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| Steven Perry as Henry Temple praying for his friend |
The Big, Tall Wish
The Big, Tall Wish is not often included among the usual
favorite episodes that people remember from The
Twilight Zone. I trumpet this one among others.
Bolie Jackson is a prize fighter. He’s
finished gathering his things for a match and he stands before the bedroom
mirror; his arms slowly relax at his side as he becomes absorbed by the sight
of himself. He leans in with a look on his face that implies a question. Little
Henry Temple looks on. Henry is the son of the lady of the house. Bolie invites
him to come see what he sees. Bolie tours the welts and blemished skin of his
face, recounting how and where he got them. Henry picks up on his fatigue and confronts
him full of hope. He tells Bolie that he’s going to make “the big, tall wish”
for him. Henry assures him, “You’re my good and close friend.” Bolie goes out
of the bedroom with his training bag, leaves the house and meets his lady
waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him. After a time, Henry comes to join
them. He pulls gently on Bolie’s sleeve and gazes up at him, pouring
encouragement. Henry is extraordinarily perceptive and without a whiff of
pretense or arrogant presumption. Henry exudes confidence in a good that is
unshakably for us.
In the locker room before the fight, Bolie catches
the promoter in a lie. In a near-altercation, Bolie misses the man’s face and
breaks his knuckles against the wall. Later, Bolie is knocked down in the ring
and he’s being counted out. At home, Henry and his mother are watching the
fight on TV. Henry presses his face against the screen, pleading for Bolie. His opponent then lay in Bolie's place. After the fight, Bolie remarks with wonder
about his knuckles. His cornerman stops and is puzzled. Bolie tries to describe
to him when he was knocked down, but his cornerman is only amused. Bolie won
the fight.
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| "I'm too hurt to believe..." |
That night, Bolie comes home and finds Henry
tending to his pet rabbits on the roof. He’s cheery. He confides to Henry the
strange thing that happened to him. He could’ve sworn he was off his feet. Henry’s
expression is grave and causes Bolie to become alight. The haze settles and it
dawns on him that he and Henry are the only ones aware of what really happened.
“I made the big wish, then.” Henry tells him. “It was magic, Bolie!” But Bolie
simply cannot accept it. Bolie insists he won on his own merit. He will not
accept the truth. Henry pleads in tears for Bolie to believe. All the disappointment
in Bolie’s heart comes to bear as the two weep together, and his unbelief
literally unravels what was done by the faith of the little boy. Bolie is in the ring again and on his
back. The referee has just finished counting. Bolie loses the match. On his
original course again, he returns home with a bandaged hand and finds Henry in
bed. Henry encourages him despite his loss and Bolie leaves him to sleep.
*************************
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| Ivan Dixon as Bolie Jackson |
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| Steven Perry as Travis Younger in "A Raisin in the Sun" |
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| Claudia McNeil as Lena Younger and Sidney Poitier as Walter Lee Younger in "A Raisin in the Sun" |
Ivan Dixon is easy-going as Bolie Jackson
with a ready and somewhat bashful smile that may be a shield for how the
character really feels about himself. Steven Perry is Henry Temple. In the
book, The Twilight Zone Companion, a
show guide for the original series, it is reported that director Ron Winston
was adept at refining the interactions of Dixon and Perry in a way that would
come across well. The script was sentimental in that it dealt with, “fragile,
intangible emotions… notably the hope, love and faith of the little boy.” Winston
engineers a clean song and shaves away what could’ve played as a gratuitous,
over-emotional spectacle. And it really is like a bell. And all the more inspiring
because of the harmonious interaction Dixon has with Steven Perry, who is not just a child actor with a steady understanding
of his craft. He is a black, child
actor in a time when that caliber of role would never be given to one. It was
always in the heart and mind of original Twilight Zone creator and narrator,
Rod Serling to make these kinds of strides in subject matter and in choice of
actor. This was in a time when television was still young and completely
uninterested in content that would enrich or even challenge its audience. Other
than The Big, Tall Wish, there are at
least 3 other episodes where black actors have camera time (among them is
another role for Ivan Dixon). As a result, the TV series won the Unity Award
for Outstanding Contributions to Better Race Relations in 1961. Steven Perry also
portrayed Travis Younger in the 1961 film version of A Raisin in the Sun (Ivan Dixon is also part of the cast). A Raisin in the Sun had so much of the
same compassion and yearning heart found in The
Big, Tall Wish, most notably represented in Claudia McNeil who plays Lena
Younger. You’ll recognize that spirit especially when Lena Younger reprimands
her daughter in the final scene of the play:
“I thought I taught you something else too. I thought I taught you to love him… have you cried for that boy today? Now, I don’t mean for yourself and for the family, because we lost the money. I mean for him and what he’s gone through! And God help him. God help him, what it’s done to him! Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When he’s done good and made things easy for everybody? No, no… that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and he can’t believe in himself because the world’s done whipped him so. When you start measuring somebody, measure ‘em right, child. Measure ‘em, right. You make sure that you done taken into account, the hills and the valleys he’s come through to get to wherever he is.”
