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Like Feathersmith, we remember our past differently than it really was. Sometimes, we look through a different time, Era, through rose colored glasses because our current time period isn't that enjoyable.
Sidenote, Julie Newmar, who later played Catwoman in the first two seasons of the Batman show and the animated films later on, also voiced Martha Wayne in the classic Batman: The Brave And The Bold episode “Chill Of The Night” alongside Adam West as Thomas Wayne.
good to know, though im pretty sure he would have been screwed anyways when he strolls into town with money thats printed differently in the 50ish timespan, no one would honor currency that to them looks forgeries
I just realized what the devil gets in this story! She says that she already had Feathersmith's soul because of his business dealings over the years. She does all of this to get a second soul. She already had Feathersmith's, but she saw an opportunity to get the janitor's soul too. By doing this deal, she guaranteed keeping Feathersmith, and it looks like the janitor was even more ruthless than Feathersmith, meaning that his soul was also given long ago!
Excellent call there and yes, I think that was at least a bonus in the deal. Either that, or Hell was suffering a budget shortfall and Feathersmith's fortune made up for that.
Oh dang…weather intentional or not written that way that’s actually genius. She gets the original corrupt soul, but creates another in the process! I never thought about it that way!
I saw it a little differently. Feathersmith's past, is now played out where he didn't do that thing financially that got him a fortune, that resulted in suicide and people being killed. That's why in the new present, he's not cruel. So I think he actually retained the rights to his soul. Where the now cruel and rich Hecate, has sold his soul at some point in the new timeline.
The trouble is that if Feathersmith changed his future to the point that he was the janitor for forty years, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to commit all those evil deeds that landed him in the devil’s hands. He seems, at the end, to be a friendly, affable sort. He unknowingly transferred his condemnation to Hecate, who is now the ruthless bastard and deserving of what Feathersmith WOULD HAVE GOTTEN.
While the moral of this installment, as stated by Sterling himself, is that nice guys don't always finish last, it's kind of broken when Hecate, formerly the Janitor, now the CEO, is just as cruel as Feathersmith was in the original Timeline.
If it is done by supernatural means it is not a moral rather it is wishful thinking. The moral is as always be careful what you wish for and hubris is your own destruction.
Apart from that, one of my few problems with it is those businessmen being so QUICK to laugh at his talk about future oil drilling technology. You'd think that at least one of them would find it very believable.@@Raximus3000
It may also be another of those time travel cliches though that just because things changed, the end result is the same. Just because someone else is running it now, the company run exactly the way it was
My theory is the devil was not after Feathersmith; she already had him and the money was useless to her. She was after Hecate. In the end you see Hecate has gone from quiet and thoughtful janitor to ruthless CEO in the end. I LOVE this episode. It’s campy fun!
That makes a lot of sense! I always wondered why she wanted his money when they have no use for it in Hell. In a way she got two souls for the price of one!
I realized that after I saw the end and shared her saying "Your soul is as good as ours". The devil will use others as a stumbling block for many to fall.
This is actually one of my favorite TZ. Not only for Julie but some nice just desserts. Might have been better if Fethersmith wound up working for the person he tried to destroy.
7:10 WOW. Just wow. Julie Newmar's scenes are phenomenal here. 7:27 This brief monologue is tremendous--fancy a convincing devil, delineating everything about the CEO which is Hellish in his behaviour, and doing it in a way that CHASTISES him for his evil deeds? The smouldering sexuality goes a long way here, also. Because of Newmar's performance, this episode is TOTALLY worth a watch.
Man, Julie Newmar stole the show here. She was fantastic as the devil. I want to watch this episode mainly because of Devlin. She was an underrated actress. I also love the twist of her telling Feathersmith that they already had his soul. LOL. I wasn't expecting that at all.
I liked this episode but I wonder: If Feathersmith has been a janitor for 40 years, doesn’t that mean he never did all those evil deals that cost him his soul? And then, why did he go back in the first place? It’s the grandfather paradox.
It would be if not for the fact that we're talking about Feathersmith' s soul. Returning to the past could alter his influence on the timeline, but his personal actions that he consciously committed remain with him.
@@brnardm9273 yeah, you’re right with how they do it a lot …many time travel stories, they keep their memories when that stuff happens, and there’s other ones where it actually alters the travelers memory if they change the past and something never happened…. The second one actually makes more sense, but there’s always going to be plot holes in time travel stories no matter what
Thank you! Thats what I said. The soul-selling occurrence that gained him a fortune, now doesn't happen. The devil said his new future will play out in accordance to his new past. He's also meek, not cruel. Hecate I think is now the one that sold his soul somewhere down the new path of him becoming rich.
