Living Doll (1 Nov. 1963)
"The Twilight Zone" Living Doll (original title)

A frustrated father does battle with his stepdaughter's talking doll, whose vocabulary includes such phrases as "I hate you" and "I'm going to kill you".

Director:

Richard C. Sarafian

Writers:

Charles Beaumont, Rod Serling (creator),

Stars:

Telly Savalas, Mary LaRoche, Tracy Stratford

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Telly Savalas	...	Erich Streator
Mary LaRoche	...	Annabelle Streator (as Mary La Roche)
Tracy Stratford	...	Christie Streator

Storyline

A frustrated father does battle with his stepdaughter's talking doll, whose vocabulary includes such phrases as "I hate you" and "I'm going to kill you".

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Plot Keywords:

doll | talking doll | winking | stepfather stepdaughter relationship | murder | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 November 1963 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cayuga Productions, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

26 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

June Foray, the voice of the "Talky Tina" doll, was also the voice of Mattel's "Chatty Cathy" doll, upon which the doll in this episode was based.

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Goofs

When Eric pulls Tina from the trash can after he agrees to return her to Christie, he unwraps the cord from around her neck twice.

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Quotes

Narrator: [Closing Narration] Of course, we all know dolls can't really talk, and they certainly can't commit murder. But to a child caught in the middle of turmoil and conflict, a doll can become many things: friend, defender, guardian. Especially a doll like Talky Tina, who did talk and did commit murder - in the misty region of the Twilight Zone.

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Connections

Referenced in The Pinball Arcade (2012)

User Reviews

Another Brilliant Episode

The parallel between the names of the doll, Tina, and the little step daughter, Christie, both short for Christina presents a psychological paradox which the writer so cleverly included. You wonder if the doll was a psychic extension of the little girls hate for her new step Daddy and any doll would have served it's ultimate purpose. The tense atmosphere in the fractured household plays up the intervention of fate by introducing a scary magical doll which speaks mean words to the protagonist alone. We eventually become almost sympathetic to his plight as we realize the anger expressed by the smiling plastic doll exceeds the meanness of the Step Father. We reach a point where we have to decide between two evils and when the step dad wins out, we regret even have to choose sides in the first place. This episode pioneered the evil doll concept which Serling visited in his later series, Night Gallery as well. The only uniquely disturbing part of this story is that the doll doesn't move around in our sight nor does she change her plastic expression making the title of the episode a paradox in itself. One of the most memorable episode with a timeless innovative method of using a harmless object to scare the crap out of us. Casting June Foray as the creepy voice was a masterful move.