The Bewitchin' Pool
- Episode aired Jun 19, 1964
- TV-PG
- 25m
Two children escape their bickering parents through a portal in the bottom of their swimming pool to a magical land watched over by a kind old woman the children call Aunt T.Two children escape their bickering parents through a portal in the bottom of their swimming pool to a magical land watched over by a kind old woman the children call Aunt T.Two children escape their bickering parents through a portal in the bottom of their swimming pool to a magical land watched over by a kind old woman the children call Aunt T.
- Jeb Sharewood
- (as Tim Stafford)
- Sport
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Narrator
- (uncredited)
- …
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe "confrontation" sequence (where Jeb and Sport declare they don't have to live with their bickering parents anymore and dive into the pool for good), was actually written by Earl Hamner Jr. to be the climax of the story; it was also used at the beginning because the final version came up a few minutes short (Whit's "Howdy!" greeting as the kids emerge from the "swimming hole" and the tracking shot of the children in Aunt T's yard were repeated as well for the same reason). There was noise interference on the MGM back-lot during the pool sequences, and everyone had to be called back for post-dubbing, but actress Mary Badham had already flown back to Alabama and it was deemed too expensive to fly her back to Los Angeles. June Foray was brought in to dub her lines. It was a "sloppy" job, and Rod Serling knew it. It was held until the very end of the season as the "final" show (where, it was figured, most people wouldn't notice, having tuned out of the series).
- GoofsThe last time that Sport jumps in the pool to return to Aunt T's house, she is wearing a housecoat over her swimsuit. When she surfaces on 'the other side', she is no longer wearing the coat. Apparently the surfacing scene is the same scene used for their original arrival.
- Quotes
[opening narration]
Narrator: A swimming pool not unlike any other pool. A structure built of tile and cement and money, a backyard toy for the affluent, wet entertainment for the well-to-do. But to Jeb and Sport Sharewood, this pool holds mysteries not dreamed of by the building contractor. Not guaranteed in any sales brochure. For this pool has a secret exit that leads to a never-never land, a place designed for junior citizens who need a long voyage away from reality into the bottomless regions of The Twilight Zone.
- ConnectionsReferenced in The Twilight Zone: Healer/Children's Zoo/Kentucky Rye (1985)
Escapism. When children are faced with their parent's divorce-- a good decision given the parent's toxic relationship-- they choose to dive headfirst into denial, rejection and escapism. They don't want to live in a world where their parents have separated. Yet they are too young to realize the consequences of choosing the alternative, a seemingly perfect fantasyland, and this leaves the episode on an uneasy note.
The granny figure is enigmatic and unsettling to me. On one hand, if the children say they are loved, she seems happy to send them back. However, children having trouble at home are fitfully persuaded to stay there, with her... seemingly forever. Their parents audible cries, calling out to the children, will "fade" over time, she says. The parent's own anguish at their missing children notwithstanding. They were too self-absorbed and combative to provide a good atmosphere for their kids, and now, having paid a very Twilight Zone-y price for it, may never see them again to make up for it.
Do the children grow up here? We didn't see any adults there. These things are left ambiguous. With Hansel and Gretel overtones I'm still not convinced this fairytale figure might not just eat the children eventually.
The one flaw is the little girl's dubbing is a jarringly bad, which is unfortunate but at least a production issue rather than a problem with the story.
- ickboys-895-993272
- Oct 9, 2021
Details
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1