The new present Feathersmith is meek, not cruel. The devil said he'd retain his memories traveling to the past. But I don't think he remembers his original timeline once he got back to the new present. She said that his new future will play out in accordance to his status in the past. Meaning, not striking that deal that got people killed. Thus, not selling his soul. While Hecate's cruel demeanor, suggests that he sold his soul for a fortune somewhere down that timeline. So Feathersmith won..lol.@@brnardm9273
Wow a female devil is such a fantastic idea and a nice spin on the classic deal with the devil. Also she was absolutely gorgeous, I’d sign her contract 📝😍
I like the subversion of the modern man succeding via future knowledge- too many stories have the main character trivially recreate modern marvels, or benefit wildly out of proportion to minor inventions. It can be done well, especially if it is built into the framework of the story (like the mc being transported specifically because of skills that would be useful) but too often the difficulties are handwaved away, when the actually interesting stories with that premise make applying that knowledge the interesting part- like the light novel Release that Witch, where the MC over time uses the powers of the various witches he recruits as shortcuts to recreate advanced tech and the build up of the land and integration of the advances and the witches themselves is the core of the story's appeal. Here we get someone assuming they could pull something like that off, but letting their rosy view of the past blind them to the inconveniences, specifically the lack of modern amenities they take for granted. I think it works well with Devlin's speech reprimanding him, because the Main character here failed because 1 he tried to abuse future knowledge while letting the opportunity blind him to the realities of the time and 2 none of his skills are the sort that would let him really use that future knowledge. He squandered the chance to use his wheeling and dealing skills to build himself back up from the bottom like he wanted, and as Devlin said, he isn't any sort of builder or creator, he lacks the skills or knowledge to leverage being from the future outside of... well trying to screw people over in business deals. I get the feeling that he benefited from a strong starting position that let him leverage underhanded business practices to get to where he was at the start, even if only just a decently off family and a decent starting job, but his nostalgia let him paint himself as more of a self made man- like so many companies selling the idea of a single genius that built the company from scratch, which are nothing but marketing ploys and ego stroking (for example Telsa motors were bought out from the people who did the hard work designing the first cars and Elon Musk gets treated like a genius that did it all himself). So when our main character whiffed his chance to get a good starting advantage he had nothing to build on- no money to start up a business, no position he could work his way up from, nada.
Especially when the old Feathersmith mentions he knows what stocks are going to do well- sure he does, but that only helps if he can afford to buy a stock and sit on it a few decades. What's he going to do until then?
Julie Newmar’s devil role and the comeuppance Mr Feathersmith gets at the end are pretty much my favorite things about this episode. At the beginning when Mr Feathersmith laughs maniacally over the intercom as a ruined Mr Deitrich walks away I thought that was just an exaggerated caricature of wealthy tycoons. But as you get older and witness more corruption and flaunting of wealth/power from the elite; it’s a lot more real than you think!
He actually is similar to Rocky Valentine from "A Nice Place to Visit." It's the thrill of acquisition that he lives for, not what he actually acquires.
You may think I'm crazy for saying this, but I actually name this as a personal favorite episode of the Twilight Zone. While I concede the performance of "Old Feathersmith" is a bit...odd, not helped by the makeup, I actually really like the story...and, most importantly, I think Julie Newmar's "Miss Devlin" is probably my favorite portrayal of the Devil found in the show. (Ironically, fellow Batman co-star Burgess Meredith is my second favorite.) I know this one has problems, but for some reason it just speaks to me. :) I wouldn't say it's in my Top 5 or anything, but it might be in my Top 15 or 20.
I was about to write a very similar comment. Great episode for me but the actor does really oversell the older version of Feathersmith. It's also a bit odd at the end that Hecate doesn't seem to recognize the man who sold him the land all those years ago, you'd think the person who started him on the path to wealth would be more indelible in his mind.
I actually am quite fond of Late I Think of Cliffordville. The set up and use of time is used quite well, I enjoy the story for as simple as it is and yes the portrayal of Julie Newman as Miss Devlin is spectacular. She’s sexy as hell. No pun intended. There’s not many season 4 episodes that I felt are worth the watch but if you’re looking back on fond memories of this series, maybe stop by and gander back at this episode in Miss Delvin’s office in that the dark corner of… THE TWILIGHT ZONE!!
I personally love this portrayal of the Devil. A monster that goes after other monsters, reveling when they suffer & lose their ill-gotten gains. Not a monster who tries to tempt the good / innocent, but a monster that serves as a punishment for those that deserve such punishment.
Julie Newmar is fantastic in this! She is such a better actress than she has ever been given credit for. I feel like they gave her a lot of freedom here to do what she wanted and her instincts are right on the money. I think Elizabeth Hurley may have borrowed from this when she played the devil in Bedazzled.
Why would the Devil chastise Feathersmith for living a life chiefly comprised of hurting other people? Isn't hurting other people what the Devil is all about? And wouldn't the Devil praise, not condemn, Feathersmith for his unapologetic amorality?
The moral of this story was...leave things well enough alone. The rich man messed with his past and screwed his whole life up even if he did deserve it.
I do love how instead of selling your soul to the Devil, in this case it's, "Sorry, you're such a bastard, we already have that. Time to start ponying up the cash, please." And if the Devil always appeared as Julie Newmar, no male would EVER pass up a deal.
