This Is The Only Original Twilight Zone Episode Ever Scripted By A Woman
Like most areas of the entertainment industry outside of acting, casting and costuming, television writing was generally one big boys club until women began making (incremental) inroads during the 1990s. There were trailblazers like "I Love Lucy" scribe Madelyn Pugh, but that trail was walked far too infrequently for far too many years.
Anyone who possessed a conscience knew this was unacceptable, which is why it's disappointing that a politically progressive (particularly for his era) writer like Rod Serling never made a concerted effort to work at least one female writer into "The Twilight Zone" mix during the series' five seasons (which stretched from 1959 to 1964). To be fair, Serling did adapt the work of women for certain episodes; in fact, a tale that many consider the show's finest half-hour, "Time Enough at Last," was based on a short story by sci-fi/fantasy writer Lynn Venable. But he never managed to personally hire a woman to tackle an episode.
It wasn't until Adele T. Strassfield, secretary to "The Twilight Zone" writer-producer William Froug (who once wrote an episode deemed "too grotesque" for TV), spoke up that the series' gender barrier was crossed. How did the installment turn out, and what became of Strassfield? Read on, dear reader.
How Adele T. Strassfield found her way to The Twilight Zone
When William Froug joined "The Twilight Zone" in 1963 for its fifth and final season, he was already a seasoned radio and television writer-producer. His CBS Radio adaptation of Aldous Huxley's sci-fi classic "Brave New World" was considered one of the medium's finest achievements, while his television producing credits included the prestigious likes of "Playhouse 90," "Alcoa Theatre," and "Adventures in Paradise."
Froug was good, and he had the critical plaudits to prove it. So it's a relief to know that when his assistant Adele T. Strassfield approached him about writing an episode of "The Twilight Zone," he didn't act the boor like too many men in his position likely would've done. As he told Marc Scott Zicree in "The Twilight Zone Companion:"
"[Strassfield] was an exceptionally bright woman, and she said to me, 'I can show you I'm a writer. I want to write a "Twilight Zone."' So she came up with a notion. She'd never written a script before and has never written once since. In effect, I sort of wrote it with her. I wanted her to have the credit, and she got a great thrill out of it."
Okay, that's a tad self-complementary, but at least Strassfield got her first television writing credit out of it. And though the episode was reminiscent of a memorable installment from season 3, it worked quite well on its own terms.
Caesar and Strassfield
Strassfield's episode, "Caesar and Me," aired on April 10, 1964, and starred Jackie Cooper as an Irish immigrant whose ventriloquism career has failed to take off. This was the second "Twilight Zone" yarn featuring a talking dummy (the other being the ultra-creepy "The Dummy" featuring Cliff Robertson), but it sets itself apart with its pitch-black humor. The final scene is especially nasty, suggesting that Strassfield had a flair for the macabre. (And the next time you climb aboard Disney's "Tower of Terror" ride at one of Disney's many theme parks around the globe, keep your eyes peeled for Caesar because he's lurking somewhere in the background.)
Unfortunately, her television writing career was short-lived. After "The Twilight Zone" ended its run, she followed Froug to "Gilligan's Island," where she received credit on the episode where Russian cosmonauts crashland into the castaways' lives. She earned her third and final official credit in 1966 on the Catholic-themed anthology series "Insight."
Sadly, Strassfield passed away at the age of 53 in 1977. For whatever reason, there wasn't much written about her brief but significant career before she died. I would love to know more about Strassfield (who was legendary film director Robert Aldrich's secretary at one point), so if you're a family member who knew her while she was alive, please get in touch!