Eileen Heckart

The story opens in the drunk tank of a small town jail. Marine Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway is sharing stories about his combat service with the other prisoners. At one point, he's interrupted by another prisoner who mocks Highway's military rank. Highway immediately beats the man, easily disarming him after he pulls a knife on the sergeant. The next day in court, Highway is given one last chance by the judge after being charged with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. That doesn't sit well with the cop whose squad car Highway urinated on. He insults Highway, telling him his heroics are old news and that he doesn't give any serviceman discounts. Highway counters with an insult of his own and leaves. Highway returns to his base where he works in supply. He roughly turns down a bribe from another officer who offers him a supply of Cuban cigars. Highway reports to his commanding officer, who tells him he's being transferred to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where he'll be training unmotivated marines. Highway takes the bus to Camp Lejeune, meeting a young man, Stitch Jones, a budding rock guitarist who had just been kicked out of the club he was performing in for starting a fight with a group of locals. Jones is an instant irritation to Highway with constant chatter while Highway tries to get some sleep. When the bus stops at a roadside diner, Jones waits until Highway goes into the men's room and steals his bus ticket. The bus leaves before Highway can catch up with it and Jones. Highway arrives at Camp Lejeune and reports to his commanding officer. Before meeting with the man, Highway catches up with and old friend, Sgt Major Choozoo. Highway's & Choozoo's new CO, Major Malcolm Powers, used to work in Supply and was a big football hero at Annapolis. He is even stricter than Highway and immediately assumes that Highway, who has a history of conflict with superiors, will be trouble. Highway's past also includes an incident where he struck an officer who was classmate of Powers at Annapolis Academy. Powers assigns Highway to the battalion's "recon" (reconnaissance) platoon, one where the men are unmotivated, slightly out of physical shape, and have already gone through several sergeants who failed to get them up to the battalion's expectations. Making matters worse, Highway is saddled with Lieutenant Ring, a milquetoast officer who lacks the necessary stern nature of a platoon leader. Highway leaves the meeting and meets the recon platoon, finding them just as lazy as Powers said they would be. At first, the men are scornful of Highway and pay him little attention. Highway destroys their boom box and suggests they have one last night of freedom before he begins his regimen of training the next day. Just then, Stitch Jones walks into the rec room and is instantly recognized by Highway. Highway drags Jones by the ear to his bunk to pay him for the bus ticket he stole. When Jones' claims he's unable to pay back some money he also stole from Highway, Highway rips out Jones' earring, telling the men to be ready by six AM for training. After Highway leaves, the men conspire to have their biggest unit member, Swede Johanson, currently serving time in the brig, to take care of Highway when he's released. Highway goes to the local bar and apartment house, meeting Little Mary Jackson, the wife of one of Highway's old combat buddies who was killed in Vietnam. She rents him a room and tells him that his former wife, Aggie, is working at a local bar popular with younger Marines. Highway goes there and finds Aggie, who is also seeing the bar's owner, Roy Jennings, a hulking man who hates Marines. While Highway tries to patch things up with Aggie, Stitch Jones performs live. He's heckled by a small group of Marines at one of the tables. Jones fires back easily at his hecklers. A fight nearly breaks out and despite Jones' own defusing of the other Marines, Jennings moves in, shoving the Marines around even after they've calmed down. Highway steps in threateningly, but Jones and Aggie talk the two men out of fighting each other. Jennings throws Highway and Jones out of the bar. The next morning, Highway wakes the recon platoon at five AM instead of six. When they complain, he tells them they need to adapt to any situation. He lines them up for physical training (PT) and orders them to take off their mismatched t-shirts, saying they'll all wear the same or none at all. The platoon begrudgingly complies and Highway orders them to run for the day. The next day, he orders the t-shirts off again, even though they were wearing the same ones. (HIGHWAY: "Same as me?") While doing PT, Highway surprises them by shooting at them with an AK-47 assault rifle and live ammunition, announcing that it's the "preferred" weapon of their enemy & makes a "distinctive sound" when fired. When not training his Marines, Highway studies up on women's magazines, trying to understand how they think. He also keeps an eye on Aggie, who gets escorted home every night from the bar by Roy. One morning, the platoon refuses to muster, several of them mouthing off and Jones introducing Highway to Swede Johanson. Swede tries to hit Highway, who dodges and blocks the bigger man's blow, forcing him to his knees. Highway hits Swede once on the jaw, knocking him to the deck. The rest of the platoon, their plan foiled, runs out for muster. Swede regains his composure & tells Highway he'll wait for the MPs outside. Highway, knowing that his comrades were using Swede, tells him to join his platoon for PT, willing to forget the incident if Swede shapes up. Other little hints begin to form about Highway caring for his men. When Profile accidentally discharges his rifle at the target range and almost hits Major Powers, Highway stays with him while Powers makes him run circles around his marching platoon back to the barracks. Profile soon collapses from exhaustion. Highway says something quietly to his man and Profile suddenly gives a loud war cry and takes up his run again. When Powers asks Highway what he said to Profile, Highway growls "I told him 'Don't give the prick the satisfaction, Sir.' " Major Powers arranges a combat exercise involving his own pet project, 1st Platoon, and wants Recon to act as a target to sharpen his unit's skills. Highway goes off book and executes a mock ambush. Powers is ready to arrest him for insubordination, but Lt. Ring, feeling guilty about putting Highway in that position in