I hate that aspect of the episode. Even tho it's dumb to appeal to the technicality of the word "look like I did back then", even if he did get what he wanted, which is to actually be a young man again... he was so freaking stupid. The episode makes it look like he thought he would buy the land and magically be a rich man immediately. He should have thought about having to wait until he could exploit the land.
Maybe Feathersmith's youthful energy was a placebo effect. He believed he was younger, and the excitement of reliving his success prevented him from noticing that he was still older, internally. Only when things start not going his way, and his elation fades does he start feeling as old as he really is.
Watching Elon Musk LITERALLY try to turn Twitter into his own private cult of personality by way of Mars promises and nonstop Tesla advertisements, you get a new appreciation for Feathersmith karmically finding out that businessmen aren’t inventors, they just sell the inspirations of others, and he can’t corner the market on the automobile before someone’s thought of it yet.
I liked the episode featured here and in general while insightful I think your comments are unduly critical of some episodes such as this one. In English classes stories are always checked and graded for the elements of character development and dramatic conflict or lack thereof. But in real life sometimes stories work well even with limited amounts of these aspects. A story need not always "check off every box" to work well on TV.
I disagree with Walter's disdain of the episode. I think it's pretty good. The protagonist does overact at points and the "Person wants to go back to nostalgiac times" premise was a tired trope by that point, but I like the twist and the main character gets his just comeuppance.
Idk, the episode seems like a good come-uppance to all those trillionaire jerks who claim to be hard workers who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps when really they just happened to be in the right place at the right time to make the right deals. I’d like to see Muskrat or Bezos try to rebuild their empires from scratch only to find their rose-tinted biographies have some major gaps in true history.
Two Episodes in "Night Gallery" as well where John Astin and "TZ" Alumni Steve Forrest and Buddy Ebsen appear. And as I learned from Tom Poston on "Newhart": "Any (TV) Schedule without Buddy Ebsen sucks eggs!"😂😈🎤🥚🥚📺B.W.
I thought this was a classic. Admittedly the ending is a head scratcher, but I think it's meant to be open to interpretation. Perhaps Feathersmith died after celebrating his triumph and didn't remember that. He was already on an elevator to hell when the whole deal with a devil was about proving that he was nothing in life, but a predator incapable of creating or building anything. His final destination is a janitor working for someone who in another life was the janitor. He's not all that different than the U-boat captain who relives the sinking of a ship he sank every night for all eternity.
Only saw this one once. The only thing I remember about this episode is when the people he buys the land from revealed they know the land has oil but the technology at the time makes it impossible to actually get. Decent little twist.
The makeup and the performance remind me of George Coulouris playing an elderly Thatcher in Citizen Kane. Got the feeling he was imitating that performance. As for Julie Newmar as the devil? Where do I sign?!
To me, the whole bit of Feathersmith being a businessman but not an innovator, an idiot with ruthlessness and luck rather than actual genius, actually hits home with today's business climate of billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and the likes who're more about stealing credit for technology rather than actually making technology.
Julie Newmar was the most interesting thing about this one and it's cool seeing The Devil presented as a _woman_ this time. It adds more into The Devil taking many forms. However, the ending was a bit clunky. I didn't like Hecate being just as cruel of a boss as Feathersmith, it feels _lazy._ I would've liked it more if he was a _firm but ultimately fair_ CEO to show that being a successful business leader _does not and should not_ mean being hard-hearted nor should it _take away_ your ethics and goodness. Stupid side note, I like how John Anderson looks like an elderly Abraham Lincoln in this episode at times. 😋😋
It is so sad that Albert Salmi appeared in only two TZ episodes - Execution and this one. He was such an amazing actor and should have been featured in more.
I think another missed opportunity was at the end when Heckett becomes the new CEO of the company because of the time traveling altercation, it should have ended when Heckett travel down the same elevator like Feathersmith did before. Then Heckett finds the same travel agency Feathersmith did before and then is made the same offer as Feathersmith did... only to be trapped in a "opposite sides of the same coin" type of Hell both Heckett and Feathersmith are now a part of.
Even if it isn't the best the Twilight Zone has to offer, I've always been fond of this episode. I just really love the ending where Feathersmith gets screwed over by his own hubris and poor thinking.
I always enjoyed this one. Although it’s not one of the stronger TZ episodes, I think this is still one of my fav hour long ones that stuck with me since I first watched it. Probably because I found the over-the-top Mr. Feathersmith & Evilin working off eachother so entertaining. And although it’s one of the weaker “twists” in TZ, I think the slow burn of watching such a pompous egotistical character like Feathersmith slowly crumble still makes it enjoyable & worth the watch
This is the first time I'm watching clips of this episode in HD and notice the bald cap on Feathersmith's actor. When watching reruns during the 90's, I never noticed it. I didn't care much for this episode but also loved Julie Newmar's performance as the devil. I was intrigued that her tone became aggressive when mentioning Feathersmith's faults as though even the devil hates cruel and selfish people despite the guarantee of having their soul. I have to disagree with you about Feathersmith's spryness in 1910 when he's internally 78 years old. I've seen some in their 80's still have spryness at their age. Dick Van Dyke was 91 or 92 when filming "Mary Poppins Returns" and still danced on top of a desk showing that he still got it.
