from the website http://www.homestead.com/BlackMariah/Queed.html
"Mr. Paracelsus, Who Are You?"
Script written by Harry
Ackerman and Edwin Blum
Taken from an earlier script by Harry
Ackerman called
"Mr. Elvesham, Who Are You?"
Based on the short story: "The Story Of The Late Mr.
Elvesham", by
H.G. Wells, ca. 1896
(Comedy/Suspense -1965/1966)
Screen Gems Televison Productions
Television Series Pilot (Unsold)
CAST;
Professor Rufus Queed...................................Michael Rennie
Alan Choate III..................................................Dean
Stockwell
Cleghorn..........................................................Jack
Good
Uriah Boggs.....................................................Josep
Elic
Mrs. Winslow....................................................Sylvia
Field
Mr. Winslow......................................................Donald
Foster
Judge Zachary Sloan........................................E.J. Andre
Mrs. Choate......................................................Anne
Seymour
Mr. Choate
Elaine Winslow
Miss Jones........................................................Leslie
Perkins
Watch and Ward Society speaker
Orphan #1(Tommy)
Orphan #2(Ben)
Woman hanging washing (Bogg's neighbor)
Insurance president #1
Insurance president #2
Insurance president #3
Cello player
Violin player
Bass player
Bishop Pettigrew
Rowdy bar patron(Jim Reilly)
Bar patron #2
Piano Player
Peter Tewksbury - Director
Harry Ackerman - Executive Producer
Asa Boyd Clark & Alan Jay Factor - Associate Producers
Ed Forsythe - Music Producer
Lawrence Warner - Post Production Supervisor
Don Kirshner - Music Consultant
Plot outline:
The Story is set in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1899, and begins when Professor
Queed and his assistant Cleghorn suddenly one day get a visit from a decrepit
old man named Uriah Boggs, who actually claims to be Alan Choate III, a former
student of Queed's. He relates at very strange story of how
an old man feigned injury from Choate's carraige. Taking pity, Choate helps
the old man back to his room, where the old man lights up his pipe, and starts
filling the air with it's smoke. After a few breaths, Choate suddenly finds
his conciousness switched with the old man's soul. The old man now occupying
Choate's body promptly ties his old body and Choate's soul that occupies it
to the bedpost, and promptly leaves, leaving him to die.
Not knowing who the old man was, or what to do about his current predicament,
Choate seeks the help of Queed, knowing his mind to be the most brilliant intellect
in Boston. At first Queed and Cleghorn are skeptical, but upon further investigation,
Queed comes to the conclusion that the old man was most likely one of the many
bodies inhabited by the soul of Paracelsus, a
16th century alchemist that appearantly discovered the secret of soul transferrence,
and who has been moving from body to body ever since.
Paracelsus, now occupying Choate's body, is trying to to formulate a plan to
take over the leading insurance companies of America, and marry Choate's fiancee,
Elaine. Only quick action by Queed can foil Paracelsus's plan.
***************
The above description is the best I can produce for this recording. This was
a pilot tv show filmed sometime between 1965 and 1966, by Screen Gems, as some
of the people involved in it's production were involved with "Bewitched"
Sound effects were also recognised as the same type as used in "Bewitched".
My copy of this show was acquired at The Planned Parenthood booksale back in
September, 2004, which most every item is anonymously donated. This sale is
held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa every year, and it's
quite impossible to trace it's origins beyond that. The trademark "CFN"
is briefly superimposed on the lower left corner of the screen twice during
this show's course. I believe it to be the trademark of a U.S. Military
base's television broadcast station in the country of Turkey, as another tape
from the same batch I bought in 2004, names cities surrounding the
broadcast area. This other tape did have it's commercials left in (they were
more like public service announcements, and F.Y.I. spots), and they were clearly
American in content. "CFN" was probably a television station set up
for enlisted personnel and their families stationed in whatever military base
there was in Turkey.
This copy is missing most of it's opening and closing credits, so I can only
provide part of the information on the film. There is a 36 second "gap"
in the recording 19 minutes through it. This is either where the original recorder
stopped tape, or scenes are missing. The recording itself lasts 58 minutes.
There is some information available through Dartmouth College's Special Collections,
which contains the papers of the late Harry Ackerman, a former
alumnus of that institution. If you scroll down the list of his collection to
Box 14,
Folders 2, and 4, you'll see mention of scripts for this show at this link:
http://ead.dartmouth.edu/html/ml81.html
This site at least gives more insight into the show's existence, but still does
not solve it's origins, or availability at present. I'm sending away for copies
of this script, hoping to seek additional information. You will also find mention
of this show at IMDB.Com, by going to the pages for Michael Rennie, and Peter
Tewksbury, and on the left links sidebars, clicking on "other works".