The Chaser (The Twilight Zone)

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

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.

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 'glove cleaner', an expensive potion 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 could not have gone through with it anyway.

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.

Preview for Next Week's Story

Next week, you'll stand in this alley at the shoulder of Jack Klugman, who plays the role of a trumpet player who has run out of music and run out of dreams. "Poignant" is the best word for Mr. Klugman's performance. Next week on The Twilight Zone, "A Passage for Trumpet." I think they're unusual notes indeed and we hope you'll be listening to them. Thank you and good night.

Episode notes

This episode was 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.

In Serling: The Rise and Twilight of Television’s Last Angry Man, writer Douglas Heyes said, “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 [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.”

This episode was remade in 1991 as "Loved to Death", an episode of the HBO adult-horror anthology series, Tales from the Crypt. That episode starred Andrew McCarthy and Mariel Hemingway.

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)
DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

External links

The Chaser at IMDb