Classic Horrors Club

Writer | Alvin Sapinsley
Story | John D. MacDonald
Director | Don Medford
Air Date | Aug. 17, 1951

In August of 1961, in the lobby of a “military proving ground” in New Mexico, Mrs. Massner (Peggy Allenby) waits impatiently to see her daughter, Lily (Robin Morgan), who’s behind a “No Admittance” door with a roomful of doctors and scientists. Lily is an “extraordinary child” with intelligence far beyond that of her peers… and of the professionals by whom she’s being studied.

Lily speaks of a weapon far more powerful than “the bomb” and proves her theory with advanced calculations that leave Dr. Hardensteen (Bert Lytell) scratching his head. Is Lily a mutation due to “proximity of radiation,” or is she the next step in human evolution? It doesn’t matter once politicians and military personnel enter the picture. Congressman Folmer (Donald McClelland) and General Gates (Cal Thomas) agree that she’s a national resource and should be held in the lab indefinitely.

Mrs. Massner is stunned to learn that Lily has no more need for a mother and, although she wouldn’t understand why, wishes to stay instead of return home. Six weeks later, we haven’t learned anything else about why Lily is the way she is; there’s “nothing to be gained” from that knowledge. However, we have learned that she has other mental powers like thought control and precognition. She can see the future by recognizing “time patterns” and is aware of an attack that’s coming very soon, but she will do nothing to interrupt those patterns.

What is Lily’s purpose, then, if not to save the world? To be honest, I’m not sure I understand. She helps them create the most powerful bomb ever, yet claims that if they know who’s going to attack, they’ll use it in a disastrous preemptive strike. There’s talk of death and destruction, diseases and plagues, but no way to escape it. SPOILER ALERT! When she reveals that she’s one of 20 other children who will survive to rebuild the world, I can’t help but think she’s a malevolent force.

To finally learn the truth, and against Dr. Hardensteen’s wishes, General Gates orders Lily injected with truth serum. It might give them some answers, or it might have dangerous side effects on Lily. No more spoilers for an episode that’s emotional, yet distant. Perhaps its best not to worry about the meaning of her prophecy, but instead on the human aspects of trying to alter fate. 

Writer | Alvin Sapinsley
Story | Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore
Director | Charles S. Dubin
Air Date | Sept. 28, 1951

After Joanne Hathaway (Meg Mundy) excuses herself from a lovely evening with her husband, Tim (Sidney Blackmer), and doctor friend, Jack Farleigh (Mel Ruick), Dr. Farleigh tells Tim the strange things he’s discovered while monitoring Joanne’s recovery from an accident in which her ribs were broken. First, her ribs have completely healed in only two day. Then, her heart has shrunk to only half the normal size and her appendix is gone.

Incredulous, when Tim joins Joanne in the bedroom, she confesses that not only is she changing, but she can also control objects with her mind. Evoking Lily’s situation in “A Child is Crying,” Joanne tells Tim that she’s developing advanced intellect and is becoming an entirely new human being. Therefore, she thinks it’s best for them to “make a break” now before she grows completely beyond him. This breaks Tim’s heart and, in flashbacks, the rest of the story tells us what happened during the next five years.

Spoiler, no spoiler, we never learn exactly what is happening to Joanne… or why. The difference between her and Lily is that Joanne’s purpose is clearly malevolent. Having grown despondent over the years, Tim purchases a gun with intent to kill himself. However, he has a chance encounter with his wife at the Clover Club where she tells him…

I’m not of your kind anymore. Our time to rule has come.

When she catches the bartender eavesdropping, she kills him with her thoughts and the situation finally clicks with Tim. She’s evil.

The usually talky quality of Tales of Tomorrow ends with some uncharacteristic action in “The Dark Angel” and the story concludes in “the present.” There’s an attempted twist that doesn’t quite work as I’m sure it was intended. For one thing, we don’t know much about the man in which Tim is confiding, Will Jethroe (Donald Briggs.) What is their relationship? How well do they know each other? One small detail or scene could have created more emotional impact.