"The After Hours", Poll and discussion thread

A search for a gold thimble leads Marsha White to a department store's non-existent ninth floor. Starring Anne Francis.
Originally aired June 10, 1960.

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

This is the preferred thread for any and all of your "The After Hours" 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 am surprised there has been no comment about this one, yet.
(Where are you, Leen?)

This excellent episode is #2 in my top 10 list. The mannequins frigtened me as a child and it was years before I quit thinking about this episode whenever I saw similar looking store mannequins. This episode is nostalgic for me as I remember department stores being like this as a child, right down to the Strauss waltz music and signal tones. A must see episode.

That photo of the elevator operator reminds me that John Conwell, who plays him, according to IMDb is the same John Conwell whose name often appears in the nonperforming TZ credits, with such titles as "Assistant to the Producer." If so, he may be the only TZ actor with lesser nonperforming credits, although Ida Lupino is well known for directing "The Masks" after starring in "The 16mm Shrine."

One nice example of the talent of director Douglas Heyes is when the elevator door opens at the 9th floor for the last time, when Marsha is confronted by the mannequin saleslady. The camera moves away from the mannequin and towards the crouching Marsha, a shadow creeps over her, and the live saleslady helps her up. Of course, Elizabeth Allen must have sneaked in while her mannequin twin was removed, both out of camera range, but it's a continuous shot that makes a good illusion.

Here's a major addition to the Zicree error list: Nancy Rennick is credited as playing Miss Pettigrew. We never see Miss Pettigrew; she's the woman out of camera range whom Armbruster addresses. We then hear Sloan's disembodied voice address Rennick's character as "Miss Keever" (or however a slightly inaudible name is spelled).

That Strauss waltz, heard when Marsha goes to the Complaints Department, is "Tales from the Vienna Woods."

By the way, how is Marsha able to have a mother for whom to buy the thimble?

I'm he-ah, Crown, I'm he'ah! (In my best Little Girl Lost's mom voice.)

My #1 all time favorite. Always loved it, always will. Can I 'splain it? Not really.

Like Crown I remember all that he mentioned when it came to department stores back in the day. And the elevator operators!

I think Marsha was so caught up in her human fantasy she invented a mother and the need for the thimble gift subconsciously brought her to the store. I don't know!

Leen

Yes, I remember the elevator operators but all the ones we had down in Florida when I was a kid were women. Don't ever recall seeing a male operator.

A special image for you, Leen, since this episode is your favorite.

http://www.sunrizetackle.com/tzarchive/ima...llpaper_800.jpg

Gosh Crown could you make it a little bigger?!?!?!?

Thanks a lot! You're a pal. Wish my avatar could be that big.

Leen

Turner Classic Movies is airing 1955's Bad Day at Black Rock, starring Spencer Tracy, on Saturday, October 30, at 6:30 PM EDT. Here's how TV Guide ends its synopsis:

"And check out the supporting cast: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Walter Brennan and -- yow! -- Anne Francis."

In a rural SE Iowa community of 1000, a man wakes up one day to realize his suspision that his marriage of 26 years crumbling is becoming reality... he is a simple school teacher with strong morals and although he does everything in his power to save his marriage, it fails and divorce follows. He is held together by a handful of friends and family and works through the next few years rebuilding his self-esteem and image. He begins to date a woman, Marsha, who has also recently divorced and although they get along well and are a great couple, marriage is not in their future and life becomes complicated. He begins to date another woman, and Marsha dates another man. Mike gets his PHD and becomes Dr. Mike to his friends and family. The couple both are known as "the doctor" since he has his PHD and her initials are M.D. Over time, Mike and Marsha have an on again off again relationship. Mike's mother dies and his father is in bad health. Life is confusing for Mike and the rocky relationship with Marsha doesn't help. His father dies and he again relies on the bedrock of family and friends for comfort and support. The onagain offagain relationship continues and starts to make a path toward a permenant relationship. He asks his good friend if he should marry Marsha? His good friend says, "Mike, I believe in signs, even subtle signs. Tonight before you called I began to watch a Twilight Zone epispode called 'The After Hours' and the character's name was Marsha White." Dr. Mike White says, "That's a good enough sign for me." They are currently living happily ever after as Mike and Marsha White...in the twilight Zone.

This is one of my favorite episodes and my earliest and most vivid TV memory. I saw it two, maybe three times in the late sixties, as a child of 7 or 8, and it stuck with me for decades. Maybe you could call it the archetypal Twilight Zone episode because of the apsects of alienation, things not quite right, the idea that the people around us may not be what they seem, as well as the sheer horror of some moments, and general spookiness overall.

