I pulled my copy of 4D MAN (a VHS tape) off the shelf just now and put it in and ... same thing. It jumps right to the scene with the reporters. How weird.

From my Lee Meriwether interview:

<< MERIWETHER: Little Patty Duke! It's so funny, I still think she fibbed about her age at the time! I told her that once, and she said, "I was nine!" [Laughs] I said, "Okay, all right, all right!" 4D Man was just before she did The Miracle Worker [as young Helen Keller] on Broadway.
Q: I was always surprised that Lansing kills her in the movie.
MERIWETHER [whispers]: Yes! Well, they were doing a [takeoff] on the scene of the Frankenstein Monster and the little girl [in the 1931 Frankenstein]-that's what I figured. Somebody, I've forgotten now who, said, "Oh, we shouldn't have the 4D Man kill the girl," and I said, "But he's a monster, he kills people, he can't help it. He doesn't want to but he has to, or he's going to die. It makes him more poignant." <<

It IS really a sad scene -- Lansing knows he shouldn't play with the little girl ('cause he knows he'll give in to temptation and kill her) and tells her to go away, over and over, but she's obviously lonely and practically BEGS him to play with her -- 'til finally he gives in. Once you know what's going to happen, it becomes especially unpleasant to watch.