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'A Nice Place to Visit' is episode 28 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The episode first aired on CBS on April 15, 1960. The title comes from the saying, 'A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.'

Apr 28, 2016 From The Twilight Zone, A Nice Place to Visit with parody from Futurama. The Twilight Zone and Futurama casino is hell 1p4142136. Unsubscribe from 1p4142136? Apr 08, 2016 Happiness and Hell in The Twilight Zone Nicholas Senz I am fairly confident that a deep theological reflection could be written about nearly every episode of The Twilight Zone (and I may make it a life project to do so). Jan 20, 2014 He sees rotating heads of three demons who make silly faces and spout garbled words, then he slides through a sort of laundry chute and is deposited into Hell’s waiting room. Yes, Hell has a waiting room. There’s a poster on the wall listing all the things one can’t do there: no smoking, standing, littering, talking, etc.

In 1965, a slightly modified version of this story was broadcast on the radio program Theater Five.^[1] 'The Land of Milk and Honey', episode number 154, retained all of the important aspects of this episode, including the innuendos and the surprise ending. On November 14, 1935, the radio program The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour hosted by Rudy Vallee broadcast a play titled The Other Place starring Colin Clive and Leo G. Carroll. It was written by John Balderston and dealt with a similar theme.^[2][3]

Opening narration[edit]

Portrait of a man at work, the only work he's ever done, the only work he knows. His name is Henry Francis Valentine, but he calls himself 'Rocky', because that's the way his life has been – rocky and perilous and uphill at a dead run all the way. He's tired now, tired of running or wanting, of waiting for the breaks that come to others but never to him, never to Rocky Valentine.A scared, angry little man. He thinks it's all over now but he's wrong. For Rocky Valentine, it's just the beginning.

Plot[edit]

After robbing a pawn shop, Henry Francis 'Rocky' Valentine (Larry Blyden) is shot in a gunfight by a police officer as he tries to flee. He wakes up to find himself seemingly unharmed by the encounter as a genial elderly man named Pip (Sebastian Cabot) greets him. Pip explains that he has been instructed to guide Rocky and give him whatever he desires. Rocky becomes suspicious, thinking that Pip is trying to swindle him, but Pip proves to have detailed information on Rocky's tastes and hobbies. Rocky demands that Pip hand over his wallet; Pip says that he does not carry one, but gives Rocky $700 directly from his pocket and says that he can provide as much money as Rocky wants.

Thinking that Pip is trying to entice him to commit a crime, Rocky holds him at gunpoint as the two travel to a luxurious apartment. Pip explains that the apartment and everything in it are free, and Rocky starts to relax and changes into an expensive suit. However, his suspicions rise again when a meal is brought in, and he demands that Pip taste it first to prove that it is not poisoned. When Pip demurs, claiming he has not eaten for centuries, Rocky shoots him several times but finds that his bullets have no effect. Rocky realizes that he is dead, and he concludes that he is in Heaven and Pip is his guardian angel. As Pip says he can have anything he wants, Rocky asks for $1 million and a beautiful woman and quickly has both requests fulfilled.

Rocky visits a casino with three ladies, winning every bet he makes as beautiful girls gather around him, and enjoys being able to torment a policeman after Pip shrinks him. Later, Rocky asks Pip if he can see some of his old friends who have also died, but Pip says that this world is for Rocky alone. Except for the two men, no one in it is real. When Rocky wonders what good deeds he could have done to gain entrance to Heaven, Pip takes him to visit the Hall of Records. Rocky looks through his own file and discovers that it only contains a list of his sins, but decides not to worry about it. Pip departs, saying that he can be reached by telephone as needed.

One month later, Rocky has become bored with having his whims instantly satisfied. He wins every game at the casino, and the ladies defer to him and comply with every suggestion he makes. He calls Pip and asks for a challenge in which he might run the risk of losing. Pip offers to arrange for him to lose once in a while at the casino, but Rocky dismisses the idea as he would know about the setup. The two discuss a bank robbery, but Rocky quickly abandons that idea as well since a pre-planned outcome would take the thrill out of the crime. Deciding that he will go crazy if he stays in Heaven any longer, he asks Pip to take him to 'the other place.' Pip retorts, 'Heaven? Whatever gave you the idea you were in Heaven, Mr. Valentine? This is the other place!' Horrified, Rocky tries in vain to open the now-locked apartment door and escape his 'paradise' as Pip laughs malevolently at his torment.

