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 7.10 [185]
"The Dark Corridor"
Original NBC Broadcast - 27 November 1968

Universal City Studios, Inc.
Executive Producer Norman MacDonnell
Produced By Joel Rogosin
Teleplay By Jean Holloway
Story By Jean Holloway and Joel Rogosin
Directed By Abner Biberman

Starring:
(shown on the ride-up)
John McIntire as Clay Grainger (not in this episode)
Doug McClure as Trampas (not in this episode)
David Hartman as Dave Sutton (not in this episode)
Sara Lane as Elizabeth Grainger (not in this episode)
and
James Drury as The Virginian
#
Guest Stars
Judith Lang as The Girl
John Smith as Ellis
And
Paul Winchell as Jingo
#
Full ending credits:
Co-starring:
James Craig as Sgt. Wayne
Bartlett Robinson as Beaumont
#
Theme
Percy Faith
#
Director of Photography
Enzo A. Martinelli
#
Art Director . . . William J. Kerney
Film Director . . . Edwin H. Bryant, A.C.E.
Unit Manager . . . Henry Kline
Assistant Director . . . Ralph Ferrin
Set Decorations . . . John McCarthy and Perry Murdoch
Sound . . . William A. Russell
Color Coordinator . . . Robert Brower
Technicolor
#
Editorial Supervision . . . Richard Belding
Musical Supervision . . . Stanley Wilson
Costumes by . . . Helen Colvig
Make-up . . . Bud Westmore
Hair Stylist . . . Larry Germain
The Title "The Virginian"
by Permission of EMKA, Ltd.
#
Series regular characters appearing in this episode:
The Virginian

Synopsis:
The Virginian is on his way to visit his friend before heading back home
to Shiloh. Jingo lives in the high country having moved there from
Medicine Bow after his wife Bess died years ago to be alone with his
thoughts, and ended up staying there to live.

Along the way the Virginian finds a beautiful girl lying unconscious in the
woods. Unable to awaken her, he carries her to Jingo's cabin. The
Virginian and Jingo sit with her all that day and evening but all she does
is stare into space. The
Virginian goes through her belongings to see if there are any clues that
will tell him who she is and where she comes from. The only clue he finds is
the initial "D" stitched into the crocheted tablecloth. The only other
clues he finds just tell him that she is no back country girl, not
with silver spoons and a homespun tablecloth in her satchel, along with a
Bible with the inscription:
Always remember you are God's beautiful child. Mother.

Later in the evening she begins to come out of her comatose state and acts
as though she knows the Virginian.
She doesn't answer any of his questions but only stares at
him, reaching out for his hand.
When she looks at the Virginian, her mind is seeing a different man. A man she
mistakes the Virginian for. Because of this, she isn't afraid of him and
warms up to him quickly, responding only to him. The
next morning the Virginian is outside feeding the horses when the girl
wakes up and sees Jingo. She screams, "no", thinking he is
someone else. When the Virginian comes running back into the cabin she immediately
calms down. As time passes, the mysterious girl begins speaking more and
more, eventually even speaking to Jingo.
Little things they do such as playing the harmonica and eating a meal
continues drawing her slowly back to reality.

A stranger rides onto Jingo's property which seems odd since it is well
hidden and off the trail from any people passing by being in the high country. He
pretends his horse is injured after putting a stone in its hoof, causing the horse to
limp. Spotting the girl's horse in the corral, he inquires if it is for
sale. Jingo tells him he isn't and that he belongs to the girl in the cabin
who is "unsettled in her mind, can't see things right in front of her,
don't talk," telling him that she must have seen something that "scared her right
out of this world. Something she just don't want to face up to." He tells
the stranger he can camp above the cabin, still puzzled by the man's presence.
The stranger, Ellis, keeps a close eye on the cabin and the girl even
though she doesn't recognize him at all when she sees him.

Even though the Virginian continues to tell her over and over who he is,
where he works, and how he found her, she continues to act very friendly towards him
making him feel extremely uncomfortable. Especially since she doesn't even
know him since they have never met before.

Down at Jingo's salt away watching for the animals who gather there, the girl
questions him about their future together. He tells her again he'll have to be
getting back to Shiloh. She thinks she'll be going with him so he tells her
she can visit. She doesn't like that idea but lets it drop.

On their way back to the cabin, the Virginian begins telling her about Shiloh.
"The ranch is out a ways from Medicine Bow. It's ah, close enough to be
handy but far enough away to be alone if you wanna be".
"Do you run Herefords?" the girl asks innocently. After a pause, he continues.
"Yes, mostly, and some horses. There's good water and good graze, town's
grown up a lot in the last few years, what with the railroad comin' through
and all." Sighing, he goes on, "Hope it doesn't get too big. It's kind
of nice to call everyone by their first name."

