"The Time Element"

Note: We apologize for the month long hiatus from the blog as Brian and I prepare to dive into Season 2 of The Twilight Zone here in the Vortex. As fans of the show already know, Season 2 is where the show really hits its stride. We plan on bringing to the blog even more in-depth and extensive commentary on our favorite episodes from the second season so stay tuned.
     In the meantime we have decided now would be a good time to include a post on "The Time Element," a Rod Serling penned fantasy segment that predates The Twilight Zone but still feels very much like the original pilot or at least a missing or lost episode of The Twilight Zone. For those of you that don't know about this one hour segment of the anthology show The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse then find it on YouTube, watch it, and then jump back here to read the breakdown. Though it isn't included on any home video packaging of The Twilight Zone, many fans consider "The Time Element" to be the true pilot episode for the show. Though it aired on Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse before the actual marketed pilot episode ("Where is Everybody?") of The Twilight Zone, we have decided to transition from season one to season two with this write up of Rod Serling's excellent fantasy show and examine how this show quickly developed into The Twilight Zone series.

William Bendix as Peter Jenson and Martin Balsam as Dr. Arnold Gillespie

"The Time Element"

from the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

Original air date: November 10, 1958

Cast:

Peter Jenson: William Bendix

Dr. Arnold Gillespie: Martin Balsam

Ensign Janoski: Darryl Hickman

Mrs. Janoski: Caroline Kearney

Bartender: Jesse White

Newspaper Editor: Bartlett Robinson

Newspaper Reporter: Don Keefer

Army Doctor: Alan Baxter

Drunk Man at Bar: Joe de Rita

Bartender at Andy's: Paul Bryar

Crew:

Writer: Rod Serling (original teleplay)

Director: Alan Reisner

Producer: Bert Granet

Associate Producer: Jack Aldworth

Director of Photography: Nick Masuraca

Makeup: Charles Gemora

Special Effects: Howard Anderson, Co.

(Host Desi Arnaz appears on a bare stage except for a large silhouette projected upon the wall behind him. It is the shadow of a ticking pendulum clock.) His opening narration:

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. Tonight we're going to see a story written by Rod Serling and starring William Bendix. Our story begins in a doctor's office. A patient is sitting there. He walked into this office nine minutes ago."

Unaccredited voice-over narration:

"Once upon a time there was a psychiatrist named Arnold Gillespie and a patient whose name was Peter Jenson. Mr. Jenson walked into the office nine minutes ago. It is eleven o'clock, Saturday morning, October 4, 1958. It is perhaps chronologically trite to be so specific about an hour and a date but involved in this story is a time element."

Summary:

            Peter Jenson, an everyday kind of man, if somewhat lonely and transient, has come to visit Dr. Arnold Gillespie in hopes that the psychiatrist can help Jenson alleviate the overburdening fear that his dreams of time travel may not be dreams at all. Jenson is extremely defensive about his situation being that he feels everyone else will perceive him as crazy whenever he tells his story. Gillespie, however, simply urges Jenson to talk.

            Jenson tells an incredible story. He tells Gillespie of a series of experiences that appear to be recurring dreams but that Jenson knows to be much more than that. Every night Jenson dreams the same thing. Here the audience "wakes up" with Jenson within his "dream." Jenson wakes up with a stunning hangover in an unfamiliar hotel room. He takes a moment to look around and outside the window before calling the front desk. The front desk clerk tells Jenson that he is staying in the Hawaiian Imperial Hotel. Jenson gets up from his bed and finds a calendar which reads December 6. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door and a hotel maid enters Jenson's room. Jenson, confused and hung over, angrily interrogates the woman as to what he did last night and about what Jenson believes to be a joke at his expense. When the maid tells him that it's not October 4 as Jenson remembers it but rather December 6, Jenson refuses to believe her. He is even more incredulous to his situation when the maid discloses that they aren't in New York City as Jenson remember but are in Honolulu, Hawaii. After shooing the maid from the room, Jenson decides that it’s time for a bit of the hair of the dog and goes downstairs to find the hotel bar. At this point, the only thing Jenson has a choice but to believe is that he went on a two month bender and somehow wound up in Hawaii.

