The Chaser (The Twilight Zone)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“The Chaser”
The Twilight Zone episode

John McIntire in "The Chaser"
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 31
Written by Robert Presnell, Jr. based on the story “The Chaser” by John Henry Collier, first presented (under the title “Duet For Two Actors”) as an episode of The Billy Rose Show in February 1951
Directed by Douglas Heyes
Guest stars George Grizzard : Roger Shackleforth
John McIntire : Professor A. Daemon
Patricia Barry : Leila
J. Pat O'Malley : Homburg
Production no. 173-3636
Original airdate May 13, 1960
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"A Stop at Willoughby" "A Passage for Trumpet"
List of Twilight Zone episodes

"The Chaser" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

Contents

[edit] Opening Narration

“ Mr. Roger Shackleforth. Age: Youthful twenties. Occupation: Being in love. Not just in love, but madly, passionately, illogically, miserably, all-consumingly in love, with a young woman named Leila who has a vague recollection of his face and even less than a passing interest. In a moment you’ll see a switch, because Mr. Roger Shackleforth, the young gentleman so much in love, will take a short but very meaningful journey into the Twilight Zone. ”

[edit] Synopsis

Roger Shackleforth is desperately in love with Leila. He visits an old professor looking for advice on how to win her. The professor, after some resistance, sells Roger a love potion cheaply. After its administration, Leila falls madly in love with Roger, but soon, her love becomes stifling. Roger returns to the professor to buy his 'love cleaner', an expensive poison that can only be used once, before the user loses his nerve.

When he gets home, he prepares a glass of champagne with the new potion. Just as he is about to give Leila the glass, she tells him that she is pregnant, which shocks Roger into dropping the glass. He dazedly admits to himself that he couldn't have gone through with it anyway.

[edit] Closing Narration

“ Mr. Roger Shackleforth, who has discovered at this late date that love can be as sticky as a vat of molasses, as unpalatable as a hunk of spoiled yeast, and as all-consuming as a six-alarm fire in a bamboo and canvas tent. [long pause] Case history of a lover boy who should never have entered the Twilight Zone. ”

[edit] Facts

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

[citations needed]

  • This episode is adapted by Robert Presnell, Jr. from the short story "The Chaser" by John Collier. The script was originally written for and produced live on television on The Billy Rose Television Theatre in 1951.
“That was one of the great things about The Twilight Zone. I had total freedom. Sometimes I would think of an idea that make the episode more Twilight Zone-y [but] that would require some expense. I remember one episode, “The Chaser”, in which I devised a huge bookcase that must have doubled the budget, but they [Serling and producer Buck Houghton] never blinked an eye. They just said, ‘Okay, great!’ I didn't have to argue with anybody over the money—they’d argue about the money and let me have it! I knew that they were having problems with Jim Aubrey, but they kept them away from me. My responsibility was to get the job done.” —Douglas Heyes quoted in Serling: The Rise and Twilight of Television’s Last Angry Man.

[edit] References

  • Sander, Gordon F.:Serling: The Rise And Twilight of Television’s Last Angry Man. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
  • Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)

[edit] External links

[edit] Twilight Zone links

Languages