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Run For Your Life
Starring Ben Gazzara
Episode:
The Day Time Stopped
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Synopsis: Paul is no longer aware of his diagnosis after a tobogganing accident brings on amnesia, so he returns to his fiancée Kate Pierce (Carol Lawrence) in San Francisco to help him with the mystery of six missing months in his life.. With Billy Daniels as Eddie, Anne Helm as Molly Pierce, John Ireland as Dr. Mason, John Kerr as Alex Ryder, Paul Lukas as Dr. Werner, Sheree North as Jeannie Lake, Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom as Tiger, Robert Strauss as Georgio, Nicholas Colasanto as Maxie, Inger Straton as the Sister, Richard Clair as Fred Duncan, Joanne Medley as Sally Willis, Mal Alberts as Elevator Passenger, Marianne Gordon as the Nurse
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Episode 31
Season 2 - #1
First broadcast on
September 12, 1966
Written by Henry Slesar
Directed by Leo Penn
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SEE INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS OF ENTIRE CAST AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
and watch a video clip from the episode on the same page!
Creative Team
Producer
Jo Swerling Jr.
Associate Producer
Paul Freeman
Music
Pete Rugolo
Director of Photography
John L. Russell A.S.C.
Art Director
Russell Kimball
Film Editor
Budd Small
Unit Manager
Hilton A. Green
Assistant Director
Ronnie Rondell
Set Decorators
John McCartey &
James S. Redd
Sound
Carl Crain Jr.
Color Coordinator
Robert Brower
Color by Technicolor
Editorial Dept. Head
Richard Belding
Musical Supervisor
Stanley Wilson
Costumes Supervisor
Vincent Dee
Makeup
Bud Westmore
Hair Stylist
Larry Germain
Production Assistant
Robert Foster
Links to Other Episodes
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The doctor tells Paul the memory loss is not physical
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The Plot:
When Paul wakes in a Swiss hospital after a toboggan accident, he has lost the memory of his past six months, believing himself to be in San Francisco with his most recent recollection to be saying goodbye to his fiancée Kate Pierce.
The psychiatrist who works with him says the amnesia is not of physical origin, and Paul's mind used the accident to forget something he didn't want to remember. When put under hypnosis, he only reveals that he has much to do and little time.
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After hypnosis Paul wonders if he's done something bad
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Learning that he's been racing cars and sky diving. Paul wonders if he's been trying to find a fun way to commit suicide, and if he might have a guilty secret.
Considering the possibility, he declares, “I've always thought of myself as honest, clean, thrifty, brave, reverent, but maybe I was wrong.” The doctor advises returning to San Francisco for the answer, and also to check with his physician, but Paul says he doesn't have one, having never been sick a day in his life. As a parting word, the psychiatrist tells Paul to be prepared to find out something he'd rather not know.
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Paul is perplexed when Molly mentions meeting in Rio
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So Paul flies back to San Francisco to find Kate, but she's left her apartment, and there's no number listed for her. When he goes to her father's home, it's been sold, but he locates her sister Molly in the phone book, and arrives at her home with a party going on.
Molly immediately baffles him, mentioning their being together in Rio de Janeiro, and he is shocked to learn that her father's been killed. Flashbacks start appearing in his mind. When Molly questions Paul's not remembering, he glosses it off as part of memory loss after a tobogganing accident.
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Alex tells Molly not to give Paul Kate's address
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When he asks Molly for Kate's phone number, not only is she reluctant to give it to him, but another guest, Alex Ryder, an old friend of Paul's, a bit inebriated at the moment, speaks of Paul wiping his shoes on everyone when he left, tells Molly not to give Paul Kate's address, implying that Paul would like to put Kate in the hospital again.
“What are you talking about?” Paul questions Alex with intensity, then asks Molly what he means. She says that Kate had a breakdown, and Paul wants to know why he wasn't contacted. Alex sarcastically interjects his voice into the conversation.
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Paul wants to know what happened to Kate
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He asks if Paul would have given up the good life and come back to Kate if they had done so, and Molly appears confused and torn, saying that she doesn't know if her sister would want her to give Paul the address.
This last response is one too far, and Paul starts to leave with apologies, but Molly stops him. He suggests ringing her, but she invites him to meet her for breakfast the next day. After sleeping on the matter she gives him Kate's phone number and address, and Paul contacts her.
