Hocus-Pocus and Frisby

A guy is known for telling tall tales. Well, he's really just a big liar. He gets kidnapped by aliens who think he's some sort of super genius. Apparently, they don't really understand the concept of lying. Couldn't he just tell them it was the opposite of telling the truth? I know "Galaxy Quest" used this idea later.

I do like the main character in this. He's pretty goofy. I don't know how he knew using a harmonica would defeat the aliens. I love how he just punched one of them. He's a man of action! You can't take that away from him. ***

Fun tale about an insignificant and mendacious man who spins tall stories from his gas station. Andy Devine plays the country boy, Frisby, in this charming little story. Devine is best remembered for his roles in westerns such as 'Stagecoach' and 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence'(as the hopeless sheriff). Frisby has a little following of local men who like to listen to and laugh at his bovine excrement. One day the inconvenience of customers breaking his flow of lies brings him a potential audience who would never doubt his veracity. Somerset Frisby is well named, like a cross between prolific author Somerset Maugham and something throwaway that returns. There's something I like about Andy Devine getting to represent the entire planet. Please don't look for slick special effects. Just enjoy the hokum of one of the best comedy entries.

Hocus Pocus and Frisby is a light-hearted, delightfully humorous episode of The Twilight Zone that sees Rod Serling giving us his take on that old fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Andy Devine plays Somerset Frisby, owner of a country store and the biggest mouth in the county, the man given to telling tall tales in which he has seen and done everything. Somehow, Frisby's wild yarns have come to the attention of visitors from another world, who fail to realise that the stories are pure fabrication; they whisk Frisby to their flying saucer with the intention of taking this most brilliant specimen of the human race to their planet for further study.

Frisby narrowly escapes when he discovers that the sound of his harmomica is deadly to the aliens. For once, Frisby has an amazing story that is absolutely true, but will anyone believe him?

The above profile was written by me when I used the nick of OldWereWolf56 which is still my email address. I still believe Andy Devine's character of Frisky is the best Twilight Zone's episodes ever and I watch this episode at least once a year as I consider Frisby to be a fortunate man as he has many friends who love him dearly.

In case many of you are too young to remember, I'm 61, Andy Devine hosted a children's entertainment show in the 50's I believe called Andy's Gang. On it he had three assistants: a cat named Midnight who played the violin, a mouse named Squeaky who played an a hand organ and a devilish toad named Froggy who's could appear and disappear at will embarrassing many of Andy's funny guest stars like Billy Gilbert.

While many episodes.have serious plot lines pushing us emotionally into anxiety as the plots climax or represent watching others in settings we can't readily identify with, this takes a more lighthearted approach with a character we can identify with, the boastful man with questionable credibility. Andy Devine is the perfect one for the part, projecting a harmless story teller who's all tall tale. YET the plot twist makes perfect sense, requires little stretch on our part. It takes deft writing to pull this off, and most of the other less serious episodes depict over-the-top or eccentric people who are almost caricatures. And contained in this pleasant plot is a subtle moral point. Not your typical Twilight Zone but very enjoyable.