"The Dummy", Poll and discussion thread

In my opinion this was the best and most frightening TZ ever made. I know it scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. The imagery and dialouge are great along with a great story.

One of my favorites, too, Legion. I took the liberty of changing this into a poll topic like the others. Thanks for starting the thread. This is the one where ventriloquist Jerry Etherson (Cliff Robertson) believes that his dummy is alive. (The one with Jackie Cooper and the dummy is "Caesar And Me," from the fifth season.) It originally aired on May 4, 1962.

This is the preferred thread for any and all of your "The Dummy" posts--facts, opinions, questions, speculations, and whatever else you can think of.* As mentioned, you can also give your opinion of the episode on a 1 to 10 scale, in the poll shown above.

Let the discussion continue!

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I love this ep!! Something I noticed after the fact: when the agent picks up Willy and starts his tirade ("He's a DUMMY! A BLOCK O'WOOD!..."), check out Willy's eyes. Knowing what we know NOW, it's very creepy!!

Oh, yeah, I like that too. Definitely my choice for Best TZ Acting Performance By A Block Of Wood, although Robert Redford ("Nothing In the Dark") was also very good.

AWFUL! I hate this one.

I guess I just don't like ventriloquist stories, I can't stand Caesar And Me, either.

Oh your crazy, just the nightmarish concept of a man bieng stalked by his dummy is great.

Pure joy to watch. Such a wonderfull episode. Cliff Robertson is lights out, just absolutely nails it. Easily one of my favorite perfomences in TZ. The diaglogue, the mood, the music, it's all there. Killer episode. What a beauty.

Oh, really! I think "Caesar and Me" is the worst TZ episode ever, but Little Caesar shows a lot more versatility than Willie. He can walk, he can open doors, and he can listen to the tumblers of a safe. All Willie can do is sit, laugh, turn his head, and wink.

I think Ceasar is a wimp compared to Willie. He is much more malevolent.

My all time favorite.

I bought volume one of the Serling TZ scripts ("As Timeless as Infinity"); "The Dummy" is the last script in it. I was hoping to finally know a bit of dialogue that I could never understand from the episode. Unfortunately it's one of the only things in any of the scripts that had been changed! So if anyone can help please let me know. It's toward the beginning when Jerry and Willie are on stage, and they switch voices. After Jerry (with Willie's voice) makes the punchline ("out in front of the Ritz Savoy"), Willie (with Jerry's voice) says, "you put (something) in those jokes?" and then something which I can't understand at all, though the audience finds it hilarious. In the script, instead of the "a funny thing" routine they start singing "anything you can do I can do better", which actually gives context to Willie's line later when he spins his head around.
If anyone knows what that bit of dialogue is, please let me know - I've been in the dark about it for twenty years!

I know the line is "You put formaldehyde in those jokes?" At least, I'm pretty sure it is. I don't remember the next line though. Let me put it on right now--I never need much of an excuse to re-watch "The Dummy."

(Edited in later) The two lines are "You put formaldehyde in those jokes? Well, something must preserve them." The implication being, of course, that these are old jokes.

The crowd noise makes some of these lines difficult to hear. While I was listening, I caught a line earlier in the routine that I'd never heard before. This is after Willy says "Speak for yourself, Jerky," and Jerry says something like, "Uh, that's Jerry." Then Willy says: "Every dummy to his own taste." I don't know if that's in the original script or not.

(On the basis of sound alone, I can't tell if Willy's line is "Speak for yourself, Jerky," or "Speak for yourself, Turkey." Is this in the script? I think it's got to be "Jerky," though. I'll only add right now that if it wasn't "Jerky," then it should have been.)

Okay, back to the episode!

the dummy has to be my favorite of all the tz's. i dont know why but my favorite part, right near the end, is when the dummy is explaining to jerry how things to come will be, and then the dummy just laughs that erie laugh, it still gives me the creeps

Cool, thanks for the closure, Bevis.

It is in fact "jerky" in the script, though before I got the script I had always thought it was "turkey". I love having those scripts. Can't wait for volume two.

I love Willie's laugh too, especially the one when Jerry starts to run back to the club after Noreen runs off.

"10"

Tops on my list. Cliff Robertson is excellent. The dummy is eerily even better! The twist is the creepiest in the Zone. The doll/dummy Zones all are.

Leen

A big



to tz30! Sorry you slipped under my radar. Oops. Hope you enjoy it here.

And now a quote from Cadwallader:

1) You're very welcome.

2) I'm glad that he says "Jerky." Besides the similarity to "Jerry," which makes the line funnier in my opinion, this further supports my belief that this episode has--how shall we say--"adult themes" (ahem) that persist through the whole episode. This applies whether Cliff Robertson purposely used a slightly bent cigarette in that scene, or not. OK, I'll shut up about it now . . .

3) Yes, I've almost officially decided to spring for that myself. Don't know if I'll buy every volume of the series, or just ones that look especially good. I believe that starting with Volume Two, each volume will contain musical cue information, courtesy of Paul Giammarco. (Paul, if you're reading this, you can perhaps answer that better than I can.)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you are kidding, right?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you are kidding, right?

