[Eerie music]
(Narrator) You're tra vel/ng through another dimension.
A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind.
A journey into a wondrous land
whose boundaries are tha t of ima Gina t/on.
Tha t's the signpost up ahead.
Your next stop, the twilight zone.
[Melancholy, uneasy music]
Thank you, William.
Cut.
(Corrigan) What's your point? That, if it were possible
for a person to go back in time,
there'd be nothing to prevent them
from altering the course of history? Is that it?
That's right. Let's say, corrigan,
that you go back in time. It's October, 1929,
the day before the stock market crashed.
You know that, on the following morning,
securities are going to tumble into an abyss.
Now, using this prior knowledge,
there's a hundred things you could do to protect yourself.
But I'd be an anachronism.
I really don't belong back there.
You could sell out the day before the crash.
But what if I did, and started the crash earlier?
Now, history tells us that on October 24,1929,
the bottom fell out of the stock market. That's a fixed date,
it exists as an event in the history of our times.
It can't be al tered.
I say it can.
What's to prevent me,
from going to a broker
on the morning of October 23 or 22?
(Narrator) Witness a theoretical a rgumen t, wa shin g ton, d. C., the present.
Four intelligent men talking
about an improbable thing like going back in time.
A friendly debate revolving around a simple issue,
could a human being change what has happened before?
Interesting and theoretical
because who ever heard of a man going back in time?
Before tonight, that is.
Because this is the twilightzone.
Gentlemen, I'm afraid
I'm going to have to leave time travel to h.G. Wells.
I'm much too tired
to go into any more metaphysics this evening.
And, since no one has ever gone back into time,
I find the whole blame subject much too theoretical anyway.
Phil, I'll probably see you over the weekend.
Don't get lost back in time.
I certainly shall not.
Good night, gentlemen.
Good night, Pete.
(Man 1) So long, corrigan,
(man 2) Well, where do we geta fourth?
Good evening.
I'm desperately sorry, Mr. Corrigan.
That was very clumsy of me.
I think I shall survive, William. I really do.
Did you have a coat, sir?
No. I'm rushing the season a little tonight,
I felt spring in the air, so I came out like this.
Well, April is spring, sir.
What is the date, William?
Uh, April 14, sir.
April 14, 1961, right?
I beg your pardon, sir?
Oh, yes, 1961.
Well, good night, William.
Take care of yourself.
Yes, sir.
[Suspense music]
[Eerie music]
[Suspense music intensifies]
[Pounding]
Home.
Home. That's it.
I'll go home.
[Suspense music, organ]
[Horse's hooves clopping on street]
[Knocks frantically]
All right, all right.
Have a bit of Patience. I'm coming.
Yes?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Isn't this number 1912th street?
That's right.
Whom do you wish to see?
I used to live here.
This, this used to be the oldest building
in this part of town.
What's that?
Well, that is, as I remember it, it used to be.
Now, look here, young man.
I can't stand around all evening
talking about silly things
like which is the oldest building in the section.
Now, if there's nothing else...
Do you have a room?
Yes, I have rooms for acceptable boarders.
Do you come from around here?
Yes, I do.
Army veteran?
Yes.
Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.
May I inquire as to what business you're in?
I'm an engineer.
Oh, really?
A professional man.
Well, right upstairs and to the right.
[Woman laughs]
Good evening, Mrs. Landers.
Good evening.
Off to the play?
Yes. Dinner, and then off to the play.
Well, enjoy yourselves.
Applaud the president for me.
We'll certainly do that.
Good night. Have a good time.
What did you say?
Well, what did I say?
To the officer. You said something to him.
She just said something to you about the president.
She told me to applaud him.
Where might your sympathies lie?
Yes, young man, which army were you in?
Well, I was in...
The army of the republic.
Well, then why make such a thing
of applauding president Lincoln? It's his due, we figure.
God bless him.
You're going to a play tonight?
(Young woman ) We ma y or ma ynot, depending on when m y husband
makes up his mind to call a carriage
to get us to the theater and to dinner.
What theater? What play?
Ford's theater, of course.
Ford's theater.
Are you all right?
Are you feeling all right?
What's the name of the play?
(Young lady) I beg your pardon?
The one you're going to at Ford's theater.
Wha t's it called?
It's called our amer/can oousin.
Our amer/can oousin.
And Lincoln's going to be there.
And it's April 14, 1865, isn't it?
Really, sir, I'd call these actions
most strange.
It is April 14, 1865. [Suspense music]
[Dramatic music]
[Pounding door] Let me in! Let me in!
The president's going to be shot tonight!
Let me in!
Now, what has this one done?
While you idiots are sitting here,
you're going to lose a president.
That's what he's been yelling
and that's why the doorman at Ford's theater popped him on the head.