the first place, takes responsibility for it, saying he'd given Highway permission to freelance the platoon. Before Highway leaves Powers' office, he asserts that if recon went into combat improperly trained, at least half of them would die. Powers threatens to discharge Highway if he screws up again, saying it's in Highway's nature to do so. As Highway leaves, he meets Ring outside who apologizes for the incident. Highway acknowledges Ring's position and his willingness to accept responsibility for the incident. A slightly depressed Highway is met later at Little Mary's place by Choozoo. He laments about how restrictive and incompetent Powers is being and that he'd never lead his men into combat if they're not properly trained. Choozoo tells Highway about a conversation he'd had with Powers recently where Powers told him that marines like them are "0-1-1"; no wins in combat, 1 tie (Korea) and one loss (Vietnam)". The thought seems to depress Highway even more. Just then, Little Mary walks in and informs them that they have to report back for unit deployment. At the base, Highway's platoon is frantic, trying to ready their gear and get out to the parade ground for muster. Jones stammers about the missing Aponte (whose prior absence his mates had been covering up), whom he fears will be charged AWOL. At the muster site, Highway asks Powers to issue Ring a set of night-vision goggles. Powers, already going through his strict routine of supplying the battalion with ammo and other equipment, tells Highway he'll have to fill out a request form for the item. Highway is taken aback and tells the battalion chief so when he reports. Just then the announcement comes through that the deployment was a readiness exercise and the base is standing down. Powers is disappointed. Highway finds Jones in the rec room and demands to know where he can find Aponte. After a harsh retort from Jones, Jones takes him to Aponte's house off the base. Aponte tells Highway that what his salary from the Corps isn't enough to support his wife and kids so he took a part-time job. Highway is exasperated but shows he genuinely understands when he agrees to cover for Aponte and gives him a small amount of money to help out. As they leave, Highway tells Jones never to pull another stunt like that again and drives off, leaving Jones to walk back to the base. Highway goes to visit Aggie and tries to talk to her, asking her what he could have done to fix their marriage. She said he was Marine through and through and had a hard time changing. She even accused him of trying to get back in with her by changing up his tactics, throwing him out of her house. A pissed-off Highway gets drunk and ends up in jail, joined by Jones, who got arrested when he protested a fixed band contest at a local bar. Aggie and Choozoo come to bail Highway out, and Aggie reads him the riot act about how hard it was for her to be married to him while he was fighting in Vietnam and not knowing if he would come home alive when so many others didn't. All of her anger came out, and she hits Highway, but she apologizes and breaks down crying in his arms. He holds on to her and comforts her. Back in the bar, Choozoo tells Jones about the history of the place and the Marines who are honored there, mostly in the photographs covering the walls. He also tells Jones about his and Highway's combat experiences in both Korea and Vietnam. One of their guys, Sonny Jackson (Little Mary's husband), was killed at Khe Sanh in 1968. Their combat in Korea was particularly rough, with their entire platoon being wiped out except for Choozoo, Jackson and Highway. Highway himself took out two enemy emplacements, despite extreme exhaustion. Much to Jones' astonishment, Highway won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his efforts. Little Mary offers to make them something to eat and Jones sees that Mary is holding a stack of Highway's t-shirts. When he asks her about them, she tells him she puts out his clothes for him in the morning before he leaves for the base. Jones smiles widely, knowing he's got an upper hand. The next morning when Highway meets his platoon, they're all wearing the same shirt he is, suggesting Jones only had to place a quick phone call to Mary. Highway smiles slightly, impressed with their ability to adapt. Highway leads his now well-motivated Marines into a competition against 1st Platoon, parachuting to a designated target, the Marine Bear Pit, to earn a 72-hour liberty. He even gets Swede, who is afraid of heights, to skydive by admitting he was afraid of heights, too. Recon and 1st Platoon get there at the same time, and despite Powers' insistence Choozoo make 1st Platoon the winner, Choozoo goes to a tiebreaker called a "Matchup". Both units get in the Bear Pit and fight each other hand-to-hand to claim victory. The battle eventually comes down to Jones and two of 1st Platoon's men. They seemingly get Jones under control and haul him out of the Bear Pit until Jones viciously grabs their crotches hard and pulls them out instead. Powers claims that 1st Platoon won only because Jones cheated. Highway says Jones improvised, adapted and overcame. When Powers orders Choozoo to declare 1st Platoon the victor, Choozoo decides to let Highway and Powers battle. Despite his bragging that he'll defeat Highway, Powers is defeated by Highway and hauled out, clinching recon's victory. Powers sends Sgt. Webster, 1st Platoon's sergeant, known for kissing up to Powers, to get statements from Recon that Highway used live ammunition on the training exercises, even bribing them with weekend liberty. Recon refuses to inform on Highway, having found new respect for their their own commander. Aggie finds Highway at a Commanding Officer's party and they enjoy a nice dance. Highway admits to reading the magazines and is trying to understand how women think, hoping he could reconcile with Aggie. However, Aggie tells him Roy asked her to marry him. Before Highway finds out her answer, his unit is immediately activated for mobilization for the 1983 invasion of Grenada. On the hangar bay of the USS Belleau Wood, Ring briefs the men of their mission: to helicast on the western side of the island of Grenada and recon in advance of the battalion landing team. Their ultimate goal is to rescue American students of St Georges Medical University who are being held hostage. Despite their nervousness about seeing real combat, Recon boards a UH-1 Huey and drops into the water and swims ashore. While advancing inland