"It's a Good Life", Poll and discussion thread

A 6-year-old boy (Billy Mumy) controls his entire town, just by using his mind.
Originally aired November 3, 1961.

List of musical cues

This is the preferred thread for any and all of your "It's A Good Life" posts--facts, opinions, questions, speculations, and whatever else you can think of.* You can also give your opinion of the episode on a 1 to 10 scale, in the poll shown above.

Let the discussion begin!

*More specific instructions and suggestions about posting questions/comments related to this episode are located here.

i gave this one a "6" because of mumy's performance. otherwise, a "5".
the story seemed short and repetative. original but just how many people can you get rid of?
cloris leachman gave a good performance as well.

But Bobby, it's a good thing it's repetitive, a REAL good thing! I liked it despite the repetitiveness, but I can't quite explain why. Not a first-class scary one for me like "The Dummy" or "Living Doll" was, but the subdued hysteria of the adults does get on my nerves quite effectively (I mean that in a good way, a REAL good way). I like the music, too. And yes, Billy Mumy is terrific.

Mr. Y, yes Mumy is a good actor. I gave it a 6 as well, it just is a bit flat for me. This is too drab, I do not want to watch a child take over a city, it is not interesting to me, yet it is a cool power.

Mr. B, that is a classic TZ line and yes its a good thing.

ZR

Talk about leading lives of quiet desperation - these poor folks wrote the book!
Third quarter for me.

http://mrvideo.vidiot.com/TwilightZone/images/TZ131-1.jpg

Wickedly good episode.

I got tired of this one for a while and now I like it again. I gave it a "9" because it is classic Zone. And it's a good thing to like this show. Real good. From the picture above it looks like Mrs. Fremont had the means, the motive and the opportunity.



Leen

A 7. This was just an extremely unsettling episode for me. So much so I almost couldn't enjoy it 10 10ths the way a lot of folks do.

For me, I keep putting myself in the room just after Anthony's tv and I'm trying to resist thinking of how to kill the little bastard while at the same time think of how to wipe him out. What a conundrum?!....

GreenGuysMama posted the link to the original short story by Jerome Bixby in a thread about the 2002 revival series. I thought I'd post that link here, too. Thanks for making it available, GGM. Here it is:

http://www.llywelyn.net/docs/greats/its_a_good_life.html

I give it 9.
Parts can be humorous, one part can bring tears to the eyes (I realize that different people have different reactions) and some find it quite scary. I think it's the only episode that can bring out all three of those emotions (though probably not all 3 for the same person).

After the 1st time I saw it, for some reason, the most memorable line from this (or any) ep. was "You're a bad man. You're a very bad man." Now when I watch it, I can say a lot of the lines along with them.

I'm just wondering why Aunt Amy didn't go ahead and hit Anthony over the head with the poker like she was about to.

And, does someone pay royalty everytime this ep. is shown because of the Happy Birthday song?

Funny you should mention this dan. We had a surprise party for #2 daughter at TGIFridays a couple of weeks ago and the staff sang Happy Birthday. My #1 wondered if they had to pay royalties for that too which is why most restaurants make up their own birthday jingle.

Leen

Post #400 for me:

I think of this line every time I hear Babu Bhatt say almost the exact same thing to Jerry on Seinfeld.

As for "Happy Birthday," believe it or not, one of my relatives (second cousin, I think) once owned the rights to it. He had nothing to do with its authorship, but he bought rights to a number of songs at one time, this one included. I believe there's a "fair use" element to it that allows as much as is heard in this episode to be used without royalties. For that matter, I think "Moonglow" and "Stardust" would have stronger copyright protection.

By the way, here's a link to the lyrics of "Moonglow":

http://www.rienzihills.com/SING/moonglow1.htm

Copyright issues can be very complicated. Specifically with "Happy Birthday," it was used in one of the only six episodes ever produced of Police Squad!, the series that led to the Naked Gun movies. I bought the entire series on VHS, and I was appalled to notice that "Happy Birthday" had been replaced with a specially composed song that had the exact same rhythm. Since a group of characters were singing "Happy Birthday," this new song was designed to match the lip movements. My guess is that it was OK to broadcast "Happy Birthday" but not to sell it as a recording.