I don't think it's possible to have just one favorite TZ episode, but if I were forced to, this would be it.

Well Mabuse you are in good company here then. It's mine too. Always has been. Althought #2-#156 change in positions for me this one always stays at the top.

And:



Leen

Thanks for the welcome!

Just a footnote. I think what fascinated me most about this episode was not the mannequins, though they were terrifying enough for someone my age (maybe I was even 6 or yonger - I just dont remember) but rather the idea of a 13th floor, mysterious, hidden places that are only sometimes there, that let you in, but may never let you out, or that vanish when you do leave them.

My son today (age 7) won't watch the scarier TZ episodes with me, like "After Hours".

Small correction, just for accuracy's sake and for the benefit of any readers who may not be familiar with this episode: The secret floor that Marsha visited was actually the 9th floor. Mabuse, your evocative post does make me wonder if Serling might have gotten the idea of such "mysterious, hidden places" from real buildings without a 13th floor, at least not one we can reach on ordinary elevators.

This was the third-scariest episode for me the first time I saw it, behind "Living Doll" (the scariest for me) and "The Dummy." I still enjoy the atmosphere of suspense here, but my most powerful emotional reaction to this one now is sympathy for Marsha and the others at the end. I think anyone who's ever felt incomplete inside, or just excluded and different, can find a way to relate to the ending of this one. Currently my third-favorite episode (behind "Kick The Can," my eternal favorite, and "The Dummy"), and always a 10 for me.

Thanks for the correction. I must have been thinking of that 13th floor issue when I posted that. It was, of course, the 9th floor.

This is one of my 15 least favorite episodes, I've been a long time fan of this series (probably longer than most on this board) & I have never understood what is so great about this one. I've always liked Anne Francis but even she can't save it.

Oddly enough, the original TV Guide synopsis referred to the 18th floor (and also called the lead character "Martha"). I still see this erroneous floor designation from time to time.

In the production of Iolanthe in which I'm currently performing (as an amateur -- I have to pay the company to be in the cast), the Queen of the Fairies casts a brief paralyzing spell over me. Without explaining the reason to anyone, I've chosen to freeze in Marsha's final pose. As I do, I think to myself, "Ever so much fun!"

What are some of your favorite episodes? The one aspect of other Twilight Zone stories missing in After Hours is the strong sense of (poetic) justice. Some people may also be dissatisfied with the mismatch between the story's lead-up and the happy end, which puts all the events leading up to it in a less disturbing and less sinister light.

Right now, my top 20 would look like this:

#1. Five Characters In Search Of An Exit
#2. In His Image
#3. The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street
#4. I Am The Night-Color Me Black
#5. The Midnight Sun
#6. Shadow Play
#7. The Eye Of The Beholder
#8. The Dummy
#9. Escape Clause
#10. I Shot An Arrow Into The Air
#11 An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
#12. The Silence
#13. Will The Real Martian please Stand Up
#14. The Rip Van Winkle caper
#15. A Hundred Yards Over The Rim
#16. The Last Flight
#17. A World Of His Own
#18. The Parallel
#19. Nightmare At 20,000 Feet
#20. To Serve Man

I think we're on to something cool here. "Five Charcters In Search Of An Exit" is one of the episodes that I didn't enjoy as much, though I admit I may not have given it enough thought. I'll go back and watch it tonight, and try to find out what makes it different from "After Hours".

You're number 2 is one I haven't seen since the 60's. But three is another high-up favorite. So I can't say much.

In general, the episodes you listed seem to me to be the ones that deal more with relevant human/social issues, which is another major strength of the Twilight Zone series as a whole.

You are tainting my favorite ep thread with non After Hours stuff.

I need to find the FCISOAE thread apparently.

Leen

My mom loves this one (she's an original Zoner), but I never got into it. It's just average to me (ducks and runs like hell to avoid getting beaten senseless by Leen! ).

Must be a baby-boomer-that-are-now-moms thing.

Run Jayo, run!

Leen

Must be a baby-boomer-that-are-now-moms thing.

Run Jayo, run!

Leen

I'm running, I'm running!

I have a question for cadwallader here. The preview for this episode, as Matthew Cregg typed it on the Fifth Dimension website, is as follows:

"Next week, you'll see our friends here along with Anne Francis and Elizabeth Allen in one of the strangest stories we've yet presented on the Twilight Zone. It's called "The After Hours" and concerns the shadowy time when normal people go back to their homes and concurrently what happens to those who perhaps not quite so normal, or perhaps not quite so human. Intriguing? I think you'll find it so next week on the Twilight Zone."

