The Twilight Zone: Season 1, Episode Nineteen “The Purple Testament”

Original Air Date: February 12, 1960
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Richard L. Bare

“How many coincidences add up to a fact?”

There is a fascinating, albeit tragic, little backstory to this episode. Both the star (William Reynolds) and director (Richard L. Bare) almost died in a plane crash the night this episode was intended to air. They were on their way back to Miami from shooting a pilot episode for the The Islanders in Jamaica when their small plane (a Grumman Goose) suddenly stalled and crashed into the Caribbean Sea. Reynolds later speculated that the pilot had tried to come in to the water at a glide angle but the plane split apart and while Reynolds was still buckled in, he was left spinning underwater, having been thrown clear of the fuselage until he spotted sunlight above. He then unbuckled and swan to the surface, narrowly saving his own life. The wreck killed one person (George Schmidt who bled to death in the hospital at Annotto Bay) and several others were injured. Reynolds suffered severe lacerations, broken ribs, and a broken ankle (he said his mangled hand had to be sewn together by a woman in the Annotto Bay Hospital) while Bare suffered broken legs (both men later recovered after being unconscious in the hospital following the crash). When the plane crashed, they were about four miles off the coast of Jamaica so they decided to swim for it. Reynolds claimed that this episode “The Purple Testament” was quickly pulled off the air by producer Buck Houghton and Rod Serling out of respect to Reynolds’s family in case he didn’t pull through (he had very young children at the time, a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter and a two-week-old baby, and it would have seemed macabre to show an episode where his character sees his own death), however others have disputed this fact, noting there is no record that “The Purple Testament” was ever pulled from the schedule. But Reynolds reaffirmed this fact in The Twilight Zone Blu-Ray commentary, acknowledging that there was no record of the episode’s delay. In some ways, the plane crash was a darkly ironic twist of fate, especially considering the subject matter of “The Purple Testament,” an episode about a soldier’s supernatural ability to foresee death.

“Infantry platoon, U.S. Army, Philippine Islands, 1945. These are the faces of the young men who fight, as if some omniscient painter had mixed a tube of oils that were at one time earth brown, dust gray, blood red, beard black, and fear – yellow white, and these men were the models. For this is the province of combat, and these are the faces of war.”
-Rod Serling

The setting is January 1945. We are introduced to a band of U.S. troops (“C.P. Company A”) who are stationed in the Philippine Island of Luzon on the road to Manila. Lieutenant “Fitz” Fitzgerald (played by William Reynolds) has just returned from a key battle to take control of a bridge where four of his men were killed (all under the age of 21) and ten or twelve were wounded (Fitz later confirms twelve were wounded). His friend Captain Phil Riker (played by Dick York of Bewitched fame) notices that something has changed in Fitz. He invites him back to his tent for a bottle of Philippine tuba, traditional Philippine coconut palm wine, where Fitz confesses that somehow he knew these men were going to die in advance of the battle. He hands Capt. Riker a note with the names of the four men who died. Fitz claims he wrote their names down prior to the battle. He describes a certain inexplicable supernatural power he has somehow been granted which shows a vague glow on men’s faces before they are about to die. Capt. Riker takes this information to Captain E.L. Gunther, Medical Officer (played by Barrney Phillips). Then in the same medical ward, Fitz talks with his pal Smitty (Michael Vandever) and sees the same faint glow on his face before suddenly fainting.

When Fitz finally comes to, Smitty has died just as his strange vision predicted. Later, when Riker outlines an upcoming attack Fitz suddenly sees the strange light on the face of Riker. Pretty soon word gets out among the troops about Fitzgerald’s unique power to foresee death. But Riker remains undeterred in pursuing the attack (though he still leaves behind personal photos of his two sons, his wife of seven years, and his wedding ring just in case). Shortly thereafter, Riker dies just as Fitzgerald had predicted in a fierce battle that Fitz’s platoon miraculously survived despite being shot at by Filipino guerrillas manning 25s.

In the end, Fitzgerald is asked to report back to Division where he will be given a few of weeks of medical leave. However, before he can depart he looks in a mirror sees the same eerie faint glow over his own face! He slowly steps into the jeep while the driver discusses taking the “convenient road” for the four hour drive and he is warned about potential mines along the road. Fitz then looks up and sees the same ominous glow on the face of the driver and he knows they are about to die. A few moments later we hear an explosion as his car strikes a landmine.

