Reading Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, Part 14

In which we take a closer look at each issue of the magazine. For our capsule history of the magazine, go here.

Volume 2, number 2 (May, 1982)

Cover art: William Stoneham

TZ Publications, Inc.

President & Chairman: S. Edward Orenstein

Secretary/Treasurer: Sidney Z. Gellman

Executive Vice-Presidents: Leon Garry, Eric Protter

Executive Publisher: S. Edward Orenstein

Publisher: Leon Garry

Associate Publisher/Contributing Editor: Carol Serling

Editorial Director: Eric Protter

Editor: T.E.D. Klein

Managing Editor: Jane Bayer

Assistant Editors: Steven Schwartz, Robert Sabat

Contributing Editors: Gahan Wilson, Thomas M. Disch

Design Director: Derek Burton

Art and Studio Production: Georg the Design Group

Production Director: Stephen J. Fallon

Controller: Thomas Schiff

Administrative Assistant: Doreen Carrigan

Public Relations Manager: Jeffrey Nickora

Accounting Manager: Chris Grossman

Circulation Director: William D. Smith

Circulation Manager: Janice Graham

Eastern Circulation Manager: Hank Rosen

Western Newsstand Consultant: Harry Sommer

Advertising Manager: Rachel Britapaja

Advertising Production Manager: Marina Despotakis

Advertising Representatives: Barney O’Hara & Associates, Inc.

Contents:

--In the Twilight Zone: Happily ever after . . . by T.E.D. Klein

--Other Dimensions: Books by Thomas M. Disch

--Other Dimensions: Screen by Gahan Wilson

--Other Dimensions: Music by Jack Sullivan

--TZ Interview: Terry Gilliam by James Verniere

--“The General’s Wife” by Peter Straub

--“Frontiers” by Kit Reed

--Front-Row Seats at the Creepshow by Ed Naha

--TZ Screen Preview: Dark Crystal by James Verniere

--“The Other One” by Rick Norwood

--“The Father of the Bride” by Connie Willis

--“Turn Down for Richmond” by G.J.A. O’Toole

--“Weigh Station” by Robert Crais

--“J.C. in the Springtime” by I. Daniel Roth

--“A Lover’s Alibi” by Chet Williamson

--The Doomsday Poems by Richard L. Tierney

--“All of Us Are Dying” by George Clayton Johnson

--TZ Classic Teleplay: “The Four of Us Are Dying” by Rod Serling

--Show-by-Show Guide: TV’s Twilight Zone, Part Fourteen

--Looking Ahead: In June’s TZ

--In the Twilight Zone: “Happily ever after . . .” by T.E.D. Klein

-Klein’s usual editorial space used to introduce the contributors to the issue, marking the first appearance of Thomas M. Disch as books reviewer, the novella by Peter Straub, and the interview with American expatriate film director Terry Gilliam, whose 1981 film Time Bandits had recently found success in America.

--Other Dimensions: Books by Thomas M. Disch

-This is the first books review column from Disch (1940-2008), the celebrated poet, essayist, and science fiction writer. Disch will continue to provide book reviews for the magazine until the Jan-Feb, 1985 issue. Disch also provided book reviews for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Omni during this time and wrote several literary essays which appeared in non-genre periodicals. Some of this work was collected in On SF (2005). Disch also contributed three lists to The Fantasy Five-Foot Bookshelf series in the May-June, and July-Aug, 1983 issues of Twilight Zone. Disch first came to the attention of science fiction readers as one of the more talented New Wave writers. His novels The Genocides (1965) and Camp Concentration (1968) and the collection 334 (1972) are widely considered modern classics of the form.

-Disch takes a look at three works for his first column. Here’s a sampling of his thoughts.

On The Sword of the Lictor (volume three of The Book of the New Sun) by Gene Wolfe:

“Wolfe’s special effects are only apprehensible to those who will read his prose with a precision proportional to his precision as a writer. Most science fantasy – and most sf, for that matter – is written in a gassy, approximative prose from which it is possible to construct, at best, figured landscapes as sketchily drawn and crudely colored as comic book illustrations. What Wolfe offers is a much higher degree of image resolution; not photo-realism but something like an animated version of a Botticelli painting. But to have the benefit of Wolfe’s verbal cinematography you must give every word its true weight and inflection.”

-On GOSH! WOW! (Sense of Wonder) Science Fiction ed. Forrest J. Ackerman:

“Ejjay is definitely getting my vote for the Big Heart Award at the next con. He must have spent weeks in the dust of the copyright office finding out which stories he could use strictly for the sake of nostalgia without the corrupting taint of commerce.”

-On The Abyss by Jere Cunningham:

“It’s always a mistake for a fantasy writer to multiply his hypotheses too wantonly, especially if he means at the same time to observe the decorums of psychological verisimilitude. Cunningham piles on the grue (as Straub did in Ghost Story) without rhyme or reason, and the novel that results has the esthetic integrity and emotional impact of the Tunnel of Terrors at a county fair.”

