Rod Serling: H. P. Lovecraft, known to the aficionados of the occult/demonology/witchcraft as a master storyteller, is responsible for our first selection in this museum of the frequently morbid.
Pickman's Model
Original story by: H. P. Lovecraft
Teleplay by: Alvin Sapinsley
Directed by: Jack Larid
Rod Serling: To you connoisseurs of the black arts, you will probably recognize it. It's a painting that tells the story of a young artist... who "recruits" his models from odd places. And the models are very odd, indeed. The painter's name is alias "Pickman", the title is: Pickman's Model, and where else would see a story like this except, in the Night Gallery.
In a story-within-a-story told by a new homeowner to his friend, 19th century artist Richard Pickman (Bradford Dillman) teaches classes of young women in the techniques of painting. One of Pickman's students, Mavis Goldsmith (Louise Sorel) has a strong romantic interest in him, not paying any attention to the paintings of ghoulish beasts he creates, even as they cost him his teaching job. Meeting him for a drink, Mavis is told by Pickman that the creatures he paints are said to live underground, emerging in the night to feed and impregnate women for reproduction. Things grow deadlier as Pickman is implied to be one of the creatures, and his sights have been set on his former student and potential lover.
Tropes
- A God Am I: Mavis tells Pickman, while trying to reveal her feelings for him, that she considers herself God where her heart is concerned, the artist replying that he grieves for her.
- As You Know: Larry and Eliot's banter goes into depth about how Pickman taught womens' art classes, and about how he and all but four of his paintings disappeared off the face of the Earth 75 years ago, which segues into the story proper.
- Bittersweet Ending: Mavis survives her encounter with the ghoul, but she's broken after Pickman is killed by the creature while saving her life. The bookending scenes end on a more bitter than sweet note, with the implication that the ghoul is going to be unearthed again and will kill Eliot and Larry.
- Chekhov's Gun: Mavis is said to have bought one of Pickman's earlier works that depicts the view from outside his study's window. She later uses the painting as a map to reach the study herself so she can return the painting he left behind.
- Cool Teacher: In spite of his macabre style and the fact that it got him expelled from the Boston Art Institute, left two of his former works removed from the Cabot Museum, and got him punched in the face, Pickman shows a decent amount of dark humor in his lessons and doesn't mind when his class' parents get him fired for being a bad influence. He does take offense at Mavis' eavesdropping and his attempt to give him pity over tea, though.
- Creepy Red Herring: Mavis begins coming to conclusions that Pickman knows so much about the ghoul he paints because he's the beast in human form, even coming across a painting where a ghoul carries a woman who resembles her for "procreation". The ghoul that tries to kill her isn't actually him, as he wrestles it to give her time to flee.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Pickman starts returning the feelings of his former student Mavis, but pleads that she never returns to his study or even see him again so the ghoul he has locked up doesn't kill her.
- Darker and Edgier: The segment's bleak atmosphere, ghoulish painting, and gory effects, as well Pickman's ominous monologues and the fact that it's based on a short story by Lovecraft himself, make it significantly more horrific and unnerving.
- Dead Artists Are Better: Pickman's art was treated as graphic and obscene in his time, but 75 years after he died, all the paintings bar four disappeared with him, as Eliot and Larry consider Ghoul Preparing to Die a historic collector's item.
- Decoy Protagonist: Larry and Eliot, whose banter merely opens and closes the segment.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Mavis' face is briefly displayed front and center in an iris effect during Pickman's opening class seconds before her name is first spoken, staring longingly at the object of her affection and laughing at his stories of what Ghoul Preparing to Die represents.
- Eldritch Abomination: The ghoul that Pickman paints and its species are described as such. Given that the segment is based on a Lovecraft story, it would be inappropriate to call them anything other.
- Faint in Shock: Mavis, once the ghoul corners her. It almost carries her off to impregnate her, but Pickman manages to stop it at the cost of his life.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: This segment features its corresponding painting heavily, complete with the painting having a different In-Universe name by the artist itself.
