Kolchak: The Night Stalker/The Trevi Collection

The Trevi Collection
Season 1, Episode 14
Airdate	January 24, 1975
Written by	Rudolph Borchert
Directed by	Don Weis
Stream
← 1x13 Primal Scream	1x15 → Chopper
Kolchak: The Night Stalker — Season One

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The Trevi Collection is the fourteenth episode of the first season of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Starring:

Guest Starring: Jack Grinnage (Ron Updyke), Ruth McDevitt (Emily Cowles), Richard Bakalyan (First Hood), Lara Parker (Madelaine Perkins), Nina Foch (Madame Trevi), Bernie Kopell (Dr. Gravanites), Marvin Miller (The Lecturer), Priscilla Morrill (Griselda), Henry Brandon (The Man), George Chandler (Model Agency Manager), Douglas Fowley (Superintendent), Beverly Gill (Melody Sedgwick), Peter Leeds (Photographer), Henry Slate (Second Hood), Chuck Waters (Mickey Patchek)

Co-Starring:

Plot Overview

Kolchak watches as a man is thown from a building onto an automobile. The man, an industrial spy, had been photographing the Trevi work room. The manequins came alive and threw him out the window to his death. In classic Kolchak fashion, he takes the man's camera, removing evidence from the scene.

He talks with Madelaine, a model who works for Madame Trevi. While he is questioning her, he learns that Ariel, a famous, French model, refuses to work with Madelaine -- Madelaine will not be allowed to work in this show. A moment after Madelaine gets the news, a white cat mauls Ariel covering her face in bloody scratches.

That night while model Melanie Sedgewick is taking a shower, forces unseen lock the shower door and steam comes out of the shower head, scalding her. Carl interviews Madame Trevi and (as is not uncommon for him) he gets too pushy and is asked to leave.

Madelaine tells him that she fears Madame Trevi. She's a witch -- a real witch! As Kolchak is leaving, a car tries to run him down, but when the car stops, there is no driver. From a window overhead Madame Trevi can be seen looking on.

Deciding that he probably needs to learn a few things, Kolchak attends a lecture on witchcraft. There he learns that witches can't be drowned, and that publicly accusing a witch diminishes their powers. Kolchak still has questions, so a woman at the seminar recommends a coven for him to visit. They might be able to answer his questions.

When he arrives at the coven house, they are expecting him. He descends to their meeting chamber, makes a donation, and observes their ceremony. It doesn't last long though. The ceremony is interrupted when one of the members, claims that Kolchak is under the spell of a "black witch". They cannot proceeed. The one who objected offers to help Kolchak. She mirror-writes some clues for him. Before she is finished though, the pen is yanked from her hands by some unseen force and floats in the air, menacing the members of the coven. Kolchak leaves during the confusion.

The members of the coven laugh uproariously after Kolchak leaves. The joke is on him -- one of the members reveals herself to be the woman at the seminar who recommended this coven, and another reveals herself to be Madelaine, the model.

Following the directions given to him by the coven, Kolchak breaks into Trevi's office and looks through her things. Madame Trevi enters just as he is going through the oak box. She begs him not to do anything. Hoping to strip her of her power, he burns a piece of paper from the oak box. Madame Trevi immediately falls ill and must be put in the hospital.

Meanwhile back at INS offices, mafia thugs who want information from Kolchak have trashed the place during the night. Mr. Vincenzo is livid.

Carl puts together a mojo bag. He needs copper wire (which he rips from one of the damaged teletype machines in the office. There is also a rag doll in Trevi's office that he will need. When he enters Trevi's office, he notices one of the manequins turn it's head suddenly. He says "Aha!," but continues anyway, despite the danger. More and more manequins begin to move in on him and attack. He fends them off for a while before Madelaine enters.

Madelaine expalins that she is really the witch. Madame Trevi had been using that piece of paper he burned to keep her under control. Madelaine offers him fame and riches, but he refuses, breaking a mirror to make his point (witches can't stand the sound of breaking glass). The manequins take him down, but he manages to get back up and run outside, where a handful of people are strolling by. He leaps on top of a car, and publicly accuses her of being a witch, thus stripping her of her powers.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• When the witch coven that Kolchak visits for information is disrupted by a "black witch", Kolchak takes back his donation as he makes his getaway during the confusion.

Trivia

The Show

• The fictional events depicted in this episode start on Tuesday, May 2, 1975 (1975 inferred from the Trevi fashion show). However Tuesday, May 2, 1975 was actually a Friday.
• The mirror-writing Kolchak was given began with the following words:

	OAK	CHEST
	MOJO	BAGS
	BRASS	BELLS
	COPPER	THREAD

• In the end, Kolchak apparently turns the evidence that the thugs wanted over the to police. He found the evidence with the uncanny help of Madelaine -- As she was trying to convince him to work with her, she told him excatly where it was located.

Allusions and References

• In addition to being a model, Madelaine claims raising a prize-winning goat in 4-H club as one of her accolades.
• At the witchcraft lecture Kolchak attends, the topic of the Salem witch trials comes up.
• Madelaine is compared to Lauren Hutton.

Memorable Moments

Kolchak haggles with two mafia thugs sent to get incriminating evidence from him. He bargains with them until they settle on 60 hours to produce the information.

Quotes

Warlock: A nominal contribution will be appreciated.

Kolchak produces some money ...

Warlock: Not that nominal.