"Ring-a-Ding Girl"

 

Maggie McNamara as Bunny Blake

“Ring-a-Ding Girl”
Season Five, Episode 133
Original Air Date: December 27, 1963

 

Cast:
Barbara “Bunny” Blake: Maggie McNamara
Hildy Powell: Mary Munday
Bud Powell: David Macklin
Dr. Floyd: George Mitchell
Ben Braden: Bing Russell
Cici (Bunny’s assistant): Betty Lou Gerson
Mr. Gentry: Hank Patterson
Jim (police trooper): Vic Perrin
Pilot: Bill Hickman

 

Crew:
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Producer: William Froug
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
Art Direction: George W. Davis & Malcolm Brown
Film Editor: Richard Heermance, a.c.e.
Set Decoration: Henry Grace & Robert R. Benton
Assistant Director: Charles Bonniwell, Jr.
Casting: Patricia Rose
Music: stock
Sound: Franklin Milton & Joe Edmondson
Mr. Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes
Filmed at MGM Studios

And Now, Mr. Serling:

“Next time we enlist the aid of a very talented scribe, Earl Hamner, Jr. He’s written a story called ‘Ring-a-Ding Girl,’ and in the milieu of fantasy this one is strictly a blue-ribbon entry. It stars Maggie McNamara, and it involves a movie actress, a publicity tour, a strange flight and airplane, and some occult occurrences designed to send shivers through you like a fast subway train. Next time out on The Twilight Zone, ‘Ring-a-Ding Girl.’” 

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

“Introduction to Bunny Blake. Occupation: film actress. Residence: Hollywood, California, or anywhere in the world the 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.” 

Summary: 

          Film actress Bunny Blake is preparing to leave on an airplane flight when her assistant delivers a small package. Enclosed is a gift from the Bunny Blake fan club based in her hometown of Howardville. The gift is a ring set with a large, dark stone. Bunny informs her assistant that they will pass directly over Howardville during their flight. Bunny places the ring on her finger to admire it when she suddenly sees a swirling mist appear in the dark stone. The mist parts to reveal the face of Bunny’s sister, Hildy, who implores Bunny to come home. The image fades away.

          Sometime later, Bunny arrives at her sister’s house, surprising Hildy and Hildy’s teenaged son Bud. Bunny tells Hildy that the ring made her feel like coming home. Bunny asks Hildy if everything is all right. Hildy reassures her and Bunny fears the image in the ring was a hallucination. Hildy informs Bunny that the whole town chipped in to buy her the ring, just as they had to send Bunny to Hollywood at the beginning of her acting career.

          Bunny can only stay in town for one day and Hildy informs her that she picked the perfect day, since it is the day of the Founder’s Day Picnic. Everyone in town will be in attendance. Bunny looks again at the stone on the ring. She again sees the swirling mist, which dissipates to reveal the face of Ben Braden, a local television personality and love interest from Bunny’s past. Ben implores Bunny to come home, that the town needs her, before fading away. 

          The unnerving experience causes Bunny to faint. Dr. Floyd, an old family physician, arrives to check on Bunny. Dr. Floyd tells her that she is overtired and needs rest. Bunny knows that Dr. Floyd is involved in the Founder’s Day Picnic, and she asks him to postpone the event for a day. When Dr. Floyd scoffs at this, Bunny tells him that she has only one day in town and wants to visit friends. Dr. Floyd tells her that she cannot expect the town to divert its plans based on her whim. When Bunny insists it is not a whim, Dr. Floyd says that this may work in Hollywood but not in Howardville.

          Again, Bunny is compelled to gaze into the stone on the ring. Revealed within the swirling mist is the hard countenance of Cyrus Gentry, who tells Bunny that she is nothing special but that she could be special if she helped the town. Bunny again feels faint and rushes upstairs, leaving Dr. Floyd and Hildy perplexed. Dr. Floyd gives Hildy a prescription for Bunny and departs.

          Bunny returns downstairs and claims nothing is wrong. She wants to go out and see her old friends. Bunny enlists Bud as a companion. They leave in Bud’s convertible roadster as a gathering thunderstorm ominously rumbles overhead. Bunny asks Bud to take her to the high school so she can see Mr. Gentry.

          Bunny implores Mr. Gentry to keep the doors to the school auditorium unlocked that afternoon. Gentry reminds Bunny that the doors remain unlocked. Bunny thanks him and tells him not to go to the Founder’s Day Picnic. 

          As thunder rumbles overhead, Bunny walks over to the local television station. Back at Hildy’s house, a phone call from a friend tells Hildy to turn on her television. Hildy is shocked to see Bunny on the local network talking to Ben Braden. Bunny informs viewers that she will be putting on a one-woman show in the high school auditorium and wishes for all the town to be there. When Ben points out the conflict with the Founder’s Day Picnic, Bunny tells viewers that they have a choice of coming to see her or getting bitten by ants at the picnic.

          Hildy is appalled that Bunny would place such a choice before the townspeople. She receives phone calls from people who do not know what to do. Hildy scolds Bunny when Bunny returns to the house, telling her that she comes off as a show-off and a Hollywood big shot. Hildy also informs Bunny that she and Bud are going to the Founder’s Day Picnic. When she sees how distressed Bunny is, however, Hildy relents and tells Bunny that they will go to her show.

          Bunny gazes into the stone on the ring. She sees an airplane in the sky. She sees herself and her assistant on board the airplane. The assistant sneers at the “flyspeck” town of Howardville and tells Bunny she should not go back there.

          Later, as Bunny, Hildy, and Bud are preparing to go to the high school for Bunny’s show, the storm finally breaks overhead, releasing a deluge of rain. Bunny looks again into the stone on the ring and sees an airplane captain informing passengers that the severe weather will make the flight very rough. Bunny again sees herself and her assistant on board the airplane. Bunny’s assistant asks Bunny if she is scared. Bunny tells her yes, isn’t everyone? 

          Hildy and Bud rush to the front window when they hear sirens outside. They see the flashing lights of emergency responders. Bunny, standing near the front door, quietly says goodbye. Bunny walks outside into the rain as the telephone rings. Bunny slowly fades away.

          The phone call is from a police trooper at the scene of an airplane crash in town. The plane crashed into the picnic grounds. The trooper informs Hildy that Bunny was a passenger on the plane and died in the crash. Hildy cannot believe it. Bunny has been with her all afternoon. The trooper insists that Bunny is dead. He has seen the body. Hildy turns around to find Bunny gone. She calls out desperately but cannot find her sister anywhere inside or outside the house.

