Across its five-season run on CBS, The Twilight Zone struck a total of three Faustian bargains.
The idea of selling one’s soul to the literal Devil marked a clever way for series creator Rod Serling to explore how humans so often compromise their own humanity in exchange for money, power and influence.
Season one’s “Escape Clause” kicked off the Twilight Zone trend of Satanic soul sales with the story of Walter Bedeker (David Wayne), an insufferable hypochondriac who gives up his eternal spirit to hellish huckster Mr. Cadwallader (Thomas Gomez in his first two TZ guest appearances) for immortality and indestructibility.
Per the terms of their metaphysical contract, Bedeker can invoke the titular clause if he tires of his ageless existence and wishes to shuffle off this mortal coil. And he does just that after he’s sentenced to life in prison.
Just a few moments before this damnable transaction takes place, Walter’s wife, Ethel (Virginia Christine), makes a note of how stuffy his room has become. Cadwallader makes a similar observation, “You sure keep it hot in here,” while tugging at his collar.
Quite an ironic comment to make, but the line wasn’t scripted. Gomez, who was sweltering under the intense soundstage lights, improvised it on the spot.
This Line in Twilight Zone Season One Episode “Escape Clause” Was Ad-Libbed
“That was true,” Gomez said in Martin Grams Jr. in The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. “It was hot on that stage. I’m not kidding when I say I felt like the Devil.”
The temperature inside the room is underscored once the newly-immortal Walter places his hands upon the radiator and suffers no burns. According to Grams’ book, the episode was originally going to kick off with a janitor (played by Paul E. Burns) fixing the radiator, though Walter remains skeptical of the amount of heat it’s giving off.
Rankled by Walter’s irksome demeanor, the janitor fires back with, “If you die, Bedeker—and you go where you’re goin’—as far as the temperature goes, you ain’t gonna be able to tell the difference.”
The janitor then warns Ethel not to place her hands on the radiator, telling her that the metal is scalding enough to seriously burn flesh. The scene was deleted, most likely for pacing reasons, and the episode instead begins with an exchange between Walter and his house-calling physician (Raymond Bailey), who sees right through his patient’s psychosomatic symptoms.
The general concept of “Escape Clause” was later explored in two hour-long season four episodes: “Printer’s Devil” and “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville.”
Classic episodes of The Twilight Zone air regularly on SYFY. Click here for complete scheduling info!
