Rod Serling Interviewed by Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes 1959

Here is the infamous 1959 interview by Mike Wallace of the creative genius Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone.

"Some background from the webmaster: Censorship flourished in the Fifties as an outgrowth of the Cold War. Paranoia was in the National Interest, and Sponsors ruled the "new medium" called Television. They paid the bills and felt within their rights to suggest program content. Too young to know better, Television obeyed.

Rod Serling bristled under these restrictions.

He was the New Medium's most decorated writer, and its most controversial. Both because he dared to write about his strong sense of injustice—especially concerning race. Don't believe Serling's assertion that he intended no social relevance for Twilight Zone. He was protecting his investment. Rod Serling hated censorship and used fantasy to fool the censors into ignoring him. It worked for a while.

The following interview was conducted on September 22, 1959, on the 'eve' of Twilight Zone's network premiere."

You can read the full transcript here:
http://www.rodserling.com/mwallace.htm

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Part II of IV


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Part IV of IV