Jack Klugman was a great character actor and he was always excellent in the four Twilight Zones that he was in. In this one he conveys depression, suicidal behavior, and alcoholism.
This is a touching episode that works well. It shines the spotlight on a down on his luck alcoholic trumpet player…and this visit in The Twilight Zone gives a chance for salvation if he takes it . This is not a scary, weird, or funny episode…it’s a well written story that works outside of the Twilight Zone.
John Anderson who plays the Angel Gabriel is believable as a jazz goatee wearing Gabriel. Rod Serling must have been a lover of jazz music because there are a few episodes that feature jazz players and he has the lingo down.
When Baron is talking to Joey in the alley, he compares him to three famous trumpeters of the big band era. Harry James was a trumpet playing band leader known for his technical proficiency as well as his tone. Max Kaminsky played with big bands like Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw, his style was full toned and economical in the style of Louis Armstrong. And Billy Butterfield played trumpet, flugelhorn, and coronet with Artie Shaw, Les Brown, and Benny Goodman.
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
Joey Crown, musician with an odd, intense face, whose life is a quest for impossible things like flowers in concrete or like trying to pluck a note of music out of the air and put it under glass to treasure…Joey Crown, musician with an odd, intense face, who, in a moment, will try to leave the Earth and discover the middle ground – the place we call The Twilight Zone.
Summary
Musician Joey Crown is down on his luck. An alcoholic, he can’t find work because no one trusts him. Broke, he hocks his trumpet but then steps in front of truck which knocks him onto the sidewalk. He awakens in a strange world where no one can see him and he presumes that he has died. He eventually bumps into someone who can in fact see him, a fellow horn player who tells him that it’s still within Joey’s power to decide on life or death.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Joey Crown, who makes music, and who discovered something about life; that it can be rich and rewarding and full of beauty, just like the music he played, if a person would only pause to look and to listen. Joey Crown, who got his clue in the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) Jack Klugman … Joey Crown John Anderson … Gabriel Frank Wolff … Baron Mary Webster … Nan James Flavin … Truck Driver Ned Glass … Pawnshop Man
This is another “be careful what you wish for” episode. This one starts off as one of the light hearted episodes but it’s the Twilight Zone… it turns dark near the end. The real star of this episode is John McIntire as Professor A. Daemon…the man who has any powder, liquid, or potion that you will need. When you are done with your need…he has an answer for that also. I love the warning that he gives Roger about the love potion and how Roger blissfully ignores the wise man.
This episode gives “glove cleaner” a whole new meaning.
The episode is not without it’s charm but it doesn’t cross over to a great one. The twist at the end is interesting.
This was the only first season episode that was not written by one of the Big Three (Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson).
The professor is named A. Daemon, a play on words for A Demon as evidenced by the outcome.
George Grizzard (Roger Shackleforth) wears the same smoking jacket worn by Rod Taylor (H. George Wells) in The Time Machine.
This show was written by Robert Presnell Jr. and John Collier
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
Mr. Roger Shackelforth. Age: youthful twenties. Occupation: being in love. Not just in love, but madly, passionately, illogically, miserably, all-consumingly in love – with a young woman named Leila, who has a vague recollection of his face and even less than a passing interest. In a moment, you’ll see a switch, because Mr. Roger Shackelforth, the young gentleman so much in love, will take a short, but very meaningful journey into the Twilight Zone.
Summary
Roger Shackleforth’s infatuated with Leila, a young woman who wants nothing to do with him. Whilst monopolizing a pay phone, someone waiting to make a call refers him to Professor A. Dæmon, a seller of books, notions and potions, who – the man says – can help Roger with his love problem.. Though the Professor tries to dissuade him, Roger happily buys the potion for $1, anyways. It most certainly works. But 6 months later, Roger returns to the Professor – to find a solution to his new problem…
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Mr. Roger Shackelforth, who has discovered at this late date that love can be as sticky as a vat of molasses, as unpalatable as a hunk of spoiled yeast, and as all-consuming as a six-alarm fire in a bamboo and canvas tent. Case history of a lover boy, who should never have entered the Twilight Zone.
CAST
John McIntire … Prof. A. Daemon
Patricia Barry … Leila
George Grizzard … Roger Shackleforth
J. Pat O’Malley … Homburg
Marjorie Bennett… Old Woman
Barbara Perry … Blonde Woman
Rusty Wescoatt … Tall Man
Duane Grey … Bartender (uncredited)
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Pete Townshend wrote this for a Rock Opera he was composing called “Quads,” which was about a future where parents could choose the sex of their children. That opera never happened. I have to wonder if Townshend had this old title in mind when a few years later he came up with the title for “Quadrophenia.”
I’m A Boy was released as a single in 1966. The song peaked at #2 in the UK and #2 in New Zealand. The song was not heard much in America or Canada at the time. Many of their singles would finally come to the light when the great compilation album Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy was released in 1971. They did a live version and included it on the live album Live At Leeds released in 1970.
