Rod Serling: Good evening. Please come in. These little object d'art that you see surrounding me, you won't find in your average art museum. Because these are unusual paintings and statuary that come to life, or death, whatever the case may be. Because this is: the Night Gallery.
Green Fingers
Original story by: R. C. Cook
Teleplay by: Rod Serling
Directed by: John Badham
Rod Serling: For the horticulturist amongst you, here's a dandy. A lady who plants things, and then steps back and watches them grow. Roses, rhododendrons, tulips, and things never before to be found coming out of the ground... just put in. The subject of this painting has: Green Fingers.
The elderly Lydia Bowen (Elsa Lanchester) enjoys tending to her garden for hours on end and claiming that she can make anything grow. She is visited by business magnate Michael J. Saunders (Cameron Mitchell), who wishes that she sell her property so he can build a factory on the land. Michael decides to play dirty when Lydia refuses to sell and hires an "enforcer" named Crowley (George Keymas) to give her a warning, which he does by chopping off one of her fingers. Lydia plants the severed finger in her garden before she dies of shock and blood loss, and it's through that finger that Michael finds out Lydia can make anything she plants in her garden grow... and that does mean anything.
Tropes
- Ambiguously Human: Lydia's ability to grow anything in her garden indicates that she's not entirely human, even before she regrew into a Plant Person. Her conversation with Michael has her note that her neighbors thought her to be a witch when a piece of dry wood she planted started sprouting.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Driven stark-staring mad by the sight of the regrown Lydia, Michael actually notices and directly addresses the viewers, telling them how just like oaks grow from acorns, old ladies grow from old ladies' fingers.
- Canon Foreigner: Michael, Ernest, and Crowley don't appear in the original short story.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': The sheriff and his men note that after Crowley chopped off Lydia's finger, he fatally crashed his car into a brick wall making his getaway.
- Community-Threatening Construction: Michael wants to buy Lydia's land so he can build a factory on it, but she refuses to sell even if he offered her the National Debt; she's lived there far too long, first with her husband, then by herself after his death.
- Cool Old Lady: Lydia, who enjoys the simple pleasures of gardening and tending to nature. That said, she's not afraid to go after the man who hired the thug who killed her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Michael's employee Ernest grows disgusted with him after learning that he hired Crowley to maim Lydia to force her into selling her home. Michael himself retorts that he didn't want Lydia to die either and that Crowley went way too far in persuading her to sell, but he's still satisfied with the result.
- Fingore: Crowley, the enforcer/hitman Michael hires to "persuade" Lydia into leaving, chops off one of her fingers as a warning to sell her cottage. She dies from a combination of shock and blood loss following the incident, but before doing so, she plants the finger in her garden, allowing her to live on in a new plant body. As the sheriff escorts her to the hospital, she rants that Crowley would've cut off her hand, then her arm, if she continued to refuse selling her cottage.
- Foreshadowing: Lydia tells Michael how she once planted a piece of wood in her garden and it started growing. Near the end, she plants her severed finger, which allows her to regrow into a new body.
- Friend to All Living Things: Lydia treasures plants of all kinds, especially the garden she's spent 77 years tending.
- Gilligan Cut: After Michael hires Crowley to viciously "persuade" Lydia into selling her cottage, the episode cuts to the sheriff's office, where three officers are discussing the attack on Lydia and how Crowley killed himself in his haste to escape.
- Green Thumb: "Fingers", to be precise. Lydia, a sweet old lady who is being pushed to move out of her home, claims to Michael that she can make anything she plants in her garden grow. As the ending reveals, this ability extends to parts of her body.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Gardening may not sound like a very impressive skill, even if Lydia can make dry wood grow again by planting it. However, she plants her severed finger after Crowley chops it off, allowing the finger to grow into a new version of Lydia overnight. This not only gives her a second chance at life, but it allows her to get revenge on Michael by scaring him to insanity.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Crowley, the ruthless enforcer, and Michael, who hired him, both get punished for their roles in Lydia's death. Crowley hits a wall and kills himself while trying to escape justice, and Michael goes mad when he comes to look over the new property and finds Lydia's clone.
- Laughing Mad: Michael, driven mad by the sight of Lydia's clone, chuckles insanely after giving the final line to the viewers.
- Lighter and Softer: The TV adaptation is much less dark than the original story it's based on. In the story, Lydia's severed finger grows into a separate version of her that kills and replaces the original. In the TV version, her mind evidently transfers itself into the plant clone, upon which she terrifies Michael for ordering her to be grievously injured.
- Locked into Strangeness: Michael's hair goes white from the shock of seeing Lydia's plant clone.
- Meaningful Echo: Lydia tells Michael, as he's trying to convince her to sell her cottage, that she has "green fingers", and whatever she plants grows. After her severed finger grows into a new version of her, she repeats that phrase to him, driving him insane.
- Plant Person: Lydia becomes one after her severed finger sprouts into a clone of herself, as she evidently remembers the incident and the appearance of Michael's face.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The segment repeatedly features a harrowing synth rendition of "Greensleeves", fitting for the plant motif.
