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Unproduced NS scripts
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Kolchak: The Night Stalker – The Unproduced Scripts The third Movie-of-the Week Night Stalker script was titled "The Night Killers." Writing credit was given to Richard Matheson and William F. Nolan. The script, dated Jan. 15, 1974 (under the Dan Curtis Productions banner), proves one thing, if nothing else: after two previous movies, the third was little more than a rehash of the first two, changing the setting but not the "formula." There is scant originality in this movie and if it had been filmed, it's doubtful a series would have followed. The plot and dialogue are as follows: Hawaiian lieutenant-governor Hawaan is in route to a high-level meeting at the Ridgeway Atomic Power Plant when disaster strikes:
KOLCHAK Ambulance drivers take the government official to the hospital, where he is rushed into surgery. Before Dr. Petree can arrive to stop the operation, an explosion occurs, destroying the O.R. Shortly thereafter, Our Hero is summoned to cover the story: INT. NEW YORK BAR - SHOOTING OUT WINDOW PAST BARTENDER - NIGHT
KOLCHAK CLOSE ON GLASS as Kolchak slams it down on the table.
KOLCHAK CAMERA STARTS TO PULL BACK, REVEALING KOLCHAK (in his usual "summer" suit) raving at HAYWORTH, an amused reporter.
KOLCHAK (continuing) He breaks off, looking around, as a hand taps him on the shoulder. The Bartender.
BARTENDER
KOLCHAK
HAYWORTH Kolchak stands up, glaring at Hayworth. ANGLE AT WALL PHONE - CLOSE ON KOLCHAK as he picks up the receiver.
KOLCHAK
OPERATOR'S VOICE
KOLCHAK
OPERATOR'S VOICE
VINCENZO'S VOICE
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO'S VOICE
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO'S VOICE
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO'S VOICE
KOLCHAK POV SHOT THROUGH JET WINDOW - DAY The panorama of Honolulu, dominated by Diamond Head.
KOLCHAK'S VOICE INT. CABIN OF JETLINER - CLOSE ON FRONT PAGE OF "HONOLULU DAILY TRIBUNE" SHOWING its name, then PULLING BACK to REVEAL the lead story: "Lieutenant Governor Eulogized as Hawaii's "Guiding Light". Kolchak glances through the remainder of the paper; a small headline catches his eye: "Flying Saucer Disappears". As he reacts, CAMERA MOVES IN FAST on the story, sub-titled: "No Trace Found of UFO Reported in Area Last Month."
KOLCHAK'S VOICE INT. CAR - CLOSE ON VINCENZO tanned and prosperous looking. CAMERA WIDENS TO REVEAL him driving, Kolchak beside him.
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO Kolchak eyes his stomach.
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
VINCENZO Kolchak slumps back unhappily into the seat.
KOLCHAK INT. CROSSBINDER'S OFFICE - CLOSE ON LLEWELLYN CROSSBINDER - DAY Regarding the O.S. Kolchak with detached amusement.
CROSSBINDER CAMERA WITHDRAWS TO INCLUDE Kolchak and Vincenzo opposite the old man's desk.
CROSSBINDER
KOLCHAK Vincenzo stands up to cut him off.
