The Twilight Zone: Season 1, Episode Thirteen “The Four Of Us Are Dying”

Original Air Date: January 1, 1960
Writer: Rod Serling (based on “All Of Us Are Dying” or “Rubberface” by George Clayton Johnson)
Director: John Brahm

This notable noir-esque episode features four different actors playing one single character –a remarkable feat! It is about a man who can mold his face to appear in the image of anyone else he wishes. Based on the short story “The Four Of Us Are Dying” by George Clayton Johnson, this episode was met with challenges in pre-production as the crew struggled to figure out how to portray four different people as one single character. The crew attempted to accomplish this challenge by simply applying different make-up styles to one single actor, but that plan was quickly scrapped. They realized, it would have required a significant amount time in the make-up chair for the actor. Thus four separate actors were hired.

“His name is Arch Hammer, and he’s 36 years old. He’s been a salesman, a dispatcher, a truck driver, a con man, a bookie, and a part-time bartender. This is a cheap man, a nickel and dime man, with a cheapness that goes past the suit and the shirt; a cheapness of mind, a cheapness of taste, a tawdry little shine on the seat of his consience, and a dark-room squint at a world whose sunlight has never gotten through to him. But Mr. Hammer has a talent, discovered at a very early age. This much he does have. He can make his face change. He can twitch a muscle, move a jaw, concentrate on the cast of his eyes, and he can change his face. He can change it into anything he wants. Mr. Archie Hammer, jack of all trades, has just checked in at three-eighty a night, with two bags, some newspaper clippings, a most odd talent, and a master plan to destroy some lives.”
-Rod Serling

Arch Hammer (played by Harry Townes) is a schemer and a con man with one unique power: he can change his facial appearance to look like any other person. In one single night, he assumes the visage of several different people. First, he changes himself into a recently deceased trumpet player named John “Johnny” Foster (played by Ross Martin) in order to seduce his girlfriend who sings in a hazy nightclub (this is one of the best segments in the episode). Next, he changes into a murdered criminal named Virgil Sterig (played by Phillip Pine) in order to extort a gangster hitman named “Mr. Pennell” (played by Bernard Fein) but soon mobster thugs chase Sterig down the street until he is cornered in an alley. In a split second he spots a photo of a boxer on a nearby wall and quickly transforms into him. The boxer’s name is Andy Marshak (Don Gordon) and this speedy change allows Hammer to escape the mob this time.

The many lives Hammer has exploited start to catch up with him. He becomes embroiled in a familial conflict with the boxer’s father (played by Peter Brocco) who is angry at what his son did to his mother and another young girl. Hammer narrowly escapes but is soon picked up by the police in connection to the mafia troubles. In a delightful scene, he escapes in a revolving door by transforming back into Marshak. But Marshak’s father is still waiting for him on the street. His father pulls a gun and shoots, killing his own son, or at least believing he has killed his son. As Hammer dies in a dingy alley, the camera blurs between the four different faces until Arch Hammer finally dies.

“He was Arch Hammer, a cheap little man who just checked in. He was Johnny Foster, who played a trumpet and was loved beyond words. He was Vergil Sterig, with money in his pocket. He was Andy Marshak, who got some of his agony back on a sidewalk in front of a cheap hotel. Hammer, Foster, Sterig, Marshak- and all four of them are dying.”
-Rod Serling

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My Thoughts on “The Four Of Us Are Dying”

In “The Four Of Us Are Dying,” we are asked to consider the relationship between visibility and justice. If someone can disappear, or at least completely shield himself from the law, can he ever truly face justice? Will he choose to live a noble life? Or will he live the life of a conman? With “The Four Of Us Are Dying,” Rod Serling and George Clayton Johnson seem to suggest that schemers like Arch Hammer will most assuredly choose the path of injustice, but they also suggest that some level of justice, or perhaps at least retribution, will eventually prevail in the end. Arch Hammer can only be run away for so long before he meets his comeuppance. In The Twilight Zone, we tend to see cosmic justice triumph over evil.

These questions reminded me of the classical writings of Herodotus and Plato (particularly the story of the “Ring of Gyges” which can be found in Plato’s Republic, along with a different version which can be found in Herodotus’s Histories). Ancient thinkers recognized a connection between visibility and injustice (and conversely invisibility and injustice). A man without a visible identity can seemingly get away with anything. Arch Hammer’s shapeshifting powers reminded me a bit of the viciousness exemplified by Griffin in H.G. Wells’s The Invisible Man, but also of Walter Bedeker in The Twilight Zone episode “Escape Clause.” In both episodes, we are invited to consider characters who are given unnatural powers, which are uses toward ill-gotten ends, only for both characters to face divine retribution in the end (Walter Bedeker is given immortality only to wind up behind bars for life, while Arch Hammer is given the power of shape-shifting only to accidentally transform into a person so evil that his own father decides to kill him).

