07x21 - My Son, the Bullfighter

[bunniefuu]

Good morning.

Hi.

Good morning, Rob.

What's so absorbing?

Spanish.

How's it going?

Estoy UN poco corto de dinero esta semana, Papa.

¿Me puedes dar unos pocos dólares?

Well, poco means little, and dólares is
money, I'm sure, so I get the general idea.

How about that?

I can borrow in two languages.

Memorizing the verbs, the nouns, the conjugations,
and the idioms of the language is very important.

They have to be learned, but
they take on new importance when

you learn the history and culture
from where the word derived.

The heritage and culture of Spain is nobly
represented by our guest today.

I have long been an admirer of his.

You might even say a fan.

He's a lifelong family friend, so with particular honor.

And what could be more Spanish than to
meet one of the great bullfighters of our

time, my good friend Manuel Torruza,
very known perhaps as Manuelo.

Well, don't be embarrassed if you never heard of me.

Many students in my country never heard of Mickey Mantle.

Isn't he handsome?

Are there any aficionados in the class?

Has anyone ever been to a corrida?

A bullfight?

A bullfight?

Where?

Mexico City.

Did you enjoy it?

Well, when I saw of it.

You didn't stay?

I fainted.

Professor Madeira has asked me to show you
movies of my work.

I hope you will see that bullfighting is an art.

Manuel, it would be best if I showed the movies.

Then you answer questions.

Fine.

Daniel.

He's pretty good, considering that he has
a sword and the bull is unarmed.

Now, if there are any questions,
the very attractive young lady.

Are you married?

Don't you think my life is dangerous enough?

Oh, Professor Madera, Nancy's fainted again.

Wasn't he the most?

I mean, did you ever see anyone so graceful?

His name, Manuela.

Oh, it's beautiful, isn't it?

Just beautiful.

Ah, at last, I found you.

Oh, hi, Professor.

Gretchen Williams?

Robbie Douglas?

You know my friend Manuela?

You are marvelous.

Thank you.

Robbie Douglas, perhaps you are free to help me.

I have a class.

If you could only entertain Manuela just for an hour.

Oh, we'd love to.

Wouldn't we, Robbie?

Oh, sure.

I live in very good hands, mi amigo.

Thank you.

Hasta luego.

Here.

Chair.

Would you like some coffee?

Oh, no, thank you.

I'm glad you didn't show any movies of k*lling a bull.

I don't think I'd like to see that.

But that is part of bullfighting.

You know, I've never been to a bullfight,
but from what I hear, it's pretty cruel.

To whom?

The bull.

More cruel than sending a bull to a
slaughterhouse and chopping its head off?

Well, at least he doesn't have to suffer.

Well, maybe the bull will choose to suffer
for a chance to fight for his life.

I never heard of a foreman of the
slaughterhouse being gored.

What I mean is the cruel part isn't the k*lling.

The cruelty is the picadors and the guys
who put those barbed...

Banderillas?

Banderillas in his back to enrage him.

No, that isn't that to enrage him.

No.

A fighting bull doesn't need to be enraged.

A fighting bull is bred to attack and k*ll.

Well, it wasn't his idea.

Well, he's bred for four centuries to k*ll me.

He's the most perfect instrument for k*lling yet born.

Sooner or later, he always loses.

True.

But many, many times, for a moment in his
life, he's the glorious Victor.

That's beautiful.

I've got to get to the library before my next class.

Are you coming, Gretchen?

Oh, I have loads of time, Robbie.

One of us better stay with Manuello until
Professor Madera gets back.

My pleasure.

Well, senor, it was nice to have met you.

Have a nice trip home.

Thank you.

And if you ever come to my country, it
would be my honor to be your host at the arena.

Well, I don't think there'll be too much chance
of my coming to Spain, but thanks anyway.

See you, Gretchen.

Oh, sure you will, Robbie.

Bye.

Uncle Charley, did Gretchen call?

No, she didn't call.

Are you sure?

Look, if you're so anxious, be aggressive.

Call her.

After what she did this morning,
I'm waiting for her to apologize.

For what?

Oh, my Spanish professor brought in this
bullfighter named Manuelo.

You'd think she'd never seen a bullfighter.

Had she?

No.

You still gonna take a scuba diving tomorrow?

Swimming around the bottom of the lake,
Manuelo will be the furthest thing from her mind.

Hi.

Hi.

Where's your gear?

Robbie, I had a sensational idea.

To scuba dive without your gear.

My uncle has a dairy farm.

Oh, and there's a lake on the farm.

Great.

Robbie doesn't have a lake.

He has a bull.

Rob, I invited Manuello to go with us.

But I plan on the two of us being alone, scuba diving.