As an actor, singer, or a performer of any kind, you must always be aware of your own limitations. Yes, the makeup job was bad, but the performance as old man Feathersmith was worse. A classic case of trying to do too much and not being aware of one's own limitations. The director showed bad judgment in letting that go by. All said, however, I enjoy that episode even if it is significantly flawed.
The main problem with this episode was the fact that it was only an hour long. Plot like this would suit a full feature movie better as all things that didn't make sense couldn't be explained in only 60 minutes.
Maybe this episode would benefit a rewrite. It reminds me of A Christmas Carol but if Scrooge wanted to start over or better yet his partner! Jacob Marley could take the deal not having the redemption Scrooge got. Having a mislead memory if the past. Maybe Julie Newmar's character could try and get Scrooge's soul by tricking Marley but Marley manages to warn Scrooge setting up A Christmas Story!
This is a cool story that portrays the devil as an agent of justice or vengeance rather than just some nebulous concept of evil. This is a story about a guy whose soul was ALREADY hell bound, I know they say "money talks, even in hell" but I feel like what the devil here wanted was less the cash and more just to make sure this asshole didn't get his way. It's pretty cool seeing a guy who is SO much of an irredeemable bastard that the devil doesn't even want to wait for him to die to punish him.
Thoughts on "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville"?
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In case anyone is curious, $1,412.14 in 1910 would be the equivalent of $4,526 in 1963, or $44,500 in 2023.
Like Feathersmith, we remember our past differently than it really was. Sometimes, we look through a different time, Era, through rose colored glasses because our current time period isn't that enjoyable.
I liked this episode, the second "Deal with the Devil" episode of the season.
Can you do best and worst episodes of Hannah Montana please?
@@melissacooper8724so true
Sidenote, Julie Newmar, who later played Catwoman in the first two seasons of the Batman show and the animated films later on, also voiced Martha Wayne in the classic Batman: The Brave And The Bold episode “Chill Of The Night” alongside Adam West as Thomas Wayne.
WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?
In case anyone is curious, $1,412.14 in 1910 would be the equivalent of $4,526 in 1963, or $44,500 in 2023.
good to know, though im pretty sure he would have been screwed anyways when he strolls into town with money thats printed differently in the 50ish timespan, no one would honor currency that to them looks forgeries
I can only imagine how many guys (who grew up in her time) had a thing for Newmar back in her prime. Such a gorgeous woman!
I just realized what the devil gets in this story! She says that she already had Feathersmith's soul because of his business dealings over the years. She does all of this to get a second soul. She already had Feathersmith's, but she saw an opportunity to get the janitor's soul too. By doing this deal, she guaranteed keeping Feathersmith, and it looks like the janitor was even more ruthless than Feathersmith, meaning that his soul was also given long ago!
Excellent call there and yes, I think that was at least a bonus in the deal. Either that, or Hell was suffering a budget shortfall and Feathersmith's fortune made up for that.
Oh dang…weather intentional or not written that way that’s actually genius. She gets the original corrupt soul, but creates another in the process! I never thought about it that way!
brilliant!
I saw it a little differently. Feathersmith's past, is now played out where he didn't do that thing financially that got him a fortune, that resulted in suicide and people being killed.
That's why in the new present, he's not cruel.
So I think he actually retained the rights to his soul.
Where the now cruel and rich Hecate, has sold his soul at some point in the new timeline.
The trouble is that if Feathersmith changed his future to the point that he was the janitor for forty years, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to commit all those evil deeds that landed him in the devil’s hands. He seems, at the end, to be a friendly, affable sort. He unknowingly transferred his condemnation to Hecate, who is now the ruthless bastard and deserving of what Feathersmith WOULD HAVE GOTTEN.
“To Channel Awesome, Thanks for everything. Love, Julie Newmar” 😂
Julie was super stunning and awesome.
I think we always knew that Julie Newmar was a supernatural being of some sort.
While the moral of this installment, as stated by Sterling himself, is that nice guys don't always finish last, it's kind of broken when Hecate, formerly the Janitor, now the CEO, is just as cruel as Feathersmith was in the original Timeline.
If it is done by supernatural means it is not a moral rather it is wishful thinking. The moral is as always be careful what you wish for and hubris is your own destruction.
@@Raximus3000exactement 😊
Apart from that, one of my few problems with it is those businessmen being so QUICK to laugh at his talk about future oil drilling technology. You'd think that at least one of them would find it very believable.@@Raximus3000
It may also be another of those time travel cliches though that just because things changed, the end result is the same. Just because someone else is running it now, the company run exactly the way it was
Yeah, I always wondered, wouldn't Hecate do the same thing and switch places right back?
