Season 1, Episode 9
Original Airdate: June 9, 1961
Writer: Irving Gaynor Neiman
Director: Boris Sagal
Producer: Jacqueline Babbin, Roald Dahl
Cast: Don Keefer, Charlotte Rae, Heywood Hale Broun
Okay, let’s get to the elephant in the room. I cannot,
for the life of me, comprehend why there is an apostrophe before the word “Way”
in “’Way Out.” Though when I first heard the title I assumed it was an
anthology focused on folk trying to find a “way out” of their problems,
horrifying situations or lives, I discovered that the real meaning is that the
stories themselves are “way out.” As in, “that’s way out, dude!” Were the
creators and producers trying to be hip? The psychedelic intro where host Roald
Dahl (yes, THAT Roald Dahl) has three heads seems to underline this theory. But
still, what the hell is up with that floating apostrophe? Ah well, like the
last third of “Mulholland Drive” and where Jimmy Hoffa is hidden, there are
some things we are never meant to know.
“’Way Out” is a little seen, barely-available anthology
series that was paired with “The Twilight Zone” for half a season before
being cancelled. I had never heard of it until recently and sought it out
because I simply had to see what the author of “The Witches” and
“Matilda” (two books that really screwed me up when I was younger) did as a
“presenter,” writer and producer on a television series. And I’m so happy I
did. I’ve genuinely seen anything quite like this before – its tone is utterly
different than “Twilight Zone,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” or any other
anthology I’ve ever seen. The storytelling is like a Rubik’s Cube,
transitioning tonally from dark comedy to horror to mystery, all the while
keeping its viewers on their toes because we genuinely don’t understand where
its authors are taking us. I was never bored, always entertained and, by the
end, picking my jaw up off the floor.
“Death Wish” opens with an introduction by Dahl, who
rambles on for minutes in a rant that both fascinates the viewer and serves as
a pretty damn good pitch for “Six Feet Under.”
“I’ve often wondered, haven’t you, what sort of man an undertaker really is. Is he a gentle, sensitive, generous person who undercharges madly because he cannot bear to profit from misfortune? Or is he a more sinister individual, who reads the obituary columns in bed at night and broods all day about the price of caskets? One doesn’t know. And none of us are in any hurry to find out either, because we all figure, quite rightly, that we are all bound to meet up with him in the end, just once.”
The episode opens in a funeral home, with George (Don
Keefer) and his wife Hazel (Charlotte Rae) attending calling hours for someone
or other. Hazel is blunt, brutal and addicted to the television, but not in an
adorable way like I am. She seems genuinely unable to comprehend a life outside
of sitting in front of the box, memorizing actors and storylines and
considering the stories proof that Native Americans got what was coming to
them, among other things. This woman is so dense that she can’t even fully
comprehend a commercial. And so, of course, George decides to murder her.
Up until this point, “Death Wish” could fit into any
anthology series easily, but that is when the really interesting stuff happens. An
unseen narrator tells us that George is deciding what way to murder Hazel, but
then stops at the problem of how to dispose of the body. At that moment, a
wonderful twist of fate, he is passing the funeral home he was at earlier, and
the Mortician (Heywood Hale Broun) is putting out a sign that reads: “Let Us
Dispose of the Body.”
George can’t help himself. He goes inside to see the
Mortician has a special sale on pine boxes and a “Do-It-Yourself Burial Kit.”
It’s here that the audience is thrown for a loop. How serious exactly are we
supposed to be taking the situation? Is this just a really dark comedy with no
connection to logic? Or is writer Irving Gaynor Neiman just teasing us to throw
us off balance?
The rest of the episode continues to toe that line
beautifully, with the viewer unable to take any of it very seriously, but still
remaining oddly invested in the goings on. The final twist is a doozy: George
finally signs some forms to allow the Mortician and his assistant to “take
care” of his wife, only to discover that he was literally signing his life
away. His wife came in earlier and ordered the same package for him.
The dialogue has such ingenuity it almost feels like the
characters are dancing around one another more than communicating. And the
actors (none of which I’m familiar with) are well cast and fill their
characters beautifully without turning into caricature (with the exception of
Rae, who is purposely over-the-top). This is what makes the episode work,
because it certainly isn’t anything else.
To call the sets cardboard would be an insult to
cardboard. As far as I can see, the funeral home doesn’t even have walls. There
are some creepy horror series candelabras in the funeral home that were
obviously borrowed from the next set over, and the science lab is laughable.
This entire production probably cost $50 in total. The camerawork makes soap
operas seem creative in their storytelling.
But because the story is there, “Death Wish” works
beautifully. There are only four episodes available on YouTube for view, and I
can’t wait to try the others. I can fully understand why the series was
cancelled after so few episodes – the humor is too adult for kids but the
series was too much of a farce for adults. I’m pretty shocked that it has not
gained the same cult reputation that shows like “Thriller” have managed to,
because if this episode is any indication of the writing quality, it deserves
to be.
The
“Death Wish” episode of “’Way Out” is only available on YouTube.
