Category: 1960s

Twilight Zone – He’s Alive

★★★★★ January 24, 1963 Season 4 Episode 4

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This episode is not subtle…there is no reading between the lines in this one. Serling lays it out on the table for everyone to see. Dennis Hopper plays Peter Vollmer who is a disenfranchised young man and a  xenophobic would be Nazi trying to gain a following. The episode was not the best of the Twilight Zone but it packs a punch and as Serling said…it probably was the most important episode of the Twilight Zone.

Peter Vollmer is struggling to gain followers for his hate causes. He then starts getting advice from a shadowy figure who we cannot see…until later on. The advice he gets is all too familiar unfortnately…it reeks of hatred, bigotry, and ignornace. How to manipulate the situations around him to gain followers for his movement.The mystery man leads Peter along and when he is uncovered it is shocking. In 1963 WWII was still fresh in people’s minds 

From IMDB….Rod Serling considered this episode, which he wrote and which examines the subject of Nazism (National Socialism), to be the most important of the series.

The episode’s director Stuart Rosenberg would later direct Dennis Hopper in the classic film Cool Hand Luke 

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

Portrait of a bush-league Führer named Peter Vollmer, a sparse little man who feeds off his self-delusions and finds himself perpetually hungry for want of greatness in his diet. And like some goose-stepping predecessors he searches for something to explain his hunger, and to rationalize why a world passes him by without saluting. That something he looks for and finds is in a sewer. In his own twisted and distorted lexicon he calls it faith, strength, truth. But in just a moment Peter Vollmer will ply his trade on another kind of corner, a strange intersection in a shadowland called the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Peter Vollmer is the leader of a small neo-Nazi movement in a large American city. He’s having trouble getting his message across and seems to alienate people every time he opens his mouth. After a particularly bad rally, he hears a voice and sees a man standing in the shadows. He begins to advise Peter on what to say and how he can structure his message to make it more appealing to his particular audience. Peter has success but his mentor begins pushing him to extremes. There is a limit however and there is a voice of reason in the mob that seemed so willing to follow him

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Where will he go next, this phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare – Chicago? Los Angeles? Miami, Florida? Vincennes, Indiana? Syracuse, New York? Anyplace, everyplace, where there’s hate, where there’s prejudice, where there’s bigotry. He’s alive. He’s alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others. Remember it when you hear a name called, a minority attacked, any blind, unreasoning assault on a people or any human being. He’s alive because through these things we keep him alive.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Dennis Hopper … Peter Vollmer
Ludwig Donath … Ernst Ganz
Paul Mazursky … Frank
Howard Caine … Nick
Barnaby Hale … Stanley
Jay Adler … Gibbons
Wolfe Barzell … Proprietor
Bernard Fein … Heckler
Curt Conway … Adolf Hitler
Edward Astran … Audience Member (uncredited)
Sam Bagley … Audience Member (uncredited)
Chet Brandenburg … Audience Member (uncredited)
Paul Bryar … Cop (uncredited)
Bud Cokes … Audience Member (uncredited)
Joe Evans … Audience Member (uncredited)
Bobby Gilbert … Man With Cat (uncredited)
Buck Harrington … Audience Member (uncredited)
Ed Haskett … Audience Member (uncredited)
Robert McCord … Cop (uncredited)
William Meader … Brawling Townsman (uncredited)
Jim Michael … Guard (uncredited)
Sol Murgi … Audience Member (uncredited)
William H. O’Brien … Audience Member (uncredited)
Jose Portugal … Ice Cream Man (uncredited)
Paul Ravel … Audience Member (uncredited)
Bill Zuckert … Detective (uncredited)

Mike Nesmith (1942-2021) and the Monkees influence

I had something else planned to post but I found out that Mike Nesmith passed away. Nesmith was a big inspiration to me. There is no question…Nesmith would have made it without the Monkees…he was a talented writer, actor, producer, novelist and a very good Texas guitar player.  He wrote some great country rock songs, Elephant Parts, and even a hit for Linda Ronstadt’s band The Stone Poneys…Different Drum.

While watching the reruns of the Monkees I bugged my mom to buy me a green wool hat with buttons but you can’t buy them off the shelf. She got me a green stocking cap…it wasn’t the same but I was happy.  When the Monkees are mentioned some people cringe but they still have a place in my 5-year-old heart…plus how many bands can say that Jimi Hendrix opened up for them? Although that might be the worst pairing ever.

I’m not saying they deserve to be remembered with the best bands ever. Not at all but they do need to be recognized for their influence on a couple of generations. They influenced a lot of kids to form bands…mostly because of their weekly prime-time television show and ensuing hit singles. In the 80s they had a big comeback with a tour and massive airplay on MTV… I got to see them then…without Nesmith though.

They were a lot of fun. I thought WOW… I must be in a band one day. Little did I know that being in a band was not living in a cool place at the beach and having adventures at every turn…not to mention everyone getting along…it just doesn’t happen that way…but it is a special feeling being in a band with an us against them attitude and a great growing experience.

After I went through the Monkees faze I discovered the Beatles, The Who, Stones, Kinks…anything British but I still have a soft spot for some of the old Monkees songs.

The Monkees basically took A Hard Days Night movie humor and made a television show around a life of a mid-sixties rock band. Kids wanted to form bands after seeing them romp around the screen with girls…who wouldn’t want that gig? Michael Stipe from REM has said  he was influenced by them.

They were not allowed to play on their first couple of albums…only sing…The Monkees were put together by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for Screen Gems with two real musicians in the band…Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork… Micky Dolenz (he did sing in cover bands before The Monkees) and Davy Jones could sing and act…. and Mickey quickly learned drums.

