Cayuga Production #
4864
Originally aired
February 28, 1963
After entertaining us with
multiple manifestations during the first two seasons of The Twilight Zone, His Satanic Majesty (a.k.a. Ol’ Scratch,
Beelzebub, Lucifer, The Prince of Darkness, The Devil; he answers to all of
them) apparently took last year off. Happily (or not, depending on your
religious/spiritual inclination), he/she/it makes up for it by appearing twice this season.
50 years ago tonight, The Evil
One visited the city of Danzburg under the name “Mr. Smith.” His target?
One Douglas Winter, editor of the failing Danzburg Courier. Winter’s
just lost his linotype operator to the competing Danzburg Gazette, effectively spelling the end of his paper. Full of self-loathing and liquor, Winter is poised
to jump off a bridge… until Smith shows up out of nowhere, looking for a
job. It seems he’s an expert linotype
operator and a crack reporter to boot.
Smith’s diabolical work on The Courier comes with an interesting
twist: he isn't directly influencing
events in Danzburg; rather, he’s “made some modifications” to the paper’s linotype
machine that causes whatever is typed into it to come true. This ultimately causes Smith’s plans to
unravel, as the linotype machine twists reality regardless of who uses it. Some may cry deus ex machina, but I think it’s a nice touch.
"Printer's Devil" is scored with an impressive array of CBS library cues, including selections from previous TZ scores "The Big Tall Wish" and "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" (the latter is put to great use to build suspense during act four; both are composed by Jerry Goldsmith). CBS Music Director Lud Gluskin had an amazing knack for choosing preexisting music for episodes for which original scores hadn't been commissioned. "Printer's Devil" is a perfect example of this: the entire score, stock though it is, is imminently listenable on its own (happily, it's isolated on the season four Definitive DVD and blu-ray sets for our listening pleasure).
This is the fourth and final TZ
appearance by the great Burgess Meredith: he’s previously graced “Time Enough at Last” and “The Obsolete Man” (he also starred in the dreadful “Mr. Dingle, the Strong,” but we try not to talk about that ‘round here). He’s just
marvelous as the (literally) devilish Mr. Smith, particularly in his completely
unapologetic horndoggedness. Note his
unsubtle ogling of the waitress, about whom he observes: “She moves quick for a
big one.” Later, he whispers something
(presumably highly inappropriate and/or offensive) into Jackie’s ear, which
prompts her to slap him (after all these years, I still wonder what exactly he
said!). This is my favorite of
Meredith’s four TZ performances (yes,
even over his brilliant work as the obsolete Romney Wordsworth). Meredith is probably remembered best as
either The Penguin on TV’s Batman or
as boxing trainer Mickey in 1976’s Rocky.
Robert Sterling is suitably
morose as Douglas Winter in his only Twilight
Zone appearance. Genre fans may
remember him as Captain Lee Crane in 1961’s Voyage
to the Bottom of the Sea.
The editor of the competing Danzburg Gazette is played by Ray Teal, who is probably best remembered as Sheriff Roy Coffee on TV’s Bonanza.
TZ babe alert! Winter’s girlfriend Jackie is played by Patricia
Crowley, and she’s a fine looking specimen indeed; unfortunately, she spends
the entire episode frowning and complaining. She appeared on TV’s Bonanza a
mere four days before “Printer’s Devil” aired (“The Actress” on 2/24/1963); unfortunately
Sheriff Coffee wasn’t in that episode.
The actor falling asleep at the wheel in act four is uncredited, but he looked damn familiar to me, so I tried tracking him down… to no initial avail (IMDB, Wikipedia, The TZ Café, even the ever-useful Martin Grams Jr. book…. nothing, nada, zip). However, after much digging, I’m convinced that he’s David Armstrong, who almost ran over the mechanical grandma in season three’s “I Sing the Body Electric” (Jesus, somebody revoke this guy’s driver’s license!). He also appeared as an uncredited extra in “To Serve Man” and was Simon Oakland’s stunt double in “The Rip Van Winkle Caper.” His greatest TZ moment, however, came in “The Trade-Ins,” in which he had a speaking role as the surgeon who successfully turns Joseph Schildkraut into Edson Stroll.
“Printer’s Devil” is great fun,
maybe not quite top-tier Zone, but
quite good all the same (Meredith’s performance advances it several notches,
just as Julie Newmar will do for “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville” in a few
weeks). If you’re keeping track, this
puts us exactly halfway through season four.
Next week: Dane Andrews tries to assassinate Hitler but
burns down a school instead. D’oh!
5 comments:
Hey man great post! Love how you tracked down the reckless driver. I have to disagree on the music cues, I think they were a bit of a mess, but a fun mess nonetheless. My friend and I do a TZ podcast, we just did one for Printer's Devil here: http://twilightpwn.tumblr.com/post/46505040163/episode-seven-printers-devil-in-the-seventh
Check it out if you're feeling festive.
I've just subscribed via iTunes, and I'll start listening. Twilight Pwn??? Love it already! :D
I thought the crooked smokes that Meredith used in this episode were a neat touch.
Lurker111
Here we have another solid hour-long episode. The success of the story in large part is due to Burgess Meredith’s gleeful malevolence as the title character; nice work.
My only reservation is that the story plays out with no real surprises; we pretty much know just how things are going to go once the premise is set up.
Hmmm, you’d think that the devil would be well used to people trying to weasel out of their soul-selling contracts, and that he would have disabled his diabolical machine before he left. That's inexcusably careless on his part.
My man Burgess. Instantly recognizable, which made no difference whatsoever. Four different roles on the Zone, four completely different characterizations. Want to see him do something even more unique? Find "The Great Silence" in the vintage live-TV series Tales of Tomorrow; last I looked it's online. Then treat yourself to an Ernst Lubitsch movie, That Uncertain Feeling, and an even older movie, Winterset.
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