Take the Money and Run

On December 1, 1935...

Mrs. William Starkwell, the wife of a New Jersey handyman...

gives birth to her first and only child.

It is a boy, and they name it Virgil.

He is an exceptionally cute baby, with a sweet disposition.

Before he is 25 years old, he will be wanted by police in six states...

for assault, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a wart.

Growing up in a slum neighborhood...

where the crime rate is amongst the highest in the nation is not easy.

Particularly for Virgil, who is small and frail compared to the other children.

Virgil Starkwell attends this school where he scores well on an IQ test...

although his behavior disturbs the teachers.

We interviewed Mrs. Dorothy Lowry, a school teacher who remembered Virgil.

I remember one time, he stole a fountain pen.

I didn't want to embarrass him.

You know, teachers have ways of doing things...

so I said to the class, "We will all close our eyes..."

"and will the one who took the pen please return it?"

While our eyes were closed...

he returned the pen.

But he took the opportunity of feeling all the girls.

Can I say "feel"?

Spending most of his time in the streets, Virgil takes to crime at an early age.

He is an immediate failure.

He barely manages to escape with a gumball machine stuck on his hand.

With both parents working to make ends meet...

Virgil becomes closest to his grandfather...

a 60-year-old German immigrant...

who takes the boy to movies and baseball games.

Then tragedy strikes.

At a Washington senators' game...

Virgil's grandfather is struck in the head by a foul ball.

The blow causes permanent injury to his mind...

and he becomes convinced he is Kaiser Wilhelm.

Here are some rare photos of him with other patients on the sanitarium grounds.

When he is 15 years old, amidst the violence and poverty of the slums...

Virgil receives a cello as a gift.

He is fascinated by the instrument...

and for the first time in the Starkwell house, music is heard.

We spoke to Mr. Torgman, his first and only cello teacher.

There is not very much to tell...

because his cello playing was just terrible.

He would...

He had no idea about tone production.

He would just saw it back and forth...

just scratch the instrument to such a point...

it would drive everyone who listened to it absolutely insane.

He had no conception of the instrument.

He was blowing into it.

He loved his cello.

And I think he stole to pay for his lessons...

but he would not apply himself one iota.

Virgil steals to pay for cello lessons...

and although he does not achieve greatness on the instrument...

he is soon good enough to play in a local band.

A jungle, however, Is no place for a cellist...

and Virgil soon learns the facts of life.

At 18, Virgil is lonely and confused.

Unable to concentrate In school, he has long since dropped out.

He wants nothing more than to belong, if only to a street gang.

It is here, he thinks, he will prove his manhood.

Under constant economic pressure...

Virgil turns to the local pool hall as a means of making a living.

'Tm going to be a pool hustler," he tells his friends.

Ball, please.

Okay, thanks.

Virgil tries to join the navy but is psychologically unfit.

That looks to me like...

two elephants...

making love to a men's glee club.

Mr. T.S. Foster, Virgil's first probation officer, remembers him vividly.

He was a trustworthy kind of person.

You had to remember certain idiosyncrasies that he had.

Like what?

Like not always telling the truth.

He didn't always tell the truth.

Sometimes, he exaggerated the truth.

Sometimes, you know, he just plain lies.

He does have a criminal record, yes...

but that doesn't mean that the boy was all bad.

Unable to fit in with any aspect of his environment...

Virgil strikes out on his own.

In an effort to shed some light on this period of his life...

we spoke with his father and mother.

They are ashamed of their son's criminal record and so wear disguises.

He was a good boy.

Come on, if he was a good boy, why are we wearing these?

He's rotten, he's a gangster.

How can you say that? He was so bright and he was so talented.

- What "bright and talented"? - He loved music.

- He was an atheist. - He could've been a musician.

I tried to beat God into him but it was too tough.

He was trying to get away from us, and be independent, make his own life.

Be a human being on his own. I mean, you're a very dominating person.

- What? - You are, and he was trying to find himself.

- Me? I'm... - Yes.

