When I was a child, I remember seeing an episode from the original Twilight Zone series — in which a man whose company has been building a dam on a tribe's ancestral land in Africa has returned to America.
Apparently, the tribe's witch doctor put a curse on everyone associated with the project. Once back in the United States, the man started hearing the noises of the jungle — but no one ever saw any living, breathing creatures from the jungle until the very last minute — when the man encountered a lion in his apartment.
In the second incarnation of the Twilight Zone, an episode was shown that may have been inspired by that one. I don't know if it was, but many of the episodes from the original series inspired episodes on the new one, and it would make sense if that happened to be the case with this episode.
Anyway, the episode that may have been inspired by the earlier one aired 25 years ago tomorrow night.
Called "Cold Reading," it was set in the golden age of radio, the 1930s. A radio actor has been asked to fill in on a weekly show about an African explorer that was created by a writer who frequently makes impromptu changes while on the set with the cast.
On this particular occasion, he wishes the special effects were more realistic — and gets his wish when everything the actors say comes true in the studio — then he has to do some rapid rewriting to prevent some really terrible things from happening — but he forgets to write out the promo at the end for his latest series.
You might recognize the actor who played the writer. His name was Dick Shawn, and he was a pretty well known actor and comedian.
When I think of him, I always think of his performance in the original "The Producers," Mel Brooks' first film (which, by the way, you can see on Turner Classic Movies this Friday at 4 p.m. Central).
In that movie, Shawn played a hippie named Lorenzo St. Dubois ("L.S.D.") who was chosen to portray Hitler in a musical that was (supposedly) guaranteed to flop. It was really an over–the–top performance.
Shawn was in many other things, too — mostly movies, but there were some TV appearances as well — in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was so hard–working, in fact, that he died of a heart attack on stage on April 17, 1987. He was performing a sketch about surviving a nuclear attack and, at one point, stated, "I will not lay down on the job."
Shortly after that, he suffered a massive heart attack and collapsed face down. Because of what he had said earlier, many members of the audience thought it was part of the act. The audience continued to be unsure of what it had seen, making catcalls when nothing happened for several minutes.
The audience remained confused even when someone rushed to the stage, tried to revive Shawn and asked if there was a doctor in the audience. Even when people were asked to leave, they stayed, many still under the impression that what they had witnessed was part of the show.
It was apparently quite similar to the on–stage death of British comedian Tommy Cooper. He collapsed in a televised performance on the London stage.
Cooper had a history of infidelity and drinking, and his acts had a reputation for things going wrong so, when he collapsed after an encounter with a beautiful assistant, it was assumed to be part of the act.
Ironically, their deaths nearly occurred on the same day — separated by three years. Cooper died on April 15, 1984.