--Other Dimensions: Screen by Gahan Wilson

-Wilson does not look at any single film in this column but rather pens a freewheeling, satirical rumination on the future of the movies, particularly where the ever-evolving special effects may take the medium next. He begins this way: “Although I’ve always been a total patsy for films, this business of viewing them in a sort of official capacity for Twilight Zone (together with getting involved with them directly in another incarnation) has caused me to look at them, yes, indeed, more critically. What are the damned things, anyhow? And how big a chunk of the society and its members do they represent? What do you suppose is the accumulation of their effect? And – more and more intriguing to me – where in God’s name are they going?”

-Wilson provides satirical speculations on where the movies will go next in terms of special effects and the ways in which we view movies, going so far as to suggest a Westworld type of fully immersive experience while taking the obligatory shot at the litany of Jaws sequels. The column reads as though intended to be humorous but contains an edge of pessimism which largely spoils the effect. Wilson’s view is prescient, however, as films begin more and more to bear a resemblance to a technical exercise than a creative one. Special effects are often used to mask inefficiencies in storytelling on the part of the filmmakers but audiences hardly seem to care, or recognize the difference. In a way, Wilson is addressing the old argument of whether it is better to leave some things to the imagination or to show it all without allowing the audience to color anything in with their own imaginings. It is an interesting topic of discussion though Wilson does not attempt a serious examination of the issue but merely uses the influx of special effects-heavy productions to lament the days when story came first in films and the movie-going experience was more intimate.

--Other Dimensions: Music by Jack Sullivan

-Sullivan, the American genre historian best known for his 1978 study Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood, the 1983 anthology Lost Souls: A Collection of English Ghost Stories, and as editor of The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural (1986), returns with another installment in his history on macabre classical music, looking this time at postwar composers. Here’s the rundown of what Sullivan covers:

Bernard Herrmann’s Symphony (1941) by Bernard Herrmann

First Symphony of William Walton

Second Symphony of William Walton

Sinfonia Antarctica (1952) by Ralph Vaughn Williams

Harpsicord Concerto, Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto by Frank Martin

Symphonie Concertante by Frank Martin

“Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance” by Samuel Barber

Piano Sonata by Samuel Barber

--TZ Interview: Terry Gilliam: Finding comedy on ‘the dark side of the coin.’

Interview by James Verniere 

-At the time of this interview (and perhaps still) Gilliam was best known as the lone American in the British comedy troupe Monty Python. Gilliam provided animated sequences for the troupe’s first film, And Now for Something Completely Different (1971), co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), and co-wrote Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979). He co-wrote and directed the 1977 British fantasy film Jabberwocky, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem, and was fresh off the success of Time Bandits (1981), a film whose success belied the difficulty of its funding and distribution.

-Gilliam speaks candidly about aging (“I hate it. I find my brain addling a bit”) and the theme of childhood in Time Bandits. Gilliam speaks of the differences between America and England, particularly where children are concerned. Gilliam was appalled by what he felt was declining literacy in American children and the neutering of children’s fairy tales to remove anything frightening or challenging. Gilliam, a bibliophile, speaks on the importance of reading and books.  Gilliam examines his own childhood influences which he has carried with him into adulthood to inspire his creative career. Gilliam began in animation, working with the late Harvey Kurtzman on Help! When this periodical folded, Gilliam headed for England. Gilliam also speaks on what it was like working in Monty Python and discusses his next project, then unnamed and now known to be the satirical dystopian film Brazil (1985). Gilliam has gone on to direct such films as The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), and The Brothers Grimm (2005).

-This one will be a treat for Monty Python fans and those who enjoy Gilliam’s films. It is interesting to read of Gilliam leaving America for the better shores of England but also bringing along many formative aspects of American culture such as Mad magazine and American cartoons. A final note: Gahan Wilson reviewed Time Bandits in his movie review column in the March, 1982 issue.

--“The General’s Wife” by Peter Straub

Illustrated by José Reyes 

“The English were a shifty race, her husband warned; but Andrea never realized how right he was until she met the General – and learned just what it meant to be . . .”

-Andy (Andrea) Rivers is an American living in England and enjoying the change of culture even though her abusive and oppressive husband Phil hates England and its people. To occupy herself, Andy finds a job assisting a WWII hero, General Alexander Leck, with his memoirs. Andy’s work is performed in a rat-infested, rundown home in Kensington Park Gardens, an outward symbol for the turmoil of the General’s inner life. Andy soon begins an affair with the General’s grandson Tony only to find herself pulled ever deeper into the psychosexual horrors of the General’s haunted past.

-“The General’s Wife” is an excised sequence from Straub’s 1983 novel Floating Dragon, which won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1984. The novella was published in a standalone volume in November, 1982 by Donald M. Grant with illustrations by Thomas Canty. It was issued in a limited edition of 1200 copies, signed by author and artist. The story was inspired by Straub’s time living in England, a decade in which he wrote the novels which sparked his long and successful career as a leading novelist of horror and suspense, including Julia (1975), If You Could See Me Now (1976), and Ghost Story (1979). The story of Straub’s return to America and the ironic culture shock which, in part, inspired Floating Dragon can be found in Straub’s introduction to the 2003 edition of the novel published by Berkley. “The General’s Wife” has a deliberate buildup wherein Straub highlights the English culture and the geography of London before moving into the more intimate setting of the General’s rundown home. Here the story takes off and begins to display its bouquet of dark revelations, structured like a Matryoshka doll in which each subsequent layer of story is more disturbing than the last, culminating in a crescendo of erotic horror which will linger long in the reader’s memory.