          The radio reports on the airplane crash. A greater tragedy was averted by the fact that most townspeople were not at the picnic grounds but rather at the high school, waiting for Bunny’s show. Many lives were saved because of this. Hildy finds Bunny’s ring on the carpet. It is battered and broken. 

Rod’s Serling’s Closing Narration:

“We are all travelers. 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.”  

Commentary: 

          Filmed on the same recognizable living room set as “Living Doll” and “Ninety Years Without Slumbering,” “Ring-a-Ding Girl” is the subtle tale of a preternatural phenomenon known as “bilocation,” the condition of being in two places simultaneously. Although the study of this alleged ability is today the province of spiritualists, it is also believed to have been a miracle performed by Christian holy figures.

          Earl Hamner, Jr. is less interested in the duality of Bunny Blake’s existence, however, choosing instead to focus on Bunny’s relationships with the people in her hometown, and on Bunny’s sacrifice to save those people. In this way, the episode is more aligned with a type of supernatural fiction, the tale of the portent or premonition of death. The Guide to Supernatural Fiction lists several examples of this type of story, under such headings as “Premonitions,” “Portents of Death,” and “Visions of Person to Die,” dating to the eighteenth century. Richard Matheson’s later fifth season episode, “Spur of the Moment,” though not dealing directly with death, is in this vein, as is Rod Serling’s first season episode, “The Purple Testament.” The episode “Ring-a-Ding Girl” most resembles, however, is Rod Serling’s “Twenty-Two,” an episode based on a ghostly anecdote and centered around a premonition and an airplane crash.  

          “Ring-a-Ding Girl” may also remind viewers of previous episodes dealing with doubles or dual existence in small towns, such as Rod Serling’s “Walking Distance” or Charles Beaumont’s “In His Image.” Hamner’s lessened focus on the duality of Bunny’s existence, however, may result in the episode playing too subtly or even mildly confusing to some viewers. Bunny is not convincingly shown to be in both places at the same time, nor is her passage to Howardville shown. Unlike the journeys of Martin Sloan in “Walking Distance” or Alan Talbot in “In His Image,” Bunny simply appears in Howardville. The episode also suffers from the pacing and atmosphere of a television sitcom. The otherworldly atmosphere achieved in the aforementioned episodes is not evident in “Ring-a-Ding Girl.”

The viewer may not understand that Bunny is concurrently traveling aboard an airplane during her time in Howardville. She is seen on the airplane in the misty depths of her ring, which has only displayed hallucinatory visions of the townspeople. Bunny is, however, solidly in Howardville, conversing with several people and appearing on local television. In some ways, the episode plays like a ghost story without a ghost. Besides a fainting spell, there is little indication that Bunny’s existence in Howardville is in any way preternatural.

          This ambiguity is finally dispelled at the end of the episode when Bunny fades away as news of her death in the airplane crash is relayed to Hildy. Yet, there is the ambiguous final sequence when Hildy finds Bunny’s battered ring on the living room carpet. The ring is presumably broken because it was on Bunny’s finger during the airplane crash. Why, then, does the ring remain in Hildy’s living room? The notion of how Bunny knew what tragedy to prevent and where this tragedy would occur is also left unexplained.

          At some point, Bunny became aware that the airplane on which she traveled was going to crash into the picnic grounds of her hometown, killing the townspeople attending the Founder’s Day Picnic. This premonition was presumably interpreted by Bunny from visions of the townspeople seen in her ring. During the flight, she willed herself to Howardville in an act of bilocation to stage an event that drew people away from the picnic grounds. This accomplished, Bunny faded from existence in Howardville as she died in the airplane crash. Tony Albarella, in his commentary on the episode in The Twilight Scripts of Earl Hamner, described the ending as a “satisfying, offbeat conclusion,” that was also “somewhat subtler than the usual Twilight Zone ‘twist’ ending.”

This ambiguity does not detract from the viewer’s enjoyment of the episode, but it does display the challenges of dramatizing a story in which the nature of the supernatural element is hidden in service of a twist ending. This is perhaps why The Twilight Zone Companion dismissed the episode as “much like the stone in the ring Bunny Blake receives: interesting, but no gem.”

The original title of Earl Hamner’s script was “There Goes Bunny Blake,” but this was likely deemed too light in tone for the inherent tragedy of the episode. The script was first retitled “The Return of Hildy Blake” and then “The Return of Bunny Blake,” which was the episode’s working title throughout production. The title was changed to “Ring-a-Ding Girl” in post-production, inspired by two songs performed by Frank Sinatra, “I Won’t Dance,” a jazz standard recorded by Sinatra in 1957, which includes the lyric “Ring-a-ding-ding, you’re lovely,” and “Ring-a-Ding-Ding,” the title track on Sinatra’s 1961 album. 

Charles Beaumont with Otto Preminger
from Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine
June, 1989

The title change was perhaps prompted by a similarity to the contemporary novel Bunny Lake is Missing (1957), written by Merriam Modell under the pseudonym Evelyn Piper. The novel was adapted into a film by director Otto Preminger in 1965. One of several notable writers hired by Preminger to adapt the novel to the screen was Charles Beaumont, who completed a script in 1959 that was ultimately unused. Incidentally, Preminger gave Maggie McNamara her first notable screen role in The Moon is Blue (1953), a film adaptation of a stage production McNamara previously performed in for eighteen months. McNamara’s performance in the film earned an Academy Award nomination, despite the controversy surrounding the film due to its open depiction of sexual relations. 

          Maggie McNamara (1928-1978) was born in New York City. Her desire to be a fashion designer led to a career in modelling while still a teenager. She was successful in this regard, being twice featured on the cover of LIFE magazine. The latter appearance reportedly led to David O. Selznick offering McNamara a film contract, which the young model turned down. McNamara soon began studying drama, however, and was on the New York stage by the age of twenty-three. She made an early television appearance on the suspense anthology series The Clock in 1950. Film work followed but was sporadic. By most accounts, McNamara was ill-suited for the public life of a film actress, living away from Hollywood and pushing back against the publicity demands of studios. Outside of The Moon is Blue, an appearance in Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) and a role in Preminger’s The Cardinal (1963) are the highlights of her film career. A year after her appearance on The Twilight Zone, McNamara appeared in the second season episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, “The Body in the Barn.” Her career declined sharply afterwards. By the late 1970s she was working as a typist and in her spare time writing a screenplay she hoped would be produced. Long suffering from depression, McNamara took her own life in 1978 with an intentional overdose of barbiturates. She was 49 years old. It was a sad end for a lovely and vibrant actress, and one which suggests disturbing parallels with the fate of Bunny Blake, as well as with the death of fellow Twilight Zone actress Inger Stevens, star of “The Hitch-Hiker,” an episode thematically related to “Ring-a-Ding Girl.”   

