You are about to enter another dimension
a dimension not onl y of sight and sound, but of mind
a journey into a wondrous la nd of ima Gina tion.
Next stop, the twilight zone.
In the pa rla Noe of the 20th century,
this is an oddball.
His name is James b. Vll. Be vis
and his tastes lean toward stuffed animals, zither mus/o
professional football, Charles diokens, moose heads,
carnivals, dogs, children and young ladies.
Mr. Be vis is aooident—prone, a little vague,
a little disoomboobera Ted, with a life tha t possesses
all the security of a fl oa ting crap game.
But this can be said of our Mr. Be vis.'
without him, without his warmth, without his kindness,
the world would be a considerabl y poorer place,
albeit perhaps a little saner.
Hey.
Hi, Michelle.
Good morning, Mr. Bevis.
Why not, Mr. Bevis?
Why not?
Okay.
Hey!
Hey! Hey!
Hey, Tony.
Lovely morning, ain't it?
Thanks, Tony.
Should I t no t be ob vious b y now,
James b. W bevis is a fixture
in his own pri va te,
op tim/s tic, hopef ul little world.
A world which has long ceased being surprised byhim.
Hey, come on! Come on!
James b. W bevis...
On whom dame fortune will shor tl y turn her ba ck
but not before she gives hima paste in the mouth.
Mr. James b. W bevis, just one bl ocka way
from the twil ight zone.
Will you please tell the gentleman
who occupies this... this museum and livestock exhibit
I should like to see him
when he finally deigns to report for work.
Hi, Earl. Hi, Dwayne.
Hi, maude.
Morning.
Hi, Margaret.
Uh, Mr. Bevis
Mr. Peckinpaugh wants to see you.
Thanks.
I'll be brief, be vis.
You keep a ledger like an ape.
Your desk is an affront to any orderl y symmetry.
Your eccentricities are beyond any understanding.
Your bringing zither music to pla y during the afternoon.
Your hiring Chris tma s ca rol ers
to serenade the office during our bus/est hour...
Thanks.
The sack, Mr. Bevis?
The sack.
This is the sixth job I've lost this year, Margaret.
Well, the best-laid plans of mice and men... and bevis.
I'll help you pack, Mr. Bevis.
I was building this for one of the kids.
It's old irons/des... The constitution.
Well, she won't get launched today.
Old irons/des will get launched.
You'll get another job.
You always have.
The onl yjob I've held for more than six months
was during the second world war when I was in the Navy.
Here. This is me next to the fantail.
Oh, he's fat, isn't he?
That's the bos'n's mate.
This is the fantail.
Yours?
Does it do this often?
Well, it never has before.
It's always been kind of like an old friend to me.
Well, I'll phone for the tow truck.
Do that.
Officer, you wouldn't be interested
in purchasing a rickenbacker, would you?
It's a late '24.
No, thanks.
I kinda got my eye on a '27 Maxwell.
But I'm gonna wait until the new models come out
because that way I can get a better deal.
Officer, did you ever have one of those days?
Not like this.
Hi, bud.
Oh. Hello, Mrs. Chetfield.
That's right, bevis.
You're being evicted.
Six weeks in arrears on your rent
and that's it, as far as I'm concerned.
You sa ID you wanted something
to fortify a man in the darkest hour of his life.
Are them it?
"Those" are it.
You can't use "them" in the nominative case.
Live and learn, huh?
Yep, live and learn.
Bartender!
You all right, bud?
Would you kindly tell me
what are the ingredients of this drink?
You said you wanted to get fortified, pal.
I put everything in there but atomic energy.
Does that explain why I can see him in the mirror
but I can't see him in the booth?
See who?
"Whom." objective case.
Quite right, Mr. Bevis...
Whom. Objective case.
Well, Mr. Bevis, we meet at last, eh?
That's very nice.
And who might you be?
Whom. Objective case.
The na me,
for purposes of [dent/fica tion,
is j. Hardy hempstead.
I'm your guardian angel.
This is my friend, Mr. J. Hardy hempstead.
See what he's having.
Him?
And a happy Thanksgiving to you.
Well, cheers, Mr. Hempstead
and to better days.