            Jenson's rough manner puts him at odds with the bartender but Jenson quickly makes friends with a young married couple next to him, Mr. and Mrs. Janoski. He buys the couple champagne. Jenson's mood quickly darkens again when two things happen. First, Jenson learns that young Mr. Janoski is a sailor on the U.S.S. Arizona, a naval warship sunk by Japanese bombers in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Jenson, of course, has memory of this fact while no one else at the bar does. Second, Jenson gets into an argument with the bartender about the date and the year. The bartender states that it is the year 1941 while Jenson, still fighting against the logic of his unlikely time travel, insists that it is 1958. It takes Jenson seeing a newspaper being read nearby to really hit the situation home for him and, after making an embarrassing scene, runs panicked from the hotel bar.

            Back in Dr. Gillespie's office, Jenson tells the doctor all about it. He ran outside the hotel and looked at all cars in the parking lot and how none of them were models newer than ‘41. Dr. Gillespie continues to play skeptic. At this point, Jenson makes it very clear what he is saying.  When he dreams, it is real and when he "wakes up" it is still real. He is not just dreaming that he is going back in time; he actually is going back in time.

            Back in Jenson's "dream," we see Jenson frantically placing numerous bets with various bookies on future sporting events that he now knows to be sure bets. Jenson is visited by the sailor Mr. Janoski. It seems Janoski and his young wife are concerned about Jenson after his freak-out at the bar when he saw the newspaper with the headline about the impending war, WWII that is. By this time Jenson has learned to control his reactions and to play it cool when it comes to revealing that he is actually from 1958. He watches Janoski leave his room and meet his young wife in the hallway and a change comes over him. He now realizes that he must attempt to save people like this young couple and decides to contact the local newspaper to reveal what he knows about the attack on Pearl Harbor.

            This proves to be a huge mistake. As Jenson spills everything he knows about the imminent attack, he is ridiculed by the newspaper editor that warns Jenson against what he, the editor, believes to be a dangerous joke. Jenson and the editor eventually come to blows. An army doctor is called in to examine Jenson. This goes equally disastrous. Jenson checks out physically okay but when the doctor questions Jenson on subjects like the president and vice president of the United States, Jenson stumbles as he struggles to remember where he is, when he is and to remember seventeen years prior to his concept of the present, 1958. Jenson runs out of the newspaper office and winds up back at the hotel bar.

              Here, Jenson again meets with the young married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Janoski. Having a little drink in him, Jenson begins to open up about what is going to happen the next day when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. He tries to warn the young naval officer not to board the Arizona the next day. He even tells the young couple about his travels backwards in time. He pleads with them but is only met with hostility and fear. As the couple tries to leave, Jenson completely breaks down and begins telling the young bride that her husband is going to die if he boards his ship the next day. Janoski punches Jenson and knocks him backwards into the jukebox. When Jenson begins scaring the rest of the people in the bar, the bartender knocks Jenson out cold. Jenson awakens in his bed to the sound of Japanese fighter planes flying overhead. He gets up and runs to the window and sees the planes.

            Back in Dr. Gillespie's office, the doctor gives Jenson a rundown of how time travel, and, specifically, how one person's actions in the past will always affect the future. Jenson, in an effort to prove to Dr. Gillespie that his is actually traveling back in time, tells him a story of how he attempted to prove to himself that he actually had been back in Hawaii right before Pearl Harbor. When back in 1958, Jenson called for Janoski in the small town the couple mentioned having come from. Jenson got Janoski's mother on the phone and she informed Jenson that Janoski and his wife both died in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

            Voice-over narration: "Dr. Gillespie's patient lay on a couch, almost in a stupor. They'd been talking for hours. It was Saturday and Gillespie had planned to close early and go play golf. At that moment, he'd forgotten golf. He was concerned at this moment only with the fascinating and unbelievable story that this man in front of him had told him. And then, as he looked at him lying there on the couch, Dr. Gillespie knew Jenson was falling asleep. He could tell by the look on the face that he was far from resting though his eyes were closed and he was no longer aware of him."

            Dr. Gillespie, looking down at Jenson, sees the man struggling in his sleep. Then we see a montage projected upon Jenson's head showing all that had transpired in the episode and the progression of events from Jenson's point of view. Jenson screams once and Dr. Gillespie is unable to wake him.

            Jenson awakens on December 7, 1941, back in Hawaii to the sound of fighter planes flying over his hotel room. He rushes to the window, looks out, and keeps repeating "I told you," over and over. Then, in a particularly violent moment, the planes open fire upon the hotel. Bullets come crashing through the window to Jenson's room and kill him where he stands.

