The man hired to direct the episode was young Richard Donner (later to direct Superman and The Omen), at the time a television director who had no experience with special effects (I dont know why the hell they hired me, he says). Despite this, he did a wonderful job, and the episode is skillfully acted and shot.
The logistics involved in filming Nightmare at 20,000 Feet were enormous. The set consisted of the interior of an airline passenger cabin with the left airplane wing attached to the outside. This was all suspended over a huge water tank, in order to contain the water from the rain effect. Donner remembers the shooting as one big headache. Because you were suspended up, you had no stage floors. Every movement was a bitch. He lists the factors that had to be considered in virtually every shot. A man flying in on wires. Wind. Rain. Lightning. Smoke, to give the effect of clouds and travel and speed. Actors. You couldnt hear yourself think because of the noise of the machines outside. And fighting time, all the time. It was just unbearable. If any one of those things went wrong, it ruined the whole take. All of this consumed lots of time. We were supposed to take a fourth day in the tank set with the airplane, Donner remembers. Then they found out that the studio had committed it to another company. We had to work all night to finish it up. We went overtime till early the next morning.
In spite of all the difficulties, Donner has only praise for the finished product. I love it, I do love it. Its just such an unusual thing for television, really, to see that much energy go into a little half-hour film. And the story was good, too.
The final story on Nightmare at 20,000 Feet occurred several months after the shooting. Matheson and I were going to fly to San Francisco, Serling recalled in 1975. It was like three or four weeks after the show was on the air, and I had spent three weeks in constant daily communication with Western Airlines preparing a given seat for him, having the stewardess close the [curtains] when he sat down, and I was going to say, Dick, open it up. I had this huge, blownup poster stuck on the [outside of the window] so that when he opened it there would be this gremlin staring at him. So what happened was we get on the plane, there was the seat, he sits down, the curtains are closed, I lean over and I say, Dick at which point they start the engines and it blows the thing away. It was an old prop airplane. … He never saw it. And I had spent hours in the planning of it. I would lie in bed thinking how we could do this.
TRANSITION
With thirteen of the half hours produced and another thirteen in development, Bert Granet received an attractive offer from CBS. They were doing a series called The Great Adventure with John Houseman, and John, God bless him, is one of the most talented men in the business, but he made three shows and was something like $600,000 over budget. CBS had a serious problem, and I think they gave me a quarter of a million dollars for the year to finish the series out. There was no way that Serling could offer Granet an equal salary, so in the middle of the season, Twilight Zone was abruptly without a producer. He was very angry with me when I left, Granet says of Serling, because he felt I was letting him down. But I wasnt doing what anybody else doesnt do in the picture business: protect their own hide for the most money.
Hired to replace Granet was William Froug, onetime president of CBS Radio, a writer-producer-director on radio with Hallmark Hall of Fame and The Columbia Workshop (on which he oversaw production of a radio version of Aldous Huxleys Brave New World) and a writer-producer on television with Alcoa-Goody ear Theater; Adventures in Paradise, The Dick Powell Show, Playhouse 90, and Mr. Novak (later, he would have production chores on Bewitched and Gilligans Island). Froug was an extremely good-natured man who got along well with Serling (he remembers his stint on Twilight Zone as Fun! Wonderful fun!). His taste in scripts, however, differed somewhat from Bert Granet and he abandoned a number of the scripts that Granet had in development, including ones by Matheson, Beaumont, Jerry Sohl (under Beaumonts name) and Arch Oboler (noted for his work on radios Lights Out).