-Straub is particularly good when working with the long story, much like Henry James, an author Straub has spoken of as a strong literary influence. Straub combines James’ literate style and depth of characterization with the excesses of ‘80s horror fiction for a potent combination. Although Straub largely abandoned this type of horror after Floating Dragon, “The General’s Wife” remains a reminder of how good Straub was in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. This one is far and away the best piece in the issue and a strong contender for best fiction yet published in the magazine.  

--“Frontiers” by Kit Reed 

Illustrated by Brad Hamann 

“It was just like the Old West: The Prairie, the Settlers, and the Homestead. The only things missing were the Savages.”

-The patriarch of a family that lives in a contained home in a vast area of contaminated land leaves to find supplies at the nearest outpost. When he returns he finds his family (wife and two daughters) gone. Despair settles over him as weeks of searching turn up nothing. Then early one morning his family returns to him, transformed by the wilds beyond their home.

-Beyond the obvious parallels of this futuristic story to tales of the Old West, it is difficult to determine if the narrative held any other ambition than as a narrative exercise in symbolism, using the old, recognizable images from the western and pasting them upon a futuristic setting with a background of ecological disaster. As such it is a suitably evocative tale which effectively uses not only the recognizable symbols of the western but also many of the standard tropes of “after the end” tales: the unbreathable air, the lack of supplies, the dangers of isolation, etc. The story was reprinted in the first issue of Night Cry and collected in Reed’s 1986 collection The Revenge of the Senior Citizens ** Plus.

-Kit Reed (1932-2017), born Lillian Hyde Craig, was a prolific California writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror who also wrote psychological thrillers as Kit Craig. Her first science fiction novel, Armed Camps, appeared in 1969. The New York Times Book Review (Jan 1, 2006) characterized Reed’s work (a review of Dogs of Truth) as “dystopian stories that specialize in bitterness and dislocation,” an apt description for “Frontiers.” She was nominated for the World Fantasy, Hugo, Tiptree, Shirley Jackson, and Locus Awards, among others. A career retrospective of Reed’s short fiction, The Story Until Now, appeared in 2013.

--Front-Row Seats at the Creepshow by Ed Naha 

-A set report by Naha from Pittsburgh where George Romero is filming Creepshow, written by Stephen King. This film, released in November, 1982, is now widely considered by horror film fans as one of the great horror anthology films. At the time, however, the film was no sure thing. Romero was working with his first big budget and a distribution deal with Warner Brothers, and Stephen King was watching the filming of his first screenplay, a splatter film homage to the great EC Comics of the 1950s (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear). The production had a few aces in the hole, however. The first was makeup effects artist Tom Savini whose work on Creepshow is revered to this day and formed a large portion of Savini’s 1983 book Grande Illusions. The production also had special effects supervisor and production designer Cletus Anderson, who was also a professor at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie-Mellon University. Finally, the production was graced with an outstanding collection of performers, including Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen, E.G. Marshall, Ed Harris, Viveca Lindfors, Ted Danson, appearances from Twilight Zone alumni Fritz Weaver, Jon Lormer, and Don Keefer, and memorable appearances from Stephen King and his son Joe Hill.

-Naha gets the scoop on filming Creepshow from Romero and King, including how the project came to be, as well as Cletus Anderson on the challenges of production design. Naha talks to the performers who describe a fun and lively filming process. George Romero was fresh off the success of Dawn of the Dead and was coveted in Hollywood circles but continued to work independently, which attracted top performers and confounded big studios. This method was not without consequence, however, as Romero’s non-union crew attracted union protesters who picketed the sets, forcing Romero and company to keep the locations secret. The article concludes with a number of perspectives on what is hoped for with the movie. Creepshow went on to become a critical and commercial success, spawning a 1987 sequel, a tie-in comic book illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, and a current revival by the streaming service Shudder with showrunner Greg Nictero, who visited the Creepshow set as a seventeen-year-old and contributed makeup effects to Creepshow 2. 

--TZ Screen Preview: Dark Crystal by James Verniere 

-This is a full-color preview of The Dark Crystal, the Jim Henson production four years in the making, with a sizable $25 million budget, which was released on December 17, 1982. The article examines the genesis of the film in the works of British fantasy artist Brian Froud, who designed the production, and the challenges for Jim Henson and puppeteer Frank Oz in bringing Henson’s puppet creations to life. Verniere also provides a rundown of the many and various types of fantasy creatures which feature in the film. 

--“The Other One” by Rick Norwood

Illustrated by Robert Morello 

“You don’t know what terror is until you’ve come face to face with . . .”

-An ironic short-short about a man on the run from a Man in Black who he believes is Death. There is a humorous snap ending. The story was reprinted in 100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories (1984). Norwood is a mathematician and comic book historian who edits the Comics Revue. He is also a short story specialist and occasional essayist who has been published in Analog and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 

--“The Father of the Bride” by Connie Willis

Illustrated by Marty Blake 

“The fairy tale had ended; the kingdom was awake once more. But not everyone lived happily ever after.”

-In this take on the legend of Sleeping Beauty, the King finds the old ways of his Kingdom crumbling around him as the ruthless wheels of progress march across his lands.