Oh, aren't you drinking?
Now then, you were saying you were my... what was it?
Your guardian angel.
Mr. Be v/s,
here's the way the cookie crumbles.
Several hundred years ago
one of your ancestors
performed an act of great courage.
Part of his reward was to have a guardian angel
assigned to one of his descendants
in each generation.
Current subject: James b.W. Bevis...
That's you.
Mr. Be v/s, in the past few genera tions
I've handled some extremely solid citizens
among your progenitors.
For instance,
Magellan bevis...
An in trep/d explorer of the 16m century.
Pa rnell be I/is...
A member of the British parliament
who fought for home rule a ga ins t ins urmoun ta ble odds.
And more recentl y, gunner Lou bevis
the firs t ma rine to hit the bea oh a t Nicaragua.
That's uncle Louie!
I tell you what, look, look
look, I'll close my eyes real tight and you disappear
and then go away and haunt somebody else.
I am nota figment of your ima Gina tion.
As of now, you are being watched over
by the same guardian angel, j. Hardy hempstead,
your obedient servant.
Watched over?
Wa tohed o I/er...
Assisted by minor miracles from time to time
given small heavenly aids
when the situation calls for them.
Getting it, Mr. Bevis?
Watched over.
Now today you had
a very uno omf or ta bl e time.
You were fired
from what was your 11th job in 18 months.
Mr. Peckinpaugh didn't like zither music.
I can't sa y I blame him for tha t
but that's neither here nor there.
I can reconstitute the whole day, Mr. Bevis,
so that its final upshot
will be exactly opposite to what it was.
So let's go back to this morning
and start all over again, hm?
You mean, I can have the day to live over again
and it won't be the way it was?
Definitely not. We'd change some aspects.
Inevitably, we'd have to change
certain characteristics of your own.
Your clothes, for instance, Mr. Bevis.
Are you serious?
I look like an undertaker!
That may well be.
But if you want the day to end differently
you're going to have to be different yourself.
Let's go. There isn't much time.
I want to thank you
for taking this trouble with me
Mr. Hempstead, whoever you are.
Hey!
Hi, Michelle.
Good morning.
Uh-uh-uh.
That nonsense is for the old bevis.
You are the new bevis.
Coming, Mr. Hempstead?
Oh, yes, yes.
I'm coming, Mr. Bevis.
Mrs. Chetfield...
Good morning there, Mr. Bevis.
Look, about the rent...
I found it in the box.
Three weeks in advance.
You're a wonderful, wonderful roomer, Mr. Bevis.
Okay there, boys! Let's go!
I'm ready, pass it right over here.
Yes, right there, right in there.
Right there...
How are you, Tony?
Well, where's my apple?
For free, I give-a nobody nothing.
Bananas!
What are you looking for?
My car, my rickenbacker.
Correction. You don't drive a rickenbacker.
That's your car.
Tha t little thing?
Well, gee, do you think it fits?
Mr. Bevis, live it up, will you?
But have you ever driven a 1924 rickenbacker?
My dear bevis,
I've driven a chariot with 11 horses.
I'm the guy responsible for Ben-hur winning.
And the old rickenbacker went out with the old bevis.
You're a different person now!
No more bow ties.
No more zither music.
No more Christmas carolers in the office.
Though the latter idiosyncrasy
met with some approval from the organization.
Shall we, Mr. Bevis?
Sorry, pal.
You'll get on to it.
Look, somebody cleared off my desk.
Nothing of the kind.
You'll see.
'Morning. 'Morning.
Maude.
'Morning. 'Morning.
Margaret?
Good morning, Mr. Bevis.
What happened to the clock I won at the carnival?
Where's the ship I was building?
What ship?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Ah!
Good morning, bevis.
Associates... Associates, one moment.
I want you all to share this bit of good news.
As of this moment, Mr. James b.W. Bevis
has been given a raise in salary.
$10 a week, starting from this very moment.
And I might add, your work has been admirable.
Since you've been here for 11 months
I think it's time you got a raise.
A raise, Mr. Peckinpaugh?
Quite right, bevis. Quite right.
