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Run For Your Life
Starring Ben Gazzara
Episode:
In Search of April
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To contact us, click Homepage link above
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Synopsis: When April Martin (Carol Lynley) vanishes shortly after Paul meets her in New Orleans, he goes on a complex search that leads him to a surprising solution to the mystery of her disappearance and a threat to her life. With Don Rickles as Leo Mazinov, Don Galloway as Gordon Von Rhine, William Lundigan as David Phillips, George Furth as Osborne Parquette III, Robert Wolders as Marcel Lambert, K.T. Stevens as Mrs. Phillips, Larry D. Mann as Dr. Mann, Gail Bonney as Mrs. Simms, Robert Easton as the Desk Clerk, Lorri Scott as Paul's Girlfriend, Robert B. Williams as the Doctor, Clay Tanner as the Detective, Anatol Winogradoff as the Waiter, John Francis as the Bartender
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Episode 20
First broadcast on
January 24, 1966
Teleplay by Alvin Sargent
Story by John Thomas James
(Roy Huggins)
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
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SEE INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS OF ENTIRE CAST AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
part 1
part 2
Watch a video clip from this episode on the same page
Creative Team
Producer
Gordon Hessler
Associate Producer
Paul Freeman
Music
Pete Rugolo
Director of Photography
John L. Russell A.S.C.
Art Director
Howard E. Johnson
Film Editor
Danford B. Greene
Unit Manager
Willard Sheldon
Assistant Director
Thomas I. Schmidt
Set Decorators
John McCartey &
Perry Murdoch
Sound
James T. Porter
Color Coordinator
Robert Brower
Color by Pathe
Editorial Dept. Head
David J. O'Connell
Musical Supervisor
Stanley Wilson
Costumes by Burton Miller
Makeup
Bud Westmore
Hair Stylist
Larry Germain
Links to Other Episodes
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Paul meets April at Mardi Gras in New Orleans
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The Plot:
Enjoying Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Paul sees a girl he has to meet. They spend an evening together, dancing, drinking champagne and swimming, and he is thoroughly charmed. But all the while the young woman is being watched by a man in a Bugs Bunny costume, Leo Masinov, who phones a man named Von Rhine in Philadelphia to report on her whereabouts with sinister implications. Though Paul and the girl make a date for champagne brunch the next day, when he goes to her hotel in the morning, she has vanished.
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 Paul seeks out another man who knew the girl
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Paul flies to Hawaii where he sees a photo in a newspaper of the same girl at a race meeting in Hollywood with Osborne Parquette III whom Paul seeks out. Parquette describes an enchanting time with her, but no knowledge beyond that, and says that the clipping also brought an inquiry about her from someone in Quebec. Paul goes to meet this man who calls her Yvonne, says she spoke mostly French, and was like a bird who approaches, beguiles, then flies away.
He makes a reference to her interest in Massachusetts, ringing a bell for Paul.
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Margaret shyly asks Paul what they did in New Orleans
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This information, combined with the name of a dress shop he remembers, brings Paul to a stately home where he learns that the girl's real name isn't April, but Margaret. The girl doesn't recognize him, but when he says that he met her in New Orleans, he is invited to meet her parents. The father explains that she is suffering from a multiple personality affliction, and they've been advised to let her move about as she wishes, as when she returns to herself, she always gets back home. The mother asks Paul if he might meet with Margaret's psychiatrist to see if he could be of help.
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They meet again as strangers on a train
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When Margaret meets him as a stranger, and asks what they did together, Paul gently puts her mind at rest. Paul gets on a train for Boston to talk to Dr. Mann about Margaret's condition, and she comes and sits alongside him, again a new person who's never met Paul before, calling herself Cathy. They decide to go to New Orleans together, a place she says she's never been, and when he discusses this possibility with the psychiatrist, Dr. Mann encourages Paul to try this to help her “wake from the dreams” she's lived through, especially the bad experience she'd appeared to have in Florida.
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She reveals a little about her thinking
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In New Orleans she is again spotted by Leo Mazinov who goes up to her, calling her Dorothy, and says that he'd like to make an agreement, and if not, implies a threat. She replies that her name is Cathy, and disregards him, and even appears amused. When she says that he was looking for Dorothy from Miami, Paul is disturbed. When they go for a hansom cab ride, she tries to dispel his worries, but Mazinov has contacted Von Rhine about her whereabouts. When they go swimming together, she tells Paul that success is based on thinking about where you want to be.
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Paul demands answers from Mazinov
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After they say goodnight, Paul goes to find Mazinov, and asks him why he's following her, and tells him that the girl he calls Dorothy has never been in Miami. In an alley, Paul gets rough with Mazinov, and finally discovers from him that Von Rhine has gone to kill her. He has snuck in to her hotel room, and tells her that their relationship from Miami can continue as it was, but that he needs an assurance from her that he is safe, and she won't reveal what she saw. When she denies knowing him or being Dorothy, he is heavy handed with her, but she says desperately that she doesn't know what he's talking about.
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She struggles to get to the phone
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Von Rhine says he wants to know why she disappeared and never contacted him.
He says that he's wondering what she is after, quite earnestly attempting to discover if she plans to blackmail him.
Nothing she tells him will persuade Von Rhine, and he says that he knows she saw him commit a murder, and then becomes violent.
When she tries to reach for the phone, he picks up a pillow, and is about to smother her when Paul enters and stops him.
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 Paul tells her that she is now safe
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The police and a doctor are brought in, and when they leave, she tells Paul that she doesn't know her name, but that she can remember the murder that took place in Miami.
When Paul tells her it's all over, she asks if she can go home.
Paul calls her Margaret, asking where that is, and she says Springfield. He later returns there to speak with her parents, and learns that a prognosis for Margaret's recovery from the identity syndrome is good.
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  Notes & Comments: A complex subject on its own, Margaret's identity disorder is complicated by the threat to her life, making the episode very tight paced.
In terms of production values, the addition of a repeated scrolling design (in the house gate, bedstead etc.) offered an arty note to tie the elements together, and the score especially worked well in creating extra tension.
Excellent performances by each member of the cast also made In Search of April an above-average episode for the first season.
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part 1
part 2
Watch a video clip from this episode on the same page
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Carol Lynley as
April Martin
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Don Rickles as
Leo Mazinov
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Don Galloway as
Gordon Von Rhine
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William Lundigan
as David Phillips
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George Furth as
Osborne Parquette III
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Robert Wolders
as Marcel Lambert
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K.T. Steven
as Mrs. Phillips
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Larry D. Mann
as Dr. Mann
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Gail Bonney
as Mrs. Simms
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Robert Easton as
the Desk Clerk
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Lorri Scott as
Paul's Girlfriend
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Robert B. Williams
as the Doctor
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Clay Tanner as
the Detective
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Anatol Winogradoff
as the Waiter
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John Francis as
the Bartender
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