When news came out that they didn’t play on their albums they were roundly criticized in the 1960s. They fought Don Kershner who controlled what they sang…. and won… The funny thing is many sixties pop bands didn’t play on their records and the Monkees actually started to play their own instruments on their third album (Headquarters)  and writing some songs for every album afterward.

In the second season of their tv show they started to gain more control. Some of those last episodes are very pot influenced…especially the episode called “The Frodis Caper”… It is surreal and broke the fourth wall…the second season is worth a watch…all of them are fun but the 1st season is more formulaic.

I still like many songs by them…anything written by Michael Nesmith (famous also for Elephant Parts), Pleasant Valley Sunday, Randy Scouse Git, Steppin Stone and Saturday’s Child.

All in all, they ended up singing and playing on some of the best-known sixties pop-rock hits.

I’ll just add one more thing…he Monkees belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

….

Twilight Zone – Valley Of The Shadow

★★★★★ January 17, 1963 Season 4 Episode 3

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

One of the thought-provoking episodes of the 4th season. I like the story and the pace for the hour long format is brisk. They cover a lot of ground in this episode. Ed Nelson as Philip Redfield plays this role with passion. He is traveling through back roads and runs through a small nothing little town called Peaceful Valley.

He notices something different and the townspeople can do things that are impossible…make a dog disappear, bring that same dog back from the dead, and invisible force fields. He finds out the history of the town from the leaders and wants them to share this with the world.

If you had the technology to end poverty, sickness, and even death in cases…do you use it? If you do, you risk someone getting the technology and using it for evil things. Are humans outside of this peaceful town ready for that much power? Dorn doesn’t think so…and I don’t either.

. Al the actors do a great job. David Opatoshu as the “town” leader Dorn plays it with compassion and common sense. You will know James Doohan in a minor role…still a few years away from Scotty in Star Trek.

Watch this one…it could have been a great sci-fi movie.

The title comes from the King James Version of the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

This show was written by Rod Serling and Charles Beaumont

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

You’ve seen them. Little towns, tucked away far from the main roads. You’ve seen them, but have you thought about them? What do the people in these places do? Why do they stay? Philip Redfield never thought about them. If his dog hadn’t gone after that cat, he would have driven through Peaceful Valley and put it out of his mind forever. But he can’t do that now, because whether he knows it or not his friend’s shortcut has led him right into the capital of the Twilight Zone.

Summary

On the back roads, trying to find his way back home, reporter Philip Redfield and his dog, Rollie, stop in the small town of Peaceful Valley, for gas and food, and directions. When Rollie runs off in pursuit of a cat, a young girl points a device at the dog, and he disappears. Though her father brings Rollie back, Philip finds it all very strange. When Phillip tries to leave town, his car crashes into an invisible barrier, preventing his departure. Shaken up, the town’s mayor, Dorn, reveals their secret, and gives Philip the choice; join them or die

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

You’ve seen them. Little towns, tucked away far from the main roads. You’ve seen them, but have you thought about them? Have you wondered what the people do in such places, why they stay? Philip Redfield thinks about them now and he wonders, but only very late at night, when he’s between wakefulness and sleep in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
David Opatoshu … Dorn
Ed Nelson … Philip Redfield
Natalie Trundy … Ellen Marshall
Jacques Aubuchon … Connolly
Dabbs Greer … Evans
James Doohan … Father
Morgan Brittany … Girl (as Suzanne Cupito)
Henry Beckman … Townsman
Bart Burns Bart Burns … Townsman
King Calder … Townsman
Pat O’Hara Pat O’Hara … Townsman
Sandy Kenyon … The Attendant

Gary U.S. Bonds – Quarter To Three

I must admit I never heard of Bonds until Bruce Springsteen wrote a song for him called This Little Girl on Bond’s 1981 Dedication album.

Bruce covered this song in the seventies live. One performance in paticular was outstanding… the 1979 No Nukes concert encore (at the bottom).

I like Gary’s version a lot because of the party atmosphere which contrasts to the smoother records at the time.

After listening to the lyrics…I wondered who Daddy G was…Daddy G is Gene Barge, tenor saxman in an instrumental group called The Church Street Five, which released a song called “A Night With Daddy G” that reached #111 in February 1961.

Bonds’ real name is Gary Anderson. His label boss, Frank Guida, changed it to “U.S. Bonds” for his first single, New Orleans, as a play on the posters asking Americans to “buy U.S. savings bonds.” Pretty clever, but too many people, including many DJs, got it wrong and thought it was the name of a group. His next single, “Quarter To Three,” was initially issued as U.S. Bonds but soon changed to Gary U.S. Bonds, along with his subsequent releases.

The writing credits on this song go to Bonds and the three men who wrote the instrumental on which it is based…A Night With Daddy G.  They would be Gene Barge (Daddy G), Frank Guida, and Guida’s engineer and songwriting partner Joe Royster.

Daddy G was a popular guy…he got another mention a few months later when he showed up in the lyric to The Dovells song “Bristol Stomp,” where they sing about how they “rocked with Daddy G.” That song went to #2 in 1961.

The song went to #1 in the Billboard 100, #3 on the R&B Charts, and #7 in the UK in 1961.

From Songfacts

In this song, Gary U.S. Bonds sings about staying up till quarter to three in the morning, dancing to the swinging sax of Daddy G.

Like Bonds, The Church Street Five were signed to Legrand Records, owned by former record store owner Frank Guida. Bonds wrote a lyric for the song and recorded it (with Daddy G on saxophone) as “Quarter To Three.” In June 1961, it went to #1, where it stayed for two weeks.

