November 9, 2024: Our Twilight Zone rewatch continues with season 5, episodes 29-32!

Season 5, Episode 29, “The Jeopardy Room”

This episode first aired April 17, 1964.

“The Jeopardy Room” has the distinction of being one of only a handful of Twilight Zone episodes with no sci-fi or fantasy elements.

Rod Serling’s original 1961 script for this episode was titled “Method of Execution” and, in its original ending, the fate of the protagonist remained ambiguous.

Actor Martin Landau, who played the part of Russian defector Ivan Kuchenko, previously appeared in “Mr. Denton on Doomsday”. He recalled: “I met Rod again on the set of “The Jeopardy Room” and I could tell he was different from the western episode I did before. He looked tired, felt tired and I think he was tired of fighting the networks and sponsors just to keep the show going. I could see it in his face, but it wasn’t until years later that I learned how hard he fought them.”

John Van Dreelen, who played Commissar Vassiloff, apparently always traveled with his dogs and often turned down work in England due to its draconian quarantine regulations.

I found this episode a nice little change of pace. A great premise, nail-biting ramp up, and a satisfying turn, even if it does require one of the characters to be a complete imbecile. Loved the shot of the post-explosion room.

Season 5, Episode 30, “Stopover in a Quiet Town”

This episode first aired April 24, 1964.

The episode was originally titled “Strangers in Town”.

Due to network censorship in this era, married couples were always depicted sleeping in separate beds. The Twilight Zone was the first show to break this taboo, first in “Person or Persons Unknown” and then in this episode, showing a couple sharing a bed – albeit, in both instances, the husband and wife were fully clothed.

The abandoned town set was a re-use from previous episodes, most notably “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”.

The visual effect shot of the child’s hand holding the couple was achieved using blue screen at a cost o $60.

Actress Nancy Malone, who played the part of Millie Frazier, would go on to become a director and Emmy Award-winning producer. She recalled: “Barry Nelson and I had a great time except for the fact that it was so bloody hot. It was so, so hot. He was taking off his jacket every five seconds because he was fainting with the heat. And of course he would say “You have nothing on. Just a little cocktail dress.” And I’d say “But I’ve got the five inch heels.” But it was a wonderful episode and we had a lot of fun doing it. Rod Serling was a brilliant, brilliant man and I was very proud to have been in that episode.”

I thought this one was a pretty good episode even though the child’s disembodied laugh that runs through it pretty much gives away the ending too early. I also wondered how that kid’s giant fingers fit into that tiny refrigerator. Also, does she feed her pets?

Season 5, Episode 31, “The Encounter”

This episode first aired May 1, 1964.

Due to the blowback this episode received for its racist overtones and revisionist history, it was pulled from syndication and not rebroadcast on a U.S. network until 2016.

Director Robert Butler had some misgivings about the episode that he took up with producer William Froug who did not appreciate being questioned. According to Butler: “What does the audience get out of this? What are we doing? I just wanted to know – I didn’t want to rewrite, I was sort of curious. I think he [Froug] did not take kindly to the question.”

Actor Neville Brand, who played Fenton, was a highly decorated WWII vet who had received the Purple Heart among other medals for his service. His wartime experience, however, drove him to alcohol. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and made a career of playing baddies. But according to Brand: “The roles I’ve played are not strictly heavies. That’s because I really have to like the guy and believe in him before I can play him. There’s no secret to this business. You just make your guy come out a human being. Even Al Capone had his charms.”

Brand was an avid reader and had one of the biggest private libraries in Hollywood with over 5,000 books. He once had over 30,000 books until a fire in 1978 destroyed his Malibu house and most of his collection.

George Takei, who played Arthur Takamori, wrote a play about his family’s experience being sent to an interment camp following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Takei is best known for his portrayal of Sulu on Star Trek (1966). Reflecting back on this episode: “Neville was a really easygoing guy. I had not idea, based on the one week we worked together, that he had such a troubled life. He suffered from alcoholism, and when the devil was in him, apparently he got into a lot of trouble. He was a fiercely focused actor, but in a set-side conversation, he was very relaxed and easygoing.”

This one was truly cringeworthy. A really tough watch.

Season 5, Episode 32, “Mr. Garrity and the Graves”

This episode first aired May 8, 1964.

Larry Stewart, the casting director for the show’s final season, reflected back on Serling: “He’d come in at 9 a.m. and say “On my way over here I was thinking what would happen if everybody suddenly walked out of Boot Hill in and Old Western Town.” He’d go in his office, close the door and by noon, he had completed a teleplay. We usually shot his first draft. I had never seen anybody write that fast.”

This episode was apparently based on a real life incident that saw a con man visit the mining town of Alta, Utah in 1873, promising/threatening to raise the dead. Sportswriter Mike Korologos wrote an article about the incident for a 1963 article in the The Salt Lake Tribune. It’s unclear whether or not Serling already had the idea for the story, but Korologos was paid $500 for the rights and secured an onscreen credit.

As a general rule, whenever a Twilight Zone starts with harmonica music, I expect the worst, and yet this episode was a pleasant surprise. John Dehner was terrific as the con man, loved the accomplice dog, and enjoyed the moment when the townsfolk realized that, maybe, having their loved ones back wasn’t in their best interests. The final twist at the graveyard, while not necessary, was a pretty good Twilight Zone ending. My only quibble with this episode was their failure to explain how Garrity’s sidekick pulled off the disappearing act as the bartender’s back-from-the-dead brother.

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