“From William Shakespeare, Richard III, a small excerpt. The line reads, ‘He has come to open the purple testament of bleeding war.’ And for Lieutenant William Fitzgerald, A Company, First Platoon, the testament is closed. Lieutenant Fitzgerald has found the Twilight Zone.”
-Rod Serling

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My Thoughts on “The Purple Testament”

A maddening episode about the tribulations of soldiers on the frontlines, I imagine this must have been a deeply personal episode for Rod Serling since he served as a paratrooper and fought in the Philippines during a particularly vicious period of fighting. He lost many of his comrades in the most unimaginable ways, and some of their names are immortalized in this episode. Perhaps many of his fellow soldiers both yearned for, and also feared, the prospect of knowing the moment of their own death, not unlike the apparent supernatural curse that has been placed on Lt. Fitzgerald. Knowledge can sometimes be liberating, other times it can be a burden.

This is a story about the soldier’s anxiety over death. It explores loss, PTSD, and trauma from a soldier’s perspective. Suffice it to say this is a weighty, somber episode. But what is befuddling to me is the nature of Fitz’s gift. Where did it come from? When did it start? How much time does it start happening before the moment of death? Will other soldiers in his platoon start experiencing the same phenomenon? Regardless, “The Purple Testament” is another brilliant and moving episode of The Twilight Zone.