Rob, we can go scuba diving anytime.

Rob, please.

Okay.

It's just my way of saying thank you.

He's the meanest one.

You've got to be awful careful because he is dangerous.

I have great respect for all bulls.

Maybe you better not try it.

Oh, no, I can't disappoint you.

The danger is part of the good part.

I'll never think that bullfighting is, well, stupid again.

It's an art.

It's a science.

It's beautiful.

Sir, you are going to do some demonstrating?

Oh, yes.

I will show you a few passes.

Well, he's certainly not afraid of that bull.

Well, of course not.

That's the business he's in.

Oh, you call that dangerous?

It's plenty dangerous.

I know that bull.

Oh, I'm so grateful.

Oh, Manuela, you were wonderful.

Well, I've never seen anything so wonderful.

I don't know too much about bullfighting,
but that took real courage.

Yeah, I guess it did.

You're okay, senor.

Okay?

It's impossible for anyone to be so graceful.

I mean, ballet dancers, they don't have to
worry about a bull.

What do you call those things you do with a cage?

Oh, I'll show you.

The first pass I did was called Veronica, right?

You call the bull with the left hand.

Then you shrug the attention to the
bull to the right side of the cage, right?

Then you call him with the right side like this.

I can do it better with all this here, right?

Then you move like this.

This is what I call a chiquilina.

You go like this, and then you turn.

This is one of the most beautiful passes.

You attract the bull from the falling picador.

It's called a chiquilina.

Now you call him like this, and you turn.

Hey, Bull.

Bull?

Hey, Bull.

Mr. Douglas.

Robbie, are you out of your mind?

Robbie, get out of there.

That's very dangerous.

It doesn't look dangerous to me.

Robbie, please.

Hey, Bull.

Don't be foolish.

Hey, help him.

Nothing hurt but my feelings.

Of all the childish... Oh, Robbie, you look so funny.

Well, it wasn't very funny to me.

He might have been seriously hurt and on my property.

Are you hurt?

No, I'm fine.

Let's go home.

Okay.

Well, thank you very much.

Thank you.

That was a real lesson.

Yeah, it wasn't.

So long.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

You have to be careful, Dad.

I think it was earned.

Well, that's another game.

Snuffy Moran's father let Snuffy win.

Oh, why don't you play with Snuffy Moran's father?

No kidding, you really wouldn't want me to
let you win, would you?

No.

Oh, hi, Rob.

Hi.

Hey, you.

What happened to you?

Oh, I fell.

Nothing serious.

Well, the last I heard, you were going scuba diving.

What happened?

Well, I went bullfighting instead.

Bullfighting?

In Bryant Park?

With real bulls?

I had a date with Gretchen, and it was her idea to go to her
uncle's dairy with Manuela, this bullfighter from Madrid.

He's a guest of Professor Maderas, my Spanish teacher.

Boy, I'd sure like to meet a real live bullfighter.

He must be the bravest man in the world.

Gretchen seems to think so.

Manuela was showing us, demonstrating his techniques
at bullfighting, and, well, anyway, the bull chased me.

Rob, you mean you actually tried to fight a bull?

Well, it looked easy, Dad.

The way this guy was making it such a big
deal in front of Gretchen.

You risked getting hurt to show off for a girl, huh?

Well, it was really more than that, Dad.

I thought I had as much courage as anybody else.

I didn't.

Boy, when that bull snorted, I turned and ran.

Well, Rob, courage is a personal thing.

I mean, well, the only one you really have
to prove it to is yourself.

I proved it to myself, all right.

I proved I didn't have it.

I think maybe you're confusing courage with foolhardiness.

Knowing there's a real danger in running
from it is a sign of maturity.

Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to retreat.

Dad, I just plain chickened out.

Dad, what's a guy supposed to do?

Just stand there and get k*lled to show he's brave?

I don't think so, Ernie.

But if he runs the rest of his life,
you'll think he's a coward.

You know, I thought I'd run into every
conceivable problem raising you guys,

but this is a new one.

Bravery?

No.

My son, the bullfighter.

What are we supposed to be doing?

Ernie, you don't have to know what we're doing.

You just do what I tell you.

Well, how come you waited till Chip and
Uncle Charlie and Dad were out of the house?

Well, the fewer people who know what's
going on, the better.

Well, there's nobody else here but me,
and I don't know what's going on.

That's why I picked you.

Anybody else could figure it out.

Now, stand right over there.

Okay.

Now, come at me.

Oh!

Hooray!

So you knew.

Sure, but I wasn't going to pass up a chance like that.

Are you going to talk?

No.

A brother can't trust a brother.

Thanks.

Let's try it again.

Wait a minute now.

