Rod Serling Archives
Overview
In addition to the restricted access items found in the Archives, there are books and videos in the library's collection that can be checked out by any member of the Ithaca College Community and affiliate library card holders.
Some popular local sources include:
- The Rod Serling Conference at Ithaca College: Volumes I-IIIA collection of papers presented at the Rod Serling Conference in 2006, 2009, and 2009
- Classroom assignment: Professor Guest's assignment, "Twilight Zone Crossover Production" is available online from editmedia.org. "This production course assignment uses archive research techniques to cultivate course discussions around the power of science fiction in establishing empathy and social change. Using the creative work of Rod Serling the assignment examines the social norms of the 1950’s and 1960’s through original Twilight Zones. The students are then tasked with creating their own Twilight Zone using a theme that challenges a social norm. The other course screenings during this assignment include examinations of Netflix’s Black Mirror. The course reading assignments come from Heroes and Villains by Mike Alsford."
Related websites:
Videos
Search the Library's Catalog to discover videos by and about Rod Serling.
Some reels have been digitized and can be accessed on YouTube:
- Rod Serling Biography - Day Of A Playwright (1985).
- They Made Movies In Ithaca, Hosted by Rod Serling. 1973.
- They Made a Movie, 1973 Ithaca NY, Silent Film History.
Other popular sources:
- Some of the Writing for Television courses taught at Ithaca College have also made their way to YouTube.
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The Mike Wallace Interview Featuring Rod Serling. 1959. Internet Archive.
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Rod Serling on American Masters PBS. In the Archives box 1463.
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Dick Van Dyke reads "A Most Non-Political Speech" by Rod Serling (Jan 16, 2023). "Dick Van Dyke reads a speech, written by Rod Serling, that he delivered on 5/31/64 at the LA Coliseum amongst notable presenters as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
Books
Find books by subject:
As timeless as infinity : The Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling by Call Number: General Stacks ; PN1992.77.T87 S47 2004ISBN: 9781887368711Publication Date: 200410 volumes of the 92 scripts Rod Serling wrote for the original the Twilight Zone series.
As I Knew Him by
In Twilight Zone reruns, I search for my father in the man on the screen, but I can't always find him there. Instead, he appears in unexpected ways. Memory summoned by a certain light, a color, a smell--and I see him again on the porch of our old red lakeside cottage, where I danced on the steps as a child. To Anne Serling, the imposing figure the public saw hosting The Twilight Zone each week, intoning cautionary observations about fate, chance, and humanity, was not the father she knew. Her fun-loving dad would play on the floor with the dogs, had nicknames for everyone in the family, and was apt to put a lampshade on his head and break out in song. He was her best friend, her playmate, and her confidant. After his unexpected death at 50, Anne, just 20, was left stunned. Gradually, she found solace for her grief by talking to his friends, poring over old correspondence, and recording her childhood memories. Now she shares personal photos, eloquent, revealing letters, and beautifully rendered scenes of his childhood, war years, and their family's time together. Idyllic summers in upstate New York, the years in Los Angeles, and the myriad ways he filled their time with laughter, strength, and endearing silliness--all are captured here with deep affection and candor. Though begun in loss, Anne's story is a celebration of her extraordinary relationship with her father and the qualities she came to prize through him--empathy, kindness, and an uncompromising sense of social justice. As I Knew Him is a lyrical, intimate tribute to Rod Serling's legacy as visionary, storyteller, and humanist, and a moving testament to the love between fathers and daughters. "I was so moved by Anne Serling's account of the loving relationship she had with her dad, I laughed and I cried. I plan to read it again once I catch my breath. This beautifully written book is proof that the apple didn't fall too far from the tree when it came to the writing gene." --Carol Burnett "It was my privilege to know Rod Serling. He was as interesting off screen as on. I loved Rod Serling. Still do." --Betty White "Thanks to Anne Serling's haunting and beautifully written memoir about her father, readers will come to know Rod Serling in a personal way, as I did." --Robert Redford "A loving daughter's intimate memoir and portrait of her father, a man who just happens to be one of the most important American cultural leaders of the 20th Century . . . the best glimpse we're likely to get of that man and the maelstrom he moved in unless or until we venture into the Twilight Zone." -- James Grady "A memoir filled with intimate details and emotion; a tender, thoughtful and very personal portrait of American genius Rod Serling, writer and creator of the greatest show ever made, The Twilight Zone." --- Alice Hoffman "A richly told, deeply sympathetic journey into the mind of one of the masters of television, this haunting memoir is also about grief, creativity, and a father-daughter bond as memorable and magical as any Twilight Zone episode." --Caroline Leavitt
Call Number: General Stacks ; PS3537.E654 S47 2013ISBN: 9780806536156Publication Date: 2013
Rod Serling by
Long before anyone had heard of alien cookbooks, gremlins on the wings of airplanes, or places where pig-faced people are considered beautiful, Rod Serling was the most prestigious writer in American television. As creator, host, and primary writer for The Twilight Zone, Serling became something more: an American icon. When Serling died in 1975, at the age of fifty, he was the most honored, most outspoken, most recognizable, and likely the most prolific writer in television history. Though best known for The Twilight Zone, Serling wrote over 250 scripts for film and television and won an unmatched six Emmy Awards for dramatic writing for four different series. His filmography includes the acclaimed political thriller Seven Days in May and cowriting the original Planet of the Apes. In great detail and including never-published insights drawn directly from Serling's personal correspondence, unpublished writings, speeches, and unproduced scripts, Nicholas Parisi explores Serling's entire, massive body of work. With a foreword by Serling's daughter, Anne Serling, Rod Serling: His Life, Work, and Imagination is part biography, part videography, and part critical analysis. It is a painstakingly researched look at all of Serling's work-in and out of The Twilight Zone.
Call Number: General Stacks ; PS3537.E654 Z77 2018ISBN: 9781496817501Publication Date: 2018
The Twilight Zone Companion by Call Number: Reference Stacks ; PN1992.77.T87 Z52 2018ISBN: 1879505096Publication Date: 1999
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