HEEEENNRRRYY! HEEENNNRRYYY FONDA!!

Turner Classic Movies is showing several Henry Fonda films this evening, including John Ford's classic adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. I suspect a lot of people don't know that the famous "I'll be there" scene was originally much longer. For your edification, the original version of the key part of this wonderful scene is below.

TOM

Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fellow ain't got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then...

MA

Then what, Tom?

TOM

Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be ever'-where - wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there.
Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there.
I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad -
I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready.
An' when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise, and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too.

(PAUSE)

Wherever a guy is runnin' for his life from an angry mob, I'll be there.
Wherever a man is cryin' over spilt milk, I'll be there.
I'll be in the way ladies say, "bless your soul" to a dumb guy -
I'll be in the way commuters push an old fella to the ground, trying to ta' make their train.
An' when the people are sittin' in the john, enjoying indoor plumbin' in a warm room, while readin' a good book - I'll be there too.

(PAUSE)

Wherever a dog is ridin' a skateboard, I'll be there.
Wherever priests in cassocks do handstands on a merra-go-round, I'll be there.
I'll be in the way little kids make sloppy raspberry sounds wi' marbles in their mouths -
I'll be in the way athletes say, "Y'know" a lot 'cause they failed English and can't wait to get out of that interview.
An' when the people are playin' Twister in the nude on a crisp, autumn night - You better believe that I'll be there too.

(PAUSE)

Wherever a guy is eatin' a comically large bowl o' ramen noodles, I'll be there.
Wherever people dance the meringue in feather-lined thongs, I'll be there.
I'll be in the way Abraham Lincoln's top hat never seemed to fall off in a high wind -
I'll be in the way banana peels are slick on one side and weirdly rubbery on the other.
An' when the people are transgressin' the laws of nature in ways that defile and degrade the human spirit so that we're little more than the basest animal in mind and body - I'll be there too.

MA

I don't...

TOM

(SUDDENLY)
Wherever a Dali Lama is ridin' a horse sidesaddle while jugglin' kumquats, I'll be there.
Wherever contortionists run parkour through M.C. Esher constructions, I'll be there.
I'll be in the way bosons and fermions play tenuous games of passionate courtship in the quantum realm  -
I'll be in the way Existentialists and Logical Positivists share raunchy stories about each others' metaphysical underpinnin's behind their backs.
An' when the people are defenstratin' artificial mechanical intelligences in defense of their personal bodily autonomy while yet strivin' to stretch the flimsy tentacles o' careless human knowledge into a vast and seemin'ly unfathomable universe - I'll be there too.

MA

I don't understand it, Tom.

TOM

Me, neither, Ma, but just somethin' I been thinkin' about.