The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia

Steven Jay Rubin

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781613738887
• eBook ISBN:
  9781613738917
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Television

A rich, fact-filled collectible, packed with vibrant history, amazing trivia, and rare photographs, The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia, assembled with the full cooperation of the Rod Serling estate, includes biographies of every principal actor involved in the series and hundreds who toiled behind the scenes—producers, writers, and directors. It is an exhaustive and engrossing guide, a compendium of credits, plot synopses, anecdotes, production details, never-before-seen images, and interviews with nearly everyone still alive who was associated with the show.

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“SABRE DANCE”: Iconic musical composition from the final act of Russian Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian’s ballet Gayaneh (1942), which emanates from the magical player piano in “A Piano in the House.” This piece has an immediate effect on Esther (Joan Hackett), the wife of acid-tongued theater critic Fitzgerald Fortune (Barry Morse): she starts to tell her husband how she really feels.

THE SACRED PAPERS: A book filled with life-changing equations, formulas, and descriptions of amazing technological wonders given to the people of Peaceful Valley, New Mexico, as revealed in “Valley of the Shadow.” Journalist Philip Redfield (Ed Nelson) is determined to steal the book and share its secrets with the outside world.

SAGAL, BORIS (October 18, 1923–May 22, 1981): Ukrainian American director who helmed “The Silence” and “The Arrival.” Sagal received four Emmy Award nominations: Outstanding Dramatic Series for The Name of the Game (1970); Best Directing in Drama for A Case of Rape (1974); Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for Rich Man, Poor Man (1976); and Outstanding Directing in a Limited Series for Masada (1981). Born in Yekaterinoslav in the USSR (now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) and educated at Yale, Sagal launched his television directing career when he was hired by Matinee Theatre (1955–1958), for which he directed 17 episodes, beginning with “I’m Straight with the World,” which starred a young Angie Dickinson and future Twilight Zone director Lamont Johnson. Sagal directed a number of other series, including Mike Hammer (25 episodes, 1958–1959), Peter Gunn (22 episodes, 1959–1960), and Dr. Kildare (7 episodes including the pilot, 1961–1964). He also directed the pilot for Combat! (1962) and created the series Mr. Novak (1963– 1965). Sagal’s feature directing credits include The Thousand Plane Raid (1969), Mosquito Squadron (1969), and The Omega Man (1971). Sadly, Sagal was killed in a helicopter accident that occurred on the location for the television movie World War III (1982). He is the father of actress Katey Sagal (Married with Children, Futurama, Sons of Anarchy), and her actor siblings Joey, Jean, and Liz Sagal.

ST. LOUIS STREET: Standing set consisting of the landscaped, slightly scaled-down facades of eight Victorian homes, originally built on MGM’s Lot 3 for the Judy Garland musical Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) at a reported cost of nearly $250,000. They became a recurring location for The Twilight Zone filming, after first serving as Rod Serling’s muse. As Serling told the New York Daily News in 1959, “Not long ago, I was walking on [the St. Louis Street] set at MGM when I was suddenly hit by the similarity to my hometown. Feeling an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, it struck me that all of us have a deep longing to go back—not to our home as it is today, but as we remember it. It was from this simple incident that I wrote the story ‘Walking Distance.’”* In addition to “Walking Distance,” St. Louis Street serves as the 20th-century American neighborhood space jockeys Webber (Kevin Hagen), Kirby (Don Dubbins), and Meyers (Jeff Morrow) find on an uncharted asteroid in “Elegy.”

ST. NICHOLAS ARENA: Site of a 10-round main-event boxing match between over-the-hill prizefighter Bolie Jackson (Ivan Dixon) and Joey Consiglio (Charles Horvath) in “The Big Tall Wish.” The undercard for the night is Bunny Linkwood vs. Kayo Otcello, Nick Scarbine vs. Johnny Ellerton, and Joe Fythe vs. Honey Sirota. General admission tickets are $1.25, reserved seats are $1.75, and ringside seats are $3.00. The venue was based on the real St. Nicholas Arena in New York City, which was also called the St. Nicholas Rink—because it hosted pleasure skating and ice hockey. It was demolished in the 1980s.

