The Twilight Zone: Season 1, Episode Twenty-Three “A World of Difference”

Original Air Date: March 11, 1960
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Ted Post

“Gerry, sometimes I’d like to escape, myself. Away from this turmoil… to some simpler existence.”

“A World of Difference” is a disorienting, meta-episode of The Twilight Zone. It explores one man’s feeling of fraudulence and paranoia as he’s being watched, as if his life is on a stage, and his desire for escapism. The cinematography in this episode was completed by Harkness Smith (George T. Clemens declined to participate) and Smith’s unique lens offers a compelling set of visuals as we surprisingly break the fourth wall and step offscreen into a completely different world. “A World of Difference” is a disorienting episode that forces us to question: what is Arthur Curtis’s true reality?

“You’re looking at a tableau of reality, things of substance, of physical material: a desk, a window, a light. These things exist and have dimension. Now this is Arthur Curtis, age thirty-six, who also is real. He has flesh and blood, muscle and mind. But in just a moment we will see how thin a line separates that which we assume to be real with that manufactured inside of a mind.”
-Rod Serling

Arthur Curtis (played by Howard Duff, husband of Ida Lupino who starred in “The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine” and directed “The Masks“) is a middle-class businessman who is planning a trip to San Francisco with his wife. He arrives at his office, talks to his secretary, and then discovers that his phone is not working. He turns toward the camera when he hears someone yell “cut!” Suddenly the ‘fourth wall’ of his office is blurred away and he discovers that his life is actually being filmed on a sound stage. Everyone on set refers to him as Gerald “Gerry” Raigan (“Arthur Curtis” is merely a character he is playing). He is an actor who has been struggling with mental health problems, alcoholism, and a nasty divorce (his malicious ex-wife is played by Eileen Ryan, widow of Leo Penn and mother of actor Sean Penn). Curtis insists he has no memory of this identity as Gerald Raigan.

Raigan’s agent announces he is being dropped after losing the part of Arthur Curtis due to his apparent nervous breakdown, and Raigan’s soon to be ex-wife is hunting down his money, threatening to ‘bleed him dry.’ In desperation, Raigan flees back to the film set where his staged office is being torn down. He cries out to return to his former life when his secretary suddenly arrives along with his wife with the plane tickets for their trip to San Francisco. Raigan/Curtis embraces his wife as the film crew in the background begins to fade. Raigan has chosen the life of Arthur Curtis, never again to return to life in the pathetic shoes of Gerald Raigan. His plane takes off and disappears. Which was the true reality? Arthur Curtis or Gerald Raigan? We are only left to wonder.

“The modus operandi for the departure from life is usually a pine box of such and such dimensions, and this is the ultimate in reality. But there are other ways for a man to exit from life. Take the case of Arthur Curtis, age thirty-six. His departure was along a highway with an exit sign that reads, “This Way To Escape”. Arthur Curtis, en route to the Twilight Zone.”
-Rod Serling

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My Thoughts on “A World of Difference”

As in the works of Greek tragedy, “A World of Difference” shows us a man confronting an unforeseen downfall. Arthur Curtis is a man held in the clutches of supernatural powers which bind him in an impossible situation. Through no fault of his own, his horrifying leap into another reality exposes him to another life that might have been his own. There is no fable or moral allegory in “A World of Difference.” Some things in The Twilight Zone are simply there to shock us and shake us out of our complacency, or at least to make us look at the world from a different point of view. At least Arthur Curtis will think twice about ever taking his blissful existence for granted.

Containing the seed of future mind-bending films like The Truman Show (1998), “A World of Difference” is another triumph for The Twilight Zone, filled with excellent performances from Howard Duff and Eileen Ryan, wonderful camerawork by Harkness Smith that shows us just enough to make us wonder, and pitch-perfect music by Nathan Van Cleave. Chalk this one up to another classic delusional, isolated man in a Richard Matheson.

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Credits:

