ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

One the most disturbing TV episodes I've ever seen was presented in season 2 (episode 17) of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1964, a story called The Jar.

Pat Buttram plays Charlie Hill, an amiable middle-aged man who lives in a small community in swamp country, where the impoverished people have little to entertain them except each other's company.

Charlie returns from a trip to a small traveling carnival with a large glass jar with lid on top and something very strange suspended in the murky water inside. He purchased it from a carnival barker (played by Bill Barty) who used it as a sideshow attraction.

The simple people in Charlie's community gather at his house one evening and sit around gazing at the jar, each person offering their own philosophical speculations about the strange, organic-looking object. Rather than being repulsed by it, the bizarre mass somehow inspires a sense of wonder, along with profound thoughts about life, death, and the mysteries of the universe.

The regular gatherings at Charlie's house become a ritual which he greatly enjoys, and he revels in his role as the keeper of the enigmatic glass container, along with the attention he's getting from his neighbors.

But Charlie's slutty young wife, Thedy Sue, hates the jar and it's disturbing contents, and she plots with the young man she's having an affair with to get rid of the jar.

The shocking ending is unforgettable, and I highly recommend you watch the pristine copy of the episode on the DailyMotion link below.

The cast is a real plus. It includes James Best, George Lindsay, and Slim Pickens.

The haunting score is by Bernard Herman, and the screenplay is by James Bridges from a short story by Ray Bradbury.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[WadeVC]

[Bud Brewster]

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Back the early 1960s when I was barely a teenager, I used my monaural reel-to-reel recorder to make tapes of TV episodes and movies whhich I wanted to enjoy in my room at night.

I made a tape of this Hitchcock episode and listened to it several time until I finally had to reuse the tape to record something new. But the chilling dialog and haunting Bernard Herrmann music has been seared into my brain!

Awe, the good old days — when we used obsolete technology to create indelible memories we've never lost.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)