July 26, 2024: The Twilight Zone rewatch continues with episodes 29-32!

Episode 29, “Nightmare as a Child”

This episode was first broadcast April 29, 1960.

Director Richard L. Bare was originally slated to direct this episode but he was involved in a plane crash. He survived but was, nevertheless, unavailable so Alvin Ganzer directed the episode.

The character of Helen Foley was named after Rod Serling’s drama teacher at Binghamton Central High School.

Janice Rule, who plays Helen Foley in “Nightmare as a Child”, started out as a nightclub dancer at the age of 15. There years later, she made her Broadway debut. She loved theatre so much that she turned down the role of the female lead opposite Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. That deemed “misbehavior” cost her her contract with Warner Bros. Unlike many actresses seeking stardom, she was very happy playing guest roles and actually preferred them over a series lead. According to Rule: “I think I’d go mad.  I could never do the same character week after week with the same people.  Your acting has to suffer.  All you do is get one script a few days before you finish the preceding one. You’d never see your family.  I know I would be making lots of money with a series but it’s not worth it.  Not to me, anyway.” She married actor Ben Gazzara and eventually gave up acting for a career as a successful psychotherapist.

Child actress Terry Burnham who plays the mysterious Markie in this episode worked in the industry until 1971 after which she disappeared from public life.

“Nightmare as a Child” marks the acting debut of Morgan Brittany as the Little Girl with the doll at episode’s end. Two years later she would land the role of Natalie Wood’s sister in the musical Gyspsy. Her resemblance to screen legend Vivian Leigh would see her playing the starlet three times: The Day of the Locust (1975), Gable and Lombard (1976), and The Scarlett O’Hara War (1980). In 1978, she landed the role of Katherine Wentworth on Dallas, playing Pam Ewing’s conniving half-sister. She is now a political activist and commentator.

Take it from someone who knows – amnesia stories can be tough. They’re tough to make work and tough to make sense. Invariably, the individual suffering from amnesia begins to remember, but in order for this to be dramatically satisfying, the memories can’t just come out of nowhere, unprompted. There needs to be an outside trigger. In this case, there is none. Helen, for some reason, begins to glimpse what turns out to be a younger version of herself seeking to prompt her about long-buried memories surrounding the death of her mother. This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t coupled with the plot-convenient appearance of Peter Selden, the man who murdered her mother and who pretty much left her alone for some twenty years before suddenly deciding to pay her a visit. Why? More importantly, why not much, much, MUCH sooner? Speaking of convenient, that unfortuitous (for Seldon) tumble down the stairs all-too-neatly wrapped things up. Also, for what it’s worth, after this episode, I never again want to hear a child sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Episode 30, “A Stop at Willougby”

This episode was first broadcast May 6, 1960.

Originally, this episode was conceived as a one hour pilot for The Twilight Zone but was subsequently shelved. Serling eventually dusted it off, rewrote it, and ended up producing is as a half hour episode.

The Willoughby exterior was actually a set built for Meet Me in St. Louis and later used for the opening and closing scenes of Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Early in his career, Rod Serling took the train ride from Ohio to New York, passing through Willoughby, Cleveland. Willoughby, Ohio holds an annual neighborhood festival, called “Last Stop: Willoughby” in honor of this episode.

This episode was the inspiration for the movie For All Time starring Mark Harmon as a man who travels back to the end of the 19th century. Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner acknowledged this episode’s influence on his work, Don Draper’s life in particular, but also a later episode of The Sopranos in which a comatose Tony Sopranos dreams he is a salesman who is asked to leave his briefcase behind in order to move on to the afterlife. In the Stargate: Atlantis episode “The Real World”, Dr. Weir awakens in the Willoughby State Hospital where she is informed that the last two years of her life on Atlantis were a hallucination. When I asked Carl Binder, the writer of this episode, about it he responded: “Not a coincidence! That’s one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes.”

Actor James Daley was Serling’s first choice to play the part of Gart Williams when “A Stop at Willoughby” was originally slated to be the Twilight Zone pilot. Later, when the script got a second life, Serling reached out to secure Daley’s participation. Daley was the father of actress Tyne Daly and an actor Tim Daly. He began his career on Broadway before transitioning to television, guesting as the near-immortal Flint in the Stark Trek episode “Requiem for Methuselah”, and appearing in 170 episodes of Medical Center. Shortly after completing work on Roots: The New Generation, he died of a heart attack at age 59.

Jason Wingreen, who played the part of the modern-day conductor, may be familiar to sci-fi fans as Federation Dr. Linke on the original Star Trek as well as the original voice of bounty hunter Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back. In recollecting his time shooting “A Stop at Willoughby”: “I thought this was a terrific episode. Serling wrote the script and I had a feeling that he was getting something off his chest.  He was being bedeviled by the CBS brass, the big shots.  They wanted something from him that he wasn’t able to or willing to do , so he was kind of getting [back] at them.  He made Howard Smith, whole played the boss, a really miserable human being.  He said, “Push-push-push, Williams.  Push!”  Rod Serling was getting even I think.”

