Zelig Page #8

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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."

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