October 29, 2024: Our Twilight Zone rewatch continues with season 5, episode 17-20! And the 13 Days of Halloween countdown continues with…Terrifier 3!

Season 5, Episode 17, “Number 12 Looks Just Like You”

This episode first aired January 24, 1964.

This episode is based on Charles Beaumont’s short story, “The Beautiful People”, which first appeared in the September 1952 issue of the science fiction magazine “If”.

This episode was ghost written by longtime Beaumont collaborator John Tomerlin who was admittedly not a fan of the finished product – even though he never watched it: “I never saw “Number 12 Looks just Like You”. I have to try to explain. If it had come on while I was watching, I would have watched it… It was for me associated with such a a painful experience in my mind. There was a purity of Chuck’s story, of our many collaborations, of our lives together, that I didn’t want to see anybody else tamper with it, even Rod Serling as good as he was I never wanted to write television. Television killed my darling, which was radio – and I haven’t quite forgiven it.”

This episode was, apparently, the inspiration for Scott Westerfield YA sci-fi series “Uglies”. Black Mirror creator Charlie Booker admitted that the episode inspired the episode of his series titled “Fifteen Million Merits”.

All of the female characters in this episode were named after beautiful starlets of the day: Marilyn (Monroe), Grace (Kelly), and Lana (Turner).

Actor Richard Long, making his second Twilight Zone appearance following “Person or Persons Unknown”, plays four different roles – that of the sympathetic Uncle Rick, the colorful Dr. Rex, the ponderous Professor Sigmund Friend, and a friendly orderly named Tom. The “pinkie to his lips” gesture he makes as Dr. Rex was later borrowed by Mike Myers for his portrayal of Dr. Evil.

Colin Wilcox Paxton, who played Marilyn Cuberle, won acclaim as young Mayella in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). She and co-star Brock Peters were heavily involved in the Civil Rights movements of their day.

There’s a point in this episode where mom (Lana) shows Marilyn a photo of herself when she was her age. This was actually a photo of Colin Wilcox Paxton at age 18.

Suzy Parker, who played Lana Cuberle, was the world’s first supermodel, and the first model to make $100 an hour and $100 000 a year. Even though she played Colin Wilcox’s mother, she was only 2 years older than her onscreen daughter.

Pamela Austin, who played Valerie, was known as The Dodge Girl for her appearance in several Dodge commercials. The campaign earned her several bit roles and, eventually, a lead role in The Perils of Pauline (1967).

This one was great and could be my favorite of the show’s fifth season. Reading the synopsis, I feared this would be a retread of Eye of the Beholder, but it truly sets itself apart. Loved the far future conceit and having the same actor play multiple roles. Richard Long was terrific. And the ending…well, it’s certainly ambiguous. Did the process of changing Marilyn’s physical appearance also, in some way, alter her mind as well? Or did she come around after seeing her beautiful new self in the mirror? Thoughts?

Season 5, Episode 18, “Black Leather Jackets”

This episode first aired January 31, 1964.

When it entered production, this episode was originally titled “Love Story”.

In an interview with the Archive of American Television in 2003, writer Earl Hammer Jr. declared “Black Leather Jackets” a bad episode and considered it his worst for the series.

The street is the same as the one in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”.

In the first draft of the script, the alien leader is referred to as “The Mask” and described thusly: “Over the heads of the three men we see the screen where a being of some kind is visible. It is a head, a metallic mask with slits for eyes, a nose and lips.”

Actor Lee Kinsolving, who played Scott, got his start on Broadway before graduating to film and television. But he grew frustrated with the industry and retired from acting at the age of 28. He owned art galleries and spent much of his days sailing before dying of a heart attack at the early age of 36.

Shelley Fabares, who played Ellen Tillman, was a teen idol during the five seasons she played young Mary Stone on The Donna Reed Show (1958). She enjoyed a #1 Billboard hit with the song “Johnny Angel” and, in later years, earned two Emmy nominations for her work opposite Craig T. Nelson’s wife on Coach (1989).

Denver Pyle, who played Stu Tillman, was originally cast to play Matt Dillon Gunsmoke (1955) before James Arness took the role. He is perhaps best remembered for his turn as Uncle Jesse on The Dukes of Hazzard (1979).

Michael Conrad, who played Sheriff Harper, is best known for his portrayal of Sgt. Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues whose trademark “Let’s be careful out there.” would become synonymous with the series.

