The Twilight Zone: Season 1, Episode Two “One For The Angels”

Original Air Date: October 9, 1959
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Parrish

“I just never will understand you people. You get this idiotic notion that life goes on forever,
and of course it doesn’t. Everyone has to go sometime.”

“Street scene: Summer. The present. Man on a sidewalk named Lew Bookman, age sixtyish. Occupation: pitchman. Lew Bookman, a fixture of the summer, a rather minor component to a hot July, a nondescript, commonplace little man whose life is a treadmill built out of sidewalks. And in just a moment, Lew Bookman will have to concern himself with survival – because as of three o’clock this hot July afternoon, he’ll be stalked by Mr. Death.“
-Rod Serling

This second episode of The Twilight Zone concerns a Faustian bargain between a sixty-nine-year-old “pitchman” (or a street vendor) and a suit-wearing bureaucrat whom we later come to recognize as the embodiment of Goethe’s Mephistopheles (played by Murray Hamilton who famously played the town Mayor in Jaws and Mr. Robinson in The Graduate). Our bumbling but lovable pitchman is named Mr. Lew Bookman (played by legendary Hollywood actor Ed Wynn). He is visited by Death in the form of a tax collector who informs Bookman that now his time has come (called his time for “departure”). But Bookman retorts that he still has unfinished business to attend to –he wants to find “success” by delivering the perfect pitch, “one for the angels.” Mr. Bookman challenges the old adage that ‘death waits for no man’ –in fact, he persuades Death to wait for him! As Death calmly explains, there are three grounds on which a man might appeal his case for departure with Death –1) hardship cases such as having a wife or family who might suffer in his absence (however, Mr. Bookman is single), 2) for men who are on the verge of grand important discoveries, such as scientists or statesmen (Mr. Bookman is not qualified in this respect) and 3) unfinished business related to a man’s lifelong passion. In this case, Mr. Bookman has always longed to make a stellar pitch, “one for the angels,” and so he is granted an extension by Death.

However, once the deal is struck Mr. Bookman immediately avoids making the pitch so as to dodge Death. Thus, as punishment, Death causes a beloved little girl in the neighborhood named Maggie to die by falling into the street where she is tragically struck by an oncoming car. Before Death can depart with the little girl at midnight, Mr. Bookman pulls out his table and delivers an incredible pitch using various products to distract him –and the ploy works. Death’s attention is pulled away by Mr. Bookman’s pitch –undoubtedly “one for the angels”– and Death accidentally misses his midnight appointment. Now, instead of taking the little girl, Death claims the soul of Mr. Bookman instead (per their agreement). Throughout the episode both men attempt to outmaneuver each other in a game of chess perhaps akin to Ingmar Bergman’s chess match in The Seventh Seal, but in the end, it is Mr. Bookman’s time for departure. He has learned to accept his fate.

“Lewis J. Bookman, age sixtyish. Occupation: pitchman. Formerly a fixture of the summer, formerly a rather minor component to a hot July. But, throughout his life, a man beloved by the children, and therefore, a most important man. Couldn’t happen, you say? Probably not in most places – but it did happen in the Twilight Zone.“
-Rod Serling

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My Thoughts on “One For The Angels”

The irony of “One For The Angels” is that we in the audience tend to be dually sympathetic toward both Mr. Bookman as well as Mr. Death at different points in the episode. Together they have a somewhat playful relationship. Mr. Bookman is a fairly ordinary mediocre man, but he thinks he can outsmart Mr. Death –a fateful decision to be sure, but his gall leads us to quietly doubt his intentions. Why wouldn’t Mr. Bookman simply accept his fate? Why is he trying to cheat Death? Of course, Mr. Bookman is still fundamentally a noble character. He cares deeply for the neighborhood children, particularly one friendly little girl. Yet on the flip-side, we also learn that Mr. Death is not the all-powerful villain in this story; he can actually be outsmarted by a mere human. After all, he is forced by means of a mere contractual loophole to oblige Mr. Bookman’s wish for to deliver the perfect pitch. And when midnight comes, he cannot help but be distracted by Mr. Bookman. Despite breaking his compact, Mr. Bookman’s virtue shines through here in his self-sacrificial care for the innocent children, while, in contrast, Mr. Death operates like a cold government bureaucrat: fallible and uncaring. In the end, both men depart together as old friends, Death and the salesman, after Mr. Bookman saves young Maggie Polanski’s life (thankfully Mr. Bookman is headed “up there” to Heaven). Did Mr. Death simply placate and patronize Mr. Bookman by listening to his pitch for the angels? Or was he being genuine in his earnestness? We may only speculate.