The cancelled scripts were: Mathesons The Doll, about a lonely, middle-aged bachelor who falls in love with a beautiful, handmade doll, searches out the modeland finds that she has fallen in love with a doll that looks like him; Beaumonts Gentlemen, Be Seated, about a future society in which laughter has been outlawed and a humor underground flourishes; Obolers What the Devil! about a couple of murderers who are chased along a highway by a dynamite truck driven by Satan; and two by Sohl Who Am I? about a man who wakes up, looks in the bathroom mirror and finds that his face has changed utterly (a fact that only he seems to recognize); and Pattern for Doomsday, in which a tremendous asteroid is on a collision course with Earth and a computer selects eight people a bacteriologist, a psychologist, a philosopher, an auto mechanic, an artist, a singer, a con man and a shady ladyto escape on the lone spaceship. Curiously, Froug himself wrote a script that was never produced. In Many, Many Monkeys, an epidemic breaks out that causes folds of flesh to cover peoples eyes (the monkeys in the title refers to see no evil, etc.). A nuclear bomb explosion is blamed, but one character thinks the disease is merely a physical manifestation of the hate within people. After buying it, the network shelved it. Says Froug, I think they had the feeling it was too grotesque.
A quote from Froug as reported in Daily Variety, August 30, 1963, clearly illustrates how his conception of the series differed from that of his predecessors: Were not only going way out on stories but in casting as well. One of our stories would be perfect for Jack Benny and another for Lena Horne. One of the segs will be directed by Mickey Rooney and were hopeful of getting Judy Garland for the lead. It would be great teaming with vast promotional possibilities. Ultimately, neither Horne, Benny nor Garland appeared on Twilight Zone. Mickey Rooney did not get his chance to direct, but he did star in one episode, The Last Night of a Jockey.
Once a quality show, Twilight Zone was now reliant almost entirely on gimmicks. This was the year that Virginia Trimble, a nineteen-year-old UCLA astrophysics major supposedly with an IQ of 180toured the country as Miss Twilight Zone in order to promote the show.
Director of photography George Clemens found working conditions far different from those he had enjoyed during the first three seasons. I got along with Froug like any cameraman, but we didnt have the relationshipI had with Buck and Rod. Occasionally, Id go in with ideas on how Id like to do things and he didnt see it my way, so I just gave up. I did less and less of them when he got in there.
The enthusiasm that had fueled Twilight Zone for so long was now almost totally depleted. The result of this affected everyone working on the show including Serling.
William Froug recalls an incident regarding Serlings Probe 7Over and Out that was fairly typical: The script arrived and it was forty-five pages. I said, Rod, its a half-hour show, pal. You above all people know we cant use more than thirty or thirty-two pages. He said, Dont worry, just cut whatever you think we dont need. There were these speeches that went on and on for pages. So I remember taking ten pages out of the script, and it didnt affect it in the least.
With twenty-three episodes yet to go, the end was in sight.
THE LAST NIGHT OF A JOCKEY (10/25/63)
Written by Rod Serling
Producer: William Froug
Director: Joseph M. Newman
Director of Photography:George T. Clemens
Music: stock
Cast: Grady: Mickey Rooney
The name is Grady, five-feet short in stockings and boots, a slightly distorted offshoot of a good breed of humans who race horses. He happens to be one of the rotten apples, bruised and yellowed by dealing in dirt, a short man with a short memory who’s forgotten that he’s worked for the sport of kings and helped turn it into a cesspool, used and misused by the two-legged animals who’ve hung around sporting events since the days of the Coliseum. So this is Grady, on his last night as a jockey. Behind him are Hialeah, Hollywood Park and Saratoga. Rounding the far turn and coming up fast on the rail is the Twilight Zone.”
After being banned from the track for horse doping, G
rady sits alone in his run-down room, contemplating the ruin of his career and his life. Suddenly, a sardonic inner voice speaks to him, asking him his dearest wish. Grady doesnt have to think about it: he wants to be big. When he wakes from a nap, he finds that the wish has been granted: hes over eight feet tall! Grady is elated, until he gets a call from the racing commissioner telling him hes been given another chance, he can ride again. The horrible realization comes crashing in on him: hes grown even larger and ten-foot-tall giants cant be jockeys.
The name is Grady, ten feet tall, a slightly distorted offshoot of a good breed of humans who race horses. Unfortunately for Mr. Grady, he learned too late that you dont measure size with a ruler; you dont figure height with a yardstick and you never judge a man by how tall he looks in a mirror. The giant is as he does. You can make a parimutuel bet on this, win, place or show, in or out of the Twilight Zone.
The first two of Frougs episodes to be aired were strong shows, exceptions to the rule.
