"A Penny for Your Thoughts", Poll and discussion thread

A bank clerk (Dick York) finds that he can read others' thoughts.
Originally aired February 3, 1961.

Full video of the episode on CBS.com
List of musical cues

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Let the discussion begin!

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

i liked the concept. it would be a curse and a blessing to have this "gift". good episode.

Sorry, I just don't care for this one. Nice idea, but it seems to have too many long pauses between lines of dialogue, whether Hector (Dick York) is trying to read someone's mind or not. This was George Clayton Johnson's first teleplay; I don't know whether he didn't write enough dialogue to fill the time, or what. Other than that, it's a good show, but those pauses just irritate the heck out of me.

***SPOILERS for this and "The Prime Mover"***




This one has a strong general similarity to "The Prime Mover" (teleplay by Charles Beaumont). In both episodes, a man gets to use a special mental talent--his own or someone else's--for a short while, finds out it isn't all it's cracked up to be, and loses the use of the talent but finds love instead. (Edit, 1/9/05: Let me amend that to "finds happiness in love instead." Ace and Kitty in "TPM" had already found each other and loved each other.) Both were also based on stories by George Clayton Johnson. A nice formula for a story, but personally I like "The Prime Mover" better.

Edit, 7/20/05: See this post in the "Prime Mover" thread.

I like it, I think it's good. I love when he pours the water on his obnoxious co-worker's head.

"10" I love this one. This is one of the Zones where comedy is inserted and it works for me. I think Dick York puts on a very convincing performance.

"You did that deliberately!"

I like when Hector thinks Geo Washington is speaking to him.

Off topic: Since Jimbo never loses his gift, even though Ace thinks he has, I wonder what the future brings for Jimbo? You know he must use it now and then. Kind of like Samantha used her witchcraft even though Darrin forbade it. Hey Darrin, Dick York, get it?

I see no similarity to the two eps.

Leen

I gave it a 7. Not a lot of intensity or mood, but it is entertaining. Those are my thoughts and you don't even have to give me a penny.

One of my faves.

I'd forgotten that Hayden Rorke was in it. It's pretty cool that someone from I Dream of Jeannie, and someone from Bewitched, are together.

Best TZ comedy, hands down. Quite memorable.

10/10

Gave it a 7. Solid above average episode that was funny.

I enjoyed it. Very nice, gentle episode. Of course things would be pretty boring in the Twilight Zone if all the episodes were like it --------- but it's nice to see an episode like this every once in a while.

I like the notion that a small event (how a coin lands) can have big consequences. A touch of magic in that.

One of the niceties of this episode is that we assume the coin toss results in telepathy. We never learn this with absolute certainty, especially since there's no logical connection between the two (aside from the play on words in the episode title). Even if the coin is the reason, Hector might never figure that out.

I have two questions, though:

1. How did special effects manage the coin toss? My guess is a freeze frame, perhaps after filming numerous tosses until there was one with the quarter momentarily on edge.

2. Can anyone get a quarter to stay on edge, even with a careful attempt at balancing it? I can do it easily with a Sacagawea dollar and almost as easily with a nickel, because they have plain edges, but the reeded edge of the quarter makes it impossible for me.

Interesting. There could be some synchronicity going on--in other words, instead of the quarter's landing on its edge causing the telepathy, there might just be some random magic (or scientific phenomena beyond our comprehension) going on in the vicinity, and that might happen to cause, at the same time, 1) the quarter's landing on its edge and 2) the telepathy.

Within this interpretation, I think the quarter's landing on its edge is best seen as a nice, tangible symbol for the random operation of the telepathy-producing forces.

This interpretation also reminds me of "Little Girl Lost," specifically the way that lines can line up at random for a brief time to create an opening into the fourth dimension (according to Bill the physicist, anyway).

I'll write more here after I try the quarter experiment (sometime later).

this is great a episode i would love too read people minds

I think it would freak me out too much. I think most people probably talk too much anyway, so if I had to listen to their thoughts as well...

http://img272.echo.cx/img272/6663/thoughts7mp.jpg

how did that penny stand up inside the box?

Maybe it was attached to a string? I love this episode too! The part where he dumps the water on his coworker's head is funny!

i like the part where the guy talks in his mind saying bad thing about him saying you should have brokein your full neck and he goes what did you say! and the guy calls him lame brain

This is a very good story of a man who flips a coin that lands on it's edge. From this moment on, he can read minds.

Dick York is nearly perfect as the mind-reading banker. This story really made me think about the things other people may be thinking about while not saying. It is a nice story with good performances.

So far, it's one of the pleasant surprises of Season Two.

the best episode

Doggone, I can't even do it with the nickel, never mind the quarter. The Sacagawea dollar is fairly easy.

In the interview with George Clayton Johnson on the DVD he confirms that the coin was in fact soldered to a string that went through a hole in the coin box and had a weight on the other end.

Johnson also mentions that in his original story (possibly also his teleplay - I don't remember) it was the car accident, not the coin toss, that gave him his abilities.

can you see the string when he put the coin in the box?

I've never seen it, but I haven't looked that hard for it.