          Supporting McNamara in the episode is Mary Munday as Bunny’s sister Hildy. Munday (1926-1997) was born in Los Angeles. She landed small roles in B pictures before beginning a busy television career, mostly in crime dramas and westerns. She appeared on Science Fiction Theatre and in the “The Kiss-Off,” an episode of the sixth season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Munday also had a supporting role in the underrated psychological thriller Magic (1978), alongside Anthony Hopkins and Burgess Meredith. 

          David Macklin (1941-2017), playing Bud in the episode, did not have fond memories of his time on the set. In an interview with Martin Grams, Jr., Macklin described his dislike of the script, the incompetence of the makeup department, and the apathetic treatment of the performers by director Alan Crosland, Jr. Macklin did enjoy working with McNamara and Munday, however, and admitted that he received more fan mail for The Twilight Zone than for anything else in his career. 

          George Mitchell (1905-1972), playing Dr. Floyd, is likely a familiar face to regular viewers of the series. He appeared in three additional episodes, perhaps most memorably as the grumpy gas station owner who refuses service to Nan Adams (Inger Stevens) in “The Hitch-Hiker.” Mitchell also appeared in “Execution” and in Earl Hamner’s finest episode for the series, “Jess-Belle.” A prolific performer in many western programs, Mitchell also appeared on Lights Out, Suspense, Inner Sanctum, One Step Beyond, Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. 

          Betty Lou Gerson (1914-1999), playing Bunny’s assistant, is remembered as the voice of Cruella de Vil in the 1961 Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Gerson also provided narration for Disney’s Cinderella (1950) and had a small role in The Fly (1958) opposite Vincent Price.

          Rounding out the cast are several familiar faces. Prolific character actor Hank Patterson (1888-1975), here playing the gruff Mr. Gentry, previously appeared on the series in “Kick the Can,” and appeared later in the fifth season in “Come Wander with Me.” Patterson had numerous small roles in B films and television westerns, including an episode of Rod Serling’s The Loner. Bing Russell (1926-2003), father of Kurt, who previously appeared on the series in “The Arrival,” portrays Ben Braden. Vic Perrin (1916-1989) appears briefly in the role of Jimmy, the police trooper. Perrin previously appeared on the series in “People Are Alike All Over.” A prolific television and voice actor, Perrin is remembered by science fiction viewers for providing the Control Voice on The Outer Limits. Notable stunt driver Bill Hickman (1921-1986) (Bullitt, The French Connection) appears in an uncredited role as the airplane pilot.

          Although the episode is marred by ambiguity and uninspired direction, a moving performance by Maggie McNamara and an engaging script by Earl Hamner, Jr. lift the episode above the lower points of the uneven fifth season. 

Grade: C 

Next Time in the Vortex: We look at “You Drive,” another offering from writer Earl Hamner, Jr. Thanks for reading!

 

Acknowledgements: 

Maggie McNamara on
the cover of LIFE
March 29, 1948
(via Ebay)

 

--The Twilight Zone Scripts of Earl Hamner by Earl Hamner and Tony Albarella (Cumberland House, 2003)
 
--The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams, Jr. (OTR, 2008)
 
--A Critical History of Television’s The Twilight Zone, 1959-1964 by Don Presnell and Marty McGee (McFarland & Co., 1998)
 
--The Twilight Zone Companion (3^rd ed.) by Marc Scott Zicree (Silman-James, 2018)
 
--The Guide to Supernatural Fiction by E.F. Bleiler (Kent State University Press, 1983)
 
--The Work of Charles Beaumont: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide by William F. Nolan (Borgo Press, 1986)
 
--Review of Blu-ray edition of Bunny Lake is Missing by Glenn Erickson (DVD Talk, November 24, 2014)
 
--The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)

 

Notes: 

 
--Earl Hamner, Jr. scripted eight episodes of the series, five of which were broadcast during the fifth and final season.
 
--Alan Crosland, Jr. directed three previous episodes of the series: “The Parallel,” “The Old Man in the Cave,” and “The 7^th Is Made Up of Phantoms.”
 
--George Mitchell appeared in three additional episodes of the series: “The Hitch-Hiker,” “Execution,” and “Jess-Belle.”

--Hank Patterson also appeared in the third season episode, "Kick the Can," and the later fifth season episode, "Come Wander With Me." 
 
--Bing Russell previously appeared on the series in “The Arrival.”
 
--Vic Perrin previously appeared on the series in “People Are Alike All Over.”

--"Ring-a-Ding Girl" was adapted for a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Sarah Wayne Callies. 
 
-JP

"The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms"

 

Ron Foster, Randy Boone, and Warren Oates
discover that the 7th Cavalry is made up of phantoms

“The 7^th is Made Up of Phantoms”
Season Five, Episode 130
Original Air Date: December 6, 1963
 
Cast:
Sgt. William Connors: Ron Foster
Pvt. Michael McCluskey: Randy Boone
Cpl. Richard Langsford: Warren Oates
Captain Dennet: Robert Bray
Lieutenant Woodward: Greg Morris
Scout: Wayne Mallory
Radio Operator: Jeffrey Morris
Sergeant: Lew Brown
Corporal: Jacque Shelton
 
Crew:
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Producer: Bert Granet
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens, a.s.c.
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
Art Direction: George W. Davis and Walter Holscher
Film Editor: Richard Heermance, a.c.e.
Set Decoration: Henry Grace and Robert R. Benton
Assistant Director: Charles Bonniwell, Jr.
Casting: Patricia Rose
Music: Stock
Sound: Franklin Milton and Philip N. Mitchell
Mr. Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes
Filmed at MGM Studios

 

And Now, Mr. Serling:

“Next on Twilight Zone, Three National Guardsmen on a maneuver traveling across the same ground formerly occupied by General Custer, in an outfit called the 7^th Cavalry. Time in its infinite complexity, meshes, and what evolves is a stunningly different story about soldiers and Indians suspended in limbo, between then and now. On Twilight Zone next, ‘The 7^th is Made Up of Phantoms.’”