VINCENZO
CROSSBINDER
KOLCHAK *************************** When the only survivor of the O.R. explosion dies suddenly, Kolchak investigates, first at the hospital, then with the two ambulance drivers who transported the lieutenant-governor to the hospital. In the course of his unproductive investigation, Kolchak meets the obligatory TV movie female co-starring character, in the guise of Kathy O'Kileyani, a real estage agent. She reappears throughout the script when convenient. Predictably, Tony doesn't like Carl's suspicion that the deaths of people associated with the explosion ate linked to the lieutenant-governor's death. They argue; Tony has stomach spasms; Carl leaves. Basic Movie 1 & 2 formula. Kolchak almost witnesses the murder of a nurse, then gets jailed for some unstated reason. Tony springs him, then both are threatened by Publisher Crossbinder. Carl continues investigating, almost gets killed by the driver of a red truck (who was also at the scene of the nurse's murder), gets yelled at by Tony (again), then goes off to investigate Ridgeway Atomic Power Plant. Learning nothing, he gets yelled at (again) by Crossbinder for drawing spurious conclusions about who was and who was not murdered. Being removed from the story, Carl is re-assigned to investigate the UFO sighting. Taking his "girl realtor" as a guide, Kolchak interviews Mr. and Mrs. Groat, eyewitnesses to a "doughnut" flying saucer landing near Hickam Field. Rather than investigate the sighting himself, Carl interviews Col. Shaw, learning that: 1) he drinks Black Irish whisky and 2) he doesn't believe in UFO's. After establishing this Very Necessary Character, our reporter attempts to check out the landing sight. He is foiled, however, by discovering the entire area is fenced off by Spencer Construction Co. In a thrilling twist, the Spencer Construction Co. employee Kolchak goes to interview in a gay bar is just leaving with his boyfriend. Carl makes an appointment to meet him later. Unfortunately, this potential witness is murdered before Carl can extract any intimate details from him. After witnessing the familiar red truck (again), Carl links the UFO story to that of the lieutenant-governor's death. Interrupting Tony at his golf game (!), Kolchak tries to convince his editor he's onto the story of his life. Being in Hawaii seems to have affected Carl's enunciation, for he regresses into an uneducated Hoosier, or reverts into a past lifetime as a cowboy with the following dialogue:
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK Vincenzo cannot talk he's so angry. He rips out his wallet, pays off a rival as his partner follows suit with the other rival player. Vincenzo then moves away. MOVING - VINCENZO AND KOLCHAK as Vincenzo walks rapidly away from the green, Kolchak sprinting in pursuit.
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO If old publishers and past lifetimes weren't enough, we get MR. LIFFY, who is NOTHING LIKE the Wally Cox characterization of Titus Berry from "The Night Strangler." This entirely original character is introduced on page 10, in the following manner: He (Kolchak) recoils as Mr. Liffy stands up, wincing, from behind a table, a heavy, dusty scrapbook in his arms. Mr. Liffy is a small, cherubic looking man wearing square-lensed granny glasses and a green eye shade." (In case you're never seen "The Night Strangler," the granny glasses are the original part.) Mr. Liffy makes all the connections for our hero, explaining that: 1) The wives of all the dead men had either died or disappeared 2) the Spencer Construction Co., which owns the land the flying saucer landed on, had put through the land deal with the influence of the now deceased lieutenant-governor. Carl's contribution to the Story Thus Far is "Bingo!" To check out the landing site, Kolchak rents a helicopter (some expense account!), piloted by Kathy, the real estate agent. (Don't ALL real estate agents know how to pilot helicopters?) Continuing to look and sound like he had been dropped into a modern-day adventure flick from a Grade B Oater, Kolchak applauds the whirlybird's dysfunction with stirring lines like, "It'll run okay again once we're outta range," and "Did I tell ya?" When he then directs Kathy to land so he can take photographs, she questions: "What if the place is crawling with little green men?" His answer? You guessed it, pardner: "I'll step on 'em." Our intrepid sagebrusher makes a judgment of STAR TREK proportions in the following scene. When he and Kathy see moving figures walking around the UFO, Kathy asks if the men are from "space." Carl replies, "Must be." Mr. Spock could not have put it more succinctly. After Kolchak and Kathy are discovered and nearly run over by the man in the now legendary red truck, we discover the driver is neither man nor Uncle Martin. "Holy Hanna," Carl exclaims. "He's a --" robot. After getting himself arrested (again), Carl attempts to warn Crossbinder, Vincenzo and Col. Shaw that a crisis exists.
KOLCHAK (For tips on playing this scene, Mr. McGavin would have done well to call Kevin McCarthy, who played it so brilliantly in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.") Realizing (without Mr. Liffy's help, for cripe's sake) that all the important men in Hawaii were gathering at the Ridgeway Atomic Plant, Carl pleads with the gathering to stop the meeting. Instead he gets himself -- SURPRISE -- fired! When the police chief (in reality an android), tries to kill Cark (again), Carl discovers he's a robot when he suddenly starts snmoking then blows up. There goes the neighborhood. Breaking into the Atomic Power Plant, Carl attempst to inform the governor and military leaders meeting there, that they have been summoned to the high-powered meeting so they can be killed and replaced by robots. For his trouble, he is almost killed (again), learning the men have indeed, been exchanged. (Production note: six seed pods needed for scene.) Racing away, then eluding capture, Carl grabs a machine gun and shoots the androids. They explode, proving his point with a bang! Kolchak's story is quashed by Col. Shaw and the script ends with the following dialogue:
KOLCHAK CAMERA MOVES IN CLOSE on him. He looks directly at us.