- Sanity Slippage: Lydia regrowing from her garden drives Michael insane, to the point where his hair and mustache are turned white with fright.
- Title Drop: Lydia mentions her "green fingers" quite often while talking to Michael.
- Would Harm a Senior: Michael hires "enforcer" Crowley to viciously "persuade" Lydia into selling her home. Crowley ends up chopping her finger off as a warning, and after she plants it in her garden, she dies via blood loss and shock from the incident. She also notes as she's being taken to the hospital that he threatened to cut off her whole hand, then her arm, if she kept refusing to sell.
The Funeral
Written by: Richard Matheson
Directed by: John Meredyth Lucas
Rod Serling: Funeral home art, you might call it. Example: this item here. The somber silence of shrouds, the gray, unhappy light of a sunless dawn, and a horse-drawn casket, very much keeping with the motif of this place. The title of the painting: Funeral.
Milton Silkline (Joe Flynn), funeral director and ossuary owner, is visited by Ludwig Asper (Werner Klemperer), who wishes for the most expensive funeral Milton can afford. Hearing that the funeral is for Ludwig himself, Milton assumes his new client is joking, but he soon learns that Ludwig is dead serious about his wish and takes his leave by becoming a bat, revealing himself as a vampire who never actually got a proper funeral. On the night of the service, Ludwig's monstrous mourners take their places, and when they quickly start fighting with one another, Milton tries his hardest to keep the service from going off the rails.
Tropes
- The Bus Came Back: The same Igor from "With Apologies to Mr. Hyde" reappears in this segment to attend Ludwig's funeral, even being reprised by Jack Larid.
- Covers Always Lie: The segment has one of the most somber paintings ever featured on the show, being a bleak and desolate funeral service in progress. In reality, it's a lighthearted and humorous comedy story wherein no one dies or suffers, and the funeral service depicted is anything but bleak.
- Denser and Wackier: For all intents and purposes, this segment is basically an extended blackout sketch. Case in point, all of Ludwig's guests are over-the-top, Milton feebly tries to keep the service from going off the rails, and the ending is a blatant Here We Go Again! situation.
- Eldritch Abomination: One of them approaches Milton for its own funeral service at the end of the segment, as Ludwig recommended his services to it.
- Everybody Lives: Sort of. Ludwig died long before the segment began, but given that he's a vampire, it didn't slow him down.
- Faint in Shock: Milton passes out as Jenny sets the parlor on fire.
- Frankenstein's Monster: He and his Bride are among Ludwig's guests.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Ludwig doesn't threaten Milton that much, instead approaching him as a client who wants to stage his own (very belated) funeral. He only gets confrontational when Milton angrily assumes that his desire to have him hosting his own funeral is a morbid joke, which he can't abide during working hours. Despite the fact that his service went off the rails, he tells Milton in a recorded message that he got all of the arrangements perfectly right, granting him his full respect and a hefty payment.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Ludwig the vampire pays Milton to host his own funeral service, given that he never got a proper one when he actually died. It quickly becomes... less-than-dignified thanks to the guests and their actions.
- Here We Go Again!: Having successfully handled Ludwig's funeral service, Milton finds himself dealing with another unusual client, whom Ludwig recommended his services to, who wants their own funeral, the funeral director being all too eager to get started.
- The Igor: The hunchback himself shows up as one of Ludwig's mourners.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The Lorre-esque cannibal who attends Ludwig's funeral, who keeps noting how tasty Milton looks to him.
- Laughing Mad: Jenny, the witch who attends the titular funeral.
- Let's Meet the Meat: The Lorre cannibal spends the funeral gazing longingly at Milton, repeatedly declaring how "Tasty!" he looks.
- Meaningful Name: Funeral director Mitlon’s last name is "Silkline", after a "silk-lined" coffin.
- Money, Dear Boy: In-Universe. After learning that Ludwig is a vampire, Milton still goes on to give him his funeral service, putting up with rowdy, misbehaving monsters because of the huge payment Ludwig promises him. After he gets Ludwig's promised payment, he still can't wait to put on the eldritch horror's funeral as well.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The cannibal who attends Ludwig's funeral has a voice that sounds just like Peter Lorre.
- Rage Against the Reflection: Ludwig asks Milton, before he goes, to remove the mirror he has in the foyer of his largest parlor for the service.
- Skewed Priorities: Milton watches with fear as Jenny uses her wand to set the parlor on fire. Because it'll ruin the expensive carpeting.
- Super Window Jump: According to the cannibal, Bruce the Wolfman leaps out the window during Ludwig's service because he didn't want to miss his 9:15 dinner date.
- Toilet Humor: Subtly alluded to with the fact that Milton calls his business' largest funeral parlor "The Eternal Rest Room".
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: As typical for a vampire, Ludwig can turn himself into a bat and back again at will.
- Wham Shot: Ludwig bearing his fangs at Milton, then turning into a bat and flying off into the night.
