When Rod Serling got his first check for writing, he was so amazed — so satisfied that there was a market for his skills — he showed it off to everyone he knew. Although the check was only in the amount of $150, it was a “tremendous boost to his ego,” Rod’s daughter Anne Serling revealed to a packed house at the University of Mary Washington on Tuesday night.
UMW’s Great Lives Lecture Series was one stop on Serling’s tour to promote her book, “As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling.”
Serling is most famous for “The Twilight Zone,” a mystical show of the supernatural, but he made his name as a writer with several books to his name and notoriety from the publishing world. Then came the Twilight Zone and a “dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind,” he said in the cold opening that everyone memorized.
This was the early 1960s, and television viewers were ready for something outside the box. Enough with “Leave it to Beaver” or “Father Knows Best.” Audiences were ready to think, and Serling delivered.
“I loved his program,” Anne Serling said.
That love, and her affection for her father, spurred her to write her book, which was released in May 2021.
“I needed to set the record straight,” she said, “I wrote and wrote and wrote.”
Anne Serling’s narrative was accompanied by a slideshow of old family photos of her and Rod together, and a collection of old home movies added another dimension. At that time, amateur films were all 8mm or Super 8 with a handheld camera.
Serling’s collection also included news clips and a segment from “The Dick Cavett Show,” where Rod was the guest and described contemporary show Night Gallery as being “like a run through the cemetery.” The appearance mostly discussed the Twilight Zone show, but Rod did talk about his writing and the rights of the artist behind the pen. Other clips included news reporter Mike Wallace interviewing Serling in 1951, and Desi Arnaz fame awarding him an Emmy around that same time.
Certain episodes of the Twilight Zone were highlighted, including a 1960 episode called “Time Enough at Last,” where a man’s glasses break and time stands still, and another called “The Shelter,” where a family runs into their backyard bomb shelter during an end-of-the-world disaster but doesn’t let the neighbors in because there isn’t room. It provoked thinking along various levels.
“We had 1,300 letters from that episode,” Anne Serling said.
Fredericksburg resident Susan Ohle attended the lecture with her friend, and both remembered various episodes through the years, like “Time Enough at Last,” which featured an avid reader who broke his glasses or the one with the watch that broke.
Both friends commented on how Twilight Zone’s moral lessons were timeless. “I loved his program,” Ohle said.
Before his writing career and the Twilight Zone, Rod Serling was emotionally impacted by his experience in the Philippines during World War II, where he earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. The stress of combat interrupted his sleep and intruded into his thoughts for years afterward.
One elementary school offered a course for fifth-graders called the “Twilight Zone Course Study,” and one episode they focused on dealt with appearance and the true meaning of beauty. Everyone in that episode had nose abnormalities, similar to everyone in Whoville from Ron Howard’s “How The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.” In the end, appearance is “really subjective,” the teacher said.
Another episode dealt with a ventriloquist dummy that Rod ended up bringing home after filming, and Anne remembered fighting with her sister over who could have the doll in their room that night. Later, when Anne saw that creepy episode, titled “The Dummy,” it gave her chills.
Rod Serling died June 28, 1975, of a heart attack at age 50, and it impacted Anne for years to come. She said she had the book inside her for years, and when she finally put her thoughts on paper, it showed Rod the writer, the humanist, the comedian, the avid sunbather, the singer, and a guy who experienced a giggle fit on the elevator.
“Along the way, I found the man behind the father,” she said.
Anne Serling was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, and grew up in southern California. Before becoming a full-time writer, she was an early childhood teacher. She serves on the board of directors of the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation.
The Great Lives lecture series brings renowned biographers — a number of them Pulitzer Prize winners — to UMW’s Dodd Auditorium to explore the diverse lives and achievements of remarkable people.
Future speakers include Adam Lazarus highlighting John Glenn and Ted Williams on Tuesday, Mark Lee Gardner discussing his book about Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull on Thursday, and Raymond Arsenault highlighting a biography of John Lewis on Feb. 13.