KOLCHAK Good question. We'll ask Dr. Miles Binnell when we see
him. ABC contracted the Night Stalker series for 26 scripts; only twenty were actually produced. If you think that is a sin, read the following excerpts from several unproduced Night Stalker scripts and see if you don’t have second thoughts. NIGHT STALKER - Unproduced Script #1 "Eve of Terror" Written by: Stephen Lord (Draft of March 7th also listed Michael Kozollas an author.) Night Stalker Production # 41837 What follows are two drafts of scripts, dated March 3 and March 7, 1975 "What if I told you that a deranged feminist murdered a Casanova lab technician, a sex goddess, and her purveyor?" Carl Kolchak asks a character in this script. His question pretty much sums up the plot of this degrading, embarrassing attempt at "handling" the Women’s Liberation question of the mid 1970’s. Dr. Myra Deckbar is accidentally exposed to sonic stimulation and her Jeckle-Hyde/"alter-ego" monster goes on a rampage, killing her assistant. Kolchak investigates until taken off the case and ordered to cover the arrival of "America’s Number One Sex Kitten." Fortunately for the plot, she, too, is killed and there just happens to be a connection! Carl, seeing a female form escape from the scene, comments, "Whoever it was wore high heel pumps. Maybe it’s some freak in drag." The answer, of course, is that it’s the Mad Almost-A-Feminist, Myra Deckbar, who eventually ends up dead after falling off an apartment building. These are substantial differences between the two drafts of this script, the most obvious (and tell-tale?) being that the name "Carl" – as in CARL KOLCHAK – was consistently misspelled as "Karl" in the March 3rd draft. His dialogue was also listed under the character name KOJAK for one scene. Pretty sad when a studio script has the name of the main character wrong. The other outstanding (?) aspect of this script is the striking similarity between the character of the police lieutenant, named Hurlow, and that of the character played by Keenan Wynn (Captain Siska), from "The Spanish Moss Murders" (written by Al Friedman and David Chase). Compare some of this scene: HURLOW Hold it, Kolchak. Kolchak halts, braces himself for Hurlow’s onslaught but surprisingly, the cop retains his cool, speaks politely. I promised myself faithfully I’d let nothing or nobody bug me again.
Smart, Lieutenant, smart. One can sense the immense struggle within Hurlow as he battles to control his emotions. HURLOW (still politely)Now Karl…keep your ear…your nose… and your big asset out of this one. (almost sweetly) Please?
KOLCHAK
HURLOW Kolchak starts to go then turns.
KOLCHAK HURLOW (about to explode)How did you --!! KOLCHAK (backing away)You promised yourself faithfully, Lieutenant…remember? Then Kolchak spins around and hurries out. March 3rd Draft – page 2 Myra studies her notes; as she instructs Wayne top set the various instruments he complies:
MYRA superimpose sinusoidal frequency of 5,276 hertz at 99dB. WAYNE (sardonically)That ought to scramble their little brains. MYRA (smiles)See? Even we have behavioral patterns. The more tired you get, the more pessimistic. How about a cup of coffee to sweeten your outlook?
WAYNE (returns smile) Myra goes out. March 7th Draft – pages 1-2 INT. LAB – NIGHT
MYRA
WAYNE Myra, still smiling, notices Wayne’s expression… a wry grin. They’ve had this conversation before.
MYRA WAYNE (resetting controls; smiles)Who knows anymore? The whole world is cockeyed. Amy Vanderbilt is gone. People have turned against the automobile. And guys like me are taking orders from women. MYRA (teasing)Can the end be far off? (beat) To show you my heart’s in the right place, I’ll get you a cup of coffee.
WAYNE Myra smiles, shaking her head as she goes. Wayne appreciatively watches her legs and her walk as she goes, smiling to himself.
WAYNE March 3rd Draft – pages 12-14 INS. OFFICE – DAY
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO spectro-gizmo and killed the technician, now that’s it, period!
KOLCHAK gun, even a blunt instrument? The victim was slammed around like a bean-bag and bitten! What about that? The teeth marks?!
VINCENZO gorillas and one got out of hand.
KOLCHAK vicious can a bunny get?
