Kick the Can

Infobox Television episode
Title = Kick the Can
Series = The Twilight Zone


Caption = Scene from "Kick the Can"
Season = 3
Episode = 86
Airdate =February 9, 1962
Production =4821
Writer =George Clayton Johnson
Director =Lamont Johnson
Guests =Ernest Truex : Charles Whitley
Barry Truex : Charles' son
Russell Collins : Ben Conroy
John Marley : Mr. Cox
Burt Mustin : Carlson
Earle Hodgins : First old man
Hank Patterson : Second old man
Marjorie Bennett : First old lady
Lenore Shanewise : Second old lady
Eve McVeagh : Night nurse
Music = Stock (many cues taken from Bernard Herrmann’s score to Walking Distance)
Episode list = List of Twilight Zone episodes
Prev = Showdown with Rance McGrew
Next = A Piano in the House

"Kick the Can" is an episode of the American television anthology series "The Twilight Zone".

Opening Narration

ynopsis

Charles Whitley, a retiree at the Sunnyvale Rest Home, thinks that he has discovered the secret of youth. He is convinced that if he acts young he will become young. His oldest and best friend, Ben Conroy, thinks he is going crazy. One night, Charles convinces a number of residents to play a game of kick the can with him. When he tries to talk to Ben, Ben tells Charles, "I AM old!"

The game of kick the can transforms Whitley and his other friends back into children. Conroy and the home's superintendent, Mr. Cox, go out to the street where they find the group of children playing kick-the-can in the night. Mr. Cox chases them all off except for one, who stops to look at Conroy. Ben, now seeing the miracle, begs for a second chance to go with his friend. But it is too late: He is left behind.

Closing Narration

Preview for Next Week's Story

Episode notes

Shortly after this episode aired, George Clayton Johnson got an idea for an expanded ending to the story: “What will become of these children who have been magically transformed from old to young?” he asked. “I propose adding the following scenes:”

:At first the playing children run excitedly as they play kick the can. But now it begins to grow late. They are tired. They are hungry. However, there are no beds for them in this town, since they lived here as children many decades ago. One of the children wants to go to the bathroom. The smallest one begins to cry. All the fun is gone.

:There is only one place for them to seek refuge from the cold and the night: the old folks’ home. They sneak back inside to sleep. One of them asks fearfully, “Will it be all right, Charles? Are we doing the right thing?”

:“Yes,” says Charles, realizing what will happen, “It will be all right.”

:They say their prayers: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep...”

:As they close their eyes, we see another transformation as the children once again become old people.

:And now Mr. Conroy and Mr. Cox return from looking for the old people to discover them sleeping soundly in their beds. Mr. Conroy, who was convinced that his friends had become children, now reverts to his practical-minded self. With relief they tiptoe away so that the old people can get their well-deserved rest.

:—"George Clayton Johnson, excerpt from “An Afterward” published in the October 1983 edition of "The Twilight Zone Magazine"

A variant of Johnson's new ending was eventually filmed as Steven Spielberg’s segment of "".

The episode's title is a double entendre – kick the can is both a children's game and a colloquial term meaning to die, both of which figure in the plot.

References

*Zicree, Marc Scott: "The Twilight Zone Companion". Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
*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

External links

*imdb title|id=0734583|title=Kick the Can
* [http://www.tv.com/the-twilight-zone/kick-the-can/episode/12671/summary.html TV.com episode page]
* [http://twilightzoneproject.blogspot.com/2007/06/321-kick-can.html "Kick the Can" review] at "The Twilight Zone Project"

Twilight Zone links

*The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
*Episode List
*Season 3