During the early 1960s, fans of The Twilight Zone were treated to short story collections adapted from Rod Serling's teleplays. Serling himself wrote the short stories, but with differences... which makes these hardcover and paperbacks worthy of seeking out.
Ray Bradbury once told me that every author will look back at their own work and see the constant necessity to improve. With age comes evolution. Every day, artists (especially fiction writers) are always looking at their own stories from a different perspective. Serling found ways to improve on his original television scripts and -- some theory -- took advantage of the printed prose to present the original conception that could not be accomplished through television production. A history of these hardcovers (later reprinted in paperback form) is provided below.
The contract with Bantam Books featured a provision prohibiting Rod Serling from exploiting any other publication rights for a period of three years from the date of initial publication. However, he reserved the right to publish summaries or digests of the stories for the purpose of exploiting the television series, motion picture and legitimate stage rights. He was granted an advance against royalties of $4,000 for the task of adapting his scripts into short story form. Serling took on the task, admitting in a letter that such a book would enhance the popularity of the television series. The copyrights remained with Serling, not the publisher, but Bantam Books was responsible for undertaking the obligation to secure copyright registration. (All copyright notifications inside each book clearly stated the copyright was registered under the name of Cayuga Productions.)
The origin of these books began when Sam Kaplan of Ashley-Steiner was approached by Merle Goldberg, a representative from Bantam Books, in late May and early June of 1959. In late June, Kaplan discussed the contract with Serling over the phone and then negotiated the terms of the contract to Goldberg so the deal could be finalized. The books were issued in paperback form, with hardcover format initially not considered.
Dick Roberts of Bantam Books, Inc. was the editor who oversaw book production and reviewed each of Serling’s stories, tweaking a few words here and there to ensure the quality of the books contents. Tim Horan, the promotion director, reviewed each of the three books and consulted with Serling personally to arrange publicity.
A total of three books were contracted, one due for each year of the contract. All of the stories were adaptations of Serling-scripted teleplays that had previously aired over the CBS-TV. The first of the three was
Stories from the Twilight Zone, first printing April 1960. The stories included “The Mighty Casey,” “Escape Clause,” “Walking Distance,” “The Fever,” “Where is Everybody?” and “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” There were 151 pages and it cost 35 cents. The cover of the book featured a photo of Rod Serling, sitting behind his typewriter, with a cigarette in hand.
According to a royalty report dated March 31, 1963, for sales up to December 31, 1962, Stories from The Twilight Zone sold a total of 432,000 copies. Serling’s royalties were 1.4 cents for the first 150,000 copies sold in both foreign and U.S. sales, 2.1 cents for each book sold over the 150,000 (which totaled 213,100), and 1.4 cents for all sales in Canada (13,200), Foreign (11,700) and to the Teen Age Book Club (44,000). Total gross royalties for Serling by December 31, 1962, were $7,539.70.
Oscar Dystel, managing editor of Bantam Books, Inc., confessed to Serling in a letter dated September 20, 1960, that “this title caught all of us unawares. We had no idea it would take off as fast as it did and we promise you that we’ll do better with the next edition.” Serling expressed a concern when, having read a number of fan letters, and personally browsed book shops, he discovered that it was not being sold at Newark, Idlewild, Chicago, Columbus and Los Angeles airports. Dystel explained, “I was completely mystified and upset by your report . . . I’m passing this little tidbit on to our sales manager. I’m really astonished.”
The second was
More Stories from The Twilight Zone, first printing April 1961. Serling was contracted to deliver all the stories to the publisher by November 1, 1960. The stories included “The Lonely,” “Mr. Dingle, The Strong,” “A Thing About Machines,” “The Big, Tall Wish,” “A Stop at Willoughby,” “The Odyssey of Flight 33” and “Dust.” Running a total of 149 pages, the paperback sold for 35 cents cover price.
According to a royalty report dated March 31, 1963, for sales up to December 31, 1962, More Stories from The Twilight Zone sold 367,100 copies. His royalties were 1.4 cents for the first 150,000 copies sold in both foreign and U.S. sales, 2.1 cents for each book sold over the 150,000 (which totaled 139,500), and 1.4 cents for all sales in Canada (15,700), Foreign (12,500) and to the Teen Age Book Club (49,400). Total gross royalties for Serling by December 31, 1962 were $6,115.90.
