Last weekend, The Sci-Fi Channel did something they usually do every 4th of July or so. They did a 3 day Twilight Zone Marathon. I love it when they do that! I have always loved The Twilight Zone. I used to watch the re-runs growing up on the old Channel 20 and Channel 50 in DC. Before UPN. Before The WB. LOL! I have so many favorite episodes.
It made me think of Rod Serling, the man. Who was he really? I mean, we all know who he was, but who was he really as a person?
A very interesting interview I read he did back in 1974 that Starlog Magazine starlog published in 1994 came to mind. Both, writer Robert R. Rees and Rod Serling have since passed on, but the interview was good to me because it shows a different side of Serling then we were used to seeing on TV. It wasn't even that the interview was so deep or profane. It was because it took place over a couple days with his driver at a convention to and from the airport. Casual, spontaneous and on the fly.
It begins, "Driving Rod Serling - Twenty years ago, one fan had an encounter truly out of "The Twilight Zone." By Robert R. Rees, Illustrated by Kevin Brockschmidt, kevscartoons.com, STARLOG June #203/1994.
Here is a snippet for you:
Driving Rod Serling
Twenty years ago, one fan had an encounter truly out of "The Twilight Zone."
By Robert R. Rees, Illustrated by Kevin Brockschmidt, STARLOG/June #203/1994
"In March 1974, Rod Serling was in Houston. He was in Texas courtesy of Mutual Broadcasting, during the National Association of Broadcasters Convention. His job was to promote his new radio series, Zero Hour (which he hosted), as he addressed Mutual's Annual National Convention at the Rice Hotel. At the time, I was a senior at the University of Houston, majoring in Communications. When Mutual arrived in Houston, they called the University because they needed an audio assistant and chauffeur during The Twilight Zone. I was his chauffeur during the NAB Convention days. I was the guy driving Rod Serling.
On that day, March 16, 20 years ago, I stood there in my maroon Mutual jacket waiting for Serling to come through the airport gate, where his plane had just arrived. When he finally came out, he was carrying a small briefcase and an overcoat. He was much shorter (5 feet 4 inches) than I thought he would be. Ah, the illusion of television.
At first, I was the awed fan. After all, this was the man whose work I had grown up with on television. I was going to ask him for his autograph, but I caught myself--remembering I was working with Mutual, and therefore working with him on a professional basis, as his chauffeur. I walked up to Serling and told him I was with Mutual. He was relieved that someone was there to meet him, and tell him where to find his baggage. As soon as we got in the car, Rod commented on how hot it was. He turned on the air conditioning and lit a cigarette."
The next section is titled "Meeting Rod Serling." This is where it gets funny and interesting. The last part is called, "Quizzing Rod Serling." This guy asks almost every question a fan of Twilight Zone would want to know.
There is also a more formal interview Robert R. Rees does in this issue that was done with Serling in 1974.
It begins:
"A giant of the genre, Rod Serling welcomed TV viewers to another dimension, a land known to all as The Twilight Zone. In the process, one of TV's "Angry Young Men," already famous for his live TV dramas (and movies) Requiem for a Heavyweight and Patterns, truly became a legend.
Serling also presented a later TV anthology (Night Gallery), voiced countless commercials, narrated numerous documentaries and co-scripted the film version of Planet of the Apes (1968).
In this brief interview, conducted in 1974, just a year before his death, Serling stopped to consider the challenge of a writing career and his own life in The Twilight Zone."
The first interview is pretty lengthy, but both are insightful and if you really liked The Twilight Zone, and always wanted to know more about Rod Serling as a person, it's worth picking up if you can find this issue at your local comic shop, used bookstore or online.
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