7/31/2019 Twilight Zoned: Getting Fingered by Billy Mumy by Mike marino

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The Sign Post Ahead! The Twilight Zoned!By Mike Marino"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!" "There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between lightand shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination.It is an area we call the Twilight Zone."Take a thin man with a thin tie holding a thin cigarette on national television,

and give him a voice with an edge and staccato delivery of words that have beencarefully crafted and formulated into sentences as powerful as a literary Gatli

ng machine gun. Let him warn you about where you about to enter, an area of notonly sight and sound, but imagination. He shows you the direction with a nod ofthe head as he looks in that direction and says, "There's the sign post ahead, you're about to enter The Twilight Zone!"

Rod Serling, was the ringmaster of the macabre and maestro of small screen science fiction, whose mind gave birth to one of the great iconic classics of the TVgeneration that was populated by talking killer dolls, visiting Top Chefs from outer space who only came to our planet "to serve man" and, before Steven Spielberg, a ghastly cast of terrifying gremlins inhabiting the wings of jet liner in flight driving a certain pre-Star Trek captain to the end of his rope of sanity.

(If you listen to William Shatners voice delivery later as Capt. James T. Kirk,you can hear the same staccato delivery reminiscent of Rod Serling! Here, try it..."Bones, Spock.."

Serling was born on Christmas Day 1924 in Syracuse, New York. He worked in radioin Binghamton, NY prior to going into the army where he became a paratrooper. B

eing Jewish, his only lament was being sent to the Pacific to fight Japanese during WWII and not Europe to help bring down the Third Reich of Adolph Hitler! Hewas wounded in action and after release from the military went back to college and worked as a writer for the college radio station. He gained some renown and eventually was hired by Hollywood to write for the burgeoning television industry. He wrote for the Kraft Theater and others but his big breakthrough was Requiem

for A Heavyweight that landed him a network contract to develop a series for th

e tube. On October 2, 1959, that series, The Twilight Zone appeared for the first time in black and white.

As the shows popularity took off and Rod attempted to infuse his drama's with social messages that decried racism in America, censorship and later his anti-Vietnam war sentiments surfaced, he found he spent more and more time fighting the studio heads and the censorship police but kept on chooglin. He was dubbed, "TheAngry Young Man of Hollywood!"

One early show shit canned by the network was called 'No Christmas This Year" init there is no Christmas and no one knows why. Cut to the North Pole where Sant

a is having labor problems with elves who refuse to make toys, but rather use their talents to make rockets, missiles and other items of mass destruction. Santa

is not pleased and eventually as he goes to make his rounds with what toys he does have...he's shot! Just where was Lee Harvey Oswald on that day, eh? Although

the Twilight Zone IS pop culture and has been celebrated in song by the likes of Golden Earring, turned into comic books and movies, and there was even a board

game, not to mention a Bally Pinball game, there were two shows that preceded this wild child on the network airwaves. "Tales of Tomorrow" hit the air in 1951and mid decade in 1955 it was Science Fiction Theater. In effect though, The Twilight Zone built the better mousetrap.

The look that film gave the show was it's trademark, but in an effort to save co

7/31/2019 Twilight Zoned: Getting Fingered by Billy Mumy by Mike marino

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