Minute 070: The Laundry Chute!

Guest Host: Mark Cerulli

Did you grow up watching Hey Dude! and Clarissa Explains It All? Thank Mark – he wrote episodes of those shows. He also produced DVD documentaries on the Halloween series and several James Bond classics. (He’s a huge 007 fan) At HBO, he was an award-winning writer/producer and interviewed over 120 stars and filmmakers. Mark also has created on-air content for EPIX and Sundance. When he’s not watching movies and eating sandwiches with the crusts cut off, he’s receiving passes on his original screenplays – although he almost got one made by HBO. Sigh.

Summary

Neville Sinclair has spotted Secord at the South Seas Club. He grabs Spanish Johnny and Stevie from Valentine’s gang and points out Cliff to them.

“Now, go get him!” he snarls, pushing them toward Cliff at the other side of the dance floor.

Cliff is trying to escape Lothar across the crowded room. He grabs one of the women dancing. “Cutting in!” he explains, and dances her across the ballroom.

Lothar searches the faces of the couples on the dance floor. He spots the commotion by the stairs near the front door.

Cliff lets go of his momentary dance partner with an apologetic “thank you!” and stumbles up the stairs to the restaurant area. He pushes through a throng of tuxedo’ed guests and heads back to the service entrance. Lothar, Spanish Johnny, and Stevie follow close behind him.

Now at a full run, Cliff enters the salad prep area of the kitchen, knocking into a waiter with a tray of shrimp. Lothar, Spanish Johnny, and Stevie chase Cliff through a fire exit.

Cliff is back in the hallway by the laundry where he stowed his rocket pack. He takes off his waiter jacket and runs into the laundry, locking the door behind him.  As he turns to look at the place where he bagged his rocket pack, Cliff suddenly realizes that more than a dozen identical bags have been stack atop his bagged rocket.

“He’s in the laundry room!” shouts Spanish Johnny, just outside the locked door. Cliff literally dives into the pile of laundry bags to hunt for his rocket pack.

Meanwhile, Lothar is ramming his shoulder against the steel laundry room door. He tries twice, to no effect.

“Hit it!” says Spanish Johnny. On the third try, Lothar knocks the door’s strike plate loose from the wall, and the door opens.  As they enter the laundry room, Cliff is nowhere to be seen.

Spanish Johnny spots Cliff’s boots in the chute at the end of the room. “The laundry chute!” yells Spanish Johnny. “Get him!”  Lothar lurches forward.

Just then, Cliff ignites his rocket engines. Flame leaps out of the chute as Cliff ascends. Lothar and Valentine’s boys are blown back away from the chute.

Meanwhile, in the upstairs ladies’ room, an attendant drops hand towels down the laundry chute. After she closes the lid to the chute, Cliff surprises her by knocking the lid open as he flies into the ladies’ room. Women scream. Cliff, his rocket engine still running, lands on a wheeled towel caddy. He speeds out of the ladies’ room into the ladies’ lounge, and then into the main dining room.

In This Minute
Bill Campbell as Cliff Secord
Timothy Dalton as Neville Sinclair
Tiny Ron as Lothar
Robert Miranda as Spanish Johnny
Daniel O’Shea as Mike