they make hostile contact with forward patrols and machine gun fighting positions of enemy soldiers and come under heavy fire. While his men keep the attention of the enemy focused on them, Highway moves in behind and kills the soldiers who try to retreat into the jungle. He looks one of them over, finding a fine cigar and announces they're a small Cuban recon team. He gruffly tells his men to spread out and keep a close watch for more of the enemy. Highway's unit moves in on a lightly-guarded bridge. They come under fire again and Highway orders them to improvise: Jones hot wires a bulldozer to provide cover so they can advance on and destroy an enemy machine gun nest. They take out the nest on the far side of the bridge and take down the Cuban flag flying above it. One of their number asks for forgiveness from a soldier he killed, his first such kill in combat. The recon unit moves towards the university as ordered and secure the area, rescuing the captured students. In a humorous incident, the jumpy Fragetti is surprised by a skeleton in a medical lab and shoots the place up. Highway finds him and tells him he's improved his rifle skills. After linking up with Powers, Highway, Ring, and the platoon are then ordered on another recon mission: investigate a hill where air support spotted an enemy arsenal. They are also given strict orders by Powers not to take the hill until he and 1st Platoon arrive. En route, they're caught under fire, Ring and the platoon make the mistake of trapping themselves in a structure rather than staying out of sight. A blast from a HRAKM armored tank knocks out their radio and kills Profile. Ring is beside himself for leading the men into a trap and getting Profile killed, but Highway gets him to refocus. Ring finds a telephone they could use to order an air strike by calling Camp Lejeune long-distance, but Jones has to go on the roof to find where the line is cut, successfully reconnecting the line and letting Ring use one of Jones' credit cards to pay for the call to Camp Lejeune. Ring gives their coordinates successfully but the line suddenly goes dead. Saying they'll have to improvise, Highway goes out to light a smoke marker to tell their position, and comes under fire, seemingly taking a grenade hit. The men look to Ring to lead, which he does by leading them out to get the unconscious Highway. The air strike comes through, the enemy is routed and Highway is actually uninjured and ready to resume command. Buoyed by their success, the men look to Ring for their next order. Ring rouses them, shouting that they'll take the hill. They make their way to the rebel position, destroy it, and capture the men inside while Highway enjoys the cigar he'd taken earlier, proud to see his men become real Marines. When Powers arrives and finds out, he bawls both Highway and Ring out and threatens Highway with a court-martial, even ready to assault Highway himself, but Highway remains defiant, pointedly telling Powers that he bores him. Their commanding officer, Colonel Meyers, arrives with Choozoo, and Powers reports that Ring and Highway disobeyed direct orders. Meyers asks where Powers came from and Powers said he came from Supply and was good at it. Meyers then tells Powers to stick with Supply since Highway and Ring, despite disobeying orders, took the initiative & came out the victors, completing a difficult mission under harsh circumstances. Proud of how his unit did with the mission, he gruffly tells Highway and Choozoo to leave the area and see to the cleanup operation. As they walk away, Highway tells Choozoo that they're not "0-1-1" anymore since they've chalked up a victory in combat. Highway and his men return to the U.S. and are met by a warm reception. Aggie is there to welcome him back, too. To Highway's mock dismay, Stitch informs him that he is going to give up his music and make a career for himself in the Marines, while Highway takes his mandatory retirement. All of the Marines are celebrating with friends and family as Highway and Aggie walk off into the distance of airplane hangars.

A blind man moves into his own apartment against the wishes of his overprotective mother and befriends the freethinking young woman next door. All Don Baker wants is a place of his own away from his over-protective mother. Don's been blind since birth, but that doesn't stop him from setting up in a San Francisco apartment and making the acquaintance of his off-the-wall, liberated, actress neighbor Jill. Don learns the kind of things from Jill that his mother would never have taught him! And Jill learns from Don what growing up and being free is really all about. —A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net> Blind since birth, Don Baker grew up in an upper middle class household in Hillsborough, just outside of San Francisco. With the assistance of his first real girlfriend, Linda Fletcher, who was the first person ever to give him a real sense of self-confidence, young adult Don moves to San Francisco to live on his own. On an agreement with his controlling and judgmental widowed mother Florence, Don's new living arrangement is on a two month trial basis with Florence not to visit Don within that time period. Florence thinks that Don's trial is doomed for failure. One month into the trial, Linda is no longer in Don's life. But free spirited nineteen year old Jill Tanner moves into the apartment next door to Don. The two have an instant rapport, so much so that they decide to unlock the door that joins their two apartments together. Previously married for six days when she was sixteen, Jill admits that she is not a commitment type of person, and the two decide just to have fun together. Their relationship however seems to be moving into one that is more committed. Coinciding with Don's new friendship is Florence's visit to her son, the visit against their agreement. Above the trial itself, Florence now has Don's apartment, its neighborhood and Jill to complain about, the latter in particular which Florence has issue. However, Jill, Don and Florence's view of their collective lives may change after a private discussion between Jill and Florence. —Huggo

