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Ford, Robert E. Howard, Paul Anderson, H. P. Lovecraft,
and Moore. Hear it twice monthly at weirding Way Media. Astounding Tales
of the Public Domain with Father Malone, weirding Way Media, Redially, Pat
Pignic, Light and shad, Realism, Surrealism, Impressionism, end of a
story and interestingly Hodblall a good alinship toward the bisarre and this place is nothing
if it isn't a bizarre There's no admission, no requirement of membership, only
a strong and a fighting belief in the park at the top of the stairs
or the things that go bump in the night the name of this place,
you would committed your actually denially out of the ranks. The Night Got Welcome
back art lovers to Midnight Viewing The Night Gallery podcast, where we discussed Night
Gallery Rod Serlings. Follow up to the Twilight Zone, I'm father alone in
here with me in the Gallery are Dreams for Sale? The Twilight Zone eighty
five podcasts. Mike white. Are you the Messiah? Oh? I am
also joining us is Dreams for Sale. The Twilight Zone eighty five's Chris Stashuho
may have heard of these things before. They're called ghettos. Listen. This
is season two, episode thirteen. Were This aired originally on December the fifteenth,
nineteen seventy one. The episode is split into two segments. Those are
The Messiah on Mott Street and The Painted Mirror. Of course, you're all
here by invitation, but don't let it disturb you if these paintings per se
don't happen to be you a thing. These are rather special paintings, the
kind of hanging generally put up with a noose. This painting, for example,
is of a rather special world. What has become perpetuated in the language
as the ghetto, that dismal realm of push kites and poverty, where hopes
are stamped down like dirty shoes on snow. Death is a commonplace visitor to
these somber alleys, but occasionally someone else visits. Our painting is called The
Messiah on Mott Street. And this place, should you not already know it,
is the Night Gallery. Although I we're in for a rod Sterling kind
of an evening. The Messiah on Mott Street is written by Rod Sterling and
directed by Don Taylor. He is a returning director to Night Gallery. Guys.
You know the other episode he directed, They're tearing down Tim Riley's Bar.
This one starts. This is the moment I wish I had the soundboard
for He's a jolly Goodfellow, because really, I mean literally the only thing
missing from Wow, you know what? You're right? This one stars Edward
G. Robinson, the original Little Caesar, yathat Koto, Tony Roberts,
and Joseph Ruskin as a fanatic. He was the man in the bottle in
the original Twilight Zone. He was a genie in that he was so goddamn
scary. This one's a period peace set in the nineteen twenties. Oh no,
wait, this is contemporary. This is a contemporary tale of a young
boy looking for the Messiah on the streets of New York to help his ailing
grandfather. What do you think of this one, Mike? Was that a
mistake that it's nineteen twenties? No, it's contemporary because I couldn't tell what
the hell year this was, What the hell was going on? I mean,
it does feel like it feels like Grandpa's apartment building is from a whole
other era as well as a lot of the people out on the street.
But not everybody, because nobody seems to have any sort of issues with this
little kid just going out and bringing the off at Koto home. It just
seems a little weird that there's a there's a black guy in the living room.
Are you aware of this? It takes so long for the kid to
find the Messiah, like just like for him to leave the apartment. There's
just so much of all of the stuff. And yeah, I did not
mind this episode at all. In fact, it felt like there was a
lot more to it that had I read this as a story or even a
novella, that I would have picked up a lot more. It just felt
very literary with the its construction. I was really happy to see Tony Roberts
show up in this. I mostly know him. We talked a little bit
about Woody Allen recently. I mostly know him from his work with Woody Allen,
like Annie Hall and played against CM I mean, especially Annie Hall.
So I was very happy to see him. But he feels very nineteen seventy
two seventy three, and yeff At Koto feels very nineteen seventy two seventy three,
and then the rest of the story feels like it is in the nineteen
twenties or thirties. I was waiting for Tony Roberts to ask Edward G.
Robinson if Jew eat Jew? Did you eat? I distinctly heard him call
me a Jew. I do not understand what in God's name the point?
Excuse me, what in yef At Koto's name is going on here? Uh?
