"Ninety Years Without Slumbering"

"Ninety Years Without Slumbering"

An old man (Ed Wynn) fears death if his grandfather clock stops.

Stars Ed Wynn, Carolyn Kearney.
Original air date: December 20, 1963.

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Wow, first reply. Well, not too good, imo. I like Ed Wynn, and he plays his role excellently, as usual, which is the only reason this episode merits more than a 1. It just did not seem "TZ-ish" to me, the story did not grab me.
SPOILER (perhaps)







I enjoy the mental concept and how Wynn overcame his fear. He took charge of his own life instead of letting a family superstition keep running it for him. Alas, only a 3 for me.

Edward Hall--oops, he's TZer now-- pointed out in the "Little Girl Lost" thread that this word contains the word "pregnant," which may have been a little unusual for TV at the time. Dan Hollis put this in a wider context in the thread "Couples In TZ--One Bed Or Two?"(http://twilightzonewor.9.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=493):

TZer also points out that "damn" was used in "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" ("Somebody who dies damn hard").

Somewhat related is the "You Know TZ Wasn't Filmed In The 21st Century" thread, here: http://twilightzonewor.9.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=388

This one is AWFUL. Even Ed Wynn couldn't save it.

The first time I saw it, when it was over, I said, "Well, THAT sucked."

I agree, this is a snoozer, pun intended.

3 zones.

Enjoy things clocks and watches so like this episode for that reason.
As I pointed out on a prior board, there is no way to move a tall case clock without first securing the pendulum. The clock would have had to be stopped to move it.
A small sacrifice of accuracy that doesn't detract too much.

Ed Wynn is a great actor, and he saves this episode for me, but it's still weak.

6/10

Boring! Bottom 10 for me.

i don't get what the big deal it was that sam was 'obsessed' with the clock. sam is in pretty good shape considering his age. heck, he could have been senile or worse. a little tinkering with a clock is no big deal.
i liked the end when sam confronts his 'spirit' but it seems unusual that from one minute to another he stopped believing that his life was linked with the clock.
-ag

Very true, adam. There seems to be quite a bit of ageism at work, now that you point it out, especially on the part of Sam's grandson-in-law.

The only way this makes sense to me is to interpet it so that Sam was having a dream, even though the episode doesn't tell us he was having one. People can change their minds that quickly in dreams for no particular reason (at least I have), but it's not plausible in real life. So whether this is an implausible fantasy episode, or a plausible but not-fully-explained non-fantasy episode, is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

or maybe sam had the 'dream' to reassure to himself that he is not linked to the clock since he knew the clock stopped and he did not die.
thanks for helping me see the ending in a different light!!

and i agree with you regarding that grandson-in-law.. it was his idea for sam to see a doctor.

-ag

2
The ending REALLY cripples the episode IMO.

Sam's confronting himself need not be taken literally, no more so than Martin Sloan's trip back to Homewood. So much of the series was based on the idea of probing the "5th Dimension"/mind/beyond the boundaries of imagination and then expressing it visually. And then often throwing something in to muddy the did-it-or-didn't-it-happen waters. In this vein and scene, I too interpret that Sam had a TZ dreamlike experience. The rest of the episode, however, I would take literally.

I agree about Sam, but all evidence points to Martin's trip to the Homewood of his youth to be quite literal. The clincher is the fact that he walks normally into Homewood but limps out of it, the result of the injury he caused to his younger self.

I agree about Sam, but all evidence points to Martin's trip to the Homewood of his youth to be quite literal. The clincher is the fact that he walks normally into Homewood but limps out of it, the result of the injury he caused to his younger self.

Very interesting point of view, Howard, and let's get this discussion into the "Walking Distance" thread. See here.

done

I gave it a very generous 1, easily one of the most boring episodes of the series.

I give it a 1

I thought it sucked.

A poor episode watchable only because of Ed Wynn.

...and listenable thanks to the great Bernard Herrmann's adaptive and original scoring.

(NOTE: Dan is quoting General Burkstoner's post in "The Chaser" thread, here. From what the General says, the Johnson Smith Novelty company existed in the early-to-mid-'80s at least; I don't know about the '60s.--Bevis)

This is very possibly the source of the "Johnson Smith" billing by which George Clayton Johnson is credited on screen for the story turned into "Ninety Years Without Slumbering."

This post has been edited by James B. W. Bevis on December 20, 2005 06:35 pm

Spoilers ahead






IM said earlier in this thread that the ending really cripples this one.
I agree to a certain extent. BUT, I was surprised that he didn't die at the end so that in fact was a twist I didn't see coming.
I was almost positive he was going to die in SOME way.
Ed Wynn is great in everything but this one just didn't get the job done IMO.
Lacks that "ZONE PUNCH" tm that I have referred to in other threads.
Certainly his performance was better in "One for the Angels".

This one gets a 5 from me and thats your run of the mill Zone that just doesn't stand out. ( 5 Rating mainly stemming from Wynn's performance and the fact that he didn't die)

Thank you and good night.
TZ DZ Fan

Johnson Smith Novelty company existed in the early-to-mid-'80s at least; I don't know about the '60s.--Bevis

It goes back to 1914. My favorite memory of the company is a classic MAD cover from 1955, when MAD was still a 10-cent comic book. The entire cover is devoted to an advertisement from "Smithson John & Co.," selling novelties almost all of which are deadly. Example:

LIVE CROCODILE

Get one of these wonderful animals. Study its habits. Learn to keep out of its way. This seven foot animal will provide hours of entertaining and educational fun. Also great fun in a swimming pool. Imagine the surprised expressions on the faces of your friends as they are suddenly pulled under the surface. Great fun! -- 75¢

That's more or less the style of advertising by the real Johnson Smith, including use of microscopic type font.