In 1958, Froug had won an Emmy for producing Eddie on Alcoa-Goodyear Theater, a half-hour, one-character tour-de-force starring Mickey Rooney as a two-bit gambler desperately trying to raise some cash. Serlings The Last Night of a Jockey must have seemed like old home week to him.
As Grady, Mickey Rooney runs a gamut of emotions from rage to grief to a terrible self-loathing, and is credible throughout. Serlings script displays both intensity and understanding, but ultimately it is Rooneys acting that carries the show.
LIVING DOLL (11/1/63)
Written by Jerry Sohl
Producer: William Froug
Director: Richard C. Saraflan
Director of Photography:
Robert W. Pittack
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Cast: Erich Streator: Telly Savalas Annabelle: Mary LaRoche Christie: Tracy Stratford Voice of Talky Tina: June Foray
Talky Tina, a doll that does everything, a lifelike creation of plastic and springs and painted smile. To Erich Streator, she is a most unwelcome addition to his household but without her hed never enter the Twilight Zone.
Erich is displeased when his wife Annabelle buys an expensive doll for his step-daughter Christie and even more displeased when the doll tells him it doesnt like him. Initially, he suspects trickery, but as the doll repeatedly vocalizes its hatred of him though only when the two of them are alone he comes to believe it really is alive. He throws it in the garbage, but it escapes and phones him with a death threat. To save himself, Erich tries to burn the doll and saw off its head, but both attempts fail. He throws it back in the trash, trapping it with weights. But his actions have convinced Annabelle hes insane; shes taking Christie and leaving. In order to placate her, Erich by now doubting his own senses agrees to return the doll to Christie. But late that night, investigating a sound, Erich trips on the doll and falls down the stairs to his death. Horrified, Annabelle rushes to him and picks up the doll. My name is Talky Tina, it tells her, and you’d better be nice to me!”
Of course, we all know dolls can’t really talk, and they certainly can’t commit murder. But to a child caught in the middle of turmoil and conflict, a doll can become many things: friend, defender, guardian. Especially a doll like Talky Tina, who did talk and did commit murder in the misty region of the Twilight Zone.”
The Living Doll is a most unusual talking doll that says things like I hate you and Im going to kill you (as supplied by the voice of June Foray, who is also the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel). Masterfully written and superbly directed, acted, photographed and scored, it is an episode that can stand with the best of any season.
Based on an idea by Charles Beaumont and written in one day by Jerry Sohl (although credited entirely to Beaumont), Living Doll sets up a diabolical situation. Erich Streator is trying desperately not to alienate his wife (Mary LaRoche, previously Mary in A World of His Own) and her young daughter (Tracy Stratford, previously Tina in Little Girl Lost). When the child brings home a doll that makes clear its murderous intentions but only when its alone with him Erich is in one hell of a bind. If he tries to tell his wife of it, he sounds like a lunatic, and if he tries to protect himself by attempting (unsuccessfully) to destroy the doll, his actions seem those of a twisted mind striking out resentfully to hurt a helpless little girl. Poor Erich; it is clear early on that he hasnt much of a chance against this ruthless doll.
You really sympathize with the guy, says Jerry Sohl. If that goddamn doll kept saying those things, Id feel the same way myself: throw it in the damn trash can!
Sounds and Silences
Written by Rod Serling
Producer: William Froug
Director: Richard Donner
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Music: stock
Cast: Roswell G. Flemington: John McGiver Mrs. Flemington: Penny Singleton Psychiatrist: Michael Fox Doctor: Francis Defales Secretary: Renee Aubrey Conklin: William Benedict
This is Roswell G. Flemington, two hundred and seventeen pounds of gristle, lung tissue and sound decibels. He is, as you have perceived, a noisy man, one of a breed who substitutes volume for substance, sound for significance, and shouting to cover up the readily apparent phenomenon that he is nothing more than an overweight and aging perennial Sea Scout whose noise-making is in inverse ratio to his competence and his character But soon our would-be admiral of the fleet will embark on another voyage. This one is an uncharted and twisting stream that heads for a distant port called … the Twilight Zone.