            Dr. Gillespie is left alone in his office, seemingly confused as to what has just happened. Jenson, of course, has vanished from the present because he died in the past. Gillespie looks around his office as though trying to remember something which he can't seem to get a grasp on. Gillespie decides to go to a bar. There, he ironically and morbidly makes a toast on his first drink to "happy dreams." Then he sees a picture of Jenson framed and hung on the wall. When he asks the bartender who the man in the picture is, the bartender tells him that it's Peter Jenson. Jenson used to tend bar at this establishment. Gillespie says he looks familiar but the name doesn't ring a bell. When Gillespie asks the bartender what happened to Jenson, the bartender tells him that he'd died, was killed in Pearl Harbor.

            Voice-over narration: "It is October 4, 1958, Saturday, 12:10 p.m. If anyone is remotely interested in the element of time."

Commentary:

            "The Time Element" is considered by many fans of The Twilight Zone (including us here in the Vortex) to be the true pilot for the series. Though "Where is Everybody?" is an excellent episode and a fan favorite, Serling himself admitted that the episode was produced and written in such a way as to garner endorsements from potential sponsors for the show. This is generally thought to be because Serling planned to use the fantasy elements of his episodes to soften the blow of the outward social and political commentary inherent in his teleplays. However, in both "The Time Element" and "Where is Everybody?" this socio-political commentary is nearly completely absent. It is important to note that though Serling's work is remembered for its hard lined commentary on society, he was simply a lover of fantasy fiction and could construct a fantasy script in a pure form, which is what he does with "The Time Element."

            Serling's purpose, other than simply writing an entertaining show, was to display to both sponsors and network executives that a serious fantasy anthology show could achieve the same combination of viewer response and positive critical reception that any other type of show achieved. Though fantasy shows had been featured on anthology shows from the earliest days of television, networks were very reluctant to devote an entire anthology formatted show to this type of subject matter and generally relegated fantasy shows to completely imaginary constructs such as those of Superman or Flash Gordon. These types of shows were, in a nutshell, to be enjoyed by children or to simply not be taken seriously. Serling hoped to change that with "The Time Element" and the combination of great script, cast, and production team got the job done well enough for CBS to take on Serling's new show, The Twilight Zone, just a few months later. "The Time Element" became a shining moment for Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, gathering the most overwhelmingly positive responses from viewers at home and bringing in a flood of letters to the network office. The episode has been shown numerous times in syndication, including as part of the Museum of Television and Radio Showcase.  It proved that not only was the public ready for fantasy and science fiction television in the anthology format, but that they hungered for it. In just a few short years television would see the greatest influx of this type of programming in its history as shows such as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, One Step Beyond, and Thriller invaded the small screen.

            On a thematic level, "The Time Element" resembles the main recurring themes of The Twilight Zone much closer than does "Where is Everybody?" The episodes most closely resembles the Charles Beaumont penned first season episode "Perchance to Dream." Check out our write up of that episode here. Beaumont adapted his teleplay from his own story published in the October, 1958 issue of Playboy, just one month before "The Time Element" premiered on the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. In both episodes, a man is having a recurring dream that puts him in a dangerous situation. Both men go to a psychiatrist to help and are ultimately doomed by the tragedy of their situation. The one main different in Beaumont's "Perchance to Dream" is that there is no element of time travel involved.

            "The Time Element" also closely resembles Serling's other time travel themed episodes that deal with someone going back into the past as most of these, such as "Walking Distance" from season one, "King Nine Will Not Return" and "Back There" from season two, and "No Time Like the Past" from season four, deal with the inability of a noble or well intentioned character to correct a mistake or prevent a tragedy, such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Like another Twilight Zone writer and author that spent a lot of time on this subject matter, Ray Bradbury, whose most famous story on the subject is "A Sound of Thunder" in which the killing of a butterfly by a man gone back in time for a prehistoric animal hunt severely alters the future, and from which we derive the common usage of the term "butterfly effect," Serling has Dr. Gillespie in the episode describe exactly what Bradbury indicates in his story by explaining the process of altering the future with either action or inaction in the past. For Serling, however, it is not so much that his characters go into the past and change the future but that they find themselves faced with inevitable tragedy and the absolute inability to do anything about it. In "The Time Element," Jenson is hit with resistance everywhere he goes. The more frantic he becomes, as the situation looms closer in time, the crazier he appears to the other characters and the more resistant they become. It is a terrifying and effectively suspenseful conundrum that Serling would return to again several times throughout the course of The Twilight Zone.