New York City, 1968: A priest walks briskly up the sidewalk, whistling an odd little tune. He turns in at the entrance of a comfortable old apartment building, and heads up the stairs. Kate Palmer (Lee Remick) is coming down the stairs. "Top of the morning to you, young lady," he says, in a lilting Irish accent, and she replies, "Hello, Father," as they pass each other. The priest stops in front of Apartment 2B, and knocks. Alma Mulloy (Martine Bartlett) answers, a plump, middle-aged lady in a house dress and hair curlers. The priest introduces himself as Father McDowell, and she lets him in. After exchanging a few pleasantries, she tells him apologetically that if he's there about the church, she's no longer a Catholic...she lost her faith after her husband died. He acknowledges that most of us suffer in this vale of tears, and launches into a rambling discourse about his sainted mother, and what a beautiful, voluptuous woman she was. "But she had a delicate spot on her body," he says, "just there," and he touches Mrs. Mulloy on the ribs, and she giggles and squirms. He touches the spot again, and again she giggles and squirms. He swiftly moves around in back of the chair where she's sitting, and begins tickling her vigorously with both hands, until she is screaming and writhing with laughter. Suddenly his hands close around her throat, and he laughs like a hyena while he strangles the life out of her. When he is done, he kisses her on the forehead, and murmurs softly, "So, now, Mama, you rest in peace." He drags her body into the bathroom and seats her on the toilet. He finds a tube of lipstick and carefully paints a set of full, red, "Cupid's Bow" lips on her forehead. He stands in the doorway of the bathroom for a last look at his handiwork, blows poor Mrs. Mulloy a kiss and leaves. Morris Brummel (George Segal) is getting dressed in the apartment he shares with his mother. Mrs. Brummel is nagging him about his eating habits, his appearance, his profession (cop). She compares him to his older brother: married, three children, a doctor, making a thousand dollars a day...and all she gets from Morris is heartbreak. Morris, clearly accustomed to this, offers only token resistance. The phone rings, and he answers: his boss, Lieutenant Dawson (David Doyle), is calling to tell him that one of the other detectives has fallen ill, and Morris has been assigned to the Mulloy homicide in his place. Christopher Gill (Rod Steiger) comes downstairs to breakfast, a well-to-do, middle-aged bachelor, living a quiet, orderly life. Nevertheless, we see he is the man who strangled Mrs. Mulloy the previous day. He sits down at his dining room table, and his quiet, efficient housekeeper, Mrs. Fitts (Irene Daily), brings him his morning newspaper. He finds what he's looking for near the end of the second section, but it doesn't make him happy. He calls the newspaper to complain about the placement and brevity of the paragraph announcing the murder of Mrs. Mulloy. An assistant editor replies that it was probably due to the fact that they were racing a deadline. "May I ask who's calling?" he says. Gill hangs up. "No, you may not," he mutters. Morris arrives at Mrs. Mulloy's apartment, swarming with police, technicians and reporters. He finds the super and asks which tenant saw the priest at Mrs. Mulloy's door. He replies, "3E, directly above." As they head upstairs, a reporter asks Morris if he can get a quote. Morris tells him no, unless he wants to print that the murder was well-planned and well-executed. Kate is slow to answer the door, and she is still half asleep...but undeniably lovely. Morris asks if she can describe the priest. "If you've seen one, you've seen them all," she replies. He asks if he had any distinguishing features. "You mean, like a big nose? I can't remember. But you've got kind of a sweet-looking nose, there, yourself," she adds flirtatiously. Then she realizes that she's barely dressed in a rather revealing nightgown. She tells him she's going back to bed, and he should come back later. "I meant that about your nose," she says, with a little smile, as she stretches out on her bed. Morris leaves, but pauses in the hall just outside her door...to feel his nose. Later in the day, after Mrs. Brummel has seen the papers, she calls Morris: "I am sick at my heart when my own son goes looking at dead women's naked bodies. I tell you, Morris, it is no way to treat a lady." Mrs. Himmel (Ruth White), a plump, middle-aged German lady, has just fixed a tray for herself and settled down in front of her TV, when there's a knock at her door. She answers, and a gray-haired German plumber (Gill) tells her apologetically, "I have to pound on your water pipes." "Oh, no," says Mrs. Himmel, "Not on MY pipes...you go somewhere else." She starts to shut the door, but he interrupts, "What do you mean, go somewhere else? That's the trouble with the world. No one has any sympathy for anyone else, anymore. Well, I'll tell you something, it was a sad day when I left Frankfurt." He turns to leave. "Frankfurt!" Mrs. Himmel exclaims, "I'm from Frankfurt, too!" "Well, it's a small world," says the plumber, and turns back, smiling. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," she says, contritely, and lets him in. He heads for the kitchen, but stops when he sees the cake on her tray. "Baumkuchen!" he exclaims, "I haven't had baumkuchen since I left Frankfurt!" "Have a piece," she says, kindly. She asks if he'd like to look at some old photos of Frankfurt. He directs her to sit on the couch, so he can stand behind her and look over her shoulder. "Look, look, look!" he exclaims, pointing, "There's my friend, Fritz, right there...he's waving to you..." Mrs. Himmel looks closer, confused. "He's saying, 'Goodbye, Mrs. Himmel...auf wiedersehen'." He kisses her on the cheek. And in the next scene, poor Mrs. Himmel is seated on the toilet in her bathroom, with "Cupid's Bow" lips painted on her forehead. The plumber surveys his handiwork from the doorway. Morris is in the squad room, looking through fingerprint reports. Another detective, Monaghan (Val Bisoglio) asks what he's still doing here...it's past 10 p.m....asks why he doesn't get married. "You sound like my mother," says Morris. The phone rings and he answers. Gill introduces himself as Hans Schultz. "At least, that's who I am today," he says, "but last week I was Father Kevin McDowell." "What do you want?" asks Morris impatiently. "I just want to tell you," says Gill, slowly, "that I'm in Mrs. Himmel's apartment, and she is...quite dead." Momentarily stunned, Morris recovers quickly. He attracts Monaghan's attention, who quietly picks up his own phone and requests a trace. Morris sets out to keep Gill talking as long as he can. But Gill, lying on Mrs. Himmel's bed and enjoying himself immensely, lets Morris know that he's familiar with