Twelve Dancing Rabbits: Rod Serling Buttons

Cafe Press is selling buttons with the following Rod Serling quote:

"It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper."

See:
http://www.cafepress.com/+rod-serling-quotation+buttons

"Walking Distance" Carousel in Binghamton

I still need to check out Robert Fitton's video from his trip to Binghamton. Here's another video of the carousel that came up. It's really more a set of still pictures, but on my computer the pictures blurred a little so I couldn't read some of the photographed plaques.

I've never been clear if this is the original carousel from Serling's childhood or something based on the original. I didn't get a chance to see the carousel when I was in Binghamton last October.

As many of you know, "Walking Distance" is the story of a stressed out advertising executive who travels back in time and meets his boyhood self. Some people consider it one of the best Twilight Zone's ever and a great example of what television is capable of at it's best.

For the carousel video, go to:
http://en.kendincos.net/video-jtthprh-rod-serling-s-carousel-in-binghamton-new-york.html

Captain Kirk Signs an Endorsement Deal

Is this news?

William Shatner, the original Captain Kirk from Star Trek, has signed an endorsement deal with some outfit called So ActA (R).

Besides Star Trek, Shatner also starred in a couple of Twilight Zone episodes. (And you thought I was going to mention the immortal T.J. Hooker.) In "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" ("There's a man on the wing!") he's the only person aboard an airplane who sees a gremlin attempting to sabotage the plane's engines. The role was reprised by John Lithgow in 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie. In "Nick of Time" he's part of a young married couple who stop in a diner and find themselves trapped by a novelty machine that tells the future.

See:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/globenewswire/182530.htm

TZ, Ocean 11, and Logan's Run Writer George Clayton Johnson Appearing at a Comic Book Convention

George Clayton Johnson wrote several Twilight Zone episodes including "A Penny for Your Thoughts," "Kick the Can," and "A Game of Pool." In "A Penny for Your Thoughts" a man gains the power to read people's minds after a coin he tosses lands on its edge. In "Kick the Can" the residents of an old age home seek to regain their lost youth through a childhood game. "A Game of Pool" centers on a pool player who is obsessed with being the best ever and the price he pays.

Johnson also co-wrote the story on which both versions of the movie Ocean's 11 were based.

Besides his work on The Twilight Zone, science fiction fans also remember Johnson for co-writing Logan's Run, which takes place in a futuristic society in which the law says everyone who reaches age 30 must die.

Johnson will be a media guest at the Emerald City Convention in Seattle, Washington. The convention takes place March 13-14, 2010 and will be at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.
See:
http://www.hypergeek.ca/2010/01/emerald-city-comic-con-2010-lineup-update.html

The Emerald City Con's page is here:
http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com/

Serling, Douglas, and Seven Days in May

As many Rod Serling fans know, Serling scripted the movie adaptation of Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II's novel Seven Days in May. The story is about an attempted coup to overthrow the President and basically destroy democracy in America.

Yesterday, Adam Daniel Menzei, posted some observations on a couple of Kirk Douglas movies including Seven Days in May. Serling's scripting is discussed too.

See:
http://www.adamdanielmezei.com/kirk-douglas-several-not-so-keen-observations-about-his-approach-to-screen-acting/1057

Twilight Zone's 50th Anniversary Anthology Gets a Wikipedia Entry

Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary has a Wikipedia page. The book includes stories by Earl Hamner, Jr., Alan Brennert, Robert J. Serling, and Rod Serling himself.

Besides being an aviation expert and the author of novels such as The President's Plane is Missing and Something is Alive on the Titanic, Robert J. Serling is the older brother of Rod Serling. Robert Serling served as a consult for the episode "The Odyssey of Flight 33."

Earl Hamner, Jr. wrote several Twilight Zone episodes and is best known for The Waltons.

Alan Brennert wrote a number of scripts for the 1980s Twilight Zone.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Zone:_19_Original_Stories_on_the_50th_Anniversary

R.I.P. Gene Barry. Appeared in 80s TZ Time and Teresa Golowitz Starred in War of the Worlds

Actor Gene Barry, who played The Prince of Darkness in the 1980s Twilight Zone story “Time and Teresa Golowitz,” died on December 9, 2009. Barry is probably best known to science fiction fans for starring in the 1953 adaptation of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds. In the 1950s and 60s, Barry also starred on television, notably in the series Bat Masterson and Burke’s Law.