Released as the B-side of the single was “In the City”, the first and last song credited to the songwriting collaboration of John Entwistle and Keith Moon. Entwistle referred to it as rip-off of Jan and Dean, a group that was a favorite of Moon’s.
Roger Daltrey: “I always thought The Who went through a weird period after ‘My Generation’ (November 1965) that lasted until we did ‘Magic Bus’ (October 1968). I thought it all went a bit sloppy. But ‘I’m A Boy’ and ‘Pictures Of Lily’ were from that period when I’d been allowed back into the band (Daltrey had been asked to leave after beating up Keith Moon over his heavy use of amphetamines). My ego had been crushed. I was insecure and it showed in my voice. When I first heard those songs, I was like, ‘Oi, what’s this all about?’ I didn’t think I could find the right voice for them. You can hear it when you listen to them now, but my insecurity made those songs sound better. It was a happy accident.”
From Songfacts
This is about a boy whose mother wants him to be a girl, while the boy longs to assert his real sexual identity. The controversial subject of cross-dressing was probably the reason why this failed to reach the American Top 100.
Daltrey told Uncut magazine: “On ‘I’m A Boy’, I tried to sing it like a really, really young kid, like an eight-year-old. Not the voice of an eight-year-old but the sentiment – and I think that came across.”
I’m A Boy
One girl was called Jean Marie Another little girl was called Felicity Another little girl was Sally Joy The other was me, and I’m a boy
My name is Bill, and I’m a head case They practice making up on my face Yeah, I feel lucky if I get trousers to wear Spend evenings taking hairpins from my hair
I’m a boy, I’m a boy But my ma won’t admit it I’m a boy, I’m a boy But if I say I am, I get it
Put your frock on, Jean Marie Plait your hair, Felicity Paint your nails, little Sally Joy Put this wig on, little boy
I’m a boy, I’m a boy But my ma won’t admit it I’m a boy, I’m a boy But if I say I am, I get it
I want to play cricket on the green Ride my bike across the street Cut myself and see my blood I want to come home all covered in mud
I’m a boy, I’m a boy But my ma won’t admit it I’m a boy, I’m a boy, I’m a boy I’m a boy, I’m a boy, I’m a boy, I’m a boy I’m a boy, I’m a boy, I’m a boy
I really like the cast in this. Terry Burnham as the child Markie has no trace of a child in her performance which is why it works. This one could have been a Hitchcock episode. Janice Rule and Shepperd Strudwick play their parts perfectly. Strudwich is especially creepy. The show has a slow build up, to watch Helen…slowly trying to find her self while putting the pieces together one piece at a time.
Helen gets aggravated talking to Markie and you can see what is going on. She knows something is different about this kid. Helen can’t grasp who this kid is…or maybe doesn’t want to grasp it. Markie gets as frustrated as us viewers and finally clues Helen in and pulls no punches.
The amnesia card is played in this one but unlike some shows it works in this. Markie seems to represent Helen’s repressed memories. This episode would work without any real supernatural content.
Janice Rule’s character Helen Foley was named after Rod Serling’s drama teacher. The name Helen Foley was used again in the 1983 Twilight Zone movie.
This show was written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
Month of November, hot chocolate, and a small cameo of a child’s face, imperfect only in its solemnity. And these are the improbable ingredients to a human emotion, an emotion, say, like—fear. But in a moment this woman, Helen Foley, will realize fear. She will understand what are the properties of terror. A little girl will lead her by the hand and walk with her into a nightmare.
Summary
Helen Foley is a school teacher who when arriving home one day meets a little girl, Markie, sitting on the steps just outside her apartment door. Helen invites her in and gives her a cup of hot cocoa. Strangely however, Markie seems to know a great deal about her – that she doesn’t like marshmallows in her cocoa or that she has a scar on her elbow. She also knows what Helen did earlier that day including seeing a somewhat familiar man, Peter Selden, behind the wheel of a car. When Selden arrives at her apartment a few moments later he says he worked for her mother but Helen has no memory of what happened to her mother all those years ago. As her memories return however, she finds herself in grave danger.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Miss Helen Foley, who has lived in night and who will wake up to morning. Miss Helen Foley, who took a dark spot from the tapestry of her life and rubbed it clean—then stepped back a few paces and got a good look at the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice)
Janice Rule … Helen Foley
Shepperd Strudwick … Peter Selden
Terry Burnham … Markie
Michael Fox … Doctor
Joseph V. Perry … Police Lieutenant (as Joe Perry)
This is a great one. You will see Mr. French from Family Affair like you have never seen him before. The acting and the twist both are top notch in this episode. I’ve watched this many times and it just keeps getting better. The Twilight Zone can highlight the dregs of society better than any other show I know. Rocky Valentine is not a well known criminal, just a lowlife, and a drag on humanity. A man who doesn’t have a thought for anyone but himself.
There is a fantastic last line given by Pip (Sebastian Cabot) to Rocky. it sums up the episode…which I won’t give away here. (The video below gives it away). On a deeper level this episode has an interesting proposition. When you get everything you want… and everything goes your way… how can that be a bad thing? We find out how in this episode.