As with many episodes of The Twilight Zone, “One for the Angels” offers a wonderful bit of midcentury Americana; we are gently dropped into a safe urban neighborhood where even a street “pitchman” serves as a fixture of his community. And in spite of Lew Bookman being an ordinary, some might say unimpressive fellow (i.e. he has made no grand scientific discoveries nor held any important political offices), he is still the heart-warming Frank Capra-esque hero of this story. It shows us that in The Twilight Zone even ordinary people can be heroes.

The tone of this episode is light and whimsical with a bittersweet climax, though it is rife with a variety of dark allusions to classical mythology. From Charon to Mephistopheles to the Grim Reaper, Murray Hamilton’s Mr. Death emerges out of a rich literary tradition. Only here Mr. Death is rather brilliantly portrayed by Murray Hamilton as an industrious 1950s government tax collector, and less of a satanic, demonic figure. The effect is to make him less threatening, and more of an efficient worker simply going about his business. This makes the idea of ‘cheating death’ as something more akin to tax evasion. But the literary motif of ‘cheating death’ invoked in this episode is replete throughout the works of classical Greek and Germanic literature, and this is merely the first in a long line of “Faustian Bargain” episodes in The Twilight Zone. My own opinion of this episode has changed considerably over time. The first few times I watched “One For The Angels” I found it to be a fairly mediocre episode, but it has since greatly increased in prestige for me the more times I have rewatched it (even if the more whimsical episodes tend to be lesser outings for The Twilight Zone). Ed Wynn nevertheless delivers a charming, heart-warming performance as Mr. Lew Bookman and Murray Hamilton gives a fittingly stoic performance as the rigid, administrative, suit-clad Mr. Death.

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Credits:

