TELEVISION: Patterns

The show was memorable not as a play but as a document of the frightened fascination with which some writers regard Hollywood, as if it were a basketful of hypnotizing snakes. In The Velvet Alley, produced on CBS' Playhouse 90, TV Playwright Rod Serling told the story of a struggling 42-year-old TV playwright from Manhattan named Ernie Pandish, who sells a script and overnight becomes rich, famous and an s.o.b. Where once he listened to music while he worked (he apparently owned only one phonograph record, Swan Lake), now the only music...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!