The Twilight Zone

~Night Of The Meek~

Air date: 12/23/60
Written by: Rod Serling

"This is Mr. Henry Corwin, normally unemployed, who once a year takes the lead in the uniquely American institution, that of department-store Santa Claus in a road-company version of 'The Night Before Christmas.' But in just a moment, Mr. Henry Corwin, ersatz Santa Claus, will enter a strange kind of North Pole which is one part the wondrous spirit of Christmas and one part the magic that can only be found in...the Twilight Zone."

Cast:

Henry Corwin........Art Carney Mr. Dundee........John Fiedler Burt...............Burt Mustin Officer Flaherty...Robert Lieb Sister Florence......Meg Wylie Bartender............Val Avery Elf..........Larrian Gillespie Fat woman..........Kay Cousins

"A word to the wise to all the children of the twentieth century, whether their concern be pediatrics or geriatrics, whether they crawl on hands and knees and wear diapers or walk with a cane and comb their beards. There's a wondrous magic to Christmas, and there's a special power reserved for little people. In short, there's nothing mightier than the meek, and a merry Christmas to each and all."

BACK

~Dust~

Air date: 1/6/61
Written by: Rod Serling

"There was a village, built of crumbling clay and rotting wood, and it squatted ugly under the broiling sun like a sick and mangy animal waiting to die. This village had a virus, shared by it's people. It was the germ of squalor, of hoplessness, of a loss of faith. For the faithless, the hopeless, the misery-laden, there is time, ample time, to engage in one of the other pursuits of men--they begin to destroy themselves."

Cast:

Sykes..............Thomas Gomez Sheriff Koch.........John Larch Gallegos......Vladimir Sokoloff Luis Gallegos.......John Alonso Mr. Canfield.........Paul Genge Estrelita.......Andrea Margolis Mrs. Canfield.....Dorothy Adams Rogers...............Duane Grey Man #1..............John Lormer Man#2..............Daniel White Farmer boy...Douglas Heyes, Jr.

"It was a very small, misery-laden village on the day of a hanging, and of little historical consequence. And if there's any moral to it at all, let's say that in any quest for magic, in any search for sorcery, witchery, legerdemain, first check the human heart. For inside this deep place there's a wizardry that costs far more than a few pieces of gold. Tonight's case in point--in the Twilight Zone."

BACK

~Back There~

Air date: 1/13/61
Written by: Rod Serling

"Witness a theoretical argument, Washington, D.C., the present. Four intelligent men talking about an improbable thing like going back in time. A friendly debate revolving around a simple question: could a human being change what happened before? Interesting and theoretical, because who ever heard of a man going back in time--before tonight, that is. Becuase this is...the Twilight Zone."

Cast:

Peter Corrigan....Russell Johnson William.........Bartlett Robinson Police Sergeant......Paul Hartman Policeman.............James Gavin John Wilkes Booth.....John Lasell Patrolman.............James Lydon Jackson.........Raymond Greenleaf Millard................Ray Bailey Whittaker...........John Eldredge Attendant 1865........Fred Kruger Mrs. Landers..........Jean Inness Lieutenant..............Lew Brown Lt."s girl...........Carol Rossen Chambermaid..........Nora Marlowe Attendant 1961.......Pat O'Malley

"Mr. Peter Corrigan, lately returned from a place 'back there,' a journey into time with highly questionable results, proving on one hand that the threads of history are woven tightly and the skein of events cannot be undone, but on the other hand there are small fragments of tapestry that can be altered. Tonights thesis to be taken as you will, in the Twilight Zone."

BACK

~The Whole Truth~

Air date: 1/20/61
Written by: Rod Serling

"This, as the banner already has proclaimed, is Mr. Harvey Hunnicutt, an expert on commerce and con jobs, a brash, bright, and larceny-loaded wheeler and dealer who, when the good Lord passed out a conscience, must have gone for a beer and missed out. And these are a coupke of other characters in our story: a little old man and a Model A car--but not just any old man and not just any Model A. There's something very special about the both of them. As a matter of fact, in just a few moments they'll give Harvey Hunnicut something that he's never experienced before. Through the good offices of a little magic, they will unload on Mr. Hunnicut the absolute necessity to tell the truth. Exactly where they come from is conjecture, but as to where they're heading for, this we know, because all of them--and you--are on the threshold of the Twilight Zone."