Was this segment forty minutes, and somehow Rod Serling went into the tartus
with it and added another forty I've never seen a segment takes so long like
so, I'm not so. I was feeling hyperbolic, but more or less
correct like it. It's fucking insane. I cannot believe that somebody thought that
anybody would be compelled by this. I think we all know the story that
they're getting at and the message that it's trying to I guess attempt to get
out, but wrong way to go. I mean, if if Camera Obscura
was a little long, if the last episode had some segments that were a
little long, Holy shit, this is like, this is just This is
probably the worst segment I've seen on this show in terms of the length,
feeling double what it actually is. It is a sensitive take on the Jewish
experience centered around Christmas time. Way to go, Rod, I don't know
who Santa is. Wow. This segment is worse to me in every way
than Tim Riley's bar except for the aforementioned lack of for He's a jolly good
fellow. But you know why because Tim Riley at least wasn't precious. And
this is thanks to the adorable subplot of grandson Mikey wandering the streets alone to
find the Messiah. By the way, when he's not doing that incredibly dangerous
thing, Evidently this tiny, tiny child is taking care of his ailing grandfather.
Is he taking himself to school as well? Is he doing the grocery
shopping? That's what I'm getting out of it. Why is Tony Roberts not
intervening? By the way Tony Roberts I think of him, I always think
I'd taken a pellem one two three, just trying to make that a mayor
get out of bed and come deal with the subway situation. This episode,
I get where he's coming from. It's yet an other the downtrodden man.
We also get this really false happy ending where the check from his long lost
brother arrives and everything's going to be okay. And you know what, Yafakoto.
He might have been the Messiah, but he might have just been the
mailman. You know, it's a bit ambiguous because we know most mailman are
delivering packages at fucking one o'clock on the morning on Christmas. Thank you,
thank you, thank you. This whole thing where they had to make sure
to point out the clock and that it was just about midnight, and then
everything else basically contradicting that it was anywhere near midnight, and especially that the
kid was just outside and it was daylight and now it's pitch black and midnight
and I'm like, what is going out? Thank you for bringing that up.
Day for another and the back lot. What a combination. I was
so confused. I just I felt like I felt like I had fallen asleep
for a minute and like missed it. It's what a chill. Let's just
put it that way. As if as if thirty six minutes wasn't enough,
you needed to have a time jump inside of your segment a couple hour time
jump like it, and and the story that they're telling is not that interesting.
It's just we've seen these, we've Wasn't there a Twilight Zone eighty five
thing where the guy was Santa Clause and it was the drunk guy was Santa
Like this is that has that same just like Saccharin, which was a remake
of a segment from the original Twilight Zone. Right of them, this seems
feels like that same Saccharin bullshit, That's what this is. Just so like,
this is not a night Gallery segment. This is a Twilight Zone segment
hat in hand, poor man bullshit. Constantly having him having Edward g.
Robinson think he's like facing the Angel of Death for two seconds does not equal
a horror tale. This is a tale, fantasy and it has no place.
I don't care if this is there Chris episode, and it is because
it's they aired on December the fifteenth, but I don't care if it is
their Christmas episode. I mean, they do point out that Jewish children do
not know who Santa Claus is per Rod Sterling. It's like we're fucking the
know, Like that's not how that works at all, it's not how that
works at all, Rod, And we know that, and you know that.
I just get it's so masturbatory at this point with Rod Serling like,
just like I need forty minutes of this fifty minute show to tell this story.
You know what, whatever, Rod, Fine, Fine, Sure,
we'll go and shoot our segment with Jabor whatever. Rod. It's just at
some point it's like when is enough too much? And where it's like thirty
minutes is a little much for this show, frankly, But it's good to
see Afadkoto. Yeah. I mean, he's got like three lines, but
the man is walking gravity and just that the last interaction between him and Tony
Roberts is pretty good. It doesn't redeem anything. It's just good to see
great actors doing work. We all of us have a kind of fascination for
mirrors. There's a most appealing mystery to what is on the other side of
a looking glass, and occasionally we turn into Alice. Our last selection denies
Gallery a very special looking glass, and it's called the Painted Mirror, all
right. Our next segment is called the Painted Mirror. This one was written
by Jeane Kearney based on a short story by Donald Wandre. He's one of
a Lovecraft's circle of writing friends. This one was also directed by Jene Kearney,
starring at Jean Jaugabar, Arthur O'Connell, and Rosemary to Camp. She
was in Thirteen Ghosts. This is the story of a thrift store handyman at
war with his garish proprietor who discovers an ancient world behind a mirror glass.
