Wednesday Comics

The Twilight Zone #44 (July, 1972)
"The Camera Doesn't Lie"
Script: unknown
Art: unknown
Cover: George Wilson

"Passage on the Lady Anne"

L to R: Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper, Lee Philips, Joyce Van Patten

“Passage on the Lady Anne”

Season Four, Episode 119

Original Air Date: May 9, 1963

Cast:

(In alphabetical order)

Millie McKenzie: Gladys Cooper

Toby McKenzie: Wilfrid Hyde-White

Ian Burgess: Cecil Kellaway

Alan Ransome: Lee Philips

Eileen Ransome: Joyce Van Patten

(With)

Captain Protheroe: Alan Napier

Officers: Cyril Delevanti, Jack Raine

Addicott: Colin Campbell

Spierto: Don Keefer

Crew:

Writer: Charles Beaumont (based on his story “Song for a Lady”)

Director: Lamont Johnson

Producer: Bert Granet

Director of Photography: Robert Pittack

Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson

Art Direction: George W. Davis, Paul Groesse

Film Editor: Everett Dodd

Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Frank R. McKelvy

Assistant to the Producer: John Conwell

Assistant Director: Ray De Camp

Music (composer): René Garriguenc

Music (conductor): Lud Gluskin

Sound: Franklin Milton, Joe Edmondson

Mr. Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes

Filmed at MGM Studios

And Now, Mr. Serling:

“Next on Twilight Zone: an exercise from the typewriter of Charles Beaumont, a sea voyage into the darker regions of the Zone. Our stars in alphabetical order: Gladys Cooper, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Cecil Kellaway, Lee Philips, and Joyce Van Patten.”

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

“Portrait of a honeymoon couple getting ready for a journey, with a difference. These newlyweds have been married for six years and they’re not taking this honeymoon to start their life but rather to save it, or so Eileen Ransome thinks. She doesn’t know why she insisted on a ship for this voyage except that it would give them some time and she’d never been on one before, certainly never one like the Lady Anne. The tickets read ‘New York to Southampton,’ but this old liner is going somewhere else. Its destination: The Twilight Zone.”

Summary:

            Eileen Ransome convinces her workaholic husband Alan to allow her to accompany him on a business trip to London. Furthermore, Eileen is to decide their mode of transportation. She decides on travel by sea. She figures this will allow them to spend more time together. They have been married for six years and the overbearing strain on their marriage brought about by Alan’s dedication to business has reached a breaking point.

Mr. Spierto, the travel agent, regrettably informs the Ransomes that, as it is the off-season, most of the ships are not running their regular schedules. Upon viewing a list of available ships, Eileen selects the Lady Anne, an aging vessel embarking, unbeknownst to them, upon its final voyage. Against the strong protestations of Alan and Mr. Spierto, Eileen books two tickets for the Lady Anne.

The Lady Anne is a beautiful old ship and Eileen is excited to travel. Alan is gloomy and seems only grudgingly going along because he made a promise to Eileen. Shortly before boarding, the Ransomes encounter an elderly English gentleman named McKenzie who seems incredulous that the Ransomes have secured passage on the Lady Anne and insists that a mistake has been made. Alan shows their tickets and considers the matter settled. The Ransomes are confronted again, however, shortly before departure by McKenzie and his friend Burgess, who go so far as to offer the couple ten thousand dollars to leave the ship. The elderly men refer to the journey as a private cruise and insist they want to help the Ransomes by discouraging them from travelling along. The Ransomes remain adamant about their intention to stay on the ship.

Alan and Eileen make a startling discovery once the ship has departed. Everyone on board besides themselves is very old. Being the only young people draws attention to the Ransomes. This particularly works against them when they have a very public argument centered on Alan’s displeasure at being stuck on an old, slow ship filled with elderly people, as well as the damage his obsession with business is doing to their marriage. It appears as though the Ransomes have finally crossed the breaking point in their troubled relationship.

Eileen and Alan agree to a chilly truce to save face and endure the remaining journey to London. Although Alan does not desire to do so, Eileen accepts an invitation to tea for both of them from McKenzie and his wife. McKenzie invited the couple to tea in order to apologize for his earlier behavior and to ensure the couple that they will not have to leave the ship. Mrs. McKenzie informs the Ransomes that they won’t have to die after all. Alan and Eileen are understandably confused by this statement but McKenzie ensures them that it is only a figure of speech.

McKenzie further explains that the Lady Anne has not had any new passengers in several years and this journey is a gathering of all the people who have spent time on the Lady Anne in the past. The people on board consider their prior time on the Lady Anne to be among the happiest, most important times in their lives. Mrs. McKenzie speaks of the ship as an enchanted vessel and reveals that the Lady Anne is being retired. Those on board decided to take this final two-way journey with her, from London to New York and back again.  

Eileen becomes upset over the conversation and Alan takes her outside to get some fresh air. Alan notices that the ship is headed north rather than in the eastward direction they should be travelling. Alan looks out to sea and when he turns again he finds that Eileen has vanished. He frantically searches the ship but cannot find his wife anywhere. No one else seems concerned over Eileen’s disappearance. Hours pass and Alan is in a panic, fearful that Eileen may have fallen overboard.

McKenzie takes Alan to the bar for a drink in order to ease Alan’s mind, ensuring the younger man that Eileen has not really gone but that Alan has only missed her. Burgess, slightly drunk, joins the men to deliver a rant on the demise of the Lady Anne, blaming the modern condition of hurry and impatience for wanting to scrap the old ship, a symbol of the past.

Alan returns to their room and, incredibly, finds Eileen in bed waiting for him. Eileen has no memory of having disappeared. In that moment Alan realizes how much he loves his wife and vows never to forget the torment of losing her for even so brief a time.

The Ransomes are enjoying their newfound happiness the following night at a party with the rest of the passengers when Alan notices that the ship’s engines have stopped. A nasty surprise arrives with Captain Protheroe a short time later. The crew has gathered the Ransomes’ things and the couple are being put off the ship. Alan refuses, believing it to be a joke, prompting the First Officer to produce a gun to ensure the Ransomes that this is a serious affair.

Alan and Eileen are placed in a lifeboat along with their belongings, supplies, and the assurance that the authorities have been contacted and the Ransomes will be retrieved shortly. Alan and Eileen begin to understand why they were removed from the Lady Anne as they watch the old ship sail away and slowly disappear into the fog.