Well, Mr. Peckinpaugh...
Yes, bevis?
But Mr. Peckinpaugh, what about the zither music?
What about the Christmas Carols?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Mr. Bevis, you no longer have an interest
in zither music or Christmas carolers
or any of that nonsense.
"Oh," what, bevis?
Nothing, nothing, Mr. Peckinpaugh.
It... it looks... nude!
It doesn't look decent.
I'm going to go get a little air.
I got a raise.
Things are really looking up for you, aren't they?
Yeah, I guess they are.
Where are you going?
Oh, I'm going to go out and get a little air.
Or I may go over to my place
and play football with the kids in the street.
Mr. Be vis.
Yeah?
They won't play with you.
Uh, not anymore.
You're not the same bevis.
I see.
Bevis!
What do you say we level, hmm?
Now, what is it that you really want?
You know, for a fellow like you
a $10 raise is the most that even I can get for you.
To use the vernacular, bevis
frankly, I don't dig you.
I'm used to bevises with big dreams
gigantic hopes, fantastic aspirations...
Magellan bevis, sailing around the horn;
parnell bevis, standing alone in parliament
thundering out his convictions;
gunner Lou bevis, semper fidelis.
"Over the top, boys.
"Nobody lives forever.
Let's go!"
Look, Mr. Hempstead,
I don't like to appear ungracious
but, well, the things I like
the things I believe in, I know they're odd
but they are worth considerably more
than $10 a week.
So I'm to take it that you prefer the bow tie
and old irons/des, hmm?
I'm afraid that seems to be the case.
You realize it's going to be the way it was...
No job, no car, no place to live?
Well, it's been that way before.
It's complicated, is it?
Hardly.
Takea good look.
Won't be around ver y I ong.
The cars will hook bumpers
just as it was ordained they should.
Better get it over with.
Here comes peckinpaugh.
This time he won't be talking about a raise.
It doesn't make a bit of difference.
Not a bit of difference.
Would you kindl y tell the gentleman
who occupies this museum and livestock exhibit
tha t I should like to see him
when he finall y deigns to report to work.
Hi, Harry. Hi, Gwen.
Hi, maude. Harriet.
Hi, Margaret.
Mr. Bevis, Mr. Peckinpaugh wants to see you.
Oh. Thanks.
You feel fortified now, pal?
I certainly do.
You know, I lost my job today.
And my car,
and I was evicted.
But you know what?
I love zither music and model shipbuilding
and if you can't bring kids
into an office at christmastime
to sing Carols
then what's the point of being alive?
Beats me.
Well, there is no point.
No pointa tall!
Now, I'm gonna go out
and try to find myself another job,
and I'm gonna find myself an apartment,
and then I'm gonna start finishing old irons/des
for a little kid, eight years old, with a dirty face
who happens to love model shipbuilding
just the same as I do.
$5.00, pal.
Still with me, huh, Mr. Hempstead?
Officer, officer, um...
Your car, mister?
Well, i-i-i...
We take a dim view of parking
in front of a hydrant.
Still with me, huh, Mr. Hempstead?
Still with you, Mr. Be vis.
Still with you.
Mr. James b. W. Be vis,
who believes ina ma gic all his own
the magic of a child's smile.
The ma gic of liking and being liked.
The strange and wondrous mystic/sm
tha t is a simpleact of living.
Mr. James b.I/I/. Bevis, spec/e of 20m century male,
who has his own priva te and special twilightzone.
Rod serl ing, the orea Tor oftwilight zone,
will tell you about next week's story
after this word from our al terna te sponsor.
And noi/I/, Mr. Serl ing.
Next week, you'll see our friends here,
along with Anne Francis and Elizabeth Allen
in one of the strangest stories
we've yet presented on the twilightzone.
It's called the after hours
and concerns the shadowy time
when normal people go back to their homes
and concurrently, what happens to those
who are perhaps not quite so normal
or perhaps not quite so human.
Intriguing? I think you'll find it so,
next week, on the twilightzone.
Kimberl y Clark invites you
to wa tch Steve McQueen
in wanted dead or alive.
Sa turda y nights o ver most of these same s ta tions.