TZ Wrote:

I guess, but to me this one has always fallen more in to the "sentimental" category rather than the scary or eeire area. In that regard, I have always liked it.

Sad to say, my mother and I were watching this episode in syndication on the very day Ed Wynn's death was reported in the news.

Crown wrote........

I guess, but to me this one has always fallen more in to the "sentimental" category rather than the scary or eeire area. In that regard, I have always liked it.
=====================================================

Don't get me wrong Crown. I liked it as well and think its a tad underrated. Not that its one of the greats but I think its definately rewatchable.
Also, by "ZONE PUNCH" tm , to me I don't necessarily mean scary or eerie although that may help.
A good example of this (in my mind) may be the ending to "Where is Everybody? or maybe A Hundred Yards Over the Rim". These still have that "ZONE PUNCH" (to me anyways) but don't necessarily fit the scary/eerie category.
I think you see where I'm going.
I do like Wynn's performance in OFTA a bit better but thats just my opinion.


Dan Hollis wrote............
Sad to say, my mother and I were watching this episode in syndication on the very day Ed Wynn's death was reported in the news.
=====================================================
Now that IS kinda eerie.

Thank you and good night.
TZ DZ Fan

Gotchya, TZ!

This episode was further proof that the show had run its course. I read on another site, that there was another ending to this episode where the old man actually died. But it was changed because of a change in directors, or something like that. Anyway, the opinion was that the ending that they went with was a weak ending that ruined the episode.

The full story is in the Zicree book, and I believe it's somewhere on this board, although it's not in this thread yet. (A lot of good stuff about this episode got written about in other threads.) Try searching for "Ninety Years Without Slumbering" via the Search function if you're interested, HM. If no one links to it here I'll do it (or write about it) later...short on time now...

This is another ep I'm shocked to see so much hate for. Then again, I think I've always liked the whole fifth season more than most fans. Certainly, it's at least much better than the fourth.

I gave this one a 7.
Ed Wynn's warm performance really made it for me, and the ending completely took me by surprise. I was so sure that we were going to go through all the regular paces and the ending would be that he dies with the clock.

Meet CHUCK HICKS, one of the stars of NINETY YEARS WITHOUT SLUMBERING, at the 2006 TWILIGHT ZONE CONVENTION. Go to www.tzconvention.com

I didn't realize until now that "The Maynard Flash" fron "Steel" was also in this one. Thanks, hdarvick!

This post has been edited by James B. W. Bevis on February 16, 2006 11:09 am

The full story is in the Zicree book, and I believe it's somewhere on this board, although it's not in this thread yet.

Apparently, it isn't on the board, or at least I couldn't find it. Bert Granet was the producer when George Clayton Johnson wrote the original story, in which Ed Wynn's character died at the same moment his great-grandchild was being born. The version of the story included in Johnson's collection Twilight Zone Scripts & Stories includes this outro for Serling:

All men's lives are measured by clocks. With each tick a second passes and we'll never get it back. But this we take as an article of faith: That when God closes one door he opens another--in this world and in The Twilight Zone.

Johnson then started work on the script. From Zicree's book (second edition, 11th printing):

By the time this script was done, William Froug had taken over. Serling told Froug of the script and, as Froug recalls, "asked me to meet with [Johnson] and as politely as possible, tell him we were not going to use [it]. Johnson was paid and Richard deRoy hired to revamp the script. Sadly, little was gained and much was lost.

Apparently, all of the scripts that were in development when Froug succeeded Granet were scrapped because, in Froug's words: "When I came on the show, Rod...wanted me to start clean as a producer." Zicree's account leaves this question unclear: Who decided to change the ending to the one in the episode--deRoy, Froug, or Serling?

When I made some comments about certain 5th season episodes were further proof that the show had run its course, I don't mean that I didn't like any of the episodes. It just seemed that some episodes were way below the quality of most of the episodes from the first 3 seasons. However, the poster is quite correct in saying that the 5th season is better than the 4th.

I don't entirely disagree that there were poor episodes in season 4. But I do feel it got a bad press due to Zicree's guide and the format change. There's some real gems in that season but they tend to get overshadowed but the poorer episodes.

Anyway, I'd rate the fourth slightly better than the fifth.

I don't entirely disagree that there were poor episodes in season 4. But I do feel it got a bad press due to Zicree's guide and the format change. There's some real gems in that season but they tend to get overshadowed but the poorer episodes.

Anyway, I'd rate the fourth slightly better than the fifth.

I don't think we have a poll here on the subject of our least favorite TZ season yet. If we don't, I'll set one up in a moment. Not that it'll "prove" anything, any more than any other opinion poll, but ideally it'll be fun.

Edit: OK, here it is.

This post has been edited by James B. W. Bevis on February 17, 2006 02:24 pm

As usual, Ed Wynn is classic here, but this is really a rather boring story.

Zicree is right on when he questions why Sam is totally obsessed by the clock ticking down until he is visited by the spirit that tells him that it's time to go. For some reason at that point, Sam just changes his mind. It's so not right...

I can only give this one a "4".

Dear Lord. This was certainly not what I look for in a Twilight Zone. Personally, I don't care for any actor for one that can supposedly attempt to "save" an episode. This guy is an awesome actor I'll give him that and the story was going actually semi-decently until the end. Why, oh why didn't anyone die when the clock stopped? Couldn't something happen like everyone died similar to Time Enough At Last? Bad, poor non-dark ending.


Paul Radin gives this: 4/10

James T. Callahan (Doug Kirk) is one of 16 actors (so far) who will be at the 2006 Twilight Zone Convention, Saturday and Sunday, August 12-13, 2006, Hilton Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. More info at www.tzconvention.com

Cool! Thanks for the update, Mr. Darvick, and for all the good work!