VINCENZO kid. A pretty blue one at that!
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO KOLCHAK (heeling)Look, Tony, let me button down this Dr. Deckbar and --- VINCENZO (turns)Negative, Karl. I’ve already put Updyke on that story.
KOLCHAK the lieutenant are old drinking buddies!
VINCENZO KOLCHAK (accusing)He called you! Told you to take me off the story! VINCENZO (topping him)He’s a nice guy who’s walking around with an earthquake brewing in his gut and you’re a8.6 on the Richter Scale!!
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK VINCENZO (grimaces)You must have a hormone deficiency. That broad triggers hot flashes from every male over the age of puberty.
KOLCHAK VINCENZO (firmly)No, Karl, this Veronica Mason thing! Now get over to the hotel and do your blood pressure a favor! Kolchak is about to try a final protest but:
VINCENZO Reluctantly, Kolchak starts to go.
VINCENZO March 7th Draft – pages 15-17 INT. VINCENZO’S OFFICE – KOLCHAK – DAY
KOLCHAK My stringers don’t see him as a mob or loan shark hit. He was a straightarrow. Widen to include Vincenzo at his desk, sleepy, disgruntled, his hand on his elbow…almost dozing, hardly listening.
KOLCHAK committing a robbery, they may shoot somebody, stab somebody…but hang around pounding on somebody? Wasting time ? Making noise? VINCENZO (yawns; cranky)There’s a first time for everything. It’s a simple robbery-homicide. I like what you wrote and… well, if there’s any mopping up to do on the story, Ron’l l handle it.
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK Charlie Hurlow called didn’t he? Asked you to take me off it?
VINCENZO (disgusted) Turns out we both go to the same gastrointestinal specialist. For ulcers. (beat) Charlie’s got all my sympathy. He’s walking around with an earthquake brewing in his gut. And you’re an 8.6 on the Richter Scale.
KOLCHAK VINCENZO (with finality)I don’t want any more argument about it, Carl. I want you down at the Walton Hotel at four, covering the arrival of Veronica Mason.
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO stories that sell make Vincenzo happy. (beat) Ergo, we have only two possible deductions: A:: The Veronica Mason arrival is your kind of story. Or B, you don't have a job. again and grumbles testily) What’s the matter with you today, anyhow? VINCENZO KOLCHAK VINCENZO KOLCHAK VINCENZO He’s drowned out as the El goes roaring by, jarring everything. VINCENZO (yelling above it)See what I mean? We’re defenseless! bombarded by noise! Noise of all kinds! The El is gone but he’s still yelling. He lowers his voice.
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK is on us?
VINCENZO
KOLCHAK VINCENZO (grunts)There’s a story in sexy girls. Quit stalling and get down to the Walton Hotel. Try for an interview. There’s a lot of work to be done.
KOLCHAK VINCENZO (gets up; crosses to couch)But you’re in my office. And I want to take a nap. KOLCHAK (exiting)I’ll come in when it’s time for your three o’clock feeding. March 3rd Draft – page 28
KOLCHAK VINCENZO (interrupting)Carl, why don’t you get an unlisted mouth? (starts away)
KOLCHAK
VINCENZO something to soak up your nervous energy. Why don’t you get yourself a girl?
KOLCHAK but who cares about those bald-headed broads? (unappreciative) Hysterical. You’re a barrel of laughs, Carl. But get yourself busted again and before I make your bail they’ll be giving away free dishes at gas stations! Vincenzo slams into his office. March 7th Draft – pages 48-49
KOLCHAK technician, a sex goddess, and her purveyor?
PAMELA
KOLCHAK splinter group…. Pamela is shaking her head.
KOLCHAK
PAMELA most primitive manifestation of male irrationality. Violence flourishes where reason fails.
KOLCHAK
PAMELA when ‘wrong’ means ‘violence,’ it usually comes from repressing one’s feelings doesn’t it? (beat) But what makes you so sure it was a woman? Are you repressing hostility? Is it your wife, your girlfriend…? Kolchak eyes the door, measuring for quick escape.
KOLCHAK
PAMELA to their true potentials? Kolchak edges off his chair.