The following are the release months and years for each printing of the second paperback. By December 31, 1962, the book had recently gone into its eighth printing. First printing was April 1961; second printing, May 1961; third printing, June 1961; fourth printing, July 1961; fifth printing, October 1961; sixth printing, January 1962; seventh printing, April 1962; eighth printing, December 1962; ninth printing, July 1964; tenth printing, September 1964; eleventh printing, September 1965; and twelfth printing, September 1966. Inside the front cover of the September 1966 edition, Bantam printed the unaccredited praise, “Rod Serling can take his place with Ray Bradbury as tops in the field.”
The third book, New Stories from The Twilight Zone, went into the first printing in May of 1962. The stories included adaptations of “The Whole Truth,” “The Shelter,” “Showdown with Rance McGrew,” “The Night of the Meek,” “The Midnight Sun” and “The Rip Van Winkle Caper,” making a total of 122 pages.
During the second half of 1962, shortly after the third paperback was released to bookshelves, all of the stories from the three publications were reprinted together for a green hardcover book from Nelson Doubleday, Inc., in Garden City, New York. Totaling 314 pages, the reprint — titled From the Twilight Zone — offered fans another chance to read the story adaptations. In April of 1966, Serling received a check for $288.23 representing his share of proceeds from the hardcover book still being published by Doubleday & Co., as part of the Book Club Division.
All of the above were also reprinted in October of 1986 by Bantam, with an introduction by T.E.D. Klein. This reprint was 418 pages, and retailed for $9.95. In September of 1962, a representative of Grosset & Dunlap contacted Murray Benson, director of licensing at CBS Films, Inc., expressing an interest in a hardcover book based on
The Twilight Zone. Since Serling had been working with a paperback publisher, this option was considered. “It would be our thought to take eight or ten of your scripts, not previously published, and turn them over to a top-flight writer who would adapt them into short story form,” wrote Benson to Serling on September 12. “The financial arrangements would, of course, be subject to your approval and we could work on the same basis in terms of payment as in the comic book income.”
On September 26, Serling, then residing in Yellow Springs, Ohio, informed Benson that he had already been in correspondence with Robert Bernstein at Random House, the same man responsible for sending Serling a couple of Hitchcock anthologies. “They were tremendously well done things and if we’re to go into some kind of hardcover, I wish you’d check it out with Random House first,” Serling explained.
The deal with Random House fell through, and Serling agreed to the terms of Grosset & Dunlap. This fourth book gave Serling more freedom than the previous three paperbacks. Handing over a number of television scripts to Murray Benson, Serling did not have to adapt any of his stories. That job was handed to Walter B. Gibson, creator and author of The Shadow pulp magazines. This 207 page hardcover book, titled The Twilight Zone (also listed in reference guides as Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone), featured mostly ghost stories. “Back There” and “Judgment Night” were the only adaptations of Serling’s teleplays. The remaining eleven stories were originals by Gibson. The illustrations were by Earl E. Mayan, who featured a photo image of Gibson on the inside of the front cover.
On October 29, 1963, Murray Benson forwarded to Gerald Saltsman of Ashley-Steiner-Famous Artists, Inc. a check for $2,500. This was Cayuga’s 50 percent share of the advance received from Grosset & Dunlap in connection with the hardcover book. This was a standard practice with networks and television production companies – since Cayuga controlled 50 percent interest in the series, 50 percent of the profits were handed over to Cayuga for any approved products bearing the name of
The Twilight Zone.
“You will be pleased to know the book is doing extremely well with every indication that at least 50,000 copies will be sold this year,” Benson told Saltsman. “Incidentally, we are definitely proceeding with the Literary Guild of America for a hardcover book club reprinting of the first three paperbacks published by Bantam Books. The retail price will definitely be above the $1.75 category, probably $1.98.” This same hardcover would be reprinted in 1965 by Tempo in New York, retitled Chilling Stories from Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone and featuring only 10 of the 13 short stories. The two adaptations from Serling’s teleplays were included. The year after, 1964, a sequel was written titled Twilight Zone Revisited, a 208-page hardcover containing 13 new stories, again written by Walter B. Gibson. “Beyond the Rim” was an adaptation of “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim” and “Mirror Image,” “The Purple Testament” and “The Man in the Bottle” were also adapted into short stories. The remaining nine were originals by Gibson. Earl E. Mayan again illustrated.
Years later, a paperback book titled Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone: Stories from the Supernatural, Selected Stories, was published. Running 159 pages, the book again credited Gibson and Mayan for their efforts and reprinted ten of the short stories, only featuring one adaptation from Serling’s teleplays, “Back There.”
Martin Grams is the author of The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic, an 800-page book which documents the history of the original TV series.