call tracing, and knows just how long he can stay on the line before they locate him. He tells Morris that he liked the quote in the newspaper, about Mrs. Mulloy's murder being well-planned and well-executed. He gives Morris Mrs. Himmel's address, so he can come and see that her murder is well up to his previous standard..."And I want you to put that in the newspaper," he adds. "In fact, I insist on it." And he hangs up. The police, the technicians, and the reporters all swarm over to Mrs. Himmel's apartment. Morris looks at Mrs. Himmel, and turns away, disgusted and discouraged. Next day, Gill is seated at his dining room table, humming his tune. Mrs. Fitts brings in his daily newspaper. This time, what he's looking for is splashed all over the second page, and he smiles as he reads it all. Kate Palmer has come to the precinct, to look at mug shots. Once again, she hasn't been much help..."Some people remember faces," she says, "with me, it's names." Morris offers to take her home, and they catch a bus at a nearby stop. She asks if he's a good detective; he replies modestly that he thinks so. And she teases him, saying she doubts it, since he'd insisted on her coming in even though she'd told him she wouldn't be any help. "You know what I think?" she says, impudently, "I think you just wanted to see me again." Morris starts to protest...she laughs and accuses him of fibbing. "Well," he finally admits, "I might have fibbed a little." They both smile. She looks around, and tells him this is their stop. They get off the bus, and as it pulls away, the camera shifts to the back of the bus, and we see that Gill is there, watching them through the rear window...in another disguise...on his way to another victim. The camera cuts back to Morris and Kate, walking along the street. "Why did you move?" he asks. "The ghost of Mrs. Mulloy finally got to me," she says. She remarks on what a fancy name he has. "What's your first name?" she asks. "Morris," he answers, sheepishly. She laughs..."I'll bet everyone calls you Moe". "They do," he admits, and they both laugh. They stop at the door of her apartment building, and he tells her goodbye. "Was there something you wanted to ask?" she prompts him. He hesitates, knowing he's not in this beautiful, elegant woman's league...then finally says, "I guess not." Then he blurts out, "Oh, well...maybe I could call you...say, Saturday night?" "Don't bother," she replies, poker-faced. "Huh?" he says, a bit confused. "Calling," she finishes with a smile. "I'll be ready at eight." He smiles, too, and walks on. She looks fondly after him, still chuckling over the name Moe Brummel. Gill walks up the hallway of another apartment building, dressed in a navy-blue jacket and yellow slacks, carrying a striped hat box. He pauses in front of a door and rings the bell. "Miss Belle Poppie?" he calls, in a lisping, effeminate voice. Inside the apartment, a middle-aged woman in a lace caftan (Barbara Baxley) gets up from her typewriter, and asks, "Who is it?" "It's Dorian Smith, dear," he replies, "I've brought your wig." Miss Poppie is puzzled. Dorian assures her she won a contest after signing a coupon at the drugstore. She opens the door about six inches, keeping it on the chain, and asks, "No strings?" "Absolutely none," he replies. "All right, I'll take it," she says, holding out her hand. "Oh, no," says Dorian. "I have to fit it for you...otherwise you'll look absolutely dreadful." She hesitates, but after making him promise he'll speak in a soft, low voice, so not to disturb her five cats, she lets him in. He directs her to sit on the couch, and takes a mirror off the wall so she can watch as he fits the wig. After some adjustment he asks, "Now...what do you think of that?" "I don't like it," she says. "Well, that's because I haven't finished," he tells her. "It needs to be fitted in here, and tucked in here, by your neck...you do have a lovely neck, don't you..." His facial expression hardens and his hands move into position...but just before they close on her throat the front door opens, and another middle-aged woman bustles into the room. "It's only me, Belle," she says, "and look what I brought for the babies!" She produces a new, deluxe scratching post. Belle admires it, then introduces the woman as her sister, Sylvia (Doris Roberts). Belle tells Sylvia that she's won a wig, and Mr. Smith is here to fit it for her. "Do you like it?" she asks Sylvia. "No," says Sylvia, bluntly. "But I guess if you won it, you won it." She looks at Dorian, and asks suspiciously, "and you're absolutely sure it's free?" He decides two Poppie sisters are more than he can handle. "Of course," he replies. "She gets the wig, and a custom fitting, and if she's still not happy with it, at the end of two months she'll get every penny of her money back." The two women begin to protest, with Belle saying, "That's dishonest!" He shouts, "Absolutely no one ever calls me dishonest!" He gathers up the wigs and the hatbox and storms over to the door. Sylvia calls him a homo. He pauses with his hand on the door knob, says, "Doesn't make you a bad person," and flounces out. Morris is at home, sitting at the table, reading crime scene reports and whistling softly. His mother brings in two plates, sets one down in front of him, and asks point blank, "So, who is this girl you're thinking about?" He tries to change the subject...asks if they didn't have kneidlach last night. "Loss of appetite...that's the first sign," she declares. He asks her to just lay off for once, and she says, "Temper...that's the second sign." She asks if the girl is Jewish and Morris admits he doesn't know. Mrs. Brummel is distraught at the idea of Morris dating a shiksa! They are wrangling back and forth when the phone rings...Morris answers. It's Gill, using his Dorian voice...he's calling from a wall phone just outside his latest victim's bathroom. "Oh, Morris," he says, "I've been a bad boy, again." At first Morris doesn't realize who he's talking to, and Gill blasts him for forgetting so soon. In his Dorian character, he is much more volatile, less controlled. He rambles about his brilliant characterizations, even giving Morris a sample of his "uncanny" W.C. Fields impersonation. Morris asks quietly if they can talk, one human being to another. "Oh, no," says Gill, with a shaky little laugh. "And I'm not going to tell you where I am this time, either...you'll have to figure it out for yourself." And he hangs up. They find the latest victim's apartment. A technician