A World of His Own

Keenan Wynn and Phyllis Kirk star in a whimsical comedy about a successful playwright known for his ability to write realistic characters in his work. He's got a truly phenomenal ability that could only come from The Twilight Zone.

He works orally recording into a dictaphone and one day through the window Kirk who is married to Wynn spots another woman in the living room with Wynn. When she comes in she's not there and he can not offer any rational explanation. The explanation for what has happened defies rationality.

This is the only episode where Rod Serling interacts with the characters as well as narrating. As for Keenan Wynn this is a real triumph for him, an actor with a range that never was truly appreciated.

I loved this episode where Keenan Wynn plays a playwright who can make his characters come to life. His shrewish wife sees him with another lady and doesn't believe him even when he tries to explain it to her. I loved Rod Serling's cameo at the end (his first onscreen appearance in a Twilight Zone episode) and the ending and episode altogether, especially the scene with the elephant! This is one of very few TZ episodes that succeeds at comedy. Keenan Wynn was great in it.

*** 1/2 out of ****

So who wouldn't want to conjure up the perfect wife or husband on command. Keenan Wynn is a writer whose imagination can mold fictional characters, bring them to life, and make them disappear at will. The trouble is the characters can become so vivid, they assume a will of their own and act independently of their creator. A clever idea from the brilliant pen of real life writer Richard Matheson. I expect some such power has been a secret wish of many authors over the centuries.

Unfortunately, the idea has more suggestive value than entertainment value in this very slender half-hour, filmed on a single set with three characters. It's vaguely amusing to watch Wynn's rather shrewish wife (Phyllis Kirk) react to his adoring and adorable fictional wife (Mary La Roche), when she catches them together. However, the premise goes little beyond this rather trite situation, despite a surprise or two. Perhaps most distinctive is the segment where Wynn breaks character to converse with Serling, the only time, I believe, when this occurs in the series. There seems so much more that could have been done with this premise than creating a rather pedestrian marital triangle.

Although comedy was never the strength of "The Twilight Zone" (or writer Richard Matheson, for that matter), the final episode of the first season is a delightful comedy that plays more on situation -- and a wonderful lead performance by Keenan Wynn -- than punchlines. This is easily one of the best episodes of the series.

Playwright Gregory West (Wynn) is romancing his presumed mistress Mary (Mary LaRoche) while his wife (Phyllis Kirk) jealously looks on. A few moments later, the wife bursts in to find that the mistress has magically disappeared. West explains that he can create real people by stating a description into his dictaphone -- that's when the fun really begins.

Matheson -- who was usually a master of plot, rather than character or situation -- switches gears here. His novel story lends itself remarkably well to a sort of 1930s screwball style, with gentle gags that flow from the characters' personalities -- West's combination of omnipotence and humility; his wife's jealousy and haughtiness (she'd have fit perfectly as the other woman in a Cary Grant comedy); and Mary's gentleness and dignity. The performances match it perfectly: Wynn's bemusement at his situation -- a sort of literary/social Life of Riley -- fits the character delightfully; Kirk's two-dimensionality is ironically apropos; and LaRoche's quiet gentleness (which worked equally well in the very different "Living Doll") makes one wonder why West didn't think of her sooner.

All this, and perhaps the funniest final joke in the series' history. Who could ask for anything more?

In the world of Network Television, as the first year of any series draws to a close, anxious moments lead to questions of creative (and production) mortality.

One must ask oneself: Had the fantastically creative and innovative TheTwilight Zone not been renewed, how would veteran television hand Rod Serling have wished to bow out?

Here's the answer.

Although Richard Matheson gets all the screenwriting credit, Serling's master's hand leaves fingerprints all over this final episode of Season One, and as we all know, the legacy lived on.