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Paul tells Kate about his abnesia
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He goes to see Kate, and they are both extremely casual with one another as well as exceedingly formal. Two individuals engaged to be married who don't even embrace, but act very polite as if Paul had come home from a day at the office in a loveless but amicable marriage.
He tells Kate about his tobogganing accident and the amnesia, how he has lost the last six months of his life. She is solicitous, but speaks to him as if he were a near stranger. Paul says that he needs Kate's help, as her face is the last thing he remembers.
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Paul says he needs Kate's help
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The strain of the experience begins to take its toll on her, and she says that her memory isn't too good either as her tears begin to fall. Paul sits down beside her, and tells Kate how sorry he is, asking what he did to her. She touches Paul's face, and says that she never blamed him, explaining that he'd come to her, saying that something had changed in his life, and he had to go away.
Paul says that he'd expected his memory to return as soon as he landed in San Francisco, talked to his law partner and friends, but this has failed, and he admits painfully, “I can't find my way back.”
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Paul expresses sorrow for hurting Kate
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Kate says she's not the key, and can't be any help, but Paul says he wants to talk with her about their life together, and she gets up and says, “for me the past is dead. I don't want to look back - and I won't - not even for you.” Then she suggests that he shouldn't try to remember, but just go on from here. “Funny,isn't it” he says, ”you don't want to look back, and I don't want to look anyplace else.” He asks her to have dinner with him, but she clearly is finding just being with him for these necessary minutes difficult enough, especially in the knowledge that the main reason he wants to be with her is to solve his problem.
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Paul phones Kate in the night
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Then he calls her in the middle of the night from his old law office where he is trying to find some clue to the reason for his disappearance, but unsuccessfully. Again, he asks Kate to have dinner with him. He is quite obviously existing on a different emotional plain than she.
Once again Kate declines, and Paul suggests that they could meet as if they were strangers. She is obviously dubious that such a thing could be possible.
But they do meet for dinner, and try to make light of things, joking about being strangers.
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He asks her if she knows anything about a redhead
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After dancing they talk about his problem, and again she encourages him not to try so hard to find out why he left. But Paul says that he'd rather know the awful truth, still assuming that it may be some malfeasance on his part. “It wiped six months out of my life. It can't be something trivial,” he tells her. Then he says there is one tiny lead, which came from her sister Molly, about a red-haired woman, but nothing more. Paul asks Kate if she knows anything about this woman, but she says that she doesn't, but adds sorrowfully that perhaps he should be with this redhead tonight, that this unknown person might be the key to his past .
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"There was nobody after I met you."
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Paul takes her remark straight to heart, and says emotionally, “oh no! There was nobody after I met you. I remember up to two days before I left. There was nobody.”
He thinks that he met the redhead right after saying goodbye to Kate. and when Kate suggests that he take her home to go searching the bars where he might have been with this woman, he takes her up on the proposal, quite oblivious of her feelings.
Their evening now over, Kate comments ruefully about her younger sister coming up with the idea.
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Paul asks Giorgio if he'd seen him with a redhead
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Paul starts out, and takes himself where his feet - and the flashes going through his mind - lead him, first to a favorite haunt where his old pal Georgio is delighted to see him after so many months. Asked if he'd seen Paul with a red-headed woman, it rings no bell with proprietor Georgio . Bartender Tiger is no help either. Georgio watches Paul leave too soon with concern.
When Paul steps into Eddie's smoke-filled jazz club, Eddie immediately jumps from the piano to greet him, receiving much applause as he walks to the doorway where Paul stands.
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Eddie only recalls seeing Paul with Kate
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He says he thought Paul had given up on San Francisco, and hugs him warmly. But Eddie thinks Paul is putting him on when asked, “when was the last time you saw me?” Paul wonders if Eddie might have seen him with a red-haired woman, but Eddie says that Paul was with Kate the last time he saw him in the establishment, some six or seven months earlier.
But then, though he didn't see Paul himself, Eddie remembers hearing that Paul had been there with Jeannie Lake, a girl singer, and it had been around the time Paul left town.
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Eddie introduces Paul as an old buddy to sullen Maxie
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Paul asks if Eddie knows where he might find this woman, and Eddie takes him over to the bartender, Maxie.When Eddie introduces Paul as an old buddy of his, and also a friend of Jeannie Lake, Maxie says that he knows all of Jeannie's friends, and Paul isn't one of them.Paul admits that he only met her, but says that he'd like to get in touch, but Maxie says he doesn't know where she is.Paul tells him that it's very important, but the hostile Maxie walks away, saying he can't help. Eddie tries to explain Maxie's behavior away, saying that he'd sort of adopted Jeannie, acting like a father.
