Van Cleave
Van Cleave was a composer and orchestrator for film and radio. Born in Bayfield, Wisconsin, he played with big bands, including Doc Fenton and his Sooners and Al Katz and his Kittens, he moved to New York City where he led his own band in the early 1930s played trumpet and arranged music for Charlie Barnet's orchestra. In 1933, he married Doris Blumenfeld, a Broadway chorus girl and the child of vaudeville actors of the German Blumenfeld circus family, he studied music with music theorist Joseph Schillinger. He worked in radio, as a staff arranger for Paul Whiteman, Andre Kostelanetz, Fred Waring, for CBS Radio, he invented new record needles with improved sound, founded the Duotone company, which manufactured needles. In 1945, Van Cleave moved to Los Angeles to pursue his musical career, his film credits, as composer and orchestrator, include Cinerama Holiday, The Colossus of New York, Easter Parade, Funny Face, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, White Christmas. He composed the VistaVision Fanfare to accompany the opening of theatre curtains to the wide screen format.
In addition, he worked on many TV episodes of Gunsmoke and The Twilight Zone, where he pioneered the use of the theremin in television scores. In the Gunsmoke episode "The Quest for Asa Janin," the last episode of season 8, from June 1963, with music by Van Cleave, the five-note main theme used throughout 1964's Robinson Crusoe on Mars can be heard several times. Van Cleave on IMDb Nathan Van Cleave at Soundtrack, the Cinemascore & Soundtrack Archives. Retrieved 19 September 2014. "VistaVision Fanfare" Score at the University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center. Nathan Van Cleave papers
One for the Angels
"One for the Angels" is the second episode of the American anthology television series The Twilight Zone. It aired on October 9, 1959 on CBS. Lou Bookman is a kindly sidewalk pitchman who sells and repairs toys and trinkets, is adored by the neighborhood children. One day, Bookman is visited by Mr. Death, who tells him that he is to die at midnight of natural causes. Unable to dissuade Death, Bookman instead convinces him to wait until Bookman has made his greatest sales pitch: "one for the angels". Death agrees, Bookman announces he is retiring, smug that he has cheated Death. Death concedes Bookman has found a loophole in their agreement, but warns Bookman that someone else now has to die in his place. Death chooses Maggie, a little girl who lives in Bookman's apartment building and is a friend of his. Maggie falls into a coma. Bookman begs Death to take him instead. Bookman gets out his wares and begins to eloquently boast one item after or another, making the greatest sales pitch of his life—one so great that he entices Death himself.
Death buys item after item and does not remember his appointment with Maggie until it is past midnight, when he has missed it. When Maggie awakens, her doctor leaves the apartment and sees Bookman, assuring him that Maggie will live. Death observes that by making that great sales pitch, Bookman has met the original terms of their deal. Now content and willing to accept his fate, Bookman packs his things and leaves with Death toward Heaven, remarking that "you never know who might need something up there", he looks to Death, adding "Up there?" and Death replies, "Up there, Mr. Bookman. You made it." Ed Wynn as Lewis J. "Lou" Bookman Murray Hamilton as Mr. Death Dana Dillaway as Maggie Polanski Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 DeVoe, Bill.. Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0 Grams, Martin.. The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0 Sander, Gordon F. Serling: the rise and twilight of television's last angry man.
New York: Penguin Books, 1992. ISBN 0-525-93550-9 "One for the Angels" on IMDb "One for the Angels" at TV.com
Where Is Everybody?
"Where Is Everybody?" is the first episode of the American anthology television series The Twilight Zone. It was broadcast on October 2, 1959 on CBS. A man finds himself alone on a dirt road dressed in a U. S. Air Force flight suit, having no memory of how he got there, he finds a diner and walks in to find a jukebox playing loudly and a hot pot of coffee on the stove, but there are no other people besides himself. He accidentally breaks a clock, upon which the jukebox stops playing; the man walks toward a nearby town. Like the diner, the rest of the town seems deserted, but the man seems to find evidence of someone being there recently; the man grows unsettled as he wanders through the empty town, needing someone to talk to but at the same time feeling that he is being watched. In a soda shop, the man notices an entire spinning rack of paperback books titled The Last Man on Earth, Feb. 1959. As night falls, the lights in the park turn on, leading the man to a movie theater, the marquee of, illuminated.
