Set in 1906 San Francisco, this episode concerns an older bellboy named Perkins(played by David Opatoshu) who suddenly has vivid psychic visions of an imminent earthquake about to strike the city. He is however unable to convince either his employer(who fires him) or the newspapers, not only because of his incredible claims, but also because he is a recovering alcoholic, which makes it all too easy to dismiss his impassioned pleas, though as fate will have it, he will of course be proved right... Memorable episode makes fine use of its premise, and contains surprisingly good F/X for the time, which make the destruction more convincing and dramatic.
7 Reviews
"Somebody... somebody... must believe me!"
Goingbegging15 July 2022
If you're wanting to warn a whole city to escape an imminent earthquake, it helps if you're not saddled with a reputation for alcoholism. Apparently a reformed character, Perkins has been allowed back into his old job as a distinctly middle-aged bellboy in a luxury hotel, virtuously performing humble duties for his betters.
Unfortunately on this very morning, as he receives his shocking premonitions, a crooked staff-member has framed him for watering the whisky ordered by a highly-paid theatrical star, so his warnings go unheard, and he is doomed to be the Cassandra of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Most of the story is simply Perkins trying to convince everyone he sees that the earthquake is about to hit, and being told to run away and play. This gets a bit monotonous, though David Opatoshu's performance is a minor tragic masterpiece. (We could imagine him singing 'Buddy can you spare a dime?') When a local newspaper editor starts to wonder whether the claims might be valid, an employee warns him not to believe a word from this man, who turns out to be his disgraced father, and advises his boss to send for the police.
Thus Perkins is sedated and strapped to a bed when the big moment comes, and dies without seeing his predictions vindicated. A nice coda is that the only people who took him seriously, a married couple staying at the hotel, did actually get out of town, and thus survived the disaster.
The destruction of the great hotel carries a touch of the Titanic story (also featured in an episode in this series), and it seems well possible that some of the original footage of the disaster may have been slotted-in here.
Unfortunately on this very morning, as he receives his shocking premonitions, a crooked staff-member has framed him for watering the whisky ordered by a highly-paid theatrical star, so his warnings go unheard, and he is doomed to be the Cassandra of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Most of the story is simply Perkins trying to convince everyone he sees that the earthquake is about to hit, and being told to run away and play. This gets a bit monotonous, though David Opatoshu's performance is a minor tragic masterpiece. (We could imagine him singing 'Buddy can you spare a dime?') When a local newspaper editor starts to wonder whether the claims might be valid, an employee warns him not to believe a word from this man, who turns out to be his disgraced father, and advises his boss to send for the police.
Thus Perkins is sedated and strapped to a bed when the big moment comes, and dies without seeing his predictions vindicated. A nice coda is that the only people who took him seriously, a married couple staying at the hotel, did actually get out of town, and thus survived the disaster.
The destruction of the great hotel carries a touch of the Titanic story (also featured in an episode in this series), and it seems well possible that some of the original footage of the disaster may have been slotted-in here.
"It's not the world that's going to end, it's San Francisco!"
classicsoncall6 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
We've all heard stories of people who have had premonitions of impending disaster that later turned out to be true. This story examines the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the tale of one man who tried to sound the alarm over the coming big one. At first I didn't recognize David Opatoshu in the role of Gerald Perkins, the hotel bellhop and former alcoholic who had a series of visions regarding the destructive earthquake. I'm more accustomed to seeing him in more thoughtful, cerebral roles like that of civic leader Dorn in the Twilight Zone episode 'Valley of the Shadow'. In this story he's the complete opposite, virtually manic in his effort to warn anyone within earshot that they better run for their lives. For the most part he's brushed off, especially by those aware of his drinking past. Apparently a survivor of the earthquake must have reported on Perkins' entreaties because he himself didn't live to tell about it - he died in the earthquake as well!
Run! Run! Save Yourselves!
sol12188 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** It's when recovering alcoholic busboy Gerald Perkins, David Opatoshu, starts to see visions of the city of San Francisco being destroyed by a major earthquake that he starts running around like a chicken without a head warning anyone that he runs into to run! run! and save themselves because the big one the earthquake is coming and coming at any moment.
Of course nobody believes this nut and as he starts to over do his end of the world or San Francisco act he's told by his boss hotel manager Mr.Adams, Murray Ellerbe,to pack up his things and take a walk and forget to come back. Still not caring what people think of him Perkins runs around the city screaming his head off for everyone within the sound of his voice to evacuate the city as soon as possible or they'll all end up dead under the rubble that the giant earthquake will generate.
One thing that Perkins got wrong in his his vision or visions, there was there of them, of death and destructing is the exact time that the earthquake will strike 5:13 Am on April 18,1906 not 5:13 Pm the day before which when his earlier prediction didn't come to pass even those who at first believed him started to doubt his both sanity and mental condition. As a last resort Perkins goes to the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle and begs the paper's theater critic Mr. Stevens, Oliver McGowan, to get the news out to the public in what's to happen to them in just a scant few hours when the earthquake hits!