           

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“The Lady Anne never reached port. After they were picked up by a cutter a few hours later, as Captain Protheroe had promised, the Ransomes searched the newspapers for news, but there wasn’t any news. The Lady Anne, with all her crew and all her passengers, vanished without a trace. But the Ransomes knew what had happened. They knew that the ship had sailed off to a better port, a placed called The Twilight Zone.”

Commentary:

            Charles Beaumont, to my mind, was the finest writer on the series during the fourth season. This is not to say the show’s other writers did not produce quality material for the much-derided hour-long format. Richard Matheson’s “Death Ship,” Earl Hamner’s “Jess-Belle,” and Rod Serling’s “On Thursday We Leave for Home” are episodes I feel stand with the best of the series. Charles Beaumont’s work on the fourth season, however, was consistently good from beginning to end, from the season premiere, “In His Image,” through to his midseason masterpiece, “Miniature,” and the moving and affecting penultimate episode, “Passage on the Lady Anne.” This trilogy of episodes represents a notable shift in Beaumont’s output from the potently effective introspective nightmares of the half-hour episodes to richer, more optimistic fare which still retained many of Beaumont’s familiar thematic traits. Beaumont also produced a fine satirical episode, “Printer’s Devil,” and provided the story for “The New Exhibit,” an episode ghost-written by Jerry Sohl and one which many viewers consider a highlight of the season. Beaumont’s single misstep was the ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful “Valley of the Shadow.”

            The six episodes (including “The New Exhibit”) Beaumont contributed during the fourth season constitute a greater output from the writer than on any other season. This feels significant when one considers that Beaumont, due to sudden and debilitating health issues previously discussed on this blog, wrote no additional episodes after “Passage on the Lady Anne.” Another Beaumont teleplay, “Gentlemen, Be Seated,” an adaptation of Beaumont’s 1960 story about a near future society in which laughter has been eliminated and a clandestine group of office workers who nightly celebrate politically incorrect humor, was completed and scheduled for the fifth season but was ultimately left unproduced by series end. The episodes credited to Beaumont during this final season were written by Jerry Sohl or John Tomerlin based on Beaumont’s ideas and stories.

The bitter irony which should not be lost on the viewer is that “Passage on the Lady Anne,” the final episode in this late outburst from Beaumont, figuratively mirrors the very real struggle which descended on him at this time. Generally speaking, “Passage on the Lady Anne” is about taking that final journey on one’s own terms, to see the journey through to the end by returning to a place of happiness and success. For Charles Beaumont, The Twilight Zone is the Lady Anne, and although his final passing was far less romantic than that portrayed in the episode, posterity has shown The Twilight Zone to be that which has done the most to keep Beaumont’s flame burning. His work on the series has come to be considered career defining. Fortunately, the world is not yet ready to scrap the old-fashioned television show the way in which the world is ready to scrap the old ship in “Passage on the Lady Anne.”

             

            “Passage on the Lady Anne” is Beaumont’s adaptation of his story “Song for a Lady,” a title indicating the final journey at the center of the story. It first appeared in Beaumont’s 1960 collection from Bantam Books, Night Ride and Other Journeys, which also contained The Twilight Zone stories “Perchance to Dream” and “The Howling Man.” Although the story structure remained essentially the same in its adaptation to television, Beaumont changed a number of internal story elements in addition to the more prosaic story title. The first differing element which jumps out at the reader is the situation of the two central characters, Alan and Eileen Ransome, who, in “Song for a Lady,” are truly newlyweds rather than the struggling married couple in “Passage on the Lady Anne.” In the story, the Ransomes book passage on the Lady Anne before they are married. Due to this essential change in the characters, there is no troubled marriage at the center of the story, which became an important element in the television episode. The story is narrated in the first person by Alan and the focus is less on the Ransomes than on the elderly passengers and their relationships to the Lady Anne. Alan and Eileen function primarily as a lens through which the reader views these relationships between the old people and the old ship taking them to their final rest.

            Another noticeable change from story to screen is in the condition of the Lady Anne. In the television episode, the Ransomes dread that the Lady Anne will be an old wreck, hardly capable of staying on the water, when in fact it reveals itself to be an old but beautiful pearl of a vessel, ornate and elegant in an old-fashioned style. In the original story the ship truly is a wreck, or close to it. Although the Ransomes believe the ship to be beautiful from afar, contrary to “descriptions of the ship had led us to expect something between a kayak and The Flying Dutchman,”* it is soon seen this way from Alan’s viewpoint: “Then we got a little closer. And the Lady Anne turned into one of those well-dressed women who look so fine a block away and then disintegrate as you approach them. The orange on the hull was bright, but it wasn’t paint. It was rust. Rust, like fungus, infecting every inch, trailing down from every port hole. Eating through the iron.”

            Other changes are largely superficial and generally concern minor incidents of character and dialogue. Jack McKenzie in the story becomes Toby McKenzie in the episode. Eileen, rather than Alan, speaks many of the confrontational lines to McKenzie and Burgess in the story. Burgess is also given a wife in the tale, Cynthia, whereas the element of his being a widower is given particular focus in the episode. Beaumont retains large amounts of dialogue from his story, much of it Alan’s internal dialogue, though the speaker often changes in the adaptation. Burgess’s memorable, drunken rant on the wretched state of modern society is, in the story, delivered by a character named Van Vlyman. This scene is powerful in both the story and the episode due largely to Beaumont’s spirited writing. The message behind the rant was likely close to Beaumont’s own thoughts on the issue as he, in collaboration with friends, wrote a number of nostalgic essays, collected in Remember? Remember? (1963), many of which lament the same sort of problems modern society creates for the lover of old things and the older ways of doing things.
          Beaumont seems to have much to say about the way in which modern society treats the elderly. The Lady Anne, and its passengers, are referred to as "relics" and "antiques." As Serling informs us in the closing monologue, the disappearance of the ship and its elderly passengers is not reported in any newspaper, suggesting that the old go largely unnoticed in the culture as they have outlived their usefulness. 

The ending of the story is also quite different from the episode. In the story, Alan and Eileen are placed in the lifeboat and observe as, in the distance, the Lady Anne first catches fire and then sinks into the water. This fiery ending was wisely changed to the more atmospheric ending seen in the episode, with the informative coda of Rod Serling’s closing narration to alleviate any ambiguity.

