Rare Objects - Recap

Gangster August “Augie” Kolodney is eating alone at an Italian restaurant. Not only is he eating alone, but there are no other customers. He calls over the waiter, Blockman, who is clearly nervous but simply claims that it’s a slow night and the regular waiter is home sick. Augie tells Blockman to go check on a car parked outside and get the license plates. The waiter returns and gives him the last three numbers, and Augie recognizes it. He gives Blockman $200 for his kids because their father is a dummy, and Blockman thanks him by name. Augie approaches him and demands to know how he knew his name, and why he was turning away customers to keep Augie alone. The two men burst in and open fire on Augie, wounding him in the shoulder. His driver leaves without him and Augie manages to get away on foot.



Augie goes to his apartment where his girlfriend, Molly Mitchell, reluctantly lets him in. He asks why she passed on dinner, and he figures that she knew about the contract on him. Augie tells her to get out and then calls his lieutenant, Tony, and asks if he knew about the hit. When Tony denies it, Augie tells him to get a doctor, some hoods, and a car to pick him up.



Tony takes Augie to an illegal doctor who treats the bullet wound and warns that it was close to a fatal wound. As Augie pays him off, the doctor says that Augie is dying of stress and he needs to get away from it all and retire. The gangster says that his rivals would still find him and kill him no matter where he went. Augie admits that he wants out despite that, and is considering suicide. The doctor considers and then gives Augie the address of a man he claims can give the gangster what he wants, but warns that it won’t come cheap.



Augie contacts the man, Dr. Glendon, and goes to see him at his palatial manor. Glendon escorts Augie to his study and boasts of his collection of one-of-a-kind art pieces. Augie objects to all the secrecy, but Glendon says that it’s for his sake. He then interviews Augie, who says that he’s an investor retiring due to ill health. Glendon smiles knowingly and explains that knows that Augie is gangster, and “ill health” is a euphemism for assassination. Augie asks what he plans to do about it, and Glendon promises him a long life free of fear and care, and uninterrupted physical comfort. In return, he gets everything that Augie owns. Augie insists that he’s just a hardworking hood, but Glendon says that he’s the biggest, toughest gangster, and also the most vulnerable.



Glendon pours Augie a glass of rare wine and serves it in a one-of-a-kind Etruscan goblet. The gangster wants time to think it over, but Glendon warns that Augie’s rival, Pinelli, has engineered several attempts on Augie’s life. When the gangster asks for a week to think it over, Glendon says that his chances of survival decrease with every day. As an example, he reveals that Tony has met with Pinelli. Augie demands to know how Glendon knows everything about him, but then starts to feel ill.

Glendon and his butler, Joseph, offer to let Augie rest upstairs. As they go upstairs, Glendon explains that he was trained as a medical doctor but went into research. He then says that Augie is having a normal reaction to the medication he put in his wine, and has given him a tranquilizer. Glendon explains that he will give Augie a drug that revitalizes glands, doubling the human lifespan, and that his life has been spent collecting one-of-a-kind items.

They escort him Augie into a hidden chamber filled with prison cells. In each one is a historical figure that mysteriously disappeared: Grand Duchess Anastasia, Judge Crater, Roald Amundson, Adolph Hitler, and Amelia Earhart. Each one is living in comfort and hasn’t aged since their disappearance. Glendon then has his butler place Augie in his own cell and assures the gangster that he will live in comfort and safety... for a very long time. As they leave, Glendon has his butler place Augie’s car in the museum with Hitler’s, and is satisfied with a good day’s work obtaining another collector’s item.



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