FROM THE VAULT: EPISODE # 583: FEBRUARY 26, 1968
PROLOGUE: FADE IN: SINCE A WEEKEND HAS PASSED, PERHAPS IT'S BEST TO TAKE UP THIS EPISODE SHORTLY BEFORE CLOSE OF PRECEDING SCRIPT. OPEN WITH TOM & ALICE SITTING IN THE LIVING ROOM. HEAR KEY IN DOOR:
ALICE (without getting up): That must be Kitty. She told me she was spending the night with Joan again. Must have changed her mind.
CUT TO HALLWAY AS MICKEY CLOSES THE DOOR BEHIND HIM. HE'S WEARING A LOOK OF CONCERN, MIXED WITH PUZZLEMENT. HE TAKES OFF HIS COAT. CUT BACK TO LIVING ROOM, DOUBLE BEAT, THEN ALICE FINALLY SAYS...
ALICE: Kitty?
MICKEY (off): No, Mom. It's me.
TAKE TOM NOT UNDERSTANDING THIS AT ALL. BOTH RISE, ALICE IS PLEASED OF COURSE.
ALICE: Well, then you didn't take that trip after all.
MICKEY LOOKS AT HIS FATHER, WEARS A NEUTRAL EXPRESSION SO AS NOT TO TIP ANYTHING TO HIS MOTHER.
TOM: Mark was here to pick up Marie earlier. He mentioned the trip to your mother.
ALICE: What difference does it make who mentioned it?
MICKEY (big smile, over compensating): No difference at all, Mom.
WHICH SATISIFES ALICE. MEANWHILE, TOM LOOKS A HOLE THROUGH MICKEY, MICKEY CATCHES HIS LOOK.
ALICE: Sit down, join us.
MICKEY (so that he can have privacy with his dad): Mom, ahh, by any chance would you have a snack tucked away in the kitchen for a hungry son?
ALICE: I think so. Roast beef sandwich?
MICKEY: Sounds great.
ALICE (exiting): Won't be but a minute.
MICKEY: Take your time, Mom.
BOTH MEN WAIT BEFORE SAYING A WORD UNTIL THEY KNOW ALICE IS DEFINITELY IN THE KITCHEN. ALTHOUGH EACH LOOKS EACH OTHER STRAIGHT IN THE EYE. FINALLY:
TOM: I thought you were leaving tonight.
MICKEY (beat, then): As it turned out, I won't have to make that trip.
TOM (beat as Tom looks at him somewhat bewilderedly): What're you talking about?
MICKEY: When I got back to my office this afternoon, I called a former classmate of mine in Pittsburgh to get a hotel reservation for me. I wanted something reasonably close to the address you gave me of Mark's parents.
TOM: Go on.
MICKEY: I gave Greg the street number, he wasn't familiar with it so he looked it up.
TOM: And?
MICKEY (dramatic pause): There is no such street in Pittsburgh.
TOM: There's no...?
MICKEY (beat, goes on): Thinking that there might have been an error somewhere, I then phoned the plumber union there. Mark gave his father's name as Phillip, right?
TOM: Right.
MICKEY: Dad, there isn't now nor has there ever been a Phillip Brooks listed among the membership of that union.
TOM: But...
MICKEY (goes on): As a last resort, I tried the phone number you took from Mark's record. A telephone company supervisor told me that number has never been used either in Pittsburgh or its suburbs.
LONG STUNNED REACTION BY TOM
MICKEY: You asked the question before, now I'm asking it with you: "Just who is -- Dr. Mark Brooks?"
TAKE TOM. MUSIC UP TO FINISH AND OUT. FADE TO: BLACK. UP ON COMMERCIAL.
ACT ONE will be posted soon!
PROLOGUE: FADE IN: SINCE A WEEKEND HAS PASSED, PERHAPS IT'S BEST TO TAKE UP THIS EPISODE SHORTLY BEFORE CLOSE OF PRECEDING SCRIPT. OPEN WITH TOM & ALICE SITTING IN THE LIVING ROOM. HEAR KEY IN DOOR:
ALICE (without getting up): That must be Kitty. She told me she was spending the night with Joan again. Must have changed her mind.
CUT TO HALLWAY AS MICKEY CLOSES THE DOOR BEHIND HIM. HE'S WEARING A LOOK OF CONCERN, MIXED WITH PUZZLEMENT. HE TAKES OFF HIS COAT. CUT BACK TO LIVING ROOM, DOUBLE BEAT, THEN ALICE FINALLY SAYS...
ALICE: Kitty?
MICKEY (off): No, Mom. It's me.
TAKE TOM NOT UNDERSTANDING THIS AT ALL. BOTH RISE, ALICE IS PLEASED OF COURSE.
ALICE: Well, then you didn't take that trip after all.
MICKEY LOOKS AT HIS FATHER, WEARS A NEUTRAL EXPRESSION SO AS NOT TO TIP ANYTHING TO HIS MOTHER.
TOM: Mark was here to pick up Marie earlier. He mentioned the trip to your mother.
ALICE: What difference does it make who mentioned it?
MICKEY (big smile, over compensating): No difference at all, Mom.
WHICH SATISIFES ALICE. MEANWHILE, TOM LOOKS A HOLE THROUGH MICKEY, MICKEY CATCHES HIS LOOK.
ALICE: Sit down, join us.
MICKEY (so that he can have privacy with his dad): Mom, ahh, by any chance would you have a snack tucked away in the kitchen for a hungry son?
ALICE: I think so. Roast beef sandwich?
MICKEY: Sounds great.
ALICE (exiting): Won't be but a minute.
MICKEY: Take your time, Mom.
BOTH MEN WAIT BEFORE SAYING A WORD UNTIL THEY KNOW ALICE IS DEFINITELY IN THE KITCHEN. ALTHOUGH EACH LOOKS EACH OTHER STRAIGHT IN THE EYE. FINALLY:
TOM: I thought you were leaving tonight.
MICKEY (beat, then): As it turned out, I won't have to make that trip.
TOM (beat as Tom looks at him somewhat bewilderedly): What're you talking about?
MICKEY: When I got back to my office this afternoon, I called a former classmate of mine in Pittsburgh to get a hotel reservation for me. I wanted something reasonably close to the address you gave me of Mark's parents.
TOM: Go on.
MICKEY: I gave Greg the street number, he wasn't familiar with it so he looked it up.
TOM: And?
MICKEY (dramatic pause): There is no such street in Pittsburgh.
TOM: There's no...?
MICKEY (beat, goes on): Thinking that there might have been an error somewhere, I then phoned the plumber union there. Mark gave his father's name as Phillip, right?
TOM: Right.
MICKEY: Dad, there isn't now nor has there ever been a Phillip Brooks listed among the membership of that union.
TOM: But...
MICKEY (goes on): As a last resort, I tried the phone number you took from Mark's record. A telephone company supervisor told me that number has never been used either in Pittsburgh or its suburbs.
LONG STUNNED REACTION BY TOM
MICKEY: You asked the question before, now I'm asking it with you: "Just who is -- Dr. Mark Brooks?"
TAKE TOM. MUSIC UP TO FINISH AND OUT. FADE TO: BLACK. UP ON COMMERCIAL.
ACT ONE will be posted soon!