Bruce Springsteen, a big fan of Bonds, played this at many of his concerts in the ’70s before and after his rise to stardom. When Springsteen played The Palladium in New York City on October 29, 1976, he brought Bonds on stage to perform the song. By this time, Bonds had long fallen out of favor (his last Hot 100 hit was in 1962 with “Copy Cat”) and stuck on the cabaret circuit. Springsteen worked at a breakneck pace for the next few years, but found time after the release on his 1980 album The River to work with Bonds, resulting in a successful 1981 comeback album for Bonds called Dedication.

Springsteen wrote a lot more songs than he could record, and three of them went to Bonds: “This Little Girl,” “Your Love” and the title track. Springsteen and members of his E Street band also played on the album and worked on the production. “This Little Girl” was a hit, going to #11 in the US and reviving Bonds’ career. When Springsteen brought Bonds on stage a few times in 1981, the crowds were far more familiar with him. In 1982, Springsteen and his band worked on another album for Bonds: On the Line.

Bonds sued Chubby Checker in 1962, claiming he stole “Quarter To Three” for his song “Dancin’ Party.” The case was settled out of court.

Quarter To Three

Don’t you know that I danced
I danced till a quarter to three
With the help, last night, of Daddy G
He was swingin on the sax like a nobody could
And I was dancin’ all over the room
Oh, don’t you know the people were dancin’
Like they were mad
It was the swingin’est band they had ever had
It was the swingin’est song that could ever be
It was a night with Daddy G
Let me tell you now
I never had it so good
Yeah and I know you never could
Until you get hip with that jive
And take a band like the Church Street Five
Oh don’t you know that I danced
I danced till a quarter to three
With the help last night of Daddy G
Everybody was as happy as they could be
And they were swingin with Daddy G
Blow Daddy

Let me tell you now
I never had it so good
Yeah and I know you never could
Until you get hip with that jive
And take a band like the Church Street Five
Oh don’t you know that I danced
I danced till a quarter to three
With the help last night of Daddy G
He was swingin on the sax like nobody could
And I was dancin all over the room
Oh don’t you know the
Dance, do bee wa dah
Dance, do bee wah dah
You can dance, do bee wah dah
You can dance, dance, dance

Twilight Zone – The Thirty-Five Fathom Grave

★★★1/2 January 10, 1963 Season 4 Episode 2

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This is the second episode in the new hour long format. This story has some added padding…a direct consequence of the hour-long format of this episode.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t good. The story is creepy but they visited this theme before in the second season opener King Nine Will Not Return.

The cast is excellent. Mike Kellin plays Chief Bell  who is having survivors guilt that brings to mind PTSD. You find out later that it’s more than that. Simon Oakland is Captain Beecham and gives a very realistic performance as Oakland does in whatever he is in. The most famous actor in this one…at least to my generation is Bill Bixby. He only plays a supporting role and it’s interesting to see him as a younger actor.

Basically it’s a great story but too much padding but…very watchable.

This is from IMDB…it’s a piece of trivia that is very eerie: Mike Kellin portraying the main character, Chief Bell, died 26 August 1983, the ship used for exterior shots in the episode was decommissioned 11 August 1983. Simon Oakland, who portrayed the captain, died three days later on 29 August 1983.

Also this explains why this episode drags a bit: Season four of Twilight Zone is the only one of the five seasons that ran its episodes in hour long time slots rather then the conventional half-hour format. The Thirty-Fathom Grave was written by Rod Serling before the network and producers decided to try out the series in the new lengthier format. Since the episode had already been optioned for season four it was necessary for Rod Serling to re-write and expand the episode to fit the new hour slot. Therefore several new scenes had to be added or padded to fill up time. As a result, this episode received mostly negative feedback based on its slow pace and unnecessary dialogue.

This episode would have been so much better at the original 30 minutes.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

Incident one hundred miles off the coast of Guadalcanal. Time: the present. The United States naval destroyer on what has been a most uneventful cruise. In a moment, they’re going to send a man down thirty fathoms and check on a noise maker – someone or something tapping on metal. You may or may not read the results in a naval report, because Captain Beecham and his crew have just set a course that will lead this ship and everyone on it into the Twilight Zone.

Summary

As a U.S. Navy destroyer cruises near Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, its sonar detects muted but constant hammering on metal undersea. The eerie sounds emanate from a submarine on the ocean floor, apparently there since World War II. The ship’s chief boatswain’s mate becomes very nervous, having served aboard that sub – and he was its sole survivor.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Small naval engagement, the month of April, 1963. Not to be found in any historical annals. Look for this one filed under ‘H’ for haunting in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Mike Kellin…Chief Bell
Simon Oakland…Captain Beecham
David Sheiner…Doc
John Considine…McClure
Bill Bixby…OOD
Conlan Carter…Ensign
Forrest Compton…ASW Officer
Henry Scott…Jr. OOD
Anthony D. Call…Lee Helmsman
Charles Kuenstle…Sonar Operator
Derrik Lewis…Helmsman
Vincent Baggetta…Crewman
Louie Elias…Crewman

Band – Chest Fever

The great Garth Hudson gives us a wonderful intro to this song. In live shows, the song became a Hudson showcase, with him improvising wildly on organ (and later, on synthesizer) before cutting into the song. This improvisation came to be known as “The Genetic Method.” .Eventually the improvisation quoted Bach’s “Fugue in D Minor” and followed into the song’s main riff. Only part of the improvisation was included on the actual album cut.

