I Am the Night—Color Me Black

Infobox Television episode
Title = I Am the Night—Color Me Black
Series = The Twilight Zone


Caption = Ivan Dixon as Reverend Anderson
Season = 5
Episode = 146
Airdate = March 27, 1964
Production =2630
Writer = Rod Serling
Director = Abner Biberman
Guests = Terry Becker : Jagger
Michael Constantine : Sheriff Charlie Koch
Paul Fix : Colbey
George Lindsey : Deputy Pierce
Ivan Dixon : Reverend Anderson
Music = Stock from "Where Is Everybody?" by Bernard Herrmann
Episode list = List of Twilight Zone episodes
Prev = The Masks
Next = Sounds and Silences

"I Am the Night—Color Me Black" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

Opening Narration

ynopsis

Jagger is a man who is to be hanged after being wrongfully convicted of killing a bigot in self defense. On the day of his execution, the sun does not rise in the morning. There is also still some dispute as to whether or not Jagger is guilty. However, Jagger is hanged anyway, much to the delight of the town. The town reverend steps in and says that the sky is black because of all the hatred in the world, namely the hatred surrounding Jagger's execution. The sky becomes even darker in the town. Later, a radio broadcast reveals the town is not the only place this disturbance has been seen in. The sky has turned dark in northern Vietnam, a section of the Berlin Wall, a street in Dallas, some southern American cities, and other places of hate.

Closing Narration

Preview for Next Week's Story

Production notes

The episode is similar to “Many Many Monkeys”, a script written for "Twilight Zone" by its producer, William Froug, but never shot. In that script an epidemic breaks out in which afflicted persons’ eyes seal shut as folds of flesh grow over them. Though a nuclear explosion is initially blamed, one character proposes that it is a physical manifestation of hate that is blinding them. The network bought the script but then shelved it, possibly finding its subject matter too disturbing, but it was eventually produced in 1987, during the first revival of "Twilight Zone" (see “Many, Many Monkeys”).

The date that this episode occurs on is May 25, 1964, even though there had not been public hanging in the United States since 1936 (the last person hanged in the United States was Billy Bailey in 1996, and the punishment remains an option in two U.S. states: Washington and New Hampshire).

References

*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). "Trivia from The Twilight Zone". Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
*Grams, Martin. (2008). "The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic". Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090
*Zicree, Marc Scott: "The Twilight Zone Companion". Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)

External links

*imdb title|id=0734577|title=I Am the Night—Color Me Black
* [http://www.tv.com/the-twilight-zone/i-am-the-night---color-me-black/episode/12732/summary.html TV.com episode page]