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

“June 25^th, 1964 or, if you prefer, June 25^th, 1876. The cast of characters in order of their appearance: A patrol of General Custer’s Cavalry and a patrol of National Guardsmen on a maneuver. Past and present are about to collide head on, as they are wont to do in a very special bivouac area known as, the Twilight Zone.”

Summary:

June, 1876. Three scouts under orders from Major General George Armstrong Custer of the 7^th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army stumble upon a stray Sioux encampment with a fire still smoldering in front. As they are speculating its owner’s whereabouts, one of the men is struck with an arrow. The other two fire into the distance.

June, 1964. Three National Guardsmen named Connors, McCluskey, and Langsford are performing a field training maneuver in an armored tank when they hear gunshots and decide to investigate. They discover an empty tepee and an antique-style Army canteen on the ground with 7^th Cavalry written across it. McCluskey and Connors recognize that they are near where The Battle of Little Bighorn took place on June 25^th, 1876. The canteen, however, looks brand new. Puzzled, they decide to return to the command post. Before they leave, they hear a Sioux war cry in the distance. 

Once back at the command post they are greeted by an irate captain wondering why they have been gone so long. Sgt. Connors tells the captain about the rifle fire and about what they found. The captain seems unimpressed. He gives Connors their orders for the following day. Connors recognizes the coordinates as the same route taken by troops led by Major Marcus Reno leading up to the battle. He tells the captain that he thinks the tepee they found was the same one Reno’s scouts found the day before the battle. The captain questions the sergeant’s sobriety and tells him he is to follow the route as ordered.

The next day the men are following their instructed route when they spot a smoke signal behind a distant hill. Connors and McCluskey claim Major Reno’s men spotted a smoke signal on the morning of the battle and fired on a small Sioux scout party, killing one of its riders. Langsford thinks his two companions are losing their sanity until they hear the cry of Sioux riders in the distance. McCluskey fires blindly into the hills. Afterwards, they spot a lone galloping horse without a rider. They continue to follow the route, hoping for answers.

Some time later, the captain radios to find out where they are. Connors tells him they are about to cross over Rosebud Creek, where Major Reno’s men finally met the Sioux. The captain tells them to report back to the command post immediately. The line goes dead. The captain sends men out to find them.

Once over the creek, they find no Sioux warriors, only a vacant field. Langsford claims that everything they have seen so far is an illusion. Connors remembers that an advanced scout party finds a small village before the battle begins. Langsford grows frustrated and leaves, claiming that he will walk back to the command post by himself. He quickly stumbles upon an empty Sioux encampment and calls to the others. McCluskey volunteers to investigate it. He returns minutes later with an arrow in his back and collapses to the ground.

Back at the command post, Lieutenant Woodward tells the captain that his men found the tank but not the three men. He gives the captain a handwritten note left at the tank that says they have gone to find the 7^th Cavalry.

Connors and Langsford carry a wounded McCluskey on their shoulders. At long last, they finally reach the Battle of Little Bighorn. With guns ready, the three men charge into battle. 

During their search for the men, Lieutenant Woodward and Captain Dennet stop at the 7^th Cavalry Memorial. On the engraved stone listing the men killed in action on that day in June in 1876 they notice the names William Connors, Michael McCluskey, and Richard Langsford. The Captain says they sure could have used the tank.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“Sergeant William Connors, Trooper Michael McCluskey, and Trooper Richard Langsford, who, on a hot afternoon in June, made a charge over a hill and never returned. Look for this one under ‘P’ for Phantom, in a historical ledger located in a reading room known as, the Twilight Zone.”

Commentary:

As is abundantly evident in his work, Serling, a former Army paratrooper, was fascinated with United States military history. His Twilight Zone scripts cover numerous military conflicts including the American Civil War, the Vietnam War, World War I, and, in particular, World War II, where he served with the 11^th Airborne Division. Throughout his entire body of work Serling pays careful attention to details about military and political conflicts, often basing scripts on real events, sometimes ones that had only recently taken place. This is usually a positive attribute, one that gives his scripts a social urgency and a historical frame of reference that is relatable to the audience. However, Serling does occasionally weigh stories down by trying to reference too many details of a real-life event and this is unfortunately the case with “The 7^th is Made Up of Phantoms.” As many fans and critics have pointed out, this is the biggest reason this episode is not as effective as it could be. While the premise of this episode is interesting, it relies heavily on referencing events leading up to the Battle of Little Bighorn, events that are so trivial that they would undoubtedly be lost on a modern audience. By the end of the episode, it begins to feel more like a Rod Serling history lesson than an episode of The Twilight Zone. Still, there is a certain mysticism in this episode that is entertaining which makes it worthy of a viewing or two.

This episode was broadcast at a time when the view of westward expansion in America during the nineteenth century was changing. The cinematic portrayal of the American west up to this point had traditionally placed the United States military and law enforcement in the role of heroes upholding moral justice which, by default, painted Native Americans as the aggressors. The Battle of Little Bighorn and the legacy of George Armstrong Custer, crafted in large part by his widow, Elizabeth Bacon, played an important role in creating the myth of the American West that was seen in films for much of the twentieth century, particularly the first half of it. Films like The Searchers (1956), Flaming Star (1960), A Man Called Horse (1970), Little Big Man (1970), and the films of Sergio Leone, while certainly still guilty at times of portraying indigenous people in a negative light, did help to demystify the legacy of the western hero in American culture. This is true for General Custer and his actions in June of 1876 as well. Errol Flynn’s portrayal of George Custer in Raoul Walsh’s They Died with Their Boots On (1941) is a far cry from Richard Mulligan’s parodic take on the General in Little Big Man thirty years later.

A first glance at the plot of this episode might suggest that Serling is also commenting on the changing attitude towards indigenous people in American culture. An argument could be made that the three national guardsmen are doomed to pay for the sins of the military’s past. However, Serling, never a stranger to pointed social commentary, does not seem to imply such an argument in this episode. There is no mention of anything suggestive of a negative or positive stance on the 7^th Cavalry of 1876 in any of his monologues or anywhere in the script apart from the scene in which the three men inexplicably charge into battle (with fully automatic rifles from the 1960s no less). He mostly seems to just be setting the episode up as an eerie time travel mystery.