He tried to pound his way right through the stage door,
yelling some sort of nonsense about "President Lincoln's going to be shot."
He'll be shot, tonight, at the theater.
A man named booth.
And how would you be knowing this?
Are you some kind of a ola/rvoyant or something?
I only know what I know.
If I told you how I knew, you wouldn't believe me.
Look, keep me here if you like.
Lock me up, but hear me out.
Let him sleep it off.
(Corrigan) Somebody better get to the president's box at the theater.
Keep him out of there! Put a cordon of men around him!
A man named John wilkes booth
is going to assassinate him tonight!
Wellington, sergeant.
Jonathan Wellington.
Well, and what can we do for you, Mr. Wellington?
Tha t man you just had inoaroera Ted,
Mr. Corrigan, I believe you said his name was?
Drunk, sir.
Tha t's probabl y what? t he is.
Drunk or, or perhaps ill.
I wonder if he might be remanded in my custody?
He might well be a war veteran.
I would hate to see him placed in jail.
You say you want us to remand him in your custody?
Precisely.
I'll be fully responsible for him.
I think perhaps I might be able to help him.
All right, sir, if tha t's the way you'd like it.
Have corrigan brought back in here.
This gentleman is going to look out for him.
That's real decent of you, sir.
I'll be outside.
Have him brought out to me, if you would?
I will indeed, sir. Yes.
Uh, about that corrigan, sir.
What about him?
Wouldn't it be wise, sir, if...
If what?
He seemed so positive, sir. So sure.
About the president, I mean.
And whatshould we do?
Send all a va/lable pol/oe
to Ford's thea ter?
And on what? t author/ty?
On the word of some demented fool
who probably left his mind in gettysburg?
Ifi were you, mister, I'd be considerabl y more thoughtful
in sizing upa situation or you'll notadvanoe
in the next 20 years.
Now, be good enough to step aside
so I can get on with my work.
It wouldn't hurt if...
It wouldn't hurt if what?
I only meant to suggest, sir,
that if perhaps we placed an extra guard
in the box with the president...
The president has enough guards!
The whole federal army is at his disposal.
And if they're satisfied with the arrangements
for his protection, so am I!
So should you.
[Suspense music]
(We/iington) Here.
Try this.
It'll make you feel better.
Better?
Who are you anyway?
At the moment, I'm your benefactor.
Apparently, your only friend.
I'm in the government service.
But, as a young man in college,
I dabbled in medicine of a sort.
Medicine?
Medicine of the mind.
Psychiatrist.
Don't know the term.
What about the symptoms?
They do interest me.
This story you were telling
about the president being assassinated.
What time is it?
This time?
Half past seven.
Play doesn't begin for another three-quarters of an hour.
What gave you the idea
that the president would be assassinated?
I just happen to know, that's all.
You have a premonition?
I've got a devil of a lot more
than a premonition.
Lincoln will be assassinated
unless somebody tries to prevent it.
I shall try to prevent it
if you can convince me
that you're neither drunk nor insane.
If I told you what I was,
you'd be convinced iwas insane,
so all I'm going to tell you is this,
I happen to know for a fact
that a man named John wilkes booth
will assassinate President Lincoln
in his box at Ford's theater.
I don't know what time it'll happen.
I forgot.
Something you forgot?
Yes, listen, I...
Here. That hasn't been treated properly.
You'd best cover it.
That's odd.
What is?
Suddenly, I feel faint.
I feel weak, as if I were...
As if you were what?
As if I were suddenly drunk or...
[Panting]
I've never felt this way before.
I've never... I've ne...
[Chuckles]
[Suspense music]
You! You.
You devil.
You drugged me, didn't you?
You drugged me!
Had to, my young friend.
You're a very sick man,
a sick man doesn't belong in jail.
He belongs in a comfortable accommodation
where he can sleep and rest
and regain his composure... his reason.
Rest,
m r. Co rrigan.
I'll be back soon.
Please.
Please, you've got to believe me.
Lincoln will be shot tonight.
And that's odd.
Because I'm beginning to believe you.
Good night, Mr. Corrigan.
Rest well.
[Cheering and applause]
[Suspense music]
[Panting] Somebody...
Please...
Let me out!
I know!
[Moans]
[Almost whispering] I know
our president's going to be assassinated.
(Woman) No need to break the door down, off/oer.
I've gotan extra key. Now, step aside, if you don't mind.
[Key turns]
[Gasps]
(Officer) Are you all right? What's happened?
(Corrigan) What time is it? Tell me what time it is.
It's ten o'clock.
Tell me what you know
you may be a madman or a drunk,
but you've got me convinced.
I've been to the mayor's office and the police commissioner's house
trying to get a special guard.