All four actors –Harry Townes, Ross Martin, Phillip Pine, and Don Gordon– collectively give an extraordinary performance in this episode. And Jerry Goldsmith’s alluring score sets a wonderful tone for this episode along with Beverly Garland’s captivating rendition of “One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)” which helps to give the episode its unique, hazy, stylized noir atmosphere. While “The Four Of Us Are Dying” is typically an episode I skip when doing a re-watch of The Twilight Zone, I can still recognize the brilliant production here (even if this is one of the lesser episodes in Season One).

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Credits:

• Director: John Brahm
  • Hans “John” Brahm (1893-1982) was born in Hamburg, Germany, the son of an actor. He fled Nazi Germany during the rise of Adolf Hitler and relocated to London before coming to the United States. He directed his first film in 1936, a remake of D.W. Griffith’s Broken Blossoms and later directed a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger in 1942. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Brahm directed numerous television films and series, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He holds the distinction for directing more Twilight Zone episodes than any other director, a total of twelve episodes, including five in the first season alone. He was married three times and had two children.
• Written by: Rod Serling (based on “All Of Us Are Dying” or “Rubberface” by George Clayton Johnson, credited as “George Johnson” in this episode). Click here for my review of the short story.
• Music: Jerry Goldsmith
  • This was the first of seven episodes featuring music composed by Jerry Goldsmith (“The Four of Us Are Dying,” “The Big Tall Wish,” “Nightmare as a Child,” “Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room,” “Dust,” “Back There,” and “The Invaders“). His stock music was also featured (uncredited) in several episodes (“Escape Clause,” “The Hitch-Hiker,” “Mirror Image,” and “A Game of Pool“).
• Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
• Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
• Art Directors: George W. Davis and William Ferrari
• Film Editor: Joseph Gluck
• Assistant Director: Edward Denault
• Set Decorations: Henry Grace and Rudy Butler
• Sound: Franklin Milton and Jean Valentino
• Casting Director: Mildred Gusse
• Starring:
  • Harry Townes…..Arch Hammer
    • Harry Townes (1914-2001) was from Huntsville, Alabama and studied at the University of Alabama and Columbia University. During World War II, he served for three years in the U.S. Army. After the war, Townes became an American character actor who appeared in television shows like Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Have Gun Will Travel, Rawhide, The Wild Wild West, Planet of the Apes, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and others. He appeared in the Star Trek episode (“The Return of the Archons“) as Reger and in two Twilight Zone episodes (“The Four of Us Are Dying” and “Shadow Play“). He also appeared in an episode of Outer Limits (“”O.B.I.T.”) and later appeared in an episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (“Lindemann’s Catch”). After retiring from acting in 1989, he was ordained as an Episcopalian minister serving at St. Mary of the Angels Church in Hollywood and the Church of the Bells in Palm Springs, California. He died at the age of 86 in 2001 in his home.
  • Ross Martin…..Hammer as Johnny Foster
    • Martin Rosenblatt, a.k.a. “Ross Martin” (1920-1981) grew up in the Lower East Side of New York City. He was renowned for being able to mimic many different accents and dialects, he was fluent in Yiddish, Polish, Russian, French, Spanish, and Italian. He was perhaps best known for portraying secret agent and master of disguise Artemus Gordon on the CBS Western series The Wild Wild West (an Emmy Award-nominated performance). He was also the voice of Doctor Paul Williams in 1972’s Sealab 2020, and he appeared in 1973’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, as well as 1978’s Jana of the Jungle. He made his feature debut in George Pal’s Conquest of Space (1955). He appeared in two Twilight Zone episodes (“The Four Of Us Are Dying” and “Death Ship“) and later two episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (“The Other Way Out” and “Camera Obscura”). He was married twice and had three children (two of whom he adopted from his second wife). He died of a heart attack following a tennis game in July 1981.
  • Phillip Pine…..Hammer as Virgil Sterig
    • Phillip Pine (1920-2006) was the son of Portuguese immigrants (his last name was apparently changed at Ellis Island from “Pinheiro” to “Pine”). He grew up in Hanford, California and then Santa Cruz, California. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and then received his bachelor’s degree in theater arts from UCLA thanks to the G.I. Bill. He appeared in episodes of television shows like Gunsmoke, The Adventures of Superman, Wagon Train, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Hawaii Five-O, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Rawhide, Little House on the Prairie, and others. He appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone (“The Four of Us Are Dying” and “The Incredible World of Horace Ford“), a Star Trek episode (“The Savage Curtain“), and the second episode of The Outer Limits (“The Hundred Days of the Dragon“). He and his wife had one child together. He died at the age of 86 in 2006.
  • Don Gordon…..Hammer as Andy Marshak