• Director: Robert Parrish
  • Robert Parrish (1916-1995) was a former child actor who appeared in classic films like Anna Christie (1930) with Greta Garbo; All Quiet on the Western Front (1930); The Big Trail (1930) with John Wayne; and even Charles Chaplin’s City Lights (1931) (as one of the pea-shooting newsboys who torments Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” character). Parrish later started work as an editor, particularly on John Ford films The Informer (1935), Stagecoach (1939), Young Mr Lincoln (1939), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), among others. He became an Academy Award-winning editor of the film Body and Soul (1947) and he was nominated for another Academy Award alongside Al Clark for All the King’s Men (1949). He directed the western film Saddle the Wind (1958) the second feature film to be based on a Rod Serling script (the first was a theatrical version of Serling’s award-winning teleplay “Patterns”). Parrish directed three episodes of The Twilight Zone (“One for the Angels,” “A Stop at Willoughby,” and “The Mighty Casey“). For the latter episode, he was brought in to replace director Alvin Ganzer after lead actor Paul Douglas died suddenly and many scenes had to be reshot with Jack Warden instead. Parrish was later hired by agent-turned-producer Charles Feldman as one of multiple directors to work on the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967). Parrish directed the somewhat notorious scenes featuring Orson Welles and Peter Sellers, before Sellers left the project. Parrish published two memoirs of his time in Hollywood. He died on December 4, 1995 in Southampton, New York at the age of 79.
• Written by: Rod Serling
• Music: stock music (mostly taken from Bernard Herrmann’s “Outer Space Suite”)
• Cinematography: George T. Clemens
• Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
• Assistant Director: Edward Denault
• Art Directors: George W. Davis and William Ferrari
• Set Decorations: Henry Grace and Rudy Butler
• Sound: Franklin Milton and Jean Valentino
• Film Editor: Lyle Boyer
• Casting Director: Mildred Gusse
• Starring:
  • Ed Wynn…..Lewis J. “Lew” Bookman
    • Ed Wynn (1886-1966) was born “Isidore Edwin Leopold.” His father wanted him to takeover the family hat manufacturing company, but Ed ran away from home and joined the circus. He began his acting career in vaudeville and Zeigfield’s Follies (alongside W.C. Fields) before turning to radio, film, and television (though he was initially hesitant about film and television work). He famously turned down the role of the Wizard in MGM’s The Wizard of Oz (as did W.C. Fields). Wynn had his own variety television program for a spell (clips of which can be found online) and he appeared in numerous classic shows like Rod Serling’s classic Playhouse 90 episode “Requiem for a Heavyweight” alongside his son (he later returned to The Twilight Zone again in Season 5 for the episode “Ninety Years Without Slumbering”). He became a Disney star, performing the voice of The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland as well as the laughing/floating Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins (singing the song “I Love to Laugh”) and blind Uncle Aram in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). He portrayed the obstinate Jewish dentist Dr. Dussell in George Stevens’s The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) which netted him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor (though he lost to Hugh Griffith’s performance in Ben-Hur). Wynn was nominated four times for Emmy Awards, winning for Most Outstanding Live Personality in 1950. He was married three times and had one son, Keenan Wynn (1916-1986), who was also an actor. Keenan Wynn played the lead role in the classic final episode of season one of The Twilight Zone: “A World Of His Own.” Ed Wynn had a career of ups and downs (and struggles with depression), before a late career revival largely at the urging of his son. He passed away in 1966 of esophageal cancer at the age of 79.
  • Murray Hamilton…..Mr. Death
    • Murray Hamilton (1923-1986) appeared in a variety of television shows and films throughout his career such as an obnoxious draftee Irving Blanchard opposite Andy Griffith in No Time for Sergeants (1958), with Jimmy Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), a wealthy billiards player opposite Paul Newman in The Hustler, the cuckold husband of Mrs. Robinson, played by Anne Bancroft, in The Graduate (1967), and as Father Ryan in The Amityville Horror (1979) as well as appearances in popular television shows like Gunsmoke, The Real McCoys, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and others. His best-known performance was as Larry Vaughn, the stubborn mayor of Amity, in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) which he played again in Jaws 2 (1978). He later agreed to reprise the role in the fourth Jaws film Jaws: The Revenge (1987) but died of lung cancer in 1986 before production had begun. Hamilton was 63 years old; he and his wife Terri DeMarco Hamilton (of the big band vocal harmony group “The DeMarco Sisters”) had one son named David.
  • Dana Dillaway…..Maggie Polanski
    • Dana Dillaway (1950-present) was a child actress. For this episode of The Twilight Zone, she was chosen out of about 300 child actors. The Blu-Ray special features for The Twilight Zone offers a delightful interview with an adult Dana Dillaway. She also appeared in another episode of the series, the Season 3 Twilight Zone episode “I Sing The Body Electric.“ She was in an episode of Playhouse 90 in 1956 as well as episodes of Wagon Train, The Virginian, My Three Sons, Leave It To Beaver, Gunsmoke, and My Three Songs.
  • Jay Overholts…..the doctor (his second of eight appearance in the series)
    • Jay Overholts (1922-1966) holds the record for the most number of credited appearances in The Twilight Zone (of course, this does not include Rod Serling’s role as narrator nor Bud McCord’s numerous uncredited background appearances). Overholts didn’t have much of an acting career beyond his eight episodes of The Twilight Zone. He was in two episodes of Playhouse 90 in 1959 and then in a single episode of Gunsmoke as an unnamed character. He was previously a cast member for many of Rod Serling’s radio programs in Ohio. His final acting credit was an uncredited performance in the 1962 feature film Incident in an Alley. In 1966, according to various fansites, Overholts was tragically killed in a head-on car crash. The driver was charged with vehicular homicide.
  • Merritt Bohn…..truck driver
    • Merritt Bohn (1905-1978) appeared in a variety of television shows, such as Batman, Sugarfoot, and others.
  • Mickey Maga…..little boy “Ricky” (uncredited)
    • Mickey Maga (1950-present) was also known for appearances in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), wherein he voiced Patch, Shirley Temple’s Storybook (1958), and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956).
  • Gene Coogan…..pedestrian (uncredited, his first of four uncredited appearances in the series)
  • Raoul Freeman…..pedestrian (uncredited)
  • Mike Lally…..pedestrian (uncredited)
  • Murray Pollack…..pedestrian (uncredited)