He remembers he is an Air Force soldier from Battle Hymn. When the film begins onscreen, he runs to the projection booth and finds nobody there becomes more paranoid that he is being watched. Running through the streets in a panic, the man hits a pedestrian call button; the call button is revealed to be a panic button: the man, whose name is given as Sgt. Mike Ferris, is in an isolation booth being observed by a group of uniformed servicemen, he has been undergoing tests to determine his fitness as an astronaut and whether he can handle a prolonged trip to the Moon alone, though the town was a hallucination caused by sensory deprivation. The officiating general warns Ferris that while his basic needs will be provided for in space travel, he will not have companionship: "next time be alone". Ferris is carried from the hangar on a stretcher as he tells the Moon in the sky not to "go away up there", reminding himself of the loneliness he faces. Earl Holliman as Mike Ferris James Gregory as General Garry Walberg as Colonel Serling's original pilot for The Twilight Zone was "The Happy Place", which revolved around a society in which people were executed upon reaching the age of 60, being considered no longer useful.
CBS executive William Self rejected the story, feeling it was too dark. Unlike other episodes, which were filmed at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, "Where is Everybody?" was filmed at Universal. The episode featured Westbrook Van Voorhis as narrator; when Voorhis was unavailable for episodes, Serling re-recorded the narration himself for consistency. Serling notably changed the opening narration to place the Twilight Zone within the fifth dimension, among other alterations. Serling adapted "Where is Everybody?" for a novelization titled Stories From the Twilight Zone. Serling grew dissatisfied with the lack of science fiction content and changed the story to include Ferris discovering a movie ticket in his pocket while on the stretcher. A variation on this plotline was used in the episode "King Nine Will Not Return"; the New York Times praised the episode, saying that Serling proved "that science cannot foretell what may be the effect of total isolation on a human being", though " resolution... seemed trite and anticlimactic.
In the desultory field of filmed half-hour drama, however, Mr. Serling should not have much trouble in making his mark. At least his series promises to be different. Charles Beaumont praised the episode in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science-Fiction, writing that he "read Serling's first script... Old stuff? Of course. I thought so at the time... but there was one element in the story which kept me from my customary bitterness. The element was quality. Quality shone on every page, it shone in the scene set-ups. And because of this, the story seemed new and powerful. There was one compromise, but it was made for the purpose of selling the series." DeVoe, Bill.. Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0 Grams, Martin.. The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0 Full video of the episode at CBS.com "Where Is Everybody?" on IMDb "Where Is Everybody?" at TV.com
Death Ship (The Twilight Zone)
"Death Ship" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, based on a short story with the same title by Richard Matheson. The story was inspired by the legend of the Flying Dutchman. In this episode, a spaceship crew discovers a wrecked replica of their ship with their own dead bodies inside; the Space Cruiser E-89, crewed by Captain Paul Ross, Lt. Ted Mason and Lt. Mike Carter, is on a mission to analyze new worlds and discover if they are suitable for colonization. While orbiting a planet, Mason sees a metallic glint in the landscape, he conjectures that this might be a sign of alien life. The Cruiser prepares to land next to the mysterious object. After landing, the men find that the gleaming comes from the wreck of a ship like their own. Inside the craft, they discover their own lifeless bodies. Mason and Carter go numb with shock. Ross, struggling for an explanation, decides they have bent time in such a way as to get a glimpse of the future, he says to avoid their fate.
