I slept in a little, got me some grub, and now it's time for a day of Twilight Zone. After a fun little bit of Zoning yesterday, the 4th is much like January the 1st...I always enjoy the "setup day", but the official day is special. TZ holidays are the best. I'm such a nostalgia whore.
Rod Serling did describe Frisby as the master of the tall tale. Even when it looks like Frisby will be taken off to another planet, Somerset Frisby can't help embellish before he truly realizes the idiot aliens (they've mastered the kind of technology mankind at that time could only have dreamed of, and yet the aliens believe whatever is told them while visiting earth!) legit plan to whisk him away to their planet for study. Imagine Somerset Frisby, with all those imaginary degrees from the likes of the University of Wichita and Princeton, knowledge in meteorology and vehicle engine (Henry Ford called up him for advice!), courageous wartime stories (he knew Dwight D personally!), and computers (he beat all those machines with that brilliant brain of his), being observed by aliens as a fine example of the human race! The way Frisby can spin a yarn and bloviate his fictional accomplishments to the amusement of those who visit his smalltown store every day, knowing full well he's full of shit, is quite a hoot thanks to Devine's delivery and that rotund frame in overalls just making up nonsense on the spot rolls the eyes but cracks me up, admittedly, each time I watch "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby". That damned harmonica, with how it pierces the ears, does come in handy; Frisby's discordant sound can actually kill the aliens!
Although I thought of kicking off the 4th of July marathon with "The Hitch-Hiker", I decided against it in favor of "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby", a lighter, hearty farce of an episode that isn't intense or thought-provoking at all. Just a fun little romp of whimsy with a yapping character who can't help but blow out of proportion his many successes in life. But "The Hitch-Hiker" has been on my screen several times a year, particularly in marathons. God, how many have talked about in the 60 years?
"The Hitch-Hiker" is one of my favorite "early afternoon" episodes. For years, during marathons, when SYFY was The Sci-Fi Channel, this was among those classics often shown between 12-3 PM. This was actually one of my favorite periods of marathon watching, the first day of January or 4th of July before heading out to celebrate with family and fireworks, often "The Hitch-Hiker", "Nick of Time", and "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" would pop up. Since cross country plots were always intriguing to me even at a young age, Nan Adams journey to "destination unknown", never able to get ahead of her "pursuer", remains a hallmark of the automotive move through the US. I could definitely see why this episode is a must for TZ fans deep into the night, but 12-3 is alright by me. Be careful when hitchhikers are going your way...
At intermission point, I have a fun little blurb I hope to add about diners since I have like three episodes in a row featuring them. "Nick of Time", I just LOVED this shot as I was watching it on Hulu, and wanted to use it for this post today. I love that Don's wife "snaps him out of it" when he seems destined to stay glued to the napkin holder, devil-head gimmick, fortune-telling card-spitting machine. Pat refuses to be subservient to it, and through her own resilience, Don is able to free himself from its "superstitious grasp". I can write about this episode all the time. I just love it.
Much like "Nick of Time" gets overshadowed by "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", I have always felt "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" can be overlooked (or underappreciated) because of "The Dummy". Now, Cliff Robertson, an actor whose caliber is often sadly forgotten considering all the talents around during his prime years, made both performances so memorable, the gimmick of the Ventriloquist's Dummy certainly lends a help in "The Dummy" gaining such a cult following. The performance of Robertson, displaying an outward shock and awe of 1961 considering he comes from 1847, and providing just this exhausted, but headstrong, stubborn will to fight on despite how every hardship would make any less of a person just give up, is so deserved of accolades he perhaps never received, most of them instead going to his work in "The Dummy". Hard to complain about that since I guess I've probably watched "The Dummy" ten times in the last two or three years. I watch "The Dummy" as much as "Where Is Everybody?" I guess.
Completing my 12 - 3 PM block of episodes, "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" is such an obvious marathon choice. But, who am I kidding, I watch this one all the time. I'll find any ole excuse to put the episode on. That jukebox starting on its own, the lights going on and off, the sugar glass containers breaking apart without "visible help", and a phone call about a "bridge that is okay"; that Martian with his extra arm under his jacket (and griping a whole lot about getting that bus on that questionably stable bridge) sure knew how to stop a conversation. I noticed when Barney Philips is checking a customer out, he had 14 cups of coffee (!!!), while Jack Elam would seem the right one for that big purchase, since he had so much hyperactive energy.
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