Hi, Gretchen.

Hi, Ellen.

Oh, you heard, huh?

Oh, Robbie, I'd have given anything to have seen you.

You and that ball.

It must have been hilarious.

Gretchen, I don't suppose you'd like to go
to the movies Friday night?

Oh, I'm sorry, Robbie, but Manuello asked
me to go with him Friday.

It's a farewell dinner given by Professor Madera.

Oh, I hadn't heard about that.

They didn't want to scare you, Robbie.

The main course is going to be steak.

I'm sorry, Rob.

You're a nice guy.

Everybody can't be a Manuello.

Hi, Charlie.

Hi.

What?

Rose, 6 O'clock.

Nothing but bills.

Nobody called.

They're all here but Robbie.

One final question.

Where is Robbie?

I can tell you one thing.

He didn't go dancing.

He had on his old clothes.

And he was gritting his teeth.

Oh, hi, Chip.

When did he say he'd be home?

He grunted.

Hi, Ernie.

Hi, Dad.

Robbie said this Professor Madera is giving a
farewell party for that Spanish matador tonight.

Was Robbie invited?

No.

Is he still carrying on big about that bull chasing him?

He didn't mention it, but you know,
Robbie, by this time he's in love with a

different girl and he's forgotten all about bullfighting.

No.

Ernie, you seem to know more than you're telling us.

I can tell you what isn't so, but it would be
a breach of faith for me to tell you what is so.

Did Robbie swear you to silence?

The same thing.

The same thing.

I gave him my word.

Now, wait a minute, Ernie.

Is something going on that I should know about?

Yeah, don't ask me things like that.

All right, let's put it this way.

Is Robbie out driving around in his car with a pretty girl?

No.

Is he doing something he wouldn't want me to know about?

I can't answer.

Is Robbie trying to prove that he's not
afraid of something?

I can't answer.

Is there a phone where he went?

No.

Come on, fellas, Robbie's in trouble.

Steve, you must know something we don't know.

That's right, I know Robbie.

We'll be right back.

Hi, there.

Hi.

Where's your corral?

Well, it's right over there.

Anything I can do for you?

No, maybe you could come along with us.

We might need your help.

What's going on?

I'm Art Williams.

Oh, Mr. Williams, my name's Steve Douglas.

My son was out here the other day doing some
bullfighting, and the bull chased him out of the corral.

Oh, yes.

Robbie Douglas.

Yeah.

Well, I'm afraid he came out here today to try it again.

But I thought he was scared stiff.

That takes a lot of courage.

Well, I... You want him to get hurt.

Say, Mr. Williams, his son's in the corral all
right, but the bull isn't Red Devil, it's Herman.

Oh, Mr. Douglas, just a minute.

How much farther is the corral?

On the other side of the big barn.

But, Mr. Douglas, it isn't Red Devil, it's Herman.

What?

The bull, he's fighting.

Well, what difference does that make?

Well, you see, the Spanish matador was fighting Red Devil.

He's a Bremer and he's a k*ller.

But Herman?

He's our pet.

Real quiet stock.

Twelve years old, he can hardly move.

Why, my grandchildren ride on his back.

Could Rob tell the difference?

Probably not.

To most people, a bull is a bull.

Wait till I tell Rob.

Chip, you're not going to tell him.

None of us are going to tell him.

But it's funny.

He's not bull fighting.

He's Davidell fighting.

Ernie, he doesn't know the difference.

In his mind, he's facing real danger.

It takes just as much courage for him to get in there with

old Herman as it would for him
to get in there with Red Devil.

Then what do we say to him when he gets home?

We don't say anything to him, Charlie.

And I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell
him we've been out here, Mr. Williams.

I won't.

Robbie's made his own personal covenant with himself.

It's a private thing.

I don't know what that means, but you can
explain when I grow up.

Goodbye, Mr. Williams.

Goodbye.

Hi, Robbie.

Hi, Gretchen.

Hi, Ellen.

Gosh, you missed a great farewell party for Manuello.

I couldn't have made it anyway.

I had things to do.

Gretchen, I don't think Robbie ever wants
to hear about bullfighters again.

Oh, don't worry about it.

It doesn't bother me.

Robbie, now that Manuello's gone back to
Madrid, will you call me?

I might.

Excuse me.

I wonder what I wanted with a bullfighter
when I had Robbie.

No, I don't have either one.

Did you notice something?

He didn't seem funny at all.

What could be as nice as an hour with my three sons?

How about an hour with three daughters?

Sure.

Stay tuned for Bobby Joe, Betty Joe,
Billy Joe, and everyone at the Shady Rest.

Hotel on Petticoat Junction as TV Land's
Twice as Nice Morning continues.