Garth Hudson was the Band’s secret weapon according to Robertson. Back when they were backing Ronnie Hawkins….they asked the classically trained Hudson to join them. His parents didn’t like the idea but… Hudson agreed to join the band on two conditions: that Hawkins buy him a Lowrey organ, and that he be paid an extra $10 a week to give music lessons to the other Hawks. After that he was in The Band.

This gem came from Music From Big Pink in 1968. The song is credited to Robbie Robertson. Levon Helm said that he and Richard Manual wrote the lyrics to the song.

I was talking to another blogger the other day about the Band. They lived up to their name more than about any other band. Not only did they all contribute to songs…not writing…but all of them did contribute some but they all could play each others instruments.

Music From Big Pink was a huge influence on other artists back then and to this day. George Harrison and Eric Clapton were two that were influenced by it. Eric even had ideas of joining the Band. You can hear it in music at that time. Psychedelic was out and more Americana or roots music was in. The album’s influence far outweighed it’s chart position.

The album peaked at #18 in Canada and #30 in the Billboard Album Chart. It has to be on the list of best debut albums of all time.

Robbie Robertson: When Garth played the intro to “Chest Fever,” which he called “The Genetic Method,” I was reminded there was no other keyboard player in rock ’n’ roll who had his improvisational abilities and imagination. 

Robbie Robertson: “It’s kind of a hard love song,” “But it’s a reversal on that old rock & roll thing where they’re always telling the girl, ‘He’s a rebel, he’ll never be any good.’ This time, it’s the other way around.” 

From Songfacts

The Band’s guitarist, Robbie Robertson, felt he needed a counterbalance for the album’s centerpiece, “The Weight.” He wrote the music for the song solely for that purpose.

Robertson, drummer Levon Helm, and pianist Richard Manuel improvised lyrics (Robertson often calls them meaningless) over the course of the song. Those lyrics remain unchanged on the track, although they loosely tell a story of a man thrown aside by a hard-drinking, fast-talking woman who subsequently literally becomes sick with love for her.

This was the opening song for the Band’s set at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. 

Chest Fever

I know she’s a tracker
Any style that would back her
They say she’s a chooser
But I just can’t refuse her
She was just there, but then she can’t be here no more

And as my mind unwheels
I feel the freeze down in my knees
But just before she leaves, she receives

She’s been down in the dunes
And she’s dealt with the goons
Now she drinks from a bitter cup
I’m trying to get her to give it up
She was just here, I fear she can’t be there no more

And as my mind unwheels
I feel the freeze down in my knees
But just before she leaves, she receives

It’s long, long when she’s gone
I get weary holding on
Now I’m coldly fading fast
I don’t think I’m gonna last very much longer

She’s stoned said the Swede,
And the moon calf agreed
But I’m like a viper in shock
With my eyes in the clock
She was just there somewhere and here I am again

And as my mind unweaves
I feel the freeze down in my knees
But just before she leaves, she receives

Twilight Zone – In His Image

★★★★1/2 January 3, 1963 Season 4 Episode 1

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

In His Image is a great sci-fi episode that has more twists and turns than a cheap garden hose. George Grizzard plays both title characters and does a great job of going through a book of emotions. You get a shock to start out the episode and the changes keep coming at you. It explores a familiar theme in the Twilight Zone of “no one knows who I am.” The difference is this time, with the hour format, it is fully explored.

This episode is one of the best of the 4th season. It takes a little time to get accustomed to the hour long format. You need to watch the fourth season with a different frame of mind. This episode would have been almost impossible for the 30 minute format. In His Image keeps you guessing on what is going on. I would like to expand on this but I would give it away.

In His Image is exciting, suspenseful and thought-provoking. If this was to be a representative example of the hour-long shows, the series had nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, such was not the case.

First of 4th series episodes, airing from January to May 1963. These episodes were one hour in length. CBS executives decided to switch the show’s time, and for this single season, the longer timeslot allowed for hour-long episodes

This show was written by Charles Beaumont and Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

What you have just witnessed could be the end of a particularly terrifying nightmare. It isn’t – it’s the beginning. Although Alan Talbot doesn’t know it, he’s about to enter a strange new world, too incredible to be real, too real to be a dream. It’s called The Twilight Zone.

Summary

A young man grapples with an urge to kill and confusion about his origins. After a shocking scene on a subway platform he goes to his fiancé’s apartment and  takes her and visit his old home town. When they get there nothing is the same and he is not known.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

In a way, it can be said that Walter Ryder succeeded in his life’s ambition, even though the man he created was, after all, himself. There may be easier ways to self-improvement, but sometimes it happens that the shortest distance between two points is a crooked line – through the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
George Grizzard … Alan Talbot / Walter Ryder, Jr.
Gail Kobe Gail Kobe … Jessica Connelly
Katherine Squire … The Old Woman (as Katharine Squire)
Wallace Rooney … Man
George Petrie … Driver
James Seay … Sheriff
Jamie Forster … Hotel Clerk
Sherry Granato … Girl

Twilight Zone Season 3 Review

I want to thank you all who have stuck with me through this long haul. We are now finished with the 3rd season! The next season will be quick with only 18 hour long episodes. If you want… please comment on what you think I got wrong, right, or just your favorite episodes.

Season three was not as consistent as seasons 1 and 2 but it still contained some classics such as To Serve Man, A Game Of Pool, The Midnight Sun, Deaths-Head Revisited,  Nothing In The Dark, The Dummy, and more.

By the close of the third season, The Twilight Zone had made cultural inroads beyond its status as a mere television series. The show started to fit into popular culture, the twilight zone was a phrase perfectly suited to describe any number of strange situations.

Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State, in a speech to the Senate, referred to the Twilight Zone in diplomacy, Serling noted. When that happened, I thought, My gosh, we’ve arrived! During the 1962 California gubernatorial primaries, Governor Pat Brown said he was looking forward to the post-election TV logs reading, Richard Nixon Returns to Twilight Zone.

In the spring of 1962, The Twilight Zone was late in finding a sponsor for its fourth season. As a result, CBS programmed a new show, Fair Exchange, into its time slot for the fall. Suddenly and without prior warning, The Twilight Zone was off the air.

After CBS dropped The Twilight Zone, Serling accepted a teaching post at Antioch College, effective September, 1962, through January, 1963. CBS did of course pick the series back up after a while. The series renewal made no change in this decision. Serling was tired of The Twilight Zone and burned out. Over the next two seasons, his involvement in the show would be greatly decreased. He would still host the show and contribute his share of scripts, but his input on the details of production would be minimal. Those decisions would be made by others.

CBS ordered only 18 episodes for the 4th season but…they would now be an hour long in format. With Serling’s less involvement combined with the hour format…the shows quality declined in this season. It would somewhat bounce back in the 5th season.

Season 3
Total Episode Date Episode Stars
66 1 Sept 15, 1961 Two 4
67 2 Sept 22, 1961 The Arrival 4
68 3 Sept 29, 1961 The Shelter 5
69 4 Oct 6, 1961 The Passersby 4
70 5 Oct 13, 1961 A Game Of Pool 5
71 6 Oct 20, 1961 The Mirror 3.5
72 7 Oct 27, 1961 The Grave 4.5
73 8 Nov 3, 1961 It’s A Good Life 5
74 9 Nov 10, 1961 Deaths-Head Revisited 5
75 10 Nov 17, 1961 The Midnight Sun 5
76 11 Nov 24, 1961 Still Valley 3.5
77 12 Dec 1, 1961 The Jungle 4
78 13 Dec 15, 1961 Once Upon A Time 3.5
79 14 Dec 22, 1961 Five Characters In Search Of An Exit 5
80 15 Dec 29, 1961 A Quality Of Mercy 4
81 16 Jan 5, 1962 Nothing In The Dark 5
82 17 Jan 12, 1962 One More Pallbearer 4
83 18 Jan 19, 1962 Dead Man’s Shoes 4
84 19 Jan 26, 1962 The Hunt 4.5
85 20 Feb 2, 1962 Showdown With Rance McGrew 3
86 21 Feb 9, 1962 Kick The Can 4.5
87 22 Feb 16, 1962 A Piano In The House 4
88 23 Feb 23, 1962 The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank 4
89 24 Mar 2, 1962 To Serve Man 5
90 25 Mar 9, 1962 The Fugitive 3.5
91 26 Mar 16, 1962 Little Girl Lost 5
92 27 Mar 23, 1962 Person Or Persons Unknown 4.5
93 28 Mar 30, 1962 The Little People 4.5
94 29 April 6, 1962 Four O’Clock 2
95 30 April 13, 1962 Hocus-Pocus And Frisby 4
96 31 April 20, 1962 The Trade-Ins 4.5
97 32 April 27, 1962 The Gift 3.5
98 33 May 4, 1962 The Dummy 5
99 34 May 11, 1962 Young Man’s Fancy 4
100 35 May 18, 1962 I Sing The Body Electric  4
101 36 May 25, 1962 Cavender Is Coming  2
102 37 June 1, 1962 Changing Of The Guard 5
Season
3		 Review

…

Twilight Zone – Changing Of The Guard

★★★★★ June 1, 1962 Season 3 Episode 37

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

An excellent episode and a great way to close out the 3rd season. Donald Pleasence plays Professor Ellis Fowler and does an excellent job as he always does. He was only 43 years old when he played this part. Pleasance’s old age make-up is subtle and completely convincing.

Preparing to leave for Christmas vacation, Professor Fowler is informed by the Headmaster that, after fifty-one years of teaching, he is to be forcibly retired. Fowler is devastated by this news and begins to brood. He now believes his life was utterly without worth and thinks about suicide. The episode is poignant and makes you wonder how many lives we have touched without realizing it. This one made it into my earlier top 10 episodes of the Twilight Zone.

This is an episode that I think teachers will like.

Buck Houghton Producer: Pleasance was an idea of the casting directors, Id never heard of him,  Boy, damn the expense; we brought him from England. He was just wonderful in it. Hes a very nice man. I have a feeling it was his first time in this country professionally, and while he was a thorough going professional with a huge experience in stage and everything else, he was a little apprehensive of this whole experience because he arrived on a given day and five days later it was all going to be over. So he had a lot to absorb. But Bob Miller is very together and gave him confidence and we were off and running.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

Professor Ellis Fowler, a gentle, bookish guide to the young, who is about to discover that life still has certain surprises, and that the campus of the Rock Spring School for Boys lies on a direct path to another institution, commonly referred to as the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Professor Ellis Fowler has been teaching at the Rock Spring School for Boys for a great many years. In fact, he taught the grandfather of one of his current students. Just before Christmas however, he’s told by the headmaster that his contract will not be renewed for the new year. Despondent, he returns home convinced that his life has been wasted and decides to end it all. Before he can do so however, his is visited by some very special students from the past who give him cause to reconsider.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Professor Ellis Fowler, teacher, who discovered rather belatedly something of his own value. A very small scholastic lesson, from the campus of the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Donald Pleasence … Professor Ellis Fowler
Liam Sullivan … Headmaster
Philippa Bevans … Mrs. Landers
Tom Lowell … Artie Beechcroft
Russell Horton … Bartlett
Buddy Hart … Boy
Darryl Richard … Thompson

Beatles – Dig A Pony

No, this is not the strongest song in the Beatles catalog or even the strongest on the Let It Be album but…I love that guitar riff! That riff is one of the most unorthodox riffs I’ve heard. Only the mind of John Lennon could have come up with that part. The same man that brought us the riffs of Daytripper and And Your Bird Can Sing.