See:
http://www.theage.com.au/world/deepvoiced-tv-stage-star-typecast-as-suave-20100124-msja.html

Appearance by Mary Badham from The Bewitchin' Pool

Mary Badham from The Twilight Zone episode “The Bewitchin’ Pool” is scheduled to appear at the kick-off of Spokane, Washington’s Big Read program on February 16th. Badham is best known for playing Scout in the 1962 (Gregory Peck) movie adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In February and March, The Big Read will focus on To Kill a Mockingbird.

In “The Bewitchin’ Pool” Badham plays a girl named Sport. Sport and her brother Jeb seek to escape from their squabbling parents by passing into a fairy tale like world. Earl Hamner, Jr., who also created the TV series The Waltons, wrote “The Bewitchin’ Pool” and several other Twilight Zone episodes.

For more information on Badham’s appearance see:http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jan/24/badham-of-scout-fame-will-kick-off-big-read/

Twilight Zone News Roundup January 24, 2010

A blogger on LiveJournal is happy that SyFy is running episodes he hasn’t seen yet.
http://urbeatle.livejournal.com/170666.html

A review of a comic book adaptation of “The Odyssey of Flight 33.”
http://panelpatter.blogspot.com/2010/01/twilight-zone-odyssey-of-flight-33.html

I guess someone thought the Disney Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Ride was a movie.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100117121935AA1Uvr3

Mentions that Lloyd Bridges appeared in Rod Serling’s western series The Loner.
http://news.puggal.com/lloyd-bridges-18926/

A clip of Rod Serling discussing writing.
http://www.openculture.com/2010/01/rod_serling_where_do_ideas_come_from.html

I don’t care for astrology, but Rod Serling gets mentioned as a famous Capricorn.
http://www.aquariuspapers.com/astrology/2010/01/capricorn-2010---disciplined-responsible-earth-spirits.html

Rod Serling quoted on the difference between science fiction and fantasy.
http://aoaosoft.com/2010/01/18/what-is-science-fiction/

Someone picks their top five science fiction shows and includes The Twilight Zone.
http://www.tampabay.com/features/popculture/before-caprica-invades-our-tv-time-our-top-5-sci-fi-shows-we-cherish/1066259

Even though Rod Serling’s political views were regarded as liberal, conservatives also draw inspiration from “The Twilight Zone.” Here’s another use of “To Serve Man” (adapted from a Damon Knight short story) to argue against President Obama’s proposals.
http://thecurrent9171787.blogspot.com/2010/01/healthcare-bill-and-twilight-zone.html

Twilight Zone wall paper.
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-twilight-zone/images/1054422/title/twilight-zone

Not sure why this entry came up as if it were something new.
http://www.uk.imdb.com/title/tt0734552/

An E-Bay auction for Japanese Twilight Zone DVDs. I don’t know much about E-Bay, so I’d be a bit leery about a seller who posts a $6.00 shipping charge and then rants and raves that the shipping is more.
http://cgi.ebay.com/TWILIGHT-ZONE-Vol-1-Japan-LD-Box-PILF-2387-Laserdisc_W0QQitemZ290392905098QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Laserdisc?hash=item439cc4158a

A post about Kirk Douglas list Seven Days in May written by Rod Serling.
http://elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com/2010/01/wcftr-kirk-douglass-suspense-related.html

A film that is “best characterized as an homage to Rod Serling.”
http://www.famousmonstersoffilmland.com/official-downstream-websites-launches/

Steve King is called an admirer of “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” I don’t know. In Danse Macabre, I remember King heaping scorn on The Twilight Zone.
http://hallucina.blogspot.com/2010/01/stephen-kings-under-dome.html

Another post mentioning the marathons.
http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?id=3509

I know there’s a Mike Wallace interview of Rod Serling. I didn’t know there was a “lost” interview though.
http://forsale.oodle.com/view/1959-the-mike-wallace-lost-interview-rod-serling-dvd-twilight-zone/1745766910-springfield-ma/