- I'll talk to you later about the whole thing. - What do you mean, "later"?

Vowing that he will never serve his full term...

Virgil plans an elaborate escape, using a bar of soap and some shoe polish.

Guard!

Yeah?

You got to take me to the infirmary.

- What's the matter? - Don't ask.

Virgil's attempted escape is dealt with harshly.

His sentence is extended an additional two years.

1956 is a happy-go-lucky year for most people.

Virgil sees none of it from his tiny cell.

He marks time by reading.

Until one day, a new opportunity arises.

We need volunteers for an experiment.

The doctors want someone to be inoculated with a new vaccine.

It's never been tried on humans before...

so we don't know what the side effects may be.

To be honest...

you'll be taking a chance.

As reward, there's a parole.

I'm sure there are some among you brave enough to take the risk.

With parole as inducement, Virgil submits to the vaccine test.

It is a success, except for one temporary side effect.

For several hours, he is turned into a rabbi.

And so, the reason we celebrate...

the Passover holidays by eating the matzo...

is to commemorate the time...

that Moses led the children of Israel...

from Egypt-

He has so many good qualities. I mean...

Yeah, name 'em.

He had all sorts of mechanical abilities, he was artistic.

Remember the painting he did for you on your birthday?

A no-good atheist was what he was.

I used to hit him and try to teach him about God...

but would he listen? No.

Virgil leaves prison, apprehensive...

but with some hope that he can begin a new life.

Instead, he finds a world difficult to cope with.

Ashamed to go home, he rents a cheap room in a strange city.

Desperate and broke...

Virgil tries to support himself with small crimes.

Here, he attempts to rob a local pet shop.

I hope you haven't been watching me. I'm not very good.

I was strolling down here just now...

and I noticed that you were drawing something and I thought...

- You can look at it if you want to. - Can I?

It's not very good.

I wouldn't say that. I think that it's wonderful.

It's not very good.

I think that it's very good, actually.

I think you could probably make cash.

- Are you an artist? - No, of course I'm not.

I'm not an artist.

What do you do?

I'm a laundress.

Laundry?

Yeah, I wash clothes, primarily.

That's great.

No, it isn't.

I like it, but it's not particularly interesting.

- What's your name? - Louise.

- What's yours? - Virgil Starkwell.

What do you do?

What do I do?

I play the cello.

- That's fantastic! - Yes, I'm a cellist.

- It's a wonderful job. - Are you with the Philharmonic?

- Yes, I am, actually. - That's fantastic.

Yes, I'm with the Philharmonic group.

Quite a good group.

I dress like this because I'm just off work now.

- Can I interest you in going for a walk at all? - Okay.

I know I was in love.

First of all, I was very nauseous.

I had never met such a pretty girl, and I guess I'm sensitive...

because real beauty makes me want to gag.

Plus, I don't know how to act with girls.

You know, I'm shy and I'm just nervous around women.

I have a tendency to dribble.

The only girl that! had known was a girl in my neighborhood...

and was not an attractive girl.

I used to make obscene phone calls to her collect...

and she used to accept the charges all the time, but nothing ever happened.

And here I am lying through my teeth.

I can't tel! Louise that I was in jail...

and that I rob and steal, and never did an honest day's work in my life.

A lot of people hold those things against you.

She was so sweet. We just walked in the park...

and I was so touched by her that...

after 15 minutes, I wanted to marry her.

And after a half hour, I completely gave up the idea of snatching her purse.

I wanted to tell her that I wasn't with the Philharmonic...

but she was so impressed by it.

Once, she asked me some questions about Mozart...

and she got suspicious because, for a minute, I couldn't place the name.

Don't know, when it comes to women...

In prison, I remember the psychiatrist asked me if! had a girl, and I said, "No."

And he said, do I think that sex is dirty...

and I said, 'Wt is, if you're doing it right."

All I know is, my heart was really pounding...

and I felt... I felt a funny tingling all over.

I was either in love, or I had smallpox.

- You wanna have dinner tonight? - Sure.