My theory is the devil was not after Feathersmith; she already had him and the money was useless to her. She was after Hecate. In the end you see Hecate has gone from quiet and thoughtful janitor to ruthless CEO in the end.
I LOVE this episode. It’s campy fun!
I never thought of that. If she went about it that way, she might have almost an endless supply of "Feathersmith's" and "Hecate's."
That makes a lot of sense! I always wondered why she wanted his money when they have no use for it in Hell. In a way she got two souls for the price of one!
That's a good theory! The devil already had Feathersmith, but through this scheme managed to corrupt another soul.
Holy s**t you might be right!
I realized that after I saw the end and shared her saying "Your soul is as good as ours". The devil will use others as a stumbling block for many to fall.
We go from the Penguin to the Catwoman .
This is actually one of my favorite TZ. Not only for Julie but some nice just desserts. Might have been better if Fethersmith wound up working for the person he tried to destroy.
7:10 WOW. Just wow. Julie Newmar's scenes are phenomenal here.
7:27 This brief monologue is tremendous--fancy a convincing devil, delineating everything about the CEO which is Hellish in his behaviour, and doing it in a way that CHASTISES him for his evil deeds? The smouldering sexuality goes a long way here, also.
Because of Newmar's performance, this episode is TOTALLY worth a watch.
Man, Julie Newmar stole the show here. She was fantastic as the devil. I want to watch this episode mainly because of Devlin. She was an underrated actress. I also love the twist of her telling Feathersmith that they already had his soul. LOL. I wasn't expecting that at all.
The fact that the devil is making a deal with a guy who is already damned is already a twist in and of itself.
This is one of my favorite episodes of the whole series. Might be a top 10 for me.
I loved this installment, which I first heard as a radio play.
The best part is that the Devil got two souls in the end...Feathersmith AND Hecate.
When it comes to Cliffordville, you shouldn’t make deals with the devil. You should make those deals with an actual Clifford. A Clifford like me.
Or a big red dog named Clifford.
First the Penguin, and now Catwoman gives off a purrrr-fectly devilish performance in The Twilight Zone.
Those devil horns are so cute.
Hahaha yes they are so cute!!!!!!!!!!!
“ …more convincing hair pieces in an “All That” sketch”.😆
I love this The Twilight Zone episode!
I liked this episode but I wonder: If Feathersmith has been a janitor for 40 years, doesn’t that mean he never did all those evil deals that cost him his soul? And then, why did he go back in the first place? It’s the grandfather paradox.
It would be if not for the fact that we're talking about Feathersmith' s soul. Returning to the past could alter his influence on the timeline, but his personal actions that he consciously committed remain with him.
@@brnardm9273 yeah, you’re right with how they do it a lot …many time travel stories, they keep their memories when that stuff happens, and there’s other ones where it actually alters the travelers memory if they change the past and something never happened…. The second one actually makes more sense, but there’s always going to be plot holes in time travel stories no matter what
My guess is as far of the cosmic books are concerned, he did them.
Thank you! Thats what I said. The soul-selling occurrence that gained him a fortune, now doesn't happen.
The devil said his new future will play out in accordance to his new past.
He's also meek, not cruel.
Hecate I think is now the one that sold his soul somewhere down the new path of him becoming rich.
The new present Feathersmith is meek, not cruel. The devil said he'd retain his memories traveling to the past. But I don't think he remembers his original timeline once he got back to the new present.
She said that his new future will play out in accordance to his status in the past.
Meaning, not striking that deal that got people killed.
Thus, not selling his soul.
While Hecate's cruel demeanor, suggests that he sold his soul for a fortune somewhere down that timeline.
So Feathersmith won..lol.@@brnardm9273
Wow a female devil is such a fantastic idea and a nice spin on the classic deal with the devil. Also she was absolutely gorgeous, I’d sign her contract 📝😍
This month has been so much better thanks to you guys!😊😊😊😊❤❤❤
"What about Deal with the Devil episode?"
"We've already had it."
"Oh we've had one yes. But what about second Deal with the Devil episode?"
"With Time Travel?"
I like the subversion of the modern man succeding via future knowledge- too many stories have the main character trivially recreate modern marvels, or benefit wildly out of proportion to minor inventions. It can be done well, especially if it is built into the framework of the story (like the mc being transported specifically because of skills that would be useful) but too often the difficulties are handwaved away, when the actually interesting stories with that premise make applying that knowledge the interesting part- like the light novel Release that Witch, where the MC over time uses the powers of the various witches he recruits as shortcuts to recreate advanced tech and the build up of the land and integration of the advances and the witches themselves is the core of the story's appeal.
Here we get someone assuming they could pull something like that off, but letting their rosy view of the past blind them to the inconveniences, specifically the lack of modern amenities they take for granted.