Mason and Carter fiercely object to this plan once they find that atmospheric interference prevents their contacting anyone for help, that the frigid nighttime temperatures of the planet will force them to exhaust the ship's energy reserves on heat. Ross pulls rank to make them comply. While looking out the viewport, Carter is transported back to a country lane on Earth. There he encounters people from his past, he runs to the house that he and his wife shared, finds it empty except for a telegram notifying her that he has died in the line of duty. Carter is wrenched from his vision by Ross; the two find Mason has vanished. He is having an emotional reunion with his dead child; when Ross pulls him back, Mason is enraged and wants to be allowed back, maintaining that his encounter with his family was real. Ross posits a new theory of what is going on: The planet is inhabited by telepathic aliens who are using illusions to keep them from reporting back to Earth, thus averting colonization of their home.
Ross says. The men take E-89 back in orbit. Mason and Carter admit. Ross insists on landing the craft again to gather foreign samples to bring back to Earth; when they land again, the wreck of their craft is still present. The successive disproving of Ross's theories, combined with an intuitive knowledge of their condition, brings Mason and Carter to the realization that they crashed and are dead, their afterlife visits were real, it is their current situation, the illusion. Ross refuses to accept this, he rejects his crew's pleas to be allowed to embrace their deaths and be reunited with their loved ones, says that they will "go over it again and again" until he figures out an alternative explanation. In compliance with Ross's order, the men are returned to the moment where Mason first spotted the E-89's wreckage, doomed to relive the past several hours of investigation over and over; the model of the hovering spaceship is that of a C-57D Cruiser, a leftover prop from MGM's 1956 film Forbidden Planet.
The crashed ship was a realistically painted model/set. The prop was used in the 1960 Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street". A crew member shirt used in the episode "On Thursday We Leave for Home" was offered at auction in late September 2015 by Profiles in History with an estimated value of US$1,000 to $1,500, with a winning bid of US$1,600 by Mathew G. Perrone, a private collector. Jack Klugman as Capt. Paul Ross Ross Martin as Lt. Ted Mason Fred Beir as Lt. Mike Carter Mary Webster as Ruth Mason Ross Elliott as Kramer Sara Taft as Mrs. Nolan Tammy Marihugh as Jeannie Mason DeVoe, Bill.. Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0 Grams, Martin.. The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0 "Death Ship" on IMDb "Death Ship" at TV.com
Druid
A druid was a member of the high-ranking professional class in ancient Celtic cultures. Best remembered as religious leaders, they were legal authorities, lorekeepers, medical professionals, political advisors. While the druids are reported to have been literate, they are believed to have been prevented by doctrine from recording their knowledge in written form, thus they left no written accounts of themselves, they are however attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as the Romans and the Greeks. The earliest known references to the druids date to the fourth century BCE and the oldest detailed description comes from Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico, they were described by Greco-Roman writers such as Cicero and Pliny the Elder. Following the Roman invasion of Gaul, the druid orders were suppressed by the Roman government under the 1st century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius, had disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century. In about 750 CE the word druid appears in a poem by Blathmac, who wrote about Jesus, saying that he was "... better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king, a bishop and a complete sage."
The druids also appear in some of the medieval tales from Christianized Ireland like the "Táin Bó Cúailnge", where they are portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity. In the wake of the Celtic revival during the 18th and 19th centuries and neopagan groups were founded based on ideas about the ancient druids, a movement known as Neo-Druidism. Many popular notions about druids, based on misconceptions of 18th century scholars, have been superseded by more recent study; the modern English word druid derives from the Latin druidēs, considered by ancient Roman writers to come from the native Celtic Gaulish word for these figures. Other Roman texts employ the form druidae, while the same term was used by Greek ethnographers as δρυΐδης. Although no extant Romano-Celtic inscription is known to contain the form, the word is cognate with the insular Celtic words, Old Irish druí ‘druid, sorcerer’, Old Cornish druw, Middle Welsh dryw ‘seer. Based on all available forms, the hypothetical proto-Celtic word may be reconstructed as *dru-wid-s meaning "oak-knower".
