A World of His Own
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| “A World of His Own” | |||||||
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| The Twilight Zone episode | |||||||
 Scene from "A World of His Own" |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 36 |
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| Written by | Richard Matheson | ||||||
| Directed by | Ralph Nelson | ||||||
| Guest stars | Keenan Wynn : Gregory West Phyllis Kirk : Victoria West Mary La Roche : Mary |
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| Production no. | 173-3634 | ||||||
| Original airdate | July 1, 1960 | ||||||
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| List of Twilight Zone episodes | |||||||
"A World of His Own" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.
Contents |
[edit] Opening narration
| “ | The home of Mr. Gregory West, one of America's most noted playwrights. The office of Mr. Gregory West. Mr. Gregory West: Shy, quiet, and at the moment, very happy. Mary: Warm, affectionate.... And the final ingredient: Mrs. Gregory West. | ” |
[edit] Synopsis
Coming home, Victoria West spots her husband, playwright Gregory West, through the window sharing a drink with Mary, an attractive blonde. But when Victoria barges into the room, Mary is nowhere to be found.
Gregory explains to his wife that if he describes anything into his dictation machine, he can cause that thing to suddenly appear in his study. To make it disappear, all he has to do is throw the tape into his fireplace. He demonstrates this, first with Mary and then an elephant in the hallway. Gregory discovered this talent when a male character he had put a great deal of effort and attention into approached him as a real, flesh-and-blood person, shook his hand, and thanked him.
Believing none of this, Victoria tells Gregory that he is insane and she is going to have him committed. In response, Gregory takes a tape from his safe and explains that it contains her description. Victoria snatches the tape away from him and throws it on the fire to prove he is insane— and promptly begins to feel faint. "You mean you were telling the truth?!" she cries, and disappears. Frantic, Gregory rushes to his dictation machine and begins to re-describe Victoria— then reconsiders and describes Mrs. Mary West. Mary reappears and mixes her husband a drink.
Serling appears on the set and says, "We hope you enjoyed tonight's romantic story on The Twilight Zone. At the same time, we want you to realize that it was, of course, purely fictional. In real life, such ridiculous nonsense—"
"Rod, you shouldn’t!" interrupts Gregory, who walks over to his safe and pulls out a tape marked "Rod Serling". "I mean, you shouldn't say things as 'nonsense' and 'ridiculous'!" he continues as he throws the tape into the fire.
"Well, that's the way it goes," replies Serling, in a tone of "I guess I deserved that" as he fades away.
[edit] Closing narration
| “ | Leaving Mr. Gregory West, still shy, quiet, very happy— and apparently in complete control of the Twilight Zone. | ” |
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
This is the only episode in the first season in which Rod Serling appears on-screen and breaks the fourth wall. Serling's cameo was so well-received, he appeared on-screen to introduce subsequent episodes.
The 2002–2003 new 'Twilight Zone' ran a similar episode: A graphic novel author, afflicted with writer's block, creates a perfect girlfriend to help inspire him. However, she soon asserts her independence and starts hitting on other guys. Eventually, she reveals she is the real author, not him, and then erases him from existence.
Inside The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, there is an envelope with Rod Serling written on it much like on this episode.
The Stephen King short story Word Processor of the Gods is very similar to this episode, with the dictation machine replaced with a cobbled-together word-processor.
[edit] References
- Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