-Connie Willis (born Constance Elaine Trimmer) is one of the most honored SF writers in history, which a shelfful of Hugos and Nebulas to honor her long career as a novelist and short story writer. Still in her early career here, she returns to the pages of the magazine with this poignant short tale examining the ways in which industrialization and the rise of Christianity destroyed the magic and mystery of the old kingdoms of fairy tales. This sort of retelling of fairy tales came into vogue some years later with Ellen Datlow’s and Terry Windling’s fairy tale anthologies which began with Snow White, Blood Red (1993). Willis was ahead of the curve here and this short tale captures many of the tropes which will come to define this sort of fairy tale deconstruction. A contemporary work on a larger scale which approached the subject in the same manner was The Enchanted World series from Time-Life Books (1984-1988), a 21-volume collection of illustrated books on folklore whose overarching theme was the decline of magic with the rise of monotheistic beliefs. “The Father of the Bride” was reprinted in the magazine’s only annual volume, Great Stories from Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine (1982), and included in Willis’ collection Firewatch (1985). 

--“Turn Down for Richmond” by G.J.A. O’Toole

Illustrated by Dennis Meehan 

“It was a simple four-word message – yet on it hung the future of a nation.”

-This is a ghost in the machine tale about a junk collector who chances upon an old telegraph sounder which emits a Morse code message at the same time each night. That message, “turn down for Richmond,” is instruction to ease the tension on the armature spring in order to receive the remainder of the message. That message, once received, reveals information which may have saved Abraham Lincoln’s life, over one hundred years too late. Its ghostly message sent, the sounder falls silent. This nifty little ghost story appears to be the only work of speculative fiction G.J.A. O’Toole published. It was reprinted some years later in the anthology Eastern Ghosts (1990). 

--“Weigh Station” by Robert Crais

Illustrated by D.W. Miller

“The road to Hell was a six-lane highway, and the damned all drove big rigs.”

-When his sports car breaks down on a desolate stretch of highway, David hitches a ride with an 18-wheeler to a weigh station which serves as a portal to hell.

-This story is largely a mood piece and the setting is expertly handled. Crais perfectly illustrates the loneliness of traveling on a deserted stretch of California highway during the dead of night. The supernatural aspect of the tale is largely ambiguous but the weigh station of the title serves to transform travelers into a sort of mindless entity, damned to drive the roads for eternity. There is also a nod to Richard Mathson’s famous tale of road terror, “Duel.” The story was reprinted in the first issue of Night Cry.

-Robert Crais published some SF early in his career but is best-known for his crime and detective fiction, particularly the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novels which began with The Monkey's Raincoat in 1987. The latest entry in the series is A Dangerous Man, released in June, 2019. For a time Crais was also a prolific television writer. His earliest credits for television date back to 1977 and episodes of Baretta. Crais has also written for such shows as Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, and L.A. Law, among others. He contributed the original teleplay “Monsters!” for the fifteenth episode of the first season of The Twilight Zone revival series. 

--“J.C. in the Springtime” by I. Daniel Roth

Illustrated by E.T. Steadman 

“A park bench, a sunny April afternoon, and a wino with a paper bag. What better setting for a miracle?”

-The J.C. of the title may clue the reader in on the theme of this short-short as it concerns a homeless man who bestows a blessing on a distraught businessman. It is an interesting, if somewhat standard, take on the wandering savior theme. The story has not been reprinted since its publication here and it appears to be the only SF story from I. Daniel Roth.

--“A Lover’s Alibi” by Chet Williamson

Uncredited illustration; signature indeterminate

“There was only one thing wrong with the murderer’s story. It was getting too believable.”

-Chet Williamson returns to the pages of the magazine with this clever and disturbing tale. It concerns a man who murders his cloying wife to be with his lover and finds his flimsy alibi transformed into an airtight one by a series of inexplicable circumstances. The murderer soon discovers that his wife loved him so much that her ghost has been changing events to protect him. There is a satisfyingly nasty twist in the tale, however. The story was collected in Williamson’s 2002 collection Figures in Rain.

-Williamson is one of the leading writers of dark fantasy from this era. He wrote a series of novels during the ‘80s horror boom which are now prized by collectors, such as Soulstorm (1986), Ash Wednesday (1987), Lowland Rider (1988), and Dreamthorp (1989). He has written several in-universe novels as well, including a sequel to Robert Bloch’s Psycho titled Psycho: Sanitarium (2016). 

--The Doomsday Poems by Richard L. Tierney

Illustrated by Marty Blake 

-Seven dark poems: “The Pilgrimage,” “Hope,” “The Madness of the Oracle,” “To Great Cthulhu,” “Optimism,” “This Great City,” “To the Hydrogen Bomb,” reprinted from Tierney’s Collected Poems: Nightmares and Visions, published earlier in the year by Arkham House. Some of the poems were first published in small press periodicals such as The Arkham Collector and Myrddin. The poems are ironic and tinged with the macabre. An apt example is this, from “Hope”:

The world’s a dead harlot – a corpse of a slut

Where Death-vultures settle to rend and to glut

            While man flounders blind in the gloom –

And Hope’s a mirage on a desert of sand

Where horrors go ravening over the land,

And life’s but the road to doom.