            Overall, the reader comes away from the story with a sense of speed and compression, especially compared to the measured pacing of the episode. The story moves very quickly with little of the nuances in character and incident which make the episode memorable and enjoyable. Beaumont likely selected this story from among his published tales for adaptation because he felt as though he could improve on the tale if given another run at it. He had a good idea in the original story but had not given the tale the attention to character and conflict which it warranted. Beaumont was given a wider canvas than normal and expertly utilized the hour-long format to deliver an episode which vastly improves upon the original story by retaining the essential hook but imbuing the tale with greater elements of conflict, wit, heartbreak, and redemption.

            Though it is easy to be charmed by displays of more demonstrative elements of fantasy, such as grotesque monsters, time travel, aliens, killer dolls, and the like, The Twilight Zone is somewhat underappreciated as a remarkably effective platform for powerful drama. This is largely due to its creator’s journeyman years in the dramatic anthology programs of the previous decade but also owes something to the writers Rod Serling surrounded himself with, writers such as Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Henry Slesar, Damon Knight, and Jerome Bixby who, alongside others, spearheaded a change in American science fiction and fantasy literature which injected the form with real people facing relatable problems in real situations. “Passage on the Lady Anne” is a very quiet fantasy but a very potent drama which contains further meditations on the recurring themes of Beaumont’s fiction (death and dying, memory and dreams, the fantastic intruding upon a normal course of events) and a powerful strain of conflict and resolve in relationships.

            A number of the scenes and incidents which remain in one’s memory after viewing the episode were created for the adaptation. Primary among these is the relationship between Alan and Eileen Ransome. The perspective lens is shifted from the passengers on the Lady Anne in the story to the troubled couple who find their way on board a death ship in the episode. Lee Philips as the quietly angry and stubbornly unhappy Alan Ransome and Joyce Van Patten as the vulnerable yet defiant Eileen Ransome are excellent in their sole appearances on The Twilight Zone. Alan is easy to dislike through most of the episode though not to the degree that the viewer does not empathize with his immense relief at finding Eileen after the vulnerability of her character manifests itself in a literal disappearance. This incident could have been the hook for a separate and very different Twilight Zone episode, but Beaumont uses it here for a brief sequence to bring together two characters we have previously watched growing apart.
          Depending on how one views Eileen's disappearance, "Passage on the Lady Anne" contains hardly any fantasy element at all. There is the vague notion that the Lady Anne possesses some supernatural aspect given the mythical status assigned to the ship by its aging crew and passengers. While several times Beaumont hints at the supernatural, particularly with the disappearance of the Lady Anne at the end of the episode, the writer never directly shows us anything supernatural. There are no aliens, no ghosts, no talking dolls, nor anything else fantastical. The hint of fantasy becomes, in Beaumont's hands, a way to give the audience a metaphor for Alan's relationship with Eileen. This aspect is particularly apparent when McKenzie tells Alan: "She hasn't gone anywhere. You've just missed her," and in the scene in which Alan recovers his vanished wife in their suite. He says to her: "Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you," to which she replies: "I've been here, Alan," the implication being that their relationship has always been there, waiting for him to discover it. 

The chemistry of Lee Philip’s and Joyce Van Patten’s performances, both during the period in which they are waging a silent war and in their later, redemptive moments, is the finest on the series since that of William Shatner and Patricia Breslin in Richard Matheson’s “Nick of Time.” Their argument in the Imperial Lounge is one of the most expertly written, authentically performed scenes in the entire series. It is genuinely uncomfortable for the viewer and Beaumont gives the scene a number of effective touches, such as Alan speaking less and in a lower voice the more Eileen speaks in an animated voice. He also writes Eileen destroying the cigarette package to end the sequence, as Eileen asking Alan for a cigarette had been shown as a petty annoyance to Alan in prior scenes. The episode liberally uses juxtaposition to define its conflicts and resolutions, from the young couple and the elderly passengers to specific scenes, such as the party in the Imperial Lounge and the sudden intrusion of the Captain with a demand for the Ransomes to be put off the ship.

            The episode is filled with small touches which are not in the original story and would likely have been left out or edited from a twenty-four minute episode. A scene not focused on Alan and Eileen, such as the brief sequence in which Millie McKenzie throws Toby’s old letters overboard, would surely not have made the cut of a half-hour episode. Viewers may see such scenes as needless padding but some stories benefit from a richer tapestry of character and incident.

            The supporting cast is a highlight of the episode. The episode gathers a charming collection of talented and familiar English performers to populate the Lady Anne, many of whom are making repeat performances on the series. The newcomers include genial Wilfrid Hyde-White as Toby McKenzie, who takes the Ransomes under his wing to educate them on the history and significance of the Lady Anne and its final voyage, and Alan Napier, best known as Alfred on television’s Batman, who makes a brief but effective appearance as the stony Captain Protheroe. The remainder of the supporting cast will likely be familiar to regular viewers of the series. Gladys Cooper, as Millie McKenzie, makes the second of three appearances on the series, sandwiched between outstanding performances in “Nothing in the Dark” and “Night Call.” Though Cooper did not work with Rod Serling’s material on the series, she elevated three very good scripts from the show’s other principal writers, George Clayton Johnson, Charles Beaumont, and Richard Matheson. Cecil Kellaway returns to the series as Burgess after his unforgettable appearance as the wily and dangerous Jeremy Wickwire in Charles Beaumont’s first season episode, “Elegy.” Cyril Delevanti gets to hold the gun in “Passage on the Lady Anne,” his fourth and final appearance on the series. Delevanti memorably portrayed the old man Smithers who dreams of robbing a bank in “A Penny for Your Thoughts,” and, unforgettable, as the stone-faced servant who hides a manic inner life in “A Piano in the House.” Finally, Don Keefer makes the second of his three appearances on the series as the smug travel agent Mr. Spierto. Keefer memorably portrayed Dan Hollis, whose bad thoughts get him transformed into a jack-in-the-box by little Anthony in “It’s a Good Life.”

            The episode also marks the return of director Lamont Johnson to the series. Johnson last sat behind the camera for the third season episode “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby,” and previously directed some of the finest episodes of the series, including “The Shelter,” “Five Characters In Search of an Exit,” and “Kick the Can.” Johnson’s presence on “Passage on the Lady Anne” may have been a draw for Gladys Cooper to appear in the episode as the two previously collaborated on the excellent third season episode, “Nothing in the Dark.” The atmospheric cinematography of Robert W. Pittack deserves mention, as well. Pittack arrived on The Twilight Zone late in the third season to photograph Charles Beaumont’s “Person or Persons Unknown.” He remained on the series through the fourth season to alternate with regular cinematographer George T. Clemens, due to the increased shooting time per episode for the hour-long format. Pittack’s talent was readily apparent and he was retained for the fifth season, photographing such memorable episodes as “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” “Living Doll,” and “Night Call.”