The two elements go back to the Proto-Indo-European roots *deru- and *weid- "to see". The sense of "oak-knower" or "oak-seer" is supported by Pliny the Elder, who in his Natural History considered the word to contain the Greek noun drýs, "oak-tree" and the Greek suffix -idēs. Both Old Irish druí and Middle Welsh dryw could refer to the wren connected with an association of that bird with augury in Irish and Welsh tradition. Sources by ancient and medieval writers provide an idea of the religious duties and social roles involved in being a druid; the Greco-Roman and the vernacular Irish sources agree that the druids played an important part in pagan Celtic society. In his description, Julius Caesar claimed that they were one of the two most important social groups in the region and were responsible for organizing worship and sacrifices and judicial procedure in Gaulish and Irish societies, he claimed that they were exempt from military service and from the payment of taxes, had the power to excommunicate people from religious festivals, making them social outcasts.
Two other classical writers, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo wrote about the role of druids in Gallic society, claiming that the druids were held in such respect that if they intervened between two armies they could stop the battle. Pomponius Mela is the first author who says that the druids' instruction was secret and took place in caves and forests. Druidic lore consisted of a large number of verses learned by heart, Caesar remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete the course of study. What was taught to druid novices anywhere is conjecture: of the druids' oral literature, not one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived in translation. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes, Caesar reports, the Gauls had a written language in which they used Greek characters. In this he draws on earlier writers. Greek and Roman writers made reference to the druids as practitioners of human sacrifice. According to Caesar, those, found guilty of theft or other criminal offences were considered preferable for use as sacrificial victims, but when criminals were in short supply, innocents would be acceptable.
A form of sacrifice recorded by Caesar was the burning alive of victims in a large wooden effigy, now known as a wicker man. A differing account came from the 10th-century Commenta Bernensia, which claimed that sacrifices to the deities Teutates and Taranis were by drowning and burning, respectively. Diodorus Siculus asserts that a sacrifice acceptable to the Celtic gods had to be attended by a druid, for they were the intermediaries between the people and the divinities, he remarked upon the importance of prophets in druidic ritual: "These men predict the future by observing the flight and calls of birds and by the sacrifice of holy animals: all orders of society are in their power... and in important matters they prepare a human victim, plunging a dagger into his chest.
The Last Flight (The Twilight Zone)
"The Last Flight" is episode 18 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Part of the production was filmed on location at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California; the vintage 1918 Nieuport 28 biplane was both owned and flown by Frank Gifford Tallman, had appeared in many World War I motion pictures. Flight Lieutenant William Terrance "Terry" Decker of 56 Squadron Royal Flying Corps lands his Nieuport biplane on an American airbase in France, after flying through a strange cloud, he is taken into custody and questioned by the American base commander, Major General Harper, his provost marshal, Major Wilson. Decker identifies himself and his squadron and claims that the date is March 5, 1917, he is informed that it is March 5, 1959. Decker tells the officers that he and his comrade Alexander "Old Leadbottom" Mackaye were fighting seven German aircraft; the Americans tell him that Mackaye is alive and is an Air Vice Marshal in the Royal Air Force, a war hero from World War II who saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives by shooting down German bombers over London.
The American officers add that Air Vice Marshal Mackaye, in addition to being alive and well, is coming to the base that day for an inspection. Major Wilson tries to help Decker remember. Decker confesses that he has avoided combat throughout his service, that he deliberately abandoned the outnumbered Mackaye when the two were attacked by the German fighters, he refuses to believe. When Wilson suggests that someone else helped Mackaye, Decker realizes that he has been given a second chance, he tells the American officer that there was no one within fifty miles who could have come to Mackaye's aid, so if Mackaye survived, it had to be because Decker went back himself. Knowing he cannot have much time to go back to 1917, Decker pleads with Wilson to release him from custody; when Wilson refuses, Decker escapes. Running outside, he locates his plane, punches a mechanic who tries to get in his way, starts the plane's engine, he is about to take off when Wilson puts a pistol to his head. Decker tells Wilson he will have to shoot him to stop him, as he would rather die than remain a coward.
