Twilight Zone Companion (41 page)

The Dummy has one of the most chilling final shots of any episode of The Twilight Zone, a slow camera pan from the grinning, now-human Willie to the dummy of Jerry. William Tuttle recalls that getting a ventriloquists dummy to resemble Cliff Robertson was no mean feat. That has quite a story connected with it, he says. They wanted a caricature of

George Murdock as Willy after the old switcheroo

Robertson a ventriloquists dummy is a caricature, in a sense, its not human but they wanted it to look like him so that you could recognize it. They brought in a ventriloquists dummy with the mechanics already in it, and I thought that was a good place to start and then build the caricature over that of Robertson. But I dont happen to be good at caricature in drawing, and we had to have something to work from.

So I said to production manager Ralph Nelson, You need someone to do a caricature and Im no good at it, I dont have the knack. One of the greatest caricaturists is a man who calls himself T. Hee. He was one of the top men at Disney for many years. I first met him years ago. His name was Frank Campbell. He was a fantastic caricaturist. So I told Ralph Nelson all this, and he said, Well, maybe I can get in touch with him through Disney. And they found him. He was living out in Mojave someplace.

So I called him and I said, Frank, if you do some sketches, then we can work from the sketches. We sent some pictures of Robertson out to him, and he made caricatures, and thats what we worked from.

CAVENDER IS COMING (5/25/62)

Written by Rod Serling

Producer: Buck Houghton

Director: Chris Nyby

Director of Photography: George T. Clemens

Music: stock

Cast:

Agnes Grep: Carol Burnett Cavender: Jesse White Polk: Howard Smith Field Rep #1: William OConnell Field Rep #2: Pitt Herbert Field Rep #3: John Fiedler Field Rep #4: G. Stanley Jones Stout: Frank Behrens Frenchman: Albert Carrier Bus Driver: Roy Sickner Little Girl: Norma Shattuc Little Boy: Rory OBrien Woman #1: Sandra Gould Woman #2: Adrienne Marden Truck Driver: Jack Younger Child: Danny Kulick Woman #3: Donna Douglas Man #1: Maurice Dallimore Matronly Woman: Barbara Morrison

Small message of reassurance to that horizontal young lady: dont despair; help is en route. Ifs coming in an odd form from a very distant planet, but ifs nonetheless coming… . Submitted for your approval, the case of one Miss Agnes Grep, put on Earth with two left feet, an overabundance of thumbs and a propensity for falling down manholes. In a moment she will be up to her jaw in miracles, wrought by apprentice angel Harmon Cavender, intent on winning his wings. And, though ifs a fact that both of them should have stood in bed, they will tempt all the fates by moving into the cold, gray dawn of the Twilight Zone

After losing her job as an usherette, clumsy-but-lovable Agnes Grep makes the acquaintance of Cavender, a bungling angel who has been assigned to help her as his last chance to win his wings. To alleviate her chronic unemployment, Cavender provides Agnes with a personal fortune and sets her up in a mansion. Unfortunately, a side effect of this is that none of the people in her old neighborhoodwho previously adored hernow remember her. Preferring friends over riches, Agnes demands to be returned to her old life. Reluctantly, Cavender complies. Polk, Cavenders boss, is furious with himuntil he notices that, back on Earth, Agnes is extremely happy. Given this, Polk decides that other mortals could use Cavenders services.

A word to the wise now to any and all who might suddenly feel the presence of a cigar-smoking helpmate who takes bankbooks out of thin air. If youre suddenly aware of any such celestial aids, it means that youre under the beneficent care of one Harmon Cavender, guardian angel. And this message from the Twilight Zone: lotsa luck!

During the first season, Serling had originally thought up Mr. Bevis with the intention of selling it as a pilot. With Cavender Is Coming, he resurrected Mr. Bevis, changed the gender of the main character, and gave it another shot. The basic plot, however, remains the same.

Playing the part of Agnes Grep, the main character in Cavender, was Carol Burnett. Rod was a great admirer of her, Buck Houghton recalls. When he brought it up, saying, Tm going to do a picture for Carol Burnett, I said, Who? because I hadnt been seeing the variety show that established her. But hed been an admirer of hers and apparently he had studied what it is that made her work.