Cast:

Harvey Hunnicut...........Jack Carson Honest Luther Grimbley...Loring Smith Irv......................Arte Johnson Nikita Khrushchev........Lee Sabinson Old man...............George Chandler Young man...................Jack Ging Young woman..............Nan Peterson Translator...........Patrick Westwood

"Couldn't happen, you say? Far-fetched? Way-out? Tilt-of-center? Possible. But the next time you buy an automobile that happens to look as if it had just gone through the Battle of the Marne, and the seller is ready to throw into the bargain one of his arms, be particularly careful in explaining to the boss about your grandmother's funeral when you were actually at Chavez Ravine watching the Dodgers. It'll be a fact that you are actually the proud possessor of an instrument of truth manufactured and distributed by an exclusive dealer...in the Twilight Zone."

BACK

~The Invaders~

Air date: 1/27/61
Written by: Richard Matheson

"This is one of the out-of-the-way places, the unvisited places, bleak, wasted, dying. This is a farmhouse, handmade, crude, a house without electricity or gas, a house untouched by progress. This is the woman who lives in the house, a woman who's been alone for many years, a strong, simple woman whose only problem up until this moment has been that of acquiring enough food to eat, a woman about to face terror which is even now coming at her from...the Twilight Zone."

Cast:

Woman.............Agnes Moorhead Astronaut voice....Douglas Heyes

"These are the invaders, the tiny beings from the tiny place called Earth, who would take the giant step across the sky to the question marks that sparkle and beckon from the vastness of the universe only to be imagined. The invaders, who found out that a one-way ticket to the stars beyond has the ultimate price tag. And we have just seen in entered into a ledger that covers all the transactions of the universe, a bill stamped 'paid in full,' and to be found...in the Twilight Zone."

BACK

~A Penny For Your Thoughts~

Air date: 2/3/61
Written by: George Clayton Johnson

"Mr. Hector B. Poole, resident of the Twilight Zone. Flip a coin and keep flipping it. Wjat are the odds? Half the time it will come up heads, half the time tails. But in one freakish chance in a million, it'll land on it's edge. Mr. Hector B. Poole, a bright human coin--on his way to the bank."

Cast:

Hector B. Poole......Dick York Miss Turner........June Dayton Mr. Bagby............Dan Tobin Mr. Smithers...Cyril Delevanti Mr. Sykes.........Hayden Rorke Mr. Brand........Harry Jackson Driver............Frank London Newsboy............Anthony Ray

"One time in a million, a coin will land on it's edge, but all it takes to knock it over is a vagrant breeze, a vibration or a slight blow. Hector B. Poole, a human coin, on edge for a brief time--in the Twilight Zone."

BACK

~Twenty-Two~

Air date: 2/10/61
Written by: Rod Serling

"This is Miss Liz Powell. She's a professional dancer and she's in the hospital as a result of overwork and nervous fatigue. And at this moment we have just finished walking with her in a nightmare. In a moment she'll wake up and we'll remain at her side. The problem here is that both Miss Powell and you will reach a point where it might be difficult to decide which is reality and which is nightmare, a problem uncommon perhaps but rather peculiar to the Twilight Zone."

Cast:

Liz Powell.....Barbara Nichols Doctor.........Jonathan Harris Nurse/Stewardess....Arline Sax Barney.............Fredd Wayne Night nurse.....Norma Connolly Day nurse...........Mary Adams Ticket clerk 1......Wesley Lau Ticket clerk 2.....Joe Sargent P.A. voice.......Jay Overholts Sax's double.......Carole Conn

"Miss Elizabeth Powell, professional dancer. Hospital diagnosis: acute anxiety brought on by overwork and fatigue. Prognosis: with rest and care, she'll probably recover. But the cure to some nightmares is not to be found in known medical journals. You look for it under 'potions for bad dreams'--in the Twilight Zone."

BACK

~The Odyssey of Flight 33~

Air date: 2/24/61
Written by: Rod Serling

"You're riding on a jet airliner en route from London to New York. You're at 35,000 feet atop an overcast and roughly fifty-five minutes from Idlewind Airport. But what you've seen occur inside the cockpit of this plane is no reflection on the aircraft or crew. It's a safe, well-engineered, perfectly designed machine, and the men you've just met are a trained, cool highly efficient team. The problem is simply that the plane is going too fast and there is nothing within the realm of knowledge or at least logic to explain it. Unbeknownst to passengers and crew, this airplane is heading into an unchartered region well off the track of commercial travelers--it's moving into the Twilight Zone. What you're about to see we call'The Odyssey of Flight 33.'"

