"A World of His Own" is episode thirty-six of the American television

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

''. It was the last episode of the show's first season and essentially comedic in tone. It originally aired on July 1, 1960, on CBS.

Opening narration

Plot

Coming home, Victoria West spots her husband,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Gregory West, through the window sharing a drink, and flirting in his study with Mary, an attractive young woman. Gregory quickly destroys a tape, which displeases Mary. When Victoria barges into the room, Mary is nowhere to be found. Victoria looks around the room for hints of where she might have gone but does not yet confront him. Soon, she questions him. Gregory denies everything until Victoria throws in a trick, which causes him to admit the truth. Victoria is furious, but Gregory explains to his wife that any character that he describes into his dictation machine will appear according to his description. To make the character disappear, all he has to do is cut out that portion of the tape and throw it into his fireplace. Victoria doesn't believe him and is ready to divorce him and commit him to an asylum. Gregory demonstrates his power, summoning Mary again and "uncreating" her, but not before Mary requests that Gregory not bring her back again, as she has grown weary of her segmented existence. Appalled, Victoria tries to escape, but Gregory uses his power to summon an elephant to stop her. Gregory discovered this talent when a male character he had put a great deal of effort and attention into approached him as a real flesh-and-blood person with his own independent will, shook his hand and thanked him. Believing none of this, Victoria tells Gregory that he is insane and she is going to have him committed. In response, Gregory pulls a section of tape from his safe and explains that it contains her description, revealing her to be one of his creations, but that recently she has begun to exert her own independence from him. Refusing to believe him, Victoria snatches the tape away from him and throws it into the fire, and promptly begins to feel faint. She realizes too late he was telling the truth, and disappears as the flames consume the tape. Frantic, Gregory rushes to his dictation machine and begins to re-describe Victoria. He quickly reconsiders and instead describes Mrs. ''Mary'' West as his wife. Mary appears and fixes her husband a drink, apparently lacking any memory of her previous interval of existence.

Finale/closing narration

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ...

then appears on the set and says, "We hope you enjoyed tonight's romantic story on ''The Twilight Zone''. At the same time, we want you to realize that it was, of course, purely fictional. In real life, such ridiculous nonsense could never—" "Rod, you shouldn't!" interrupts Gregory, who walks over to his safe and pulls out a tape marked "

". "I mean, you ''shouldn't'' say such things as 'nonsense' and 'ridiculous'!" he continues as he throws the envelope into the fire. "Well, that's the way it goes," observes Serling as he fades away. Nevertheless, as Gregory joins Mary in a drink, Serling's voice comes in at the epilogue as usual.

Production notes

Writer Richard Matheson had previously written a short story, "And Now I'm Waiting," where a male narrator visiting an author discovers that he is an invention of the author. The story had a much darker tone and finish in its original form, and ultimately, Matheson chose to rework it into a domestic comedy when he pitched it as an episode to the series. Previously unreleased, the original story was ultimately published in Twilight Zone magazine in April 1983. Although Serling appeared on-screen at the end of most first season ''Twilight Zone'' episodes to plug the following week's show, this is the only episode in the first season in which Rod Serling appears on-screen ''within'' the episode itself (''i.e.'', not in a separate "coming next week" segment) and directly interacts with a character from the episode. This is also one of only three episodes of the entire series where Serling appears on camera at the conclusion of the episode—the others were "

The Obsolete Man "The Obsolete Man" is episode 65 of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone'', starring Burgess Meredith as Romney Wordsworth, the accused, and Fritz Weaver as the Chancellor (and prosecutor). It originally aired on June 2, ...

" and " The Fugitive." From the second season onward, Serling began to appear on-screen at the start of each episode. At the end of the first season,

Kimberly-Clark Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company manufactures sanitary paper products and surgical & medical instruments. Kimberly-Clark brand ...

discontinued their alternate sponsorship of the series. A new sponsor began alternating with

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

that summer,

Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

, primarily on behalf of Colgate Dental Cream, as well as some of their other products (including "Veto" deodorant). Keenan Wynn was the son of vaudeville comedian

Ed Wynn Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He was noted for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a d ...

, who played Bookman in " One for the Angels" and Sam Forstmann in "

Ninety Years Without Slumbering "Ninety Years Without Slumbering" is episode 132 of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone''. The title comes from the lyrics of the song "My Grandfather's Clock", which is sung or played throughout the episode as a recurring ...

". Mary La Roche also starred as Annabelle Streator in the ''Twilight Zone'' episode " Living Doll".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:World Of His Own, A 1960 American television episodes The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 1) episodes Television episodes written by Richard Matheson