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Rod serling twilight zone1/30/2024 I was paralyzed with grief after my father died. What was it like writing about your father? Since I wrote my book, I can’t tell you the number of people who’ve written me, telling me that they had difficult or tumultuous childhoods, and that they thought of my father as their father. But the public was certainly intrigued by that. In your book, you write about the misconceptions the public had about your father.īecause of his image walking across that soundstage, some people thought that he was this dark, tortured person. “For years, the valley had been our family pilgrimage,” she says, adding that the clan often visited White Sun Guest Ranch in Rancho Mirage. The series inspired a movie, television revivals, books and graphic novels, even a Disney attraction and a postage stamp.Īnne Serling, who was raised in Los Angeles, frequently visited Palm Springs with her famous pop. Its cautionary tales explored the deep consequences of insular thinking and the perils of granted wishes. “I want people to be entertained and learn about something they didn't already know,” Chiel says of the two programs.Ĭlearly, The Twilight Zone reflected mid-20th century American culture. Modernism Week seemed to be the perfect opportunity to illuminate the impact of the two men. Curiously, Chiel met Hicklin of The Ron Hicklin Singers - the group that voiced The Monkees, The Partridge Family, Gary Lewis, and the Playboys, and were the go-to group backing Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, and Elvis, among others - at the Palm Desert Costco. “I saw an opportunity to look at other aspects of American midcentury culture that reflects the same sensibilities that our design and architecture grew out of,” Chiel explains, noting that he discovered the breadth of Serling’s humanity after countless interactions with him - Chiel eventually became the man’s projectionist. A frequent Modernism Week attendee, Chiel went out on a limb and pitched an idea to event officials for two unique presentations at the Annenberg Theater - one featuring Serling’s daughter, and the other with Coachella Valley resident Ron Hicklin (“Ron Hicklin: The Most Famous Voice You’ve Never Heard Of,” on Feb. Serling says she’s looking forward to seeing local architecture and meeting her father’s former student, Eric Chiel, the brainchild behind the event.Ĭhiel was among Serling’s students when he taught television writing during the last decade of his life at Ithaca College in upstate New York. This marks Serling’s first time attending Modernism Week. “He was not this intense, serious guy all the time, which is what people saw on television.” “He was silly a practical joker, he had a great singing voice, he tried to give up smoking for decades, he had close friends,” she’s quick to share. Some of that is chronicled in Anne Serling’s bestselling book, after which this event is named.
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