22 - 28 February 1966

	Run For Your Life Starring Ben Gazzara Homepage Paul Bryan's Journal 22 - 28 February 1966
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22 - 27 February 1966 ("In Search of April" part 1 / "The Frozen Image" )

After singing “I'll Remember April” for himself as Paul watches in the shadows, Jamey Burke enumerates what a success his life has been while Paul disagrees, and departs to Jamey's made-up song about firing two managers in one night.

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Return to "The Frozen Image " page or read from Paul's journal about the events of the episode below

Chronology of Events				Journal Entry
Paul arrives in New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras,				New Orleans Tuesday, February 22 A year ago today I bought the ring, the event from which the subsequent and strange path my life has taken evolved. I wonder how wisely I've spent those 12 months, especially when I today pursue one of my more frivolous objectives. It was one of my life dreams to be here for Mardi Gras, and everything I've seen so far has fulfilled and gone beyond my expectations. Now, I'm going to go out and dance in the streets with the rest of them.
In Search of April He meets a charming girl calling herself April. Though she promised to meet him in the morning, when Paul comes to pick her up for brunch, April has vanished, so he flies to Las Vegas - where his fiancée has been giving a speech - to celebrate one year since their engagement				Las Vegas Wednesday, February 23 Yesterday was a grand one in every way. The food, the people, the fun, the joie de vivre were like a hundred race weekends piled into one. Remembering Kate's suggestion to “fall in love …. for the day,” I romanced a variety of women for a few minutes each as my steps took me through the crowded streets, and then met a girl who was completely fascinating. She was the most unique combination of innocence and sophistication, beautiful and much fun, and while I didn't fall in love even a little, I found her companionship the perfect complement to Mardi Gras. We danced, dined, sang and swam in the Gulf, and I knew that I wanted to see her again. However, when I went to pick her up for brunch this morning, she was gone. I was left holding the glass slipper, and decided it was just as well to get the original flight I'd booked for Las Vegas, to celebrate one year since our engagement - a night I would travel around the world to spend with Kate.
The Frozen Image In the casino Paul meets famous entertainer Jamey Burke who fires his manager and asks Paul to replace him. They drive at top speed to pick up Jamey's wife who wearily consents to attend his show, but then walks out. When he sees his wife in the coffee shop with Paul, Jamey chews both of them out, and storms away. Paul goes to see him and provide some sense, but Jamey fires him.				Las Vegas, Thursday, February 24 After being together so much of the time since her father's death, I felt cheated to have less than a whole day with Katie here. It certainly wasn't an easy night, the subject of our celebration bringing too close the dark aspects of our life we try to keep locked away. With her class schedule precluding travel now, the parting this morning was all too painful. For a moment, she decided not to fly to the gallery owners convention in Phoenix, but then, I'll be off to Hawaii as soon as Pete gets here, so she went ahead and got the flight. I might as well go downstairs, and see what jumps out at me. Later The first thing that did was the familiar face of Jamey Burke whom Kate and I had seen at the Venetian Room about a year and a half ago. I'd been so bound up with Kate, I hadn't even noticed that he was headlining here. He came up to me as I was chatting with a girl, and spoke as if we were old friends. At first, I was a little dazzled to be in the presence of a big star I'd always admired, then relaxed in his infectious company. No sooner had I managed that than he asked me to be his manager. I felt like turning around to see whom he was speaking to, but he said that he was a creature of impulse, and would like me to take him on. What I didn't know at the time was that all he really wanted was for me to ask the hotel boss for more credit at the tables, but I figured that this was just the sort of experience I was supposed to be on the lookout for, and told him I'd take the job for 48 hours, and then see. How optimistic I was at the number of hours Jamey would put up with ME. Accompanying him to the airport in his fabulous sports car, I had the experience of him revving the machine up to 120 mph, then making a sharp turn before breaking. Remember the first time I had an experience like that. My grandmother had given me the gift of a trip to Europe. Pete was on the Formula 1 circuit then, and took me out on the road in his flashy Ferrari. A lot of burned