized.
The patient and healer
have become fast friends...
and enjoy
one another's company...
even when she's
not working on him.
The result of maintaining
a minority opinion...
is a resounding success
for psychiatry.
Who says women
are just good for sewing?
Now it's on to City Hall...
where the town's
newest celebrities...
are given the key to the city.
We're honored to present...
this key
to New York City to you.
Jimmy Walker
did want to be here...
and sing "Leonard the Lizard,"
but he was just too busy.
After city hall,
Eudora Fletcher...
the beautiful genius
who cured Zelig...
of his science-defying
condition...
is honored by fellow scientists
at New York's Waldorf-Astoria.
Present are luminaries
from all over the world...
not just in the field
of psychiatry...
but physics, biology,
mathematics, and you name it.
Here she is exchanging theories
with Nils Andersen...
the father
of modern blood disease.
Later in the week,
Dr. Fletcher is again honored...
as she gets to christen
her first ship.
Quite a success story
for a little girl...
from the backwoods.
I'm speaking to you...
from the home of
Mrs. Catherine Fletcher.
She's the mother
of Dr. Eudora Fletcher...
the famous psychiatrist
in the news these days.
I'll be asking Mrs. Fletcher--
to begin with...
to tell us something
about what it's like...
to raise a medical genius.
I might ask you about
the many sacrifices...
You've made to put your daughter
through medical school.
Speak right into
the microphones, please.
Sacrifices, we had none.
John was a stockbroker.
We had plenty of money...
and I came from a wealthy
Philadelphia family.
I'm sure that your daughter
always wanted to be a doctor...
ever since she could remember.
I don't think so.
I always thought she
wanted to be a flier...
Iike her sister Meryl,
and raise a family...
but she was a very moody child.
But a mother always
dreams for her child...
to have the success
your daughter has.
She was a very difficult girl.
Tell me about your husband.
I understand that he is
a simple businessman.
He must be so thrilled
and pleased...
to have his daughter
achieve such recognition.
John had problems--depression.
He drank.
Well, Mrs. Fletcher,
thank you so much...
for speaking with us today.
Here at San Simeon,
glorious dreamland...
of newspaper mogul
William Randolph Hearst...
celebrities from all walks
of society sun or play.
There's Marie Dressler
with Mr. Hearst.
Always a popular guest
at San Simeon...
Miss Dressler accepts a flower
from an ardent admirer.
Along with her is Marion Davies.
When she works, Miss Davies
is always dead serious...
But here,
at this fabulous playground...
She shows us her fun side.
There she is with
you-know-who--Charlie Chaplin...
always kidding.
Although New York
is 3,000 miles away...
Jimmy Walker appears through
Mr. Hearst's enchanted gateway.
Another New Yorker
is Leonard Zelig...
here shown clowning...
with everybody's
favorite cowboy--Tom Mix.
Won't Tony be jealous?
Tony is Tom's horse...
and we always thought
they went everywhere together.
There's that fellow
Chaplin again...
this time with Adolphe Menjou.
There's Claire Windsor
and Delores del Rio...
and a very charming
Eudora Fletcher...
chatting with Hollywood's
newest dancing sensation...
James Cagney.
And what have we here?
Only a beautiful lady
named Carole Lombard.
There's Dr. Fletcher
and Leonard Zelig...
hitting a few with Bobby Jones
on Mr. Hearst's golf course.
Unless Leonard can go back to
his old chameleon personality...
and turn into a golf pro,
I'd bet my money on Bobby.
But who cares,
if they're having fun?
Do you want to give the kids
of this country some advice?
I sure do.
Kids, you got to be yourself.
Don't act like anybody else...
because you think
they have all the answers.
Be your own man, speak up,
say what's on your mind.
Maybe they can't do that
in foreign countries...
but that's the American way.
I used to be a member
of the reptile family...
but I'm not anymore.
Zelig, no longer a chameleon,
is his own man.