- Wicked Witch: Jenny, one of Ludwig's mourners, who is prone to cracking jokes, zapping things with her wand, and picking fights with the other guests.
- World of Ham: Ludwig and his "guests" are quite over-the-top, given that they're all literal monsters.
- You No Take Candle: Igor speaks in this manner.
The Tune in Dan's Café
Original story by: Shamus Frazer
Teleplay by: Gerald Sanford & Garrie Bateson
Directed by: David Rawlins
Rod Serling: We don't ask you to believe this particular painting; Death's head hovering over a jukebox. But it does point out the all-inclusive quality of the occult. Phantom specters can be found not only in haunted houses, but in places you'd least expect to find them... places like this. Our painting is called: The Tune in Dan's Café.
Joe and Kelly Bellman (Pernell Roberts and Susan Oliver) stop off in the deserted Dan's Café so Joe can help Kelly save their struggling marriage. The jukebox inside the café has their favorite song from the past in its setlist, but when Joe puts some money in, he instead gets a mournful country dirge that skips and replays the lyric "Til' death" over and over. Eventually, Joe asks proprietor Dan (James Nusser) why the jukebox does that, prompting him to explain the story of career criminal Roy Gleeson (James Davidson) and his girlfriend, Red (Brooke Mills), who cheated on Roy, ratted him out for a reward, and fled the café when the cops shot it up and killed him, indicating that the jukebox's malfunction is the result of Roy's ghost aching for his revenge.
Tropes
- Arc Song: The country tune that keeps repeating on the jukebox in Dan's Café.
- Awful Wedded Life: Kelly demands a divorce from Joe, and the jukebox keeps playing its song as an indicator that Roy can sense their relationship is about to end, since his own relationship problems led to his death and subsequent possession of the machine. The end of the episode shows that their problems haven't been solved at all, and Kelly's very likely still getting that divorce.
- Bittersweet Ending: Joe and Kelly don't fix their problems and are most likely still getting divorced, but Roy is able to get his revenge on Red and move on.
- Broken Record: The segment concerns the country song playing on the jukebox in the titular café, which skips over and over right at the lyric that the song was playing when Roy was gunned down.Words like 'til death...'til death...'til death...'til death...
- Commonality Connection: Both couples we follow through the segment were/are in the midst of rocky/failing relationships, and they treasured a specific song that brought them together. Both couples also end the segment worse off than when they started.
- Decoy Protagonist: Joe and Kelly, as their interactions with the possessed jukebox lets Dan tell the story about Roy and Red, the true protagonists.
- Excuse Plot: As stated above, Joe's plot about wanting to stop Kelly from divorcing him goes absolutely nowhere, and it only serves to bring up the story of how Red betrayed Roy and let the cops shoot him down for a cash reward, causing his ghost to possess the jukebox.
- Femme Fatale: Red, who ratted Roy out, pocketed the cash she got from doing so, and ran off with her new lover as her ex died.
- Foreshadowing: Before we see the flashback of Roy's death in full, the episode features shots of Dan's Café the night it happened, including the place getting shot up by the police, whenever the "'Til death" lyric repeats itself, set to the lyric in question.
- Gold Digger: Red, who stayed with Roy only for the material wealth he could give her, cheated on him, and ratted him out for a cash reward when she got tired of waiting for him to pull off his big job.
- Haunted Technology: It's hinted that Roy's ghost possesses the jukebox in Dan's Café, hence why it only plays that specific song, why it keeps repeating the specific lyric that was sung when he was killed, and why Red screams when she returns there.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Red cheated on her career criminal boyfriend Roy with another man and ratted him out to the police for a reward, who killed him in the resulting shootout. When she returns to the café with her new lover five years later, it's strongly implied that Roy's ghost enacts bloody vengeance on her before the song shuts off for good.
- Last Note Nightmare: Over Red's frightened screaming, the jukebox song's "'Til death" lyric continues repeating to close out the segment.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Roy treasured his girlfriend Red, but learned that she was cheating on him and sold him out to the cops for a cash reward. After dying in the resulting shootout, his ghost inhabits the café's jukebox, waiting for Red to return. She does so at the end, and it's hinted that Roy gets his revenge.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The ending of the segment, where it's hinted that Roy's ghost kills the unfaithful ex-girlfriend who ratted him out. We only hear her screaming as the song's "Til' death" lyric continues over and over, and she's nowhere to be seen once it's over, so we can only imagine the visuals.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Roy was a proud criminal who planned to steal $5 grand from a store, but his ghost possesses the café's jukebox to get revenge on Red, the unfaithful girlfriend who sent the cops after him.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Roy's death and Dan's Café being shot up is set to the country tune that's been playing (and repeating) throughout the segment.
- Unfinished Business: As Dan notes, Roy's ghost makes the jukebox play only the repeating country song he and Red listened to all the time because he's waiting for her to come back, so he can get revenge on her after she ratted him out and split the cash reward she got with her new lover.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Roy gave Red money and expensive jewels, and she repays him by running off with another man after selling him out to the cops.
