You are about to enter a dimension of sight and sound … of a column bespeak by a lector . That ’s a signpost up ahead … next stop , television - Holic ’s look atThe Twilight Zone .
1. The Truth about the Theme Song
Much like the " dum - de - DUM - dum" Dragnet theme , the opening notes ofThe Twilight Zonetheme vocal have become a pop culture icon . Any meter something frightening or incomprehensible is mentioned in conversation , betting odds are someone will intone the iconic four repetitive notes draw up by Marius Constant . The French avant - garde composer was never commissioned to write the theme song ; it was alternatively cobble together from two dissimilar short " cues" he had antecedently written for CBS.“Etrange 3 ( Strange No . 3 ) " and " Milieu 2 ( Middle No . 2 ) " were two dissimilar short piece Constant had written and memorialize for the CBS medicine library in 1959 with a small ensemble featuring two guitars , bongo drum , a saxophone and French horn . WhenThe Twilight Zonewas picked up for a second season , the show ’s producer were looking to replace the original Bernard Hermann theme , which CBS EXEC had name as " too down . “ By splicing together the two rarely - heard short patch composed by Constant which were already owned by CBS , the internet negociate to make a base song caption without having to pay a truckload of royalty fee .
2. Rod Serling Was a Boxer, a Paratrooper and a Peabody Winner (all before the show!)
Rod Serling , the host and brainchild behindThe Twilight Zone , holds the record as the recipient of the most Emmy Awards for dramatic authorship . Serling grew up in Binghamton , New York , and wait on as a U.S. Army paratrooper in the Pacific Theater during World War II . The compounding of a small - townspeople childhood plus the repugnance that he envision during the war influenced his writing . After graduating from Antioch College , he started penning script for shows such as Kraft Television Theatre , Studio One and Lux Video Theater in the then - fledgling television receiver market . Serling had been a fairly successful boxer during his time in the military , and he drew from that experience to save a teleplay call " Requiem for a Heavyweight"for Playhouse 90 . " Requiem" won a Peabody Award , the first give to an individual playscript , and all of a sudden Serling had a " name" in the industry .
3. The Actors Only Got One Take
EveryTwilight Zonefan has his or her favorite episode , and there are a few which are universally democratic and always featured in marathon . Interestingly enough , many of the role player in these pieces , when interviewed decades after the fact , confessed that they were n’t particularly proud of their performances . TheTwilight Zonehad a budget , just like any other series , and often the majority of the money per episode had to be spend on sets and particular outcome . There was no luxuriousness of multiple retake until the actor felt just right about a particular panorama . A sub - par operation was n’t a matter of concern in most episodic television of that earned run average , but , as William Shatner later on mentioned in an audience , at that metre aTwilight Zoneappearance was just another job — no one ever suspect that these episodes would be air over and over ( and over!)again for years to fare .
4. William Shatner Still Gets Asked About It
William Shatner was the lead in one of the fan favorite episodes , " Nightmare at 20,000 Feet . “ He portray salesman Robert Wilson who was trip on an airplane for the first time since his release from a sanitarium after a nervous breakdown . All was well en itinerary , unless Wilson looked out the windowpane ; there he ’d see a pixie on the annexe . Of course , every metre he alerted someone to the spot the gremlin would jump out of sight . In the end , Wilson is removed from the flight in a straightjacket , but after he ’s haul away it is notice that the outer program of one engine has unusual harm , as if something had been clawing at it . Shatner says that even today when he flies a fan will occasionally recognize him and require " Do you see anything on the wing?“
5. The Burgess Meredith Episode
Depending on your age , the name Burgess Meredith commonly conjures up either The Penguin on Batman or flight simulator Mickey Goldmill in Rocky . The versatile actor with the unruly fuzz also appeared onThe Twilight Zone several times , most memorably in " Time Enough at Last . “ Meredith ’s Henry Bemish was a meek and mild - mannered cant teller who was brow - beaten by his boss and his wife , and who have intercourse nothing more than to lose himself in a good book . One 24-hour interval during his luncheon break , Bemish retreats to the cant vault so as to have some continuous reading clock time . on the spur of the moment the hurdle shakes so violently that Henry is rap unconscious . When he awake and ventures outside he discovers that the reality as he knew it has been destroy by an H - Bomb , and he is the last survivor on Earth . After cheat on around , trying to comprehend the billet , he stumble upon the ruination of a public depository library . As he slowly see that he now has the time and the resourcefulness to read to his heart ’s contentedness , he slip up and his eyeglasses fall off his face and shatter on the ground . In the original story , Henry Bemish ’s specs were strictly reading glasses , but Rod Serling had Burgess Meredith wear them throughout the sequence in parliamentary procedure to make him seem more " bookish . “
6. The Isolation Episode
In " Where Is Everybody?“ Earl Holliman , apparel in an Air Force jumpsuit , finds himself stranded in a seemingly abandoned town . He does n’t know where he is or how he got there , and every place he goes gives trace that someone was recently there ( solid food cooking on a stove in a restaurant and burning coffin nail in ashtrays , for example ) . feel more and more isolated and panicked , he wanders the streets , calling out to someone , anyone and finally collapses at a street carrefour , dispiritedly squeeze the WALK button . In reality , Holliman was astronaut - in - grooming Mike Ferris who ’d been circumscribe to a sensory privation chamber for three week to try his reactions to complete closing off . Holliman stated that the hardest part of this part was stimulate to constantly lecture to himself and make it vocalize convincing . He never really felt a sense of isolation , since the film crew was always within his sight .
7. The Episode Referenced onThe Simpsons
Billy Mumy was just six years sure-enough when he star in"It ’s a Good Life,“but he already had over a twelve acting credits on his sketch . His lentigo - faced fresh - scrub looking at made him the thoroughgoing Anthony Fremont " “ all - American tiddler on the surface , vicious fumble holy terror in actuality . For some reason , Anthony has astonishing mental capabilities and is in arrant control of his little Ohio town . He controls the weather and which foodstuffs are available at the local foodstuff store . He has eliminate electricity and machine , and for all the few remain inhabitants fuck , he has also destroyed the rest of the outside world . Everyone walks on eggshells around Anthony lest they displease him ; earn the wrath of Anthony means being banished to the " cornfield . “ His punishment for one man who dared defy him was to twist him into a jack - in - the - box seat , a shot which was recreated in a Hallowe’en instalment ofThe Simpsons .
What are your favorite Twilight Zone installment ? Remember to be very , very good when commenting — I do n’t want to have to send you to the corn field .