Closing narration[edit]

A scared, angry little man who never got a break. Now he has everything he's ever wanted – and he's going to have to live with it for eternity – in The Twilight Zone.

Production notes[edit]

Mickey Rooney was the first choice to play Valentine. In a memo to Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont suggested, should Rooney not be available, that Serling consider playing the part. Serling declined and Rooney became unavailable. Rooney later guest starred in 'The Last Night of a Jockey'.^[4]

Guest star Cabot had to bleach his hair white for the role; it took three months for the actor's hair to return to its original dark color.^[4]

'A Nice Place to Visit' was singled out for its brazen sexual innuendo. Program Practices requested that Valentine not refer to a girl as 'a broad [...] really stacked', even though the crudity was essential to establishing the unsavory qualities of the character. Nor could the protagonist refer to a party as 'a ball' because that word had more than one meaning. In another sequence, a voluptuous young lady tends to Valentine's every need, then says 'is there anything else I can do for you?' CBS's comment: 'Please be certain that the girl's third speech be delivered in a sweet manner, as described.'^[5]

References[edit]

1. ^Old Time Radio Researchers Group. 'Theater Five - Single Episodes' – via Internet Archive.
2. ^'Boris Karloff - OLD HOLLYWOOD IN COLOR'. oldhollywoodincolor.com.
3. ^''A Nice Place to Visit''. twilightzonevortex.blogspot.ca.
4. ^ ^abZicree, Marc Scott (1989). The Twilight Zone Companion (second ed.). Hollywood: Silman James. pp. 114–115. ISBN1-879505-09-6.
5. ^Erikson,Hal(October 1985). 'Censorship: Another Dimension Behind the Twilight Zone', The Twilight Zone Magazine.

Further reading[edit]

• Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
• DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN978-1-59393-136-0
• Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN978-0-9703310-9-0

External links[edit]

• 'A Nice Place to Visit' on IMDb

'Dead Run' is the second segment of the nineteenth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television seriesThe Twilight Zone.

Plot[edit]

Johnny Davis is a truck driver unemployed due to his many accidents. Johnny asks Pete, a friend of his father, for help in getting a job. Pete is reluctant and warns Johnny that the jobs he takes require unusual resilience and fortitude. Johnny insists that he understands and Pete agrees to take him on his next run. Johnny quickly discovers that the run involves delivering souls to Hell via semi-trailer truck. He also finds out that the souls of the newly dead have been causing disturbances in Hell and it is making the truckers nervous.

Dropping their cargo in Hell, Pete and Johnny witness anarchy. Souls run around loose and some of the dead plead with Johnny to rescue them. Other souls attack the drivers, but Gary Frick (another dead man) comes to Johnny's aid. Gary tells Johnny that the cause of the commotion is that people who don't deserve it are being sent to Hell.

Gary explains that a new bureaucracy has taken over the job of deciding who goes to Heaven or Hell. Pete and one of the guards in Hell find Johnny, who is summoned to a meeting with upper management. Johnny relates what he heard and saw, and the manager explains how the process works. Johnny thinks the standards used to determine who is sent to Hell are excessive and biased and people are being damned for minor offenses. The executive reasons that they're simply using 'time-honored Biblical standards'.

Johnny decides to interview the dead that ride with him and then he can decide which of the dead should go to Hell and which he should release (in hopes that they can find a way to Heaven). When one of the souls asks why he is doing this, Johnny replies that he remembered a story from the Bible: between the Crucifixion and Resurrection, Jesus went down to Hell to give the souls there another chance. Johnny reasons that he is just using his own 'time-honored Biblical standard.'

Closing narration[edit]

Centuries ago, Hell was reached by chalk-white horses pulling shuttered coaches; by Spanish galleons borne on black sails through uncharted seas. Legend has it Leonardo da Vinci was once commissioned to build a flying machine to carry souls to Hell, but it never returned from its maiden flight. But along this particular road to Hell lies redemption for the damned as well as for drivers who have found work... in the Twilight Zone.

Note[edit]

This episode is based on the short story 'Dead Run' by Greg Bear, first published in Omni (April, 1985).

References[edit]

Twilight Zone Casino Hell Game

• Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)

External links[edit]

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• 'Dead Run' on IMDb
• 'Dead Run' at TV.com

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