Movies - TV
Rod Serling Turned A Typo Into A Hilarious Twilight Zone Character
By DEBOPRIYAA DUTTA
Rod Serling injected humor into “The Twilight Zone” with the fun episode “Mr. Dingle, the Strong,” It was inspired by a newspaper typo that misnamed a previous character.
Per Marc Scott Zicree's "The Twilight Zone Companion," a newspaper critic had made a typo, resulting in the episode “Mr. Denton on Doomsday” being “Mr. Dingle on Doomsday” instead.
This error made Serling invent a new character for a different episode with a chance to generate laughter from the audience rather than the show’s usual sense of fear and mystery.
The comical episode features Burgess Meredith as Mr. Dingle, a vacuum cleaner salesman who is a long-time bullying victim. Dingle gains super-strength from Martian visitors.
After enduring years of emotional abuse and bullying, Mr. Dingle abuses his newfound abilities, leading the Martians to revoke their gifts once they recognize his poor misuse.