And that ancient world has a distinct high school stage quality. Let's think of
this one, Chris, We're going to say, backdrop at sears quality.
It be that grish. It blows my mind that in nineteen seventy one Jajagabar
was fifty four. Wowe sprightly here considering what we all kind of remember her
as me, that's I was gonna say. The last time we saw well,
and the last time we saw Ja Jagabar speaking of police officers, was
in the opening segment of Naked Gun two three. Yeah, where she goes
and smacks the top of Dreben's car. And that's, you know what,
like fifteen years after this, So I have no frame of reference for Ja
Jagabar and what makes her famous? I mean I know what makes her famous
now, but I was not. You know, I don't think that was
the way before my time. So I get her stick in this episode,
and she plays that stick perfectly. If she's essentially the Paris Hilton of the
sixties and seventies, which is I mean kind of maybe sort of you know,
a social life or socialite adjacent person, what have you? Fine,
I get it then, and I don't know, I think it, you
know, not to say that the last segment needed more time, but maybe
this segment needed less time. But I think the segment still kind of works.
How about you, Mike, Yeah, I mean it's pretty simple gag.
But and I don't necessarily get all of the chemistry between Ja in the
old shop owner, Like I know what she's supposed to be, but like
just the way that she's picking on him seems very odd and like had she
had him more under her thumb and really made it like a dire thing as
opposed to, you know, she buys him out. You know, she's
just like, here's all the money that you need to get out of here.
And I was just like, okay, well that sounds good to me.
Maybe I'm just of that age you know, like, oh, you're
gonna buy me? Okay, cool, that's great. You know, he
doesn't seem like he should be that hard up after it. But what I
like, had she been a little meaner, I would have liked this more.
But I do like this whole thing of that horrible dog just yipping all
the time and then it going into the mirror, and I was just so
happy when it did because I was like, oh, well, I know
what this means. But when we get to see what scares the dog,
it's high comedy. I mean it is this is like like this is the
kind of thing like I could see in Alex Winter, like cutting to some
of these effects on like an idiot TV and then acting really scared because it's
that level of like parody kind of thing with these just nasty b roll,
you know, dinosaur shots that just they might as well just have taken like
a gecko and pasted like a horn on his head or something. It was
just so bad but so funny at the same time. Literally what they did
in that second shot it's a komodo drag again with a triceratops crown. That's
all it is. And it's like it's like barely glued to it, because
when you see it move, it kind of wigged, it wiggles a little
bit, as they would say, it's not affixed with the best spirit gum.
Yeah, if the prosthetic slathered lizards won't get you, the creature from
the Black Lagoons arms will. Hey, he's finally being represented in this show.
He's the only universal monster that hasn't shown up. Now he has and
ri ip Rico Browning not to date this episode, but he just died.
The original creature from the Black Lagoon. Also, this segment and the Pickman's
Model segment, those are actually molded. Those arms we see are molded from
the creature from the Black Lagoons original molds, and the legs on the Pickman's
Model creature were also molded from the original creature of the Black Lagoon. So
I guess that's why it looks that way. The creature is, you know,
making uncredited cameo appearances here at night gall All right, why was Jean
jacobors so goddamn into that location? Like it was a slum, like and
there's all the look the story's like supposed to be some sort of terrible but
old ways versus new in some sort of way, like with the you know,
the old handyman and he's being pushed out and whatever. But like all
the construction that was going on outside was that supposed to clue us in.
That's like they were going to revitalize that neighborhood and that's why she wanted the
location. Wouldn't it have made more sense had Jaja been his wife, like,
and he's having this affair with this woman who loves him. Also,
I love a tale where you know, you doorway opens up, So I
was kind of excited when when it started until he scraped it away and we
saw what it was, because oh my god. Like also Rosemary to Camp
his love interest in it when gives him the mirror and says, never could
understand how mirrors works. If that's to explain that this is actually a portal
to some sort of weird prehistoric other universe. And boy, isn't everyone so
blase about this portal, including Jean Jagabar, who walks up to it,
is like, I can use the frame, but the picture is terrible.
It's like you can see the smoke moving of like the the fog, and
can you maybe hear the lizards screaming like you know, you can just walk
into it. Everyone is just so casual about this momentous occasion that has just
occurred in front of them. By the way, Poolky, that's what we're
hearing. Oh boy. Now I haven't highlighted a sound effect recently, but
this one needs to be called out because there are two shots of dinosaurs culled
from other films. There is the one you mentioned, Chris, and then
there is what is a brontosaurus that swings into the camera, faces directly into
the camera and makes this noise that is the greatest noise of all time.