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| Lorraine Hansberry |
There is a cry for dignity in this monologue. I respectfully submit that it is a cry, but not just for black men. I know and understand that it is for all men who want to walk with dignity and strength. I relate to that. In some of my past reading about Lorraine Hansberry, I didn’t get the notion that her play is limited to the experience of a working class African American family. I believe her sight was fuller than that. I reviewed an old paper I wrote about her in college, where I rightly appropriated that “…A Raisin in the Sun is about a black family who struggle with the weighty themes of identity, moral responsibility and civil rights.” For Bolie, it was an added inability to believe. Walter Lee Younger suffered from that too and I think that’s related to identity. Henry Temple understood who he was and who he believed in. Not knowing who you are can be terribly comfortable. I hearken to the words of Langston Hughes’ poem, “Harlem” in saying that Bolie Jackson is made helpless by unbelief and watches how the dream deferred dries up in the sun. All of this can be summed up in the need for dignity and strength which translates for every sensible man who wants to walk rightly as Walter Lee Younger decided by the end of the play. This is the root of a man’s walk. It’s also the place that God wants to lovingly guard in a man’s life. If you have discernment and a keen ear, then you will find that much of Rod Serling’s work in The Twilight Zone has this underlying cry. This is the heart of A Big, Tall Wish. For the actor and director to truly understand in a humane and compassionate way is a treasure find. Listening to Claudia McNeil perform that monologue is truth that always finds itself pushing up to the surface of the noise. And it also brings to mind the precious plea of Willy Loman’s wife in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman where she tears into her sons on behalf of her husband:
“I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.”
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| Arthur Miller |
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| Rod Serling |
Listen to what Bolie says to Henry as they
wrestle over what is true and what is not:
“Listen! Listen, boy, there ain’t no magic! No magic, Henry! I had that fight coming and going. I had it in my pocket. I was the number one out there and it was me who done it. Me! Bolie Jackson! Hitting and slugging and winning! Winning! Henry, I can’t believe. I’m too old. And I’m too hurt to believe… there ain’t no such thing as magic. God help us both, I wish there were.”
I had a neighbor and long-time friend of the family once tell me that he sometimes wanted to punch me in my face. It was not something he would ordinarily say. It was during a very dark time in my life. He told me that it was because he wished he had my talent and ability and there was the implication that I was wasting it. I never forgot that. It made me ashamed because I knew what he meant. It’s one of the things that helps me to continue in my work.
There was a man who came to Jesus Christ during his ministry on the earth. He asked Jesus to heal his son. His boy was deaf, mute and violently afflicted-- he was often thrown down by the evil spirit dominating him. When the spirit saw Jesus coming, the boy was thrown to the ground again; he rolled and foamed at the mouth. The father told Jesus that the spirit had tried to throw the boy in fire or it would try to drown him. I could feel the man’s frustration when he said to Jesus, “If you can do anything…” Jesus responds to him, “'If you can?'All things are possible to those who believe.” The man replies, “I do believe. Help my unbelief.” Jesus commands the evil spirit to leave the boy. Jesus helps the unconscious boy to his feet and gives him back to his father (Mark 9:14-29).
When I hear Bolie Jackson assert that he
won that fight and how he’s too hurt to believe, I think of that man that
pleaded with Jesus. “I do believe. Help my unbelief!” I think that man probably
felt so much shame. What do you do when the hope for your son’s healing is repeatedly dashed? Can you imagine the sorrow and fear he must’ve lived with? No doubt it helped his faith immensely when he saw what Jesus did. In
a sense, it was a blessing that Bolie broke his knuckles before the fight. I
think he might’ve even wanted to sabotage himself. But it would’ve worked out
in a way that Bolie would see that there is someone greater looking out for
him. God often allows things like that in peoples lives to show that all of
their pride in what they do-- or what they think they can do-- can’t really
succeed without faith properly placed in Him. That’s a hard thing for many to
accept today because there are so many success stories. And they appear to be healthy
and good and without any hitches from where we’re sitting. But God had to tell
Gideon to send some of his soldiers home because then they’d take all the
credit for the victory against their enemy. Recently, I watched Josh Kaufman,
an author and entrepreneur, speaking in a video on how to build skill in a
reasonably fast amount of time. He said that what stops people is not a lack of
intellectual capacity. “It’s all emotional…” he said. Unbelief is all
emotional. We are very emotional beings. Is emotion bad? No. But sometimes it can
debilitate us because it’s so intoxicating. We are not a people that like to be of sober mind. The statement of “I do believe.
Help my unbelief!” is a contradiction. But the bible makes it clear that we can
be in that place. I think that’s merciful to know. Because it implies there’s
hope. Blink and you will miss a sign that reads: “What is truth?” as Bolie
walks down the street.
I did happen across another blog about this
episode during my bit of research. Unfortunately, I’ve lost the address. I only
recall that the author gave a dismissive review for The Big, Tall Wish and he surmised that the producers made a failed
attempt to give us a kid friendly
Twilight Zone. Now, that’s a man who is too hurt to believe.
Here is the final narrative by Rod Serling for the episode. Which I think is so moving with the calm black-and-white backdrop and music of the episode. And it's perfectly fitting here:
“Mr. Bolie Jackson, one hundred eighty-three pounds, who left a second chance lying in a heap on a rosin-spattered canvas at St. Nick’s arena. Mr. Bolie Jackson, who shares the most common ailment of all men, the strange and perverse disinclination to believe in a miracle, the kind of miracle to come from a little boy, perhaps only to be found in the Twilight Zone.”