As mentioned, this episode suffers a bit from the historical fact-dropping that continues throughout Serling’s script. While it is not a requirement to know anything at all about the Battle of Little Bighorn to enjoy the episode—the simple premise that they are reenacting the events that lead up to the battle is easy enough—the historical information does become tedious and distracting rather quickly. 

There are other, minor things about this episode that also cause it to feel a bit unsteady. As I mentioned earlier, the fact that these men travel from 1964 to 1876 with mid-twentieth century firearms to a famous and well documented battle with no historical repercussions is too big of a blunder to ignore simply for the suspension of disbelief. The fact that they are dressed in modern military uniforms and do not actually belong to the 7^th Cavalry but still end up on the memorial stone at the end of the episode is also sort of weird. One final complaint. Two of the characters jump to the conclusion of time travel much too quickly. Connors believes it almost immediately after finding the 7th Cavalry canteen which doesn’t make sense. Having said all that, this episode does have an atmospheric quality that is interesting. The hills do feel genuinely mysterious and a feeling that a threat looms somewhere just beyond the three soldiers persists throughout the episode. 

This is the third of four episodes Alan Crosland, Jr. directed for the show, having already helmed the season four episode “The Parallel” and the season five episode “The Old Man in the Cave.” He also directed the Earl Hamner-penned episode “Ring-a-Ding Girl.” Crossland, Jr. started as an editor, working on a handful of high-profile films including Marty (1955) and The Sweet Smell of Success (1957). As a director, he worked almost exclusively in television, directing many episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman and numerous other series.

His direction in this episode is good if not particularly memorable. Although to be fair, most of the episode is just three actors in a tank driving through an empty hillside which does not lend itself to inventive cinematography. The abrupt time shift and camera zoom at the beginning of the episode is an effective device, one that briefly disorients the audience. Crosland does his best to leave the time travel aspect in this episode ambiguous, as per Serling’s script, but with the very limited number of props and set pieces and the fact that it is shot entirely outside on sprawling grassy hills, a location that likely had not changed much in the eighty years that passed, it feels less like a deliberate storytelling device and mostly just confusing. It’s a device that simply works better on paper than it does on the screen.

The cast in this episode are all recognizable faces to fans of classic television. Ron Foster was a prolific presence in the early days of television, appearing most often in westerns and police dramas. He also appeared in a string of low-budget, genre films throughout the 1950s and 60s. Randy Boone is an actor and folk singer who is best known for his role as singing ranch hand Randy Benton on The Virginian, but he also made appearances on many western series. Robert Bray is best remembered as forest ranger Corey Stuart in Lassie. He also portrayed Mike Hammer in My Gun is Quick (1957), the third film to feature Mickey Spillane’s rough and tumble private detective. Greg Morris achieved fame as Barney Collier on Mission: Impossible for the show’s entire seven season run. He also appeared in the 1966 NBC film, The Doomsday Flight, which was written by Rod Serling.

Probably the most familiar face in this episode is that of Warren Oates who had already appeared on the show in a small part in the season one episode “The Purple Testament.” Oates’ rough demeanor and strong southern accent caused him to frequently be cast as loud, wise cracking southerners or cowboys. He made several films with director Sam Pechinpah including his masterpiece, The Wild Bunch (1969). He first made a name for himself in the 1960 independent film, Private Property, directed by Leslie Stevens. Other film roles include Ride the High Country (1962), Shenandoah (1965), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Two-Lane Blacktop (1972), Badlands (1973), and Stripes (1981). He made appearances on numerous television shows, mostly westerns, but also episodes of Thriller and The Outer Limits. As the skeptic in this episode, his viewpoint is the one closest to that of the audience. 

While it contains an interestingly weird atmosphere with good performances from the entire cast, “The 7^th is Made Up of Phantoms” suffers greatly from the numerous historical references that draw out certain scenes and, ultimately, the episode tries too hard to emphasize its time travel motif. It’s worth a watch to appreciate the acting and the mysterious atmosphere but it does not lend itself well to multiple viewings.

Grade: D 

Next time in the Vortex: A look at “A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain.” See you then!

Acknowledgements: 
--The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams, Jr. (OTR, 2008)
--American Experience, “Custer’s Last Stand” written and directed by Stephen Ives (PBS, 2012)
--The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)
 
Notes:
--Alan Crossland, Jr. also directed the season four episode “The Parallel” and the season five episodes “The Old Man in the Cave” and “Ring-a-Ding Girl.”
--Warren Oates also appeared in the season one episode “The Purple Testament.”
--”The 7^th is Made Up of Phantoms” was adapted into a Twilight Zone Radio Drama by Dennis Etchison which starred Richard Grieco (2004).

-Brian

"The Old Man in the Cave"

 

“The Old Man in the Cave”
Season Five, Episode 127
Original Air Date: November 8, 1963

Cast:
Major French: James Coburn
Goldsmith: John Anderson
Jason: John Marley
Evie: Josie Lloyd
Man: John Craven
Woman: Natalie Masters (uncredited)
Harber: Frank Watkins (uncredited)
Douglas: Leonard Greer (uncredited)
Furman: Don Wilbanks (uncredited)
 
Crew:
Writer: Rod Serling (based on “The Old Man” by Henry Slesar)
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Producer: Bert Granet
Director of Photography: Robert Pittack
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
Art Direction: George W. Davis and Walter Holscher
Film Editor: Richard Heermance
Set Decoration: Henry Grace and Robert R. Benton
Assistant Director: Charles Bonniwell, Jr.
Casting: Patricia Rose
Music: stock
Sound: Franklin Milton and Philip N. Mitchell
Mr. Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes
Filmed at MGM Studios

And Now, Mr. Serling: 

“Next on Twilight Zone a journey into a future moment, a nightmarish, frightening moment in time, when man sits in his own rubble and surveys the legacy he’s left to himself. James Coburn and John Anderson star in “The Old in the Cave,” recommended viewing for the more imaginative amongst you, on The Twilight Zone.”