In writing Cavender Is Coming, Serling used material from Burnetts own life for certain sequences. At the beginning of the episode, Agnes is employed as an usherette. This was actually taken from one of Burnetts personal experiences. The first day I went to work as an usherette, she

related at the time, the manager ran through a list of silent signals. Three fingers slapped on the wrist meant take a thirty-minute break. Opening your mouth like a fish and pointing to it meant you were thirsty. And when the manager poked his finger into the center of his palm, that meant he wanted a girl to stand in the center of the lobby to direct the patrons to the available seating. One of the girls worked up her own signal in reply to the bosss gestures. She poured a bag of buttered popcorn on his head and told him, That means I quit.

Unfortunately, the humor in Cavender Is Coming is so terminally unfunny that it would be better titled Cadaver Is Coming. As the guardian angel, Jesse White tries his best, but the material is just too leaden. Throughout, Burnett seems utterly lost, making broad expressions in an effort to be funny, but never succeeding. Again, the fault lies with the writing.

Further hampering the episode is the inclusion of a laugh track, smeared over the action like a thick coat of paint.

Buck Houghton says of the laugh track, That was CBSs idea, because they were in a pilot mood and they wanted to get a Jesse White thing going. I refused to go to the dubbing session with the canned laughter man there. I thought it was a dreadful idea.

Had Mr. Bevis sold, each week would have been a new adventure involving Bevis and his guardian angel. Cavender Is Coming took a different tack, in that each episode would have involved the guardian angel with a different human being. But although it got so far as to be considered a pilot, Cavender Is Coming, like Mr. Bevis, did not sell … a blessing as far as the American viewing public was concerned.

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD (6/1/62)

Written by Rod Serling

Producer: Buck Houghton

Director: Robert Ellis Miller

Director of Photography:George T. Clemens

Music: stock

Makeup: William Tuttle

Cast: Prof. Ellis Fowler: Donald Pleasence Headmaster: Liam Sullivan Mrs. Landers: Philippa Bevans Graham: Bob Biheller Butler: Kevin ONeal Boy #1: Jimmy Baird Boy #2: Kevin Jones Boy #3: Tom Lowell Boy #4: Russell Horton Boy #5: Buddy Hart Boy #6: Darryl Richard Boy #7: James Browning Boy #8: Pat Close Boy #9: Dennis Kerlee

Professor Ellis Fowler; a gentle, bookish guide to the young, who is about to discover that life still has certain surprises, and that the campus of the Rock Springs School for Boys lies on a direct path to another institution, commonly referred to as the Twilight Zone

Preparing to leave for Christmas vacation, Professor Fowler is informed by the Headmaster that, after fifty-one years of teaching, he is to be forcibly retired. Fowler is devastated by this news and begins to brood. That evening, having decided his teaching has accomplished nothing, he takes a pistol and walks back to the school, determined to commit suicide. Suddenly, he hears a school bell. He enters a classroom and sees the ghosts of a number of his now-deceased students materialize. Theyre there for a purpose: to convince him that his lessons helped them to go on and commit acts of bravery. Fowler returns home, satisfied that he has made some mark in the world and content now to retire.

Professor Ellis Fowler; teacher, who discovered rather belatedly something of his own value. A very small scholastic lesson, from the campus of the Twilight Zone

The theme of old age interested Rod Serling enough that he dealt with it in two scripts during the third season.

In The Changing of the Guard, a saintly old schoolteacher (a la Goodbye, Mr. Chips) contemplates suicide after being forced into retirement. Well directed by Robert Ellis Miller (whose film work includes The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter), the episode boasts an enchanting performance by Donald Pleasance. In convincing age makeup by William Tuttle, he plays elderly Professor Ellis Fowler with grace and humility. Its not an easy role, as it is talky and cliched, but Pleasance easily surmounts these obstacles.

One monologue is particularly memorable. After being informed of his termination, Fowler goes home and looks through old school yearbooks. He says to his housekeeper: They all come and go like ghosts. Faces, names, smiles, the funny things they said or the sad things, or the poignant ones. He pauses thoughtfully. I gave them nothing, I gave them nothing at all. Poetry that left their minds the minute they themselves left. Aged slogans that were out of date when I taught them. Quotations dear to me that were meaningless to them. I was a failure, Mrs. Landers, an abject, miserable failure. I walked from class to class an old relic, teaching by rote to unhearing ears, unwilling heads. I was an abject, dismal failureI moved nobody. I motivated nobody. I left no imprint on anybody. He puts on his glasses and smiles. Now, where do you suppose I ever got the idea that I was accomplishing anything?