Then go yourself. Find out where he's sitting,
and get right up alongside of him.
He'll be shot from behind.
Let me help you up.
He was shot from behind. That's how it happened.
Then the assassin jumped from the box to the stage
and ran out of the wings.
You're telling me this
as if it has already happened.
It has happened... A hundred years ago...
And I'm here to see that it doesn'thappen.
Where's Wellington?
Wellington? There's no one here by that name.
Don't tell me that.
He brought me here. He lives in this room.
There's no one here by that name.
I tell you, the man who brought me here's na...
(Corrigan) "J. W. B. I! [Suspense music]
Of course.
Mr. John wilkes booth, who lives in this room.
And tha t's who brought you here.
He told me his name was Wellington.
And tha t's why he drugged me.
He gave me wine, and he drugged me.
He didn't want me to stop it.
He's the one who's going to do it.
You've got to get to that theater and stop him.
John wilkes booth... He'll kill Lincoln.
Please, you've got to stop him!
(Man) The president's been sho t!
(Woman) An actor shot Lincoln.
[Crowd murmuring]
[Crying]
(Officer) You were right.
You did know.
[Sobbing]
Oh, my dear god.
[Crowd murmuring outside]
I tried to tell you.
I tried to warn you!
Why didn't you listen?
[Shouting] Why didn't you listen?
Why didn't you listen to me?!
[Pounding]
[Cars passing, horns honking]
[Pounding]
[Pounding on door]
Good evening, Mr. Corrigan.
Did you forget something?
What? Forget something?
You left here just a moment ago
and I thought you forgot something.
A moment ago?
Where's William?
William, sir?
There's no William on duty.
There's no one here named William, sir.
[Suspense music]
Oh, Pete. Back so soon, eh?
Want to join us?
We're talking about the best ways
of amassing a fortune.
What are your tried and true methods?
(Corrigan) You were talking about time travel...
About going back in time.
Oh, well, we're on a new tack now,
money, and the best ways to acquire it.
Listen,
I've got something to tell you.
Why, of course, old man.
You all right?
Why, yes.
Yes, I'm all right.
Well, then, draw up a chair and come over here
and listen to a lot of palaver
of self-made swindlers.
William, here, has the best method.
William?!
Oh, yes, my method for achieving security is by far the best.
You simply inherit it. [Chuckles]
Comes to you in a ber/bboned box.
I was just telling the boys here, corrigan,
my great-grandfather was on the police force here in Washington
the night of Lincoln's assassination.
He went all over town
trying to warn people that something might happen.
How he figured it out, nobody seems to know.
It's certainly not recorded anyplace.
But there was so much publicity about it that people never forgot him.
He became chief of police, then a councilman,
did some wheeling and dealing in land, and became a millionaire.
[Chuckles] Well, gentlemen,
shall we get back to our bridge?
What was it you wanted to say, corrigan?
William.
William, didn't you use to work here
as an atten dant?
Didn't you spill coffee on me?
Now, listen here, old chum.
I was a member of this club
while you were still going to prep school.
I'm certainlynota snob, but, well, sir, an a ttendant?
[Chuckles] I really must protest.
[Suspense music]
(Corrigan) In the matter of time travel, gentlemen,
some things can be changed.
Others can't.
(Man 1) Just as you say, Pete,
let's see, I dock.
(Man 2) I bid one spade.
(Man 3) Well, I'll pa ss tha t one.
(Man 2) Here's two spades.
I ooks peaked, doesn't he?
(Man 3) Acting so strangel y.
(Man 1) Wha t's the ma tter with him?
[Suspense music]
(Narrator) Mr. Peter corr/ga n, la tel y returned
froma place "back there."
A journey into time with highl y quest/onable resul ts.
Pro v/ng, on one hand,
that the threads of history are woven tightly,
and the ske/n of events cannot be undone.
But, on the other hand,
there are small fragments of tapestry tha t can be al tered.
Tonight's thesis, to be taken as you will,
in the twilight zone.
(Male presenter, off) Rod serl/ng, crea Tor of the twilight zone,
will tell you about next week's story
after this word from our al terna te sponsor.
And now, Mr. Serl/ng.
This, in the parlance of the 20th century,
is a used car lot. A graveyard of active ghosts
who, by virtue of some exceptional salesmanship
and an Indian rubber stretching of the truth,
remain as commodities in a world that,
they should have left generations ago.
Mr. Jack Carson plays the role of a larceny loaded con man
suddenly prevented from telling a falsehood.
Next week on the twilightzone, a most bizarre tale
that we call "the whole truth."
(Male presenter, off) Be sure and see the col ga te-palmol/ve company's
new comedyshow my sister Eileen
wednesda yn/ght on many of these same sta t/ons.