A user instead of a bringer, that's how Miss Devlin (Julie Newmar) characterizes old Feathersmith (Albert Salmi) when he's down and out and about to go utterly bust in the Cliffordville of his past. Too impatient to use the skills that made him a multi-millionaire in the first place, Feathersmith falls victim to the premise that one can find a shortcut to success.
For those viewers thinking of making their own deal with the devil, these Twilight Zone stories would be a good primer on how to avoid all those nasty pitfalls that human frailty is subject to. Like a faulty memory that forgets an important invention takes place a quarter century in the future. Or that a former object of one's desire turns out to be Joanna Gibbons (Christine Burke). Man, what was Feathersmith thinking about?
For us older fans, one of the treats here is catching all those great character actors turning up in one program. John Anderson showed up in just about every TV Western series that ever came out, while Wright King managed an extended run as Josh Randall's sidekick in the second season of 'Wanted:Dead or Alive'. Then there's Julie Newmar, the gal that put the purr in Catwoman in the mid-Sixties 'Batman' TV show.
Hey, here's something I picked up on while watching this show. As Feathersmith nears the end of his rope, he solicits Miss Devlin (Newmar) to return him to the future while in that warehouse basement. Take note of the tall crate marked 'This End Up' - it was used as one of the props in the prior episode of the series, 'The New Exhibit', one of the crates a wax figure arrived in. This kind of thing happened before, and I wonder if Serling threw those things in intentionally to see who was paying attention. Or more likely, a way of recycling props to keep expenses down.
Of course the twist ending is what everyone comes to appreciate with these stories, but this one had a pretty good moral to teach as well. Working for something and earning it is a whole lot more satisfying than just having it - a lesson not necessarily confined to an outer region of the Twilight Zone.
For those viewers thinking of making their own deal with the devil, these Twilight Zone stories would be a good primer on how to avoid all those nasty pitfalls that human frailty is subject to. Like a faulty memory that forgets an important invention takes place a quarter century in the future. Or that a former object of one's desire turns out to be Joanna Gibbons (Christine Burke). Man, what was Feathersmith thinking about?
For us older fans, one of the treats here is catching all those great character actors turning up in one program. John Anderson showed up in just about every TV Western series that ever came out, while Wright King managed an extended run as Josh Randall's sidekick in the second season of 'Wanted:Dead or Alive'. Then there's Julie Newmar, the gal that put the purr in Catwoman in the mid-Sixties 'Batman' TV show.
Hey, here's something I picked up on while watching this show. As Feathersmith nears the end of his rope, he solicits Miss Devlin (Newmar) to return him to the future while in that warehouse basement. Take note of the tall crate marked 'This End Up' - it was used as one of the props in the prior episode of the series, 'The New Exhibit', one of the crates a wax figure arrived in. This kind of thing happened before, and I wonder if Serling threw those things in intentionally to see who was paying attention. Or more likely, a way of recycling props to keep expenses down.
Of course the twist ending is what everyone comes to appreciate with these stories, but this one had a pretty good moral to teach as well. Working for something and earning it is a whole lot more satisfying than just having it - a lesson not necessarily confined to an outer region of the Twilight Zone.