- Framing Device: The scenes where Eliot and Larry discuss Pickman and his disappearance, as well as those of his paintings.
- Gender Flip: Thurber from the original short story is replaced with Mavis, who falls in love with Pickman.
- Here We Go Again!: After the story-within-the-story ends, Eliot and Larry head down to Pickman's basement and begin digging up a sealed well. We see the red eyes of Pickman's ghoul glaring from the darkness, waiting to be unearthed and slaughter the hapless men.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Pickman paints the ghouls that roam in Boston's underground tunnels because he captured one and locked it in his cellar, feeling that every ghoulish picture is a self-portrait of a man who is just as bad as the ghouls themselves, if not moreso.
- Jump Scare: One occurs as Mavis tries to return Ghoul Preparing to Die to Pickman's study, where the red eyes of the ghoul peer from a darkened room.
- Loners Are Freaks: Pickman repeatedly claims that he has "no need for human company", seeming to find his inspiration solely in the ghoul he caught and repeatedly paints.
- Mad Artist: Pickman has shades of the trope in spite of his snark, as he says that he paints the ravenous and feral ghouls that have rampaged throughout Boston as "self-portraits", indicating that he sees himself as a monstrous fiend.
- Nested Story: The segment's central plot is bookended by scenes of Eliot and his friend Larry inspecting Ghoul Preparing to Die inside Pickman's old house, which the former bought and intends to spruce up.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Mavis is incredibly in love with Pickman and the aura of mystery he emanates, looking past his gruesome works and inspiring him to stop treating himself like a monster.
- Oh, Crap!: Pickman, once he hears the ghoul scratching at his door and emitting a snarl.
- One-Track-Minded Artist: Mavis observes Pickman's study to find that nearly all the paintings within depict the vicious, otherworldly ghouls tearing apart victims, which he says during his class cost him various opportunities and accomplishments.
- Our Ghouls Are Creepier: The ones seen here are shaggy, red-eyed, eldritch "half-man half-beasts" that emerge from deep underground tunnels situated in a certain part of Boston in the dead of night to kill people for food, and impregnate women for reproductive purposes.
- Perky Goth: A rare male example with Pickman, who blends humor in his lessons while showing off his gory and macabre works of art. This is largely in front of his classes and associates, as he's more secretive and tormented when he's alone in his study.
- Proscenium Reveal: The series' segments usually open on closeups of their corresponding painting before cutting to the story. This segment, however, zooms out from that closeup to reveal Eliot and Larry looking at the painting itself in Eliot's new home.
- It happens again to set up the story-within-the-story, where the camera zooms out to reveal Pickman unveiling the painting (dubbed Ghoul Preparing to Die by the man himself) to his class for the first time.
- A third one happens with one of Pickman's older paintings depicting the view from outside his study, which dissolves to the real thing.
- Recursive Canon: The segment's painting appears front and center within the segment itself. It even begins with a match cut from the painting hanging in the Night Gallery, to the painting being looked upon by Eliot and Larry, and again to Pickman himself unveiling the painting (which he calls Ghoul Preparing to Die) for the first time.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The ghouls in Pickman's works have bright red eyes, highlighting their bloodthirsty nature.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The ghoul in Pickman's cellar, which he tries to keep locked in a sealed well down there so it doesn't harm or kill anyone. Eliot and Larry later find the well and work to dig it up, allowing for the ghoul to no doubt escape and kill them.
- Student/Teacher Romance: Pickman's student Mavis has a great deal of affection for him, and though he eventually returns her feelings, he tries to keep her away from him so his macabre "model" can't kill and/or impregnate her.
- That Poor Plant: Mavis is shown to have an unfinished painting depicting a vase full of wilting flowers (representing herself) on her canvas during the (chronological) opening scene, all of them limp and lifeless under Pickman's stare. She tells the artist that it isn't meant to be cruel, but as a means to draw out the power or "magnetism" in his eyes.