    • Donald Walter Guadagno, a.k.a. “Don Gordon” (1926-2017) was born Donald Walter Guadagno before changing his name for show business. He was a Los Angeles native. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, fifteen-year-old Gordon convinced his mother to tell the U.S. Navy he was eighteen so he could enlist. He served on the USS Saratoga and the USS Yorktown earning eleven service stars. After the war, he attended drama school and, as the story goes, he was convinced to change his name to Gordon by a fellow student while standing on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gordon Street. He is perhaps best remembered for three film roles in which he appeared alongside his friend Steve McQueen: Bullitt (1968), Papillon (1973) and The Towering Inferno (1974). He appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone (“The Four of Us Are Dying” and “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross“). He also appeared in two episodes of The Outer Limits (“The Invisibles” and “Second Chance”). He was married four times and had one adopted daughter. He died in 2017 at the age of 90.
  • Harry Jackson…Trumpet Player
    • Born Henry Jackson, “Harry Jackson” (1923-1973) began his career in New York City on Broadway. He appeared in many shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Playhouse 90, Perry Mason and other shows. He appeared in The Night Runner (1957) and had an uncredited role in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), among other films. He was a celebrity spokesman for Sprite sodas, and he was married to actress Kathy Marlowe from 1959 to 1962 when they divorced (they had no children). Upon his retirement in 1963, he spent the remainder of his life as a licensed bishop (he was a longtime practicing Catholic and a Democrat). He died in 1973.
  • Bernard Fein…..Penell
    • Bernard Fein (1926-1980) was the son of an immigrant furniture maker from New York. He began his career in radio in the 1940s and landed his first big recurring role as Pvt. Gomez on the television show Sergeant Bilko. He is best known for co-creating and associate producing the 1960s television sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, a show which he also occasionally wrote for, including the pilot episode. He appeared in shows like The Untouchables, Sea Hunt, Lawman, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 77 Sunset Strip, Perry Mason, and two Twilight Zone episodes (“The Four of Us Are Dying” and “He’s Alive” as a heckler). Fein was married to actress Kay Kurtz, they had two sons. He died in 1980 at the age of 53.
  • Peter Brocco…..Mr. Pop Marshak
    • Carl Peter Brocco (1903-1992) appeared in over 300 credits, notably Spartacus (1960) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) during a Hollywood career that spanned over 60 years. He appeared as Claymare, an Organian council member, in the classic Star Trek episode “Errand of Mercy.” This was his only Twilight Zone appearance during the original series, but he later appeared in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) as Mr. Mute (segment #2). He lived for some 40 years in Laurel Canyon, in a 1920s Spanish style home on Laurel Canyon Blvd. His ceramics studio was located in the ground floor which served as a source of income when he was blacklisted during the red scare of the early 1950s.
  • Milton Frome…..Detective
    • Milton Frome (1909-1989) was an American character actor whose career really started gaining steam in the 1950s, he appeared in television shows like I Love Lucy, Adventures of Superman, Batman, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Monkees, and Lassie. He also worked with The Three Stooges during their final years in the Columbia Pictures short subject department, appearing in the films Pies and Guys (1958) and Quiz Whizz (1958), and later in Jerry Lewis films as the comic foil character. He and his wife Marjorie had one child, Frome died of congestive heart failure in 1989 at the age of 80.
  • Beverly Garland…..Maggie
    • Beverly Garland (1926-2008) was born in Santa Cruz, California. Known for her husky voice, she made her film debut in the noir film D.O.A. (1950) and she later became the first woman to star in her own dramatic show on American television in Decoy. She appeared in a string of low budget horror films in the 1950s but her career saw a boost when her character on My Three Sons, Barbra Harper, married Fred MacMurray’s character Steve Douglas, thus making her a recurring character until the show ended in 1972. She appeared in a variety of other television shows like Gunsmoke, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as the mother of Lois Lane, and Planet of the Apes. For this episode of The Twilight Zone (“The Four of Us Are Dying“), Garland admitted she was not much a singer or piano player, but she later described how on her single day of work for the episode, Rod Serling came up to her and thanked her for opening new layers to the character of Maggie that Serling had never previously seen. Garland married three times, had two children, and became stepmother to two children through her third husband, Fillmore Crank, who built a a 255-room Spanish Mission-style resort in her honor and called it Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn (it has since been renamed simply “The Garland” in 2014). She was known as the “honorary mayor of North Hollywood”and served on many community boards until she died at her home after a lengthy illness at the age of 82 in 2008.
• Extras:
  • Jeanne Baker….silent part (uncredited)
  • Pat Chomiskey…..man #2 (uncredited)
  • Paul Denton…..clerk in the hotel lobby (uncredited)
  • Jimmy Gray…..bellboy in the hotel lobby (uncredited)
  • Bob Hopkins…..man in bar (uncredited)
  • Marco Lopez…..silent bit in hotel (uncredited)
  • Sam Rawlins…..busboy (uncredited)
  • Tony Rosa…..silent part (uncredited)
  • James Selwyn…..man in the street (uncredited)