Shades of Brigadoon, the magical town in the Scottish Highlands that appears for one every 100 years! This episode also echoes a familiar theme from past episodes, most notably “Walking Distance” and “A World of Difference”, stories in which our protagonist yearns for a simpler life afforded him by an alternate, magical world. But whereas, in “Walking Distance”, he could only visit and it was unclear whether the alternate reality of “A World of Difference” was a hallucination or not, the Willoughby in which our hero seeks refuge is definitely something much darker. I’m loving this rewatch because I have forgotten most of these episodes so the ending to this one was a real gut punch. My first reaction was disappointment as I really loved the idea of Gary Williams finding refuge in a place outside of spacetime, but as I pondered over that final match dissolve over the Willoughby & Son Funeral Home, I had to admit – it was pretty brilliant and perfectly Twilight Zone. All in all, definitely one of my favorites of this rewatch to date. So what did you all think? How high would you rate this episode on our rewatch?

Episode 31, “The Chaser”

This episode was first broadcast May 13, 1960.

“The Chaser” is an adaptation of the short story, “The Chaser”, by John Collier, which had previously been adapted and produced live for The Billy Rose Television Theater by Robert Presnell Jr. The television rights were acquired for $2000 and Presnell was hired to write the script, essentially a rewrite of his stage adaptation, Duet for Two. This would be the only script Presnell would write for The Twilight Zone.

According to episode director Douglas Heyes, the original script called for Roger to walk up to a man behind a desk (Professor A. Daemon) and request the potion which was readily available in a drawer. Heyes found the scene bland and unworthy of The Twilight Zone, so he pitched the producers a different take: “We built a very long, narrow set which was very high, with lots of bookcases.  We didn’t put a back on these bookcases; instead we covered the backs with gauze and lit it from behind, so that the books stood out in relief against the light – which is something they never do in a bookcase.  But you don’t think about that because it’s in the Twilight Zone and you accept these weird things.”

In another interview, Heyes recalled: “That was one of the great things about The Twilight Zone. I had total freedom. Sometimes I would think of an idea that would make the episode more Twilight Zone-y that would require some expense. I remember one episode, ‘The Chaser’, in which I devised a huge bookcase that must have doubled the budget, but [Serling and producer Buck Houghton] never blinked an eye. They just said, ‘Okay, great!’ I didn’t have to argue with anybody over the money—they’d argue about the money and let me have it! I knew that they were having problems with Jim Aubrey [then President of CBS Television], but they kept them away from me. My responsibility was to get the job done.”

My favorite episode of season 1 to date, “A Stop at Willoughby”, is followed by my least favorite to date, this one – and, with only four episodes to go, I doubt another will beat it. “The Chaser” is one in a very long line of be-careful-what-you-wish-for stories, but I can’t imagine a much worse execution. No surprises, a thoroughly reprehensible character in the pathetic, lovestruck Roger who puts this poor woman in this situation and then takes steps to knock her off to avoid the annoying consequences of his actions. He doesn’t go through with it and so, in the end, he can look forward to a stifling relationship, Leila can look forward to living out the rest of her life in a hypnotic stupor, and who knows how their kid will turn out. Awful.

Episode 32, “A Passage for Trumpet”

This episode was first broadcast May 20, 1960.

After writing the script, Rod Serling reached out to Jack Klugman to offer him the role, but Klugman initially turned him down. According to Klugman, he had to pass: “I’m in a play, Rod, I can’t do it.  He said “You have a vacation in January for two weeks – this will only take a week, come out and have a vacation here.”” So he did. “And it was a wonderful experience.  Of course working with Rod was always a wonderful experience.” In another interview, Klugman discussed “A Passage for Trumpet”: “I have tremendous respect for Rod and his endeavors.  When you had  a starring role on a Twilight Zone, you had a role with meat.  For “A Passage for Trumpet”, I spent a number of hours learning how to play the trumpet.  There was an expert who taught me how to use my fingers and it wasn’t long before I could mimic a real trumpet player.”

This was the first of Jack Klugman’s four Twilight Zone appearances, tying actor Burgess Meredith for the most guest leads in the series. Jack Klugman struggled so mightily early in his career that he resorted to sell his blood for $5 a pint to make ends between gigs. But he eventually made a name for himself in the 50’s, ultimately landing two huge t.v. roles: Oscar Madison in the Odd Couple (1970) and medical examiner Quincy on Quincy, M.E. (1976). He won two Emmy’s for his portrayal of Oscar Madison. His 10% ownership in The Odd Couple ultimately made him much more money than his $7000/episode acting fee. A lifelong horse-betting enthusiast, his horse, “Jacklin Klugman”, came in third at the 1980 Kentucky Derby.

A fine, uplifting episode, “A Passage for Trumpet” is a nice change of pace for the show although it’s not as memorable as some TZ greats. Klugman is excellent. I did laugh at the end of the sequence in which Joey encounters Gabriel. When Joey asks him his name, Gabe responds: “My name? Call me Gabe.” Yes, obviously, he’s the angel Gabriel. But just in case the viewers at home missed it, he adds: “Gabe. Short for Gabriel.” And then, just to be sure, he flashes his trumpet. I was waiting for one more step to really hammer the point home like the shadow of giant wings reflected on the back wall or a parting line: “Some people say I’m a real saint!” or “Hey, you know what my favorite team is? The ANGELS!!!”

So, what did you all think?

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