The part that hooked me as a kid was the guitar riff as I’ve said and the I, I, I, I Iyeeeeeeeee that starts it out. The other strong part of the song is the chorus “All I Want Is You!” “Everything has got to be just like you want it to!” and right after that the riff comes in again. I also like John’s raw vocals in this one. Also…it’s hard not to like “I roll a stoney. “The orginal title was All I Want Is You.

John Lennon would often string words together to create nonsensical phrases for his lyrics. When asked about this song he said it refers to no specific person and the lyrics are “nonsense,” a lyrical technique he also attributes to Bob Dylan songs. John said he made it up as he went along.

The lyrics were brought up in the movie “Imagine” released in 1988.

This part below was in the Imagine movie.

In a clip after the Beatles broke up, a young man…obviousy on hard times ended up in John’s garden. The fellow’s name was Curt Claudio. He looked a bit lost and scarred. He latched onto John Lennon and his music, believing that he had some sort of connection to John and he traveled to England to find out if he really did. He was found sleeping on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park, John and Yoko’s home in Ascot. Claudio thought John was speaking to him through his songs. He mentions lyrics to Dig a Pony.

John took the time to go out and talk to Curt and very kindly told him that he was just a guy too, and that while Curt thought that John’s songs were written with Curt in mind, they were really just written from personal, everyday experiences. He then invited him in the house for something to eat.

Video below

Dig A Pony

I dig a pony
Well, you can celebrate anything you want
Yes, you can celebrate anything you want
Oh

I do a road hog
Well, you can penetrate any place you go
Yes, you can penetrate any place you go
I told you so

All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because

I pick a moon dog
Well, you can radiate everything you are
Yes, you can radiate everything you are
Oh now

I roll a stoney
Well, you can imitate everyone you know
Yes, you can imitate everyone you know
I told you so

All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because (woo)

Oh now
I feel the wind blow
Well, you can indicate everything you see
Yes, you can indicate everything you see
Oh now

I load a lorry
Well, you can syndicate any boat you row
Yeah, you can syndicate any boat you row
I told you so

All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because

Twilight Zone – Cavender Is Coming 

★★ May 18, 1962 Season 3 Episode 36

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This is not a good episode. Cavender Is Coming has one redeeming quality…and her name is Carol Burnett. The episode borrows from It’s A Wonderful Lie and season one Twilight Zone episode Mr. Beavis in particular.  This episode was meant to serve as a pilot, the same as Mr. Beavis did…and like Mr. Beavis it didn’t make it as a series. The episode is more like a sitcom than a Twilight Zone and it is the only TZ with a laugh track.

As the guardian angel, Jesse White does the best he can but the problem is with the writing. Carol Burnett could ony do some much also. It is one of the lowest rated episodes on IMDB and in various polls. It’s not my my lowest rated episode…that is coming in the 4th season. It does have it’s funny parts but it doesn’t feel like a Twilight Zone.

In writing Cavender Is Coming, Serling used material from Burnett’s own life for certain sequences. At the beginning of the episode, Agnes is employed as an usherette. This was actually taken from one of Burnetts personal experiences.

The first day she went to work as an usherette, the manager ran through a list of silent signals. Three fingers slapped on the wrist meant take a thirty-minute break. Opening your mouth like a fish and pointing to it meant you were thirsty. And when the manager poked his finger into the center of his palm, that meant he wanted a girl to stand in the center of the lobby to direct the patrons to the available seating.

One of the girls worked up her own signal in reply to the bosss gestures. She poured a bag of buttered popcorn on his head and told him, That means I quit.

One good thing is the original laugh track has been removed in syndication.

Buck Houghton (Producer of the Twilight Zone) on the laugh track:  That was CBS’s idea, because they were in a pilot mood and they wanted to get a Jesse White thing going. I refused to go to the dubbing session with the canned laughter man there. I thought it was a dreadful idea.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

Submitted for your approval, the case of one Miss Agnes Grep, put on Earth with two left feet, an overabundance of thumbs and a propensity for falling down manholes. In a moment she will be up to her jaw in miracles, wrought by apprentice angel Harmon Cavender, intent on winning his wings. And, though it’s a fact that both of them should have stayed in bed, they will tempt all the fates by moving into the cold, gray dawn of the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Inept guardian angel Harmon Cavender is given a chance to finally earn his wings by helping an unconventional big city woman, the young, awkward Agnes Grep, who has just been fired. Cavender doesn’t ask her wishes, instead he puts her in posh clothes, provides her with a fortune, and moves her uptown to a fancy Park Avenue address

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

A word to the wise now to any and all who might suddenly feel the presence of a cigar-smoking helpmate who takes bankbooks out of thin air. If you’re suddenly aware of any such celestial aids, it means that you’re under the beneficent care of one Harmon Cavender, guardian angel. And this message from the Twilight Zone: Lotsa luck!

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Jesse White … Harmon Cavender
Carol Burnett … Agnes Grep
Howard Smith … Polk
Frank Behrens … Stout
Roy N. Sickner … Bus Driver
Sandra Gould … Woman
Donna Douglas … Woman #1
Adrienne Marden … Woman #2
Maurice Dallimore … Man

Beatles – Two Of Us

I’ve been watching Get Back on Disney Plus and this is one of the songs they have went over. I always thought Two Of Us should have been a single… It’s not slick or full of production…just John and Paul singing together like they did in the early years. It feels like they had come full circle.