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The Twilight Zone Trivia:

• This episode was based on an original story entitled “All Of Us Are Dying” or “Rubberface” by George Clayton Johnson. The short story had not been published yet when this episode aired. The original story was later published some 22 years later in the May 1982 edition of The Twilight Zone magazine.
• George Clayton Johnson’s original title for the short story was “All of Us Are Dying” but it was submitted to The Twilight Zone by his agent Jay Richards as “Rubberface.” This was Johnson’s first sale to television.
• It wasn’t until Season Two that George Clayton Johnson would become a more regular contributing writer to The Twilight Zone.
• As with many Twilight Zone episodes, the props and sets for this episode were reused from other MGM productions. In this case The “Hotel Real” sign in front of Arch Hammer’s hotel is an MGM prop, originally used in a Mexican street setting in the 1953 feature film Take the High Ground! which starred Richard Widmark and Karl Malden.
• Other signs on the street read: “Chit-Chat, Delightful Girls (Nightly)… The Bam Girl.” Another sign for the “Skylight Room” reads “Buck Winston Opening Tonight.” A sign outside the bar room appears to read: “Columbia Rica.”
• This is the first episode in which Rod Serling doesn’t use the phrase “…in the Twilight Zone” in the closing narration.
• Regarding his initial introduction to Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone, George Clayton Johnson wrote the following in the August 1981 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine: “After the first half-dozen stories had been written, part of the hustle was getting an agent. Through those years I found several who would let me use their names, though few cared to sign a contract with me. One of these men, Jay Richards – at the time head of the television department of the Famous Artists Agency, long since absorbed by I.F.A. (International Famous Agency), and since embedded in I.C.M. (International Creative Management), which represents me now in television and movies – agreed to read something. I showed Jay ‘All of Us Are Dying.’ After reading it, he crossed out the title with a ballpoint pen and wrote in ‘Rubberface!’ Then he sent it to Rod Serling, who had a new series that season called The Twilight Zone.”
• George Clayton Johnson offered some interesting insights into this episode (particularly how exhilarating it felt for him to watch this episode on television) in an interview he gave to Martin Grams, Jr. He also shared anecdotes about how he was mentored by Charles Beaumont and Ray Bradbury. In fact, Johnson apparently first met Rod Serling at Charles Beaumont’s house. At any rate, I highly recommend checking out Grams Jr.’s book The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic.
• For this episode, Rod Serling, John Brahm (director), and Mildred “Millie” Gusse (casting director) all agreed that all four actors playing the same character needed to be five feet ten inches tall and approximately 150 pounds.
• There is no explicit reference to the location where this episode takes place, however at one point Arch/Johnny tells Maggie to meet him at the train station to catch the “12:06 West Palm to Chicago,” leading one to suspect the location is West Palm Beach, Florida.
• Every scene in this episode was shot at MGM studios.
• Penell’s apartment is the same studio set (stage 24) that was Marty Sall’s office in “The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine.”
• In this episode, Beverly Garland makes her singing debut with a rendition of Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s 1943 classic “One for My Baby (And One More for the Road).” The song was first performed by Fred Astaire and later popularized by Frank Sinatra.
• The memorable percussive score of this episode was completed by the great composer Jerry Goldsmith (of Planet of the Apes, Alien, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture repute). Jerry Goldsmith also composed the soundtrack for the film Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) as well as many other classic films and television shows, ranging from Patton (1970) and Chinatown (1974), to Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Voyager, and even another Rod Serling show entitled The Loner.

Click here for my review of George Clayton Johnson’s short story “All Of Us Are Dying”

Click here to return to my survey of The Twilight Zone series.