-Richard L. Tierney is a prolific poet, short story writer, and Lovecraft scholar who is perhaps best-known for a series of novels written with David C. Smith about Robert E. Howard’s Red Sonja. He was a frequent contributor to Robert M. Price’s Crypt of Cthulhu fanzine. 

--“All of Us Are Dying” by George Clayton Johnson

Illustrated by Gregory Cannone 

“This fiendishly original tale – about a most unusual talent – became the basis of a now-classic Twilight Zone episode, ‘The Four of Us Are Dying.’”

-The unnamed protagonist uses a unique talent, the ability to resemble any person according to the desires of others, to con others out of money and sexual favors until he happens upon a man who sees the one he most wants to kill.

-George Clayton Johnson sold this story to Rod Serling and Cayuga Productions in 1959 where Serling adapted it as “The Four of Us Are Dying” for the first season of The Twilight Zone. The story was later published in the October, 1961 issue of Rogue. Clayton Johnson chose the story for his entry in SF: Authors’ Choice 4, ed. Harry Harrison (1974), which includes a preface from Clayton Johnson explaining the genesis of the tale. The story was also included in Twilight Zone: Scripts & Stories (1996) and was the title story of Clayton Johnson’s career retrospective All of Us Are Dying and Other Stories (1999). See my post on “The Four of Us Are Dying” to read about the differences between the story and Rod Serling’s script, plus the way in which the story influenced Clayton Johnson’s later Star Trek script “The Man Trap.” 

--TZ Classic Teleplay: “The Four of Us Are Dying” by Rod Serling 

-Rod Serling’s complete teleplay for the first season episode adapted from George Clayton Johnson’s story. The teleplay is illustrated with some interesting production photographs of the four actors who feature in the episode. The episode was the thirteenth episode of the first season. It was directed by John Brahm, starring Harry Townes, Ross Martin, Phillip Pine, Don Gordon, and Beverly Garland. The episode highlights the cinematography of George T. Clemens, some innovative production design, and a great, jazzy score from Jerry Goldsmith. Read our review here.

--Show-by-Show Guide: TV’s Twilight Zone, Part Fourteen by Marc Scott Zicree

-Zicree, author of the essential guide to the series, The Twilight Zone Companion, continues this early guide from the magazine. In this installment he covers the following fourth season episodes: “Printer’s Devil,” “No Time Like the Past,” “The Parallel,” and “I Dream of Genie,” providing cast and crew information, Rod Serling’s narrations, and a summary of each episode. Zicree has caught up with us here in the Vortex as we have just recently covered these episodes with the exception of “I Dream of Genie,” which is next on the agenda.

--Looking Ahead: In June’s TZ

-Next month’s issue is highlighted by the first publication of Richard Matheson’s never-produced Twilight Zone script “The Doll,” along with an essay by Marc Scott Zicree. Also, there are stories from Richard Christian Matheson and Pamela Sargent, Philip K. Dick’s final interview, and a screen preview of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. See you then.

-JP

"The Four of Us Are Dying"

Harry Townes as one form of shifty con-man Arch Hammer

"The Four of Us Are Dying"

Season One, Episode 13
Original Air Date: January 1, 1960

Cast:
Arch Hammer: Harry Townes
Hammer as Johnny Foster: Ross Martin
Hammer as Virgil Sterig: Phillip Pine
Hammer as Andy Marshak: Don Gordon
Maggie: Beverly Garland
Pop Marshak: Peter Brocco
Mr. Penell: Bernard Fein
Detective: Milton Frome
Trumpet Player: Harry Jackson

Crew:
Writer: Rod Serling (based on "All of Us Are Dying" by George Clayton Johnson)
Director: John Brahm
Producer: Buck Houghton
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Art Direction: George W. Davis & William Ferrari
Set Decoration: Henry Grace & Rudy Butler
Assistant Director: Edward Denault
Casting: Mildred Gusse
Sound: Franklin Milton and Jean Valentino
Music: Jerry Goldsmith

And Now, Mr. Serling:
"Next week on the Twilight Zone one of the most bizarre and unusual tales we've told yet. One man with four faces. Four separate and adventuresome lives that must be seen to be believed. Harry Townes, Philip Pine, Ross Martin, and Don Gordon star in 'The Four of Us Are Dying.' This is a story designed for goosebumps. I hope we'll see you next week. Good night."

Rod Serling's Opening Narration:
"His name is Arch Hammer. He's thirty-six years old. He's been a salesman, a dispatcher, a truck driver, a con man, a bookie, and a part-time bartender. This is a cheap man, a nickle and dime man, with a cheapness that goes past the suit and the shirt; a cheapness of mind, a cheapness of taste, a tawdry little shine on the seat of his conscience, and a dark room squint at a world whose sunlight has never gotten through to him. But Mr. Hammer has a talent, discovered at a very early age. This much he does have. He can make his face change. He can twitch a muscle, move a jaw, concentrate on the cast of his eyes, and he can change his face. He can change it into anything he wants. Mr. Archie Hammer, jack of all trades, has just checked in a three-eighty a night, with two bags, some newspaper clippings, a most odd talent, and a master plan to destroy some lives."

