‘The Twilight Zone’…The Six Video Tape Episodes

It’s been a while since we covered this historic variation from the normal way the show was done, but in revisiting the story, we also now know that Television City had Marconi Mark IV cameras as early as 1960. These were thought to have come into service here and in New York a bit later, like around late ’61 or ealy ’62. Thanks to Mike Clark for the new photo that shows one in use on ‘The Long Distance Call’ episode starring Bill Mumy.

Five weeks into The Twilight Zone’s second season, the show’s budget was showing a deficit. The total number of new episodes was projected at twenty nine, more than half of which (sixteen), had, by November 1960, already been filmed in the show’s standard 35MM black and white format.

CBS suggested that in order to trim the production’s $65,000 per episode budget, six episodes should be produced in the cheaper videotape format, eventually transferred to 16-millimeter film. Television City, normally used for the production of live production would serve as the venue. There would be fewer camera movements and no exteriors, making the episodes seem more akin to soap operas (and Playhouse 90), with the videotaped image effectively narrowing and flattening perspective. Even with those artistic sacrifices, the eventual savings amounted to only $30,000, far less than the cost of a single episode. The experiment was thus deemed a failure and never attempted again.

Even though the six shows were taped in a row, through November and into mid-December, their broadcast dates were out of order and varied widely. ‘The Whole Truth’ was the third one shot and was shown on January 20, 1961 as episode 14. The first, ‘The Lateness of the Hour’ was seen on December 2, 1960 as episode 8; the second, ‘Static’ appeared on March 10, 1961 as episode 20; the fourth was the Christmas entry ‘Night of the Meek’ shown as the 11th episode on December 23, 1960; the fifth, ‘Twenty Two’ was seen on February 10, 1961 as episode 17; and the last one, ‘Long Distance Call’ was transmitted on March 3, 1961 as episode 22.

The night of January 20, 1961, ‘The Whole Truth’ aired as John and Jacqueline Kennedy were attending Inaugural balls in Washington. Earlier in the day, he had been sworn in as the 35th President of the United States.

Below left is Bill Mumy in ‘Long Distance Call’ episode and the clap board on the right is marking a scene from the ‘Twenty Two’ episode.

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