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Credits

• Director: Richard L. Bare
  • Richard L. Bare, whose last name is pronounced like “care” (1913-2015) was born in Turlock, California. He studied at the New York Institute of Photography and USC School of Cinematic Arts. He ran a movie theater in Carmel, California and later got his start in early comedy shorts before directing television shows. He directed nearly every episode of Green Acres and seven episodes of The Twilight Zone (he directed “Third From The Sun,” “The Purple Testament,” “Nick of Time,” “The Prime Mover,” “To Serve Man,” “The Fugitive,” and “What’s in the Box“). He later became good friends with star of “The Purple Testament” William Reynolds. Actress Jean Evans became his fourth wife, she appeared in a minor role in “Third From The Sun” and again more prominently in “To Serve Man.” He published a memoir entitled Confessions of a Hollywood Director and a guidebook entitled The Film Director: A Practical Guide to Motion Picture and Television Techniques. He was married five times and had two children. He died at his home in Newport Beach, California in 2015 at the age of 101.
• Written by: Rod Serling
• Music: Lucien Moraweck, conducted by Lud Gluskin
• Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
• Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
• Art Directors: George W. Davis and William Ferrari
• Film Editor: Bill Mosher
• Assistant Director: Edward Denault
• Set Decorations: Henry Grace and Rudy Butler
• Sound: Franklin Milton and Jean Valentino
• Casting Director: Mildred Gusse
• Starring:
  • Dick York…..Captain Phil Riker
    • Richard Allen “Dick” York (1928-1992) was a native of Fort Wayne Indiana. He was perhaps best known as the first actor to play Darrin Stephens on the sitcom Bewitched (he was later replaced on the show with Dick Sargent). He appeared in many other shows ranging from Playhouse 90, The Untouchables, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents to The Virginian, Rawhide, and Wagon Train. He appeared in classic films like Inherit The Wind (1960). His career was unfortunately hampered by a serious back injury he sustained while working on the film They Came to Cordura in 1959 which led to chronic pain and 18 months of recovery. He later left the show Bewitched. For years he smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and struggled to breathe in later years. He died of complications from emphysema in 1992 at the age of 63. He appeared in two Twilight Zone episodes (“The Purple Testament” and “A Penny For Your Thoughts“).
    • Dick York was paid $1,500 for his role in this episode.
  • William Reynolds…..Lt. Fitzgerald
    • William Reynolds (1931-2022) was a Norwegian actor best known for his role as Special Agent Tom Colby in the 1960s television series The F.B.I. Through his father’s bloodline, he was a direct descendant of American Revolution hero Nathaniel Reynolds. He and his wife had three children, a daughter and two sons (one of whom died in infancy). He served in the armed forces during the Korean War and worked for Armed Services Radio in Tokyo. Both of his older brothers were badly wounded in battle: one was injured in the jaw and face at Saint Vith during the Battle of the Bulge and the other lost a leg in Korea (Reynolds likely brought this trauma to his role in “The Purple Testament”). He developed a close friendship with the director of “The Purple Testament” Richard L. Bare, who later cast Reynolds in the pilot for the television episode The Islanders, however on Friday, February 12, 1960 (the day that “The Purple Testament” aired), Reynolds and Bare were on a seaplane together en route back to Miami after filming the pilot for The Islanders when both the plane engines failed and it crashed He died in 2022 at the age of 90.
    • William Reynolds was paid $1,500 for his role in this episode.
  • William Phipps…..Sergeant
    • William Edward Phipps (1922-2018) was born in Indiana and served in the Navy for three years during World War II. During his acting career, he appeared in television shows like The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Perry Mason, Laredo, Batman, The Munsters, and Murder, She Wrote while he played roles in films like Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and as the narrator for the television version of Dune (1984). In 1949, he auditioned for the voice of Prince Charming in the upcoming Disney film Cinderella (1950). The studio was pleased with his performance and Phipps was offered the part by Walt Disney himself. After living in Hawaii in later life, he died in Santa Monica at the age of 96 from lung cancer in 2018.
  • Barney Phillips…..Captain E.L. Gunther, Medical Officer
    • Bernard Philip Ofner, or “Barney Phillips” (1913-1982) was born in St. Louis, MO. His father was a leather salesman and his mother was a German emigrant. He started working in Hollywood until the outbreak of World War II during which time he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in the signal corps. Following the war, he returned to the film industry, working mostly as an extra. appeared in shows like Dragnet, I Love Lucy, Have Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and four episodes of The Twilight Zone (“The Purple Testament,” “A Thing About Machines,” “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” and “Miniature“). He died in Los Angeles in 1982 as a result of cancer.
  • S. John Launer…..Lieutenant Colonel who speaks with Fitz after the death of Riker