Summary: 

Peter Brocco as Pop Marshak

                Arch Hammer, a con man, is in town to use his unique talent, the ability to perfectly resemble anyone he sees, to find a quick payday to permanently retire from his shady lifestyle. Setting up in a cheap hotel room, he quickly sets to work. Using newspaper clippings from the obituary section, he focuses in on the picture of a jazz musician named John Foster who was recently killed when a train hit his car. Hammer wanders down to a jazz club that Foster frequented and finds himself smitten with Foster's old flame, a sultry lounge singer named Maggie. Hammer assumes the face of Foster and shocks Maggie, who was traumatized by news of the musician's death, into believing that someone else was killed in Foster's car and that Foster thought it would be an opportunity to get out of the limelight. Maggie, jubilant by the impossible return of her lover, buys the outrageous story wholesale and agrees to meet Foster at the railroad station at midnight. When a trumpet player recognized Foster's face as he is leaving the bar, Hammer quickly resumes the appearance of his own face, startling the man with the sudden change. Hammer figures to have Maggie for himself and run away with her, never having been loved like that before in his life. First, though, he needs some getaway money. 

Beverly Garland as Maggie

                Back in his hotel room, Hammer sets his sights on the obituary image of a gangster named Virgil Serig, recently found shot and dumped in the river. In the guise of Sterig, Hammer makes his way to the hotel suite of the local mob boss, Penell. Here, Hammer tries to strong-arm Penell when the gangster is shocked at the sudden return of a man recently fished out of the river. Hammer manages to get Penell to reveal the location of an envelope of money but pushes too hard as the gangster insists that he had nothing to do with Sterig's murder and eventually sees something wrong in the situation. Chased out of the hotel and down an alleyway by a pair of Penell's men, Hammer finds himself at a dead end and unable to change his face from that of the marked gangster Sterig. Then he turns around and sees the image of a boxer named Andy Marshak pasted on a flyer on the brick wall at the end of the alley. It's just the image he needs and he changes his face in the nick of time. Penell's men catch up to Hammer and see his new face. Though confused and suspicious, they leave him alone. 
                Laughing to himself at his clever escape, Hammer makes his way out of the alley. Crossing in front of a newsstand, Hammer is confronted by an old man that he doesn't recognize but that certainly recognizes the face Hammer has assumed. The old man is Andy Marshak's father and Marshak, it is revealed, has a dark past of betraying his family and those who loved him. His father, having obviously not seen his son is many years, is overcome with shock, rage, and grief, and Hammer has to push the old man to the ground just to get away further down the sidewalk. 
                Back once again at his hotel room, Hammer is confronted by a detective who is after him for crimes committed in Detroit. Wearing his own face, he walks downstairs with the detective to be taken and booked at the police station. At the turning doors of the hotel entrance, Hammer makes a break for it, swinging around and bolting out onto the sidewalk, changing his face back to the image of Andy Marshak. The detective is fooled but Hammer takes only a few steps down the sidewalk before he is once again confronted by the old man, Pop Marshak, this time is brandishing a loaded revolver. Hammer tries desperately to change his face but is unable to do so as he is unable to concentrate with a gun pointed at him. A last ditch effort to convince the old man that he is mistaken gets him nowhere and he is shot down on the sidewalk. As he is dying, Hammer's image fluctuates between the four faces he has used to try and change fate, only to come out on the losing end. 

Rod Serling's Closing Narration:
"He was Arch Hammer, a cheap little man who just checked in. He was Johnny Foster, who played a trumpet and was loved beyond words. He was Virgil Sterig, with money in his pocket. He was Andy Marshak, who got some of his agony back on a sidewalk in front of a cheap hotel. Hammer, Foster, Sterig, Marshak, and all four of them were dying."

Commentary: 

"He was Sam Windgate. He was Fred Black. He was Ben Hoffmier. He was Mike Grover. He was Arthur Danyluk. And all of them were dying."
                 -"All of Us Are Dying" by George Clayton Johnson

               The first thing which jumps out at the viewer about "The Four of Us Are Dying" is the set design, art direction, and cinematography. In these areas the production team did an exceptional job. It is a beautiful, hallucinatory, noir-drenched city, all floating neon and twisting camera angles. Director John Brahm, a German expatriate, was heavily influenced by German Expressionist cinema, a brief creative movement which has since become a blanket term for the German films of the Weimar Republic which used elements of dreams, nightmares, and fantasy in their physical and creative construction. It is a creative movement exemplified by such films as Robert Weine's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) and Faust (1926), and Paul Leni's Waxworks (1924). 
             The directorial style and artistic design of these films came to strongly influence the look and tone of American horror and crime films for more than thirty years, largely due to the fact that so many Golden Age Hollywood film directors, especially directors who dabbled in the darker genres, were European (Otto Preminger, Robert Siodmak, Billy Wilder, Michael Curtiz, Jacques Tourneur, etc.). As a feature film director in Hollywood in the 1940's, John Brahm displayed the obvious German influence with his brilliant use of innovative camera work, lighting effects, and subjective character studies in moody chillers like The Undying Monster (1942), The Lodger (1944), and Hangover Square (1945), the latter two notable as the final work of ascendant character actor Laird Cregar, who died at age 31 from the ill effects of a crash diet which the heavyset actor undertook in a doomed effort to transform himself into a slender leading man.   
               As television work came to dominate his creative output in the late fifties and the sixties, Brahm became a reliable and prolific director who amassed a large number of credits by developing a creative style which was adaptable over a wide range of subject matter while still remaining identifiable by its individual creative traits. Given an opportunity to display the full range of his talent behind a camera, as he is afforded with "The Four of Us Are Dying," he took advantage of unusual subject matter and produced episodic television filmed with a propulsive energy rarely seen at the time. 