I think it works well with Devlin's speech reprimanding him, because the Main character here failed because 1 he tried to abuse future knowledge while letting the opportunity blind him to the realities of the time and 2 none of his skills are the sort that would let him really use that future knowledge. He squandered the chance to use his wheeling and dealing skills to build himself back up from the bottom like he wanted, and as Devlin said, he isn't any sort of builder or creator, he lacks the skills or knowledge to leverage being from the future outside of... well trying to screw people over in business deals.
I get the feeling that he benefited from a strong starting position that let him leverage underhanded business practices to get to where he was at the start, even if only just a decently off family and a decent starting job, but his nostalgia let him paint himself as more of a self made man- like so many companies selling the idea of a single genius that built the company from scratch, which are nothing but marketing ploys and ego stroking (for example Telsa motors were bought out from the people who did the hard work designing the first cars and Elon Musk gets treated like a genius that did it all himself). So when our main character whiffed his chance to get a good starting advantage he had nothing to build on- no money to start up a business, no position he could work his way up from, nada.
Especially when the old Feathersmith mentions he knows what stocks are going to do well- sure he does, but that only helps if he can afford to buy a stock and sit on it a few decades. What's he going to do until then?
Julie Newmar’s devil role and the comeuppance Mr Feathersmith gets at the end are pretty much my favorite things about this episode.
At the beginning when Mr Feathersmith laughs maniacally over the intercom as a ruined Mr Deitrich walks away I thought that was just an exaggerated caricature of wealthy tycoons. But as you get older and witness more corruption and flaunting of wealth/power from the elite; it’s a lot more real than you think!
He actually is similar to Rocky Valentine from "A Nice Place to Visit." It's the thrill of acquisition that he lives for, not what he actually acquires.
You may think I'm crazy for saying this, but I actually name this as a personal favorite episode of the Twilight Zone. While I concede the performance of "Old Feathersmith" is a bit...odd, not helped by the makeup, I actually really like the story...and, most importantly, I think Julie Newmar's "Miss Devlin" is probably my favorite portrayal of the Devil found in the show. (Ironically, fellow Batman co-star Burgess Meredith is my second favorite.) I know this one has problems, but for some reason it just speaks to me. :) I wouldn't say it's in my Top 5 or anything, but it might be in my Top 15 or 20.
I was about to write a very similar comment. Great episode for me but the actor does really oversell the older version of Feathersmith. It's also a bit odd at the end that Hecate doesn't seem to recognize the man who sold him the land all those years ago, you'd think the person who started him on the path to wealth would be more indelible in his mind.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I didn't. And Tober did a good job of encapsulating all the reasons why.
This episode should teach us a very valuable lesson, never make a deal with the Devil or it will come back and haunt us.
Or remember the exact details of your success.
Or quit while you are ahead.
Especially if the devil looks like a Batman villain!
What about Julie Newmar
@@black_rabbit_0f_inle805 Still a beautiful actress. She did a good job as the Devil
I actually am quite fond of Late I Think of Cliffordville. The set up and use of time is used quite well, I enjoy the story for as simple as it is and yes the portrayal of Julie Newman as Miss Devlin is spectacular. She’s sexy as hell. No pun intended. There’s not many season 4 episodes that I felt are worth the watch but if you’re looking back on fond memories of this series, maybe stop by and gander back at this episode in Miss Delvin’s office in that the dark corner of… THE TWILIGHT ZONE!!
Julie Newmar 🙌🏼
I personally love this portrayal of the Devil. A monster that goes after other monsters, reveling when they suffer & lose their ill-gotten gains. Not a monster who tries to tempt the good / innocent, but a monster that serves as a punishment for those that deserve such punishment.
Also her fashion sense was on point
This performance landed Julie Newman the role of Catwoman along Adam West.
I agree that Julie Newmar is the MVP of this episode.
Also, what was Sterling's obsession with the Devil? You could make a drinking game of how many times he appears in the series.
Devil is real and underestimated
Thanks🎃
Well, what do you know: a Serling-penned Twilight Zone episode without a single trace of sentiment. I'm not saying that like it's a good thing.
Wow! Two devil related episodes in one twilight tober zone.
Julie Newmar is so good lookin jeezh
Is that where Clifford the Big Red Dog lives?
I thought he lived on Birdwell Island.
Julie Newmar is fantastic in this! She is such a better actress than she has ever been given credit for. I feel like they gave her a lot of freedom here to do what she wanted and her instincts are right on the money. I think Elizabeth Hurley may have borrowed from this when she played the devil in Bedazzled.
I disagree with skipping this episode. I’ve always enjoyed it a great deal.
This is an awesome video and great episode. But you can't discuss how great it is without saying how great Julie Newmar is here. 7:36
Why would the Devil chastise Feathersmith for living a life chiefly comprised of hurting other people? Isn't hurting other people what the Devil is all about? And wouldn't the Devil praise, not condemn, Feathersmith for his unapologetic amorality?