            Several members of the cast and production team for "The Time Element" would return to work with Serling on The Twilight Zone. On the production side, director Allen Reisner would return to direct the season one episode, "Mr. Denton on Doomsday." Producer Bert Granet would return to produce 18 episodes of season five for Serling and The Twilight Zone. From the cast comes excellent character actor Martin Balsam who went on to feature in two Twilight Zone episodes, "The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine" from season one and "The New Exhibit" from season four. Balsam would, of course, become best known as the private investigator Arbogast and Mother's second victim in Alfred Hitchcock's classic shocker Psycho. Don Keefer, playing the newspaper reporter in "The Time Element," would return to work with Serling on three Twilight Zone episodes, the most memorable of which was his turn as Dan Hollis who gets turned into a grotesque human jack-in-the-box by adolescent telepath Anthony (played to perfection by Bill Mumy) in the classic episode, "It's a Good Life." Keefer was also featured in "Passage on the Lady Anne" from season four and "From Agnes, With Love," from the fifth and final season of The Twilight Zone. Jesse White, in a tense and dramatic role for "The Time Element" as the gruff bartender that knocks out William Bendix's character near the end of the show, was more at home in light hearted or outright comedic roles and he was featured twice in such a capacity on The Twilight Zone in two episodes from season three: "Cavender is Coming" and "Once Upon a Time."

            Though he would not work with Serling on The Twilight Zone, another interesting member of the production team is makeup artist Charles Gemora. Born Carlos Cruz Gemora in the Philippines, Gemora first found work in days of silent cinema at Universal Studios where the young and talented artist sculpted work for the production department on The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Where Gemora really found his niche, however, was as a "gorilla man." Gemora's slight frame and excellent makeup talents led him to create and perform within realistic and often frightening gorilla suits on such classic horror films as The Unholy Three, Murders in the Rue Morgue, and Island of Lost Souls, working alongside such stars as Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi, and Charles Laughton. Though it would have been special to see what Gemora could have done with the material presented on The Twilight Zone, Serling nabbed his own genius makeup artist for the production team of the show, Academy Award winner William Tuttle. Read about William Tuttle's contribution to The Twilight Zone here.

             "The Time Element" indeed stands the test of time as an intuitive and somewhat ingenious early offering of the type of fantasy to soon be featured prominently on late '50s and early '60s television. Beyond Rod Serling's natural talent at writing, his greatest contribution to fans of this type of show was simply the drive to get it on television, to put it in front of producers and network executives and sponsors and to show that this type of programming works. Though The Twilight Zone was never a ratings winner (it was never a ratings loser, either, but sat right in the middle of the pack for most of its run) it undoubtedly remains one of the most critically acclaimed and fondly remembered shows in television history. "The Time Element" can be considered seminal along with the best of The Twilight Zone in that it upholds to the same high standards representative of the best the show had to offer. The type of show that "The Time Element" represents is the type that provides both the escape and the provocation, utilizing the medium to its fullest potential. It is an effort that Serling would continue for the remainder of his professional career, reaching the apex of artistic success with The Twilight Zone.

           

Grade: B

Notes:

--Allen Reisner also directed the season one episode "Mr. Denton on Doomsday."

--Martin Balsam also starred in the season one episode "The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine" and the fourth season episode "The New Exhibit."

--Don Keefer also starred in the season three episode "It's a Good Life," the fourth season episode "Passage on the Lady Anne," and the fifth season episode "From Agnes, With Love."

--Jesse White also appeared in the season three episodes "Cavender is Coming" and "Once Upon a Time."

--Bert Granet also produced 18 episodes from season five of The Twilight Zone.

--Desi Arnaz returned onscreen to deliver additional narration to end the show wherein he asks the audience how they would explain what happened. It was an attempt to soften the fantasy element of the show as the networks and sponsors felt audience would not accept an outright fantasy construct. The narration has been cut off syndication edits of “The Time Element” and I was unable to view or find a transcript of Arnaz’s outgoing narration.

--Jordan Prejean

Recommended Reading

What follows here is a list of books, magazines, comics and films dedicated to the fifth dimension.  We tried to make it as complete as possible but we are bound to have missed something so if anyone has any suggestions or corrections drop us a line and let us know.  Cheers.