PAMELA house…. Kolchak hurries across the room, smiles and eases out the door. PAMELA (realizing what she’s said)…as it were. Ending narration, March 3rd draft: INT. INS OFFICE – NIGHT Angling on Kolchak as he concludes recording, the curvaceous pair of legs still crossed at the edge of his desk (belonging to the character of Gwenneth, a neighbor of Myra Deckbar, who also happened to be man-crazy).
KOLCHAK murders remained unsolved. But I turned over my story together with the Deckbar tapes to the Research Center…and today in that same acoustics lab another behavioral scientist is conducting top secret research into sonic stimulation… maybe trying to discover what vibes turn him on – and hopefully…off. As for me…. Angle widens to include Gwynneth sitting on the desk in her revealing mini skirt.
KOLCHAK He rises and takes her hand and they start out as we: FADE OUT March 7th Draft of the ending: INT. INS OFFICE – NIGHT
KOLCHAK superhuman killer – so the murders remain unsolved. However, I was forced to turn over my story together with the Deckbar tapes to the Research Center…and today in that same acoustics lab another behavioral scientist is conducting top secret research into sonic stimulation…maybe trying to discover what vibes turn him on – and hopefully…off. As for me, I’ve begun to think about noise…. Kolchak winces fatalistically against the shattering roar of a passing El. THE END *************************************************************** "The Get of Belial" Production # 41823 January 3, 1975 (F.R.)PRODUCER: Cy Chermak Written by: Donn MullallyThis is another sterling example of why there were benefits to being behind schedule and thus unable to film the full complement of twenty-six scripts. It also provides another example of how weak, ineffectual writing and uninspired plots destroyed the series. The script has our hero, Carl Kolchak, in the mountains of West Virginia, covering a coal miners strike. (Presumably the local INS office reporters had all been in a car accident, a la ""The Vampire," although in this script, no explanation is attempted.) FADE IN: EXT. WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAIN COUNTRY – DAY – FULL SHOT – STOCK EXT. ASSOCIATED ANTHRACITE BUILDING – DAY – FULL SHOT ANOTHER ANGLE
PICKET ball game. Money!
KOLCHAK
PICKET He uses his picket sign to indicate the building.
PICKET he hold out?
KOLCHAK PICKET (returning to line)Yeah…that s.o.b. (Mysterious murders, where the victim is horribly mauled to death, begin to happen soon after an "American Gothic" (read: hillbilly) family arrives in town. Finding the death of a mine executive more interesting than covering the labor dispute, Carl discovers the Blackshear family has a terrible secret: they’re keeping an idiot son/brother hidden in the basement of an abandoned schoolhouse. Every time the "monster" escapes, another murder happens. When he finally confronts the Blackshear family, the following dialogue explains the plot:) Carl is bashed in the head by the monster several times, the local authorities don’t believe him and he debriefs the details, over the phone, to Ron Updyke, commenting, "Write anything you want to, Uptight…just don’t make it sound like it belongs on the financial page." INT. MINE – NIGHT – MED. ANGLE
RICHARD HENRY (cold-eyed)What’re you doing here?
KOLCHAK
RICHARD KOLCHAK (looks around)But you’re not all present. Where’s the one you usually keep in a cage? The Blackshears exchange looks.
HENRY
KOLCHAK SARAH (a sigh)Sonny…our youngest boy.
HENRY
SARAH There is a silent tug-of-war of wills.
KOLCHAK
HENRY
KOLCHAK he got away. ANOTHER ANGLE SARAH (nods)Because of me…my call to do the Lord’s work. It was Belial’s way of tempting me.
KOLCHAK Henry has given up…slumps against the mine wall, as:
SARAH healing the sick, as my God commanded.
KOLCHAK
RICHARD Scared the hell out of us!
KOLCHAK
RICHARD Salvation kick. Kolchak studies the Blackshears…has to believe what he has heard. Their steady gaze. He nods.