Thanks for reposting that link here, Mr. Bevis. This has to be one of the all-time spookiest short stories ever written. I'm always interested in source material, and that story scared the crap out of me long before I saw the excellent TZ adaptation.

Dan Hollis wrote:

Two fine old tunes from the big-band era. Artie Shaw (who just passed away a few days ago) and his band had the nicest versions of both I have heard. I really miss that kind of music which has been sadly sacrificed on the altar of rock. Love Perry Como music, and wanted to hear that record, too.

It's the Perry Como music that I remember most from my Christmases as a child. My parents had a couple of his albums and I recorded them onto cassette tapes before the age of CDs came around just because I love the memories.

Perry Como came to perform his Christmas show at the O-rena several years ago. When I found out it would be on my mom's birthday I bought tickets and she, my dad and I went. I was probably one of the youngest ones there but I will cherish that moment forever. Arnold Palmer was in the audience so we saw him too! I think my parents were thrilled as well.

Leen

Unlike the episode, Bixby's short story tells us what song Como sings on that record: "You Are My Sunshine" (which explains why Dan sings it in the episode). Do you know whether Como ever recorded this?

Bixby also gives Pat Reilly a different song to play: "Night and Day." Did that ever get the same big band treatment that you so rightly praise?

Leen wrote:

Oh! More chills, Leen. I did exactly the same thing - copied some old Perry Como Christmas songs onto cassette tapes to play in my car. He's my favorite next to Bing Crosby.

http://www.enhancedweb.com/MusicCdCovers/PerryComo300.jpg

Special Peaksville version of a Perry Como song: "There's No Place But Home For The Holidays." (Or any other days, for that matter. )

Dan Hollis wrote:

Did a very brief Google search but could not come up with a Perry Como version although I did find the song recorded by his mentor, Bing Crosby. I do have a wonderful version on an old Mitch Miller LP I got as a child over 40 years ago.

Amazingly memorable, quotable episode!
Perfect non-ending, due to the unacceptable alternate conclusion,
which would require the murder of a child in prime time,
always the wrong time for such a thing. Kidding of course.

However, I love the solution provided in the movie version.

Worst. Episode. Ever.

(ducks and runs like hell to avoid the inevitable hail of rotten tomatos and flaming arrows! )

You cannot be serious!

Open your asbestos umbrella.

Oh yes I can. I hate it.

And never mind the umbrella, I'll take one of those shields that the riot cops use!

I hope there's an Internet connection in the cornfield, Jayo, so that you're able to keep in touch!

I gave it an 8, lots of good acting but honestly, even when I was young I used to wonder that as well and it has always bugged me!


Come on, I mean someone whack that kid!

That factor interests me, too. The best explanation I can think of is that she just lost her nerve. With the exception of Dan, everyone just seems so beaten and intimidated that they have lost their will to resist.
With the loss of Dan, you have the feeling their last hope is gone. I do recall in the past feeling disgusted that no one acted when they had the chance.

Funny this is the last reply on this thread, Crown. I watched this one again and I saw Aunt Amy's maneuver for the very first time.

http://img224.exs.cx/img224/4512/auntamy9eq.jpg

And for those of you who want a little spittle with your birthday cake and peach brandy:

http://img224.exs.cx/img224/3977/spittle14fx.jpg

and Spittle2

http://img224.exs.cx/img224/8197/spittle25pc.jpg

As I watched I, too, felt for the partygoers. They were hot, they didn't want to be there, didn't want to watch the "monster" tv. Wanted to have fun and cut loose and just couldn't. I thought this was well acted. Even the glances between Mr. And Mrs. Fremont were of love and despair at the same time.

And I have a question for Dan. Why again did you chose this one as your screen name? I love how the lighting on Mr. Hollis seems to shine on him up from the floor.

Leen

1. "Cadwallader" was my first choice, but then I learned that it was already taken (and being done proud, I might add).