Paul McCartney wrote this about enjoying his travels with his wife Linda. The song was on the album Let It Be recorded in January of 1969 but wasn’t released until 1970. It was the last studio album released of the Beatles career but not the last recorded.

After this album The Beatles embarked on recording the classic album Abbey Road in the summer of 1969. As the film Get Back shows…yes they would argue but it was not as bad as we have been led to believe or they would not have recorded Abbey Road. There was also talk of another possible album after Abbey Road but they decided to call it a day.

I always thought The Beatles ended at the right time. They never made a bad album like some other bands. I do think they had a couple of albums left in them but to end a career recording Abbey Road…its hard to top that.

It’s interesting to speculate if they would have got back together if John Lennon would not have been murdered. I don’t think they would have recorded again but I do think Lennon and McCartney would have written together again.

Linda McCartney: As a kid I loved getting lost. I would say to my father – let’s get lost. But you could never seem to be able to get really lost. All signs would eventually lead back to New York or wherever we were staying! Then, when I moved to England to be with Paul, we would put Martha in the back of the car and drive out of London. As soon as we were on the open road I’d say, ‘Let’s get lost’ and we’d keep driving without looking at any signs. Hence the line in the song, ‘Two of us going nowhere’.

Paul wrote ‘Two Of Us’ on one of those days out. It’s about us. We just pulled off in a wood somewhere and parked the car. I went off walking while Paul sat in the car and started writing. He also mentions the postcards because we used to send a lot of postcards to each other.

From Songfacts

Lennon and McCartney sang together on this song, which is something they did a lot in the early years of The Beatles, but not so much later on, when they started writing separately and restricting the lead vocal to whoever wrote the song.

This song is mostly acoustic, with Lennon and McCartney each playing acoustic guitar. George Harrison’s electric guitar is there, but low in the mix. There is no bass on the track.

This appears twice in the Beatles documentary movie Let It Be, first as a duet by John and Paul and then with the whole band.

John Lennon did the whistling on the fade-out.

Two Of Us

Two of us riding nowhere
Spending someone’s hard-earned pay
You and me Sunday driving
Not arriving
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home

Two of us sending postcards
Writing letters on my wall
You and me burning matches
Lifting latches
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home

You and I have memories
That stretches out ahead

Two of us wearing raincoats
Standing solo
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home

You and I have memories
That stretches out ahead

Two of us wearing raincoats
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home

We’re going home
Better believe it
Good-bye

Twilight Zone – I Sing The Body Electric 

★★★★ May 18, 1962 Season 3 Episode 35

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This is an emotional episode (100th)…I would even say heartwarming. It’s a sci-fi episode with a bit of drama and well done. You probably will recognize David White… best known as Darin’s boss Larry Tate on Bewitched. He plays George Rogers, a father of 3 who is left raising his children alone after his wife passes away. He takes his children to Facsimile Ltd. to build a robot grandmother to help raise the children.

One of the children, a young girl (Anne) after losing her mom is hesitant to accept her new robot grandmother. She blames her mom for dying and thinks anyone who loves her will leave. Josephine Hutchinson plays the Grandma with warmth and compassion. Veronica Cartwright who plays Anne Rogers does a good job conveying hurt and confusion over losing her mom.

I like this episode although it’s not as unsettling as some of the great episodes.

Ray Bradbury is a name that stands out as a writer on this episode. Initially, it was intended for Bradbury’s involvement with The Twilight Zone to be far greater than just one script. He wrote Serling and offered another story called “Here There Be Tygers” (not the Stephen King Story). It was turned down along with another story he wrote. It seems like Bradbury and the Twilight Zone would have went together well.

Rod, while talking in the 7os said this:  Ray Bradbury is a very difficult guy to dramatize, because that which reads so beautifully on the printed page doesn’t fit in the mouth it fits in the head. And you find characters saying the things that Bradbury’s saying and you say, Wait a minute, people don’t say that. Certainly, Bradbury’s dialogue does lean to the poetic and this might have been a consideration.

Ray Bradbury years later: I would prefer not to write or talk much about Twilight Zone or my stories. The series is over and done, my work for it stands on its own. For various reasons two scripts were never done. I dont recall the reasons now, so many years later.

This show was written by Rod Serling and Ray Bradbury

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

They make a fairly convincing pitch here. It doesn’t seem possible, though, to find a woman who must be ten times better than mother in order to seem half as good, except, of course, in the Twilight Zone.

Summary

George is a widower with three children and he is being criticized for trying to raise his children on his own. His son Tom shows him an ad from a company with the motto ‘I Sing the Body Electric’ that advertises an electronic data processing system to meet anyone’s needs – essentially, a robot. They set off and everyone seems to like the idea of having a grandmotherly robot housekeeper except for Anne, who has yet to come to grips with her mother’s death. Her rejection of the new member of their family will have serious repercussions but also lead to closure.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMPLETE EPISODE AT DAILYMOTION

Here is a short video clip of the episode.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

A fable? Most assuredly. But who’s to say at some distant moment there might be an assembly line producing a gentle product in the form of a grandmother whose stock in trade is love. Fable, sure, but who’s to say?