KOLCHAK (to Sarah) SARAH (shakes her head)Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. I had to believe that God was stronger than the Devil. (With cops closing in on them, the family tries to escape through the mineshaft. Carl attempts to follow, falls through some rotting boards, falls into a pit and is attacked - again - by the creature. As they struggle, the creature falls down another shaft, turning into the corpse of a beautiful young man as he dies. Of course, there goes Carl’s story about Belial and the Creature. As Carl is climbing out of the mine pit, the labor strike is settled and every wire service in the country scoops INS.) Another happy ending, as in, "all’s well that ends well." ****************************** The Executioners By: Max Hodge (No Production Number; no date) The best of the three unproduced Night Stalker scripts, "The Executioners" needed more than a little editing to make it acceptable. The script deals with murders, which always occur in threes: one by hanging, a second by poisoning and a third by beheading. Finding himself off the spectacular investigation because Tony wanted to cover the story himself (Carl jealously smelling "the faint aroma of a Pulitzer Prize in the air"), he is given his choice of assignments: Obits, art or ballet. Carl chooses art, and as luck would have it, he just happens to discover a painting at the Arty Museum depicting three executioners – a hangman, an ax executioner and a monk-like individual with a large vial of poison. Fortunately, he has brought along an "art expert" to explain the background of the "unknown." and make a guess as to the painting’s origins. INT. POP ART INSTITUTE – DAY A FEMALE NUDE MODEL with a noose around her neck is posing in a stretched position as though she were being hanged. A DOZEN ARE STUDENTS are sketching as the INSTRUCTOR moves along them, criticizing their work. KOLCHAK Enters, pauses to glance appreciatively at the model, then makes his way to the young, attractive BEATRICE MAE JESSEE who eyes her painting, compares it with the model, then makes a few strokes with her paint brush. Kolchak watches this silently for a moment, Beatrice seemingly unaware of his presence in her preoccupation with the painting. Finally:BEATRICE Honest opinion, Kolchak…? KOLCHAK (studying painting)Honest…? BEATRICE Lie a little… (as Kolchak hesitates) A lot…!INSERT: PAINTING OF HANGING NUDE Non-realistic – angular – and bad. BACK TO SCENE KOLCHAK Well…? BEATRICE Shows promise…? That’s safe. Hell – you can lie that much, Kolchak.KOLCHAK What’s the scene? Why a hanging nude? BEATRICE Professor Swanson said to paint something relevant to the times – and what’s more relevant? (indicating painting) Can’t you see I’m trying to get my intermost (sic) fears and anxieties concerning recent atrocities on canvas. Does it give you a horrible feeling?KOLCHAK Horrible – yes… (as Beatrice gives him a withering look) I see how you feel. (pointing to painting) Frightened! Afraid you might be the next victim. It says it all there!BEATRICE It does? (a critical eye – pleased) It does…! (beat) What it doesn’t tell me is – what the hell’re you doing here? In broad daylight – If you’ll pardon my male chauvinistic expression.KOLCHAK I – ah – need an expert’s opinion. (indicating painting) Obviously – I’ve found the expert.She gives him a skeptical look. He smiles reassuringly. She shrugs – smiles – starts cleaning her brushes as he again glances appreciatively towards the nude model….. (Subsequent investigation - and any number of deaths later - Carl pinpoints the cause of the trouble to the Art Museum director, who just happened to be the owner of the executioner painting. The painting had been in his family for generations; whenever displayed, a series of murders always took place. Carl suspects the director is actually the murderer, but when he is poisoned, the real truth is revealed: the executioners in the painting come to life, commit their murders, then return to the safety of their oil-and-canvas home. Carl destroys the painting after nearly becoming a hanging victim himself.) EXT. INS BUILDING – DAY BEATRICE MAE JESSEE carrying a wrapped painting, enters. KOLCHAK’S VOICE Things are back to normal once more. The woman who almost got hacked up by the ax executioner now things it may have been a nightmare – that it wasn’t real at all.INT. INS OFFICE – DAY BEATRICE enters the office and goes to Kolchak’s desk where Kolchak is typing. She starts unwrapping the painting. KOLCHAK’S VOICE I didn’t dispute her theory. How could I prove it actually happened. Who’d believe a painting could come to life?Beatrice holds up the painting for Kolchak’s inspection. It’s the NUDE BASEBALL PLAYER. Kolchak shakes his head. BEATRICE You can hang him over your bed. KOLCHAK I don’t want him over my bed! Suppose – in the middle of the night – he’d decide to crack me with his bat?BEATRICE That is stupid, Carl Kolchak. Stupid, stupid, stupid…!KOLCHAK I know, but just to be on the safe side – how about trading the ball player for your NUDE in the NOOSE broad? Her I wouldn’t mind if she climbed out of her frame….Beatrice shakes her head, starts rewrapping the painting. Kolchak grins, shrugs….. FADE OUT THE END***************************************************************
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