Not at all! In fact, I went back and read the e-mail I have from Paul. He said that at Tony Albarella's request, he will be sending cue sheets as each volume is ready for printing. So I take it that that starts with Volume 2, although I'm not 100% positive.

I will in fact be contributing to Tony's anthology of scripts, starting with Volume 2. This is Tony's idea, and I'm honored beyond words to be part of his project...

Slam dunk 10. Cliff Robertson happens to be in two "10s" . I actually like "Beyond the Rim" a little better than this though they're both in my top 10.

Great episode--Mr. Robertson's acting is amazing!

One of the first episodes I ever saw, definitely creeped me out. One of my favs, a '10' in my opinion. A creative demonstration of schizophrenia. I also like Beyond the Rim...a '10' for me too.

Yeah I probably slept with the light on and made sure my dolls were turned towards the wall that night.

Leen

Any horror, scifi, bizarre atmosphere surrounding dolls, dummies, clowns...I just cannot look at them the same way. They definitely freak me out now.

I gave it a 7. It was pretty awesome in a lot of ways, but it just kind of lagged in places, and the ending wasn't all that big a kick for me. Still a great, above average ep with a very interesting story. If Cliff Robertson hadn't been so captivating, this ep. might have been just a 5 or so for me.

As I rewatched this one today uncut there are two noticeable syndication cuts where Noreen appears. Does anyone else see sexual tension between her and Jerry? Or does she really like the dummies???

Of course Jerry screws up his chances with her royally out in the alley.

I also like the dialogue between Jerry and Sgt. Carter. Good stuff.

Leen

I CAN'T HEAAAAH YOUUUU!

http://www.crazyabouttv.com/Images/gomerpyleusmc.jpg

Great eerie episode, freaky creepy dummy!
Possibly inspired by the final segment of the 1945
British horror anthology film Dead Of Night.

George Murdock is recognizable as the new Willy,
but one of my books lists him instead as Willy's voice.
Most likely a mistake, but I wonder: who did do that voice?

someone on the old board said that Cliff Robertson did Willie's voice, though I don't remember who said that or how they knew.

I have always wondered this. I remember looking eagerly at the Companion looking for the answer to that question but, alas, nothing!

Leen

Which book is that, Kanamit? I would love to know who did Willy's voice. On the 2002-03 Fifth Dimension ezboard, Stewart Stanyard (webmaster at http://www.twilightzone.org) said that Cliff did the voice, but I don't know what his source was. Willy's voice sounds a lot like George Murdock's in the final scene, though.

"Into The Twilight Zone: The Rod Serling Programme Guide"
published 1995 in London by Virgin Books
lists George Murdock as Willy's Voice, not as Willy.

I think it's a mistake. It sounds like Cliff Robertson to me
now that I've listened to it again, especially early on.
And it seems the same when Murdock is made-up as Willy.

Robertson foreshadows the outcome by mouthing Willy's words
in the intro, but his lips don't match the pronunciation,
much like Murdock's lips at the end, but I think that was for effect.
This always made me think it was someone else's voice.

Even if it is Robertson's voice, it's a voice-over, not ventriloquism.
He doesn't move his lips at all when the dummy is "talking."
But how to synch his recorded voice to match the action?
Probably pretty tricky for the time. Invites performance difficulties
similar to those masterfully avoided by Joe Mantell
playing opposite himself in "Nervous Man In A Four-Dollar Room."

A much-belated thank you, Kanamit. I regret the delay.

In this link, David P. Hayes mentions a movie with the "ventriloquist who thinks his dummy's alive" idea that's even older than the 1945 Dead Of Night--namely, the 1929 film The Great Gabbo. This need not mean that any of the later films or television episodes copied the idea from any of the earlier ones, in my opinion. It's a pretty natural premise.

Did I say that I wouldn't talk about the "adult themes" in this episode anymore? If so, then, to quote the immortal Harry Roat, Jr. from Wait Until Dark (now that was creepy!), "I must have had my fingers crossed." I received a copy of Albarella's Volume 1 for Christmas, a galley copy actually. In looking at the script for "The Dummy," I noticed some intriguing differences between it and the actual episode.

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS (also PG-13 [if not R] warning)***





In the original script, Willy calls Jerry a "jerk" or "Jerky" four times, as opposed to two in the actual episode. And in the "You made me real" scene, Willy originally explained to Jerry, "You spanked me to life." So help me. How Serling ever expected to get this stuff past the censor is beyond me. Based on its omission from the final episode, maybe he didn't get it past the censor. Then again, maybe he didn't really expect to be able to. All this might make one look at some other things that did make the final episode in a new light, though.

Bevis, you oddball, you disgust me.

Heh-heh, just reporting the facts, ElfLad. Don't say I didn't warn you. (You wouldn't be Mr. Peckinpaugh under an alias by any chance, would you? )

Pardon my French, but WTF is a Peckinpaugh?

Well, review time.

Very spooky and well done episode, and some of the jokes in the performances are better than most of the intentional TZ comedies! I guess that's what you'd call irony. XD

10/10

The other Mr. Bevis's boss, played by Charles Lane.

Congratulations, Mr. Bevis, on your thousandth post!

I've heard of that movie, never seen it, believe I looked at the DVD in the store.
Obviously the inspiration for a gag on The Simpsons.

Thanks.

I'll second that. Way to go, Matt!