2. IAGL is my favorite episode.

3. I sometimes see myself in Dan's position, finding myself standing alone in opposition of what I feel are intolerable circumstances and brave/stupid enough to chance the consequences.

4. One of my cousins used to own the rights to "Happy Birthday."

5. When I was around six, my mother used to sing "You Are My Sunshine" to me.

6. I like that clown hat Dan's wearing the last time we see him.

Question: After Dan is transformed, is he alive or inanimate? In other words, is he even conscious of his fate? I'd say inanimate, but we see so little of him besides his shadow that I don't think we can tell for sure.

He doesn't seem to have any emotion or distress.
His blank expression resembles that of Aunt Amy.

Perhaps he is stricken with a similarly limited consciousness,
a kind of catatonic state, or maybe he's dead.

Apparently his head and neck are atop a spring of some sort,
but there is no indication of whether his body still exists.

Actually, I think the shadow we see is a clear indication that none of his body aside from his head still exists. It's a surreal directorial concept that I think adds to the appeal of this episode. I assume that a real jack-in-the-box was obtained or constructed to cast the shadow. Then we have one shot of Don Keefer's head in a clown hat moving back and forth, but only as far down as the neck so that we can't see that it isn't really attached to a spring. The first-time viewer subconsciously puts these two images together to "see" a jack-in-the-box with Keefer's head. The shot of Keefer seems odd, as if it's a still photo that's shifted back and forth over a gray background. In other words, Keefer apparently wasn't filmed moving his own head.

The alternative, more direct approach would have been letting us see the whole jack-in-the-box, with Keefer's face painted on the head. This probably wouldn't have been as effective, though, as the actual approach lets us see the genuine face of a character who has been grotesquely transformed.

Note that director James Sheldon has left a lot more to our imagination. All we see of the three-headed gopher is the tail. We never see the collie. Most of Anthony's deeds are revealed only in conversation. Nowadays we'd be given clear images of all of these. Perhaps Sheldon was working within the physical and budgetary limitations of 1960s film technology, but in doing so he maintained the spirit of Jerome Bixby's short story, which gives us passages like the following:

"Bad man," Anthony said, and thought Dan Hollis into something like nothing anyone would have believed possible, and then he thought the thing into a grave deep, deep in the cornfield.

By the way, that's the only line of dialogue Anthony has in the entire Bixby version.

Dan Wrote:

That's one of the things I don't like about moderns shows. Nothing is left to the imagination, it's all "throw it in your face" special effects. Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling understood this and it's one of the things that helps make their works great.

You're a bad man! You're a REAL bad man!

10/10

First time I saw it, it was confusing, but I liked it more and more in the subsequent viewings.

Correction: I am a real bad WOMAN!

Don't feel bad about that, ElfLad, a LOT of people have done the same thing. Maybe I should have picked a more specific username, like 'Miss Jayo' or something....

How come no one has ever thanked Leen for those pictures of spittle pouring out of Dan Hollis' mouth? (See her post above.) Thank you, Leen.

My only concern is (1) there may be intelligent (but belligerent) life on other planets, and (2) by the cruelest of fates, the only signal of ours that ever reaches them happens to be those pictures.

Oh shoot, I forgot. Yes, thank you Leen! Those pics are great. Now I see what you were talking about. I guess seeing Aunt Amy's manuever distracted me.

Aw shucks guys. "Tweren't nothin'.

This is one of my favorite episodes. I like the concept that, of all things, a child is 'the monster'. It uses what a child can do with his extreme imagination and takes it to another level.
Hey, I'm staying out of the cornfield

http://www.havasu.k12.az.us/high-school/Te...y/cornfield.jpg

The image of the cornfield under the end credits
is not from any of this episode's footage, right?

Right, which has always struck me as odd. I probably would have chosen the jack-in-the-box silhouette.

It's not a unique occurrence in the series, though. Other examples include "A Passage for Trumpet" and "The Mighty Casey."

The silhouette or shadow under the end credits rings a bell.
Am I thinking of "The Dummy" perhaps?