            Although “Passage on the Lady Anne” lacks that truly memorable element (a fantastic display, a clever ending, etc.) which might lift it among the company of the best episodes, it remains a powerful drama graced by outstanding lead performances, a charming collection of supporting players, the return of one of the finest directors on the series, and an eerie atmosphere complemented by excellent photography and a memorable musical score. It is a fine final episode from the typewriter of Charles Beaumont and comes recommended.

*“Passage on the Lady Anne” was one of several Twilight Zone episodes which directly or indirectly referenced or took inspiration from the legend of The Flying Dutchman, a ghostly vessel often portrayed as a portent of doom, aligning the episode with others such as “Judgment Night,” “King Nine Will Not Return,” “The Odyssey of Flight 33,” “The Arrival,” and “The Thirty-Fathom Grave.”

Grade: B

Grateful acknowledgement to:

-Night Ride and Other Journeys by Charles Beaumont (Bantam, 1960)

-The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (isfdb.org)

-The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)

Notes:

--Charles Beaumont’s story, “Song for a Lady,” was first published in Night Ride and Other Journeys (Bantam, 1960). Beaumont’s final, unproduced episode for The Twilight Zone, “Gentlemen, Be Seated,” was published in the limited edition volume The Twilight Zone Scripts of Charles Beaumont, Volume One, ed. Roger Anker (Gauntlet Press, 2004). Volume two never appeared. Beaumont’s original story, “Gentlemen, Be Seated,” was first published in the April, 1960 issue of Rogue and collected in Charles Beaumont: Selected Stories, ed. Roger Anker (Dark Harvest, 1988).

--Lamont Johnson directed seven additional episodes of the series, including “The Shelter,” “Five Characters in Search of an Exit,” “Nothing in the Dark,” “One More Pallbearer,” “Kick the Can,” “Four O’Clock,” and “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby.”

--Composer René Garriguenc also provided the scores for “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” “In Praise of Pip,” and “Spur of the Moment,” as well as stock music pieces for several additional episodes. Garriguenc worked closely with the head of the CBS music department, Lud Gluskin, who conducted all of Garriguenc’s scores for the series.  

--Gladys Cooper also appeared in “Nothing in the Dark” and “Night Call.”

--Cecil Kellaway also appeared in “Elegy.”

--Lee Philips also appeared in “Queen of the Nile.”

--Alan Napier was a regular performer on Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, appearing in the episode segments “House – with Ghost,” “The Sins of the Fathers,” and “Fright Night.”

--Cyril Delevanti also appeared in “A Penny for Your Thoughts,” “The Silence,” and “A Piano in the House.”

--Jack Raine appeared in an uncredited role in “Spur of the Moment.”

--Don Keefer also appeared in “It’s a Good Life” and “From Agnes – with Love.”

--Joyce Van Patten was divorced from fellow Twilight Zone performer Martin Balsam shortly before she appeared in this episode, which may have given the relationship at the center of “Passage on the Lady Anne” extra resonance for the actress.

--“Passage on the Lady Anne” was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres.

-JP & BD 

Wednesday Comics

The Twilight Zone #3 (May, 1963)
"The Last Battle"
Script: unknown
Pencils: Mike Sekowsky
Inks: Mike Peppe
Letters: Ben Oda 
Cover: George Wilson 

Reading Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, Part 21

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

Great Stories from Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine (1982)

Edited by T.E.D. Klein

Cover art: Terrance Lindall

The only annual volume of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine appeared in October, 1982. The annual, although not numbered as such in the publication, assumes the place of volume 2, number 9 in the magazine’s internal numbering, placing it between the cover-dated November (volume 2, number 8) and December (volume 2, number 10), 1982 issues. The annual was not sent to subscribers and consists primarily of reprints from previous issues of the magazine.

Contents:

--A Note from the Publisher by Carol Serling

--In The Twilight Zone: “Refresher course . . .” by T.E.D. Klein

--Rod Serling: First Citizen of The Twilight Zone by Carol Serling & Marc Scott Zicree (profile) (from the April, 1981 issue)

--“Playing the Game” by Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois (from the Feb, 1982 issue)

--“The Rose Wall” by Joyce Carol Oates (from the April, 1981 issue)

--“The Jaunt” by Stephen King (from the June, 1981 issue)

--“Remembering Melody” by George R.R. Martin (from the April, 1981 issue)

--“The Dump” by Joe R. Lansdale (from the July, 1981 issue)

--“My Most Memorable Christmas” by Rod Serling (memoir) (from the Jan, 1982 issue)

--“The Night of the Meek” by Rod Serling (from New Stories from The Twilight Zone, 1962)

--“Sea Change” by George Clayton Johnson (from the Oct, 1981 issue)

--The Gargoyles of Gotham by Stephen DiLauro & Don Hamerman (photo-essay) (from the Feb, 1982 issue)

--“Carousel” by Thomas M. Disch (from the Nov, 1981 issue)

--“Grail” by Harlan Ellison (from the April, 1981 issue)

--“Groucho” by Ron Goulart (from the April, 1981 issue)

--“The Father of the Bride” by Connie Willis (from the May, 1982 issue)

--“The River Styx Runs Upstream” by Dan Simmons (from the April, 1982 issue)

--“I’ll Be Seeing You” by W.G. Norris (from the April, 1982 issue)

--The Story Behind Richard Matheson’s “The Doll” by Marc Scott Zicree (essay) (from the June, 1982 issue)

--“The Doll” by Richard Matheson (teleplay) (from the June, 1982 issue)

--Rod Serling: The Facts of Life by Linda Brevelle (interview) (from the April, 1982 issue)

--“The Swamp” by Robert Sheckley (from the July, 1981 issue)

--“Again” by Ramsey Campbell (from the Nov, 1981 issue)

--“Not Our Brother” by Robert Silverberg (from the July, 1982 issue)

Volume 2, Number 10 (December, 1982)

Cover art: David Christiana (for "Living Doll")

