Original Airdate: July 17, 1974

Episode 0119 "The Real Printer's Devil"

Written by Ian Martin, Directed by Himan Brown Host: E.G. Marshall

A young couple, desperate for a comfortable and inexpensive apartment, run across a newspaper ad. They are delighted to find an inexpensive apartment in Central Park West. They think they’ll be fighting the line for the apartment, but in fact it is only advertised in their paper. A little too late they suddenly realize that the landlord is a real printer's devil…

For most of us, is there any more alluring form of minor masochism than the good old-fashioned ghost story? The icy fingers running shivering shocks up and down the spine, playing that fascinating dichotomy of, this might have been me, but, oh, thank the Lord it wasn't. So this ghost story begins with Joel and Jane Trent, early twenties, married eight months, starting out in life with a future unlimited, except the present unfortunate necessity of counting every penny to make life work and to live in some dignity and comfort. And then, the fabulous break, or what seemed the fabulous break. that marvelous ad in the classified section of the Sunday Chronicle.

Could there be a more mundane, run-of-the-mill beginning to a really haunting ghost story than two young people on the way early on a bright Saturday morning to answer an ad for a sublet furnished apartment. But such an apartment! From their point of view, a steal at the price, at the location, containing everything they ever wanted, a long-term lease, a promise of heaven. But from another point of view, oh, well, that, as we shall see, is the hell of it.

Starring: Paul Hecht, Bryna Raeburn, Ian Martin, Jada Rowland