John Landis, who was involved in Twilight Zone: The Movie, has joined the company Mass Hysteria.
http://theotcinvestor.com/top-3-otc-bb-and-pink-sheet-market-movers-596/
And again
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/press-release/alto_gdhi_mhys_ppii_vtpi_wtkn_redhotpennystock-com-ppii-mhys-gdhi-wtkn-vtpi-alto-redhotpennystock-com-alert--712150.html


A list of Twilight Zone facts.
http://blog.taragana.com/e/2009/09/30/facts-about-the-twilight-zone-and-creator-rod-serling-37476/

Photo of a Twilight Zone/Rod Serling stamp.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/textdrivebys/4287571762/

An actor with a TZ credit appears as a guest speaker.
http://newsblaze.com/story/20100120080043zzzz.nb/topstory.html

A “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” bobble head.
http://bifbangpow.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-twilight-zone-gremlin-bobble-head.html

Someone asks about a story from the 1980s Twilight Zone.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100120120806AAV8tqX

A Mickey Rooney interview where Rod Serling’s “Requiem for a Heavyweight” gets mentioned.
http://filmjournal.net/trouserpress/2010/01/21/mickey-rooney-exclusive-interview/

A post about “The Fever.”
http://1950sunlimited.blogspot.com/2010/01/twilight-zone-wednesday-fever.html

One of Mark Kneece’s Twilight Zone graphic novels shows up on ABE books. I guess I’ll skip any more of these links for now since these books are still in print and available new.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1404917325&searchurl=kn%3DTwilight%2BZone

Rod Serling Presents The Twilight Zone on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&gid=2216788630

Some one is selling their copies of the previous Twilight Zone DVD set that preceded the current definitive edition collection.
http://montreal.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-cds-dvds-blu-ray-Twilight-Zone-DVD-Collection-Original-Series-Rod-Serling-37-DVDs-W0QQAdIdZ178369370

An inaccurate overview of the original series. 1-3 stories per episode? Errr . . . maybe in the 80s version, but not in the original.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978007082&grpId=3659174697243100&nav=Groupspace

Hugh Jackman to star in a film based on a Richard Matheson story. Along with Serling and Charles Beaumont, Matheson was one of the most important writers on the original Twilight Zone.
http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2010/01/21/hugh-jackman-will-begin-filming-real-steel-in-michigan-this-summer/comment-page-1/

A “This Date in History site gives some background on “The Hitch-Hiker.”
http://canadianattic.blogspot.com/2010/01/january-22-2010.html

Pedro Vargas draws Rod Serling.
http://pipsqueakscorner.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-ive-been-up-to.html

Someone tries to classify Rod Serling’s personality. Their methods don’t seem very scientific though.
http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/popular-culture-type/26909-rod-serling.html

Archive of American Television Rod Serling Page.
http://www.emmytvlegends.org/node/3745

If anyone is looking for a collection of stories that were adapted into Night Gallery episodes, here’s an auction for you.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rod-Serlings-Night-Gallery-Reader_W0QQitemZ150407069193QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Fiction_Books?hash=item2304f5be09

Another criticism of plastic surgery that references “Number 12 Looks Just Like You.”
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/01/22/jeffrey-scott-shapiro-heidi-montag-plastic-surgery-addiction/

Rand Ravich to write Leonardo DiCaprio’s Twilight Zone.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i21640ce071c3e4ce361339e796d159d2

Another story about John Landis that mentions his involvement with the 1983 Twilight Zone movie.
http://blog.reelloop.com/6582/news/john-landiss-comeback-burke-hare-secures-awesome-cast/

Surrogates director Jonathan Mostow mentions The Twilight Zone as an influence.
http://www.disneydreaming.com/2010/01/22/surrogates-question-and-answer-session-with-director-jonathan-mostow-part-1/

Another “Number 12 Looks Just Like You” reference.
http://dugoutdaisy.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-twilight-zone-is-genius.html

Twilight Zone Season 1 wallpaper.
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-twilight-zone/images/1066929/title/twilight-zone-season

Someone joins The Rod Serling Memorial Foundation. That’s something I should do too.
http://www.wilsonjoe.com/2010/01/submitted-for-your-approval.html

All right, I just skipped linking to a copy of another Mark Kneece graphic novel on E-Bay. These are new and in print folks! But here’s something I couldn’t resist!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/The-Twilight-Zone-Annual-1965-Rod-Serling_W0QQitemZ120515424422QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Annuals_Books_EH?hash=item1c0f4770a6