• Director: Ted Post
• Written by: Richard Matheson
• Music: Nathan Van Cleave
• Director of Photography: Harkness Smith
• 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:
  • Howard Duff…..Arthur Curtis/Gerald “Gerry” Raigan
    • Howard Duff (1913-1990) started his career in radio during World War II. His most memorable radio role was as Dashiell Hammett’s private eye Sam Spade in The Adventures of Sam Spade (1946–1950) but he was continually dogged with accusations of being a communist so he left to work in Hollywood. He apepared in episodes of Batman, The Virginian, All My Sons, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and others. He also directed television episodes. He tempestuous relationship with actress Ava Gardner and married Ida Lupino in 1951 (she starred in The Twilight Zone episode “The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine” and directed “The Masks“). They had one daughter together before separating in 1966 and divorcing in 1984. They were both staunch Democrats, Duff later remarried. After this episode was complete, Ida Lupino loved Duff’s performance so much that she asked Rod Serling for a 16mm print of it so she could one day play it for their daughter, Bridget. Duff passed away in 1990 in Santa Barbara of a heart attack.
  • Eileen Ryan…..Nora Raigan, Arthur Curtis’s maniacal ex-wife
    • Eileen Ryan (1927-2022) was the wife of actor and director Leo Penn, and the mother of actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn, as well as the singer Michael Penn. Throughout her acting career, she had small appearances in shows like Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie. She died at her home in Malibu in 2022 at the age of 94.
  • David White…..Brinkley
    • David White (1916-1990) was best known for playing Darrin Stephens’s boss Larry Tate on the comedy show Bewitched. He also appeared in shows like Perry Mason, Peter Gunn, Mr. Lucky, The Untouchables, The Fugitive, Mission: Impossible, My Three Sons, Father Knows Best , The Six Million Dollar Man, Bonanza, Have Gun – Will Travel, My Favorite Martian, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wonder Woman, and Dick Tracy. He played a philandering executive in The Apartment (1960). His first marriage was to actress Mary Welch who tragically died of complications from their second pregnancy. Their son also tragically died in 1988 at the age of 33 in the Lockerbie bombing.
  • Gail Kobe…..Sally, Arthur Curtis’s Secretary
    • Gail Kobe (1932-2013) was an actress and producer. She appeared in shows like Peyton Place, The Outer Limits, Hogan’s Heroes, Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, Mission: Impossible, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, as well as three episodes of The Twilight Zone (“In His Image,” “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross,” and “A World of Difference”). She was married twice and died in 2013.
  • Peter Walker…..Sam
    • Peter Walker (1927-present) appeared in over 30 films and television programs, and was primarily known for his appearance in this episode of The Twilight Zone. Amazingly, he is still alive as of the time I write this review.
  • Frank Maxwell…..Marty Fisher
    • Charles Francis Maxwell (1916-2004) was an American actor who served as president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists during the 1980s. He appeared in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, and All In The Family. He had one child and died in Santa Monica in 2004.
  • Bill Idelson…..Stagehand/Kelly
    • William “Bill” Idelson (1919-2007) was an American actor, writer, director and producer widely known for his teenage role as Rush Gook on the radio comedy “Vic and Sade” and his recurring television role as Herman Glimscher on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s. His parents were Russian immigrants; he joined the U.S. Navy in World War II and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and four Air Medals as a night fighter pilot. He later married actress Seemah Wilder with whom he had three sons and a daughter. He later wrote an episode for The Twilight Zone (“Long Distance Call“). He died of complications from a hip injury in 2007.
  • Bob McCord…..Camera Crew Member
    • Robert “Bob” McCord III (1915-1980) appeared in a variety of Westerns in addition to The Twilight Zone. He set a record for appearing on The Twilight Zone 75 times (mostly uncredited). He was known as “Bud McCord.”
  • Susan Dorn…..Marion Curtis, Arthur Curtis’s wife
  • Thomas Martin…..technician
  • Chester Brandberg…..silent bit part
  • Joel Norden…..film technician
  • Jerry Schumacher…..silent bit part

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The Twilight Zone Trivia:

• Nathan Van Cleave’s score for this episode features an organ-like synthesizer.
• Harkness Smith completed the cinematography for this episode after George T. Clemens declined to work with him; the visuals in the episode are stunning and unique, particularly the shadow play and removal of Curtis’s wall.
• The entire scene at the beginning with Curtis in his office was shot in one take, the wall of his office was apparently on wheels and thus was able to ‘disappear’ in an easy way.
• This episode offers a fantastic tour through various MGMs backlot sets, such as the Philadelphia Story House (Howard Duff walks right up to the door where Cary Grant pushed down Katharine Hepburn).
• The stairway that Jerry runs down was located at Stage 9 (the same stairway and living room set was featured in “Elegy“).
• The painting hanging on the wall in the Raigan house is also hanging on the wall in “Third From The Sun” and it appears in Mr. Penell’s office “The Four of Us Are Dying.”
• At one point, Curtis comments to his secretary about going on vacation with his wife on Saturday night to San Francisco. This is an in-joke and a nod to Howard Duff’s role as the private detective Sam Spade on The Adventures of Sam Spade which took place in San Francisco.
• Several letters were sent to Rod Serling from fans who did not understand the ending. Serling forwarded them along to Richard Matheson.
• The Thunderbird used in this episode was a studio car rental for $5.00 for one hour of shooting.
• This episode was later parodied on Saturday Night Live with the skit showing the Star Trek crew in denial of their shows cancellation.
• Arthur Curtis has worked for the last seven years at The Davis Morton Company located at 189 Brand Street, Los Angeles, CA. At the start of the episode, he asks his secretary about the Matson account (Matson is a long-standing American shipping company).
• Arthur Curtis is said to be 36, though Howard Duff was actually 47 at the time.
• The name of the script Gerry is starring in is called “The Private World of Arthur Curtis.”

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