Critical Companions

·         The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Scott Zicree (Bantam, 1982; Silman-James, 1988)

·         The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams Jr. (OTR Publishing 2008)

·         Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone: a Backstage Tribute to Television’s Groundbreaking Series by Stewart T. Stanyard (ECW Press, 2007)

·         Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone: the 50^th Anniversary Tribute by Douglas Brody and Carol Serling (Barricade Books, 2009)

·         Trivia from the Twilight Zone by Bill Devoe (BearManer Media, 2008)

·         A Critical History of Television’s The Twilight Zone, 1959 – 1964 by Don Presnell and Marty Mcgee (Macfarland and Company Publishing, 1998)

Teleplays

·         As Timeless as Infinity: The Complete Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling Vol. 1 - 9 edited by Tony Albarella (Gauntlet Press, 2004 - 2012)

·         Richard Matheson’s Twilight Zone Scripts edited by Stanley Wiater (limited edition published in 1998 by Cemetary Dance Publications; Trade paperback edition published in two separate volumes in 2002 by Gauntlet Press)

·         The Twilight Zone Scripts of Charles Beaumont Vol. 1  edited by Roger Anker (limited edition published by Gauntlet Press in 2004)

·         George Clayton Johnson: Twilight Zone Scripts and Stories (Streamline Pictures, 1996)

·         The Twilight Zone Scripts of Earl Hamner edited by Earl Hamner and Tony Albarella (Cumberland House Publishing, 2003)

·         The Twilight Zone Scripts of Jerry Sohl edited by Christopher Conlon (BearManor Media, 2004)

·         Forgotten Gems from the Twilight Zone Vol. 1 edited by Andrew Ramage (BearManor Media, 2005)

·         Forgotten Gems from the Twilight Zone Vol. 2 edited by Andrew Ramage (BearManor Media, 2006)

Source Material and Adaptations

·         The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories edited by Martin Harry Greenberg, Richard Matheson and Charles G. Waugh (MJF, 1985)

·         All of Us Are Dying and Other Stories by George Clayton Johnson (Subterranean Press, 1999)

·         Stories from the Twilight Zone by Rod Serling (Bantam, 1960)

·         More Stories from the Twilight Zone by Rod Serling (Bantam, 1961.  Not to be confused with Carol Serling’s 2010 anthology of the same name)

·         New Stories from the Twilight Zone by Rod Serling (Bantam, 1960.  Rod Serling’s three Bantam Twilight Zone collections were later published in a single hardcover edition by TV Books in 1990)

·         Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone by Walter B. Gibson (Grosset & Dunlap, 1963)

·         Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Revisited by Walter B. Gibson (Grosset & Dunlap, 1964. Gibson’s books contain both adaptations of Twilight Zone episodes and original stories inspired by the show.  The two collections were later released in a single hardcover volume in 1990 by Wings Books called Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone)

·         The Mark Kneece graphic novels:

§  Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone: Walking Distance adapted by Mark Kneece with art by Dove McHargue (Walker, 2008)

§  Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone: The After Hours adapted by Mark Kneece with art by Rebekah Issacs (Walker, 2008)

§  Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone: The Odyssey of Flight 33 adapted by Mark Kneece with art by Robert Grabe (Walker, 2008)

§  Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street adapted by Mark Kneece with art by Rich Ellis (Walker, 2008)

§  Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone: The Midnight Sun adapted by Mark Kneece with art by Anthony Spay (Walker, 2009)

§  Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone: Deaths-Head Revisited adapted by Mark Kneece with art by Chris Lie (Walker, 2009)

§  Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone: Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? Adapted by Mark Kneece with art by Rich Ellis (Walker, 2009)

§  Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone: The Big Tall Wish adapted by Mark Kneece with art by Chris Lie (Walker, 2009)

Books and films about Rod Serling

·         Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval written by John F. Goff and Thomas Wagner, directed by Susan Lacy (this documentary is part of PBS’s American Masters series (1995) and was later released on DVD by Image Entertainment)

·         In the Zone: The Twilight Worlds of Rod Serling by Peter Wolfe (Popular Press, 1997)

·         Serling: The Rise and Twilight of Television’s Last Angry Man by Gordon F. Sander (Plume, 1994)

·         Rod Serling: The Dreams and Nightmares of Life in the Twilight Zone by Joel Engel (Contemporary Books, 1989)

·         Spaceships and Politics: The Political Theory of Rod Serling by Leslie Dale Feldman (Lexington Books, 2010)

·         Into the Twilight Zone: the Rod Serling Program Guide by Jean-Marc Lofficier (iUniverse, 2003)

Books and Films about Charles Beaumont

·         Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man directed by Jason V. Brock (JaSunni Productions, 2010)

·         Running From the Hunter: The Life and Works of Charles Beaumont by Lee Prosser (Borgo Press, 1996)

·         The Work of Charles Beaumont: An Annotated Bibliography by William F. Nolan (Borgo Press, 1986)

