The Magic Shop (10 Jan. 1964)

After a little boy vanishes in a magic shop, he comes back later with supernatural powers and evil intentions.

Director:

Robert Stevens

Writers:

John Collier (teleplay), James Parish (script),

Stars:

Alfred Hitchcock, Leslie Nielsen, Peggy McCay

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
Leslie Nielsen	...	Grainger
Peggy McCay	...	Mrs. Grainger
John Megna	...	Anthony 'Tony' Grainger
David Opatoshu	...	Mr. Dulong
Paul Hartman	...	Mr. Adams
William Sargent	...	Dr. Stone
Ted de Corsia	...	Herlie (as Ted deCorsia)
Hugh Sanders	...	The 1st Cop
Rolfe Sedan	...	The Old Man
Audrey Swanson	...	Eric's Mother
Robert Reiner	...	The Intern
Brian Corcoran	...	Eric

Storyline

Steven Grainger gives his son Tony money for his birthday, and takes the little boy to a remote magic store in town, where Tony can spend his money. The owner, Mr. Dulong, sees a promising future in the youngster, and offers to teach him all he knows about "real" magic. Tony's eyes fill with delight and stepping into a cabinet, he promptly disappears. Dulong then vanishes as well, leaving Mr. Grainger stranded in the streets, searching for his son. Strangely enough, the magic shop has vanished, along with Tony.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 January 1964 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shamley Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Mr. is lying in the street a man in a car comes up on him. The first shot is from the inside of the car. You can see what looks like small leaves on the hood and the lower part of the windshield. It may be drops of water since the scene is after a rain shower. However, when the driver exits the car in the next shot, the hood and windshield are both clean and dry.

User Reviews

Fine Hitchcock Hour, But No Twilight Zone

'The Magic Shop' is an imaginative tale from this series. John Megna, the young actor from 'To Kill A Mockingbird' gives a chilling performance as the omnipotent boy Tony.

David Opatoshu is effectively eerie as Mr. Dulong, owner of the magic shop, and Tony's magic 'mentor'. Scenes inside the magic shop are particularly imaginative, with the use of masks, funny mirrors and a box into which Tony disappears.

However, this theme of the all-powerful child had been explored more succinctly and with complete horror in the 'Twilight Zone's take of the marvelous short story by Jerome Bixby entitled 'It's A Good Life'. To be fair to the Hitchcock series, I am comparing 'The Magic Shop' with one of the best of Rod Serling's 'Twilight Zone's'.

The child actor Megna has a very odd, almost sinister face. This fits the story well, but Serling went Hitchcock one better by casting the cherub-faced Billy Mumy some five years earlier as the monster 'Anthony Fremont'.

Tony's powers are impressive, but they pale next to Mumy's 'Anthony', who has effectively wished away most of the United States into 'the cornfield'.

'It's A Good Life' is truly in the top ten, if not the top three of 'Twilight Zone's. And the tale is told in an economical twenty five minutes.

But to be fair to 'The Magic Shop', the fifty minute run time is not 'padded'. The story holds one's interest throughout, which could not be said for all Hitchcock Hours (nor for all of the hour T-Zones).

People wonder why the success of these early television programs lingers on today. Both 'The Twilight Zone' and 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' have been remade, with little success.

One clear answer is the age of political correctness we live in today. 'Twilight Zone: The Movie" stank of political correctness. In redoing 'It's A Good Life', the 'monster' has found a caring mentor by the end of the tale, a woman who will teach Anthony to use his powers for good.

This unfortunate use of 'PC' into the story line robs the tale of all its power. It's most unsatisfying, akin to Serling's weaker T-Zone scripts which always include some worldly moralizing. Hey Rod, I thought you were taking us to 'unworldly' places!

Both 'The Magic Shop' and 'It's A Good LIfe' (the original) end on very dark notes: the parents are living in fear as to what their child will do next. In the good old days of black and white television, writers did not feel compelled to pen false, 'happy endings'.

I highly recommend 'The Magic Shop' as one of the better 'Alfred Hitchcock Hour' episodes, even if Megna's 'Tony' comes across as just a brat compared to Mumy's monstrous 'Anthony'. The story is dark enough that I hardly chuckled at all at seeing Leslie Nielsen playing drama after all these years of witnessing his comic prowess via 'Airplane!' and 'Naked Gun'.