The Night of the Meek

This is a very uncharacteristic Twilight Zone episode. It's a Christmas themed show that is sentimental and uplifting (and perhaps even a tad schmaltzy), yet which maintains Serling's cutting commentary on the misery of inner city poverty. It also includes one of the finest examples of his signature character type: the noble, sympathetic urban man trapped in the brutality of a mid-century American society with no room for the weak, or the humble, or the poor.

Henry Corwin is a "professional" department store Santa Claus, who ekes out a seasonal living in a tattered and grimy old Santa suit. But Corwin is also a drunkard. He drinks to blot out the grinding hardship of his fellow ghetto dwellers, hardship he cannot reconcile with the free-flowing greed he sees in Christmas shoppers at the store where he has his latest gig. "Just one Christmas" he says to an angry store manager, "I'd like to see the meek inherit the earth". With this, and a rather ordinary looking burlap bag, begins a very unusual night for Corwin: a night of the meek.

Serling's crackerjack writing is only part of this episode's greatness. The rest is courtesy of the inimitable Art Carney. He steps entirely away from his goofy, campy Norton character to provide a remarkable portrait of a besotted, though big hearted, department store Santa. In Henry Corwin he delivers stately dignity and empathy blended with a convincing portrayal of desperate alcoholism. I think it was the best performance he ever gave, and it's a great one.

For me, this is one of those classic 60's TV Christmas shows that has become a seasonal viewing tradition, along with "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". But it's good enough to watch anytime of year. 9.0/10.

Christmas comes to The Twilight Zone in this super episode that stars Art Carney as Henry Corwin, an alcoholic department store Santa Claus. Getting fired for his drinking, Corwin is bewildered when he finds what appears to be a magic sack that distributes the exact presents requested by Corwin's friends and the neighbourhood children. But this is just the start of things...

One of the episodes that was filmed on videotape, Night of the Meek is kept to a production value minimum. Yet it really doesn't matter, the feel of a snowy Christmas comes alive as Corwin stumbles and trudges through this little part of Americana. The story is a perfect blend of comedy and drama, with Rod Serling sprinkling his magical whimsy into the pudding mix. And of course we are being led by our hearts to a glorious finale, for this is when the title comes to make sense.

With Carney giving a magnetic two-fold performance to seal the deal, this really should be on everyone's annual Xmas viewings list. 9/10

Look out, now, here it comes – a double-barreled spoiler. I'm not only going to tell you how "The Night of the Meek," that famous Twilight Zone Christmas episode ends, I'm going to give you two different endings, or two ways of seeing the ending, from two people who saw it so differently more than fifty years ago.

My neighbor and I are both old enough so when the episode originally aired, December 23, 1960, we were at the age when we still believed in Santa Claus, barely; we were in the nebulous between, doubtful about him but unwilling to forsake him. At least not until after we got our Christmas loot.

The episode was a nice break from all those scary Twilight Zone episodes, the guy in the diner with a third eye on his forehead, the telephone wire that falls across the grave, the little boy who knows what everyone is thinking and who punishes them for their thoughts. My neighbor and I agreed ─ the Night of the Meek had our favorite Twilight Zone ending, ever. We just couldn't agree on how it ended.

The episode is pure Christmas magic. It's an old time Christmas with Art Carney as Santa Claus and with Burt Mustin as, well, who else, Burt Mustin.

How I always got the episode, Santa wishes the world was a nicer place than it is, especially for the poor, especially for the poor kids. He grieves for them and wants to give them something on Christmas. He can't, though, because he's fallen off the wagon, uh, sleigh. He's a drunk now, the jolliness driven out of him by the hopelessness and misery he sees around himself. He's fallen so far, he doesn't even remember having once been Santa. That is, until he stumbles upon a garbage bag full of empty tin cans and it all turns into a magic bag of gifts. Tell Santa what it is you want, a train set if you're a little boy, a pipe and smoking jacket if you're Burt Mustin, and Santa reaches into his bag and presto! With the help of the magic sack, which must have been his all along, and with the wide-eyed wonder of the poor kids and the skid row bums and with the chiding assistance of a cute little elf, Santa regains his former jolly garrulousness, steps back onto his sleigh and bells jingling, rides triumphantly across the sky.

Not so, said my neighbor. Santa wasn't Santa. He was Henry Corwin, a drunken department store Santa Claus until the magic of Christmas and his own goodness turned him into Santa Claus! That had me scratching my head. Had I got it all wrong fifty years ago? I went back and watched it a few times, pondered it, and it turns out my neighbor is correct. Her version is the real one, although I still like my own version better.

So go ahead, indulge yourself by watching it. It's only twenty-five minutes long and it captures the magic of the season as well or better than anything else and whether you agree with me or with my neighbor, (probably with her,) you'll get a nice warm feeling from it.

Of all the stories from the masterful mind of Rod Serling, this strikes me as easily within the top five. Sensitive, blunt, supremely thoughtful and jpyful amidst the sadness, "The Night of the Meek" harkens to a time when "Christmas stuff" didn't clog stores before Halloween. Twilight Zone survives because of the generations who rediscover its brilliance.

Night of the Meek is certainly a unique twilight zone episode, coming off more like a family Christmas classic than the typical stuff we have come to expect from Rod Serling, things about other worlds and aliens and mysterious happenings. There is, of course, a lot of that in this episode, but it's couched in a story that resembles A Christmas Carol than anything else.

A drunk stumbles late back to his seasonal job as Santa Claus at a local mall, and on the way a cat screeches and knocks over a bag of garbage, which suddenly turns into a bag overflowing with toys and gifts. The drunken Santa suddenly becomes a real Santa, eagerly snatching up the bag and distributing to anyone he can find their heart's desire.

This is a great way to show what people's true heart's desire may be, and I love the way it makes us think about our own heart's desire. It seems to me that the purpose here is to call attention to how trivial a lot of our desires may be. When offered the opportunity to have anything they want, the people in the show ask for meaningless things like sweaters and pipes.

There is a moving scene in the episode where Henry, the drunk Santa, says that if he could have anything he wanted, he would want to do this same thing every year. It's a wonderful illustration of what I think is our inherent desire to do good things for other people. Alcoholism is a terrible affliction, but it is immediately forgotten about when Henry suddenly finds himself in the position to bring so much happiness to so many people.

It gets a little cheesy at the end, like so many of them, but is still a great example of the twilight zone presenting a story that captures the spirit of the season.