finds a few strands of long, blonde hair that don't match the victim...asks if there was a wig found in any of her stuff. They tell him no. "I don't know," complains Morris, "how can you figure with a pervert like this?" A lurking reporter asks Morris if he can quote him on that...Morris yells no, and has the uniformed officers escort him out. Back at the station, Morris calls Kate to cancel their date. The moment she hears his voice, she begins to talk excitedly about the dinner she's prepared...she watched that Julia Child woman, and has to admit it smells pretty great. Morris tells her, apologetically, that he can't make it, he has to work. Disappointed, annoyed, she says, "Oh, well...okay. Just a small, crummy dinner. It probably tastes rotten, anyway." "Maybe I could come over later," he suggests. "What for?" she retorts. "I don't know," he stammers, "I thought...maybe..." "Morris," she says, with finality, "I'm going to hang up now. Goodbye." "Goodbye," he murmurs, dejectedly. "Morris?" she says at the last moment, "Tonight you be careful, all right?" and then hangs up. Morris's face lights up..."Do you know what she said to me?" he asks Monaghan. "She said, 'Be careful.' Isn't that beautiful?" Gill is on his way to work, walking down the sidewalk with his briefcase, whistling his tune. He stops at a newsstand and buys a paper. He opens a wrought-iron gate, goes down the alley beyond, and enters the building...which turns out to be a theatre. He takes a private elevator to his office, takes the two wigs he was using as props out of his briefcase and puts them away. Then he opens his newspaper to read his latest notices...to be greeted by the headline, "Killer is a Sexual Pervert." Morris is at his desk, on the phone, with a tape recorder running and several detectives standing around listening. Gill is on the other end of the line, so angry he is almost in tears. "You had no right to call me a pervert, and you had no right to bring my mother into the story!" he screams as Hans Schultz. "My mother and I were famously close! And we LOVED each other! I want a retraction!" "I can't do that," says Morris. "I don't care," Gill screams, "I want a retraction printed, or you will suffer the consequences! I am NOT a pervert...and you will NOT dishonor my mother!" Morris, Monaghan, and Lieutenant Dawson are in the office of Inspector Haines (Murray Hamilton), listening to the tape of this conversation. The inspector asks Morris if he called the Strangler a sexual pervert. "Well, not for the record, sir," Morris replies. "Our own expert on Freud," says the inspector, wearily. "Brummel, I'm taking you off the case. In fact, I want you to stay home for a few days. You see, we can't print a retraction for your opinions, but maybe if we take you off the case, that will placate this madman." He continues, telling them he wants additional safety measures taken, to include dispatching officers to hotels and apartment houses that cater to women. "Tell them to stay inside," he says. "Tell them to keep their doors locked." A uniformed policeman, his back to the camera, is knocking on an apartment door. A middle-aged woman in a green suit and mustard-colored hat comes out of another door and walks by, glaring at him. A middle-aged lady in a bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head opens the door, and is startled to see him. "What have I done?" she asks. "You haven't done anything, ma'am," he says, in a familiar voice. "Officer Brummel, 19th Precinct...I'm just giving out some precautionary information to women who live alone. May I come in and explain?" "Oh, yes, please do," she says, smiling, and steps to one side to let him in. The camera switches to the officer's face: it is Gill. "Thank you, ma'am," he says, and walks in. Morris is at home, getting ready to go out, bantering back and forth with his mother. The phone rings, and Mrs. Brummel answers. Gill asks to speak with Morris, using a Cary Grant accent. "Morris," Mrs. Brummel whispers, "It's HIM!" Morris takes the phone from her, and says "Yeah?" " 'Ello, Morrie, 'ow are you?" says Gill. "Listen...I think it's terrible the way the police are treating you. You tell 'em I'm not going to talk to anyone else but you. You tell them to put you back on the case or I'm liable to be a very naughty boy again tonight." "Hey," says Morris, "Don't do that, come on!" "I've got the simply sensational idea of guarding that woman what said she saw me dressed up in a police uniform," says Gill. He recites a bad limerick about Morris and the Strangler, then says "Cheery-bye" and hangs up. Morris hurries down to the precinct, and tries to sneak a look at the Strangler file. Monaghan catches him at it. He persuades Monaghan to tell him the new witness's name, in spite of the trouble it could cause both of them. "Her name is Pearl Menzel," says Monaghan. "You probably won't find her, though. I think she left town as soon as she talked to the newspapers. Or else she's boozing it up in some gin mill." Morris arrives at one of the bars she is known to frequent, a rundown neighborhood dive, and asks the bartender (Val Avery) if he's seen Pearl Menzel. The bartender says no. "Are you positive?" asks Morris. "As positive as I am that you're a cop," says the bartender, evenly. Morris decides no help is forthcoming from this quarter, and leaves. Shortly afterward, Sadie comes in: a tall, plump "lady" wearing a sleeveless black sheath, stiletto heels, a '60's bubble hairdo, and lots of make-up. She sits at the bar and orders a double Pink Lady in a suspiciously deep voice. While the bartender is getting it, she turns around and tells a bad joke as a come-on to a couple of guys sitting at a table. They rebuff her, and she turns to the man sitting next to her, and recites a bad limerick about the Strangler. A middle-aged woman at the end of the bar who's been sniffling into a handkerchief begins to cry, loudly. "Knock it off," growls the bartender to Sadie. "Can't you see she's scared to death?" Sadie retorts, "Well, who isn't?" "Yeah, but she says she actually saw him," says the bartender. "Oh," says Sadie, chastened. She goes around the bar to the woman, to comfort her. She asks if the woman has anywhere to go. The woman sobs no. Sadie invites her to come home with her. "I just live across the street," she says, "He won't attack two of us together." The woman hesitates. "Come on," coaxes Sadie, "We'll watch TV, have a few drinks...we'll have a ball." The woman finally nods, and they walk out