Exactly! The Devil is a destroyer! So it really doesn't make sense that Miss Devilin would chastise Feathersmith for his actions!
Fun fact: In the Old Testament, Satan was an angelic Fury, punishing sinful people or challenging morally dubious ones to trials of judgment.
It's a pity Julie Newmar didn't appear in other Twilight Zone episodes.
I agree 1000% !!!!!!!!!!
The moral of this story was...leave things well enough alone. The rich man messed with his past and screwed his whole life up even if he did deserve it.
Citizen Kane vibes coming from that makeup.
Is that the town of big red dogs?
I do love how instead of selling your soul to the Devil, in this case it's, "Sorry, you're such a bastard, we already have that. Time to start ponying up the cash, please."
And if the Devil always appeared as Julie Newmar, no male would EVER pass up a deal.
I'm also willing to accept the appearance of Elizabeth Hurley
She is a dangerous devil.
She could make me go against everything I stand up for.
Would it be sacrilegious if you banged him in that form??
This is one of my go to episodes , Flawless episode , except for bad makeup but for the time , I can understand it A+
I always remembered this one, he should have bought the land and just worked at a general store for 20 years until the machinery was available
Slight problem though, he's still a 75 year old man (or thereabouts) so time would not have been on his side even if he'd thought of that.
I hate that aspect of the episode. Even tho it's dumb to appeal to the technicality of the word "look like I did back then", even if he did get what he wanted, which is to actually be a young man again... he was so freaking stupid. The episode makes it look like he thought he would buy the land and magically be a rich man immediately. He should have thought about having to wait until he could exploit the land.
The hell with this episode!
I also like the fact that the name Hecate is also the name of the ancient goddess of witches❤
Feathersmiths goofy latex head and voice were great.
Julie Newmar 😍😍😍
I personally enjoyed this episode. They again I have a strange fascination with TZ faustian deals
Awesome and cool! ^_^
Great episode.
Devil Catwoman. 😁
Maybe Feathersmith's youthful energy was a placebo effect. He believed he was younger, and the excitement of reliving his success prevented him from noticing that he was still older, internally. Only when things start not going his way, and his elation fades does he start feeling as old as he really is.
Julie Newmar my Favorite❤
Watching Elon Musk LITERALLY try to turn Twitter into his own private cult of personality by way of Mars promises and nonstop Tesla advertisements, you get a new appreciation for Feathersmith karmically finding out that businessmen aren’t inventors, they just sell the inspirations of others, and he can’t corner the market on the automobile before someone’s thought of it yet.
Following the death of Wright King in 2018, Julie Newmar is the last surviving cast member from this episode.
I liked the episode featured here and in general while insightful I think your comments are unduly critical of some episodes such as this one. In English classes stories are always checked and graded for the elements of character development and dramatic conflict or lack thereof. But in real life sometimes stories work well even with limited amounts of these aspects. A story need not always "check off every box" to work well on TV.
I disagree with Walter's disdain of the episode. I think it's pretty good. The protagonist does overact at points and the "Person wants to go back to nostalgiac times" premise was a tired trope by that point, but I like the twist and the main character gets his just comeuppance.
Idk, the episode seems like a good come-uppance to all those trillionaire jerks who claim to be hard workers who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps when really they just happened to be in the right place at the right time to make the right deals. I’d like to see Muskrat or Bezos try to rebuild their empires from scratch only to find their rose-tinted biographies have some major gaps in true history.
Two Episodes in "Night Gallery" as well where John Astin and "TZ" Alumni Steve Forrest and Buddy Ebsen appear. And as I learned from Tom Poston on "Newhart": "Any (TV) Schedule without Buddy Ebsen sucks eggs!"😂😈🎤🥚🥚📺B.W.
Where do you find season 4 of this show … im so mad i cant find it anywhere 🤬
Julie Newmore is so gorgeous 😍 😊
I thought this was a classic. Admittedly the ending is a head scratcher, but I think it's meant to be open to interpretation. Perhaps Feathersmith died after celebrating his triumph and didn't remember that. He was already on an elevator to hell when the whole deal with a devil was about proving that he was nothing in life, but a predator incapable of creating or building anything. His final destination is a janitor working for someone who in another life was the janitor. He's not all that different than the U-boat captain who relives the sinking of a ship he sank every night for all eternity.
Only saw this one once. The only thing I remember about this episode is when the people he buys the land from revealed they know the land has oil but the technology at the time makes it impossible to actually get. Decent little twist.
The makeup and the performance remind me of George Coulouris playing an elderly Thatcher in Citizen Kane. Got the feeling he was imitating that performance.
As for Julie Newmar as the devil? Where do I sign?!
I always thought this episode was goodie,goodie.
this actually sounds pretty good to me
Diedrich had a very familiar sounding booming voice. I swear I've heard it somewhere before, and I don't mean his other TZ appearances.
I wonder if Cesar Romero and Frank Gorshin also made some appearances in The Twilight Zone.
