Twilight Zone Companion (48 page)

Mr. George P. Hanley. Former vocation: jerk. Present vocation: genie. George P. Hanley, a most ordinary man whom life treated without deference, honor or success, but a man wise enough to decide on a most extraordinary wish that makes him the contented, permanent master of his own altruistic Twilight Zone.

It was a comedy that wasnt as funny as it might have been.

Herbert Hirschmans opinion of John Furia, Jr.s, I Dream of Genie is unfortunately correct. The idea was certainly full of potential. As Hanley, comic actor Howard Morris has lots of charm and he makes the material work better than it otherwise would have but he is sabotaged by a weak script.

Part of the problem is that at the very beginning the genie tells George that neither love nor wealth will work as wishes, making two of the three fantasy sequences completely redundant. Another aspect that fails to work is the character of the genie, played by Jack Albertson. Dressed in modern clothes, talking in slang, extremely abrasive, he is anything but the traditional genie.

The best moments in I Dream of Genie come when Morris assumes the fantasy roles of industrialist and President, poking fun at the cliches of magnanimous billionaire and kindly head of state. As in a comedy skit, Morris knows exactly how far to exaggerate without going over the line. Here, he is a busy President in the Oval Office:

may: Your appointment schedule, Mr. President.

hanley: Thank you, May. Move the press conference to after lunch. I need a haircut.

may: Yes, sir.

hanley: Ill make the U.N. speech. Tell Lawrenson to whip up a draft and remind him: jokes!

may: Yes, Mr. President.

hanley: Who are Sonny and Mickey?

may: Theyre the cub scouts who wrote you the letter on citizenship. You asked to be reminded when they came into the capitol. Of course, theres no time

hanley: Make time! Well have our haircuts together.

may: Yes, sir. Oh, its almost ten oclock.

hanley (He walks over to a large switch and throws it): Twenty million kilowatts for the southwest. Too bad I cant make all these dedications in person!

THE INCREDIBLE WORLD OF HORACE FORD (4/18/63)

Written by Reginald Rose

Producer: Herbert Hirschman

Director: Abner Biberman

Director of Photography: George T. Clemens

Music: stock

Cast: Horace Ford: Pat Hingle Laura Ford: Nan Martin Mrs. Ford: Ruth White Leonard OBrien: Phillip Pine Betty OBrien: Mary Carver Mr. Judson: Vaughn Taylor Horace (child): Jim E. Titus Hermy Brandt: Jerry Davis

Mr. Horace Ford, who has a preoccupation with another time, a time of childhood, a time of growing up, a time of street games, stickball and hide-n-go-seek. He has a reluctance to go check out a mirror and see the nature of his image: proof positive that the time he dwells in has already passed him by. But in a moment or two hell discover that mechanical toys and memories and daydreaming and wishful thinking and all manner of odd and special events can lead into a special province, uncharted and unmapped, a country of both shadow and substance known as… the Twilight Zone

Toy designer Horace Ford, emotionally little more than an oversized child, lives with his wife Laura and his mother. He spends most of his time reminiscing about what he recalls as an idyllic childhood that was all play and no responsibility. Several evenings before his thirty-eighth birthday for which Laura has planned a surprise party Horace pays a nostalgic visit to his old neighborhood on Randolph Street. To his amazement, it is exactly as he remembered it, down to the clothes the people wear and the pushcart man selling hot dogs for three cents apiece. Suddenly, a group of young boys rush past. One of them bumps into Horace, knocking his pocket watch out of his hands. The boy turns and grins. Horace is astonished to see it is Hermy Brandt who was a child when he was a child! Horace gives chase, but loses him. Returning home, he tries to tell Laura and his mother of the experience, but finds them extremely dubious. Then the doorbell rings. Laura answers itand finds herself face to face with Hermy Brandt, who hands her Horaces watch, then runs away. Drawn by the mystery, Horace returns to Randolph Street the next night and finds the sequence of events identical. Only this time, he manages to catch up with the boys and overhears them angrily discussing some unnamed person who has slighted them by not inviting them to his birthday party. Horace comes back to his apartment, certain he has witnessed a recurring pattern one in which he is inexplicably a part. This conviction is only strengthened when, as before, Hermy Brandt returns his watch and runs off. Obsessed by these events, Horace neglects his work. Sensing he is not well, Mr. Judson, his boss, orders him to take a leave of absence and see a psychiatrist. Furious, Horace refuses, and Judson is forced to fire him. When Horace tells his mother of this, she breaks down into hysterical tears of self-pity. Horace is filled with envy of the kids hes seen on Randolph Street: they dont have to support a wife and mother all they have to do is have fun! He storms out of the apartment and races back to Randolph Street. There the events repeat themselves, but this time the boys conversation continues and it becomes clear that the person who has offended them is Horace! He pleads with them to forgive him, but is ignored. Suddenly, he is a child again. Viciously, they jump on him and beat him up. Back at the apartment, Laura and the party guests wait for Horaces return. When the doorbell rings, the door is thrown open and they all yell Surprise! but the surprise is on them. Its not Horace, its Hermy Brandt, and this time the object he holds out is a Mickey Mouse watch! Horrified, Laura rushes to Randolph Street. It is quiet, empty of people, the stands covered over with cloths. Horace, still a little boy, lies unconscious on the ground, bleeding and bruised. Sobbing, Laura turns away from him. When she turns back, Horace is a man again. He revives, and tells her that what he found on Randolph Street put the lie to what he had remembered; in reality, his childhood was a terrible time. Now, finally, he is able to put it behind him. Theres a party waiting for him at home. He and Laura leave Randolph Street not noticing that high above them, atop a streetlamp, sits a grinning Hermy Brandt.

