Transcript Rod Serling - WordPress.com

Creator of the Twilight Zone
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1924-1975
Born in New York
Second born into
family of grocers
Very imaginative
child, put on plays for
his family on the stage
his father built him
Practical joker / class
clown
Seventh grade teacher
inspired him to pursue
a life of entertainment
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Rather than going to college, Serling enlisted in the
army to participate in WWII
Serling contemplated dropping out of high school
to enlist, but his Government teacher told him that
“War is temporary. Education is a lifetime.”
Took up boxing to relieve stress while enlisted
Being a Jewish man, he wanted to fight Hitler
Witnessed many unexpected deaths, and inspired
future stories
Awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and
Philippine Liberation Medal
Suffered from PTSD
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Worked at a rehabilitation center for veterans, as
he was rehabilitating from a GSW to the knee
He fell down many flights of stairs, because his
knee never really healed
Graduated from college with a bachelors in
Literature; while in college, participated in the
campus radio station
While in college, he met Carolyn Louise Kramer,
and wanted to date her, but she continually turned
him down, because he was known as a “ladies’
man”
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Serling finally convinced
Kramer to give him a
chance, and they finally
ended up getting married
in 1948
He converted from Judaism
to Unitarianism so he could
marry Kramer
They had two daughters,
Jodi and Anne
Spent a majority of his
summers in New York
Worked as a parachute
tester to provide income for
his family
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Worked for and wrote for many radio stations
Won several prizes for his work on the radio
In the early years of his career, he tried to get
into television and received 40 rejection slips
Finally got a break in 1955 when his 70-second
script aired
He grew tired of stations “tearing apart” his
scripts, and decided to make his own show
He proposed a science-fiction show that CBS
aired under DesiLu’s studio
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Due to the popularity of
his episode on “Desilu
Playhouse”, CBS let him
have his own show that
he entitled, “The
Twilight Zone”
“The Twilight Zone” was
a show that aired
science-fiction stories
that usually had
unexpected endings
Twilight Zone means
“gray area” or the time in
between night and day
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“The Twilight Zone” premiered in 1959, and ran 156
episodes, with Serling writing 92 of them
Many episodes of “The Twilight Zone” were
controversial (i.e. “I Am The Night – Color Me Black”
“The Twilight Zone” was cancelled TWICE, but was
renewed both times
When “The Twilight Zone” was finally cancelled for
the third time, Serling tried to create more TV shows,
but none ever gained the popularity of “The Twilight
Zone”
He also wrote many prose works and did appearances
on many school campuses
“The Twilight Zone” came back to television twice
after Serling death in the 1980s and early 2000s
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Anti-War Activism
“The Rack” – soldier conspiring with Koreans
 “No Christmas This Year” – Santa being shot at
 “24 Men to a Plane” – soldiers jump too early
 Supported McCarthy while running for President
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Misanthropy
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"The Fever", "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street",
"Mr. Dingle, the Strong" and "The Shelter"
Racial Equity
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“A Town Has Turned to Dust” – lynching
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Serling died at the age of
50, of a fifth heart attack
during open heart
surgery
The public thought that
he died of lung cancer, as
he was a lifelong smoker
Truth: Serling died of
heart failure in his 50s,
like both his father and
grandfather
By his death, Serling had
won more than twenty
awards for “The Twilight
Zone”
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Disney’s Tower of
Terror is centered
around “TTZ”
When in the Tower of
Terror, you actually
see a hologram of
Serling and the very
famous introduction
to each episode