The Dear Departed
Original story by: Alice-Mary Schnirring
Teleplay by: Rod Serling
Directed by: Jeff Corey
Rod Serling: You're all familiar, I suppose, with mediums and seances? The slightly-curdling nocturnal event in which the dead come back to visit, through the good offices of a middleman or woman? It's a sport that lends itself to table-tappings, some ghostly manifestations that float transparently across the room, and a few distant samples of voices. This painting offers a new side to the familiar seance, because it tells what happens when a seance is successful, but the appearing dead isn't the one expected. Offered to you now, on the Night Gallery: The Dear Departed.
Mark Bennett (Steve Lawrence) is a former carnival performer who makes his living as a fake medium, swindling wealthy clients looking to get in touch with their dead loved ones out of their cash with a variety of special effects provided by his tech expert partner Joe Casey (Harvey Lembeck) and his wife Angela (Maureen Arthur), who acts as the voice for his faux spirits. Mark and Angie are having an affair behind the scenes, and they soon tire of how Joe tries to come between them and inserts himself into everything they want to do. After Joe is unexpectedly hit by a truck on their latest outing, this leaves the inexperienced Angie to take over the special effects for Mark's next séance. While the act appears to go up in smoke, Mark and Angie soon find that the former's abilities may be more genuine than anticipated, as a certain friend returns from the grave during the ceremony.
Tropes
- Actor Allusion: Joe, a "bad" guy who wears all black and comes across as a complete boob, is heavily reminiscent of the Beach Party films' Eric von Zipper, also played by Harvey Lembeck.
- Always Someone Better: Joe tells Mark that he feels this way about him, saying that he's better looking and has better stage presence while all he does is handle the special effects, despite how much Mark tells him that he's just as important to the racket as him.
- Awful Wedded Life: Angie can't stand the obnoxious Joe and enters an affair with Mark, and they're planning to kill him before that truck runs him over.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: As the ending shows, Mark's claims that he needs Joe more than anything result in his partner literally returning from the grave to stick by him again.
- Bookends: The segment starts and finishes with one of Mark's fake seances for the Harcourt family.
- Chekhov's Gun: The scent of cigar smoke, which Angie can't stand, is present at the ending seance, even after Mr. Harcourt extinguishes his own cigar.
- Cigar Chomper: Joe is shown constantly smoking a cigar, and Mr. Harcourt smokes one at Mark's last seance. When the latter extinguishes his cigar, but Mark and Angie still smell smoke, it's revealed that Mark accidentally summoned Joe during the seance.
- Companion Cube: Dorrie's stuffed elephant, which disappeared after she died and is given to her mother by her "ghost" during the opening seance.
- Contrived Coincidence: As he runs across the street to get medicine for Angie's headache, Joe is hit by a truck by sheer coincidence. Mark and Angie were debating about how Joe could likely see how the pair felt for each other and advised him to keep it on the down low so he wouldn't get suspicious, but this circumstance saves them the trouble. The downside is that Angie is much less familiar with her late husband's controls and Mark summons him during the next seance.
- Flying Face: Joe's tech setup has a mannequin head made to look like Dorrie's spirit rigged to fly across the room during the opening seance. Joe himself takes the form of a floating head when Mark accidentally summons him from the dead.
- Foreshadowing:
- Mark's note to Mrs. Harcourt of how the spirits of dead loved ones are never really that far away comes back to bite him and Angie when Joe is summoned at their last seance.
- Joe also notes after the opening seance that he's going to make a mistake one day and a "guy from the bunko squad" is going to be sitting next to him. Near the end, Joe is randomly struck by a truck as he goes to get Angie some aspirin, with a police officer who was investigating the accident telling Mark and Angie the news.
- Gold Digger: Angie, who married Joe because he's partners with the successful mystic Mark, and she prefers staying rich instead of going back to waiting tables.
- Gone Horribly Right: Mark's ending seance does indeed end up summoning a ghost, but not the one he expected.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Joe may work with Mark in the means of getting easy cash by fooling with people who miss their relatives, but he genuinely respects Mark and feels that he's the better member of the partnership. He also treasures Angie above all other things besides Mark, but she unfortunately can't stand how suffocating he is.