together, with Sadie supporting the smaller woman as she sobs into her handkerchief. Morris has been checking the bar next door...he sees the women come out and cross the street, and on a sudden hunch, he runs back down into the first bar, and asks the bartender who the hooker was. "What hooker?" asks the bartender, stolidly. "The hooker that just left here!" says Morris, exasperatedly. "How would I know?" retorts the bartender. Morris turns to a couple of apple-cheeked frat boys sitting at the bar, and says, "Say, are you two familiar with the legal age for drinking in this state?" "All right, all right," says the bartender. "She just moved into that brownstone across the street, basement apartment." Sadie settles the woman on her couch, still quietly crying. "You know what I think," Sadie says, "I think you should call the cops. You need to get yourself some protection." She lights a cigarette, and heads for the refrigerator. "I can't," sobs the woman. "Well, it's up to you and your own conscience," says Sadie, "but just remember, he's killed four women." "Five," sobs the woman. "Five?" repeats Sadie, surprised. "I didn't know it was five." "It is now," the other woman growls in a masculine voice. She sits up, and we see it's Gill. "Who was that woman with her...was it Pearl Menzel?" Morris asks. "No," says the bartender, "THAT'S Pearl Menzel," and points to a woman in a green suit with a mustard-colored hat at the other end of the bar. "Well, keep her here," says Morris, and runs out. He crosses the street, and runs down the stairs to Sadie's apartment. The door is open. He draws his gun and cautiously enters...the room is a wreck. He finds Sadie in the bathroom, sprawled on the toilet, a hasty "Cupid's Bow" smeared on her forehead. On the mirror above the sink, scrawled in red lipstick and underlined three times, are the words: "Reinstate Morris". They are back in Inspector Haines's office. "I want all press releases on this latest murder to include the fact that Detective Brummel has been put in charge of the case again," he says. "I'm doing this solely at the recommendation of our expert, Dr. Shaffer. But I want everyone here to know that I still consider Lieutenant Dawson to be in charge." Gill walks into Sardi's. He is greeted cordially by the maître d, and shown to his usual table. His waiter asks what he would like, and Gill replies he'd like something French. And he asks for a telephone. "May I 'ave Monsieur Brummel, s'il vous plait?" he says, a la Maurice Chevalier. "Maurice Dubois 'ere...'ow do you like my new accent? I am very 'appy that they...uh, 'ow you say...reinstate you. C'est bon, ca." "That's very good, very French." says Morris. He is surrounded by detectives again, and Lieutenant Dawson, and the tape is running. "How about a little more?" "Ah, no, no, no, mon ami," replies Gill, "because if I take too much time you trace the call. I just called to say I start my vacation, and I promise not to be a bad boy. I give you my word of honor. A tout à l'heure." "Hold on...Can't you wait just a second?" asks Morris. But Gill is gone. Kate is leading a tour at the Lincoln Center, where she works. She passes Morris, sitting on the edge of a planter box, without acknowledging him. He gets up and follows after the group. As she is talking about the Mark Chagall painting, he moves a little off to one side where only she can see him, and without any change in his expression, opens the right side of his suit jacket and shows her his gun in its holster...she starts to laugh, barely able to finish. She leads the tour group away, and Morris follows, apparently forgiven. They are both unaware that Gill is watching from across the plaza. They have lunch together, at an outdoor cafe. "So," she says, "you finally found out." He asks, "Found out what?" She replies, "That I'm the Strangler. How else can you spare me these few precious minutes? Oh, at first that was one of the things I liked about you, that you didn't try to make a pass at me right off. But don't you think you're carrying a good thing a little too far?" He says nothing, still a little shy with this lovely woman. "Morris, would it bother you if we stopped seeing each other?" she asks. "Yes, of course," he says, vehemently...but seems unable to say anything further. "What do I do wrong?" she asks, frustrated. "Is a Jewish cop so wrong for me?" "The thing is," he says, and hesitates..."I want to show you my yacht." "Yacht?!" she says in disbelief. "My yacht," he replies, firmly. They are on a police launch, cruising around the harbor. They sit down in the stern, look at each other and smile. "To tell you the truth, Morris, I've had him," says Kate. "Had who?" he asks. "Randy Beautiful," she replies. "And he was beautiful, old Randy...good future, good family...good everything. And then one day, I don't know...the message just came to me. I turned over and tapped him on the top of his beautiful head, and said, 'You only love me for my body, not for myself...for my mind.' And he screamed, 'What mind? Any thought of yours would die of loneliness.' So I got up, got dressed, packed my little suitcase, and I left Randy Beautiful...AND his good family, AND his good future. Tell me the truth, Morris...Do I have a good mind?" Morris replies earnestly, "You have a brilliant mind." "Are you tender, Morris?" she asks, wistfully. "You can have me if you say yes." "Yes," he says, firmly. "Do you love me, Morris?" she asks. He hesitates a moment, then replies, "Yes, I think so." She smiles and says, "Kiss me, Morris". He leans over and kisses her, a bit awkwardly because of the way they're sitting. They both stand and kiss again...and Morris IS tender...and they keep on kissing. Morris is sitting at his desk, alone in the squad room. A uniformed officer brings in Mr. Kupperman (Michael Dunn). He stands at Morris's desk and says, "Ok, you got me." "For what?" Morris asks, blankly. "What do you think?!" snaps Mr. Kupperman. "You're the Strangler?" Morris asks, incredulously. He can be forgiven his doubt...Mr. Kupperman is, after all, just under four feet tall. "I killed them all," says Mr. Kupperman, smiling proudly. "Mr. Kupperman..." Morris begins. "You be careful what you're going to say," interrupts Mr. Kupperman, "I'm very sensitive on certain subjects." Morris begins again..."Well, naturally, I wouldn't bring it up if it didn't have some bearing on the case, but...you're a midget. The few witnesses we have claim that he was of normal...uh...that is to say...he was taller than you." "You see how I fooled them," says Mr. Kupperman, eagerly. "Did you talk to me several times on the phone?" asks Morris. "That's right," says Mr. Kupperman. Morris hands him the mike to the tape recorder on his desk, and says, "Imitate Barry Fitzgerald." Mr. Kupperman does so...very badly. Morris reaches for the mike, and Mr. Kupperman says, "Wait...I can do W.C. Fields." This effort is only slightly better. Morris takes the mike from him and says, "Mr. Kupperman, I just don't believe you're the Strangler." "Bigot! You're a bigot!" declares Mr. Kupperman, and the conversation deteriorates into a shouting match. Lieutenant Dawson's door opens: he pokes his head out, looks at them, nods slightly, and goes back inside. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Kupperman," says Morris, quietly, "but you're going to have to leave now." "You're turning me loose to murder again," says Mr. Kupperman, bitterly. "All right, but this is what it's going to say in tomorrow's paper." He grabs a piece of chalk off Morris's desk and writes "6th Victim" on one of the partitions. He throws the chalk at Morris and stamps out. Morris stares at the words for a moment, then he knocks on Lt. Dawson's door. "I've got an idea," he says. "It's kind of crazy, but it just might shake things up." Gill is seated at his grand piano, playing a lovely, peaceful melody. Mrs. Fitts brings in a vase filled with flowers. He asks her if his airline tickets have arrived, and she says yes. He tells her that the flowers are lovely. "Romance," he says, smiling a little as he plays..."Romance is the thing that makes men hold, and women bold, Mrs. Fitts." "If you read the papers, there isn't much love in them these days," she responds, stepping outside of her quiet, professional demeanor, for once. "Riots, and wars...and all these murders. It's getting so I don't dare set foot outside anymore. Imagine, Mr. Gill, one man killing six women!" "What do you mean?" says Gill, startled. "Here," she says, and hands him his paper. The headline reads "Sixth Victim". "Killed the same way as the others," she says, "with the lipstick across the forehead and everything." "Yes," he says, slowly, preoccupied, "yes. Uh, could I have my tea, now?" "Yes, of course...I'm sorry," she says, stepping back behind her mask, leaving him alone to contemplate this new development. He calls from a public phone booth. He tells Morris in his German accent that he didn't do it...he did NOT kill that woman. "Say you believe me," he says. "I can't say that, because I don't believe you," replies Morris. The detectives are standing around him, the tape is running. "It's a copycat," insists Gill. "I did everything up to now, and he comes along and wants to take credit, and it's not fair!" Morris, enjoying the upper hand for once, replies, "This is getting a little too weird for me, I think I'll hang up now." "Don't you hang up on me," hisses Gill, "or I'll kill a hundred women...I promise you that." He tries to calm down, so he can reason with Morris. "A little commons sense will tell you that it's a copycat. Did he call you on the phone? Did he tell you where the body was?" "Neither did you the first and fourth time," counters Morris. "But you forget," says Gill. "I've given you my word of honor that I'll stop." Morris murmurs, "For all that's worth." A uniformed officer enters the squad room and says, quietly, "Pan Am Building, downtown." The lieutenant and a couple of other detectives rush out. Gill continues to argue his innocence regarding the sixth victim...but Morris interrupts, saying, "This time we got a full description of you. You're very short...you have blonde hair...a wide nose...bushy eyebrows." Gill laughs, and says, "That's very funny, you see, because first of all I have brown hair, brown eyes, and I'm approximately six feet tall, and..." then, finally realizing, "...and you are clever. Oh, Mr. Brummel, you are very, very clever." He hangs up. "But you're not quite clever enough," he adds, and leaves the building...swiftly, but not hastily. Uniformed officers arrive shortly afterward, and round up a few suspects. But when Morris, Monaghan and Lt. Dawson arrive, it's obvious they didn't get the one they wanted. Morris and Kate arrive in the hallway just outside Morris's apartment. "Ok, I think I'm ready," says Kate. "But tell me, Morris, do you love me?" "Yes," he replies. "Madly, deeply? she asks. "Madly, deeply," he confirms. "Then I can move mountains," she says. He unlocks the door and they go inside. After introductions, Kate says to Mrs. Brummel, "It's such a pleasure to finally meet you...and to see your lovely home. Morris, look at this," she says, gesturing, "Isn't it wonderful? It's just so Jewish." Mrs. Brummel is rather flummoxed by this comment, not sure it's a compliment. "Jews always have the best apartments," explains Kate. "The best taste, the best apartments...it follows." "Are you Jewish?" asks Mrs. Brummel, brightening. "I have been studying to be Jewish since I was 14 years old," says Kate, as they move into the living room and sit down. "Off!" Kate exclaims suddenly. "What?" says Mrs. Brummel, startled. "Look at him," Kate gestures toward Morris. "He has his foot up on your coffee table. Off!" she orders, and he moves his foot. "Lummox," she murmurs. "Honestly, I don't know why I go out with him. On the money he makes we can't do anything. A Jewish cop, can you imagine anything so ridiculous?" "I keep telling him that!" says Mrs. Brummel, amazed. "Oh, but your son, Franklin," says Kate, with a smile. "I wish I'd met him before it was too late. With a son like him, you don't mind having this one so much. But he is good for one thing," she adds. "Morris, light my cigarette," she orders. He jumps to his feet, comes to stand in front of her, with his back to his mother. He gives her a faint, conspiratorial smile while he lights her cigarette. She smiles back, and blows him a secret little air-kiss. "Now, go away," she says. He walks dejectedly into the kitchen. "He's good for ordering around," says Kate to Mrs. Brummel, "for yelling at and ordering around." "He is," agrees Mrs. Brummel, delighted. "I can see we're the same person," says Kate. "Yes, we are," agrees Mrs. Brum

Broadway musical star arrives home and finds six runaway children living on the property. Broadway star, Janice Courtney goes to her countfy home to rest. When she gets there, she meets some people who change her life permanently, and discovers true love and happiness. —Marinelle K. Szenasy