A dimensional Twilight Zone party?
http://clubpenguinhallofcheats.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/club-penguin-dimensional-twilight-zone-party/

A Talking Tina bobble head.
http://www.buy.com/prod/The-Twilight-Zone-Talky-Tina-Talking-Bobble-Head/q/loc/58207/213644942.html

A town named Willoughby has an event based on “A Stop at Willoughby.”
http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2010/01/24/opinion/nh1883982.txt

The Desilu Playhouse presentation of Rod Serling’s “The Time Element” that some fans consider as The Twilight Zone’s unofficial pilot episode. Besides the following link, you can also find it at BitTorrent.
http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/2110347/5426554/

Phew! That’s it for now. I really need to do these things more often so I can do a few at a time instead of a lot at once.

Twilight Zone News Roundup January 17, 2010

Here’s a neat post from a horror site. The writer discusses The Twilight Zone and the marathons.
http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror_17329.html

Here’s a marathon related discussion. “What’s your favorite episode?”
http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/01/01/whats-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/

Here’s a mention of something called “The Man in the Funny Suit” about the making of Rod Serling’s “Requiem for a Heavyweight.”
http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2010/01/2009-toobits-awards-part-seven.html

This looks like a review or maybe an ad for a “Golden Age of Television” collection containing several of Rod Serling’s pre-Twilight Zone teleplays including Patterns, Requiem for a Heavy Weight, and The Comedian.http://blog.dixy.it/aniya8769532/2010/01/17/best-reviews-of-the-golden-age-of-television/

Twilight Zone: The Purple Testament

If Rod Serling hadn’t experienced it and survived, we never would have had a Twilight Zone with all of its impact on pop culture and our society. The experience traumatized Serling so much that he had flashbacks and nightmares for the rest of his life. He began writing to deal with it. In two Twilight Zone scripts, he returned to the trauma’s ground zero.


The place was The Philippine Islands. The time, World War II.


Serling was all too familiar with the setting of “The Purple Testament.” Other than the supernatural element, he was also familiar with the experiences his characters endured.


Rodman (“Rod”) Edward Serling served in the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division. Some of the information on the internet concerning his service is inconsistent. For instance, Serling’s Wikipedia entry says he served in the 511th from January 1943 through January 1945. Yet, an 11th Airborne site shows photos of Serling in occupied Japan. Obviously, American forces didn’t occupy Japan until the latter half of 1945. A site dedicated to the 511th has some contradictory info too. A page listing deceased members, lists Serling twice, once as Rod and once as Rodman, at two different California addresses and gives two different death dates, June 25th and June 28, 1975. That page lists Serling’s service as 1944-46, BUT another section of the site has selected yearbook rosters. Serling appears on one from 1943.


According to Leo Kochner’s history of the 511th, instead of soldiers who transferred from other units, most of the regiment’s enlisted men were new recruits who had a special airborne oriented regimen starting in basic training.


The 511th was selective. Airborne units are elite combat forces. Volunteers filled its ranks, and only 35% of those volunteers made it through the regiment’s screening process to even begin training. Others were winnowed out during training. The 11th Airborne’s other regiments were preexisting glider regiments, transferred to the 11th when it was formed, but the 511th was created especially for the 11th.


During the Philippines Campaign, two members of the 511th won the Congressional Medal of Honor, the most prestigious medal awarded in the American Military. They were Pvt. Elmer Fryar and Pvt. Manuel Perez.


When the Japanese cut his company off from the rest of its battalion, Fryar delayed the enemy, killing 27 Japanese soldiers despite being wounded. Trying to rejoin his company, he found a wounded comrade, picked him up and carried him. Later he caught up to an officer also carrying a wounded man. When a sniper attacked, Fryar threw himself in front of the officer and was mortally wounded. Even though he was dying, he still managed to kill the sniper.