Returning to the cabin, the girl goes inside while the Virginian and
Jingo talk. Jingo mentions how it seems that she likes him and acts like
she's known him for years. Puzzled, the Virginian tells Jingo he doesn't know
 why because she doesn't know him and that they've never even met before now.
That she's going to have to face the truth if she's ever going to get better.
#
Out picking flowers, the girl runs into the Virginian who is chopping wood.
Playing, she tosses the pieces of wood he's cut into his arms laughing and
watching him try to balance each piece that she keeps throwing to him.
Telling him she has him helpless and unable to defend himself now, she
comes up from behind and kisses him on the side of his lips. The Virginian
doesn't respond to her kiss so she apologizes asking him if she's done
something. She tells him he seems remote. He tells her he doesn't
want her hurt any more than she already is. She doesn't understand, but
before they can finish talking, Jingo whistles for him.
#
Later on that evening the girl acts TOO friendly towards him during their
dance to a tune Jingo is playing on his harmonica. If the Virginian had any
doubts before this, they were all diminished
when their dance ends and she kisses him right on the lips. Again when
he doesn't respond to her affections, she backs
away asking him if he has stopped loving her. He tells her that isn't it.
She tells him not to pretend it didn't happen. Then she says, "You asked
me to marry you, Wes." She pulls back, taking a few steps away from him when
he doesn't hold her. He walks over to
her and tells her with honesty and slight pain in his voice his name isn't
Wes. The truth painfully dawns on her~this man is not her fiancé. He is not Wes.
#
The next day they leave to go back down to the flats.
The Virginian stops and tells her this is where he found her and asks
if she recognizes it at all. She tells him she doesn't.
He suggests this would be a good place for some of "Jingo's finest".
The Virginian walks down to let the food cool in the creek while the girl sits
and waits contentedly, glancing around at her surroundings when she
spots a man staring at her from behind the bushes.
Screaming, she jumps up from where she's sitting. The Virginian
hears her screams and comes running back She tells him about the
man's face she saw in the bushes. He checks the area but doesn't find anything.

They continue making their way down to the flats. The Virginian stays
on the trail when he notices she has taken the trail to the right. He
calls for her to stop, telling her they should stay on the main trail. He tells
her he doesn't know where that other trail leads but she doesn't move. He asks
her if she's familiar with it. She says no, that it just seems natural.
Knowing if they follow the trail that "seems natural" to her, they may find
something out that might jog her memory so they stay with it.
#
"Her" trail leads to an abandoned depot where she and Wes had agreed to
meet. They stop in front of the depot
and she tells the Virginian she and Wes were going to run away. He asks
her where Wes is now and she freezes. He tells her she has to think about it
and asks if something happened at the depot, encouraging her to remember.
She begins telling him through a dreamy flashback saying she remembers seeing
his horse outside and called to him~~"WES!" He didn't answer but she
didn't think anything of it since he was always
teasing her so she dismounted and went inside. "AAAHHH." Screaming she
ran back outside, mounted her horse and rode away.

Back in the present, they dismount and walk up to the depot together.
Pausing briefly the girl hesitates, looking fearfully and pleadingly up
into the Virginian's eyes, frozen in her step. He consoles her by
telling her he'll be with her all the time. Again she freezes, looking at him as
if begging him not to put her through this, but he tells her she can't run
anymore. She opens the door and they enter the room and she has another
flashback. She sees a man kneeling by Wes' body, taking money from him.
He sees her and she runs. Back to the present, her thoughts cause her to
turn into the Virginian's arms and he comforts her by telling her it's
alright, it's all over, that there isn't anyone there. He asks her if she
would recognize the man if she saw him. "Yes," she answers, continuing
on telling him more of what happened that night. "He grabbed hold of me,
and I found something and I hit him with it and I ran". Sensing something,
the Virginian all in one motion quietly and gently moves her out of the way
as he draws his gun from its holster and turns in time to see the same man
who was camped at Jingo's round the corner with his gun in his hand, coming
towards him. The Virginian shoots sending Ellis flying backwards to the floor.
Staring at Ellis with Ellis staring back at them, the Virginian asks her
if this is the man. Gently nodding her head, she repeats just as gently, "Yes".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the Virginian riding beside the wagon with the once mysterious girl
with her father sitting beside her, they stop.
The man thanks the Virginian for bringing his daughter back to him. The
Virginian tells them he's sorry about Wes. The father tells him he had
no idea Wes was with a gang.
The sheriff figured Wes was running away because Ellis was trying to
blackmail him into moving some of his cattle. He would have gladly
given his permission for the two to marry if they had come to him.
Sensing the two have some private things to say to one another, the girl's
father gets down and walks over to the front of the horses pretending to check the bridles.

The Virginian wasn't totally sorry about the way things worked out.
Bringing her back meant losing her. She tells him some of it was like a
dream at Jingo's, and some of it was very real~~"You and I." He tells her
she saw him as another person, that they both accepted things they know have to end now.
"Do they?" she asks. Pausing, the Virginian tells her, "Maybe when we've
had a few months and a hundred
miles between us, we'll find out~~DULCIE," pronouncing the last word with
emphasis in his voice and a smile on his face. Her lips move, but no words
come, she can only stare at him. They hold hands touchingly, he puts his
hat back on, gets up on Joe, and rides on down the trail that leads to home.
[ARL]

Comments:
We learn of the feelings the Virginian has for Shiloh Ranch when he relays
these words to his mysterious girl:
"The ranch is out a ways from Medicine Bow. It's ah, close enough to be
handy but far enough away to be alone if you wanna be".
"Do you run Herefords?"
"Yes, mostly, and some horses. There's good water and good graze, town's
grown up a lot in the last few years, what with the railroad comin' through
and all." Sighing, he continues. "Hope it doesn't get too big. It's kind
of nice to call everyone by their first name."

This episode seemed like it had a lot of "filler" in it just like when we
need to write a long essay and use double talk to make it appear longer. [ARL]

Notes:
The Virginian tells Dulcie he's been at Shiloh 10 years which reminds me
of episode 2.19 [049]
"The Drifter" when he had been at Shiloh for 7 years.

We find out Shiloh was named after a battle in the war between the states.

The Virginian also mentions this to Senor Cueliar in episode 1.04 [004] "The
Big Deal" stating no one had won the war.

A salt away means to save, store up. I believe it is used here as a
preserve for forest animals. A sanctuary for them to come to to feed and feel safe. [ARL]

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