After hesitating, Wilson allows him to escape and Decker flies his plane into white clouds and vanishes. Major Wilson is rebuked by Major General Harper for believing such a fantastic story and for allowing Decker to escape; when Mackaye arrives, Wilson asks he. Mackaye, says Decker saved his life. In March 1917, Mackaye and Decker were attacked. Decker flew off into a cloud, Mackaye believed at first that Decker had abandoned him. Decker came diving out of the cloud, proceeded to shoot down three of the German planes before being shot down himself. General Harper shows Mackaye Decker's badge and personal effects, startling Mackaye, who remarks that those items had never been returned by the Germans. Major Wilson suggests that "Old Leadbottom"—a nickname known only by Mackaye's comrades back in World War I—sit down while it is explained how these items came into the Americans' possession; this was the first episode of The Twilight Zone scripted by Richard Matheson. Rod Serling had adapted the episode "And When the Sky Was Opened" from a short story of Matheson's.
The United States Air Force major general refers to Mackaye as "sir", suggests that he is a superior officer inspecting the air base. However, Mackaye is ranked as an air vice marshal, a Royal Air Force rank equivalent to major general, thereby making the two officers equals – unless the American general was junior in rank by date of commission; the Royal Flying Corps never flew the Nieuport 28, which did not enter service until 1918. The death of Georges Guynemer is mentioned by Decker but Guynemer died in September 1917, six months after Decker's last flight. 56 Squadron was not deployed until April 1917, at which point it flew the S. E.5 aircraft. The rank of flight lieutenant existed in the Royal Naval Air Service and in the RAF but it never was used in the Royal Flying Corps. However, the only reference to "flight lieutenant" is during Mr. Serling's introduction. However, "Second lieutenant" the most junior commissioned officer rank is equal to a "Pilot Officer" in the RAF. Flight Lieutenant is equal to the Army rank of Captain.
DeVoe, Bill.. Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0 Grams, Martin.. The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0 "The Last Flight" on IMDb
Third from the Sun
"Third from the Sun" is episode 14 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It is based on a short story of the same name by Richard Matheson which first appeared in the first issue of the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction in October 1950. Will Sturka, a scientist who works at a military base, has been producing a great number of H-bombs in preparation for imminent nuclear war. Sturka realizes that there is only one way to escape—steal an experimental, top-secret spacecraft stored at the base, he plans to bring Sturka's daughter Jody. The two plot for months, making arrangements for their departure; when production of the bombs increases, Sturka realizes. He and Riden decide to put their plan in action—take their families to the craft to tour it, overpower the guards and take off. Sturka's superior Carling overhears the two men talking; that night, everyone gathers for a game of cards where Riden reveals that he has found a place to go—a small planet 11 million miles away. During the game, Carling unexpectedly appears at the door and hints that he knows what the group is planning.
He hints at trouble: "A lot can happen in forty-eight hours." After he leaves and Riden inform the women that they must leave that moment. When the five arrive at the site of the spacecraft and Riden spot their contact, who flashes a light; when the contact steps forward, though, he is revealed to be Carling, armed with a gun. He prepares to call the authorities; the women, who have been waiting in the car, watch as Carling orders them out. Jody throws the car's door open, knocking the gun from Carling's hand and giving the men enough time to overpower him; the group rushes into the ship. That evening, the group has safely escaped their doomed planet and are on course. Sturka comments. Riden smiles as he points out on the ship's viewer their mysterious destination, 11 million miles away—the third planet from the Sun, called "Earth". Todd VanDerWerff of The A. V. Club rated it A and called the twist "justifiably famous". "Probe 7, Over and Out", another Twilight Zone episode with a similar plot. "The Invaders", another episode in which a farm woman encounters tiny "alien" astronauts, who are Earthlings.
"Death Ship" is a TZ episode again featuring the Forbidden Planet Cruiser, where explorers find their ship E-89 has somehow crashed on the alien planet they have just found. Ancient astronaut theory DeVoe, Bill.. Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0 Grams, Martin.. The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0 "Third from the Sun" on IMDb "Third from the Sun" at TV.com Matheson, Richard. "Third from the Sun". Galaxy Science Fiction. P. 61. Retrieved 17 October 2013