His point of view
on politics, art, and love...
is honest and direct.
Though his taste is described
by many as lowbrow...
it is his own.
He is finally an individual,
a human being.
He no longer gives up
his own identity...
to be a safe part
of his surroundings.
His taste wasn't terrible.
He was a man who preferred
watching baseball...
to reading "Moby Dick"...
and that got him off
on the wrong foot...
or so the legend goes.
It was much more
a matter of symbolism.
To the Marxists
he was one thing.
The Catholic Church
never forgave him...
for the Vatican incident.
The American people...
in the throes of the Depression
as they were...
found in him a symbol
of possibility...
of self-improvement
and self-fulfillment.
And of course,
the Freudians had a ball.
They could interpret him
in any way they pleased.
It was all symbolism...
but no two intellectuals
agreed about what it meant.
I don't know if you can call it
a triumph of psychotherapy.
It's more like a triumph
of aesthetic instincts.
Dr. Fletcher's techniques
didn't owe anything...
to then-current schools
of therapy...
but she sensed what was needed
and provided it.
That was, in its way...
a remarkable
creative accomplishment.
When I think about it,
it seems to me his story...
reflected a lot of the
Jewish experience in America--
the great urge to push in
and to find one's place...
and then to assimilate
into the culture.
He wanted to assimilate
like crazy.
Eudora Fletcher's
life has also changed...
from this experience.
For her, fame and recognition
are empty rewards...
and do not live up
to the adolescent fantasies...
that prompted her ambition.
She and her patient
have fallen in love...
and it is no surprise
when she forsakes...
the upwardly-mobile
attorney Koslow...
and announces wedding plans
with Zelig.
It was wonderful to see
my sister and Leonard together.
She drew strength from him.
And they were so much in love
with each other...
and she looked happier
than she had in years.
I remember they decided
to get married in the spring...
and then, of course,
the roof fell in.
Two weeks before the wedding...
an ex-showgirl
named Lita Fox comes forth...
and claims that
she is married to Zelig.
She also claims
to have had his child.
It is an immediate scandal.
We were married a year ago.
He said he was an actor.
He sounded just like one.
I'm in show business, too.
We drove to Baltimore,
and we were married...
and I have a license
to prove it.
He had married her while under
a different personality.
When she read of the plans...
for his forthcoming wedding
to Eudora Fletcher...
she was mortified and
decided to take legal action.
Zelig says he will
fight it in court...
but public opinion begins
subtly to shift away from him.
Clever attorneys portray
Lita Fox as an abandoned woman.
The child is neglected, poor,
and fatherless.
Zelig has sold his life story
to Hollywood...
for a large sum of money.
When the scandal breaks...
the studio demands
its money back.
Zelig can only return half.
The rest has been spent.
Outraged, the studio gives him
half his life back.
They keep the best moments.
He is left with only his
sleeping hours and mealtimes.
Zelig is shaken by the scandal,
but it is only the beginning.
Now another woman
steps forward.
Helen Gray, a salesgirl
from a Wisconsin gift shop...
claims that Zelig
is the father of her twins.
She tells lawyers that he passed
himself off as a fur trapper.
Zelig has no recollection,
but admits...
it could have happened
during one of his spells.
It's the signal
for the floodgates to open.
He married me
at the First Church of Harlem.
He told me he was the brother
of Duke Ellington.
He was the guy
who smashed my car up.
It was brand-new.
Then he backed up
over my mother's wrist.
She's elderly
and uses her wrist a lot.
He painted my house
a disgusting color.
He said he was a painter.
I couldn't believe the results.
Then he disappeared.
That Zelig
could be responsible...
for the behavior of
each personality he assumed...
means dozens of lawsuits.
He is sued
for bigamy, adultery...
automobile accidents,
plagiarism, household damages...
negligence, property damages...
and performing unnecessary
dental extractions.
I would like to apologize
to everyone.