Mickey Rooney was the first choice to play Valentine. In a memo to Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont suggested, should Rooney not be available, that Serling himself consider playing the part. Serling declined and Rooney ended up being unavailable.
Sebastian Cabot had to bleach his hair white for the role and it took three months for the actor’s hair to return to its original dark color.
This show was written by Charles Beaumont
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
Portrait of a man at work, the only work he’s ever done, the only work he knows. His name is Henry Francis Valentine, but he calls himself “Rocky”, because that’s the way his life has been – rocky and perilous and uphill at a dead run all the way. He’s tired now, tired of running or wanting, of waiting for the breaks that come to others but never to him, never to Rocky Valentine. A scared, angry little man. He thinks it’s all over now but he’s wrong. For Rocky Valentine, it’s just the beginning.
Summary
Rocky Valentine is a small-time hood who has been on the wrong side of the law for most of his life. After robbing a pawn shop, he is gunned down by the police and awakens to be met by Mr. Pip, who describes himself as a guide to his new surroundings. Rocky can’t quite believe where he’s ended up as he can have anything he desires. He’s living in a beautiful apartment, never loses at the casino and is always surrounded by beautiful women. What good deed could he have done in life to deserve this. After a month or so however the shine of having anything and everything wears off.
The video has spoilers.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
A scared, angry little man who never got a break. Now he has everything he’s ever wanted – and he’s going to have to live with it for eternity – in The Twilight Zone.
CAST
Larry Blyden … Henry Francis ‘Rocky’ Valentine
Sebastian Cabot … Mr. Pip
John Close … Cop (uncredited)
Barbara English … Dancing Girl (uncredited)
Charles Fogel … Casino Patron (uncredited)
George Ford … Casino Patron (uncredited)
Peter Hornsby … Croupier (uncredited)
Robert McCord … Waiter (uncredited)
Bill Mullikin … Parking Attendant (uncredited)
Nels P. Nelson … Short Cop (uncredited)
Murray Pollack … Casino Patron (uncredited)
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Norman Stevans … Casino Patron (uncredited)
Wayne Tucker … Croupier (uncredited)
Sandra Warner … Girl (uncredited)
This was an important episode regardless of the story. It’s well documented that Rod Serling was against bigotry. He not only talked the talk, he put it into action with this episode with a nearly all black cast. After the airing of this episode, which was revolutionary for American television, The Twilight Zone was awarded the 1961 Unity Award for Outstanding Contributions to Better Race Relations.
It is a good episode. A child that believes in magic and a jaded boxer who long ago lost his belief. It explores the innocence in children and what little is left in adults.
The child tries to make the aging jaded boxer Bolie believe in the magic of wishing but Bolie just cannot do it. In the world Bolie lives in, wishing and hoping for the hardships to end, is never going to happen. The only real choice is to struggle through each day and fight if necessary when things block your path. The ending of this one surprised me.
This show was written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
In this corner of the universe, a prizefighter named Bolie Jackson, 183 pounds and an hour and a half away from a comeback at St. Nick’s Arena. Mr. Bolie Jackson, who, by the standards of his profession is an aging, over-the-hill relic of what was, and who now sees a reflection of a man who has left too many pieces of his youth in too many stadiums for too many years before too many screaming people. Mr. Bolie Jackson, who might do well to look for some gentle magic in the hard-surfaced glass that stares back at him.
Summary
Bolie Jackson is a professional boxer whose best years are behind him. He’s well-liked in his neighborhood and adored by Henry, a young lad who lives next door. He hurts his hand in an altercation with sleazy boxing manager and as a result is badly beaten in a televised boxing match. He’s apparently down and out for the count but young Henry has a special ability – something his mother calls the big wish – that changes the outcome of the match. When Bolie learns what he’s done he refuses to believe in what Henry’s done with the inevitable consequences
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Mr. Bolie Jackson, 183 pounds, who left a second chance lying in a heap on a rosin-spattered canvas at St. Nick’s Arena. Mr. Bolie Jackson, who shares the most common ailment of all men, the strange and perverse disinclination to believe in a miracle, the kind of miracle to come from the mind of a little boy, perhaps only to be found in the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice)
Ivan Dixon … Bolie Jackson
Steven Perry … Henry Temple
Kim Hamilton … Frances Temple
Walter Burke … Joe Mizell
Henry Scott … Thomas
Albert Salmi was a wonderful character actor. He would appear in two more Twilight Zones and all of them involved time travel. You could see Albert on TV shows through the 80s. This is a looked over episode that I do enjoy but it’s not without it’s faults. The way the time travel happens is unique but it’s the delivery that gets a little clumsy. I give it 4 stars because of the plot and the way they showed an 19th century primitive dropped into the loud modern world.
My biggest fault with this episode is the foolish way Professor Manion (Russell Johnson) handles Joe Caswell (Albert Salmi) after knowing what kind of man he was after he got there. Salmi’s acting is the standout in this. He is great at playing bad guys. Caswell is a hot-tempered sociopath who has no conscious. He makes a believable time traveler from the old west.