    • Saul John Launer (1919–2006) was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was an American television actor (often appearing in uncredited roles) best known for playing a criminal court judge on Perry Mason. He also appeared in television shows like Batman, The Wild Wild West, Peyton Place, Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bonanza, and many others. He appeared in films like Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964). He appeared in four episodes of The Twilight Zone (“And When The Sky Was Opened,” “Third From The Sun,” “The Purple Testament,” and “In Praise of Pip“). In his later career, he was badly injured in a stagecoach accident on the set of the show Laramie in 1960, an incident that led to his co-actor, Bert Spencer, requiring a leg amputation. Interestingly enough, Launer supplemented his acting career with real estate investments and an invention called the “Kelly Klozer,” a device he built and marketed that automatically closes a sliding screen door. He invented it when he got frustrated with letting out the family dog, Kelly. Launer and his wife had two children. He died at the age of 86 in 2006 in Tarzana, California of natural causes. His son is screenwriter, producer, and director Dale Launer (1952-present) who is primarily known for his work on comedy films like My Cousin Vinny (1992).
  • Michael Vandever…..Smitty, who dies in the medical ward shortly after Fitz speaks with him
    • Michael Vandever (1937-2021) appeared in television shows like Batman, The Virginian, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and others. He died in Los Angeles in 2021.
  • Paul Mazursky…..the orderly who speaks with the jeep driver
    • Irwin Lawrence Mazursky, or “Paul Mazursky” (1930-2014) was a director, screenwriter, and actor. He had a lengthy film career in Hollywood and was nominated for five Academy Awards for his films Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), Harry and Tonto (1974), An Unmarried Woman (1978), and Enemies, A Love Story (1989). He was a co-creator of the musical sitcom The Monkees, and he appeared in television shows like The Sopranos, The Rifleman, The Real McCoys, The Untouchables and others, and he appeared in the 1976 film A Star Is Born (1976). Mazursky appeared in three Twilight Zone episodes (“The Purple Testament,” “The Gift,” and “He’s Alive“). He died in Beverly Grove, Los Angeles in 2014 of pulmonary cardiac arrest.
  • Marc Cavell…..Freeman, the nervous soldier who confronts Fitz over rumors of his unique power
    • Maurice Edward Cavell, or “Marc Cavell” (1939-2004) was born in New York City, the son of an Italian immigrant who was a boxer and a wrestler. Cavell performed in twenty films between 1952 and 1974, in feature films like Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1962), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and Cool Hand Luke (1967). He also appeared in television shows like Peter Gunn, The Adventures of Superman, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, Batman, and The Lieutenant (a show created by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry). I was unable to find additional information.
  • Warren Oates…..the jeep driver at the end of the episode
    • Warren Oates (1928-1982) was born and raised in rural Kentucky. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1946-1948, serving in its air wing as an aircraft mechanic and reaching the rank of corporal. He was perhaps best known for appearances in Westerns, with television shows like Wagon Train, Rawhide, The Virginian, Have Gun – Will Travel, Lawman, The Big Valley, Bat Masterson, The Rifleman and Gunsmoke, as well as the films of Sam Peckinpah like The Wild Bunch (1969) and other thrillers as well as Stripes (1981). Oates appeared in two Twilight Zone episodes (“The Purple Testament” and “The 7th Is Made Up Of Phantoms“). He also appeared in an episodes of Lost in Space as well as an episode of The Outer Limits (“The Mutant”). He was married four times and had two children. A lifelong chain smoker and heavy drinker, he died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 1982 after complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath at home before suffering a heart attack while taking a nap (he had been suffering from chest pains for six months before his death but refused to see a doctor).
  • Ron Masak…..wounded soldier with a harmonica (playing one-handed) at the end of the episode, to the tune of Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” second movement
    • Ron Masak, pronounced “may-sack” (1936-2022) was born in Chicago in 1936. His father was a salesman/musician of Bohemian Czech descent, and his mother was a merchandise buyer of Irish descent. Masak best known for playing the recurring role of Sheriff Mort Metzger on the mystery series Murder, She Wrote. He got his start in stand-up comedy and appeared in television shows like Get Smart, Mission: Impossible, Wonder Woman, The Monkees, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Land of the Lost, Diff’rent Strokes, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He often appeared in commercials for brands like Bran News, McDonald’s, and Tropicana Orange Juice (he was once dubbed the “King of Commercials”), was a resident leading man at The Candlelight Dinner Playhouse from 1962 to 1966 and he was often featured as a celebrity panelist on gameshows. In 1960-61, he toured the world doing vocal impressions for the all-Army show entitled “Rolling Along'”and never missed a show. He and his wife had six children. He died in 2022 in Thousand Oaks, California of natural causes.
    • Masak’s first screen role was in this episode as the Harmonica Man. This role earned him his Screen Actor’s Guild card. On the set, he was asked to simply noodle on the harmonica.
• Extras:
  • Brad Brown…..soldier (uncredited)
  • John Burnside…..soldier (uncredited)
  • Irvin ‘Zabo’ Koszewski…..soldier (uncredited)
  • Bob McCord…..man in hospital
    • Robert “Bud” or “Bob” Leigh McCord III (1915-1980) appeared in a variety of television shows, particularly in small uncredited roles in Westerns, in addition to The Twilight Zone. His first role was an uncredited appearance as an office clerk in the 1947 movie The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, and his first credited role was in an episode of the 1956 television series Schlitz Playhouse. After a couple more uncredited roles and minor appearances, he joined The Twilight Zone in 1959 (he was presumably hired by Cayuga Productions). In fact, he set a record for most appearances on The Twilight Zone (75 times, mostly uncredited). He was also a stunt double on the show. He had a son named Robert IV (1938-2008) and a daughter named Penny. McCord died in 1980.
  • Gordon Mitchell…..soldier (uncredited)