It seems that there must be a typo here. It's probably as simple as a left-out "are" on one side of the "perhaps." Cadwallader, would you check to see what Rod Serling actually said here? I consider this an interesting glimpse into Rod's interpretation of the episode, and I'd like to be able to quote it accurately. Thanks.

Actually that quote is accurate. There is a slim chance that he says "who're perhaps..." but he says it very quickly, and frankly it doesn't really sound like it.

Ah life is good. The family is home, I'm getting things done, spaghetti sauce is simmering in the kitchen and "The After Hours," is on!!!

Leen

Good episode, but it's so eerie that I thought it should've been on during the late hours(to get that 'after hours' feel), not at one in the afternoon. I guess, since it wasn't one of "the uncuts", putting it on after midnight may have been too late.

"The After Hours" is one of the highlights of Season One. As strange as it may sound, I like this episode because it doesn't really have a message. Serling just drops us into the story and tries to freak us out.

In the closing narration, it seems like Serling tries to force some meaning to the tale by stating "Just how normal are we?" Maybe he should have admitted that we just finished watching a ghost story written expressly to try and scare us.

A nice touch was the first time a mannequin's arm swings out as if trying to grab a frightened Marsha as she scrambles around the deserted store.

Anne Francis is beautiful to watch, she innocent, confused and spunky all at once. Elizabeth Allen was sufficiently eerie as the Saleswoman mannequin.

"I hate spunk!" said Lou Grant to Mary Richards.

I beleieve that not all epsidoes had to sacre us or make us ponder our thoughts. this one just was odd, but deliciously good!

Leen, forgive them for they do not know the department stores of the 50's. "The After Hours" is a "10" for those of us who were there.

Having said that, this question for you or the other baby-boomer savants on this board: What were those "pinging" sounds you would hear periodically over the loud-speaker systems in those stores? As a kid, I always assumed someone was being summoned, but to this day I'm still not sure.

Leen, forgive them for they do not know the department stores of the 50's. "The After Hours" is a "10" for those of us who were there.

Having said that, this question for you or the other baby-boomer savants on this board: What were those "pinging" sounds you would hear periodically over the loud-speaker systems in those stores? As a kid, I always assumed someone was being summoned, but to this day I'm still not sure.

Haha! I believe that you are correct. Every worker had their own "morse" code as I understand it. Oh yeah if you people out there aren't baby boomers...complaints, third floor!

Leen

Thank you for confirming my suspicions about the "pings," Leen.

In light of my kind words about "The After Hours," would you please go to "The Lonely" thread and take back your near-blasphemous comment about how Corry was able to "move on so easily after the ending"?

In that most exquisite of episoses (my favorite of the 156), it is clear that Corry is doing a "stiff upper-lip" thing and that he is, and will always remain, devastated by what happened.

Thank you.

Steve

As an old timer, I remember the signal tones well. Likewise, I did not really know what they were for but also arrived at the same conclusion, that they signalled individual clerks. Now this is interesting - our Hecht's store here at Crabtree Valley shopping center in Raleigh still uses the tones. I think in the old days there was an actual hammer and tone strip but now it's recorded. The Hecht's one sounds JUST like I remember from years ago. Has anyone else heard these tones in stores recently?

I haven't heard the pinging in many years (this is beginning to sound like the story line from "The Thirty-Fathom Grave").

You ought to confirm that others are hearing what you're hearing. Could be you're having a Zone experience...

Ah, good point!
Hey, remember the old pneumatic tube systems the department stores had in the pre-computer days? Used to love to wach them work when I would go shopping with my mother as a kid. Here's a photo of one of the old brass cylinders I got from an old closed department store. (Good chance to see if Image Shack really works)

http://img163.exs.cx/img163/5668/pneumatictubecyl5kk.png

How about that, it works! Sorry about the huge size. Will reduce any more I post.

This Twilight zone episode is by far my favorite. Hence my user name. It is the episode that is in my mind, the quintessential Twilight Zone. However all of the episodes written by Rod Serling are superior.

Marsha also posted a thread (here) about this episode and a radio play called "Evening Primrose," which was also a short story by John Collier. In his commentary on DVD Vol. 11, Zicree asserts that Serling was almost certainly inspired by "Evening Primrose" in writing "The After Hours." This may be true, although I don't think Serling consciously swiped the story idea.

On the other hand, Zicree asserted in the Companion that "The Silence" was almost certainly inspired by Anton Chekhov's story "The Bet," and Serling is on record as saying he never even heard of the story.

I had to read The Bet in middle school. I can see some similarities to The Silence, but they're two different stories.

I commented more about "The After Hours" in this post: http://twilightzonewor.9.forumer.com/index...indpost&p=10030.

i love this episode that girl Marsha White is pretty for her age