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 and Consulting Editor: Carol Serling

Editorial Director: Eric Protter

Editor: T.E.D. Klein

Managing Editor: Jane Bayer

Assistant Editor: Robert Sabat

Editorial Assistant: Judy Linden

Contributing Editors: Thomas M. Disch, Gahan Wilson, Marc Scott Zicree

Design Director: Michael Monte

Art Director: Wendy Mansfield

Art Production: Susan Lindeman, Carol Sun, Lori Hollander, Pat E. Queen

Typesetting: Marianna Turselli

Production Director: Stephen J. Fallon

Controller: Thomas Schiff

Ass’t to the Publisher: Penny Layne

Public Relations Mgr.: Jeffrey Nickora

Accounting Mgr.: Chris Grossman

Accounting Ass’t: Annemarie Pistilli

Office Ass’t: Miriam Wolf

Circulation Director: William D. Smith

Circulation Mgr.: Carole A. Harley

Circulation Ass’t: Karen Martorano

Newsstand Sales Manager: Karen Marks Goldberg

Eastern Circ. Mgr.: Hank Rosen

West Coast Circ. Mgr.: Gary Judy

Advertising Manager: Rachel Britapaja

Adv. Production Manager: Marina Despotakis

Advertising Representatives: Barney O’Hara & Associates

Contents:

--In the Twilight Zone: “The first time . . .” by T.E.D. Klein

--Other Dimensions: Screen by Gahan Wilson

--Other Dimensions: Books by T.E.D. Klein

--Other Dimensions: The ‘Unhappy Is He’ Quiz Revisited by William Fulwiler

--Other Dimensions: Etc.

--TZ Interview: Ridley Scott interviewed by James Verniere

--“The Shrine” by Pamela Sargent

--“Altenmoor, Where the Dogs Dance” by Mort Castle

--Comic: “Vertigoat” by Tony Galloway

--“Jockeying for Time” by David Shifren

--Magic for Sale (photo feature) by Mathew Kovary

--“The Translator” by John David Sidley

--TZ Screen Preview: Xtro by James Verniere

--The Essential Writers: L.P. Hartley by Jack Sullivan

--“W.S.” by L.P. Hartley

--“Three Timely Tales” by Rick Norwood

--“What Really Happened to Uncle Chuckles?” by Ron Wolfe

--“Creative Writing” by Sandré Charbonneau

--“Pulpmeister” by David J. Schow

--Show-by-Show Guide: TV’s Twilight Zone: Part Twenty-One by Marc Scott Zicree

--TZ Classic Teleplay: “Living Doll” by Charles Beaumont (and Jerry Sohl)

--Looking Ahead: In January’s TZ

--In the Twilight Zone: “The first time . . .” by T.E.D. Klein

-Klein’s editorial examines the effect of the first sale on a writer while touting TZ Magazine’s practice of publishing new and previously unpublished writers. Biographical information on the issue’s contributors follows the preamble and includes acknowledgement of the important contributions of writer Jerry Sohl to The Twilight Zone and, specifically, to the teleplay for “Living Doll,” included in the issue and attributed solely to Charles Beaumont. Marc Scott Zicree’s recently published book, The Twilight Zone Companion, presented the startling revelation that Jerry Sohl ghost-wrote three teleplays during the fourth and fifth seasons for an ailing Charles Beaumont. One of these teleplays was the fan-favorite episode “Living Doll,” written solely by Jerry Sohl from an idea by Beaumont. Find out more about Sohl and his contributions to The Twilight Zone here.

--Other Dimensions: Screen by Gahan Wilson

Jeff Bridges in Tron

-This month Gahan Wilson looks at Tron (1982), the Walt Disney Company’s ambitious attempt to create an adventure film primarily composed of computer-generated imagery at a time when CGI was in its infancy. The film was a commercial success and a mild critical success but had its detractors, which apparently included Gahan Wilson. Wilson enjoyed the look of the film and the innovative production design but faulted the film in nearly every other respect, finding the acting, direction, and script unsatisfactory. Tron developed a cult following after its initial release and a sequel, Tron: Legacy, eventually appeared in 2010. An animated series, Tron: Uprising, appeared in 2012. Marvel Comics published a two-issue prequel to Tron: Legacy titled Tron: Betrayal. SLG (Slave Labor Graphics) published six issues of a Tron comic in 2006-2008.

--Other Dimensions: Books by T.E.D. Klein

Illustration by Tim Kirk for A Dreamer's Tales

-Regular books reviewer Thomas M. Disch is taking the month off so Klein steps in to offer snippet reviews of several current books. The two best things about Klein reviewing books is the many, and varied, titles he reviews and his generous use of illustrations. Klein provides samples from several illustrated volumes, including two which are not reviewed in the column outside of the captions beneath the illustrations. Here are the books upon which Klein offers his thoughts:

-The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh (Ballantine Books)

-Saturday Morning TV by Gary H. Grossman (Dell)

-Durandal by Harold Lamb (Donald M. Grant)

-Lord of the Dead by Robert E. Howard (Donald M. Grant)

-Scarlet Dreams by C.L. Moore (Donald M. Grant). Moore co-wrote the story “What You Need” with her husband Henry Kuttner. Rod Serling adapted the story for the first season of The Twilight Zone.

-The Wonderful Lips of Thibong Linh by Theodore Roscoe (Donald M. Grant)

-The Hand of Zei by L. Sprague de Camp (Owlswick Press)

-A Dreamer’s Tales by Lord Dunsany (Owlswick Press)

-England Have My Bones by T.H. White (Putnam)

-Klein presents illustrations from two volumes which are not reviewed in the column but are given informative captions: Mr. Monster’s Movie Gold by Forrest J. Ackerman (Donning) and True Tiny Tales of Terror by Ann Hodgson with illustrations by Derek Pell (Perigee Books).

--Other Dimensions: The ‘Unhappy Is He’ Quiz Revisited by William Fulwiler

-This is an alternative redux of the quiz first presented by Fulwiler in the September, 1982 issue. Readers are challenged to match the first lines of notable weird tales with the title and author of the tale. Twilight Zone fans should get at least one answer correct, as the title of #16 should be obvious. The quiz and the answers are posted below for those who wish to test their knowledge.

--Other Dimensions: Etc.