Exit Mr. and Mrs. Horace Ford, who have lived through a bizarre moment not to be calibrated on normal clocks or watches. Time has passed, to be sure, but ifs the special time in the special place known asthe Twilight Zone

On June 13, 1955, Studio One presented The Incredible World of Horace Ford by Reginald Rose, writer of the film Twelve Angry Men and later to create the television series The Defenders. Starring Art Carney, the show concerned an overwhelmingly nostalgic toy designer who returns to the street of his childhood and finds it exactly as it was when he was a child including the very same children! This was no Walking Distance, however. His old neighborhood is a Lower East Side slum and the people turn out to be anything but friendly.

What I meant to do with The Incredible World of Horace Ford, Rose wrote in 1956, was to tell a simple horror story about an everyday man with a somewhat exaggerated but everyday kind of problem and, in so doing, point out that the funny, tender childhood memories we cling to are often distorted and unreal. What happened to Horace when he finally made it back to his childhood was typical of what actually happened to so many of us again and again when we were children. He was ridiculed, rejected, beaten up. These are all familiar experiences to us, yet somehow we tend only to remember, as Horace did, the joys of swiping pomegranates from Ippolitos.

Herbert Hirschman remembered this fantasy, thought it would be ideal for Twilight Zone, and bought it from Rose. He then hired Abner Biberman to direct.

One day, Biberman was in the MGM commissary and he happened to spot Pat Hingle, an accomplished Broadway actor with credits including J.B., Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie, and That Championship Season (and later to play the father in the movie Norma Rae). Biberman approached Hingle and offered him the part. He accepted. Cast as his wife was Nan Martin, who had played his wife in J.B.

As Horace Ford, Pat Hingle gives a striking performance, his gestures and stride exaggerated, boyish. I realized that he was like a man/boy or boy/man, says Hingle. In many ways, his spirit had not grown up. Also very good are Nan Martin and, as Horaces mother, Ruth White.

Reginald Rose prefers the finale of the original Horace Ford, which ends with Horace transforming into a child, being beaten up, and Hermy Brandt delivering a Mickey Mouse watch to the astonished Laura. I was writing something quite strange, a realistic fantasy, and I wanted a shocking, impossible ending. Horace turns into a kid again and finds it to be not glorious, as he had always remembered, but dreadful. When Twilight Zone wanted to buy it, Herb Hirschman asked for another ending. He wanted it more upbeat. I obliged. The work had already been done the way I saw it, and therefore it didnt bother me to change the ending.Written by Rod Serling Producer: Herbert Hirschman Director: David Butler Director of Photography:

John Williams and Jack Weston

George T. Clemens Music: Fred Steiner

Cast: Julius Moomer: Jack Weston William Shakespeare: John Williams Rocky Rhodes: Burt Reynolds Mr. Shannon: John McGiver Gerald Hugo: Henry Lascoe Cora: Judy Strangis Bramhoff: Howard McNear Sadie: Doro Merande Secretary: Marge Redmond Bus Driver: Clegg Hoyt Dolan: William Lanteau

You’ve just witnessed opportunity, if not knocking, at least scratching plaintively on a closed door. Mr. Julius Moomer, a would-he writer who, if talent came twenty-five cents a pound, would be worth less than car fare. But, in a moment, Mr. Moomer, through the offices of some black magic, is about to embark on a brand-new career. And although he may never get a writing credit on the Twilight Zone, he’s to become an integral character in it.”

