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Run For Your Life
Starring Ben Gazzara
Episode:
The Grotenberg Mask
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Synopsis: There is a murder mystery to solve after Dena Fuller (Elizabeth Ashley) ends her ski romance with Johnny Cadell (Tom Simcox), and sails back to the US with Paul, finding Johnny's unpleasant brother Charles (Skip Homeier) on board - and his wife dead when they arrive in New York. With Henry Beckman as Lt. Flaherty, George Furth as Arthur Neely, Pat Randall as Ruth Vernon, Donald Lawton as the Steward, Dennis Turner as the Hotel Clerk, Jayne Stevens as the Secretary, Barbara Morrison as the Landlady
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Episode 38
Season 2 - #8
First broadcast on
October 31, 1966
Written by Henry Slesar
Directed by Nicholas Colasanto
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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
John J. Lloyd
Film Editor
Carl Pingitore
Unit Manager
Hilton A. Green
Assistant Director
Edward K. Dodds
Set Decorators
John McCartey &
James S. Redd
Sound
Earl Crain, Jr.
Color Coordinator
Robert Brower
Color by Technicolor
Editorial Dept. Head
Richard Belding
Musical Supervisor
Stanley Wilson
Costumes by Burton Miller
Makeup
Bud Westmore
Hair Stylist
Larry Germain
Assistant to Executive Producer
Robert Foster
Links to Other Episodes
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Paul says he remembers Dena as a 12-year-old
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The Plot:
Paul is skiing with Dena Fuller, whom he's known since she was a child, and after she has a little fall, they take refuge in a hut. He suggests that she curtail her European holiday, and sail back to New York with him, but Dena suspects her father has put him up to this out of disapproval of the man she's been seeing - one who's brother supports him.
Paul denies the accusation, and for her own part, Dena assures him that she's no longer in love with Johnny Cadell.
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Johnny frightens Dena with the Grotenberg mask
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Then she lets out a scream, having seen a frightening face at the window.
But it is only Johnny wearing the ski mask designed by a slalom racer named Grotenberg. Johnny says he saw her take the tumble, and brought his camper down to give her a ride back to the lodge where he wants to introduce Dena to his brother Charles, who injured his leg on his way to the resort. Dena finds him incorrigible, and says he almost seems proud of the fact that Charles is supporting him, calling his brother a patron of the arts, in this case, the art of living.
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Paul says he too could be called a parasite
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That evening at the lodge, where Johnny is the life of the party, Dena says that she's over him and that he's a social parasite. Paul chides her that the description could fit himself as well, the way his life is one big holiday. But Dena responds that in Paul's case, it won't be forever. He agrees, not showing that a nerve has been touched.
When his brother Charles arrives, Johnny introduces him cordially to Dena and Paul, but Charles is bad-tempered, and says he's living on pain killers due to his leg injury.
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Johnny introduces the ill-tempered Charles
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He then begins making unpleasant remarks to Dena, implying that she's hanging around Europe, trying to marry Johnny for his money.
Johnny and Paul both attempt to curb his line of conversation, but Charles goes on to say that he doesn't intend to support his brother's wife.
Extremely annoyed, Dena gets up and leaves, saying that he's wrong, because she's sailing home this week, and knocks Charles' coffee in his lap as she goes.
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In her anger Dena nearly causes a scene at the dock
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When Paul and Dena board the liner for their ocean crossing home, she bids a formal farewell to all the gigolos of Europe, then spots Johnny's brother on board, and virtually makes a scene castigating him, shouting after Charles that he should be careful not to fall overboard and poison the fish.
Paul has to hold her back, and she says what really bothers her is the way Johnny was corrupted by his brother, and she intends to despise him as publicly as possible.
The subject of Charles dominates their trip.
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Dena tells Paul about Charles' wealthy wife
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While dancing, Dena tells Paul that Charles married an heiress for her wealth, and when his wife found out, she took steps so that he could never get a hold of her money,, every penny needing to be accounted for, but she approves the payments to Johnny because she likes him. However, Dena suspects that Charles came to Europe to inform Johnny that his allowance was going to be stopped. Paul suggests that might change Johnny, and asks how Dena would feel about him if he became a reformed man. She admits that, in that eventuality, she'd fall in love with the charming, harmless happy man all over again.
