What Do You Know Today That You Didn't Know Yesterday?
July 27, 2019 at 3:29 pm
(This post was last modified: June 1, 2021 at 8:03 pm by arewethereyet.)
Lately, I've been watching episodes of the original 'The Twilight Zone', and it occurred to me that I knew basically fuck-all about Rod Serling. Turns out, he was a thoroughgoing badass.
-He tried to quit school to join the US Army during WWII. A teacher talked him into finishing school, so he joined up the day after he graduated.
-Trained as a paratrooper, he was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star during the Battle of Leyte.
-During the drive to take Manilla, his regiment suffered 50% casualties (Serling was hit by shrapnel).
-During the occupation of Manilla, Serling ran into the line of fire to rescue a civilian during an artillery barrage.
-After the war, Serling earned extra money as a parachute tester. He was paid $50 for each successful jump (it was understood that there would be no pay for unsuccessful ones).
-While employed at the same company, Serling was once paid $1000 to test an experiment ejector seat. The pay was so high because the ejector had killed the last three testers.
-Serling actually threatened to quit the 'The Twilight Zone' twice, over scripts the producers told him had 'too many colored parts'. In both cases, the studio backed down and the episodes were produced. In an interview about one of these instances, he said, 'The worst aspect of our time is prejudice. In almost everything I've written, there is a thread of this - man's seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself.'
Rod Serling. Badass.
Boru
-He tried to quit school to join the US Army during WWII. A teacher talked him into finishing school, so he joined up the day after he graduated.
-Trained as a paratrooper, he was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star during the Battle of Leyte.
-During the drive to take Manilla, his regiment suffered 50% casualties (Serling was hit by shrapnel).
-During the occupation of Manilla, Serling ran into the line of fire to rescue a civilian during an artillery barrage.
-After the war, Serling earned extra money as a parachute tester. He was paid $50 for each successful jump (it was understood that there would be no pay for unsuccessful ones).
-While employed at the same company, Serling was once paid $1000 to test an experiment ejector seat. The pay was so high because the ejector had killed the last three testers.
-Serling actually threatened to quit the 'The Twilight Zone' twice, over scripts the producers told him had 'too many colored parts'. In both cases, the studio backed down and the episodes were produced. In an interview about one of these instances, he said, 'The worst aspect of our time is prejudice. In almost everything I've written, there is a thread of this - man's seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself.'
Rod Serling. Badass.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