Books about Richard Matheson

·         The Richard Matheson Companion edited by Stanley Wiater, Matthew R. Bradley and Paul Stuve (limited hardcover edition published by Gaunlet Press in 2008. Truncated paperback edition published by Citadel Press in 2009 under the title The Twilight and Other Zones: The Dark Worlds of Richard Matheson)

·         Richard Matheson on Screen: A History of the Filmed Works by Matthew R. Bradley (MacFarland, 2010)

Books about Earl Hamner

·         Earl Hamner: From Walton’s Mountain to Tomorrow by James E. Person, Jr. (Cumberland House Publishing, 2005)

Books and Magazines Related to The Twilight Zone

·         Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine (April, 1981 – Spring, 1987.  For a more detailed checklist you can check out Jordan’s post on the magazine’s history here)

·         The Twilight Zone comic (Gold Key Comics, November, 1962 – May, 1982.  This long-running graphic publication did not, to best of our knowledge, publish adaptations of Twilight Zone episodes but simply bought the name and Serling’s likeness, publishing original material inspired by the show)

·         California Sorcery edited by William F. Nolan and William K. Schafer (Cemetery Dance Publications, 1999)

·         The Twilight Zone: The Movie novelization by Robert Bloch based on the 1983 Warner Bros. film (Warner Books, 1983)

*Note: The following Carol Serling anthologies contain original material only.  No adaptations or reprints.

·         Journeys to the Twilight Zone edited by Carol Serling (Daw, 1993)

·         Return to the Twilight Zone edited by Carol Serling (Daw, 1994)

·         Adventures in the Twilight Zone edited by Carol Serling (Daw, 1995)

·         Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50^th Anniversary edited by Carol Serling (Tor Books, 2009)

·         More Stories from the Twilight Zone edited by Carol Serling (Tor Books, 2010)

Books related to the 1980’s revival series

·         New Stories from the Twilight Zone edited by Martin Harry Greenberg (Avon, 1991. This is sort of the companion volume to The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories and contains the source material for the 1980’s revival series.  It was later re-released as The New Twilight Zone so as not to confuse it with the Rod Serling collection of the same name)

·         Tales from the New Twilight Zone by J. Michael Straczynski (Spectra, 1989)

·         The Twilight Zone Volume 1 (NOW Comics, 1990. Volume 1 consists of Harlan Ellison and artist Neal Adams graphic adaptation of Ellison’s teleplay “Crazy as a Soup Sandwich” which was written for Season Three of the 1980’s revival.  It also includes the story “Wishing Book” written by Don Glut with art by John Stangeland.  Immediately after this issue the series was put on hold due to a change of ownership in NOW Comics.  Volume 1 consists solely of this one issue.  The series started back up a year later with Volume 2.  To promote the series NOW Comics re-released Volume 1 without Glut’s story and instead featured a prose story by Ellison called “Darkness Upon the Face of the Deep” and new cover art by Adams.  Thanks to sequentialellison.com for this helpful info)

·         The Twilight Zone Volume 2 Issues 1 – 11 (NOW Comics, November, 1991 – September 1992)

"A World of His Own"

Keenan Wynn as Mr. Gregory West

“A World of His Own”

Season 1, Episode 36
Original airdate: July 1, 1960

Cast:

Gregory West: Keenan Wynn
Victoria West: Phyllis Kirk
Mary: Mary La Roche
Himself: Giant Red-eyed Elephant

Crew:

Writer: Richard Matheson (original teleplay)
Producer: Buck Houghton
Director: Ralph Nelson
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Music: Stock

Rod Serling’s Promo:

“Next week we take you back into the dark and hidden, unexplored recesses of a writer’s mind, and do some probing as to just how this type of bird operates.  It’s a fascinating excursion into the oddball.  On the Twilight Zone next week Keenan Wynn and Phyllis Kirk star in Richard Matheson’s ‘A World of His Own.’  And in this particular one even this kooky writer gets into the act.  Good night.”

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
“The home of Mr. Gregory West, one of America’s most noted playwrights.  The office of Mr. Gregory West.  Mr. Gregory West: shy, quiet, and at the moment, very happy.  Mary: warm, affectionate.  And the final ingredient: Mrs. Gregory West.”