Pvt. Perez attacked a Japanese pillbox which was holding up his company’s advance. He single handedly killed 18 Japanese soldiers in addition to at least 5 he’d killed attacking other pill boxes. Of the 18, he killed 4 while advancing on the pill box. After he threw a grenade inside, the Japanese escaped through a tunnel. Perez shot 8 with his own rifle and two with a rifle that a Japanese soldier threw at him, apparently trying to use it like a javelin with its fixed bayonet. Then Perez killed 3 more with the butt of the rifle, and one with the bayonet. http://users.owt.com/leodonna/FryarPerez.htm


Prior to seeing combat, the 511th participated in The Knollwood Manuever which persuaded American commanders that large scale airborne operations could be effective despite disappointing results of airborne operations by other units earlier in the war. General Eisenhower believed small unit parachute operations could work, but that larger units simply became too scattered to effectively regroup and coordinate.


The 511th shipped out to New Guinea and undertook extensive jungle combat training.


In November 1944, the 511th joined American forces on Leyte in the Philippines and saw heavy fighting as regular infantry. They were used as paratroopers on Luzon.
The 1943 yearbook roster puts the regiment’s size at 2,381 men. Between, November 1944 and August 1945 this roughly 2,400 man regiment suffered 1,100 casualties, including 301 killed. (Again, a slight discreprency. The site says the casualty list contains 1,110 names, but the tallies of 409 for Leyte and 691 for Luzon only add up to 1,100. Is there a typo, or are some names missing?)


Serling was attached to Regimental Headquarters (RHQ), but don’t get the wrong idea. He wasn’t in some safe spot behind the lines. Colonel Haugen, the commanding officer, and his staff were right in the middle of heavy fighting in the 511th’s earliest battles. Later, in February 1945, Haugen was killed by shrapnel. RHQ, which had 158 members listed in the 1943 yearbook, suffered 23 casualties including 11 dead. A few of the dead factor into “The Purple Testament.” One had a particularly powerful effect on Serling.


At beginning of “The Purple Testament,” Captain Riker asks a sergeant about casualties during the days’ fighting. Lieutenant Fitzgerald, the protagonist, steps into the screen and says, Hibbard, Horton, Morgan, and Levy.” The names are burned in the lieutenant’s memory. Captain Riker sees that their deaths really bother Lt. Fitzgerald. In private, Riker asks Fitzgerald about it.

RIKER
Anything special about the four men?

12. TWO SHOT

FITZGERALD
(turns toward him)
Anything special? What do you mean?

RIKER
We’ve lost four men before. We’ve lost eight and ten. You’re taking this one a little harder than usual. I thought it might have been a little special.

FITZGERALD
(his voice edgey)
They were four kids under twenty two – does it have to be more special than that?
(Rod Serling 5. The dialogue slightly varies in the filmed version. e.g. “under twenty one” instead of “twenty two)

Further probing reveals that yes, there was something special about the four. Fitzgerald had seen something on their faces, a strange light, and knew that they would die. He’d written their names the day before.


The names also meant something to Rod Serling. They weren’t just four random names. They were the names of four members of the 511th killed on Leyte. All four died 1 mile east of Mahonag. All four were attached to RHQ with Serling. Three of the four died on the same day, December 12, 1944. One died a week later, December 19th. Serling’s published script placed the story in December 1944, the month Serling’s four comrades died. However, he uses Luzon rather than Leyte for the setting. The telecast moved the date to January 1945 to match with the American invasion of Luzon.


In the story, Lt. Fitzgerald gives the first three names in alphabetical order. The fourth isn’t in that order. Pvt Warren R. Hibbard, Cpl. John T. Horton, and Pfc Newell D. Morgan were members of the 511th’s RHQ killed on December 12th. In the 1943 roster, all three appear in RHQ along with Serling. The final name belongs to the trooper killed on the 19th. According to Douglas Brode and Carol Serling’s Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone: The 50th Anniversary Tribute, Rod Serling was standing next to him when a parachuted food crate decapitated Pvt. Levy.


Serling gives his characters a hatred of war, a weariness of it. In the words he gives a Colonel, “war stinks!” (Rod Serling 26) There’s a nuance to this anti-war attitude. Some other anti-war commentaries direct their hatred of war toward the soldiers who fight it, much like the infamous stories of Vietnam War protesters hurling insults at and spitting on Vietnam veterans. In contrast, Serling portrays the soldiers in an admirable and sympathetic light. He gives battle hardened veterans compassion and empathy. Yet, as much as they hate war, Serling’s characters don’t refuse to fight. Serling has been quoted as saying that people should fight when it’s necessary to survival, but they should seek to find another way without fighting. His characters’ attitude is best summed up in a soldier’s rebuke of the inexperienced, gung-ho Lt. Katell in Serling’s other story set in The Philippines during World War II. “Okay. We’ll kill for you. Just don’t expect us to stand up and cheer.”