As performed by Pleasance, its a poignant soliloquy, a summation of the life the main character now believes was utterly without worth. Pleasance was an idea of the casting directors, Id never heard of him, says Buck Houghton. Boy, damn the expense; we brought him from England. He was just wonderful in it. Hes a very nice man. I have a feeling it was his first time in this country professionally, and while he was a thoroughgoing professional with a huge experience in stage and everything else, he was a little apprehensive of this whole experience because he arrived on a given day and five days later it was all going to be over. So he had a lot to absorb. But Bob Miller is very together and gave him confidence and we were off and running.

THE TRADE-INS (4/20/62)

Written by Rod Serling

Producer: Buck Houghton

Director: Elliot Silverstein

Director of Photography: George T. Clemens Music: stock

Cast: John Holt: Joseph Schildkraut Marie Holt: Alma Platt Mr. Vance: Noah Keen Farraday: Theodore Marcuse John Holt (young): Edson Stroll Gambler #1: Terrence de Marney Gambler #2: Billy Vincent Receptionist: Mary McMahon Attendant: David Armstrong

Mr. and Mrs. John Holt, aging people who slowly and with trembling fingers turn the last pages of a book of life and hope against logic and the preordained that some magic printing press will add to this book another limited edition. But these two senior citizens happen to live in a time of the future where nothing is impossible, even the trading of old bodies for new. Mr. and Mrs. John Holt, in their twilight years who are about to find that there happens to be a zone with the same name.”

John and Marie Holt visit the New Life Corporation, hoping to transplant their personalities into youthful, artificial bodies. Unfortunately, they have only five thousands dollars just enough for one body. Marie pleads with John who is in constant pain to have the operation himself, but he wont hear of it. Trying to double his money, John seeks out a poker game but succeeds only in losing the entire five thousand. Farraday, who runs the game, takes pity on him and gives him back his money. Finally overwhelmed by the pain, John submits to the operation. He emerges young and strong and free of pain. Enthusiastically, he tells Marie of their life to come, one filled with excitement and adventure. Suddenly, he stops, horrified in his realization that she is still old; the transformation has created a gulf between them. John returns to his old body, content that he and Marie will spend what time they have left … together.

From Kahil Gibran’s The Prophet: Love gives not but itself and takes not from itself, love possesses not nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love. Not a lesson, just a reminder, from all the sentimentalists in the Twilight Zone

Joseph Schildkraut returned to The Twilight Zone in The Trade-ins, a sensitive story by Serling. Alma Platt is excellent as Schildkrauts wife, but it is Schildkraut who makes the episode shine, portraying the main character, John Holt, as a strong, fine man beaten down by age and by excruciating pain. Ultimately, Holt yields to the pain, taking the transplant for himself (bolstered by his wifes insistent repetition of the word yes in an extremely moving scene). But when he emerges, young and healthy (and strangely minus his previous accent) in a new body (played by Edson Stroll), he runs smack into a painful truth: that where before he and his wife were united by age, now they are separated by it; he has gained a new world while she has lost the old. Holt returns to his old, pain-filled body, content in the knowledge that while the time he has left may not be great, it will not be lived in loneliness.

The Trade-ins is a story about love and courage, and Joseph Schildkraut does it up fine. But unbeknownst to all but those on the set, the same qualities were strongly at play within Schildkraut during the filming of the episode. Director Elliot Silverstein recalls, He was undergoing a tragedy at the time … his own wife was dying. As a matter of fact, in the middle of the three-day schedule, his wife did in fact die. And he insisted that we not stop production for him; the Schildkraut family was a great theatrical family in Europe he would finish the film and then mourn. He was in real tears, off-screen.

ESTABLISHMENT AND TRANSITION

By the close of the third season, The Twilight Zone had made cultural inroads beyond its status as a mere television series. In a world of ever-increasing oddness, the twilight zone was a phrase perfectly suited to describe any number of situations. Dean Rusk, our Secretary of State, in a speech to the Senate, referred to the twilight zone in diplomacy, Serling noted. When that happened, I thought, My gosh, weve arrived!