Meh. I thought this one a middling episode that, given the premise, would have probably worked better had it explored the humor of its fish-out-of-water scenario. As it stood, the story was too straight-forward and the performances too wooden to warrant consideration as a potential Top 10 episode for this season.

Season 5, Episode 19, “Night Call”

This episode first aired February 7, 1964.

“Night Call” was originally scheduled to air on November 22, 1963, but it was pre-empted by coverage of John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

A week after this episode aired, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour aired an episode titled “Night Caller”, about a woman receiving mysterious anonymous phone calls at night.

Writer Richard Matheson based this episode on his short story “Sorry, Wrong Number” (aka Long Distance Call) published in the November 1953 issue of Beyond Fantasy Fiction. Matheson preferred the title “Long Distance” but because the show had already aired an episode with a similar title, it was decided to go with “Night Call”.

Matheson reflected back on the differences between his short story and the episode: “The idea just occurred to me that some disabled old lady was getting phone calls from a dead man. I ended the story on a very dark note, where he says “I’ll be right over.” Which leaves the reader with the feeling of just what is coming over to her house? But it’s a flat ending. I thought the new ending I put on it for the Twilight Zone was a lot better. I thought it made much more sense because her personality was so abrasive that, for it to turn out that she had caused this man to die in the first place, and now she wanted him more than ever. And he just said, “You told me not to come over. I always do what you say.” I thought was was much stronger. It made much more of a character study.”

The director of this episode, Jacques Tourneur, gained fame for the movie Cat People which he directed in 1942. According to Matheson: “I’d always been a tremendous fan of Tourneur’s. As a matter of fact, even before Comedy of Terrors, I had talked with Bert Brandt about hiring him to do one of my Twilight Zones. They said the one reason they didn’t want him was because he was a movie director, and it would take him too long. Well, they hired him anyway, and Tourneur was so organized that he shot the shortest Twilight Zone shooting schedule ever. I think he had done it in like 28 hours.”

Actress Gladys Cooper, who played Elva Keene, makes her third and final Twilight Zone appearance following “Nothing in the Dark” and “Passage on the Lady Anne”.

I liked “Night Call” a lot and found it one of the show’s most creepily effective episodes. Great performances, superb direction, and a suspenseful build. I must admit to being a little disappointed with the ending that, to be honest, felt a little silly to me (“No, no. You told me to go away so I’m going away…”). She told him to stop calling days earlier and he didn’t, so him deciding to suddenly take her at her word feels a tad petty. And plot convenient. I was especially disappointed after doing my research for this episode and discovering the original ending of the short story. Despite Matheson’s insistence that the scripted ending is superior because it goes to character (And, I mean sure it does. In the most obvious, ham-fisted way.), I feel there was a missed opportunity here to deliver one hell of a shocker of an ending.

Season 5, Episode 20, “From Agnes – with Love”

This episode first aired, appropriately enough, on Valentine’s Day, February 7, 1964.

Like a few other of Sterling’s terrible comedic episodes, this one was intended as a pilot for a new series – that was, not surprisingly, never picked up.

Wally Cox, who played uber-nerd James Elwood, was an accomplished character actor and roommate of Marlon Brando. He died at the age of 49 as a result of what many claim was an accidental overdose of sedatives but friend Marlon Brando attributed to a heart attack.

Sue Randall, who played Millie, died at the same age of lung cancer.

Ralph Taeger, who played Walter Holmes, did mostly bit parts in film and television, but his career floundered as a result of rumors that he was difficult to work with.

Ray Bailey, who played the Supervisor, is of course best known for his portrayal of skinflint banker Mr. Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies.

This was the last acting credit for Nan Peterson, who played the beautiful secretary in the hallway. She quit acting in favor of other pursuits.

This episode was, in a word, awful. Definitely the worst of season 5 to date and probably among the show’s bottom five. I did feel sorry for poor Millie who clearly was looking to get laid but tried hooking up with the wrong guy

And our 13 Days of Halloween Countdown continues with…

Movie #12: Terrifier 3

The kills are inventive, savely over-the-top, and as pitch-black humorous as you can get, and Art the Clown is his gruesomely riotous self, but his sidekick this outing, the way-too-chatty Victoria, is a huge step down from Terriifer 2’s scene-stealing Little Pale Girl. This movie delivers the promised gore but, at the end of the day, it feels like it’s just marking time between its superior predecessor and Terrifier 4.

3/5 Jack o’ Lanterns

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