I'm awfully sorry
for marrying all those women.
It just--I don't know.
It just seemed
like the thing to do.
To the gentleman
whose appendix I took out...
I don't know what to say.
If it's any consolation...
I may still have it
somewhere around the house.
My deepest apology goes to
the Trokman family in Detroit.
I never delivered
a baby before in my life...
and I just thought that
ice tongs was the way to do it.
Thriving mercilessly on
loopholes and technicalities...
the American legal profession
has a field day.
Zelig is branded a criminal.
Despite Dr. Fletcher's
insistence that he cannot be...
held responsible for actions
while in his chameleon state...
it is no use.
Leonard Zelig sets
a bad moral influence.
America is a moral country.
It's a God-fearing country.
We don't condone scandals--
scandals of fraud and polygamy.
In keeping with a pure society,
I say, lynch the little Hebe.
Throughout
the humiliating ordeal...
Eudora Fletcher stands by
the man she loves, valiantly.
Privately, she tells friends...
that she is worried about
Zelig's emotional condition...
which seems to her
to be deteriorating...
under the weight
of conservative moral opinion.
In public, he tries to keep up
an appearance of composure...
but it is increasingly
difficult.
It is clear that
he is coming apart...
when he and Eudora dine
at a Greek restaurant...
and in the midst of the meal,
Zelig begins to turn Greek.
He longs desperately
to be liked once again...
to be accepted, to fit in.
Public clamor over his morality
reaches a fever pitch...
and on the eve
of his sentencing...
Leonard Zelig vanishes.
This is Chief lnspector
of Police Thomas Dowd...
with a national
broadcasting news break.
Leonard Zelig is missing.
On the eve of his sentencing...
for an assortment
of crimes and misdemeanors...
ranging from polygamy to fraud,
he has disappeared.
We are searching for clues...
and would appreciate
speaking with anyone...
who might have any information
leading to his apprehension.
My sister was just shattered.
She tried to keep up
a calm front...
but she was just too upset.
And she wasn't a person...
who usually
displayed emotion easily...
except where Leonard
was concerned.
Dr. Fletcher and the police
confer daily.
Together they make
public appeals...
to anyone who might know
of his whereabouts.
Apart from several
crank telephone calls...
there is little response.
Months go by,
and Zelig is not heard from.
Cars are searched.
False leads pour in
from everywhere.
His jacket is recovered
in Texas.
A manhunt in that state
proves futile.
He is reported seen
in Chicago, in California.
This still photo appears
to have a man resembling him...
with a mariachi band in Mexico.
Dr. Fletcher continues
to search for Zelig...
but hopes fade
with each passing day.
All I could think of
was Leonard...
how much I missed him
and loved him...
and all the terrific times
we'd spent together.
It was really
a very painful time for me.
The year ends,
and Zelig is still missing.
I just moped around and wept.
And one night
after a very bad time...
my sister Meryl said to me...
"Come on, let's go out
for dinner or a concert."
I said, "No. I can't do it,"
but she insisted.
We went out
and ended up in a movie.
We saw "Grand Hotel," and
with it, there was a newsreel.
Adolf Hitler and
the National Socialist Party...
continue to consolidate gains
in depression-ridden Berlin.
Denouncing
the Treaty of Versailles...
the Nazis make fervent appeals
to German patriotism...
Eudora Fletcher is stunned
by what she sees.
Amongst the brown shirts...
she spots a figure
who could be Zelig.
Then it made all
the sense in the world...
because although
he wanted to be loved...
craved to be loved...
there was also
something in him...
that desired immersion
in the mass and anonymity.
And Fascism offered Zelig
that kind of opportunity...
so that he could make something
anonymous of himself...
by belonging
to this vast movement.
She sails for
Europe the following week.
Ten days later,
she arrives in Berlin.
Germany is a country deep
in the throes of the Depression.
Militarism and unrest
are in the air.