Now that's interesting, because it makes me recall the TV Guide synopsis of the premiere. It emphasized that after Hector was nearly run over, he suddenly had the power to read minds. This sequence is close enough to the actual episode that it didn't particularly bother me, but it now appears that TV Guide may have been working from Johnson's original concept.

Thanks for posting the explanation of how the coin was made to stand on edge.

Which DVD is that?

It's on the definitive edition, season two. It was the interview done by Marc Scott Zicree in the late seventies for The Twilight Zone Companion.

In the interview with George Clayton Johnson on the DVD he confirms that the coin was in fact soldered to a string that went through a hole in the coin box and had a weight on the other end.

Johnson also mentions that in his original story (possibly also his teleplay - I don't remember) it was the car accident, not the coin toss, that gave him his abilities.

johnson also says in the interview that someone told him that the concept of the coin jumping from person to person and having telepathic abilities would make a good tv series, so johnson wrote some scripts.

johnson describes one: a gambler acquires the coin and realizes his telepathic abilities will help him win in poker tournaments. he finally gets a chance in a big poker game and his opponent turns out "to be oriental and thinks in oriental" (quoting johnson), so the gambler cannot understand his opponents thoughts.
johnson said he had a box full of other ideas.


getting back to the episode: i love this one. dick york is great as hector b poole. my favorite part is when mr bagby realizes that mr smithers is not robbing the bank and asks "where's that idiot poole?" and hector raises his hand and says "here, sir." that cracks me up.

cadwallader wrote.........

In the interview with George Clayton Johnson on the DVD he confirms that the coin was in fact soldered to a string that went through a hole in the coin box and had a weight on the other end.

Johnson also mentions that in his original story (possibly also his teleplay - I don't remember) it was the car accident, not the coin toss, that gave him his abilities.
=====================================================

Most people(I guess), tend to think as I did that the coin in fact gave him the powers. Another reason that leads me to this is he "loses" his powers when the coin falls at the end.
I find this interesting that it was Johnson's writing that made the car accident the culprit. I guess it was just "Zone coincidence" that he lost his powers around that moment.
An above average ep for me that I give a 7. Doesn't have the sci-fi "feel" or that "Zone punch" but works well for what it is. Definately one of the better humor episodes.

Thank you and good night.
TZ DZ Fan

It has to be the coin. Doesn't he bump into a couple people and hear what they're thinking before the accident?

Absolutely correct. What we might be acknowledging, though, is that Johnson's original concept had the near accident as the cause. If that's the case, the coin might not even have been part of the story.

I was merely talking from memory. For some reason, this was one of the commentaries that I haven't listened to yet.
Makes me appreciative for the Definitive Editions even more. There are so many commentaries I forgot all about this one.
Cadwallader brought up a good point about the GCJ interview.
All the more reason for me to re-watch this ep and listen to the commentary.

Thank you and good night.
TZ DZ Fan

this love this episode!

Absolutely correct. What we might be acknowledging, though, is that Johnson's original concept had the near accident as the cause. If that's the case, the coin might not even have been part of the story.

that is correct dan.

having recently listened to the interview with johnson, he says that they didn't change his script but did add things to it. the coin trick was thought up because of the title 'a penny for your thoughts'.

i was just thinking i wouldn't wann read people minds now i could lose my hearing that way

See this post in the "Prime Mover" thread.

I just read Johnson's outline the other day in his "All of Us Are Dying..." collection. His character starts off in his apartment. He has just recently had a car accident and his head is bandaged. As he goes out the door of his apartment, he stumbles, falls and bangs his already injured head against the door frame. He descends the steps, speaks to another man who lives there, and suddenly hears the guy's thoughts ("You lamebrain, etc.").

At the end of the outline, he takes the girl he works with back to his apartment after he is fired, and trips again, bangs his head, and suddenly cannot hear any more thoughts.

IIRC, Johnson only got story credit, and Serling wrote the actual teleplay.

Sir Rhosis

Johnson gets sole credit on screen for "A Penny for Your Thoughts." Here's how all of his contributions are credited:

Johnson alone for "A Penny for Your Thoughts," "A Game of Pool," "Nothing in the Dark," and "Kick the Can."

Teleplay by Serling, story by Johnson for "The Four of Us Are Dying" and "Execution."

Beaumont alone for "The Prime Mover," accidentally not crediting Johnson for story.

Teleplay by Richard de Roy, story by "Johnson Smith" for "Ninety Years Without Slumbering." I have never seen a reason given for this, but I assume Johnson was so dissatisfied with de Roy's script that he didn't want his real name associated with it. Johnson Smith is a famous mail order company, although I don't know whether that inspired the choice of pseudonym.

Very interesting, Sir!

The Johnson book I have (Twilight Zone Scripts & Stories) has what seems to be the full story version of "Penny For Your Thoughts." In it, the main character (a "third assistant account executive for a prosperous bank" named Thomas Prentiss) not only gets fired, but he gets knocked unconscious by his former co-employee that he spilled water upon, which is how he loses his powers in this version. (He does get the girl, though.)

To follow up on Dan's and Adam's comments, Johnson's recollection is accurate that the coin was not mentioned in the story.

You're right, how could I have mixed it up so much! Prentiss loses his powers after the water cooler guy follows them out of the bank and slugs him, not via another bump against the door as I inaccurately recalled.

Sir Rhosis