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

“What you’re looking at is a legacy that man left to himself. A decade previous he pushed his buttons and, a nightmarish moment later, woke up to find that he had set the clock back a thousand years. His engines, his medicines, his science were buried in a mass tomb, covered over by the biggest gravedigger of them all: a bomb. And this is the Earth ten years later, a fragment of what was once a whole, a remnant of what was once a race. The year is 1974, and this is The Twilight Zone.” 

Summary: 

            Ten years after The Bomb, in the rubble of what was once an American town, a group of weary, hungry survivors gather to await the return of Mr. Goldsmith, who will bring word from the old man in the cave on whether or not they can safely eat a store of canned goods. The survivors lament their situation, their inability to grow healthy crops, their lack of edible food, and desperately hope this food was canned before The Bomb, and is free of radiation. They hold out for word from the old man in the cave, who has kept them alive with the knowledge of where to plant crops and what food is safe to eat.

            Goldsmith reads a printed message from the old man in the cave and returns to deliver the information. The canned food is not safe to eat. This news is met with groans of despair. The survivors notice the approach of a vehicle. Within are four men in military outfits carrying rifles. The leader introduces himself as Major French of Central State Command and informs those gathered that they will now be under his authority in an effort to unify survivors. 

            Goldsmith tells the soldiers that they should move on, as their authority is not recognized here. Major French first tells Goldsmith that he doesn’t have a choice and then strikes the man, knocking him down. When Major French observes the malnourished condition of the survivors, he asks why no one is eating the canned goods. He is told of the old man in the cave.

            Major French demands to see the old man and forces Goldsmith to lead him to the cave, while the soldiers and survivors follow along. They arrive at the cave to find it blocked by a strong door. Major French attempts to blow open the door with a hand grenade. This has no effect on the door. Major French yells to the old man inside the cave that this is only the beginning of their efforts to get through the door. This draws a fit of laughter from some of the survivors.

            Returned to the settlement, Major French further challenges Goldsmith’s authority by opening a can of food and eating the contents. When the survivors see that no immediate ill effects befall Major French, they give in to their hunger and tear into the food supply that the old man in the cave determined was not safe to consume. At the soldiers’ bidding, a store of liquor is opened and enjoyed by all. Only Goldsmith resists partaking of the food and drink. 

            Later that night, Goldsmith confronts Major French, calling him a murderer and holding him responsible for the eventual deaths of the survivors from eating the food the old man in the cave deemed unsafe. Major French scoffs at this and stands on the back of his vehicle to make a proclamation. “There is no old man in the cave,” he tells the survivors. Again, Major French forces Goldsmith to the cave while the others follow behind. This time, French threatens Goldsmith’s life if Goldsmith doesn’t open the door that seals the cave. Reluctantly, Goldsmith opens the door with a lever hidden beneath a rock at the base of the cave. 

            The survivors rush into the cave. They stop suddenly, stunned by the sight which confronts them. Before them is a large computer, alive with paneled lights. Major French tells the gathered survivors that they must kill this thing and free themselves from its control. In a fit of drunken madness, the survivors rush forward with fists and stones to strike at the computer. Goldsmith can only watch as they destroy the “old man” in the cave, who has kept them alive this long. 

            Later, Goldsmith walks amid the fallen bodies of the dead, spread out across the ground. The food and drink was not safe to consume and has claimed the lives of the soldiers and survivors. Goldsmith is now alone, the only remaining survivor.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“Mr. Goldsmith, survivor, an eye witness to man’s imperfection, an observer of the very human trait of greed, and a chronicler of the last chapter, the one reading ‘suicide.’ Not a prediction of what is to be, just a projection of what could be. This has been The Twilight Zone.”

Commentary: 

Henry Slesar
(via Wikipedia)

Producer Bert Granet and series creator Rod Serling were likely drawn to the work of writer Henry Slesar by the successful adaptations of Slesar’s stories on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as by Slesar’s numerous appearances in science fiction and mystery magazines of the time. Slesar’s stories, notable for their ironic and convention-defying twist endings, began appearing in 1957 during the third season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, occasionally with scripts by Slesar. Slesar's initial episode was “Heart of Gold,” scripted by James P. Cavanagh from Slesar's story "M Is for the Many," which originally appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Slesar's association with Hitchcock's television programs continued with forty-six additional episodes through the second season of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1964. Readers interested in more information about Slesar’s association with Hitchcock’s television programs are encouraged to visit the Bare Bones E-Zine, where Jack Seabrook has reviewed Slesar’s episodes for the Hitchcock series in detail. 

Slesar’s stories also frequently appeared in the pages of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, beginning also in 1957, as well as in Alfred Hitchcock book anthologies and in other books associated with Hitchcock. Examples of the latter include collections of Slesar’s stories, which often featured the famous director's name more prominently than Slesar's, such as Alfred Hitchcock Hand-Picks and Introduces: A Bouquet of Clean Crimes and Neat Murders (Avon, 1960), Alfred Hitchcock Introduces: A Crime for Mothers and Others (Avon, 1962), and Death on Television: The Best of Henry Slesar’s Alfred Hitchcock Stories, edited by Francis M. Nevins, Jr. and Martin H. Greenberg (Southern Illinois University Press, 1989). Slesar also wrote the introduction to Hitchcock in Prime Time, an anthology of stories adapted on Hitchcock’s television programs, including one from Slesar, also edited by Nevins, Jr. and Greenberg (Avon, 1985).

Slesar contributed to hundreds of television scripts for a variety of series, including anthology programs such as Circle of Fear, Tales of the Unexpected, and the revival series of both Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. Much of his television work included writing soap operas such as Search for Tomorrow, Somerset, and The Edge of Night, the latter of which netted Slesar a Daytime Emmy Award in 1974. 

Slesar was born Henry Schlosser (later legally changing his name) in Brooklyn in 1927, the son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. He began publishing science fiction and mystery stories in 1955 and won an Edgar Award in 1959 for his first mystery novel, The Gray Flannel Shroud, a novel colored by Slesar’s career in advertising. Slesar’s output of science fiction and fantasy stories are mostly from early in his career (many can be freely read on Project Gutenberg) but he continued to write mystery stories and novels for decades, including such novels as Enter Murderers (1960) and The Thing at the Door (1974), considered by many to be his finest novel, as well as story collections such as Acrostic Mysteries (1985) and Murders Most Macabre (1986). Slesar’s soap opera work informed his novels The Seventh Mask (1969), adapted from a storyline from The Edge of Night, and Murder at Heartbreak Hospital (1993). Slesar also produced work for other mediums such as radio (over 40 scripts for CBS Radio Mystery Theatre) and stage production. He died in 2002.