Cast:

Capt. Farver...........John Anderson 1st Officer Craig..........Paul Comi Flt. Engineer Purcell...Harp McGuire 2nd Officer Wyatt......Wayne Heffley Navigator Hatch.........Sandy Kenyon Paula..................Nancy Bennick Jane...................Beverly Brown RAF man..............Lester Fletcher Lady on plane............Betty Garde Passenger..............Jay Overholts

"A Global jet airliner, en route from London to New York on an uneventful afternoon in the year 1961, but now reported overdue and missing, and by now searched for on land, sea, and air by anguished human beings fearful of what they'll find. But you and I know where she is, you and I know what's happened. So if some moment, any moment, you hear the sound of jet engines flying atop the overcast, engines that sound searching and lost, engines that sound desperate, shoot up a flare or do something. That would be Global 33 trying to get home--from the Twilight Zone."

BACK

~Mr. Dingle, The Strong~

Air date: 3/3/61
Written by: Rod Serling

"Uniquely American institution known as the neighborhood bar. Reading left to right are Mr. Anthony O'Toole, proprietor, who waters his drinks like geraniums but who stands foursquare for peace and quiet and for booths and ladies. This is Mr. Joseph J. Callahan, an unregistered bookie, whose entire life is any sporting event with two sides and a set of odds. His idea of meeting at the summit is any dialogue between a catcher and a pitcher with more than one man on base. And this animated citizen is every anonymous bettor who ever dropped rent money on a horse race, a prize fight, a floating crap game, and who took out his frustrations and his insolvency on any vulnerable fellow barstool companion within arm's and fist's reach. And this is Mr. Luther Dingle, a vacuum-cleaner salesman whose volume of business is roughly that of a valet at a hobo convention. He's a consummate failure in almost everything but is a good listener and has a prominant jaw...And these two unseen gentlemen are visitors from outer space. They are about to alter the destiny of Luther Dingle by leaving him a legacy, the kind you can't hardly find no more. In just a moment, a sad-faced perennial punching bag who missed even the caboose of life's gravy train will take a short constitutional into that most unpredictable region that we refer to as the Twilight Zone."

Cast:

Luther Dingle...Burgess Meredith Bettor...............Don Rickles O'Toole........James Westerfield Callahan............Edward Ryder Martian #1.......Douglas Spencer Martian #2...........Michael Fox Abernathy........James Millholin Boy...................Jay Hector Venusian #1.........Donald Losby Venusian #2...........Greg Irvin Man #1...............Phil Arnold Man #2.............Douglas Evans Man #3............Frank Richards Nurse...............Jo Ann Dixon Photographer..........Bob Duggan

"Exit Mr. Luther Dingle, formerly vacuum-cleaner salesman, strongest man on Earth, and now mental giant. These latter powers will very likely be eliminated before too long, but Mr. Dingle has an appeal to extraterrestrial note-takers as well as to frustrated and insolvent bet-losers. Offhand, I'd say that he was in for a great deal of extremely odd periods, simply because there are so many inhabited planets who send down observers, and also because of course Mr. Dingle lives his life with one foot in his mouth--and the other in the Twilight Zone."

BACK

~Static~

Air date: 3/10/61
Written by: Charles Beaumont

"No one ever saw one quite like that, because that's a very special sort of radio. In its day, circa 1935, its type was one of the most elegant consoles on the market. Now, with it's fabric-covered speakers, its peculiar yellow dial, its serrated knobs, it looks quaint and a little strange. Mr. Ed Lindsay is going to find out how strange very soon--when he tunes in to the Twilight Zone."

Cast:

Ed Lindsay............Dean Jagger Vinnie Broun.......Carmen Mathews Prof. Ackerman.....Robert Emhardt Mrs. Nielsen.........Alice Pearce Roscoe Bragg......Arch W. Johnson Boy................Stephen Talbot Miss Meredith....Lillian O'Malley Junk dealer............Clegg Hoyt Singer...............Jerry Fuller Real estate man........Eddie Marr Girl in commercial....Diane Strom Disc jockey.............Bob Crane TV/radio announcer......Roy Rowan Man #1.................Bob Duggan Man #2..............Jay Overholts

"Around and around she goes, and where it stops nobody knows. All Ed Lindsay knows is that he desperately wanted a second chance and he finally got it, through a strange and wonderful time machine called a radio...in the Twilight Zone."

BACK