She searches everywhere
and makes inquiries...
but it is impossible.
After three weeks...
the authorities begin
to get suspicious.
They watch her.
While she is out,
they search her hotel room.
A fourth week goes by...
and she is about
to give up and go home...
when news of a large rally
at Munich catches her attention.
It is rumored
that it will be...
the largest gathering to date
of Nazi personnel.
Eudora Fletcher
is counting on the hope...
that Zelig may attend and that
if she can confront him...
the strong feeling he has always
had for her can be awakened.
At first, all appears hopeless.
The crowd is huge.
It seems impossible to locate
any one particular face.
Then suddenly, a figure flanking
the chancellor...
catches her attention.
Behind and to the right
of Hitler, she spots Zelig.
Struggling to make contact,
she manages to catch his eye.
Like a man emerging
from a dream, Zelig notices her.
In a matter of seconds,
everything comes back to him.
It was nothing like
it happened in the movie.
When Leonard left the podium,
they didn't know what to think.
We couldn't believe our eyes.
Hitler's speech was ruined.
He wanted to make
a good joke about Poland...
but just then,
Zelig interfered...
and Hitler was extremely upset.
The SS wanted to grab Zelig...
but if they would have
grabbed him...
they probably would have
tortured him...
or maybe even shot him.
So in the confusion...
Fletcher and Zelig
got out of the building...
through a side door.
They grabbed a car,
sped away in the car...
and the SS after them,
shot them.
In rare
German newsreel footage...
a quick glimpse of the escape
was recorded.
I was flying.
It was wonderful.
And then suddenly,
something happened.
I was frightened.
I lost control.
We went into a dive.
Leonard was so terrified that
he changed his personality...
and before my eyes,
because I was a pilot...
he turned into one, too.
Zelig takes control
of the airplane.
Acting the role of pilot...
he struggles valiantly
with the aircraft.
The Germans, who are stunned,
take a full fifteen minutes...
before following
in hot pursuit of their quarry.
With Eudora Fletcher
unconscious...
Zelig, who had never flown
before in his life...
not only escapes
the German pilots...
but sets a record for flying
nonstop across the Atlantic...
upside down.
With a storm of cheers
and a blizzard of ticker tape...
New York welcomes back
Eudora Fletcher...
and Leonard Zelig,
the human chameleon.
His remarkable feat of aviation
fills the nation with pride...
and earns him
a full presidential pardon.
Forgiving multitudes
flock to see him...
as he sits by the side
of his plucky bride-to-be.
Their journey of triumph
leads to City Hall.
New York's greatest honor,
the Medal of Valor...
is bestowed on Zelig
by Carter Dean.
You are a great inspiration
to the young of this nation...
who will one day grow up...
and be great doctors
and great patients.
This was a great thrill.
I'm glad we lived
to see this day.
Right. I've never flown
before in my life...
and it shows exactly
what you can do...
if you're a total psychotic.
The thing was paradoxical...
because what enabled him to
perform this astounding feat...
was his ability
to transform himself.
Therefore, his sickness was also
at the root of his salvation...
and I think it's interesting
to view the thing that way.
It was his very disorder
that made a hero of him.
It was really absurd in a way.
I mean, he had
this curious quirk...
this strange characteristic.
And for a time,
everyone loved him...
and then people
stopped loving him.
Then he did this stunt
with the airplane...
and then everybody
loved him again.
And that was what
the twenties were like.
When you think about it,
has America changed so much?
I don't think so.
After untangling
countless legal details...
Leonard Zelig
and Eudora Fletcher marry.
It is a simple ceremony
captured on home movies.
"Wanting only to be liked,
he distorted himself...
"beyond measure,"
wrote Scott Fitzgerald.
"One wonders what would have
happened if at the outset...
"he had had the courage to speak
his mind and not pretend.
"In the end, it was, after all,
not the approbation of many...
"but the love of one woman
that changed his life."