Sunday Showcase The Practical Dreamer (Season 1, Episode 10)
TV Episode | Biography, Comedy, Drama

Sunday Showcase

The Practical Dreamer (Season 1, Episode 10)

TV Episode | Biography, Comedy, Drama

The year is 1798. Eli Whitney (Burgess Meredith), inventor of the cotton gin, finds himself penniless, his patent stolen. He has wasted 10 years in various countries trying to obtain royalties. Determined to mold his anger into creativity,...See moreThe year is 1798. Eli Whitney (Burgess Meredith), inventor of the cotton gin, finds himself penniless, his patent stolen. He has wasted 10 years in various countries trying to obtain royalties. Determined to mold his anger into creativity, he offers to manufacture 10,000 muskets for the federal government, at $13.40 each, to be delivered in two years. Although government officials label him an "impractical dreamer," he obtains the order - proposing to make the muskets according to a new principal of interchangeable parts. Rifles had been hitherto been made stock to barrel, the parts of one gun never fitting another. He arranges the financing although the money involved, $134,000, is the biggest financial transaction in the country. Then, he designs and builds the machinery for America's first "mass production line." At the end of the first year, only 500 muskets have been turned out. The Secretary of the Treasury distrusts Whitney's unorthodox methods and fails to reply to when he asks for a $10,000 advance. His backers become worried and his friends desert him. Only Henrietta (Peggy Ann Garner), who was to become his wife, remains loyal. In desperation, Whitney seeks an interview with new President, Thomas Jefferson. Written by NBC See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
19 cast members

Name	Known for
Tom Ahearne O'Hara O'Hara See fewer	Project X (1949)
Guy Arbury Dexter Dexter See fewer	The Plainclothesman (1949)
John C. Becher Bridges Bridges See fewer	Gremlins (1984)
Philip Bourneuf John Adams John Adams See fewer	Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
Harry Davis Worker #3 Worker #3 See fewer	American Gigolo (1980)
Griff Evans Josh Josh See fewer	Rocky King, Detective (1950)
Peggy Ann Garner Henrietta Edwards Henrietta Edwards See fewer	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
Kenneth Konopka Worker #1 Worker #1 See fewer	Sunday Showcase (1959)
John McGovern Judge Edwards Judge Edwards See fewer	The Birds (1963)
Norman McKay Judge Judge See fewer	Man Against Crime (1949)
Burgess Meredith Eli Whitney Eli Whitney See fewer	Clash of the Titans (1981)
Allen Nourse Wickham Wickham See fewer	The Doctors (1963)
Mark O'Daniels Phineas Miller Phineas Miller See fewer	The Doctor and the Playgirl (1965)
Betsy Palmer Catherine Miller Catherine Miller See fewer	Friday the 13th (1980)
Carl Reindel Older Tom Older Tom See fewer	The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Truman Smith Wolcott Wolcott See fewer	Studio One (1948)
Leon B. Stevens Bailey Bailey See fewer	School Ties (1992)
Mark Stevens Callender Irvine Callender Irvine See fewer	The Dark Corner (1946)
Glenn Walken Young Tom Young Tom See fewer	Apocalypse Now (1979)