Flemington, the owner of a model-ship company, is enamored of nautical jargon and very loud noise. At home, he relaxes by playing phonograph records of naval battles. When his wife of twenty years walks out on him (for a little peace and quiet), Flemington feels only joy now he can enjoy the din without having to put up with complaints! But that night, he undergoes a bizarre transformation: trivial sounds water dripping, the ticking of a clock become deafening to him. The next day, his employees are astounded to hear him demand quiet in the office! This doesnt work, though; the thundering of squeaking shoes and typewriter bells drive him to a doctor, then to a psychiatrist who convinces him the problem is all in his head. Returning home, Flemington encounters his wife, there momentarily to retrieve her jewelry. Using his new7-found willpower, he shuts out the sound of her voice until it is a tiny squeak then finds to his horror that everything sounds this way to him.
When last heard from, Mr. Roswell G. Flemington was in a sanitarium pleading with the medical staff to make some noise. They, of course, believe the case to be a rather tragic aberration a mans mind becoming unhinged. And for this theyll give him pills, therapy and rest. Little do they realize that all Mr.Flemington is suffering from is a case of poetic justice. Tonights tale of sounds and silences from … the Twilight Zone.
In May, 1961, a script was submitted to Serling entitled The Sound of Silence, concerning a man who could not hear the sounds around him. Serling rejected it, then forgot all about it. Two years later, he wrote Sounds and Silences. As soon as it aired, the writer of the original script filed suit. Because of the similarities of title and plot, the writer was paid $3500 and the matter was settled. Unfortunately, because the suit was in litigation when Twilight Zone was put into syndication, Sounds and Silences was not included. The episode was aired only onceand then put away in the CBS vaults.
RING-A-DING GIRL (12/27/63)
Written by Earl Hamner, Jr.
Producer: William Froug
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Music: stock
Cast: Bunny Blake: Maggie McNamara Hildy Powell: Mary Munday Bud Powell: David Macklin Ben Braden: Bing Russell Mr. Gentry: Hank Patterson State Trooper: Vic Perrin Dr. Floyd: George Mitchell Cici: Betty Lou Gerson Pilot: Bill Hickman
Introduction to Bunny Blake. Occupation: film actress. Residence: Hollywood, California, or anywhere in the world that cameras happen to be grinding. Bunny Blake is a public figure; what she wears, eats,
thinks, says is news. But underneath the glamor, the makeup, the publicity, the build-up, the costuming, is a flesh-and-blood person, a beautiful girl about to take a long and bizarre journey into the Twilight Zone.
Preparing to leave on a flight to a movie location in Rome, Bunny the ring-a-ding girl receives a present from her home town fan club. It is the latest addition to her ring collection, but this ring is unique: in its gem, Bunny can see the faces of people she knew back in Howardville, telling her shes needed there. Dropping in on the home of her sister Hildy, Bunny discovers its the day of the annual Founders Day picnic. Seemingly on a whim, she asks Dr. Floyd, chairman of the Founders Day committee, to postpone the picnic for a day; he refuses. She then goes on TV and announces she will be performing her one-woman show in the school auditorium today onlythe people of Howardville must choose between going to the picnic or seeing her. Hildy cant understand Bunnys actions, seeing them as merely the selfish acts of a spoiled Hollywood star. Just prior to her performance, though, Bunny disappears. All becomes clear. A jet airliner, bound from Los Angeles to New York, has crashed on the picnic grounds. Thanks to Bunny, most of the people in Howardville are safe in the auditorium. But Bunny herself is deadshe was a passenger on the plane!
We are all travellers. The trip starts in a place called birth and ends in that lonely town called death. And that’s the end of the journey, unless you happen to exist for a few hours, like Bunny Blake, in the misty regions of the Twilight Zone.”
Earl Hamner, Jr.s, final four Twilight Zone episodes came nowhere near the drama or poetry of Jess-Belle, his previous contribution. Unfortunately, Ring-a-Ding Girl is much like the stone in the ring Bunny Blake receives: interesting, but no gem.
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