Watch for Russell Johnson (as Professor Manion) who will be remembered as the Professor off of Gilligan’s Island.
This show was written by Rod Serling and George Clayton Johnson
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
Commonplace—if somewhat grim—unsocial event known as a necktie party, the guest of dishonor a cowboy named Joe Caswell, just a moment away from a rope, a short dance several feet off the ground, and then the dark eternity of all evil men. Mr. Joe Caswell, who, when the good Lord passed out a conscience, a heart, a feeling for fellow men, must have been out for a beer and missed out. Mr. Joe Caswell, in the last, quiet moment of a violent life.
Summary
In the late 19th century, Joe Caswell is about to be hanged for murder, when he vanishes into thin air. He’s been snatched by Prof. Manion’s time machine and brought 80 years into the future. Caswell was selected at random and Manion can see the rope marks on his neck. Caswell is eager to see his new world but Manion wants to send him back. When Caswell runs off into the night, his new world proves to be too much for him. Justice is served in the end and a murderer hangs.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
This is November 1880, the aftermath of a necktie party. The victim’s name—Paul Johnson, a minor-league criminal and the taker of another human life. No comment on his death save this: justice can span years. Retribution is not subject to a calendar. Tonight’s case in point in The Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Albert Salmi … Joe Caswell
Russell Johnson … Prof. Manion
Than Wyenn … Paul Johnson
George Mitchell … Old Man
Jon Lormer … Minister
Fay Roope … Judge
Richard Karlan … Bartender
Joe Haworth … TV Cowboy (uncredited)
There have been actors and musicians that exuded cool…Steve McQueen would be one of the top ones…and he was just starting in this movie…and not the star.
This cast is just incredible… Along with McQueen, you have Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Eli Wallach, Robert Vaughn, Horst Buchholz, Brad Dexter, and the great Yul Brynner. We are not talking about cameos here…Brynner is the unquestioned leader of this band of mercenary gunfighters…but money is not the most important thing to most of them. They believe in Brynner’s character and the adventure.
I could go through talking about each actor, but I won’t…there are a few I’ll touch on. Eli Wallach… did a masterful portrayal of Calvera. He is one actor that I would have loved to have met. His personality was so big in films, but he didn’t over act…he was just that good.
The actor that caught my attention the most in this was the newcomer of the seven. Chico, played brilliantly by Horst Buchholz. His character was young, impatient, cocky, but a nice kid who you saw grow in the movie. He wanted to join the six fighters, but he wasn’t accepted until he persisted and wore Chris Larrabee Adams (Yul Brynner) down.
John Sturges directed this movie and also The Great Escape plus Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This movie was not shot on some studio backlot somewhere. It was real locations and it showed.
A brief look at the plot. A gang of bandits terrorizes a small Mexican farming village each year. They ride in and take what they want like the village is their own personal store. Several of the village elders send three of the farmers into the United States to search for gunmen to defend them. They end up with seven, each of whom comes for a different reason. They must prepare the town to beat an army of thirty bandits who will arrive wanting food. In came the Magnificent Seven to defend the village and teach the farmers how to fight.
A little trivia about the movie. Yul Brynner had a major role in casting, and he wanted Steve McQueen in the movie. At the time McQueen was in a television western called Wanted: Dead or Alive.
They ended up not getting along because McQueen supposedly was trying to upstage Brynner. When McQueen was dying of cancer he called Brynner and made up with him for the trouble in the film. McQueen said: “I had to make it up with Yul ’cause without him I wouldn’t have been in that picture.”
It’s not only a great western, it has comedy, drama, and most of all…all the characters are real. There is a reason some of them were huge at the time and others went on to be not only popular but legends.
CAST
Yul Brynner … Chris Larabee Adams Eli Wallach … Calvera Steve McQueen … Vin Tanner Horst Buchholz … Chico Charles Bronson … Bernardo O’Reilly Robert Vaughn … Lee Brad Dexter … Harry Luck James Coburn … Britt Jorge Martínez de Hoyos … Hilario (as Jorge Martinez de Hoyas) Vladimir Sokoloff … Old Man Rosenda Monteros … Petra Rico Alaniz … Sotero Pepe Hern … Tomas Natividad Vacío … Villager (as Natividad Vacio) Mario Navarro … Boy with O’Reilly
***Special announcement Watch all you can this month on Netflix because Netflix is not streaming the Twilight after June 30th…Fellow blogger Blackwing666 posted this here. If there was ever a show you would think about purchasing… The Twilight Zone would a great one.
Roddy McDowall was one of my favorite TV actors. He normally plays caring, worried, and vulnerable characters. This episode is another story on human nature…earth bound and Martians…are they the same all over? Sam Conrad will find out. It’s a good episode but doesn’t jump in the great category.