-The miscellany feature this issue includes several examples from the unusually high number of newspaper stories about baseball which feature the use of “Twilight Zone,” a quote from Domesticated Animals from Early Times by Juliet Clutton-Brock (1981) on how dogs learned to smile, a quote from The Black Book of Clark Ashton Smith (Arkham House, 1979), and a cartoon from Peter Kuper.

--TZ Interview: Ridley Scott, ‘A Visual Person,’ by James Verniere

“About to embark on a ‘mythological’ fantasy, the artist-turned-director talks about the secret sounds in Alien and the vision behind Blade Runner.”

-James Verniere provides a succinct yet detailed biographical profile in which Ridley Scott’s young but fruitful career as a film director is examined, largely focusing on Scott’s two great successes: Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982). The majority of the interview is taken up with Scott’s thoughts on these two films. Blade Runner was previously the subject of a TZ Screen Preview in the June, 1982 issue, which also featured an interview with author Philip K. Dick, whose novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was adapted for the film. Concerning Alien and Blade Runner, Scott discusses source materials, including his interactions with Philip K. Dick, conceptual materials, issues of characterization, and the memorable production designs of the two films, focusing on Swiss artist H.R. Giger’s designs for Alien and American industrial designer Syd Mead’s contributions to Blade Runner. Scott discusses his pathway to film direction through art school and, soon after, the creation of a production company specializing in commercials and television productions in England. Scott’s first film, the commercially unsuccessful The Duellists, is briefly discussed, as is his next project, a fantasy film tentatively titled Legend of Darkness. This latter film was released as Legend in 1985, starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry, with memorable special makeup effects from Rob Bottin.

--“The Shrine” by Pamela Sargent

Illustrated by Frances Jetter

“She had lost everything. Now she was even losing her childhood.”

-A woman who has not lived up to the promise of her youth struggles to reconnect with her mother, who maintains her daughter’s childhood bedroom as though it were a shrine. Soon, the shrine attracts the attention of a dangerous entity which takes the form of the woman as a child. This child has come to take the mother away to a place where she won’t be disappointed by the spoiled promise of her daughter’s youth, but the child will also leave something, or someone, behind in its wake which will change the course of the woman’s life.

-This excellent story from Pamela Sargent (b. 1948) perfectly captures the essence of The Twilight Zone, that place where a startling, intimate supernatural event intrudes upon the reality of a conflicted individual. It reminded me a bit of Lisa Tuttle’s earlier tale, “A Friend in Need,” from the August, 1981 issue of TZ as both stories deal with the theme of unresolved childhood issues and the feelings of loneliness and regret one often experiences beyond young adulthood. Sargent previously appeared in the pages of TZ with “Out of Place” in the October, 1981 issue and “The Broken Hoop” in the June, 1982 issue. “The Shrine” was collected in The Best of Pamela Sargent (1987) and was adapted for the second season of Tales from the Darkside, from a script by Jule Selbo, directed by Christopher T. Welch, broadcast February 9, 1986.

-It is interesting to note that we are less than two years into TZ Magazine’s run and already seven (!) stories from the magazine have been adapted for the Tales from the Darkside television series. “The Shrine” joins the company of the previously published stories “The New Man” by Barbara Owens, “Anniversary Dinner” by D.J. Pass, “Slippage” Michael P. Kube-McDowell, “The Tear Collector” by Donald Olson, "Djinn, No Chaser” by Harlan Ellison, and “All a Clone by the Telephone” by Haskell Barkin. An eighth story adapted for Darkside, “Levitation” by Joseph Payne Brennan, was reprinted in TZ prior to its appearance on the series. 

-A final note: Terrance Lindall’s cover for Great Stories from Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, at the top of this post, is a variant of his original cover for Pamela Sargent’s 1980 novel Watchstar.

--“Altenmoor, Where the Dogs Dance” by Mort Castle

Illustrated by Bruce Waldman

“It’s out there, all right – just like Pellucidar and Wonderland and Oz . . .”

-A boy learns to cope with the deaths of his dog and his elderly grandfather by imagining the afterlife as Altenmoor, a fantasy land from the children’s books written by his grandfather.

-This is a slight yet touching story from Mort Castle (b. 1946), a prolific writer of virtually every type of fiction who found success in the waning days of popular magazine fiction. Castle is a prolific short story writer, mostly in the horror and speculative fields, whose novel, Cursed Be the Child (1990), has become a notable horror paperback of the era. Additional information from the author: "There are six other novels, including the near impossible to find ESP ATTACK, and the easily found THE STRANGERS, currently in print from Overlook Connection Press and in audio format from RADIO ARCHIVES. A film of THE STRANGERS is in development by New Zealand's Light at the End Productions. An early novel, THE DEADLY ELECTION, has a new edition coming from Clover Press this summer."

-Castle's work as an editor includes two volumes on writing horror fiction, Writing Horror (1997) and On Writing Horror (2007), and two short-lived magazines, Horror: The Illustrated Book of Fears and Doorways Magazine. “Altenmoor, Where the Dogs Dance” was collected in Moon on the Water (2000).

--“Vertigoat” (comic) by Tony Galloway

--“Jockeying for Time” by David Shifren

Illustrated by D.W. Miller

“He’d stumbled upon the secret every jockey dreams of . . . and it was turning into a nightmare”

-A second-rate jockey discovers he can decrease his body weight simply by concentrating. The jockey plans on betting big on himself and using his newfound ability to win the next race. Disaster strikes on the track, however, when he finds that a nasty side effect of the process is a withering away of his physical being.

-The longest story in the issue is this satisfying horror tale of a selfish and self-involved man finding that the key to success sometimes opens the door to a personal hell. Shifren is described by T.E.D. Klein as a films reviewer for the trade publication Film Journal. “Jockeying for Time” was reprinted in the Fall, 1985 issue of Night Cry.

--“Magic for Sale” (photo-feature) by Mathew Kovary

“In today’s world of over-the-counter occult, sorcerers can shop for spells at their neighborhood supply store.”

-Kovary examines the resurgence of Paganism by exploring the world of religious supply shops which specialize in supplies for pagan practices. Kovary provides a potted history of Paganism before centering the article on the modern pagan religious supply shop, exemplified by New York’s largest such shop, Magickal Childe. Herman Slater, the store’s owner, is briefly profiled. Kovary also looks at New York’s religious books stores with large sections on Paganism as well as the smaller religious supply shops which are characteristic of New York’s Hispanic neighborhoods.