Mr. Stevens who at first gave some thoughts to Perkins prediction,he was so honest convincing in telling it, soon changes his mind when Perkin's estranged son,the print and copy editor, Harry (Gregg Stewert) showed up to get his review printed. Harry who has no use for his former, who didn't touched a drop in years, alcoholic dad tells Mr. Stevens what a complete head case he is and has been making these kinds of predictions for as long as he could remember. Taken away and strapped into a bed at the local hospital's mental ward Perkins heavily sedated and completely out of it finally, on the morning of April 18,1906, saw his dream or better yet nightmare come true! It's then that an 8.4 earthquake hit San Francisco at approximately 5:13 Am turning the city into a towering inferno! And with that the city by the bay was flattened to the point that it would take as much as 30 years for It to recover. And as for the some 800 people, including Gerald Perkins, killed in the earthquake who knows have many of them would have lived if they only listened to him and not have had Perkins put into a loony bin where, as history has since proved, he didn't belong!
Of course nobody believes this nut and as he starts to over do his end of the world or San Francisco act he's told by his boss hotel manager Mr.Adams, Murray Ellerbe,to pack up his things and take a walk and forget to come back. Still not caring what people think of him Perkins runs around the city screaming his head off for everyone within the sound of his voice to evacuate the city as soon as possible or they'll all end up dead under the rubble that the giant earthquake will generate.
One thing that Perkins got wrong in his his vision or visions, there was there of them, of death and destructing is the exact time that the earthquake will strike 5:13 Am on April 18,1906 not 5:13 Pm the day before which when his earlier prediction didn't come to pass even those who at first believed him started to doubt his both sanity and mental condition. As a last resort Perkins goes to the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle and begs the paper's theater critic Mr. Stevens, Oliver McGowan, to get the news out to the public in what's to happen to them in just a scant few hours when the earthquake hits!
Mr. Stevens who at first gave some thoughts to Perkins prediction,he was so honest convincing in telling it, soon changes his mind when Perkin's estranged son,the print and copy editor, Harry (Gregg Stewert) showed up to get his review printed. Harry who has no use for his former, who didn't touched a drop in years, alcoholic dad tells Mr. Stevens what a complete head case he is and has been making these kinds of predictions for as long as he could remember. Taken away and strapped into a bed at the local hospital's mental ward Perkins heavily sedated and completely out of it finally, on the morning of April 18,1906, saw his dream or better yet nightmare come true! It's then that an 8.4 earthquake hit San Francisco at approximately 5:13 Am turning the city into a towering inferno! And with that the city by the bay was flattened to the point that it would take as much as 30 years for It to recover. And as for the some 800 people, including Gerald Perkins, killed in the earthquake who knows have many of them would have lived if they only listened to him and not have had Perkins put into a loony bin where, as history has since proved, he didn't belong!
Enjoyable nonsense
planktonrules6 March 2014
"One Step Beyond" claimed in each episode that the stories you are watching are based on true accounts. However, I noticed this episode equivocated a bit and used words like 'may' and 'probably'. Well, if you ask me, it's all a lot of crap. Well written and interesting
but crap. David Opatashu plays a bellboy, Gerald Perkins. He works in a hotel San Francisco and it is 1906—the same year of the great earthquake. However, something odd happens several times—he sees and experiences the earthquake BEFORE it actually occurred. Unfortunately, this precognition didn't help as everyone thought he was a nut and didn't listen to his repeated attempts to warn everyone. Ultimately, the quake did come just as he predicted.
Aside from the fact that I don't believe any of this story, I noticed that the show repeated a common myth—that animals somehow know a quake is coming and they run long before it arrives. This isn't true, of course. But, if you ignore all the misinformation, the show is interesting and Opatashu turns in another fine performance—as he nearly always did on 1960s TV. Worth seeing but crap.
Aside from the fact that I don't believe any of this story, I noticed that the show repeated a common myth—that animals somehow know a quake is coming and they run long before it arrives. This isn't true, of course. But, if you ignore all the misinformation, the show is interesting and Opatashu turns in another fine performance—as he nearly always did on 1960s TV. Worth seeing but crap.
The Problems of Warning About Impending Disaster
theowinthrop3 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This was one of the episodes of ONE STEP BEYOND that dealt with a famous tragedy or disaster (Lincoln's Assassination, Krackatoa, the Titanic Disaster). This one was about April 18, 1906, the day the St. Andreas Fault shook and San Francisco collapsed.
