Dawidziak did Serling foreword

Former BJ TV critic Mark Dawidziak, plying his trade at the Plain Dealer as so many Beacon ex-patriots have, wrote the foreword for “Patterns,” a re-issue of the book based on four live TV plays’ scripts on “Kraft Television Theatre” that provided the impetus for Rod Serling’s launch into “Twilight Zone” immortality. 

“Patterns” was released this month.

Ed Begley and Van Heflin were in the episodes that startled America.

Serling is the Antioch College student who gave the world “Requiem for a Heavyweight” and frightened and thought-provoked us weekly on “Twilight Zone,” with the most eerie music ever composed, an unforgettable strain that slinks around in your brain ad infinitum.

Serling’s first accepted script was for the “Dr. Christian” radio show, starring Jean Hersholt (a guy). Serling’s script was among thousands sent in for perusal by the show’s authorities. He got $500 and a trip to New York City for his efforts.

Sitting next to him among the winners was Earl Hamner, Jr., who would create “The Waltons” TV series (“Good night, John Boy”).

Serling’s “Patterns” appeared on “Kraft Television Theatre” in 1955. The main character was based on Serling’s real-life commander, Colonel Owen Haugen. It matched a veteran corporate boss with a bright, young executive being groomed to take his place.

Serling died in 1975. He was 50.

He was inducted posthumously into the Television Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2008. He won nine Emmys, one for a daytime special.

And Dawidziak continues his prancing through such authors as Serling, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe. Forevermore. 

After reading the first version of this article, Mark offered these amplications:

Rod Serling's first book, Patterns, was published in July 1957. It contained four television plays: Patterns, The Rack, Old MacDonald Had a Curve and Requiem for a Heavyweight. Of these, only two, Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight aired on Kraft Television Theatre: Patterns on Jan. 12, 1955 and Old MacDonald Had a Curve on Aug. 5, 1953.

     The Rack aired on The U.S. Steel Hour on April 12, 1955. Requiem for a Heavyweight, starring Jack Palance, Keenan Wynn, Ed Wynn and Kim Hunter, aired on Playhouse 90 on  Oct. 11, 1956.
 

   The television production of Patterns starred Richard Kiley, Ed Begley and Everett Sloane. The film version, which was released in 1956, starred Van Heflin, Begley and Sloane. There also was a film version of The Rack in 1956. It starred a young actor from Shaker Heights -- Paul Newman.
 

   Serling won a total of six Emmys (he was nominated for nine). The first two Emmys were for writing Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight. The third was for the Playhouse 90 production of The Comedian, which starred Mickey Rooney. Two more were for The Twilight Zone. The sixth was for "It's Mental Work," a 1963 installment of Bob Hope Presents Chrysler Theatre.