SPOILERS Below
You can take this episode in many ways…is it a commentary on humans being a caged animal instead of its keeper? Possibly a prelude to the Planet of the Apes? Does it comment on luxuries entrapping us when they become necessitates or just human nature? Its a very good episode of the Twilight Zone .
The living room set is the same one seen in The Twilight Zone: Third from the Sun (1960). It is a redressed version of George’s living room from The Time Machine
Rod Serling changed a couple of elements from the original source story (Brothers Beyond The Void, by Paul W. Fairman) for this episode. In the original story the protagonist is Marcusson and Conrad is only in the beginning of the story as Marcusson makes the trip to Mars alone. Serling also changed the climatic utterance from the story’s mundane “People are the same everywhere,” to his more poignant version. It isn’t clear why Serling changed the story and made Conrad the protagonist.
This show was written by Rod Serling and Paul W. Fairman
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
You’re looking at a species of flimsy little two-legged animal with extremely small heads, whose name is Man. Warren Marcusson, age thirty-five. Samuel A. Conrad, age thirty-one. They’re taking a highway into space, Man unshackling himself and sending his tiny, groping fingers up into the unknown. Their destination is Mars, and in just a moment we’ll land there with them.
Summary
Biologist Sam Conrad is scheduled to go on a mission to Mars and is genuinely concerned about what they will find there. The mission commander, Mark Marcusson, tells him there’s nothing to worry about as he firmly believes that God made everyone in his image; no matter what they find, he is certain that people are alike all over. They crash-land on Mars and Marcusson dies from his injuries. Conrad is happy to find that the people of Mars are very human-like, friendly and intelligent. They provide him with a home and promise him much more. Too late, however, he realizes that, just as Marcusson had said, people are alike all over.
Species of animal brought back alive. Interesting similarity in physical characteristics to human beings in head, trunk, arms, legs, hands, feet. Very tiny undeveloped brain. Comes from primitive planet named Earth. Calls himself Samuel Conrad. And he will remain here in his cage with the running water and the electricity and the central heat as long as he lives. Samuel Conrad has found The Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) (uncredited) Roddy McDowall … Sam Conrad Susan Oliver … Teenya Paul Comi … Marcusson Byron Morrow … Martian Vic Perrin … Martian Vernon Gray … Martian Herbert Winters … Martian Observer (uncredited)
How would you like to live thousands of years? Mr. Jameson was given that option that many of us would love to have…but it’s not without it’s downfalls. Like the episode “Escape Clause” this episode explores immortality except in this one the main character is sophisticated but can be just as selfish. Even with his considerable life experiences some things don’t sink in.
Compared to shows in 2021 this episode is paced slow but that is a great thing. The story has room to breathe and is laid out in front of us. Living forever looks great on paper but in real time it would be hard to lose people you love over and over again… and lose yourself in parts and pieces in the process.
This is a great episode and an interesting view on immortality.
This episode deals with immortality. The entire cast all lived exceptionally long lives. Kevin McCarthy lived to be 96, Estelle Winwood was 101 when she passed away, Edgar Stehli passed away shortly after turning 89, and Dodie Heath turned 90 in August of 2018.
McCarthy died September 11, 2010 at the age of 96, having earned an acting credit as late as the year he died, more than 50 years after this episode was produced.
This show was written by Charles Beaumont
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
You’re looking at Act One, Scene One, of a nightmare, one not restricted to witching hours of dark, rainswept nights. Professor Walter Jameson, popular beyond words, who talks of the past as if it were the present, who conjures up the dead as if they were alive…In the view of this man, Professor Samuel Kittridge, Walter Jameson has access to knowledge that couldn’t come out of a volume of history, but rather from a book on black magic, which is to say that this nightmare begins at noon.
Summary
Walter Jameson is a successful history professor. He’s been teaching for 12 years and has proven to be very popular with his students for his ability to bring his subject to life. He is engaged to Susanna Kittridge, his good friend Professor Sam Kittridge’s daughter. One thing that Professor Kittridge has noticed about Walter is that he doesn’t seem to have aged one bit in the 12 years they have known each other. Walter admits that he is far older than anyone can imagine but before he and Susanna can elope, someone from his past pays him a visit.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Last stop on a long journey, as yet another human being returns to the vast nothingness that is the beginning and into the dust that is always the end.
CAST
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Kevin McCarthy … Prof. Walter Jameson / Tom Bowen / Maj. Hugh Skelton
Edgar Stehli … Professor Sam Kittridge
Estelle Winwood … Laurette Bowen
Dodie Heath … Susanna Kittridge (as Dody Heath)
This is the kind of story that the Twilight Zone excels at. Vanishing into a fantasy world of your own design forever. They explored this plot device more than once in episodes like The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine and A Stop at Willoughby just to name a few. Don’t worry though because the variations are so good that you would not mind more.
You think Arthur Curtis is just a white-collar worker until you hear the word “cut.” He is an actor on a set but to him…he is the character he is playing. Howard Duff plays Arthur Curtis who is really Gerry Raigan. You get the feeling you would not like Raigan at all. It seems he has a drinking problem and an ex-wife that just despises him. You start seeing the reason why Arthur Curtis was born.