You slow it down and maybe repeat it. That's that's just Tim malingoing.
Yeah, to me, it sounded scooby Doo like, I mean, yeah,
that's not a soundboard posts I mean, what is that? What is
that noise? It's the sound of the dinosaur. No no, But like,
what is the name of that sound effect? I don't know. I'm
just pointing it out because it was so unusual. I don't think I'm going
to found it. What it sounds to me like, Uh, if I
were to name it, it would be sound engineer is tired, because it's
like we need something here, Just give me the microphone. There we go
like like startled the wind. Never could understand how mirrors work. I mean
I saw a car with no wheels, she'd be like, I just don't
understand how cars work. Yeah, well the mirrors painted and the car has
no wheels. When the just the right the writing sometimes on the show is
just really good on complete display here. As a former Los Angeles resident,
I just want to say, the opening shot is some b roll that they
shot of the four oh five man. The four h five has always been
a parking lot. Jesus Christ. I thought it was bad when I was
there. Apparently has never stopped being bad anyway. Is this not just a
blackout sketch that's like five minutes too long? All we needed was harried man,
horrible woman proprietor like bearing down on him. Here's a mirror, he's
get to work on that mirror. We gotta get out. Oh pushes the
rain. By the way, the moral of this story hooray for murder.
I was actually expecting when they screaped the mirror way it would just be a
mustachio. George went, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, That's
why I always just thinking. He's like, I don't like this. This
is such a gimmick that's been used a bunch of times, like the mirror
that has something on the other side, and you know it's I don't know,
it's fun, right, Yeah, But the moral of the story is
it's okay to kill your partner. Just a bad person deserves to die.
Okay, my moral judgment has been made. All right, We're going to
play a preview for our next episode. We'll be right back to wrap item
number one over there. It could be a gentleman sitting in an electric chair,
but it isn't what it depicts. Isn't a sense a method of execution
that we humans reserve for other humans who happen to be dissimilar to us.
You're about to look under that hood and meet firsthand one of the different ones.
Tonight's first excursion into the realm of the unusual. Jealousy is what we
normally paint grave and jealousy provides the spring point of this particular painting. It
offers up the bottom line of what can happen to human beings when trust is
wiped out by suspicion. At this point, it ceases to be just a
kind of titillating tale of human comedy. It becomes what it is, a
horror story. Our painting is called Tell David id number three in the night
Gallery, you'll probably recognize as quaint figurine, the dead eyes, the son
lips, a kind of thing that usually in fast nightmares, and that happens
to be precisely what it is, a nightmare of the first order. It's
titled Lagoda's Heads. That's right on the next midnight viewing we'll be taking a
look at season two, episode fourteen. That's broken into three segments, the
different ones Tell David dot dot dot and the Lagoda's Heads. One of those
is about British colonials in Africa. Will it be Racist? You'll have to
tune in to find out. And until then, where can people find you?
Mike White? You can find me over at the Projection Booth podcast,
which is available at Projection boothpodcast dot com, as well as Weirdingwaymedia dot com,
where you can also hear me on a few other shows, including Ranking
on Bass and the Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller. Hey, I'll
go. You can check out Weirdingway Media for Chris's stuff like Cranking on Ass
podcast the one time Mike, you had one opportunity to not do it and
it was too much. Ranking on Bass Well, you can find me on
the internet at Weirdingwaymedia dot com. Like like Mike mentioned, that's where you
can find my movie podcast, the Culture Cast, and so many other shows
that Mike and I have worked on, like the Cold Check Tapes, Dreams
for Sale and let's mention a random show Twisting and on Cork. Those ladies
are pretty funny and you should go listen to them and find out how funny
you think they are. What about you, Father Malone? Where can people
find you? You can find me at Weirdingwaymedia dot com. Here my show
Noise Junkies I do with HP and Mando, Heather's Heather Drain it's a music
podcast. Or Dark Destinations it's a half hour radio drama right and Produce,
or you know, if you want to check out my visual stuff, over
to fallowmlone dot com. So fallowmlone dot com or Weirdingwaymedia dot com. Go
to all of those places. Thank you all for joining us here at midnight
viewing. The gallery is now closed.