I like the non-perfect make-up, to let me know, that this is a guy that is an older version of the younger man for part of the episode.
To me, the whole bit of Feathersmith being a businessman but not an innovator, an idiot with ruthlessness and luck rather than actual genius, actually hits home with today's business climate of billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and the likes who're more about stealing credit for technology rather than actually making technology.
Julie Newmar was the most interesting thing about this one and it's cool seeing The Devil presented as a _woman_ this time. It adds more into The Devil taking many forms. However, the ending was a bit clunky. I didn't like Hecate being just as cruel of a boss as Feathersmith, it feels _lazy._ I would've liked it more if he was a _firm but ultimately fair_ CEO to show that being a successful business leader _does not and should not_ mean being hard-hearted nor should it _take away_ your ethics and goodness. Stupid side note, I like how John Anderson looks like an elderly Abraham Lincoln in this episode at times. 😋😋
John Anderson actually played Lincoln multiple times in his acting career. The resemblance was not lost on casting agents.
@@geoffreyfyfe2248 Cool. 😃
It is so sad that Albert Salmi appeared in only two TZ episodes - Execution and this one. He was such an amazing actor and should have been featured in more.
Sorry, yes he appeared in A Quality of Mercy, too. But the point is same - they should have used him in more episodes.
I think another missed opportunity was at the end when Heckett becomes the new CEO of the company because of the time traveling altercation, it should have ended when Heckett travel down the same elevator like Feathersmith did before. Then Heckett finds the same travel agency Feathersmith did before and then is made the same offer as Feathersmith did... only to be trapped in a "opposite sides of the same coin" type of Hell both Heckett and Feathersmith are now a part of.
The devil lady here looks a lot like Tamara Chambers.
Even if it isn't the best the Twilight Zone has to offer, I've always been fond of this episode. I just really love the ending where Feathersmith gets screwed over by his own hubris and poor thinking.
I always enjoyed this one. Although it’s not one of the stronger TZ episodes, I think this is still one of my fav hour long ones that stuck with me since I first watched it. Probably because I found the over-the-top Mr. Feathersmith & Evilin working off eachother so entertaining. And although it’s one of the weaker “twists” in TZ, I think the slow burn of watching such a pompous egotistical character like Feathersmith slowly crumble still makes it enjoyable & worth the watch
The only good thing about this one to me is the woman’s tiny Horns!! Hilarious 😂
This is the first time I'm watching clips of this episode in HD and notice the bald cap on Feathersmith's actor. When watching reruns during the 90's, I never noticed it. I didn't care much for this episode but also loved Julie Newmar's performance as the devil. I was intrigued that her tone became aggressive when mentioning Feathersmith's faults as though even the devil hates cruel and selfish people despite the guarantee of having their soul. I have to disagree with you about Feathersmith's spryness in 1910 when he's internally 78 years old. I've seen some in their 80's still have spryness at their age. Dick Van Dyke was 91 or 92 when filming "Mary Poppins Returns" and still danced on top of a desk showing that he still got it.
You can even see the line of the bald cap clearly on his forehead.
As an actor, singer, or a performer of any kind, you must always be aware of your own limitations. Yes, the makeup job was bad, but the performance as old man Feathersmith was worse. A classic case of trying to do too much and not being aware of one's own limitations. The director showed bad judgment in letting that go by. All said, however, I enjoy that episode even if it is significantly flawed.
I could have sworn that this was in the first season.
The main problem with this episode was the fact that it was only an hour long. Plot like this would suit a full feature movie better as all things that didn't make sense couldn't be explained in only 60 minutes.
Nice review I just wanted to add that normally a woman doesn't show her horns until after I've been with her for a while❤
Julie Newmar, My living Doll.
Feathersmith goes back in time to 1910. Albert Salmi was not even born in 1910 as he was born in 1928.
The short story version is reads FAR better than it appears in the episode.
Maybe this episode would benefit a rewrite. It reminds me of A Christmas Carol but if Scrooge wanted to start over or better yet his partner! Jacob Marley could take the deal not having the redemption Scrooge got. Having a mislead memory if the past. Maybe Julie Newmar's character could try and get Scrooge's soul by tricking Marley but Marley manages to warn Scrooge setting up A Christmas Story!
Man the devil is a main character in twilight zone
Wow, she seemed great in this!
~_~
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
i wish i could just watch this instead of listening to somebody getting upset about hairpieces
This is a cool story that portrays the devil as an agent of justice or vengeance rather than just some nebulous concept of evil. This is a story about a guy whose soul was ALREADY hell bound, I know they say "money talks, even in hell" but I feel like what the devil here wanted was less the cash and more just to make sure this asshole didn't get his way. It's pretty cool seeing a guy who is SO much of an irredeemable bastard that the devil doesn't even want to wait for him to die to punish him.
Respectfully, I think the devil's ultimate motivation here was to use Feathersmith to corrupt Hecate, so he would end up just like him.