Martin Grams, Jr., in his book The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic, reports that Slesar’s story “The Old Man” was brought to the attention of Rod Serling by Sybil S. Gurner of Los Angeles, presumably through the copious correspondence the series received from its viewers. What ultimately drew Serling to adapt the story for The Twilight Zone was the opportunity to craft a tale of group dynamics juxtaposed with an event that threatens the survival of the group, a story type featured in several episodes written by Serling, including some of his best. 

via Ebay

Slesar’s story, the “short-short story” selection for the September, 1962 issue of Diners’ Club Magazine (pictured), tells of a society depopulated by an atomic war in which a cabal of “Governors” house and maintain the “old man,” a computer, in a stone house on a hill. The Governors created the myth of the old man to disguise the truth about the computer’s existence while using the machine’s computations to instruct the lives of the villagers who dwell in the valley below. Tango, a spy for the Governors, reports back from a village meeting with news of unrest among the villagers, who rebel against the benign control of the Governors and the “old man.” The old man has existed for generations, leading to questions in the minds of the villagers about the old man’s real age, and the mental decline that accompanies advanced aging. Why should they go on listening to what the old man says they should do, asks Sierra, a farmer’s son with a withered arm, who leads the villagers in a charge on the stone house on the hill. The villagers batter their way inside, killing Tango and the Governors. When the mob discovers the computer in an upstairs room, they destroy it as well. Without the computer’s information, the villagers soon die out.

Slesar’s story presented the foundation upon which Rod Serling built the story he wished to tell, one imbedded with a strong warning in an era of high political tensions. As such, “The Old Man in the Cave” is an episode less instructively compared to the story on which it is based and better compared to thematically related episodes of the series written by Serling.

“The Old Man in the Cave” is frequently compared to Serling’s first season episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” and for obvious reasons. Both episodes concern the growing power struggles within a group of individuals fighting for survival against an unknown or immeasurable threat, as well as the death and destruction that results from the collapse of rational decision-making within the group. Both episodes also contain moments of mob violence. Another episode that offers a comparison, and also contains an unnerving sequence of mob violence, is Serling’s “The Shelter,” from the third season. This episode could serve as a prequel to “The Old Man in the Cave,” in that “The Shelter” examines group dynamics during an imminent threat of The Bomb, while “The Old Man in the Cave” examines group dynamics after The Bomb has fallen.

Unlike these earlier episodes, however, in which the struggle for power within a group is dispersed among several individuals, “The Old Man in the Cave” is primarily concerned with the conflict between two central figures of authority, the benevolent Mr. Goldsmith and the violent and commanding Major French. In this way, “The Old Man in the Cave” closely resembles Rod Serling’s fourth season episode “On Thursday We Leave for Home,” which also concerns a group of isolated survivors under a seemingly benevolent leader whose authority is challenged by the arrival of military officials.

            “The Old Man in the Cave” can be viewed as the inverse of “On Thursday We Leave for Home,” serving as a way for Serling to explore the results of a role reversal between the primary figures of authority. In the earlier episode, the power and control established by the leader of the survivors, Captain Benteen, is threatened by the arrival of Colonel Sloane, the leader of a mission to rescue the survivors. Replace the names Benteen and Sloane with Goldsmith and French, respectively, and you essentially have the story again with “The Old Man in the Cave.” However, the role reversal between these authority figures leads to different and problematic results.

Captain Benteen is ultimately driven to madness and ensures his own premature death through an inability to relinquish his authority as leader of the survivors. Colonel Sloane is the figure of hope, sanity, and rationality in the episode, able to save the survivors but forced to abandon Benteen to his chosen fate. Conversely, in “The Old Man in the Cave,” Goldsmith is presented as the voice of reason forced to contend with madness and premature death brought on by Major French and his men. The viewer is entirely encouraged to sympathize with Goldsmith and to reject the methods of Major French, who attempts to seize control of the survivors through intimidation and bravado. These changes, both from the original story and from Serling’s thematically related episode, ultimately serve the twist ending retained from Henry Slesar’s original story, pithily expressed by the author as: “Then they killed the old man, the computer. It didn’t take the people long to die.”

By the end of the episode, Goldsmith is delivering such dialogue directed to the dead Major French as: “When we talked about the ways that men could die, we forgot the chief method of execution. We forgot faithlessness, Major French.” Dialogue like this, coupled with the messianic figure of Goldsmith and the deity-like existence of the old man in the cave, result in the episode playing like a religious allegory, in which a faith healer is challenged by a figure of secular authority. Though unlikely a direct influence, there are also shades of Ray Bradbury’s “The Man,” a 1949 story collected in The Illustrated Man (1951), in which the brash and skeptical leader of a planet-hopping space crew denies the existence of a messianic figure despite evidence of the man’s good works. As author Marc Scott Zicree wrote in his review of “The Old Man in the Cave” for The Twilight Zone Companion: 

“. . . there are several issues raised by the episode that are hard to ignore. For instance, Goldsmith views the computer as a deity-like authority, and when the people demand to know the identity of ‘the Old Man’ and disregard his instructions, this is considered the ultimate act of faithlessness – the punishment being death. But, in actuality, a computer is not a god, it is a man-made tool, and the townsfolk’s insistence to know the true nature of their leader seems less an act of faithlessness than a natural human curiosity for vital information, a desire for democracy, for self-determination.”           

            Other problematic aspects of the episode result from retaining certain features of Slesar’s story while jettisoning the narrative details that provide context to the events of the story. For instance, it is never revealed why the computer in the cave is called the “old man.” This is explained in Slesar’s story but left unexplained in the episode. Is it a purposeful deception by the computer or by Goldsmith, as it is with the Governors in the original story? If so, deception is hardly an ethical foundation for faith. Also, as pointed out by Zicree in his review, it is never explained by what means the computer receives the power needed to operate in this decimated world. How did the computer get into the cave in the first place? These are trifles, perhaps, but they display the problems that arise in retaining only the barest structure of the source material while also attaching a strong moral message to the narrative.