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Josephine Hutchinson … Grandma Robot
David White … George Rogers
Vaughn Taylor … Salesman
Doris Packer … Nedra
Charles Herbert … Tom Rogers
Veronica Cartwright … Anne Rogers
Dana Dillaway … Karen Rogers
Susan Crane … Older Ann
Paul Nesbitt … Older Tom
Judee Morton … Older Karen
David Armstrong … Van Driver (uncredited)

Twilight Zone – Young Man’s Fancy

★★★★May 11, 1962 Season 3 Episode 34

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

Phyllis Thaxter who plays Virginia Walker is brilliant as justifiable paranoid new wife who has waited for years to marry Alex. Virginia has a strong dislike for Alex’s late mother. She blames his mom for holding Alex too close. They are at Alex’s childhood house to make arrangements to sell the place and then go on their honeymoon. I like how the episode builds and Alex has a hard time getting rid of his childhood home as promised.

As Alex keeps bringing up his childhood the house starts changing back to the way it was when he was a kid. Little things start changing at first and then the hopelessness in Virginia starts showing. You start wondering if Virginia is blaming the wrong person.

A little trivial… Phyllis Thaxter also appeared as Ma Kent in the 1978 version of Superman.

This show was written by Richard Matheson and Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

You’re looking at the house of the late Mrs. Henrietta Walker. This is Mrs. Walker herself, as she appeared twenty-five years ago. And this, except for isolated objects, is the living room of Mrs. Walker’s house, as it appeared in that same year. The other rooms upstairs and down are pretty much the same. The time, however, is not twenty-five years ago but now. The house of the late Mrs. Henrietta Walker is, you see, a house which belongs almost entirely to the past, a house which, like Mrs. Walker’s clock here, has ceased to recognize the passage of time. Only one element is missing now, one remaining item in the estate of the late Mrs. Walker: her son, Alex, thirty-four years of age and, up till twenty minutes ago, the so-called perennial bachelor. With him is his bride, the former Miss Virginia Lane. They’re returning from the city hall in order to get Mr. Walker’s clothes packed, make final arrangements for the sale of the house, lock it up and depart on their honeymoon. Not a complicated set of tasks, it would appear, and yet the newlywed Mrs. Walker is about to discover that the old adage ‘You can’t go home again’ has little meaning in the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Immediately after their wedding, Virginia and Alex Walker return to his mother’s house to make arrangements for it to be sold. Virginia has waited a long time to marry Alex as his domineering mother Henrietta doted – and smothered – him. Going back home has a strange effect on him as he reconnects with his his environment such as his room and his toys. He slowly begins to change and Virginia realizes that her mother-in-law’s influence hasn’t subsided.

There was no decent preview of the episode. 

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Exit Miss Virginia Lane, formerly and most briefly Mrs. Alex Walker. She has just given up a battle and in a strange way retreated, but this has been a retreat back to reality. Her opponent, Alex Walker, will now and forever hold a line that exists in the past. He has put a claim on a moment in time and is not about to relinquish it. Such things do happen in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Phyllis Thaxter … Virginia Lane Walker
Alex Nicol … Alex Walker
Wallace Rooney … Mr. Wilkinson
Helen Brown … Mrs. Henrietta Walker
Rickey Kelman … Young Alex

Janis Joplin – Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)

The song was written by Jerry Ragovoy and  Chip Taylor. Chip Taylor is famous for writing Wild Thing.

Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)” is the opening track on I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!

That was Janis’s debut solo studio album and it was released on September 11, 1969. It was the first album which Joplin recorded after leaving her former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. This would be the only solo album released in her lifetime. Pearl came out in January 1971 three months after her death on October 4, 1970.

This song charted in Canada at #89 in 1969. The album peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts and #4 in Canada in 1969.

She got good reviews for the album partly because she wasn’t trying to out shout the loud Big Brother and The Holding Company…although I did like Big Brother…without them she might not have made it.

Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)

Try, try, try just a little bit harder
So I can love, love, love him, I tell myself
‘Cause I’m gonna try, oh yeah, just a little bit harder
So I won’t lose, lose, lose him to nobody else, yeah
Hey, I don’t care how long it’s gonna take ya
But if it’s a dream I don’t want No I don’t really want it
Yeah if it’s a dream I don’t want nobody to wake me

Yeah I’m gonna try, oh yeah, just a little bit harder
So I can give, give, give, give him every bit of my soul
I’m gonna try, oh yeah, just a little bit harder
So I can show, show, show him love with no control, yeah
Hey! I don’t care how long it’s gonna take ya
But if it’s a dream I don’t want
No I don’t really want it
Yeah if it’s a dream I don’t want nobody to wake me
Hey, dig it! Yeah! Yeah yeah yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right

Try oh yeah, hey, try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord
Try oh yeah, try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord
Try oh yeah yeah, try, whoa, try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord,
Push, work, push, work, oh yeah, try, oh yeah hey!
Try oh yeah, hey try oh yeah
Try Lord, try, try, you ain’t trying man
You’re not trying out man, come up with it
Come on, that’s a wanker that listens to words, man
Hey you gotta work all night
Hey little girl, gotta push on
You gotta need
Work a little more, hey, try a little more
Need a little more
Yeah, work on, push on, move on, move on
You gotta work for it, you gotta work on it
Push on, need on, move on
Move on, hey hey hey

Work it daddy
Work it daddy
Come on, work it daddy, oh
Yeah, yeah, you better try, try, try, try a little more
You ain’t never gonna get any man if that’s the sort of thing you can do
Shit, there’s lot more talent around than that man
Try, try, try, try try try
You’ve gotta try, try, try, try
Try, try, try, try, try, try…
You gotta try, try, try, try…
Lord, try, try, try, try
Lord, try, try, try, try
Hey, try, try, try, try

Hey, try oh yeah, try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord
Try oh yeah, hey, try whoa, try oh yeah
Try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord, try oh yeah
Try oh yeah, hey, hey, hey
Try oh yeah, try oh yeah
Lord, Lord, Lord, oh Lord