Title: “A World of His Own”
Original transmission date: July 1 1960
Written by: Richard Matheson
Directed by: Ralph Nelson
Starring: Keenan Wynn as Gregory West
Phyllis Kirk as Victoria West
Mary LaRoche as Mary
Setting: Earth
Timeframe: Present (at the time)
Theme(s): Magic, omnipotence, hubris, love
Parodied? Not to my knowledge, no
Rating: A-
Serling's opening monologue
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.
A man seems idyllically, even nauseatingly in love with his wife, until we suddenly discover the woman making a martini for him and sitting on his lap is not his wife; she is outside, about to barge in and tear apart the little love nest. However, when Mrs. West enters the house and looks triumphantly around of there rival, there is nobody to be seen. Where is the young woman who only a moment ago she saw sitting beside her husband? She couldn’t have got out; there’s only one door and Mrs. West just came in by it! She’s at a loss, and Gregory of course offers no explanation, as she has not accused him of anything. Yet.
Now she tells him about the woman she saw, but he just laughs, and she can’t prove anything as she can’t find any trace of the girl. When she catches him out though, he has to explain and tells her that, unbelievable as it may seem, the characters from his plays have begun to come to life, and that is what she saw. She of course does not believe him (who would?) and goes to call to have him committed, but he stops her and shows her how he does it, while she tries to get away. Describing the character into his tape recorder, he brings her literally to life, and she walks into the room.
Of course, the wife thinks it’s some set-up (at least she doesn’t call it a gag!) so Greg has to show her it’s real by cutting off the piece of tape on which the character, Mary, is described, balling it up and throwing it in the fire, whereupon Mary vanishes. Before she does, though, she begs Greg not to: she seems distressed, as if being erased from existence is painful and traumatic for her, but he has to prove he’s telling the truth. Besides, she’s not real is she? She’s only a character in one of his plays, right?
Oddly enough, even after seeing this with her own eyes his wife does not believe it, and goes to leave. Gregory has to convince her further, by creating an elephant in the hall. Now she surely can’t fail to understand. But she stubbornly sticks to her idea that he is crazy, even after the elephant disappears. I mean, where did she think it came from? Finally he has no choice, and reveals to her that she too is a character, and if she’s determined to leave him, why then he has no alternative but to throw her tape into the fire and erase her. True to her scepticism, she refuses to take heed, to believe that she could be a character created by the playwright, and when Gregory goes to put the tape back in the safe from which he took it, she contemptuously grabs it and flings it on the fire.
And that’s the end of her.
Lamenting that he made her too strong, too cold, too perfect, Gregory is about to recreate her when he has second thoughts, and brings Mary back again to be his wife.
A nice aside at the end, when Serling appears and begins narrating the end, then Gregory waves a finger at him warningly, takes out his tape and throws it on the fire, whereupon Serling vanishes.
Serling's closing monologue
Leaving Mr. Gregory West—Still shy, quiet, very happy... and apparently in complete control of The Twilight Zone.
The Resolution
Perhaps predictable, but still quite enjoyable. Everyone in Gregory West’s circle, it seems, it a character created by him. Which has to make you wonder about his own character as a person. Does he have to be surrounded by perfect people all the time?
The Moral
There really isn’t one here that I can see, unless it’s “And God created Woman”. Sigh.
Themes
Omnipotence would appear to be the main one: whatever Gregory West wants he can have, just by describing it with the powers of a talented playwright. But there’s a small amount of hubris too, though it does not backfire on him but on his “wife”, who realises too late that she is also created by him. Love, too, as in the end that’s all West is looking for, though if this is the case why he put up for so long with a sharp, snippy wife like he has is anybody’s guess. I suppose he does or did love her, as he didn’t put her tape on the fire, she did that and he even tried to get it back. Nevertheless, he learns his lesson and does not recreate her, instead going with the more compliant (and younger and prettier) Mary.
Magic of a sort here too. An unexplainable process creates these characters, and there’s no other way to describe it than magic, taking the power of the imagination and making it real. I suppose you could also throw in the legend of Doubting Thomas, or in this case Victoria. She’s seen with her own eyes how this works and still persists in refusing to believe it, and pays the ultimate price in the end.
And isn't that...?
Keenan Wynn (1916 - 1986)
A huge career in movies, including some pretty big ones -
Dr. Strangelove, Stagecoach, Finian’s Rainbow, Once Upon a Time in the West - as well as work on
Kolchak the Night-stalker and
Dallas, Fantasy Island, Taxi, The Bionic Woman, Alias Smith and Jones, Hawaii Five-0, Quincy and so on. He was also the son of Ed Wynn, who played the role of Lew Bookman in “One for the Angels”, the second episode we looked at here.
Questions, and sometimes, Answers
The wife asks the husband if he has a secret door installed. If he had, would he be likely to tell her? It would be secret, after all. That’s the whole point of a secret, so that nobody knows. Especially the wife!
I read how he came about it, but surely Stephen King, an avid horror and science fiction fan, must have seen this episode, and therefore it had to have been, even subconsciously, an influence on his short story “Word Processor of the Gods”?
Iconic?
Is it possible that a young John Cleese watched this and saw the wife patting the walls, and included it in the episode of
Fawlty Towers where Basil pretends to do the same while trying to find out if a guest has a girl in his bedroom? It’s so similar, the intention even the same, the excuse literally being “I’m checking the walls”...
Ten things or less I hate about you
1. Gregory West’s smiling face is annoying; that sort of self-satisfied, knowing look that says I could destroy you now if I wished.
2. As I note below, this is very demeaning to women, though of course it is 1960. But I wonder if they ever rewrote this, putting the woman in Gregory’s place?
3. Victoria’s stubborn refusal to believe is, well, hard to believe. Even after she’s seen Mary vanish before her eyes, seen an elephant appear in the hall, she still thinks it’s some sort of trick. Is she stupid?
Personal Notes
It’s a light-hearted story, not meant to be taken seriously, and perhaps, in my opinion, not the best way to end the season, but I find its chauvinistic, not to say misogynistic tone disturbing. The man can have any woman he wants, and if they don’t suit he can, essentially, kill them, and then if he wants bring them back to life, killing and resurrecting them as many times as he wishes. There’s no evidence this hurts the characters, but Mary alludes to it, saying it frightens her. And he is burning the tape, after all.