So eager is agent Gerald Hugo to get sincere and talkative Julius out of his office that he promises to submit a script for Julius as a pilot for a black magic series if Julius can get the script to him by Monday. Eager to research the subject, Julius immediately enters a used bookstore. Suddenly, an ancient book of black magic removes itself from the shelf and falls to the floor. Taking it home, he tries to invoke one of its spells, using materials at hand in place of those dictated by the formula in the book. His attempts produce no result at all. Dejectedly, he sits down. Who do they think I am? he says. William Shakespeare? Immediately, there is an explosion. When the smoke clears Julius is astounded to see that he has inadvertently summoned up William Shakespeare! Seizing on this golden opportunity, he enlists Shakespeare as a ghost writer. Shakespeare quickly turns out a teleplay entitled The Tragic Cycle, which Shannon Foods buys for airing on the TV show it sponsors. The script is of such brilliance that, even before the show is aired, Moomer becomes a celebrity. Shakespeare is enraged that Julius has taken sole credit for the script. He decides to attend one of his plays rehearsals and see if it is being performed faithfully. When Shakespeare arrives at the studio, Julius explains to the sponsor and advertising executives that he is actually Juliuss mad cousin, who believes hes William Shakespeare this week. Shakespeare is appalled by the changes the sponsor has made in his script: The lead has been rewritten to suit Rocky Rhodes, a method actor acclaimed for his performance in A Streetcar Named Desire; a love scene takes place in a subway station instead of on a balcony; and a female character, instead of committing suicide, runs off with one of Artie Shaws musicians! When Shakespeare protests, Rhodes sidles up to him and asks what hes got against Stanislavsky. YouS hakespeare replies, and lands a mighty punch that decks the actor. Then he storms outfor good. Moomers next assignment is a two-and-a-half-hour American history spectacular, but without Shakespeare he figures his career is at an enduntil he remembers the book of black magic. Proudly, Julius troops into Gerald Hugos office with his new writing staff: Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Pocahontas, Daniel Boone, Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin!

Mr. Julius Moomer, a streetcar conductor with delusions of authorship. And if the tale just told seems a little tall, remember a thing called poetic licenseand another thing called the Twilight Zone

With The Bard, Serling pokes fun at the medium of televisionthe writers, the actors, the agents, the executives and sponsors. Serling is on his home turf here, and one feels he took a delicious pleasure in writing this delightful episode.

Would-be writer Julius Moomer (Jack Weston) dreams of someday winning the Wurlitzer prize (Pulitzera little girl corrects him). He is bursting with ideas, but none of them are selling, and with good reason. Among them: a zombie story (about this dame who marries a guy who walks around on his heels all the time. She thinks hes punchy but it turns out hes deadall the time theyre married, she dont know hes dead!), a love story (where the lady scientist falls in love with a robot), a western (where the president of the Western Pacific Railroad turns out to be Belle Starr), a weekly series (Boy Meets Girl! Every week we have a different boy and a different girl!), and the idea of changing The Millionaire into The Multi-Millionaire and making an hour show of it. Moomer is short on originality, but long on enthusiasm, as when hes talking to a Hollywood agent:

julius: If this one aint sure fire, Ill cut off both my hands, Ill absolutely cut off both my hands!

You ready? Are you ready? Champion of the World. Kirk Douglas, maybe. Burt Lancaster. You want to make him younger? Tony Curtis, I give you Tony Curtis … So now hes champion of the world, but hes made a promise to this girl never to fight again. You know, like a vow. A vow, Mr. Hugo, thats like a promise, I mean like solemn. And now,

Mr. Hugo, comes the meat, this is what grabs you right here. Now, hes gotta fight but he promised his girl, and when he tells her hes gonna fight, shes aghast, I mean this broad is palpitating! She calls the cham-peen a filthy, rotten, dirty