--“The Translator” by John David Sidley

Illustrated by Brad Hamann

“The feeling was there – but it wouldn’t survive unless she found the words.”

-In the future, reading and books have been almost totally replaced by non-literary communication with screens. One woman desires to know the secret language of reading and gets the opportunity to learn when a cryogenically frozen man from the twentieth century is thawed out. He teaches her to read and together they lead a small but dedicated group of readers into an alternative lifestyle.

-This story reads like a different take on the world presented at the end of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, in which a dedicated group of people devote their lives to reading and the preservation of books to which they have only just begun to have access.

--TZ Screen Preview: Xtro by James Verniere

“He’s not cute and friendly like E.T. But he does have a soft spot for his kid. Let TZ’s James Verniere introduce you to . . .”

-James Verniere previews New Line Cinema’s Xtro (1982), the anti-E.T. film (it’s tagline read: “Some extra-terrestrials aren’t friendly”) about a father who is abducted by aliens only to return to Earth as a mutating harbinger of alien doom who spreads body horror to his family and associates. The film was negatively reviewed upon its release but was a moderate commercial success. Xtro, like a lot of body horror films, used human reproduction as the centerpiece of its horror sequences, leading the film to be widely labeled misogynistic and a prime example of a film using the female womb as a symbol of horror. The film has developed a cult following and remains memorable for its gory makeup effects. It spawned two sequels: Xtro II: The Second Encounter (1990) and Xtro 3: Watch the Skies (1995).  

--The Essential Writers: L.P. Hartley by Jack Sullivan

“Few wrote horror tales as elegantly as the author of ‘The Go-Between.’ Few possessed a vision quite so dark.”

-Jack Sullivan returns to the pages of TZ Magazine, after recently concluding his column on macabre classical music, with this excellent essay on the novelist, critic, essayist, and supernatural fiction writer Leslie Poles Hartley (1895-1972). Sullivan previously wrote at-length on Hartley’s supernatural fiction in his 1978 study Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood. Sullivan included Hartley’s 1929 tale “The Travelling Grave” in a 1983 anthology of ghost stories, Lost Souls, which serves as a companion to Sullivan’s earlier volume. Lost Souls used D.W. Miller’s illustration from the April, 1982 issue of TZ Magazine for William Hope Hodgson’s “The Voice in the Night.”

-L.P. Hartley was best-known in his time as a novelist and book critic. His two most notable novels are likely The Go-Between (1953), an autobiographical novel about Hartley’s Edwardian childhood which was filmed in 1971, and The Hireling (1957), about a grieving widow’s relationship with a hired driver which was filmed in 1973. Hartley is also known for his Eustace and Hilda trilogy of novels, The Shrimp and the Anemone (1944), The Sixth Heaven (1946), and Eustace and Hilda (1947), the latter of which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, about the relationship between an introverted young man and his confident, sometimes domineering sister. Sullivan’s focus, of course, is Hartley’s well-regarded body of supernatural stories, variously collected across Hartley’s long career in such volumes as The Killing Bottle (1932), The Travelling Grave (1948), and The White Wand (1954). Hartley became a member of the literary group led by Lady Cynthia Asquith after a failed attempt to insinuate himself with the Bloomsbury Group. Much of Hartley’s supernatural fiction appeared as contributions to Asquith’s anthologies of ghost and horror stories such as The Ghost Book (three volumes, 1926-1955), Shudders (1929), and When Churchyards Yawn (1931). Hartley’s Complete Stories appeared in 1986 from Beaufort Books and his Collected Macabre Stories appeared in 2001 from Ash Tree Press.

-Sullivan provides biographical information on Hartley’s life and career and examines in detail several of the author’s supernatural tales, including “Night Fears,” “The Thought,” “A Change in Ownership,” “The Island,” “A Summons,” “The Killing Bottle,” “The Travelling Grave,” and the story included in this issue, “W.S.”

--“W.S.” by L.P. Hartley

Illustrated by Lisa Mansolillo

“He was the psychopath that every writer fears. And he was getting closer.”

-An aging novelist begins receiving postcards from an unknown author indicating that the sender is steadily moving nearer the writer’s residence for an uninvited visit. The unnerving postcards are signed “W.S.,” which are the writer’s initials (Walter Streeter) but also the initials of one of the writer’s earliest creations, a brutish character named William Stainsforth. Streeter becomes convinced that it is Stainsforth coming for him and that is bad news since Streeter wrote Stainsforth as a cruel, vicious man with no redeeming qualities and a continuous violent streak.

-“W.S.” is, incredibly, one of three stories in this issue which deal in one way or another with the theme of a writer’s words coming to life. “W.S.” centers around a miserable character that is mysterious imbued with existence in the real world for the seemingly sole purpose of taking revenge on the creator who so thoughtlessly drew him in absolutely negative terms. The most powerful moment in the story comes when William Stainsforth offers to spare Streeter’s life if the author can name but one redeeming quality, or one moment of redemption, he provided to Stainsforth’s character. Of course, Streeter cannot and responds instead with indignation, the only overt nod to the Frankenstein story in the tale. “W.S.” was first published in 1952 and is the most notable supernatural tale from Hartley’s late career. It was included in Lady Cynthia Asquith’s The Second Ghost Book (1952) and reprinted in The White Wand and Other Stories (1954). The story is somewhat atypical of Hartley’s output as it takes the form of a conservatively structured suspense thriller, complete with a late-story twist which has become almost standard in psychological thrillers, with a refreshingly unambiguous supernatural element. It has been reprinted numerous times in such book anthologies as The Pan Book of Horror Stories (1959), Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories (1983), and Nightshade: 20^th Century Ghost Stories (1999). The story was also reprinted in the Summer, 1985 issue of Night Cry.

--Three Timely Tales by Rick Norwood

Illustrated by José Reyes

“In the footsteps of Ferdinand Feghoot, we present a trio of scenes from times past that you won’t find in any history book.”

-Three short humorous tales ending in a pun, including alternative takes on the Cisco Kid, the Royal Mounted Police, and the exploration of the New World, the Grand Duke of Austria and a fateful game of bowling, and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln solved by Sherlock Holmes as the work of John Wickes Booth dressed as his sister.

--“What Really Happened to Uncle Chuckles?” by Ron Wolfe

Illustrated by Bill Logan

“It’s the question all America is asking. Now, as a public service, we’re giving you the lowdown.”

