The Silence (The Twilight Zone)

"**The Silence**"
"The Silence"
The Twilight Zone episode
	Franchot Tone in "The Silence"
Episode no.	Season 2; Episode 25
Directed by	Boris Sagal
Written by	Rod Serling
Production code	173-3658
Original air date	April 28, 1961
Guest appearances
	Franchot Tone as Archie Taylor; Liam Sullivan as Jamie Tennyson; Jonathan Harris as George Alfred; Cyril Delevanti as Franklin; Everett Glass as Club Member; Felix Locher as Club Member;
Episode chronology
← Previous; "The Rip Van Winkle Caper"	Next →; "Shadow Play"
	The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) (season 2)
	List of episodes

"The Silence" is episode 61 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The plot of this episode was based in part on the short story "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov.^[1] It's "the story of possibly the strangest bet ever to occur in the annals of chance."^[2] It originally aired on April 28, 1961 on CBS. It is one of the few Twilight Zone episodes to feature no supernatural or sci-fi elements.

Opening narration[edit]

The note that this man is carrying across a club room is in the form of a proposed wager, but it's the kind of wager that comes without precedent. It stands alone in the annals of bet-making as the strangest game of chance ever offered by one man to another. In just a moment, we'll see the terms of the wager and what young Mr. Tennyson does about it. And in the process, we'll witness all parties spin a wheel of chance in a very bizarre casino called the Twilight Zone.

Plot[edit]

Colonel Archie Taylor, a gruff aristocrat, has difficulty enjoying his men's club because of the constant chatter of fellow member Jamie Tennyson. In an effort to shut Tennyson up, Taylor bets him $500,000 that he cannot remain silent for one year. If Tennyson accepts the wager, a small glass-walled apartment will be erected in the club's game room, where he will be monitored by microphones so that he cannot speak without detection. He may only write notes to communicate, and the other members may observe him through the glass.

An offended Tennyson agrees, needing the money to pay the debts incurred by his wife's exorbitant spending. He proposes that Taylor put a check on deposit in his name, but the club members reject this request as Taylor has a strong standing of honor and credit. "[Tennyson's] courage against [Taylor's] credit" is accepted by both and the challenge begins the following night.

Taylor initially expects to win within a few weeks, but Tennyson surprises him by remaining silent for nine months. Taylor gets nervous and offers to pay Tennyson to call off the bet, starting with $1,000 before escalating to $6,000. When these fail, he suggests that Tennyson's wife is planning to leave him for another man. She has never responded to any of Tennyson's several written requests for a visit, giving weight to Taylor's insinuations. Tennyson seems gripped by despair at the thought of losing his wife, but nonetheless refuses to call off the bet.

On the last evening of the year, club member Alfred tells Taylor his behavior over the past months, particularly using Tennyson's wife as a threat, has severely damaged the club's esteem for him. As the clock chimes to officially signal that the one year has passed, Tennyson emerges to the congratulations of his fellow club members before he approaches Taylor and silently puts his hand out for the money. The embarrassed Taylor admits that he had lost his fortune several years earlier. He praises Tennyson's resolve and character and then announces his decision to resign from the club.

The distraught Tennyson scribbles furiously on a sheet of paper, perplexing the other men, who wonder why he does not speak. Taylor reads the note aloud: "I knew I would not be able to keep my part of the bargain, so one year ago I had the nerves to my vocal cords severed." Tennyson displays the scar on his throat from the operation, which he has concealed for the past year under scarves and turtlenecks.

Closing narration[edit]

Mr. Jamie Tennyson, who almost won a bet, but who discovered somewhat belatedly that gambling can be a most unproductive pursuit, even with loaded dice, marked cards, or, as in his case, some severed vocal cords. For somewhere beyond him, a wheel was turned, and his number came up black thirteen. If you don't believe it, ask the croupier, the very special one who handles roulette – in The Twilight Zone.