David Opatashu is a bellboy at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on that date. He has a dream about the city having a major earthquake and fire. And he tries to warn everyone about it. Most people dismiss him (including his son, whom he accidentally runs into) as a drunk who is always making waves and trouble. So few if any seem to believe him, and he is locked up in a straight jacket in a cell when the earthquake strikes. We last see him helplessly tied up on bed, knowing that his warning won't even save himself.
Only one couple, who had been staying at the hotel, listen to him - and they are in a safe spot outside the city watching it burn as the episode ends.
Newland points out, as he did on the Lincoln and Titanic episodes, other odd instances that occurred - the most bizarre being a telegram that apparently reached Kansas or Missouri five hours before the earthquake warning that the city of San Francisco had a dreadful earthquake, and needed help. It was fortunate it arrived - the telegraph lines from California were subsequently broken by the earthquake so word of the disaster and the need for aid and supplies could not get out later on.
Newland could have gone on like this. John Barrymore was in San Francisco (as was Eugene Sandow, the famous strongman, and Enrico Caruso) on the night of the earthquake. Barrymore's father Maurice was in an asylum for a few years before the earthquake, but two years before Lionel was talking to Maurice and mentioned that John was on tour in San Francisco. Maurice shook his head - "How can you say that Lionel? Everyone knows that San Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake and fire!" Also odd was a religious curse that was put on the city. Joshua Crefeld, a controversial "religious" charlatan who founded a religious community in Oregon, gave a sermon in which he castigated the sinful city of San Francisco, and said that God would destroy it. This was said a month or so before the earthquake. Crefeld would later boast that his prediction of God's actions had come true.
The episode was really quite good, with Opatashu finding that having foreknowledge of an event did not mean he would be believed. It was a good entry for the series.
David Opatashu is a bellboy at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on that date. He has a dream about the city having a major earthquake and fire. And he tries to warn everyone about it. Most people dismiss him (including his son, whom he accidentally runs into) as a drunk who is always making waves and trouble. So few if any seem to believe him, and he is locked up in a straight jacket in a cell when the earthquake strikes. We last see him helplessly tied up on bed, knowing that his warning won't even save himself.
Only one couple, who had been staying at the hotel, listen to him - and they are in a safe spot outside the city watching it burn as the episode ends.
Newland points out, as he did on the Lincoln and Titanic episodes, other odd instances that occurred - the most bizarre being a telegram that apparently reached Kansas or Missouri five hours before the earthquake warning that the city of San Francisco had a dreadful earthquake, and needed help. It was fortunate it arrived - the telegraph lines from California were subsequently broken by the earthquake so word of the disaster and the need for aid and supplies could not get out later on.
Newland could have gone on like this. John Barrymore was in San Francisco (as was Eugene Sandow, the famous strongman, and Enrico Caruso) on the night of the earthquake. Barrymore's father Maurice was in an asylum for a few years before the earthquake, but two years before Lionel was talking to Maurice and mentioned that John was on tour in San Francisco. Maurice shook his head - "How can you say that Lionel? Everyone knows that San Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake and fire!" Also odd was a religious curse that was put on the city. Joshua Crefeld, a controversial "religious" charlatan who founded a religious community in Oregon, gave a sermon in which he castigated the sinful city of San Francisco, and said that God would destroy it. This was said a month or so before the earthquake. Crefeld would later boast that his prediction of God's actions had come true.
The episode was really quite good, with Opatashu finding that having foreknowledge of an event did not mean he would be believed. It was a good entry for the series.
The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!
wes-connors14 March 2010
It's April 17, 1906, and San Francisco bellhop David Opatoshu (as Gerald Perkins) has visions of an impending disaster. "Earthquake!" Opatoshu shouts, "Run for your lives!" But, no one will believe the recovering alcoholic. They think Mr. Opatoshu has fallen off the wagon, and is suffering from delirium. When hotel waiter Olan Soule (as Harris) is caught siphoning booze from a guest's bottle, he frames Opatoshu for the offense. This gets Opatoshu fired.
More bad befalls Opatoshu, and, on April 18, 1906...
This routine was used for the "Titanic" disaster, and others; it depends upon a common story device, but is nicely-researched, staged, and performed. Opatoshu is very good as the misfortunate bellhop, and Mr. Soule contributes a tasty featured role - the two character actors could have carried a hotel set series on their own.
***** Earthquake (1/12/60) John Newland ~ David Opatoshu, Olan Soule, Harry Ellerbe, Martin Garralaga
More bad befalls Opatoshu, and, on April 18, 1906...
This routine was used for the "Titanic" disaster, and others; it depends upon a common story device, but is nicely-researched, staged, and performed. Opatoshu is very good as the misfortunate bellhop, and Mr. Soule contributes a tasty featured role - the two character actors could have carried a hotel set series on their own.
***** Earthquake (1/12/60) John Newland ~ David Opatoshu, Olan Soule, Harry Ellerbe, Martin Garralaga
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