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The Twilight Zone Trivia:

• This was likely a deeply personal episode for Rod Serling since he decided to become a writer after serving as a paratrooper in the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division while serving in the Philippines during World War II.
• In his closing narration, Rod Serling mistakenly attributes his quotation to Shakespeare’s Richard III when it was actually a quotation from Richard II.
• Dean Stockwell was originally cast to play the lead role in this episode, but he was unable to appear so William Reynolds was added at the last minute. Dean Stockwell later appeared in The Twilight Zone episode “A Quality of Mercy.”
• The military hospital in which Fitzgerald confronts Gunther and Riker is a redress of the set used in “The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine” (note the stairway in the background which is also featured in the episode “Elegy“). It would be used again as a hallway of a college campus in “Long Live Walter Jameson.”
• The serial number on the side of the military vehicle reads as follows: “USA 9207724.” Another vehicle later in the episode reads: “USA 5264579.”
• The two friends, Fitz and Riker, drink a bottle of Philippine tuba in this episode. Tuba (sometimes misspelled as “tupa”) is coconut palm wine.
• The names of the killed soldiers in the opening bridge battle are: Hibbard, Horton, Morgan, and Levy. All are killed in action, Luzon P.I., 13, January, 1945. All four of these names were apparently based on real soldiers whom Serling knew during his service and who died in action: Melvin B. Levy (crushed to death on 2/19/44, at the age of 20), Pvt. Warren R. Hibbard (killed in action on 12/13/44 at the age of 31), Pfc. Newell D. Morgan (killed in action on 12/13/44 at the age of 25), and Cpl. John T. Horton (killed in action on 12/13/44 at the age of 23). Melvin Levy was Serling’s good friend who has often been highlighted in Serling biographies. He was tragically crushed to death during an air supply drop on the island of Leyte when a large crate landed on him (Rod watched his friend’s death right before his eyes and he later placed a Star of David on his gravestone to honor his friend’s Jewish heritage). Another character’s name in the episode is nicknamed “Porky” who apparently has a piece of shrapnel stuck in his finger (he is only mentioned and never appears in the episode). Another character is nicknamed “Smitty” and has a wounded arm (Fitz speaks with him in the medical ward shortly before he dies).
• Two of the names of the four men killed in this episode appear in Serling’s short story “First Squad, First Platoon” a previously unpublished work that was later published in 2024 (with permission by the Serling family) in The Strand Magazine. The short story was initially written by Serling while in his early twenties as an undergraduate student at Antioch College. The story was edited by Nicholas Parisi, author of the 2018 biography Rod Serling: His Life, Work, and Imagination and president of the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation. The story also included brief forwards by Serling’s daughters, Jodi and Anne.
• When planning an upcoming attack, Capt. Riker reminds each platoon leader to outfit the troops with a belt, five grenades, six ammo clips, no backpacks.
• All the exterior scenes were shot at Stage 22 at MGM during the first two days of shooting. The interior scenes of the station hospital were shot on the third day at Stage 19. The exterior shot of the hospital was composed of stock footage of an “old beat-up schoolhouse commandeered by the U.S. Army and utilized as a hospital.” A scene of the exterior of the hospital was filmed but not included in the final episode.
• The set decoration inside the hospital cost $100, the interior of Riker’s and Fitz’s tent cost $50, and the cost of all the tents totaled $1,975.
• Some of the other troops named during roll call in this episode include: Verall, Ashbar, Blackman, Conley, Delgado, Denoe, Eckhart, Epstein, Evan, Farnsworth, Ford, Fitz, Febrowski, Gordon, Horsky, Hall, Harris, Hendrick, Horton, Langsworth, Jacobs, and Johnson.
• The ending credits sequence was initially intended to play over a phptograph of the shaving mirror where Fitz sees his own face at the end of the episode. However, this was changed to a shot of the “C.P. Company A Headquarters” sign.
• Director Richard L. Bare, who memorably directed nearly every episode of Green Acres and seven Twilight Zone episodes (including “To Serve Man,” “What’s in the Box?“, “The Fugitive,” “Third from the Sun,” “The Purple Testament,” “Nick of Time,” and “The Prime Mover“) later penned a memoir entitled Confessions of a Hollywood Director which opens with a gripping account of the near-deadly plane crash in the Caribbean while en route to film the pilot for The Islanders (as recounted above).
• Cayuga Productions’s future episode schedule had to be revised due to director Richard L. Bare’s injuries from the plane crash. At least one teleplay “The Chaser” had to be rescheduled and handed off to another director (Douglas Heyes).
• The “death light” lighting effect was created using manipulation of light levels and over-exposed film.
• In the scene when Captain Riker is left alone, sorting out his personal belongings and deciding to leave them behind, the soundtrack transitions to a harmonica playing a tune. The tune is from Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” second movement, a piece of music that is sometimes sung as “Going Home.” In the final scene, a wounded soldier plays it again on his harmonica (played by Ron Masak).

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