Summary:
Mr. Gregory West, renowned playwright, spends most of his days in his office creating make believe people.  Today he sits comfortably on his sofa sipping martinis with his adoring lady friend Mary, unaware that his wife Victoria is crouched outside the window secretly watching their every move.  He and Mary are relaxing serenely on the couch when they hear footsteps approaching in the hallway.  Panicked, Gregory drops his glass and it shatters on the floor.  Mary looks at him with a pleading face and tells him not to be afraid. 
              Victoria knocks on the door.  Gregory, holding a pair of scissors, opens the door and lets her in.  She takes inventory of the room but Mary is nowhere to be found.She immediately sets about inspecting the office but her search brings no results.  She tells Gregory that just moments before she was standing outside of the window looking in at him and she thought she saw him sitting on the couch with a woman in his arms.  Gregory looks at her for a moment and then the two laugh playfully together at such a foolish notion.  Victoria goes on to describe the woman as “drab” and “ugly.”  Without thinking, Gregory offhandedly remarks that Mary isn’t drab.  Victoria stares at him triumphantly and he realizes that he has made a huge mistake.  She sets off on a verbal rampage, accusing him of having an affair.Gregory attempts to explain the situation to her. 
              He says that sometimes when he is writing a character becomes so authentic in his mind that they become alive with their own ideas, beliefs and emotions.  He tells her that he once created a character named Phillip Wainwright who was so real he simply refused to be controlled and manipulated by his creator.  His personality was so genuine and compelling that one night as Gregory was reciting dialogue into his Dictaphone, Phillip Wainwright walked into his office.  Victoria looks at her husband as if he is losing his mind.  He says he can prove it.  He grabs the Dictaphone and begins to describe Mary.  Moments later there is a knock on the door.  Hesitantly, Victoria opens the door and standing there is Mary, the woman she saw on the couch.

Mary La Roche and Phyllis Kirk

             Victoria is still not convinced and assumes it is all an elaborate prank.  Gregory tries to prove it to her yet again as he takes a pair of scissors and cuts from the Dictaphone the tape containing the description of Mary.  Mary looks heartbroken as she watches him throw the handful of tape into the fireplace.  Then she vanishes into thin air.  Victoria is dumbfounded and demands to know what happened to her.  Gregory tells her that she has been erased.  They continue to argue and eventually she bolts out of the door leading to the hallway.  Gregory races to the Dictaphone, grabs the microphone and says that there is a giant, red-eyed elephant in the hallway blocking his wife’s getaway.  Seconds later Victoria encounters the enormous animal standing in the hallway and races back into the office. 

              After he throws the description of the elephant into the burning fire the couple resumes their quarrel.  He tells her that the reason he created Mary is because he did not want to be with a woman that constantly made him feel feeble.  Victoria tells him that she is going to have him put away.  With a bit of a smile, Gregory goes over to his bookshelf and takes out a large collection of books revealing a wall safe behind them.  He opens the safe and brings out a white envelope labeled: Victoria West.  Inside the envelope is a jumbled mass of Dictaphone tape.  Realizing what it is supposed to be she laughs in his face.  Gregory asks his wife why abeautiful and intelligent woman such as herself would even consider marrying a disappointinglytimid, average man like him.  Still, sherefuses to believe that she is just a manifestation of his mind.  Attempting to prove him wrong she grabs the envelope and tosses it into the fire.  Seconds later she begins to feel sick and she realizes that she was wrong before vanishing into nothing. 
             Gregory rushes over to the Dictaphone in an attempt to bring her back to life.  He begins to describe his late wife but then stops and thinks a moment.  Instead he describes his new wife, Mrs. Mary West. 
             Rod Serling sits on the desk of Mr. Gregory West and recites his routine closing monologue in which he tells the audience that events such as those described in tonight’s play are purely fictional and could never really happen.  He refers to these events as “ridiculous nonsense.”  Gregory West interrupts to tell him that he simply should not say words like “ridiculous” and “nonsense” when referring to these events.  West walks back to the wall safe and takes out another envelope labeled: Rod Serling.  He promptly tosses it into the fire.  Moments later Mr. Serling vanishes…into the Twilight Zone.

Rod Serling’s Closing Monologue:
“Leaving Mr. Gregory West. Still shy, quiet, very happy.  And apparently in complete control…of the Twilight Zone.”

Commentary:
The task of writing the closer to the premiere season of The Twilight Zone was given to Richard Matheson, making this his third original teleplay and fifth overall contribution to the series, and although whimsical comedy is an atypical venture for him he pulls it off nicely.  We have spent a great deal of time and words putting the humorous episodes of this program on the cinematic chopping block, placing the blame on either a bad script, a poor performance or sometimes both.  With “A World of His Own” Matheson delivers a solid comedy that relies not so much on dated screwball antics but instead on clever tongue-and-cheek wordplay that revolves around a simple but effective idea.  Speaking personally I have to admit that I usually gravitate toward the darker and more menacing parts of the Twilight Zone but I always find this episode to be welcomingly refreshing and consider it to be a great wrap-up to a fantastic first season.