rubber since, and only because of it was I able to hold my nerve. Not an awful driver, but Jamey was certainly a dangerous one. I pointed out how he could be a little kinder to his machine, and he came back with some remark like, “what are you, a race driver?” How many months I've been waiting for someone to ask me that question in such a challenging way! So - at his insistence - I got behind the wheel, and opened her up to 140, and doing the smoothest turn ever at the top of the dial. But I was too cool to tell Jamey that I was on the podium at the Hawaiian Grand Prix. That was real will power! But talk about power, if Clive can turn out a road car like Jamey's, it will be a winner. After meeting his wife Diana and their pilot, we drove back to the hotel where he pressed her to attend his show, even though she clearly felt too tired. I felt sorry for her. She seemed like a nice lady. But the pilot Chico. I was sceptical about him. He seemed like a chancer, and based on the questions I asked him in the car, not really qualified to handle a jet like Jamey's. Then came the real point of my being around, to ask for the credit extension, but the casino boss turned that down flat. I escorted Diana to Jamey's show which was sensational, but she got up and left after only two songs, so I went out after her, saying I'd be glad to listen, if she wanted to talk. Diana agreed that Jamey thought he was Peter Pan, but said that he expected her to be Wendy - even though she was now over 30 - and just couldn't keep up with his lifestyle. (That rang a suspiciously familiar bell, and I remembered Kate putting the same concept to me in different words.) I listened carefully then. Diana said Jamey was acting in this manner to stay on top in show business, even though, with his talent, it was entirely unnecessary. Then came an extremely ugly scene in the coffee shop. Jamey appeared after his show, shooting arrows at Diana and myself - first suggesting a liaison between us, then attacking me for not getting the additional gambling credit, and finally ripping into Diana for leaving the show - indicating that he'd break her neck if she ever did that again. After he stalked out, Diana asked me to go after him, and I found him singing - of all things, the melody Bumble and I always thought of as our song, “I'll Remember April.” It was magic …. or magic to me, anyway, but afterwards Jamey and I had one hell of a contre temps over how he was living, after which I offered him my hand in farewell, but he just told me to go away. What's that they say about not getting too close to people you admire from afar? It's too late to ring Kate and tell her about my adventures, so I'll hit the sack.
Nevertheless, when Jamey finds his wife apparently dead in the middle of the night after a jewel robbery, it is Paul whom he calls. After weeping over his wife, Jamey then turns on Paul who has rung for a doctor, and pulls a gun, implying that Paul may be the killer. Paul says that Jamey's threats to his wife in the coffee shop will make him the most likely suspect, and wrests the gun away from Jamey who begins sobbing again. Then they hear a sound from the bedroom, indicating that his wife is alive. Paul takes the keys to Jamey's high-speed sports car, and intercepts Jamey's pilot as he is about to fly off with the jewels. But with his wife recovering, Jamey resumes his old life. Paul then meets Pete Gaffney and they fly to Hawaii for their next race. Besides driving, one of Paul's duties will be to squire around the daughter of a rich family - Laura Beaumont.				en route to Honolulu, Friday, February 25 In the night Jamey rang me frantically demanding that I come up to his apartment. Why he didn't ring for a doctor, the management or the police, I will never know. He told me that Diana had been murdered for her jewels - which were gone. I raced into the bedroom, but thought that Diana might be alive, and rang for a doctor as Jamey sobbed about how much he loved her and what a rotten time he'd always given her. On and on he ranted, then suddenly stopped, and asked, “who are you?” Then he pulled a gun on me, implying that I had killed Diana - a stranger he'd met in a bar, and knew only a couple hours. That I was the unlikely combination of lawyer, race driver and fighter pilot, something that had fascinated him earlier in the day, now made me a likely suspect in his eyes. I grabbed the gun from him, and told him he'd better come up with a better one, because he was the man who, only a couple hours earlier in a public place, had threatened to break his wife's neck. Jamey began sobbing again then, acknowledging that I'd been right about him having fouled up his life - and then we heard another sob - from the bedroom. Diana was alive. The doctor arrived, and I grabbed the car keys from Jamey, and told him to get the police out to the glider field, then headed there myself. Thanks