- Large Ham: Joe, the segment's obnoxious comic relief. He becomes more stoic in death, though.
- Lighter and Softer: The previous segment was understandably horrific and bleak, so this one offers a more modern and slightly funnier set of circumstances.
- The Lost Lenore: Mrs. Harcourt's daughter Dorrie, as she sets the plot in motion by paying Mark to summon her twice over the course of the segment.
- Monochrome Apparition: Joe's ghost is primarily green in color.
- Mood Whiplash: The entire opening scene is treated with the serious and somber nature that a seance entails, as Mark tries to summon little Dorrie Harcourt from the great beyond for her mother (and her bank account). As soon as the family is escorted out, Joe, Mark, and Angie reveal their true selves as loudmouthed con artists to the viewers.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Angie and Mark are having an affair even though she's married to Joe, and the pair just get tired of his obnoxious attitude and his wanting to force himself into everything they want to do, especially when it's something they want to do alone.
- Phony Psychic: Mark makes his living as a faux-swami to swindle gullible customers looking to contact their dead loved ones out of their cash with a plethora of special effects. It's even said that he used to do the act at a carnival before he and Joe made it on their own. He may or may not become the real thing when Joe's ghost appears at his latest seance.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Joe, as played by character actor Harvey Lembeck. It's lampshaded as Angie and Mark both consider him an annoyance.
- Skepticism Failure: Mr. Harcourt is said not to believe in spirits, but is dragged to Mark's next seance by his wife. He certainly changes his mind once Joe's ghost makes his appearance.
- Small Role, Big Impact:
- Mrs. Harcourt, who enlists Mark's services to talk to the spirit of her dead daughter Dorrie in the beginning and end of the segment.
- The unseen trucker who runs the red light and kills Joe on impact.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Angie feels this way about Joe, Mark's lifelong partner/technical expert and her wife, for wanting to include himself in every little thing she wants to do, the idea of which starts rubbing off on Mark when he interrupts their affair. Joe becomes a literal example as a ghost, when he confirms to Mark and Angie that he'll never leave them again.
- Title Drop: In his conversation with Mrs. Harcourt, Mark notes how "the dear departed" are never truly that far away.
- Villain Protagonist: Mark, Angie, and Joe, a trio of swindlers who make a living by preying on wealthy families' grief. What's more, Angie is having an affair with Mark while married to Joe.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Mark is treated as a saint by Mrs. Harcourt after he "contacts" Dorrie from the grave, though it's revealed soon afterwards that he's a big fat fraud.
- With Friends Like These...: Joe is Mark's partner and techie, ever since his days at the carnival. It's soon revealed that Mark and Joe's wife Angie have been having an affair with one another, with Joe being none the wiser.
An Act of Chivalry
Written by: Jack Larid
Directed by: Jack Larid
Rod Serling: And now, Night Gallery's slightly distorted version of history: An Act of Chivalry.
In a split-second sketch, a young woman (Deidre Hall) steps into a crowded elevator, prompting the men inside to respectively remove their hats in her presence. Death himself then steps inside the elevator soon after, with one of the men gesturing to remove his hat as well. Death obliges... in his own unique way.
Tropes
- 13 Is Unlucky: Played with. Death steps on the elevator as it reaches the 13th floor, but he doesn't have any malicious thoughts on his mind.
- Denser and Wackier: It's one of Night Gallery's blackout sketches, only half a minute long and centering on a one-note gag.
- The Grim Reaper: He steps into a crowded elevator and is told to remove his hat in the woman's presence. He obliges, but removes a lot more in the process.
- Off with His Head!: After observing the men in the elevator taking their hats off in the woman's presence, Death does the same thing... by removing his entire head.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The men in the elevator aren't concerned that Death is in the car with them, but rather that he's being rude by not removing his hat in the presence of the woman.
