"The Bard" is an episode of the

American television Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...

anthology series ''

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 final episode of ''The Twilight Zone'' to be one hour long. A direct

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

of the American television industry, the episode features a parody of Marlon Brando by Burt Reynolds, and concerns an inept screenwriter, who through the use of

black magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 14 ...

, employs

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

as his

ghostwriter A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often ...

Opening narration

Plot

A bumbling screenwriter, Julius K. Moomer, is becoming desperate for a sale after years working on unproduced scripts. When his agent mentions that he is submitting another writer's pitch for a television series about black magic, Julius pleads to be allowed to be given first crack at the series. Knowing nothing about the subject, he attempts some research, but turns up only an actual book of black magic. While experimenting with the book, he accidentally conjures William Shakespeare, who says he is at the service of the conjurer. Deciding not to waste Shakespeare's talent on a television pilot, Julius directs him to write a film. The producers decide that Shakespeare's script, ''The Tragic Cycle'', though archaic to the point of being almost incomprehensible, has potential. His task finished, Shakespeare proposes to leave. Julius argues that if he stops writing now, Shakespeare will lose his chance at Hollywood fame and become forgotten. Shakespeare at last says he will attend a rehearsal for the film and stay on if it does justice to his script. At the rehearsal, he is so horrified at the revisions by the sponsor that he assaults the leading man and storms out. Julius's next assignment, a TV special on American history, seems doomed to failure until he remembers his book on black magic, and uses it to conjure up Robert E. Lee,

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, and

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

to act as consultants.

Closing narration

Cast

Jack Weston Jack Weston (born Morris Weinstein; August 21, 1924 – May 3, 1996) was an American actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1976 and a Tony Award in 1981. Career Weston, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, usually played comic roles in fi ...

as Julius Moomer * John Williams as

* Burt Reynolds as Rocky Rhodes *

Henry Lascoe Henry Lascoe (May 30, 1912 – September 1, 1964) was an American actor. Lascoe was born in New York City, New York, on May 30, 1912, and was a screen and stage actor from 1949 until 1964. In the mid-1930s, Lascoe was active with the Little ...

as Gerald Hugo *

John McGiver John Irwin McGiver (November 5, 1913 – September 9, 1975) was an American character actor who made more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975. The owl-faced, portly character ac ...

as Mr. Shannon *

Howard McNear Howard Terbell McNear (January 27, 1905 – January 3, 1969) was an American stage, screen, and radio character actor. McNear is best remembered as the original voice of Doc Adams in the radio version of ''Gunsmoke'' and as Floyd Lawson, the ...

as Bramhoff *

Judy Strangis Judy Ann Strangis (born December 23, 1949) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in two ABC television series ''Room 222'' (1969–1974) and ''Electra Woman and Dyna Girl'' (1976–1977). __TOC__ Early years Strangis is a na ...

as Cora *

Marge Redmond Marjorie Redmond (December 14, 1924 – February 10, 2020), known as Marge Redmond, was an American actress and singer. Early years Marjorie Redmond was born in Cleveland, Ohio in December 1924 and was raised in Lakewood by J.V. Redmond, a fir ...

as Secretary *

Doro Merande Doro Merande (born Dora Matthews, March 31, 1892 – November 1, 1975) was an American actress who appeared in film, theater, and television. Early years Born in Columbus, Kansas, as Dora Matthews, she was the daughter of a minister. A ...

as Sadie *

William Lanteau William Lanteau (born William Lanctot) (November 17, 1922 - November 3, 1993) was an American character actor. Among his best known roles are Charlie the mail carrier in '' On Golden Pond'' and mayor Chester Wanamaker in ''Newhart''. Life and ca ...

as Dolan * Clegg Hoyt as Bus driver * John Newton as TV interviewer * John Bose as

(uncredited) *

Rudy Bowman Rudy Bowman (December 15, 1890 – October 29, 1972) was an American actor. During World War I, Bowman's throat was injured by shrapnel, causing him to lose his voice. His recovery and subsequent work as an actor were featured on ''The Rudy Bowm ...

as Robert E. Lee (uncredited) Notes: Weston and McGiver were previously in earlier episodes, "

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" is episode 22 in the first season of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone''. The episode was written by Rod Serling, the creator-narrator of the series. It originally aired on March 4, ...

" and " Sounds and Silences".

Production history

The episode was likely written by Rod Serling as a reaction to the advertising executives with whom he dealt regularly while producing for television. In the book ''The Twilight Zone Companion'', Serling is quoted as saying that things were so bad with the overcautious executives that "one could not ford a river if

Chevy Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and oust ...

was the sponsor." The actor portrayed by Burt Reynolds satirizes Marlon Brando's style of

method acting Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...

, augmented by the close physical resemblance between Reynolds and Brando during that period. The episode was also featured in the final episode of ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

'', in 2007, " Made in America".

Tony Soprano Anthony John Soprano is a fictional character and the antihero protagonist in the HBO television drama series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), portrayed by James Gandolfini. Soprano is a member of the Italian-American Mafia and, especially late ...

, the protagonist of the series, is seen watching this episode while in hiding from his enemies in a safe house.

References

*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. *Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bard, The Films directed by David Butler 1963 American television episodes The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 4) episodes Fictional depictions of Abraham Lincoln in television Cultural depictions of William Shakespeare Television episodes written by Rod Serling