Exploring The Twilight Zone, Episode #63: "The Mind and the Matter"

What if, by a simple act of concentration, you could make the whole world go away? With such power at your command, would you stop there?

The Twilight Zone, Episode #63: "The Mind and the Matter" (original air date 5/12/61)

The Plot: A henpecked man, tired of dealing with so many bothersome people in his daily life, despairs of ever enjoying a measure of happiness. Then he gets the chance to remake the world in his image.

The Goods: A man with a sour look on his face (Shelley Berman) gets shoved around in the middle of a packed subway car. We see him pushing into a crowded elevation, as Rod Serling intones: "Mr. Beechcroft again, this time in Act II of his daily battle for survival."

Pressed for an explanation for why he looks so glum, Mr. Beechcroft unloads on Mr. Rogers (Chet Stratton), a colleague (or perhaps his superior) at the insurance company where they work. 'If I had my way,' he says, 'I'd eliminate all the people, leaving just me.' Settling down for lunch, an apologetic colleague (Jack Grinnage) calls Mr. Beechcroft over and hands him a gift, a book entitled "The Mind and the Matter." Mr. Beechcroft reads the book right away and concludes that there is no limit to what the mind can do.

All it takes is a little concentration.

Mr. Beechcroft is far more successful than he could have ever dreamed, but the fulfillment of his wish brings complications he had not anticipated. The episode is a light fantasy with an obvious moral lesson -- "Be careful what you wish for" -- that seems to have run its course about halfway through, and then Rod Serling's script adds a nice little twist that powers it through to the end in a delightful fashion.

Berman is an atypical leading man, and he gets to demonstrate his versatility in playing various aspects of himself. I really enjoyed this particular episode, which caught me off-guard.

The Trivia: A native of Chicago, Berman eventually came to work with an improvisational troupe called The Compass Players, whose numbers included Mike Nichols and Elaine May. He developed a solo act in which he employed an imaginary telephone and performed lengthly comedy monologues. He scored the first gold record for comedy in 1959 and won a Grammy Award.

Thereafter, Berman acted extensively in stage productions and on television, and picked up occasional work in films. More recently he had a recurring role as a judge in Boston Legal and as Larry David's father in Curb Your Enthusiasm. On a personal level, he has been married to the same woman since 1947 -- 64 years!! -- which may be his greatest accomplishment.

On the Next Episode: "Following a frantic phone call about a crashed spaceship, two policeman try and determine who among the passengers of a bus at a snowed-in roadside diner is from another world."

Catching up: Episodes covered by Twitch | Episodes covered by Film School Rejects.

We're running through all 156 of the original Twilight Zone episodes, and we're not doing it alone! Our friends at Film School Rejects have entered the Zone as well, only on alternating weeks. So definitely tune in over at FSR and feel free to also follow along on Twitter accounts @ScreenAnarhcy and @rejectnation.