Season 3, Episode 5, “A Game of Pool”

This episode was first broadcast October 13, 1961.

This episode was originally titled “The Pool Player”. It was shot entirely on Stage 5 at the MGM Studios.

The ending of the script was rewritten, much to writer George Clayton Johnson’s chagrin. According to Johnson, he was away working on another prouduction, The Intruders, when he received a call from producer Buck Houghton: “So I get this call and I find out that Rod Serling wants to change “A Game of Pool:”. My story in its original form had the veteran pool player outwit and out-gamesmanship the young pool player. And the legend – the man who is dead – is walking away, having won the game, leaving this man behind. But the young man says at the end of the play, “Look, I’m still alive. I can get better. I WILL get better. You’ll hear from me again.” To me that was touching. It’s the story of the old gunfighter and the young gunfighter. And the old gunfighter knows that eventually he’s going to slip and someone’s going to nail him. But as long as he can do it, he keeps on playing. So now they wanted to change it, to reverse it, and make the older pool player lose to the younger pool player. The joke was that now the younger pool player had to be the legend, and sit in heaven and wait for the challenger. And they thought that was all very clever, but I thought it was all very dumb.”

Still, Johnson had nothing but respect for producer Houghton: “In my opinion, he was the finest proucer I ever worked with. In a story session, often the very best ideas in a script would come from him. He acknowledged that Rod was the boss. But Rod deferred to Buck, who made almost all of the decisions.”

Houghton would leave The Twilight Zone after the show’s third season in protest over the decision to extend the episode’s to a one hour format for the show’s fourth season. He was, it turned out, right to object. After leaving The Twilight Zone, he worked on several productions but ended up clashing with some of the talent: Richard Boone on the Richard Boone Show (1963), Jack Lord on Hawaii Five-0 (1968), and an executive producer on Lost in Space (1965). He retired from show business in 1994.

Actress Dee Sharon was cast to play the role of “Brown’s Girlfriend”, a woman who accompanied the Fats Brown character. But after some initial scenes were shot, it was decided to lose the character and her performance ended up on the cutting room floor. Sharon had only one prior credited onscreen role prior to this episode and would not see another.

Of the four Twilight Zone episodes Jack Klugman appeared in, this was his favorite: “From the time I got the script to the last day of shooting which was a matter of weeks, I lived this guy…I knew him inside and out. So I went to Western Costume – I saw the sweater, I saw the hat…with the brim up. I knew exactly what he would be wearing. I knew him and I fell in love with him, and that certainly is a triute to the writer.”

He also spoke very highly of his co-star, Jonathan Winters: “One of the things I loved most about “A Game of Pool” was that there were just two of us…Johnny Winters and myself. And I admired him so much, and he was very nervous because it was a straight part for him, but he was wonderful in it. And every time he’d make a mistake, he would do 20 minutes of a comedy routine…and, I tell you, you’d just be on the floor laughing. But he wanted to be good, and he’d listen to Buzz Kulik, the director. He really worked, and it was so wonderful to have this guy really trying to make it work, and succeeding all the way down the line. He would always say “Well, you know, Jack, after all I’m not an actor. I’m just a comic.” I’d say “Don’t give me that baloney.” He was wonderful….”

Jackie Gleason, who had played Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961), had been offered the role of Fats Brown, but after he turned it down, Serling reached out to Winters who had requested the opportunity to be on the show.

Jonathan Winters was a legendary comedian and this was his first, and only, dramatic role. Widely considered to have been the greatest improvisational comic ever, he was greatly admired by another improvisational great, Robin Williams, who cast him in his show, Mork & Mindy. Most of the scenes between them on the show were improvised.

I liked this episode a lot and thought both Klugman and Winters superb in their roles. Despite the fact that much of the episode is just these two guys shooting pool, it’s a compelling half hour. I also thought the ending was great and, while I don’t think Johnson’s original ending was bad, I also don’t think it would have landed as strongly as this one.

Season 3, Episode 6, “The Mirror”

This episode was first broadcast October 20, 1961.

This episode aired six months after the infamous Bay of Pigs fiasco, the horrendously botched CIA attempt to overthrow Castro.

According to the October 17, 1961 Hollywood Reporter, Serling was so impressed with Falk’s acting in other shows that he signed him for two additional TZ appearances. That never happened.

Actor Peter Falk, who played Castro-clone Ramos Clemente, is no doubt best known as Columbo, the rumpled, beloved detective he made famous over the course of 99 episodes. HIs trademark “Just one more thing…” line was a late addiiton because the show’s writers realized they needed the character to ask a few more questions but didn’t want to rewrite the scene, so they simply had him go back and add the line as a segue to further questioning. It became a Columbo mainstay. As did Columbo’s pensive, hand on face look which was actually a result of Falk surreptitiously looking for his mark (a designated area where an actor needs to stand as part of the scene’s blocking). Columbo’s famed raincoat was not from the costume department but actually came out of Falk’s own closet.

Arthur Bitanides, who played Tabal, is perhaps best known as Mr. Kirkland in the four Police Academy movies. Star Trek fans may remember him as the doomed geologist Lieutenant D’Amato from “That Which Surives”. He recalled: “Peter Falk’s character was based loosely on Fidel Castro. It was at the height of the Cuban missile crisis. At one point, we all had to leave the studio dressed in our Latin American outfits. Since there was a lot of anti-Castro bias at the time we felt insecure walking around the streets in these uniforms. It was definitely not the time to be running around looking like one of Castro’s men. I thought somebody might run us down.”

Yep, this is probably it. The worst episode of The Twilight Zone. Everything about this episode is cringingly over-the-top, from the script to the performances, and yet it still manages to be a frustratingly plodding affair. After suffering through this, it’s no wonder Falk never came back for another episode.