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The tipsy Dena wants Paul to sue Charles for her
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Another evening, Dena has been drinking a bit much, and she tells Paul she wants him to go back to work, wishing to retain him to sue Charles for alienation of affections. But he tells the tipsy Dena that he is unavailable, and that such concepts are out of date. He also feels the need to end her evening before she becomes even more drunk.
The next night, Paul is escorting an even more inebriated Dena back to her stateroom, when she notices Charles' door, and barges into his darkened cabin, knocking over a steward's tray in the process.
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Dena bursts into Charles cabin and taunts him
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Dena begins incessantly taunting Charles about his wife, to the point where he throws something at her. His overt action causes her to suddenly lunge forward and attack him physically, violently scratching his face. Then, in horror, Dena begins to back out of the roon.
Paul has meanwhile been banging on the door, and when Dena comes out, she is in shock over what she has done. A desperate Paul demands to know what happened inside the stateroom.
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Both assault each other, and Dena is horrified
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At first, Dena can't speak at all. From the look Paul observes on her face, it could be almost anything, even murder. Then Dena tells him that she is deeply ashamed of her behavior, and didn't mean to do what she did, then goes on to say that she nearly scratched Charles' eyes out.
It takes a moment for the two of them to come to terms with what has happened. Paul tries to get Dena to settle down. After comforting her, he is eventually able to take her back to her own cabin.
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On arrival in New York Dena doesn't want to leave Paul
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As they wait at the railing to disembark in New York, Dena says she has no welcome-home feeling, and has decided to stay in her New York apartment instead of going back to her family in San Francisco.
When Paul asks how long she intends to stay, she replies “as long as you're here,” and says that she's a ship that needs an anchor at the moment, and isn't imposing any obligations on him.
He is put off by her implication, and tells Dena, “I'm a very bad anchor. I'm a drifter myself.”
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At her apartment Dena and Paul talk about the murder
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Charles Cadell returns home to find that his wife has just been murdered - after quarrelling publicly with the dance instructor who brought her home the previous night. He tells Lt. Flaherty of the New York Police that he feels no grief over his wife's death, only regret at its manner.
Reading about the killing in the newspaper, Dena is immediately convinced that Charles committed the murder, though Paul points out that he was on a ship in mid ocean when it happened. Dena points out that Charles could have hired somebody - maybe even the dance teacher.
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Dena tells Lt. Flaherty he must find the answers
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Paul and Dena visit police headquarters, and have a talk with Lt. Flaherty who seems more interested in her altercation with Charles on the ship than on him being a possible suspect. He asks her how Charles Cadell could possibly have commited the crime, and Dena counters, "that's your job, Lieutenant, " and she stalks out of his' office.
Out in the hall she and Paul run into a colleague of his, Arthur Neely, someone whom Paul is quite obviously doesn't particularly want to speak with. But Dena becomes very interested when she hears that Neely is defending Ray Vernon
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Paul is not pleased to see Christopher Neely
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He is the dancing teacher charged with Jessica Cadell's murder.
Wanting help, Neely asks Paul if he might drop into the defender's office, but Paul declines. Dena wants him to make the appointment, so he accedes, but with obvious unhappiness on his part and pleasure on Neely's. After he's gone, Paul's “thanks” to Dena is more than wry. When she asks him how long he's known Neely, Paul responds, “never did and never wanted to,” adding as he walks into the elevator, “and I'm beginning to wonder about you” as the doors nearly close on her.
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Paul and Dena ask Neely about the case
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When Paul and Dena visit his office, Neely tells them he took on Ray Vernon's case as a favor to the owner of the dance studio.
Neely says the accused is no good, and that the victim was calling him names - like gigolo - in the taxi just before the murder. Vernon claims that after having more words with the victim in her apartment, he left her alive, and went home.
To Paul's question regarding what Neely thinks of Vernon's story, the lawyer says he believes the man is guilty.
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Neely makes a drink,assured of Vernon's guilt
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Dena suggests some involvement by Charles, perhaps that he'd paid Vernon to kill his wife, but Neely rejects the proposal, and says Vernon committed the crime “for nothing.”