References[edit]

^ Twilight Zone, Laserdisc release
^ Serling, Rod. Promotional spot for "The Silence". Original airdate: 21 April 1961.

Sources[edit]

Zicree, Marc Scott. The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition).
DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0
Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0

External links[edit]

"The Silence" at IMDb

[1] Twilight Zone, Laserdisc release

[preview-2] Serling, Rod. Promotional spot for "The Silence". Original airdate: 21 April 1961.

[1]

[2]

v t e The Twilight Zone (1959) episodes
Season 1	"Where Is Everybody?" "One for the Angels" "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" "Walking Distance" "Escape Clause" "The Lonely" "Time Enough at Last" "Perchance to Dream" "Judgment Night" "And When the Sky Was Opened" "What You Need" "The Four of Us Are Dying" "Third from the Sun" "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" "The Hitch-Hiker" "The Fever" "The Last Flight" "The Purple Testament" "Elegy" "Mirror Image" "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" "A World of Difference" "Long Live Walter Jameson" "People Are Alike All Over" "Execution" "The Big Tall Wish" "A Nice Place to Visit" "Nightmare as a Child" "A Stop at Willoughby" "The Chaser" "A Passage for Trumpet" "Mr. Bevis" "The After Hours" "The Mighty Casey" "A World of His Own"
Season 2	"King Nine Will Not Return" "The Man in the Bottle" "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" "A Thing About Machines" "The Howling Man" "Eye of the Beholder" "Nick of Time" "The Lateness of the Hour" "The Trouble with Templeton" "A Most Unusual Camera" "The Night of the Meek" "Dust" "Back There" "The Whole Truth" "The Invaders" "A Penny for Your Thoughts" "Twenty Two" "The Odyssey of Flight 33" "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" "Static" "The Prime Mover" "Long Distance Call" "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" "The Silence" "Shadow Play" "The Mind and the Matter" "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" "The Obsolete Man"
Season 3	"Two" "The Arrival" "The Shelter" "The Passersby" "A Game of Pool" "The Mirror" "The Grave" "It's a Good Life" "Deaths-Head Revisited" "The Midnight Sun" "Still Valley" "The Jungle" "Once Upon a Time" "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" "A Quality of Mercy" "Nothing in the Dark" "One More Pallbearer" "Dead Man's Shoes" "The Hunt" "Showdown with Rance McGrew" "Kick the Can" "A Piano in the House" "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" "To Serve Man" "The Fugitive" "Little Girl Lost" "Person or Persons Unknown" "The Little People" "Four O'Clock" "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" "The Trade-Ins" "The Gift" "The Dummy" "Young Man's Fancy" "I Sing the Body Electric" "Cavender Is Coming" "The Changing of the Guard"
Season 4	"In His Image" "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" "Valley of the Shadow" "He's Alive" "Mute" "Death Ship" "Jess-Belle" "Miniature" "Printer's Devil" "No Time Like the Past" "The Parallel" "I Dream of Genie" "The New Exhibit" "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" "On Thursday We Leave for Home" "Passage on the Lady Anne" "The Bard"
Season 5	"In Praise of Pip" "Steel" "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" "A Kind of a Stopwatch" "The Last Night of a Jockey" "Living Doll" "The Old Man in the Cave" "Uncle Simon" "Probe 7, Over and Out" "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain" "Ninety Years Without Slumbering" "Ring-a-Ding Girl" "You Drive" "The Long Morrow" "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" "Black Leather Jackets" "Night Call" "From Agnes—With Love" "Spur of the Moment" "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" "Queen of the Nile" "What's in the Box" "The Masks" "I Am the Night—Color Me Black" "Sounds and Silences" "Caesar and Me" "The Jeopardy Room" "Stopover in a Quiet Town" "The Encounter" "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" "The Brain Center at Whipple's" "Come Wander with Me" "The Fear" "The Bewitchin' Pool"