The Twilight Zone: The Big, Tall Wish

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.

"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

Steven Perry as Travis Younger in "A Raisin in the Sun"

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.”

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.”

Arthur Miller

Rod Serling

    Rod Serling himself was a very successful playwright. I can’t help but note how in these 3 stories there is a rich understanding of honor and compassion-- in particular the recognition of the basic humanity of men. Instead of shooting the wounded for laughs, these works are decent enough to raise its voice for men. This is in stark contrast to television and film today, where a rancid disposition against men tends to be the preference of consumption for general audiences. An extremely feminist and liberal culture has no patience and little-to-no mercy for a human male who fails… and fails badly. But in much of the glowing artistic material of the past, there is a pure and wiser heart that circulates the blood of the drama. Bolie Jackson, Walter Lee Younger and Willy Loman are in some ways the examples of hardship that a man will contend with in his life. This should not be received as my conclusion that women have not suffered or that they have not been abused. This writer does not subscribe to these notions. This writer is fully aware that there were and still are men void of conscience. But this writer thoroughly recognizes that a self-righteous mercilessness is the order of our day, and will acknowledge what few see but won’t admit to: that we have taught our children, whether consciously or unconsciously to dishonor and hate male authority and exalt female superiority. Clearly, these plays aren’t about honoring men. But in them, men are honored. The character of Henry Temple gazes up at the father he sees in Bolie. It is a precious sight because the character is not shy about his need for someone to lead him, teach him and love him the way only a father can. He very unusually bears the weakness of Bolie and gives him what he needs. He forgives his “father.” The father role is a unique role that God created and it can’t be duplicated or reimagined. Steven Perry again portrays this endearing, silent reverence for his father to Sidney Poitier's portrayal of Walter Lee Younger in the 1961 film. They are wounded. And they are honored. They bravely hobble along and we are encouraged to come alongside them. And that’s where I’m getting at in this portion of my blog. I don’t think you can cultivate that kind of empathy in the poisoned, bitter and vanity-laden grounds of much of our theater, film and television today. It’s hard to put away what’s really underneath. Because it would be too inconvenient to sow our ground for healthier fruit.

    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.”