               The exterior shots were sound stage constructions on the vast MGM lot. It was fortunate for the series to have full use of the resources at MGM, including the excellent makeup department under the leadership of Academy Award-winner William Tuttle. Brahm's camera work sets the tone for the type of story at which Rod Serling excelled, a potent mixture of crime story and weird fantasy. As late as the fifth season, Serling was returning to this type of story for some of his best work in the episodes "In Praise of Pip" and "The Jeopardy Room." 
               Like the previous episode in the series, "What You Need," Serling chose to adapt another writer's work. This time it was an unpublished story treatment (later fleshed out and published as a short story) by a previously unpublished writer named George Clayton Johnson, a friend of series writer Charles Beaumont who soon became an important contributor to the show by producing teleplays for such episodes as "A Game of Pool," "Nothing in the Dark," and "Kick the Can." In previous episodes such as "What You Need" and "And When the Sky Was Opened," Serling changed narrative points in order to serve the needs of the dramatic medium. With "The Four of Us Are Dying," Serling had to develop a great amount of dialogue as well as a proper narrative structure in order to fill out a half hour of television. Clayton Johnson's three and a half page story described a man whose face would change according to the perceptions of those around him. He appeared to people as the person they most desired to see, and had little to no control of how he appeared. The story is structured as a series of brief encounters in which the protagonist appeared as a long lost lover or an old friend, and always took the time to take advantage where advantage lay, usually sexually or monetarily. It ends with the protagonist (an unnamed conman who's been corrupted through years of using his "ability" to elicit money and favors) pulling into a service station and being seen by the attendant as the man he has, for years, wanted to kill. He dies there on the pavement unable to remember his own name, his true identity long lost behind the facade of his ever-changing appearance. 
                Serling made significant changes to the story, most importantly the fact that the protagonist, named Arch Hammer, has some control over the changes in his appearance. Serling's script quickly immerses the viewer in the fast developing action, thereby making them forget the essentially ridiculous nature of the fantasy element. The acting is exceptional and the selection process for the casting of the four male roles is an interesting story. 

Don Gordon (on wall flyer) and Phillip Pine

                Initially, the production team considered casting one actor and, through makeup processes, changing his appearance to suit each character. This idea was eventually scrapped because of the intense makeup the actor would have to undergo and the amount of time that must be allotted to the process. Casting director Mildred Gusse developed the plan of having a casting call for a specific type of male actor, each possessing a certain set of attributes. In the case of this episode, they settled on men of a height approximately five feet, ten inches, with brown hair and dark eyes. A dozen actors were initially selected, contacted, and instructed to dress in a black suit to the casting call. After dismissing a few for their eye color being too light, the remaining actors were tested by reciting identical lines of dialogue. Out of the remaining were cast the four leads: Harry Townes, Ross Martin, Phillip Pine, and Don Gordon. It was important that the viewer believe the same man existed behind the four different faces.

Illustration by Gregory Cannone

Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine (May, 1982)

         George Clayton Johnson (1929-2015) is best-known for his television scripts for such series as The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Star Trek, Honey West, and Kung Fu, and for co-writing, with William F. Nolan, the 1967 novel Logan's Run. Johnson, originally from Wyoming, made his way to California in 1959 and eventually settled in Los Angeles where he made the acquaintance of writer Charles Beaumont. At the time, Beaumont was already an established professional with several short stories, television plays, screenplays, and a novel (Run From the Hunter, written with John Tomerlin under the joint byline Keith Grantland) to his credit. Beaumont also had several credits in popular outlets such as Playboy, where he was on a monthly retainer for first refusal rights to his fiction, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, where he wrote reviews of science fiction films in his column "The Science Screen." Johnson's connection to Beaumont was fortuitous for the young, unpublished writer. Through Beaumont, and the rest of Beaumont's entourage, including William F. Nolan and John Tomerlin, Johnson was encouraged to become a disciplined and productive writer if he held any hope of seeing print in professional markets. Ray Bradbury, a mentor to Beaumont in the latter's formative years, also became a mentor to Johnson and was one of the first to praise "All of Us Are Dying" as an exceptional story, albeit one that Bradbury suggested needed a stronger ending. Working with Beaumont, Johnson developed the ending suggested by the title. 
          Clayton Johnson wrote about the genesis of the tale and its appearance on The Twilight Zone in SF: Author's Choice 4 edited by Harry Harrison (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1974): "I was desperately trying to be a writer. My movie Ocean's 11 had just come out, and using that single credit, I managed to interest a Hollywood agent in looking at some of my material. The man's name is Jay Richards. He was head of the television department of the Famous Artist's Agency, long since absorbed by IFA (International Famous Agency) which represents me now in television and movies. I showed Jay the story titled then "The Four of Us Are Dying." He scrubbed out the title and wrote in Rubberface! He shot it over to Rod Serling at The Twilight Zone and Rod winced and offered $500 for it before retitling it "All of Us Are Dying," the best title of the three. He adapted it for tv. I went on to sell Rod other things and finally ended up writing for the show along with Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. Rogue finally bought the story for publication. Said Frank M. Robinson, the editor, 'I would have bought anything with the title "All of Us Are Dying." It's one of those titles that speaks to everyone.'" 

