There's something obviously special about this episode. Unless I'm mistaken, it has more reviews here on IMDb than any other Hitchcock story, indicating that it must have struck enough of a nerve to have folks log in and write about it. Many of them refer to an earlier viewing years prior and the impression it made to be remembered for so long. I can't say I have that experience, since Hitchcock wasn't a regular at our house. My Dad and I watched 'The Twilight Zone', but more on that later.
The story has a rather familiar set-up - a young girl whose parents have died is taken in by her grandfather and matronly aunt, and immediately begins talking to and playing with imaginary friends with colorful names. I liked 'Mingo' and 'Mr. Peppercorn', 'Sam' and 'Popo' were a little less clever. This wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that Aunt Nell (Margaret Leighton) took exception to little Eva's (Eileen Baral) insistence that her invisible friends were real. Eva became particularly disturbed when Nell 'broke' Sam's leg by thrashing under the davenport with the vacuum cleaner where her little community lived.
When Eva's grandfather, Captain King (Benton Reid) returned from a lengthy trip, he brought home a doll for her to play with. Now this was 1965 when the program aired, and I can imagine viewers' reaction to the doll being that of a black girl, because even today it struck me as odd while watching. No reason was given for that choice, perhaps it was meant to assure and instruct Eva that racial tolerance had a place in her new home. The servant couple (Joel Fluellen, Juanita Moore) in the Snyder home were African-American, and the woman Suse had a particular fondness for Eva.
As tension mounted between Aunt Nell and Eva regarding her vivid imagination, the young girl would leave the house to play in the nearby woods with Numa (Lila Perry), the black doll come to life. Aunt Nell's reaction was particularly aggressive, which logically would have been a good opportunity for Nell to accept a real-life playmate for Eva, potentially replacing the imaginary ones. Instead, she chases Numa away, and when she searches for Eva, she's shocked to be reminded of Eva's promise that if Nell persisted in her denial, Eva would take Numa's place in the box that Captain King brought home with him. Because the idea was telegraphed earlier, it doesn't come across as a complete shocker, but what's striking is how much the now white doll resembled the young actress portraying Eva.
Getting back to the Twilight Zone connection, there were two Rod Serling stories involving not dolls, but ventriloquist dummies. The fifth season episode 'Caesar and Me' had Jackie Cooper as a down and out entertainer, whose dummy suggested burglary as an option! But the better parallel to this Hitchcock episode was Season Three's 'The Dummy', in which Cliff Robertson, as a failing alcoholic, becomes successful again when he and his dummy switch places!
The story has a rather familiar set-up - a young girl whose parents have died is taken in by her grandfather and matronly aunt, and immediately begins talking to and playing with imaginary friends with colorful names. I liked 'Mingo' and 'Mr. Peppercorn', 'Sam' and 'Popo' were a little less clever. This wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that Aunt Nell (Margaret Leighton) took exception to little Eva's (Eileen Baral) insistence that her invisible friends were real. Eva became particularly disturbed when Nell 'broke' Sam's leg by thrashing under the davenport with the vacuum cleaner where her little community lived.
When Eva's grandfather, Captain King (Benton Reid) returned from a lengthy trip, he brought home a doll for her to play with. Now this was 1965 when the program aired, and I can imagine viewers' reaction to the doll being that of a black girl, because even today it struck me as odd while watching. No reason was given for that choice, perhaps it was meant to assure and instruct Eva that racial tolerance had a place in her new home. The servant couple (Joel Fluellen, Juanita Moore) in the Snyder home were African-American, and the woman Suse had a particular fondness for Eva.
As tension mounted between Aunt Nell and Eva regarding her vivid imagination, the young girl would leave the house to play in the nearby woods with Numa (Lila Perry), the black doll come to life. Aunt Nell's reaction was particularly aggressive, which logically would have been a good opportunity for Nell to accept a real-life playmate for Eva, potentially replacing the imaginary ones. Instead, she chases Numa away, and when she searches for Eva, she's shocked to be reminded of Eva's promise that if Nell persisted in her denial, Eva would take Numa's place in the box that Captain King brought home with him. Because the idea was telegraphed earlier, it doesn't come across as a complete shocker, but what's striking is how much the now white doll resembled the young actress portraying Eva.
Getting back to the Twilight Zone connection, there were two Rod Serling stories involving not dolls, but ventriloquist dummies. The fifth season episode 'Caesar and Me' had Jackie Cooper as a down and out entertainer, whose dummy suggested burglary as an option! But the better parallel to this Hitchcock episode was Season Three's 'The Dummy', in which Cliff Robertson, as a failing alcoholic, becomes successful again when he and his dummy switch places!