             The work of Henry Slesar was again adapted for the fifth season of The Twilight Zone for “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross,” scripted by Jerry McNeely and directed by Don Siegel from Slesar’s story published in the May, 1961 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The story tells of the titular rough-hewn loser, played by Don Gordon, who discovers that he can trade attributes with another person through a simple agreement. Ross makes a number of “trades” in an effort to land the girl of his dreams, played by Gail Kobe, but commits a fatal error when he seeks to gain the quality of compassion from the girl’s father, played by Twilight Zone veteran Vaughn Taylor. 

"Examination Day"

            Another of Slesar’s short-short stories, “Examination Day,” from the February, 1958 issue of Playboy, was adapted for the first season of the first revival Twilight Zone series in 1985. Slesar’s bleak story was faithfully scripted by series producer Philip DeGuere and directed by Paul Lynch for the opening segment of the sixth episode. It tells of a future society in which children are forced by the government to take an intelligence test at the age of twelve. Christopher Allport and Elizabeth Norment portray Richard and Ruth Jordan, who anxiously await the results of their son’s test. Their son, Dickie, played by David Mendenhall, is a bright child and his parents are horrified to learn that the government test has determined that Dickie is too intelligent and that the boy will be euthanized. 

John Anderson

            “The Old Man in the Cave” includes some notable and familiar faces among its collection of character actors. Mr. Goldsmith is played by John Anderson, who appeared in three previous episodes of the series. Anderson (1922-1992) was a versatile performer specializing in everyman characters who excelled in eliciting sympathy from the audience. Anderson portrayed the angel Gabriel opposite Jack Klugman’s suicidal trumpet player Joey Crown in Rod Serling’s first season episode “A Passage for Trumpet.” Anderson later portrayed Captain Farver on a doomed flight lost in time in Serling’s second season episode “The Odyssey of Flight 33.” In the fourth season, Anderson appeared in a highly sympathetic role opposite Albert Salmi in “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville,” Rod Serling’s adaptation of Malcolm Jameson’s story “Blind Alley.” Anderson was a hugely prolific actor who appeared in many favorite television series, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Outer Limits, and The Sixth Sense, a series packaged in syndication with Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. 

John Marley

            The character in the episode who most represents the everyman, however, is Jason, as portrayed by John Marley. Marley (1907-1984) previously appeared on the third season of the series as Mr. Cox, the supervisor of Sunnyvale Rest Home, where the elderly residents play a magical game of “Kick the Can,” as scripted by George Clayton Johnson. Marley was an equally prolific character actor whose television credits go back to the early days of the medium with appearances on Suspense and Inner Sanctum. Marley later appeared on such series of interest as One Step Beyond, The Outer Limits, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.  

James Coburn

            Perhaps the most notable cast member is James Coburn (1928-2002) as the gruff Major French. Coburn’s career was much too long and varied to effectively summarize here except to say that he studied acting at UCLA before beginning his professional career on the New York stage. He appeared in several early television series such as Studio One, Suspicion, and General Electric Theater before he found an enduring niche in television westerns and crime dramas. Coburn appeared in two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, “The Jokester,” alongside the aforementioned Albert Salmi, and in an adaptation of Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Coburn’s film career began in earnest with the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven. Notable film roles include the James Bond-inspired Our Man Flint (1966), and its sequel In Like Flint (1967), as well as an Academy Award-winning supporting role late in his career in Affliction (1997). Also of interest is Coburn’s role as host of the short-lived horror anthology series Darkroom, which ran on ABC for seven episodes in 1981-1982. The series featured scripts and stories by such notable writers as Robert Bloch, William F. Nolan, Fredric Brown, Cornell Woolrich, Davis Grubb, Robert R. McCammon, and Alan Brennert, a writer and story consultant on the first revival Twilight Zone series. 

            Despite fine acting and excellent characterizations, the narrative inconsistencies, lapses in logic, and questionable moralizing in “The Old Man in the Cave” reduce the impact of the episode. Rod Serling brilliantly explored the dramatic possibilities of similar material in three previously mentioned episodes, all of which come highly recommended. The well is here beginning to run dry, however, and the results are further diluted when filtered through the work of another writer. Like much of the material from the final season of the series, a return trip over familiar ground results in diminished returns. Ultimately, “The Old Man in the Cave” remains an engaging yet minor entry in the series. 

Grade: C 

Next Time in the Vortex: A deep dive into the November/December, 1983 issue of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine. Thanks for reading! 

Acknowledgments:
--The Twilight Zone Companion (3^rd ed.) by Marc Scott Zicree (Silman-James, 2018)
--The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams, Jr. (OTR, 2008)
--“The Hitchcock Project-Henry Slesar” by Jack Seabrook (Bare Bones E-Zine (barebonesez.blogspot.com))
--“Henry Slesar” by Frances McConachie (Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers (3^rd ed.), edited by Lesley Henderson (St. James Press, 1991))
--The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction by Mike Ashley (Carroll & Graf, 2002)
--The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4^th ed.) (sf-encyclopedia.com)
--The Alfred Hitchcock Wiki (the.hitchcock.zone/wiki)
--The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (isfdb.org)
--The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)
--“Henry Slesar” (Wikipedia (Wikipedia.org)) 

Notes: 

--“The Old Man” by Henry Slesar was first published in the September, 1962 issue of Diners’ Club Magazine. The story was included in The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories, edited by Richard Matheson, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh (1985).
--Henry Slesar’s story, “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross” (1961), was adapted for the fifth season of The Twilight Zone. Slesar’s 1958 story, “Examination Day,” was adapted for the first season of the first revival Twilight Zone series (1985).
--Rod Serling’s teleplay for “The Old Man in the Cave” was published in volume 4 of As Timeless As Infinity: The Complete Twilight Scripts of Rod Serling, ed. by Tony Albarella (Gauntlet Press, 2007).
--Alan Crosland, Jr. also directed the fourth season episode, “The Parallel,” as well as the fifth season episodes “The 7^th Is Made Up of Phantoms” and “Ring-a-Ding Girl.”
--John Anderson also appeared in the first season episode, “A Passage for Trumpet,” the second season episode, “The Odyssey of Flight 33,” and the fourth season episode, “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville.”
--John Marley also appeared in the third season episode, “Kick the Can.”
--“The Old Man in the Cave” was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Adam Baldwin. 

-JP

Additional Images:

Cover art by Jim Bramlet

James Coburn hosting Darkroom