The Night of the Meek
- Episode aired Dec 23, 1960
- TV-PG
- 25m
After a derelict Santa Claus is fired on Christmas Eve, he finds a mysterious bag that gives out presents. With this bag he sets out to fulfill his one wish - to see the less fortunate inher... Read allAfter a derelict Santa Claus is fired on Christmas Eve, he finds a mysterious bag that gives out presents. With this bag he sets out to fulfill his one wish - to see the less fortunate inherit the bounties of Christmas.After a derelict Santa Claus is fired on Christmas Eve, he finds a mysterious bag that gives out presents. With this bag he sets out to fulfill his one wish - to see the less fortunate inherit the bounties of Christmas.
- Irate Mother
- (as Kay Cousins)
- Bar Patron
- (uncredited)
- Kid with Santa
- (uncredited)
- Street Child
- (uncredited)
- Elf
- (uncredited)
- Man in Mission
- (uncredited)
- Man in Mission
- (uncredited)
- Man in Mission
- (uncredited)
- Man in Mission
- (uncredited)
- Blonde in Bar
- (uncredited)
- Narrator
- (uncredited)
- …
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBecause of cost overruns, there were six consecutive episodes, including this one, that were videotaped and then transferred to 16mm film for TV broadcast and future syndicated rebroadcasts. It saved only about $30,000 for all six. Not enough to justify the loss of depth of visual perspective, which gave those shows an appearance like a live broadcast or like soap operas in that day. This was an experiment for a normally filmed TV show and was basically called a failure. This type of recording was never again used for any more Twilight Zone episodes.
- GoofsBruce the bartender misspells Merry as 'Mery' on the mirror behind his bar.
- Quotes
Henry Corwin: [drunkenly as all the children and moms look on] As to my drinking, this is indefensible and you have my abject apologies. I find of late that I have very little choice in the matter of expressing emotions.
Mr. Dundee: Please, lower your voice...
Henry Corwin: I can either drink, or I can weep, and drinking is so much more subtle. But as for my insubordination, I was not rude to that woman. Someone should remind her that Christmas is more than barging up and down department store aisles and pushing people out of the way. Someone has to tell her that Christmas is another thing finer than that. Richer, finer, truer, and it should come with patience and love, charity, compassion. That's what I would have told her if you'd given me the chance. I don't know how to tell you, Mr. Dundee. I don't know at all. All I know is that I'm an aging, purposeless, relic of another time, and I live in a dirty rooming house on a street filled with hungry kids and shabby people, where the only thing that comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve is more poverty. Do you know another reason why I drink, Mr. Dundee? So that when I walk down the tenements, I can really think it's the North Pole, and the children are elves, and that I'm really Santa Claus bringing a bag of wondrous gifts for all of them. I just wish, Mr. Dundee, on one Christmas, only one, that I could see some of the hopeless ones and the dreamless ones. Just on one Christmas, I'd like to see the meek inherit the Earth. And that's why I drink, Mr. Dundee, and that's why I weep.
- Alternate versionsIn the syndicated reruns and DVD versions, Rod Serling's final line "And a Merry Christmas, to each and all" is deleted. The line was restored in the Blu-ray release and the Netflix streaming version.
- ConnectionsEdited into Twilight-Tober-Zone: The Night of the Meek (2021)
My neighbor and I are both old enough so when the episode originally aired, December 23, 1960, we were at the age when we still believed in Santa Claus, barely; we were in the nebulous between, doubtful about him but unwilling to forsake him. At least not until after we got our Christmas loot.
The episode was a nice break from all those scary Twilight Zone episodes, the guy in the diner with a third eye on his forehead, the telephone wire that falls across the grave, the little boy who knows what everyone is thinking and who punishes them for their thoughts. My neighbor and I agreed ─ the Night of the Meek had our favorite Twilight Zone ending, ever. We just couldn't agree on how it ended.
The episode is pure Christmas magic. It's an old time Christmas with Art Carney as Santa Claus and with Burt Mustin as, well, who else, Burt Mustin.
How I always got the episode, Santa wishes the world was a nicer place than it is, especially for the poor, especially for the poor kids. He grieves for them and wants to give them something on Christmas. He can't, though, because he's fallen off the wagon, uh, sleigh. He's a drunk now, the jolliness driven out of him by the hopelessness and misery he sees around himself. He's fallen so far, he doesn't even remember having once been Santa. That is, until he stumbles upon a garbage bag full of empty tin cans and it all turns into a magic bag of gifts. Tell Santa what it is you want, a train set if you're a little boy, a pipe and smoking jacket if you're Burt Mustin, and Santa reaches into his bag and presto! With the help of the magic sack, which must have been his all along, and with the wide-eyed wonder of the poor kids and the skid row bums and with the chiding assistance of a cute little elf, Santa regains his former jolly garrulousness, steps back onto his sleigh and bells jingling, rides triumphantly across the sky.
Not so, said my neighbor. Santa wasn't Santa. He was Henry Corwin, a drunken department store Santa Claus until the magic of Christmas and his own goodness turned him into Santa Claus! That had me scratching my head. Had I got it all wrong fifty years ago? I went back and watched it a few times, pondered it, and it turns out my neighbor is correct. Her version is the real one, although I still like my own version better.
So go ahead, indulge yourself by watching it. It's only twenty-five minutes long and it captures the magic of the season as well or better than anything else and whether you agree with me or with my neighbor, (probably with her,) you'll get a nice warm feeling from it.
- wjs82852
- Dec 22, 2013
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Night of the Meek
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1