Production Details[]
Directed by: Richard Friedman
Written by: Art Monterastelli
Chester Caruso: Paul Dooley
Arthur the Hotel Manager: John Fielder
Carol: Kathy McLain
Glenda: Dorothy Parke
Sheriff: Patrick Farrelly
Synopsis[]
A traveling salesman meets the ghost of a girl who thinks he is someone else.
Plot[]
Act I[]
Traveling lingerie salesman Chester Caruso stops at a desolate motel and calls his wife. He lies to her, claiming he has to stay the night here due to an overwhelming snowstorm outside. A beautiful woman named Carol walks in, sparking his attention. He joins her at the front desk and introduces himself. While she’s clearly unimpressed, he wastes no time asking her out to drinks and dancing. He tells her his ballroom dancing expertise led to him being nicknamed “Soft Shoes”.
Chester makes a pass at Carol
Arthur the eccentric hotel manager comes out, annoyed the two had interrupted his exercise time. When it is initially believed there’s only one vacant room, Chester offers to share it with Carol — she quickly refuses and Arthur sets her up with Room 8. Once she leaves, Chester tries to book Room 7 once he sees the keys to it are still available; Arthur informs him he doesn’t rent that room out, so Chester pays him an extra $10. Arthur reluctantly rents him the room, demanding “no hanky panky“. Chester notices a turtle with a candle on its back, which Arthur mentions is a memorial to his dead father. The oddball gives Chester a jar of pigs feet and tells him not to steal the soap before he leaves.
Act II[]
Chester gets to his room and runs the bath water. He notices a hole in the wall and peeps through to see Carol in the other room. While turned on, he stops looking and eventually discovers an old radio in the room. He turns it on; ballroom music plays as he falls asleep on the couch with the bath water running.
When Chester wakes up, he finds a scantily clad woman named Glenda standing in front of him. She calls him Harry and tells him how happy she is he came back to her. Chester is obviously confused but plays along when she asks to dance cheek to cheek. He happily obliges, but while dancing he tells the mystery woman he’s married, disappointing her. Carol knocks on the door and asks Chester to turn the radio down; he quickly agrees and slams the door on her. Glenda asks if that’s another of his girls then says he has a surprise waiting. As Chester tries to offer her lingerie, she tells him “you can‘t keep a girl like me waiting around forever”. She pulls a gun out and shoots him several times. He bloodily crawls to the manager’s office — where Arthur is using an exercise belt —- and loses consciousness.
Act III[]
Some time later, Chester is woken up by Arthur and realizes he did not get shot. He tells the manager what happened and demands he come check the room with him. They go in together, but the only unusual thing they find is a blue rose in the bathtub. Arthur spots the lingerie and, under the belief Chester is a drunk and “sick” man, charges him an extra $10. Chester pleads his case but begrudgingly pays. Left alone, Chester searches the room and finds a red box with a dusty blue rose in it. Also inside is a newspaper clipping documenting a mysterious drowning at the hotel 36 years ago on this day.
“Soft Shoes“ finally gets to dance
Glenda appears once again. Chester immediately admits to not being Harry and that he’s married in Ohio with three kids. Glenda tells him to close his eyes; he does, then frightfully admits to being unfaithful once. He promises to change his ways but opens his eyes to find Glenda now dressed in a beautiful ballroom gown. The lights dim and a band is heard playing in the room. Chester — now wearing a tuxedo and dancing shoes — joins Glenda and they dance cheek to cheek. Glenda romantically talks about the day she met Harry, and Chester talks about his dancing accomplishments. Carol bangs on the wall and demands once more that Chester turn down the radio, causing a mad Glenda to retreat to the bathroom. Chester rejoins her at the tub; she begins to take her clothes off as the bath water runs.
The next day, the Sheriff is at the hotel investigating what happened the night before. He realizes it is the same room where Arthur’s father was murdered by his mistress. It is recommended Arthur tears Room 7 down. Carol informs the men she can still hear the music from the radio — inside Room 7, Glenda is seen sniffing her blue rose as Chester lies dead in the bathtub.