Television Programs Pay Tribute To Memorial Day
It then details how General Robert E. Lee's Arlington, Virginia mansion was turned into a Union hospital during the war. In time the former home of the leader of the Southern Confederacy becomes the most sacred cometary in the entire country - Arlington National Cometary. The fitting poignancy is something that could only have happened in the Civil War.
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, originally aired in 1961 THE TWILIGHT ZONE aired on the CBS television network in the 50s and early 60s and was hosted by the prolific Rod Serling. One of their least known episodes is also one of the my favorites.
THE PASSERBY originally aired on 10/06/61. It is a simple yet poignant story of coming to terms with death and war. The opening narration by host/writer Rod Serling states, 3This road is the afterwards of the Civil War. It began at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and ended at a place called Appomattox. It1s littered with the residue of broken battles and shattered dreams...In just a moment, you will enter a strange province that knows neither North nor South, a place we call THE TWILIGHT ZONE.2
The setting is a small house on a very well-travelled road. Most of the passersby are soldiers. The lady who lives there is convinced that her husband, a Confederate soldier, has been killed in the war. A kind confederate soldier stops to rest a bit. A blind Union lieutenant also stops for a drink. The woman, filled with rage, shoots the Union soldier at point blank range - but nothing happens. The Union lieutenant moves on his way. It is then that the Confederate soldier realizes that everyone on the road, including himself, is dead. I won1t give away the ending.
The story appeals to me because of its simple poignancy - a lonely woman waiting for her husband to come home from war. Also, Serling chose to make the heroine of the story a Confederate soldier. A lesser writer would have made a safe choice and made her the wife a Union soldier.
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, originally aired in 1979 - This made-for-television movie is part of the prestigious HALLMARK HALL OF FAME series. The budget was high for this program which stars Richard Thomas (THE WALTONS) as the central character.
Though not as noted as the 1930 theatrical version which starred Lew Ayres, this is a powerful program nonetheless. Thomas portrays a sensitive German youth who goes
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