The Bewitchin' Pool

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“The Bewitchin' Pool”
The Twilight Zone episode

Scene from "The Bewitchin' Pool"
Episode no. Season 5
Episode 156
Written by Earl Hamner Jr.
Directed by Joseph M. Newman
Guest stars Kim Hector : Whitt
Dee Hartford : Gloria Sharewood
Mary Badham : Jean Louise "Sport" Sharewood
Jeffrey Byron (as Tim Stafford) : Jebediah "Jeb" Sharewood
Georgia Simmons : Aunt T
Harold Gould : Radio Announcer
Tod Andrews : Gil Sharewood
June Foray : Sport Sharewood (voice)
Production no. 2619
Original airdate June 19, 1964
Episode chronology
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"The Fear" –
List of Twilight Zone episodes

"The Bewitchin' Pool" is an episode of the American television series The Twilight Zone.

Contents

[edit] Opening narration

“ A swimming pool not unlike any other pool, a structure built of tile and cement and money, a backyard toy for the affluent, wet entertainment for the well-to-do. But to Jeb and Sport Sharewood, this pool holds mysteries not dreamed of by the building contractor, not guaranteed in any sales brochure. For this pool has a secret exit that leads to a never-neverland, a place designed for junior citizens who need a long voyage away from reality, into the bottomless regions of the Twilight Zone. ”

[edit] Synopsis

A young brother and sister are neglected emotionally by their parents. They live in a lavish estate, where they are treated by their parents like bothersome annoyances. Their mother is cruel and mean, and preoccupied with resurrecting her life as a fashion model. Their father is a well paid businessman. While sitting beside their well appointed pool in their backyard, a young boy in a Tom Sawyer straw hat pops up from the deep end of their pool and invites them to follow him. The children follow him by diving underwater only to come back up in a lake bordering a rustic, simple homestead. All around them are children swimming, fishing, and playing. In contrast to their lavish home of neglect and insults, they are welcomed and loved from the moment they arrive at this children's paradise. There is only one adult there named "Aunt T", a sweet and kind elderly woman who loves children; she explains she has many children there who came from parents who didn't deserve them. When the boy and girl decide to go home, because they fear their parents are worried, they find out that their parents have decided to divorce and haven't even missed them while they have been gone. When they tell the children the news, they give them the choice of either living with their mother or their father and berate them for not deciding quickly enough. The children seem to have an epiphany that their parents do not genuinely love or care for them and never will. Ignoring their parents' shrieks to know what they are doing, the children race to the backyard pool, dive in, and disappear as they dive and try to escape back to Aunt T. Soon the parents realize that the children are not returning. The children, meanwhile, are happier living with Aunt T whose love is undemanding and genuine, and whose home is a far more fit place for the children to grow up.

[edit] Closing narration

“ A brief epilogue for concerned parents. Of course, there isn't any such place as the gingerbread house of Aunt T, and we grownups know there's no door at the bottom of a swimming pool that leads to a secret place. But who can say how real the fantasy world of lonely children can become? For Jeb and Sport Sharewood, the need for love turned fantasy into reality; they found a secret place--in the Twilight Zone. ”

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • This was the final episode of the original Twilight Zone series.
  • Mary Badham's voice was deemed unintelligible in the outdoor scenes, so June Foray dubbed Sport Sharewood's lines. The change in Sport's voice is noticeable when she moves indoors and Mary's own deeper voice and more authentic accent are heard.
  • Badham is known chiefly for this and her role in the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird. She retired from acting in her teens and became an art restoration expert. Her elder brother is Saturday Night Fever director John Badham, yet Mary has never appeared in any of his films. In To Kill a Mockingbird, she played Scout and her brother was Jem; in this episode, she played Sport and her brother was Jeb, an obvious parallel.

[edit] External links

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