Though not achieving the popularity of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, NIGHT GALLERY showed Serling’s ability to work in the world of horror and the macabre.
know there was trauma and it needed to be treated. All through his life I know he never forgot the war years, and on THE TWILIGHT ZONE he wrote several scripts about it that were definitely anti- war in every respect.
FM. But they weren’t anti-war in a disrespectful manner. There was something very deep about it that brought a different perspective that at the time wasn’t really talked about. There weren’t scientists running around talking about Post-traumatic stress disorder. CS. Right. These guys were just supposed to come home and fit back into their suburban lives, and a lot of times they couldn’t. Rod used to have nightmares throughout his life. Every once in a while he’d be back in the Philippines. It was a part of him, a very definite part of him.
FM. I know that he was writing for the vast majority of his life. Was he writing from the very get-go or was that something that he kind of fell into as you knew him? CS. I think what you said originally, from the get-go, he was writing in high school and so on, doing a lot of that kind of thing. And he wrote stories and some very bad poetry when he was in the army. [Laughs] But when he first started at college, he was a phys- ed major. That didn’t last very long. He went almost immediately into literature and he did do quite a bit of writing when he was on the college campus. He wrote some scripts that were produced on the local station with student actors and short stories.
FM. What was it about him that drew you to him initially? CS. He was a lot of fun. He really was. He had a wonderful sense of humor. And he was a very fascinating guy with a great imagination.
FM. I think most people wouldn’t think that the man who made the TWILIGHT ZONE had a sense of humor? They have the impression he was very dark.
FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND • JAN/FEB 2012 57
CS. I know. On the screen he seems so serious with that tight- lipped delivery that he does with the intros. But no, he had a wonderful sense of humor.
FM. It’s funny because he didn’t just become a personality that people associated the show with. The show really challenged people. It wasn’t just a show for entertainment. You look at it now, it’s just loaded with social context. I’d imagine that probably provoked some harsh reactions from some people. CS. At the time he sort of escaped into THE TWILIGHT ZONE and he was able to say things and write things that he wanted,
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