               A quintessential characteristic of a Richard Matheson story is his simplistic approach to almost every aspect of it from its minimal setting to its basic premise to simple, terse dialogue and exposition designed specifically to make the narrative faster and easier to follow.  Many of his Twilight Zone episodes are comparable to live theatre given their simple structure and minimalist set design.  And although it is a comedy there is probably no better example of this formula than “A World of His Own.”  The entire episode takes place in a single room with few props, the cast consists of only three people and the situation is basic and easy to follow.  It has the atmosphere of a one act play and could easily have taken place on the stage (although Mary La Roche vanishing in front of a live audience might provide a degree of difficulty, but I am sure a clever director could work around this somehow).  We would see this same sort of atmosphere in several of his later episodes most notably in the Season Five episodes “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” and “Night Call.”

                By now Matheson was beginning to make a name for himself in Hollywood.  He had several movie scripts under his belt and was establishing a versatile career in television penning episodes of Have Gun – Will Travel, Wanted: Dead or Alive (both written with Charles Beaumont) and had begun a six episode run on the ABC series Lawman for which he won a Writers Guild Award.

Rod Serling vanishes into the fifth dimension.

               It’s interesting to note here that Richard Matheson’s original script for this episode was much different than this final version.  His original idea for this story was much darker and more in line with what is usually considered a “Richard Matheson-type” story.  In the original story the writer's characters come to life not to provide him with companionship but to haunt him.  When he submitted this proposal to Houghton and Serling they told him that it was probably too grim for primetime television and suggested that he rewrite it into a comedy.  And supposedly the idea for Serling’s on-screen cameo was a spur of the moment idea that Matheson wrote just to amuse Serling.  Serling got a kick out of it and chose to use it as the last episode of the season since it wouldn’t make much sense to have him disappear and reappear the next week.  This is the first episode which featured an on camera appearance by Serling which would later become one of the defining trademarks of the show.  Matheson later published his original treatment of this episode as a short story called “And Now I’m Waiting” in the April, 1983 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine.

                Stepping into the role of Gregory West is prolific character actor Keenan Wynn.  The episode marks a reunion of sorts.  Wynn had already worked with both Rod Serling and director Ralph Nelson when he appeared with his father, Ed Wynn, in the Playhouse 90 production of Requiem for a Heavyweight in 1956.  Originally apprehensive over starring alongside his famous father, it was actually Keenan who later convinced the senior Wynn to try dramatic roles after his comedy career had begun to fizzle out in the late forties.  The result was an early masterpiece of American television, one that won Serling his second Emmy Award.  The crew would work together a few years later in the production of Ralph Nelson’s The Man in the Funny Suit which details the intense experience of working on Requiem in which Nelson, both the senior and junior Wynn’s and Rod Serling all play themselves.  Keenan would go on to appear with his father in the Disney film The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel Son of Flubber (1963).  Over the course of his nearly fifty year career he appeared in over one hundred films including the notable classics Annie Get Your Guns (1950), Dr. Strangelove (1964), The Great Race (1965), Point Blank (1967), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and A Killer Inside Me (1976).  He’s great here as Gregory West and much of the sarcasm of the character lies simply in his facial expressions. 

              It’s interesting to note that while Matheson liked this episode he has stated many times that he was not happy with Phyllis Kirk as Virginia West and in fact said that out of all of the actors in his Twilight Zone episodes she is the only one he did not care for due mainly to the fact that she would change the dialogue as she saw fit. 

              By itself “A World of His Own” is a good, solid episode but not one that stands out as a classic.  But because the producers chose to use it as the season one closer the episode seems to resonate more with me for some reason.  It was a bold move for a darker themed fantasy program to use a comedy as a season finale but for some reason this one works perfectly.  It could be because of the gag with Serling at the end or because it is basically a love letter to writing on a program where the writers were the stars.  Whatever the reason, “A World of His Own” has always been my favorite comedy of the entire series and an episode that is always enjoyable to watch.

Grade: B

Notes: 

--As I mentioned the original treatment for this episode was later published as a short story called “And Now I’m Waiting” in the April, 1983 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine.  It was later collectedin Off Beat: Uncollected Matheson (Subterranean Press, 2003).

--Mary La Roche also appeared in the Season Five episode “Living Doll.”



-Brian Durant