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Eddie and Paul are puzzled at Maxie's hostile response
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Eddie leaves to play another set, and Paul approaches the unoccupied Maxie again, but only gets a “can't you see I'm busy” in response. So Paul orders a drink from him and assures that he means Jeannie no harm, and knows that she's married.
“You know her husband too?” Maxie asks suspiciously, and though Paul says that he doesn't, Maxie adds, “ask him where she is.”
Paul proffers a number of bills to Maxie, and says, “so, how much will it cost,” but Maxie disregards the bribe, and says the Scotch is a dollar.
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Maxie thinks Paul's come on behalf of Jeannie's husband
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Walking away from Eddie's later, Paul suddenly receives a blow from behind knocking him to the ground.
It is Maxie, threatening to break his neck. Paul offers his wallet, but Maxie just tells him to stay away from Jeannie Lake.Paul suddenly jolts Maxie with his elbow, and then gets an upper hand. Maxie concedes immediately, and Paul threatens him with an assault charge.Maxie believes Paul has come on behalf of Jeannie's husband who beat her, and doesn't believe Paul's denials. Paul tells Maxie to ring her about him. “Why should I?” he asks.
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Jeannie can't help, but has one useful memory
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Paul replies, because an assault charge would cause Maxie to lose his union card.
Paul meets Jeannie, and asks where they met. She tells him how distressed he was when he walked into a bar where she was drinking, but that he listened to all her troubles, but never revealed his own, even though she'd urged him to. She says that he saved her life that night, and gave her the strength to leave her violent husband. Though she couldn't help him, he says, at least he now knows he's at the end of the road.
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A startled Paul is greeted warmly by the doctor
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Paul is about to drive away when Jeannie rushes out to his car, having remembered something - that in transit to a club, Paul had suddenly told the cab driver to stop in front of the Schaeffer Building, and after he had looked at it, his entire mood changed.
Paul drives to the Schaeffer Building, goes in, and lets his subconscious take him where it leads - to the office of Dr. Mason who greets Paul warmly, and asks how he is. Paul tells him about the accident, , and as the doctor asks him some questions about it,
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The doctor hands an incredulous Paul the diagnosis
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No longer able to go one, Paul suddenly declares, “doctor, I don't know you,” and says that the last six months of his life have been blacked out, but that a tip had led him to the building, and he didn't even know how he'd ended up in this office. At first, Dr. Mason is stunned, then says that, realizing that Paul didn't remember what he'd told him six months earlier, he considered not revealing the information again. But he felt he had to, because Paul would eventually learn the truth from others. Dr. Mason says that, planning to marry, Paul had a medical examination for the insurance company which revealed a rare medical condition.
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Paul tells Kate the redhead was never her rival
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He'd come to Dr. Mason for confirmation tests. The doctor hands a folder to Paul, and says, “I had to tell you what's in that folder.” Paul studies it in shock as all the blanks in his memory return.
Having become all too aware of his fate, Paul asks Kate, “you knew all the time. Why didn't you tell me?” She goes to him, and they embrace. He says that he found his missing six months and he found the red head. “But she wasn't your rival at all.” He says that it was the diagnosis he was trying to put out of his mind, and asks her again why she didn't tell him
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Kate says she never could have told him
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Kate became aware of Paul's diagnosis when his doctor heard about her breakdown, their physicians communicating, and deciding that the information would help her. But Paul admits that he knows now, he should have told her himself. She says that she couldn't bring herself to telling him the truth when he came back. She hoped he'd never find out, but understands that he must now leave again. And Paul responds, “It's a different kind of goodbye now, isn't it?”
Seeing him off at the airport she lives with the hope that a cure will bring them together again.
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and watch a video clip from the episode on the same page!
Guest Stars (in alphabetical order)
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Carol Lawrence
as Kate Pierce
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Billy Daniels
as Eddie
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Anne Helm as
Molly Pierce
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John Ireland
as Dr. Mason
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John Kerr as
Alex Ryder
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Paul Lukas as
Dr. Werner
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Sheree North
as Jeannie Lake
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Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom
as Tiger
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Robert Strauss
as Giorgio
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Nicholas Colasanto
as Maxie
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Inger Straton
as the Sister
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Richard Clair
as Fred Duncan
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Joanne Medley
as Sally Willis
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Mal Alberts as
Elevator Passenger
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