Season 4, Episode 9
(#111 overall)
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.
With Smith on board, The Courier quickly becomes the town’s
top newspaper, consistently scooping The Gazette. Winter’s long-suffering girlfriend Jackie doesn't trust Smith; in fact, she suspects he’s behind the very catastrophes
he’s reporting. When Winter confronts
him, Smith lays his cards on the table:
he’ll continue providing his services, guaranteeing permanent success
for The Courier, in exchange for Winter’s soul.
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.
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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!
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