-A talented puppet maker is taken advantage of by an untalented but ambitious clown in the creation of a popular children’s television show. When the clown gets physical with the puppet maker and accidentally kills the man, the puppets take revenge on live television.

-This was an enjoyable, E.C. Comics-type story centered on a grisly supernatural revenge written in the noir style of older detective fiction and with a neat twist in the end as to who is narrating the story. Ron Wolfe (b. 1945) previously appeared in the pages of TZ with the story “Tiger of the Mind” in the August, 1981 issue. He placed a third story, “Laughs! Thrills! Romance!!,” in the Jan/Feb, 1985 issue. Wolfe was also an important contributor to the magazine as an essayist, penning several columns for the features “The Other Side” and “Illuminations” late in the magazine’s run.  

--“Creative Writing” by Sandré Charbonneau

Illustration by Yvonne Buchanan

“Freedom, fortune, even fame – they would be hers with the simple flourish of a pen.”

-An aspiring writer is not having much luck in sales and the pressure placed on her by her husband makes her consider learning calligraphy in order to bring some money into the home. She mysteriously receives a calligraphy instruction set she did not send for and, to her astonishment, discovers that anything she writes with the calligraphy pen comes to pass. She initially uses the pen to better her life, like effortlessly performing chores and getting rid of her unsupportive husband, but she makes one final miscalculation which severely alters her life.

-The second of three tales in the issue about a writer’s creation(s) coming to life takes a lighter approach than L.P. Hartley’s “W.S.” and will immediately remind TZ viewers of Richard Matheson’s first season episode “A World of His Own.” Another notable example of this story type is Stephen King’s 1983 tale “The Word Processor of the Gods,” which was adapted for the first season of Tales from the Darkside. Sandré Charbonneau makes her debut as a professional fiction writer with “Creative Writing.” She is described by T.E.D. Klein as a native of Houston who reviews books and films, hosts a local television program, and acts on the stage.

--“Pulpmeister” by David J. Schow

Illustrated by Mark Nickerson

“You’ve met Hartley’s ‘W.S.’ Now meet Brock De Sade, international troubleshooter, sex is his middle name, death his trademark, and maybe he even exists!”

-A writer of pulp sex and violence novels comes face-to-face with Brock De Sade, the impossible hero of a series of popular novels centered on international intrigue, action, and sex. De Sade arrives to protest his treatment in the novels (like getting repeatedly hit over the head) and to offer both his expertise and his writing skills to improve the quality of the novels. Together, the writer’s pay goes up with the increasing sales figures of the novels and De Sade gets to enjoy the retiring peace of his existence in the real world.

-David J. Schow makes his debut in the pages of TZ with this tongue-in-cheek homage to the great pulp writers (and the great pulp characters), using the same “fictional character comes to life” theme as seen in L.P. Hartley’s “W.S.” “Pulpmeister” was collected in Schow’s debut story collection, Seeing Red (1990), a volume which included an introduction by TZ Magazine editor T.E.D. Klein. Schow placed several additional tales in the pages of TZ and its sister publication, Night Cry, including “Coming Soon to a Theater Near You” (as by Oliver Lowenbruck, TZ, March/April, 1984), “Bunny Didn’t Tell Us” (Night Cry, Winter, 1985), “Lonesome Coyote Blues” (as by Oliver Lowenbruck, TZ, Jan/Feb, 1985), “The Woman’s Version” (Night Cry, Fall, 1985), “Blood Rape of the Lust Ghouls” (Night Cry, Winter, 1986), “Brass” (Night Cry, 2 parts, Spring & Summer, 1986), “Red Light” (TZ, Dec, 1986), “Pamela’s Get” (TZ, Aug, 1987), and “The Falling Man” (TZ, Oct, 1988).

-Schow’s most notable contribution to the pages of TZ was his guide (sometimes written with Jeffrey Frentzen) to The Outer Limits, which was revised and expanded as The Outer Limits: The Official Companion (with Frentzen, 1986) and later as The Outer Limits Companion (1998). Both volumes are highly sought-after and command collector’s prices. Schow, with Ted C. Rypel, authored the companion volume The Outer Limits at 50 (2014) to commemorate the series’ fiftieth anniversary. Schow joined Peter Enfantino and John Scoleri for a marathon viewing of/blogging on The Outer Limits over at We Are Controlling Transmission, which contains an enormous amount of information and insight on the series. Schow joined director Mick Garris on episode 77 of Garris’ podcast, Post Mortem, where, among other things, he discussed writing for Twilight Zone Magazine.

--Show-by-Show Guide: TV’s Twilight Zone: Part Twenty-One by Marc Scott Zicree

-Zicree’s guide to the original series continues as he provides cast, crew, summaries, and Rod Serling’s narrations for the fifth season episodes “The Long Morrow,” “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross,” and one of my personal favorites of the final season, “Number Twelve Looks Just Like You.”

--TZ Classic Teleplay: “Living Doll” by Jerry Sohl (as by Charles Beaumont)

-This all-time classic from The Twilight Zone first aired on November 1, 1963 as the sixth episode of the fifth, and final, season (episode 126 overall). The episode was long thought to have been written by Charles Beaumont but Marc Scott Zicree uncovered, through interviews with Jerry Sohl and other writers on the series, that the episode was written entirely by Jerry Sohl from an initial story idea by Beaumont, who was unable to complete his writing assignments after suffering increasingly difficult conditions brought on by early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Sohl ghost-wrote two additional episodes under Beaumont’s name, the fourth season episode “The New Exhibit” and the fifth season episode “Queen of the Nile.” The episode concerns Eric Streator (wonderfully played by Telly Savalas), an abusive and insecure man whose resentment toward his wife and stepdaughter brings the wrath of Talky Tina, a murderous doll recently brought home from the store. “Living Doll” ranked #2 in our Halloween Countdown ranking the most frightening moments from the series. You can read that entry here.

--Looking Ahead: In January’s TZ

-TZ becomes bi-monthly with the New Year (1983). For the January/February issue we take a look at stories by Jack McDevitt, Joe R. Lansdale, Charles L. Grant, John Kessel, a reprint of one of Roald Dahl’s creepiest tales, “Royal Jelly,” and others. Dahl is also interviewed in the issue. Features include an update on the Twilight Zone movie, a long article on roleplaying games, a photo-feature showcasing the surrealistic work of Christopher Hoffman, and the best and worst of fantasy films of 1982. See you next time!

-JP