Paul, incensed, has heard enough, and jumps up to confront Neely, deprecating his shabby practice, and asking him if the state of it gives him license to throw his ethics in the waste basket.
When Neely acts surprised, Paul says, “you've already convicted your own client. What do you expect a jury to do?”
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Paul questions Neely's handling of the case
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Just then, Vernon's wife arrives. She's wants to see her husband, saying he's not good at taking orders, and would thus be especially uncomfortable in the jail environment, just as he was in the army. Paul asks if she knew her husband was seeing Jessica Cadell, and she replies that she did, knowing that her husband liked to take money from women. She says there are better ways to feel like a man, but herdidn't know them. She is certain of his innocence, because whatever wrong doing he might be guilt of, Mrs. Vernon knows her husband would never lie to her. Neely obviously thinks the remark is meaningless, but Paul takes it seriously.
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Paul reads the lawyers' letter while mixing drinks
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That evening, a soggy Paul, having walked six blocks in pouring rain, arrives at Dena's apartment to the news that Charles Cadell is suing her over a newspaper story in which she accused him of the murder, Dena having believed that the reporter was from the police. As Paul goes through an elaborate ritual mixing drinks for the two of them, she asks him to take on the case for her, and he says Cadell's lawyers are probably bluffing, but after more persuasion, Paul says he'll go and talk to Charles on her behalf to express Dena's formal apologies, and promise to conduct herself properly in the future.
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Paul tells Dena about the astounding development
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Paul visits Charles, and tells him that Dena is sorry for her actions. Charles says he won't sue her, but only because his brother is very much in love with Dena. He may have been in constrained circumstances before Jessica Cadell's death, but now Johnny will be independently wealthy.
One thing has stood out beyond their legal exchange for Paul, and that is the fact that Charles had no scratches on his face - marks which had been clearly evident from Dena's attack on him when they all disembarked from the liner. She hears this information with confusion,
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Paul illustrates the brothers' illusion
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She says they must have healed. But Paul explains that it means Charles Cadell was not the man on board whom Dena scratched. He says that she was right about Charles being responsible for his wife's murder - only that he did it himself.
To Dena's denial that it could be possible, Paul says that the man on the ship was his brother Johnny, rigged out to look like Charles with beard, crutch, bandages and clothes Johnny would never wear. Dena says that Johnny could never get mixed up in murder, but Paul theorizes that's why Charles came to Switzerland - to set it up.
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Dena refuses to believe Paul's theory
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But Paul details exactly what he thinks happened. Instead of driving to Zermatt, Johnny caught the steamer while his brother flew home, and the night before the ship docked, he went to his house and murdered Jessica. Dena feels that she's proved him wrong when she shows Paul a cable from Johnny, and thinks Paul's story is silly and impossible. Defiantly, she says that Johnny would never agree to an ugly thing like Paul has outlined, being too kind and gentle a person. But Paul counters that the violent part was Charles', and all Johnny had to do was lie in bed on an ocean liner.
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Paul tells her the brothers are two of a kind
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Dena gets up, refusing to listen to any more, but Paul follows her to the bar and says that the brothers would have gotten away with their plan if only for Dena's drunken escapade that ended up with her scratching Johnny's face on the ship. She says it was Charles' face she scratched, and that the bruises have healed. Seeing her devotion to Johnny and knowing that she intends to heed his cable and go back to him, Paul says that Johnny is no good, and that the brothers are two of a kind, and adds, “there are no basically decent bums. I'm trying to make you face that.” But she leaves the room, and slams the door on him.
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Paul suggests Flaherty check flight records
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Paul goes to Lt. Flaherty with his theory, but the detective says there was nothing about scratches in the steward's statement. Paul says he saw them himself, and suggests checking flights, but Flaherty says the brothers could have used aliases and false passports.
In the end, however, he says he'll start going through flight records.
Paul goes back to Dena's apartment to report on the news, but finds that she's vacated it, and left a note with the landlady for him.