Season 3, Episode 7, “The Grave”

This episode was first broadcast October 27, 1961.

Many have pointed to Leo Rosten’s short story “The Path Through the Cemetery”, as the inspiration for this episode although a viewer who wrote in after the episode first aired complained the show was wipping off Anton Chekov. In truth, there are many variations of this story linked by the same three elements: a bet, a grave, and a knife. According to writer/director Montgomery Pitmman, the source of the story was the urban legend his father used to tell him when he was growing up back in Oklahoma. But if you believe actor James Best, who played Johnny Rob in this episode, HE was actually the source: “I was the one responsible for that episode. I told Monty Pittman that I was born in Kentucky but raised in Indiana. One of the things I remember most about my childhopod was the ghost stroies I used to hear. I collected ghost stories. I told Monty a couple of stories and suggested he use one for a television series. he told me “If I write the script and direct it, I’ll have you in the cast.” I told him “You do that.” I can’t recall how much time passed but one day I get word that I am going to be on a Twilight Zone. And I got to work with Lee Van Cleef, Strother Martin and Lee Marvin. And it turns out to be one of those ghost tales. Monty wwas such a pal and he remembered our agreement and kept his word.”

The large fans used on set to give the semblance of constant wind were so loud that the entire cast had to re-record their dialogue.

Actor Lee Mavin, who played Conny Miller, was wounded in battle during the second world war. He was awarded the Purple Heart Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon for hsi service. After the war, while working as a plumber’s apprentice, he was called to stand in for an actor who had fallen ill – and fell in love with acting.

He quickly established himself as a nefarious villain in movies like ‘The Big Heat’ (1953) and ‘The Wild One’ (1953) before expanding his repertoire in several lead roles. It was his (double) performance in Cat Ballou (1965) that earned him an Oscar and leading man roles in such films as ‘The Professionals’ (1966), ‘The Dirty Dozen’ (1967), ‘Point Blank’ (1967), ‘Hell in the Pacific’ (1968), and many more. Among the parts he turned down were lead roles in Patton (1970), Dirty Harry (1971), The French Connection (1971), Death Wish (1974), and Sorcerer (1977). He also turned down the role of Quint in Jaws (1977).

Actor James Best reminisced on working with Marvin on this episode: “Lee Marvin was a drinker. There is no way to hide that. He would take a few down in the morning when we reported to the set. You could smell it on his breath. But you know, some people have a problem with alcohol and others can hold their liquor. He showed up on the set ane knew his lines forwards and backwards.”

An accomplished actor in his own right, Best is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Sheriff Rosco Coltrane in The Dukes of Hazzard (1979).

Strother Martin, who played Mothershed, was a character actor who was often cast as crazed villains. In reality, he loved to garden and listen to classical music,

Lee Van Cleef, who played Steinhart, almost gave up acting after hitting a dry patch following movies like High Noon (1952) and How the West Was Won (1962)., but he enjoyed a career resurgence after starring opposite Clint Eastwood in For a Few Dollars More (1965).

Elen Willard, who played Ione Sykes, apparently left the business several years later because she found its demands too emotionally taxing.

Finally, Stafford Rapp, who played Ira Broadley, is perhaps best remembered as Police Chief O’Hara in the 1966 Batman series.

Overall, a nice little ghost story that, I thought, might have played better had we gotten more of a sense of Conny Miller’s fear. Marvin plays the character so cool and inscrutable that it robs the build-up and subsequent graveyard payoff of much of its tension. A fine episode, but one that will, when all’s said and done, probably end up in the middle of the pack.

Season 3, Episode 8, “It’s a Good Life”

This episode first aired November 3, 1961.

This episode boasts the longest narrative intro of any Twilight Zone episode.

The stop motion dinosaur sequence was compliments of Jack Harris, the man responsible for the dinosaur sequence in “The Odyssey of Flight 33”. In the original script, the onscreen images were described as weird shapes and forms and occasional eerie faces (which, I think, would have been much creepier) but they opted to go with the dinosaurs instead.

TV Guide named this episode amongs its 100 Best Episodes of a TV Series Ever Made.

In 1974, Rod Serling completed a screenplay for a feature version of this episode, but he died the following year and the script went unproduced.

This episode was one of four to be remade for the pointless Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and included a happy ending – that longtime fans hated.

This episode is based on a short story by Jerome Bixby. In the story, the character of Anthony is not an apple-pie-faced boy but a monstrous mutation the neighborhood children secretly refer to as “the goblin”. The story offers a much bleaker and more pessimistic ending – which I honestly can’t imagine being any bleaker and more pessimistic than the version I watched.

Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprised their roles in the 2003 “It’s Still a Good Life” that checks in on the town and Anthony who now has a young daughter who is exhibiting the same powers he manifested at an early age.

Actor John Larch, who played Mr. Freemont, previously appeared in season 1’s “Perchance to Dream” as Dr. Rathman and season 2’s “Dust” as Sheriff Koch.

Cloris Leachman, who played Mrs. Freemont, established herself as a premiere television actress in the 50’s and 60’s. She played the character of Phyllis Lindstrom in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) and its spinoff Phyllis (1975). She won nine Emmy Awards over the course of her illustrious career.

Billy Mumy, who we last saw in “Long Distance Call”, reflected fondly back on this episode: “He was a character that I loved. Becaue even though he wasn’t superman or Zorro, he wasn’t a caped superhero, he was the epitome of the most powerful superhero you can imagine. To me, even at seven years old, playing Anthony was just really kind of why I wanted to get into TV…in the first place.”

This one is a classic for a damn good reason. It’s downright unsettling from the get-go and just builds in eeriness, ultimately delivering what I would consider a gold standard Twilight Zone episode. No trademark twist, but I didn’t miss it. Right now, it sits at the top of my season 3 rankings.