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Scene 17: The Streets of London: 1961-1963
(Against a lurid backdrop of Fleet Street at night,
a reporter joins Uncle Ernie, who produces a photograph)
Uncle Ernie: (spoken)
What you've stumbled upon here my son, could 
be ginormous- a story on par with the opening of King Tuts tomb or the Hindenburg
disaster.
Happily I was able to capture the moment of young Tommy Walker's miraculous recovery for
all posterity right there in black and white. One would think that such a valuable snap
would be worth a hundred quid…but it's yours for a mere fifty.
(The photo is a bad one of Tommy holding up
his hand to the camera. The reporter gives him
back the photograph.)
Uncle Ernie:
I could of course, just hand the Nobel prize over to
one of your Fleet Street Collegues from say, the "Mirror"
or the "Times" or the "Guardian"
(The reporter walks away)
Uncle Ernie:
What about for a bottle of Scotch?
(The reporter exits)
(Tommy enters, takes the picture out of Ernie's
hand, looks at it and tosses it into the air.
Suddenly his picture is everywhere. In front of a background of black and white printing
presses, a rather bored, middle aged news vendor enters, hawking the tabloids headlining
Tommy's recovery.)
Vendor:
Deaf, dumb and blind kid in a miracle cure. Read about it here. Deaf, dumb and blind kid.
Special section. Final edition. Deaf, dumb and blind kid
in a miracle cure
Miracle Cure
(As the picture
is repeatedly projected in
the background, the local lads enter, delighted
with the news. The lads surround the News
vendor and swipe his papers, one by one.
Local Lads:
Extra! Extra!
Read all about it!
The pinball wizard in a miracle cure!
Extra! Extra!
Read all about it!
Extra!
(Uncle Ernie buys a paper and furiously leafs
through it. The lads go off as the newly
conscious Tommy rides in on a pinball machine.)
Sensation (reprise)
Tommy:
You'll feel me coming,
A new vibration.
From afar you'll see me.
I'm a sensation…
I'm a sensation!
Soon you'll see me. Can't you feel me?
I'm coming…
Reporters: (rushing in to surround Tommy)
Sensation… Sensation.
Tommy:
Send your troubles dancing; you know the answer.
I'm coming… Reporters:
I'm coming Sensation…Sensation!
Reporters:
Sensation…Sensation!
Slide: 1961
( The Walkers enter and are surrounded by reporters.)
Mrs Walker (spoken)
It's true, our son doesn't come round anymore.
We never get to see him. I do worry sometimes,
you know, that we're the only ones who really
understand and all…but we're grateful, of
course- grateful for his transformation.
Mr. Walker:
Which is a better word for it. We don't like the use
of the word "miracle" one bit. He simply got well.
That's the extent of it. And his mother and I never
gave up the faith through all the years. Not once.
Mrs Walker:
We just hope he's happy. It seems he's become all
the rage today, doesn't it?
(Reporters rush in to surround Tommy's machine.
The local lads appear in security uniforms. A
uniformed Kevin seems to be in charge.)
The Reporters:
Sensation…Sensation!
Sensation…Sensation!
Slide:1962
(Tommy pivots; pulls back the plunger and fires)
Cousin Kevin: (being interviewed; his image
appears in video monitors above the stage.)
Those of us who've known my cousin a long time,
his friends from before like, we're providing the
necessary protection. So as far as family relations
are concerned, all I'm saying is he's been very
good to me. Very good. And I for one am glad I can
be of some assistance. I believed in him from the
beginning, right from the very start. I know what it
was like. I was there.
All:
Sensation…Sensation!
Sensation…Sensation!
Slide:1963
All:
Sensation…Sensation!
Sensation…Sensation!
Ahhh, Sensation…
Sensation!
(A television studio appears and Tommy
sits with the talk show hostess. Their images
appear on video screens)
Tommy (to interviewer)
I won't answer that. I want to be very clear with you. I won't answer any questions about
my personal life. So leave off.
(The Walkers fade quietly into the background and go off)
As for people's interest…I got a lot out of
playing…learned a lot from it, you know. It's all I had, really. And my dreams. It's
like …people want me to pass that on in some way. So that's what I'm trying to do.
Pass it on.
I'm Free/Pinball Wizard
(reprise) real
audio
Tommy (to interviewer)
I could tell you what it takes
To feel the highest high.
You'd laugh and say "Nothing's that simple!"
(Tommy sings directly into the camera and
a close-up of his face appears on the video screen.)
I'm free…I'm free…
And I'm waiting for you to follow me!
(The studio disappears and only Tommy and
his security guards remain on the stage.
Tommy is inventing a public self, Tommy the star, as
images of the younger Tommys, the murder,
pinball, the brain-scan and finally his new self
flash before us.)
Tommy:
He stands like a statue
Becomes part of the machine.
Feeling all the bumpers,
Always playing clean.
He plays by intuition;
The digit counters fall,
The deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball!
He ain't got
no distractions;
Can't hear those buzzers and bells.
Don't see no lights a-flashin';
He plays by sense of smell.
He always get a replay,
'N never tilts at all.
That deaf, dumb and blind kid …
Sure plays a mean pinball!
Tommy & Security Guards:
He's a pinball wizard.
There has to be a twist.
A pinball wizard,
S'got such a supple wrist.
Cousin Kevin & Guards:
How do you think he does it?
Tommy:
I don't know.
Local Lasses:
What makes him so good?
( A dazzling,
mirrored pinball machine rises from
out of the floor.
Tommy, in a helmet that makes
him deaf and blind again, staps himself to the machine and rides it as it twists and turns
manically.)
Cousin Kevin & Guards:
Even at my favorite table,
He can beat my best.
His disciples lead him in
And he just does the rest.
He's got crazy flipper fingers;
Never seen him fall.
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball!
(The pinball machine faces out with Tommy
behind it. Suddenly, pulsing lights, shrieking
buzzers and bells surround us, as if we were
inside the guts of the machine. Tommy continues
to play furiously as the pinball machine gyrates
in an accelerating pyrotechnic fit.
When the pinball machine finally explodes in
a glorious climactic fireball,
Tommy steps back victorious.
Silence.
A huge audience responds.
Tommy is
now performing on a raised platform in a
stadium before an adoring crowd.)
Tommy:
I'm free…I'm free!
And I'm a waiting for you to follow me!
Crowd:
How can we follow?
How can we follow?
(Multiple video screens display the live
action of Tommy's act before the crowd,
as Cousin Kevin and the lads-turned-patrol
guards patrol the stage.)