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Johnny pulls off the ski mask t0o kiss Dena
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Dena has gone back to Switzerland, Paul flies there immediately. He learns from the desk clerk at her hotel that she's just gone to the ski slopes to find Johnny, who seeing her below, skis towards her. She greets him joyously.
They embrace warmly, and Dena tells him to take off the Grotenberg mask so she can kiss him.
But as soon as he does, she sees the scratches on his face. Dena is stunned.
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Johnny makes light of the scratches
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He wonders what's the matter, and she indicates the scratches. “Just a bad razor blade,” Johnny says, waving off her concern.
“Oh Johnny,” says Dena mournfully, “I didn't want to believe you had anything to do with it. He implies that she should keep in mind that it was a bad blade, but Dena pursues the matter, looking for reassurance that Charles had tricked him, and he didn't know what his brother was planning.
“Whatever you say, baby” is Johnny's casual reply, but she intently insists on knowing if he knew what Charles was going to do.
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 Johnny says he was mastermind of the murder p
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Johnny says no, that he didn't, and then almost aggressively tells her to drop the subject.
But Dena is beginning to come to terms with reality, and says sadly, “you knew he was using you, and exactly what for.”
Annoyed, Johnny tells her to get it right, not half right. then says angrily, “you're not even half right. You're all wrong, and as wrong as you can get! Charlie didn't use me. Charlie's a cipher, a zero. People use Charlie," he scoffs, then adds with vehemence, " but people don't use me!”
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Dena listens in horror to the truth
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A sense of horror is creeping across Dena's face as Johnny tells her how Charlie came to him with his troubles “over some dame,” meaning Johnny's generous sister-in-law, and saying that his brother was crying.
“Well I gave him the plan,” Johnny asserts loudly, saying that he laid out the entire murder scenario. After a pause he sheepishly admits that he forgot the scratches on his face.
Quite sincerely he says that he didn't want Dena to know, and that he hopes she'll forget about it.
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Dena goes flying away from Johnny
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He says this as if it were something quite minor. Seeing the tragic look on her face, he tells her gently that she can make it a closed subject and forget the matter. “You can live with anything when you've got two million bucks in the bank!” he adds passionately.
In an attempt to reassure her, Johnny points out that Dena had nothing to do with what happened, then adds quietly, “let's just let it go at that,” as if to mean that they can now take up their life together from here.
She skis away from him then, and he follows, shouting after her.
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Dena is in shock when Paul finds her
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Both going at high speed, he nearly catches her, but then suddenly crashes in a horrific fall, calling out, “Dena, I can't move.”
She continues down, then stops, Johnny's cries of having no feeling ringing in her ears as well as his begging for her to come to him. But she goes on down the mountain again, as if still trying to get away from him, and at the bottom, comes face to face with Paul who has to keep asking if she is all right. She says she saw Johnny's scratches, and Paul tells her that Charles has been arrested, and the police are looking for Johnny.
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Johnny lies dead by the Grotenberg mask
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. Dena then explains how Johnny had the terrible fall, and that she'd left him there. Paul says they'll go find him, but Dena, still in shock, suggests just letting the snow cover him over. Paul, of course, says, “no we can't.”
“But they'll only take him and execute him, “ she pleads. But Paul gently leads Dena to reason, and says they'll get the ski patrol to Johnny.
They go for help, but Johnny, the Grotenberg mask lying beside him, is presumably dead on the slopes.
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Not dragging on, it nevertheless over fills the hour with a variety of twists and locations with many little gems of scenes, especially in the hall of the police department, the lawyer's office and the two final sequences where Elizabeth Ashley moves from disbelief to realization and then physical shock while Tom Simcox flows smoothly back and forth from jovial to menacing.
The relationship between Paul and Dena underlies the entire plot in its own intriguing way, with the episode offering some fine character portraits.
and watch a video clip from the episode on the same page!
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Elizabeth Ashley
as Dena Fuller
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Tom Simcox as
Johnny Cadell
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Skip Homeier as
Charles Cadell
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Henry Beckman
as Lt. Flaherty
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George Furth as
Arthur Neely
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Pat Randall
as Ruth Vernon
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Donald Lawton
as the Steward
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Dennis Turner
as the Hotel Clerk
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Barbara Morrison
as the Landlady
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