Duff is very believable as Curtis…You see the worried look in his eyes yet he is hanging on to Arthur Curtis.
When Gerry’s ex-wife demands he give her a check, she spells out the last name as “Raigan”. This isn’t the expected way to spell it, which may have been deliberate, so as to not associate the character with Ronald Reagan, the then-President of the Screen Actors Guild.
Look for David White…who became famous a few years later for the character Larry Tate in Bewitched.
This show was written by Richard Matheson
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
You’re looking at a tableau of reality, things of substance, of physical material: a desk, a window, a light. These things exist and have dimension. Now this is Arthur Curtis, age thirty-six, who also is real. He has flesh and blood, muscle and mind. But in just a moment we will see how thin a line separates that which we assume to be real with that manufactured inside of a mind.
Summary
Arthur Curtis is sitting his office chatting with secretary about plans for his daughter’s birthday party and that he and his wife will be flying off for a couple of days of rest and relaxation. Suddenly he hears someone yell “cut” and he realizes he on a movie sound stage. He can’t understand what has happened to him. Everyone refers to him as Gerry Reagan, but he insists that he is Arthur Curtis. He runs off but can’t find any of the familiar landmarks he knows such as his house or his place of work. He is desperate to return to the world of Arthur Curtis but that window of opportunity may be closing on him.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
The modus operandi for the departure from life is usually a pine box of such and such dimensions, and this is the ultimate in reality. But there are other ways for a man to exit from life. Take the case of Arthur Curtis, age thirty-six. His departure was along a highway with an exit sign that reads, “This Way To Escape”. Arthur Curtis, en route to the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Howard Duff … Arthur Curtis / Gerry Raigan David White … Brinkley Frank Maxwell … Marty Fisher Eileen Ryan … Nora Raigan Gail Kobe … Sally Peter Walker … Sam Susan Dorn … Marion Curtis Bill Idelson … Kelly (as William Idelson)
This is a great opening track to this famous album. What a way to introduce probably the most famous album ever.
The slicing guitar stands out and the drum sound that Ringo got. Paul McCartney wrote this and sang lead. After recording it, he had the idea of doing the whole album as if Sgt. Pepper was a real band. It became the title track of what was considered a “concept” album, with the songs running seamlessly together on the record.
The title is a parody of American bands who were choosing long names for their bands.
Three days after the album came out, Jimi Hendrix opened a concert with this. McCartney and Harrison were both there, and were very impressed that Hendrix learned it so quickly.
The reprise of the song is right before A Day In The Life.
This song was produced in a rush when The Beatles decided to bring back the theme song to introduce the last track on the album, “A Day In The Life.” The idea to reprise the song came from Neil Aspinall, The Beatles’ friend and road manager.
George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr played this on May 19, 1979 at Eric Clapton’s wedding. Clapton married Harrison’s ex-wife, Pattie. Pattie didn’t think John Lennon would fly over from America so she never sent an invititation. John Lennon said later he would have come.
From Songfacts
The album was heavily produced and took 129 days and about 700 hours to complete. The Beatles first album, Please Please Me, was recorded in less than 10 hours.
The crowd noise was dubbed in. The Beatles had stopped touring by then.
There really is an apostrophe in this song’s title, although on the album cover, it is rendered without. Since the Lonely Hearts Club Band belongs to Sgt. Pepper, it is possessive, thus “Sgt. Pepper’s.”
This is reprised at the end of the album before the final track, “A Day In The Life.”
This was recorded as one song with “With A Little Help From My Friends.” They flow seamlessly on the album, creating a problem for radio stations that want to play just one of the songs.
Artist Peter Blake designed the album cover as if Sgt. Pepper’s band had just performed a concert. He asked The Beatles who they wanted at the concert, and put them in the cover design.
All living people depicted on the cover were asked permission. Mae West refused at first – she didn’t want to be part of a “Lonely Hearts Club Band” – but The Beatles wrote her a letter and she agreed. Other characters depicted on the album cover include comedic duos Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Temple and W.C. Field.
Lennon wanted Jesus, Gandhi, and Hitler on the cover. He had recently taken a lot of heat for saying The Beatles were “Bigger than Jesus,” so they decided not to.
It was rumored that the hand that is sticking out above Paul is that of Adolph Hitler. A Hitler cut out was on the set, but if you look at some side shots of the photo session, you can clearly see that the hand belongs to comic Issy Bonn, whose face is seen in between Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
On the cover of this album McCartney is taller than the other Beatles. This added to rumors of his death, since there is also a hand above Paul’s head which is an omen of death. Also, if you take a mirror and put the edge on the center of the Lonely Hearts Club Band drum an arrow will point directly to McCartney.
Sgt. Pepper was the first pop album to come with printed lyrics on the cover.
Twelve years after “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “With a Little Help from My Friends” appeared on the Sgt. Pepper album, they were released together as a two-song medley and reached US #71 and UK #63.