          This initial connection to Rod Serling combined with his ongoing friendship with Charles Beaumont led to Johnson selling two more stories to the series, "Execution" and "The Prime Mover," the former adapted by Serling and the latter by Beaumont and Johnson (with Beaumont alone receiving credit), before working a deal to provide original teleplays for the show, beginning with the second season's "A Penny For Your Thoughts." 
          Johnson returned to the idea behind "All of Us Are Dying" when he later wrote "The Man Trap," the first episode aired for Star Trek, appearing on September 8, 1966. Johnson was still enamored by the idea of a being that could shape-shift in order to resemble that which is most pleasing to those who see it. "The Man Trap" concerns a shape-shifting alien that attacks the crew of the Enterprise in order to extract salt from their bodies, which it requires for sustenance. Johnson had this to say about the episode and its relation to "The Four of Us are Dying": "I had written a story for The Twilight Zone called "All of Us Are Dying" and it was about a face changer, someone who could take a look at a photograph and become a different character. . . part of the fun of it was watching someone transformed into someone else. So, the transformation thing was still sort of fresh in my head, and I think almost every writer tries to get some more mileage out of anything that works. So that was, I think, why I thought of the idea of trying to do a story about a creature that could appear to be anyone." (The Star Trek Interview Book by Allan Asherman, pg 136; Pocket Books, 1988). 
          In the same interview, Johnson shed light on his relationship with Rod Serling during their time together on the series. Though it was a tough climb to get onto the series, with 51 broadcast episodes before his first original teleplay for the series saw light, Johnson remembers Serling in much the same manner as the other writers on the series: a kind, complex man full of energy. "Mr. Serling, by the way, was a remarkable man. He was really a super gentleman. I admired him, and I was also intimidated by him: and I think he was intimidated by me.When we met at agents' offices we'd be very polite to each other, but he always seemed to be in a hurry to rush off." (Asherman, 140).* Johnson's impression of Serling always in a hurry to rush off was not uncharacteristic. Serling was frequently characterized as a man full of creative energy who found it difficult to sit still for very long, which is why a steady, experienced producer in tune with Serling's creative vision was so important for the show. Producer Buck Houghton fit the bill perfectly and allowed Serling the freedom of creative motion needed for a successful series.

                 A final note about composer Jerry Goldsmith. His music for this episode, and for just about anything else he did for television at this early point in his career, is as engaging and idiosyncratic as any composer working in the medium. Goldsmith's music could be both unobtrusive and yet inseparable from an episode. Goldsmith's strongest suit was his ability to explore a wide range of styles and instrumental arrangements to fit the show for which he was providing a composition. Goldsmith could move from a brass-heavy score to the stark string arrangement of "The Invaders." Goldsmith never seemed to phone it in but took the time to understand what he was working with and to develop the appropriate sound for the story elements of the show. In "The Four of Us Are Dying," it works beautifully, a sometimes hectic, sometimes mellow and sultry score which perfectly melds the shifting moods of the episode. 
                The acting, the music, the set design, the story treatment of a talented fantasist and a strong future contributor to the show, along with Serling's usual tight plotting and terse dialogue, make this episode an exceptionally fine production.

Grade: B

Additional Sources:
The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Scott Zicree (1982)
The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (isfdb.org) 

*Asherman's book also contains interviews with others who have contributed to The Twilight Zone, including actors William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and George Takei, writers Jerry Sohl and Jerome Bixby, and director Robert Butler. 

Promotional photographs:

Notes:

Ross Martin

-George Clayton Johnson's short story "All of Us Are Dying" was unpublished at the time it was adapted for the series. It was subsequently published in the October, 1961 issue of Rogue, in SF: Author's Choice #4, edited by Harry Harrison (Putnum, 1974), and in the May, 1982 issue of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine, as well as in Johnson's Twilight Zone Scripts and Stories (Streamline Pictures, 1996) and career retrospective All of Us Are Dying and Other Stories (Subterranean Press, 1999) 
 -Actor Harry Townes also appeared in the second season episode "Shadow Play," written by Charles Beaumont, as well as the episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery titled "Lindemann's Catch," scripted by Rod Serling. 
-Actor Ross Martin also appeared in the fourth season episode, "Death Ship," written by Richard Matheson, and in two episodes of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, "Camera Obscura" and "The Other Way Out."
-Actor Don Gordon also appeared in the fifth season episode, "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross," based on a story by Henry Slesar.
-Actor Phillip Pine also appeared in the fourth season episode, "The Incredible World of Horace Ford," written by Reginald Rose.
-Actor Peter Brocco appeared in the episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery titled "Deliveries in the Rear."
-"The Four of Us Are Dying" was adapted into a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Eric Bogosian.
-Beverly Garland also appeared in the Twilight Zone Radio Drama episode "Uncle Simon." 
-The illustration by Gregory Cannone is from the May, 1982 issue of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine, which featured both George Clayton Johnson's original short story and Rod Serling's teleplay adaptation. 

-JP