SALMI, ALBERT (March 11, 1928–April 22, 1990; birth name Alfred Salmi): Tall, imposing, character actor of Finnish descent who portrayed murderer Joe Caswell in “Execution” (salary: $1,750), US Army sergeant Causarano in “A Quality of Mercy” (salary: $1,750), and tyrannical tycoon/time traveler William Feathersmith in “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville” (salary: $2,500). Well known for his work in film and television westerns, Salmi actually got his start on Broadway and was lauded for his performance in William Inge’s play Bus Stop (he turned down the film role). A Brooklyn native who studied at the famed Actors Studio, Salmi made his television debut in 1954 opposite James Broderick and Paul Douglas in Medallion Theatre’s “The Magic Touch.” After a number of live TV performances, Salmi made a promising film debut as Smerdjakov in director Richard Brooks’s adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov (1958). That same year, he portrayed Ed Taylor in The Bravados; the two roles netted him a Best Supporting Actor award from the prestigious National Board of Review. In television, Salmi had continuing roles in Daniel Boone (20 episodes as Yadkin, 1964–1965), Petrocelli (44 episodes as Pete Ritter, 1974–1976), Dallas (1982–1983), and Knots Landing (1984–1985). He also appeared in the Night Gallery segment “The Waiting Room” (1972), written by Rod Serling. Sadly, on April 22, 1990, Albert Salmi reportedly shot and killed his second wife, Roberta Pollock, and then turned the gun on himself, a tragic ending to a powerful career.

Albert Salmi with Julie Newmar in “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville.” Courtesy Carol Serling Collection

SAMPSON, ROBERT (May 10, 1933– ): Actor who portrayed Chris Miller, a parent desperately searching for his missing daughter in “Little Girl Lost” (salary: $1,000). A native of Los Angeles, Sampson made his television debut in “A Party for Corliss” (1954), an episode of Meet Corliss Archer. He made his feature debut that same year as a prisoner of war in The Bamboo Prison. He later had ongoing roles on Steve Canyon (as Sergeant Walsh, the tower operator, 1958–1959), Bridget Loves Bernie (24 episodes as Father Mike Fitzgerald, 1972–1973), Police Story (as police lieutenant Wallace Tober, 1973–1976), and Falcon Crest (8 episodes as Sheriff Turk Tobias, 1981–1982). Sampson’s feature credits include: Look in Any Window (1961), as a hard-ass cop; Hero’s Island (1962); City of the Living Dead (1980); Re-Animator (1985), as Dean Halsey; Robot Jox (1989); and The Dark Side of the Moon (1990).

SANDUSKY, OHIO: Location of the fictional Mason’s Pool Hall, the site where pool champion Jesse Cardiff (Jack Klugman) faces his next matchup in “A Game of Pool.”

SARAFIAN, RICHARD C. (April 28, 1930–September 18, 2013): Film and television director and actor who helmed “Living Doll.” A New York City native, he made his television directing debut on the Maverick episode “The Forbidden City” (1961), which featured Twilight Zone player Vladimir Sokoloff. The following year, he made his feature directing debut on the indie western Terror at Black Falls. Among Sarafian’s other feature directing credits is Vanishing Point (1971), one of the great car-chase movies of all time, which starred Barry Newman and Twilight Zone veteran Dean Jagger. He also directed multiple episodes of Lawman (22 episodes, 1961–1962), The Gallant Men (9 episodes, 1962– 1963), and I Spy (8 episodes, 1966–1968). Sarafian made his feature acting debut in the action thriller The Next Man (1976), a film he also directed, and he later appeared in: Songwriter (1984); Bugsy (1991), as gangster Jack Dragna; Don Juan DeMarco (1994); Bulworth (1998); Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001); and...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Introduction
• Acknowledgments
• Author’s Note
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• Y
• Z
• Bibliography
• About the Author