In 2005, Bob Geldof helped organize Live 8, a set of concerts held in eight countries with the goal of promoting activism. The concerts coincided with the G-8 summit, and Geldof was hoping to send a message to world leaders that they should increase aid to Africa and institute fair trade practices. On the London stage, U2 played this with McCartney to kick off the concert. The opening line, “It was 20 years ago today,” was a reference to Live Aid, which Geldof organized for famine relief in 1985.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the first rock album to win a Grammy for Album of the Year.
On the album cover, Paul McCartney is wearing an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) badge on his right sleeve. You can see this better on the inside artwork.
The hand-painted drum skin used on the cover of the Sgt Pepper album was sold at Christie’s House in London on 10th July 2008 for £541,250 ($1,071,000) – setting a record for non-lyrics Beatles memorabilia.
In 2007, the Beatles Story museum in Liverpool went on a search for real Sgt. Peppers and found seven police or army officers in the UK that were sergeants with the last name Pepper. “Being Sgt. Pepper is awesome but sometimes people think I am bogus when I call them on the phone or introduce myself,” Sgt. Sean Pepper of Highfields said.
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
It was twenty years ago today Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play, They’ve been going in and out of style, But they’re guaranteed to raise the smile, So may I introduce to you, The act you’ve known for all these years, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
We’re Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band We hope you will enjoy the show Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Sit back and let the evening go Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
It’s wonderful to be here, It’s certainly a thrill You’re such a lovely audience, We’d like to take you home with us, we’d love to take you home
I don’t really want to stop the show, But I thought you might like to know, That the singer’s going to sing a song And he wants you all to sing along, So let me introduce to you The one and only Billy Shears And Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Oh ha ha Yeah, dress down I feel it, I feel it, I feel it Oh baby now, I feel it, I feel it, I feel it Baby, free now Gotta be free now, gotta be free now, gotta be free Don’t like that I think it’ll probably be another day singing it Yeah so just edit that then, it’s nice Yeah, and what you can do with the bits where you can’t get it ’cause you haven’t got enough breath Just take over, yeah
A 5-Star Classic… This episode has some alien intervention but not much. This is a wonderful study of human nature at work. The outcome could have happened without aliens. A few paranoid panicky people can start a mob and a mob can become a deadly thing. This episode is so good because you can see it build and build into panic until somebody does something that cannot be undone.
Very good character actors with faces…faces that you remember. You also have Claude Akins as the voice of reason…but even he can get caught up in it. This is a must watch…forget the Twilight Zone twist…just watch suspicion and paranoia grow.
The uniforms worn by the aliens, their spaceship’s ramp, and the shot of the flying spaceship were originally used in Forbidden Planet.
This show was written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
Maple Street, U.S.A., late summer. A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, barbecues, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor. At the sound of the roar and the flash of light, it will be precisely 6:43 P.M. on Maple Street…This is Maple Street on a late Saturday afternoon. Maple Street in the last calm and reflective moment—before the monsters came.
Summary
On a pleasant day, the residents of Maple Street feel something akin to a tremor and hear a loud noise. Steve Brand thinks it’s a meteorite though they didn’t hear a create. When young Tommy tells them the science fiction story he read about an alien invasion where they were first sent among humans to live with them in disguise, paranoia sets in. They first suspect Les Goodman and loudmouth Charlie Farnsworth then points the finger at Steve and then Tommy. Events turn on Charlie as everyone runs amok.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices…to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill…and suspicion can destroy…and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own—for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice)
Claude Akins … Steve Brand
Barry Atwater … Les Goodman
Jack Weston … Charlie Farnsworth
Jan Handzlik … Tommy
Amzie Strickland… Woman
Burt Metcalfe … Don Martin
Mary Gregory … Sally
Jason Johnson … Man
Anne Barton … Myra Brand
Leah Waggner … Mrs. Goodman (as Lea Waggner)
Joan Sudlow … Old Woman
Ben Erway … Pete Van Horn
Lyn Guild … Mrs. Farnsworth
Sheldon Allman … Alien
Bill Walsh … Alien (as William Walsh)
This is an odd one…but odd translates to good in the Twilight Zone. This one has no bad or good people…just an odd bus station where it all happens. What would you do if you looked across the room and saw yourself? That person not only looked just like but also carried a suitcase or bag just like you.
Vera Miles plays Millicent Barnes who swears she has seen herself. She starts to get paranoid and tells Paul Grinstead (Martin Milner) this and she starts to break down…then Grinstead, who obviously likes her and then starts to pity her does what he thinks is best…or so he thought. It could have ended a bit better. I just felt it never resolved itself. A good Twilight Zone and not a failure but not as good as some of the better ones.
A stand out character actor in this one is Joseph Hamilton playing the grumpy put upon Ticket Agent.
The reason I remember this episode so well is because of Martin Milner . He would start filming Route 66 after this and became a star…later on he would become a bigger star known to the world as Pete Malloy on Adam 12.