In Serling stories, it’s the warriors who hate war the most, but they do their jobs even when they know they will die.


When they appear in his stories, Serling always portrays Nazis and other fascists like those whom the Allies fought in World War II as bad. Examples can be seen in episodes like “Death’s-Head Revisited” and “He’s Alive.”


Other Serling stories challenge authority and conformity. However, in “The Purple Testament,” Serling gives all the authority figures - the Colonel, Captain Riker, Captain Gunther, Lt. Fitzgerald, and the sergeant - wisdom and compassion. They’re all touched with regret about the death and suffering they participate in.


When Fitzgerald warns Captain Riker that Riker will die and that he should stay behind rather than lead the next operation, Riker refuses. In arguing with Fitzgerald, the captain appears to not believe him. However, Riker’s private actions show that he does believe Fitzgerald. He lays out his personal effects - his wedding ring and photos of his wife and children - and leaves them behind. Believing he is doomed, Riker goes out and calms the rising panic caused by rumors about Fitzgerald’s powers. Then the captain calmly goes to what he believes will be his death.


For the most part, Fitzgerald has the same problem as any leader sending people to die. His torment is the same torment such a leader faces if they have empathy and compassion rather than coldhearted ruthlessness. The difference is that Fitzgerald, rather than just knowing men will die, knows exactly which ones will die. Still, like all leaders who send people into danger, he bears an awful responsibility.


The episode's title comes from Shakespeare’s Richard II, Act III, Scene III. There’s a line that reads, “He is come to open the purple testament of bleeding war.” Serling mistakenly credited the line to Richard III.


In the end, Fitzgerald learns from Riker’s example. Near the conclusion, he takes his seat in a jeep showing the same sense of acceptance Nan Adams shows at the conclusion of “The Hitcher.”
This episode also has thematic similarities to the episode, “Nick of Time.” Both warn that foreknowledge can become a trap. In “Nick of Time,” a young married couple stops in a diner, and discover a novelty machine that really predicts the future. They narrowly avoid a fate of living in fear and depending on the machine.



Lt. Fitzgerald never becomes dependent on his ability. For him, it’s a living hell, knowing who will die. In the end, he finds his own way to break free of the fear and turmoil and face fate with dignity.

Sources Consulted

Albarella, Tony “When Death Has a Face” As Timeless as Infinity: The Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling Volume I ed. Tony Albarella, Colorado Springs, Gauntlet Publications, 2004, Pgs. 249-252

Brode, Douglas and Serling, Carol Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone: The 50th Anniversary Tribute, Fort Lee, New Jersey, Barricade Books, 2009

Serling, Rod “The Purple Testament” As Timeless as Infinity: The Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling Volume I ed. Tony Albarella, Colorado Springs, Gauntlet Publications, 2004, (The script runs from pgs. 215-248, but I refer to the script’s own page numbers rather than the book’s.)


Information on the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment
1943 Year Book Roster
http://users.owt.com/leodonna/1943Yearbook.htm

Regimental History
http://users.owt.com/leodonna/History511.htm

Casualties on Leyte and Luzon
http://users.owt.com/leodonna/511-CAS-WWII.htm

Troopers Awarded The Combat Infantry Badge (Serling among those listed for Leyte)
http://users.owt.com/leodonna/511-CIB-Leyte.htm

Medals (Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts not listed. After Luzon, all members of the 511th received Bronze Stars)
http://users.owt.com/leodonna/Medals-511.htm

Fryar and Perez’s Congressional Medal of Honor Citations
http://users.owt.com/leodonna/FryarPerez.htm

Twilight Zone episode “A Quality of Mercy”
http://www.veoh.com/collection/CBS-The-Twilight-Zone#watch%3Dv184382147egYwK4P

Twilight Zone episode “The Purple Testament”
http://www.veoh.com/collection/CBS-The-Twilight-Zone#watch%3Dv14073629CT9eGn6Q