to the incomparable engine, I made it just in time to drive the machine in front of Jamey's plane which was about to take off. Chico jumped out, and the police came along as I grabbed him. Diana's jewels were in the plane. Took off for the hospital then, and Jamey said Diana was OK, so I went back to the hotel to get a couple hours sleep. How different things looked in the morning. Diana is feeling all right, and is going to make a complete recovery. After seeing her sitting up and talking this morning, I made my statement to the police, and then went back to the hotel to get my things. There was Jamey, like nothing had happened, playing his usual Peter Pan role at the gambling tables. Drove to the airport, and met Pete's flight, then we boarded a bird for Honolulu. He tells me that, as part of our invitation to stay at Rachel Pike's famous home on Oahu, I am to squire around the “difficult” daughter of the Beaumonts while they are also her guests for the Grand Prix weekend. “Couldn't we stay at the Hilton?” I begged, but Pete said he knew Laura well, and she'd be no chore. Later We arrived in time to get a crack at Clive and Rudy's newest improvements to the Mastin, and the machine is simply singing! Met the “difficult daughter” at the luau Rachel threw tonight, and Pete was right. The assignment will be no chore at all!
The team does well in qualifying at Hawaii, and Paul enjoys Laura's company, and her father invites him to join the family at an exclusive Swiss ski resort the following week.				Honolulu, Saturday, February 26 In the morning, the Darrells (staying at Rhona's own home nearby) arrived for a meeting with Rachel, and Pete put his $300,000 question to her. No hugs this time, rather a request for a business plan instead. Rachel hasn't yet committed to the Mastin road car project, but she openly admitted that she was close, and the two investments would definitely complement one another. She then promised an answer by the first of March, pending (by the end of the session, it had turned into) “something on paper” from the team. Pete's ambivalent philosophy was that we could either get someone else to take Rachel's share, or limit ourselves to four partners each putting up more money. Now, all we need is a good showing in the next eight races to turn the preliminary approval into full-blown Formula 1 status. Pete's front spot on the grid is a good start towards that, with my fourth place keeping me credible. And Miss Beaumont is proving to be a most attractive companion for the weekend! Got chatting with her father, and learned that he's surprising his family with a week at Montenaro. I told him how I'd always envisioned myself at the exclusive ski resort, and he said that he'd made reservations for four, but learned today that Laura's brother won't be joining them, so I was “welcome along.” With Clive taking the Algarve and Florida drives, I'll be able to not only manage Montenaro, but complete my dream of a transatlantic crossing as well!
In the morning before the race, Paul sees the missing April's picture in a magazine - only she has another name. Pete wins the race, but instead of being able to celebrate into the wee small hours, Paul is called back to San Francisco by someone he owes a favor.				Honolulu - en route to Los Angeles, Sunday, February 27 Relaxed on Rachel's beach in the morning with Laura and her friend Juanita, who treated me to a private lecture on social philosophy. Laura was in stitches, and when she went into the house to get something, I picked up the society rag she'd left behind - just to see if that might get Juanita to finish her talk. It didn't, but in the magazine, I was fascinated to see a picture of the girl I'd met as “April” in New Orleans. She was shown at a Hollywood Park race meeting with some socialite guy named Parquette, only her name was Allison Crain. Made a mental note to follow this up soon as an opportunity permitted. Pete managed to turn his pole into victory, and I held on to fourth, having to pinch myself that I'm doing this well. It's the brilliant Mastin, of course, the genius of Clive and Rudy making me look good. Unfortunately, at the end of the race, a telegram was awaiting me - not one of congratulations, but a summons from Ben Du Pre, to come urgently, if I were available. Well, I had made that deal with the firm. Thinking that it might be an interesting legal diversion, I rang Ben, but was disappointed to hear him say that it was Miles Prentice who wanted me to help on a personal project, but that Ben had committed me as part of our partnership contract. Not a champagne moment, to say the least. So was only able to partially celebrate our victory - with the lovely Laura on my arm before flying out at midnight. Pete, however, was flying the Gaffney-Bryan flag quite gallantly when I left the last one .

28 February - 3 March 1966 ("Saro Jane, You Never Whispered Again")