The cities mentioned in this episode (Cortland, Syracuse, Tully, and Binghamton) all lie along Hwy. 11 in central upstate New York. The use of these places is an homage by Rod Serling to his childhood. He was born in Syracuse and lived in Binghamton until he graduated high school. Even when he lived in Hollywood during his heyday, he maintained a home in Binghamton.
It was after filming this story that Martin Milner went to film the pilot episode of Route 66 (1960), which made him a star.
This show was written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
Millicent Barnes, age twenty-five, young woman waiting for a bus on a rainy November night. Not a very imaginative type is Miss Barnes: not given to undue anxiety, or fears, or for that matter even the most temporal flights of fantasy. Like most young career women, she has a generic classification as a, quote, girl with a head on her shoulders, end of quote. All of which is mentioned now because, in just a moment, the head on Miss Barnes’ shoulders will be put to a test. Circumstances will assault her sense of reality and a chain of nightmares will put her sanity on a block. Millicent Barnes, who, in one minute, will wonder if she’s going mad.
Summary
Millicent Barnes is waiting in the bus station waiting for her bus to Cortland to arrive. The weather outside is dreadful and the bus is over half an hour late already. When she inquires the station clerk chides her for constantly asking when it will arrive. The only thing is (she thinks) it’s the first time she’s asked him anything. When she goes to the ladies room the cleaning lady suggests she was just in there, she begins to worry that she’s going mad. A good Samaritan, Paul Grinstead, tries to help her out but soon realizes that there may be an explanation for what is happening after all.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Obscure and metaphysical explanation to cover a phenomenon. Reasons dredged out of the shadows to explain away that which cannot be explained. Call it ‘parallel planes’ or just ‘insanity’. Whatever it is, you’ll find it in the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) Vera Miles … Millicent Barnes Martin Milner … Paul Grinstead Joseph Hamilton … Ticket Agent (as Joe Hamilton) Naomi Stevens … Washroom Attendant Therese Lyon … Old Woman (as Terese Lyon) Ferris Taylor … Passenger Edwin Rand … Bus Driver
This episode gets to me when I see it. You feel the confusion of the astronauts as they land on a planet that everything is frozen in time…literally frozen in time. Everybody on this strange planet is just standing or sitting still. A beauty pageant is going on, men fishing and they are all still.
After exploring everywhere an older man finally talked to them…Jeremy Wickwire (I love that name). He explains what is going on and where they are… and then does something just terrible.
It’s an good episode and the Twilight Zone will explore this plot a little more in the future. We are certainly on a great streak of shows…only broken by The Fever.
The flashing dials in the spaceship seen right after landing are the same ones used in Forbidden Planet
Charles Beaumont wrote this years earlier under the guidance and influence of Beaumont’s literary mentor, Ray Bradbury…THAT is some mentor.
This show was written by Charles Beaumont
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
The time is the day after tomorrow. The place: a far corner of the universe. A cast of characters: three men lost amongst the stars. Three men sharing the common urgency of all men lost. They’re looking for home. And in a moment, they’ll find home; not a home that is a place to be seen, but a strange unexplainable experience to be felt.
Summary
In a far corner of the universe, a spaceship with three astronauts lands on a planet with gravity and air conditions virtually identical to that on Earth. Their surroundings appear as Earth did 200 years ago but the planet has two suns so they’re fairly certain they didn’t somehow end up back home. People however seem to be frozen in time. They eventually stumble upon Jeremy Wickwire, who is the caretaker for the locale. His explanation of what he is and where they are defies belief but in the end, he does grant them their wish.
This one is a good episode. I will admit the first time I watched it…I hadn’t worked out the twist.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Kirby, Webber, and Meyers, three men lost. They shared a common wish—a simple one, really. They wanted to be aboard their ship headed for home. And fate—a laughing fate—a practical jokester with a smile stretched across the stars, saw to it that they got their wish with just one reservation: the wish came true, but only in the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Cecil Kellaway … Jeremy Wickwire
Jeff Morrow … Kurt Meyers
Don Dubbins … Peter Kirby
Kevin Hagen … Captain James Webber
Walter Bacon … Beauty Contest Guest (uncredited)
Frank Baker … Hotel Guest (uncredited)
George Boyce … Minor Role (uncredited)
Barbara Chrysler Barbara Chrysler … Beauty Contestant (uncredited)
Alphonso DuBois … Minor Role (uncredited)
Joseph Glick … Rally Spectator (uncredited)
Chester Hayes … Ice Cream Man (uncredited)
Jimmie Horan … Minor Role (uncredited)
June McCall … Beauty Contestant (uncredited)
William Meader … Minor Role (uncredited)
Spec O’Donnell … Poker Player (uncredited)
Charles Perry … Spectator at Rally (uncredited)
Joe Ploski … Beauty Contest Guest (uncredited)
Paul Power … Farmer (uncredited)
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Stephen Soldi … Minor Role (uncredited)
Jack Stoney … Finch (uncredited)
Martin Strader … Minor Role (uncredited)
Walton Walker … Minor Role (uncredited)
Sally Yarnell … Waitress (uncredited)
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 