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The Twilight Zone Trivia:

• Wholly different in tone from the show’s pilot, Rod Serling based “One For The Angels” on an old teleplay of the same name he once wrote for the television mystery show Danger in 1954. He specifically wrote the script for actor Ed Wynn with whom he had previously worked in Serling’s Emmy award-winning episode of Playhouse 90 entitled “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (1956).
• Before being previously dramatized on Danger, a CBS anthology show, this script was also featured on The Storm, a Cincinnati television show. However the original script was considerably different –it featured a 37-year-old Lou who struggles as a sidewalk pitchman while caring for his disabled father and feeling concern for his younger brother.
• The toy “Robby The Robot” as featured in this episode is actually the “Nomura” 1957 Robby Mechanized Robot (aka the Kitahara #1) from the film Forbidden Planet. Someone in the prop department applied a sticker of a blood shot human eye onto its dome to give the toy a distinctive look here. The toy was featured in a number of other Twilight Zone episodes, and also most famously in the Lost In Space series.
• “Ed Wynn was a sweetheart,” recalls Dana Dillaway (who played the little girl named Maggie). “He gave me a box of European chocolates after the filming was finished. I remember saying his character’s name, ‘Lou’, about a million times during rehearsals. The scene where I was hit by the car was kind of morbid… I remember they kept spritzing the actor who was driving the car with a water spray bottle, who came around to see if I was okay while laying in the street… there is a publicity shot of me laying there and it’s kind of morbid!” She offers a warm perspective in an interview featured on The Twilight Zone Blu-Ray special features.
• In consideration of Ed Wynn’s advanced age, the night scenes were actually filmed during the day, with tarps pulled over the set to give the illusion of darkness.
• Ed Wynn was paid $5,000 for this episode, making him one of the highest paid actors in The Twilight Zone‘s five-year run (the practice of paying lead actors $5,000 per episode was discontinued shortly after these first couple episodes). In contrast, Murray Hamilton was paid $850 for his performance.
• This episode takes place from July 19 to July 20, 1960.
• This episode was filmed at MGM –the interiors were shot at Stage 23 and the exteriors were shot at Lot 2, a tenement street often called “Brownstone Street” which is featured in several other Twilight Zone episodes: “The Big Tall Wish,” “The Fugitive,” “The Jungle,” and “Five Characters in Search of an Exit.”
• In the Season 3 episode “Nothing in the Dark,” another “Mr. Death” character appears in the series, memorably portrayed by Robert Redford.
• In this episode, Death claims that Mr. Bookman’s father came from Detroit and his mother came from Syracuse, the two places of origin for Rod Serling’s own parents.
• Rod Serling’s monologue claims Mr. Bookman is “sixtyish” even though in the episode Mr. Bookman tells Death he is age sixty-nine, soon to be seventy.
• The Blu-Ray audio commentary for this episode was completed by Gary Genari, a screenwriter, author, and film and TV historian.
• Lou Bookman lives next door to a candy store. In his apartment you can spot on the wall a hanging insignia of Disney’s Cinderella by the Dolly Toy Company.
• Ed Wynn and Rod Serling previously worked together on Serling’s classic 1956 Playhouse 90 episode “Requiem for a Heavyweight.” In fact, there is an amusing story from the casting for “Requiem for a Heavyweight” in which the staff apparently phoned up Keenan Wynn’s house to hire him to play the manager of the washed-up boxer in the program. However, Ed Wynn (his father) picked up the phone instead so both father and son were hired for the episode to play the trainer and the manager. It was this role that launched Ed Wynn’s career out of comedic acting and into more serious roles. His son, Keenan Wynn, later appeared in many films and television shows throughout his career –such as Dr. Strangelove (1964), The Goonies (1985), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Touch of Evil (1958), as well as shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, and the quintessential Twilight Zone Season 1 finale “A World of His Own.“ The role Ed Wynn played in the original Playhouse 90 “Requiem for a Heavyweight” was later performed by Mickey Rooney in the 1962 feature film of the same name.

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