"The Four of Us Are Dying" is the thirteenth episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on CBS on January 1, 1960. It is the first The Twilight Zone to be televised in the 1960s. The episode was based on the original short story by George Clayton Johnson, "All of Us Are Dying", which had not been published at the time. The story subsequently appeared in the October 1961 issue of Rogue.
His name is Arch Hammer, he's 36 years old. He's been a salesman, a dispatcher, a truck driver, a con man, a bookie, and a part-time bartender. This is a cheap man, a nickel-and-dime man, with a cheapness that goes past the suit and the shirt; a cheapness of mind, a cheapness of taste, a tawdry little shine on the seat of his conscience, and a dark-room squint at a world whose sunlight has never gotten through to him. But Mr. Hammer has a talent, discovered at a very early age. This much he does have. He can make his face change. He can twitch a muscle, move a jaw, concentrate on the cast of his eyes, and he can change his face. He can change it into anything he wants. Mr. Archie Hammer, jack-of-all-trades, has just checked in at three-eighty a night, with two bags, some newspaper clippings, a most odd talent, and a master plan to destroy some lives.
Plot
Arch Hammer is a con man who can change his face to look like anyone he chooses. He walks into a nightclub, where he impersonates deceased trumpeter Johnny Foster to steal Foster's grieving girlfriend Maggie, a sultry songstress.
Next, while impersonating murdered gangster Virgil Sterig, Hammer pays a visit to Mr. Pennell, to extort money; Pennell is the man who had Sterig killed. Pennell sends his men after Hammer.
Trying to escape down an alley, Hammer sees a poster of boxer Andy Marshak, and changes his face to the fighter's. Pennell's men are fooled. Thinking he is in the clear, he runs into Marshak's father at a street newsstand, who mistakes him for the son who broke his mother's heart and "did dirt to a sweet decent little girl who would've cut off an arm for" him. As Mr. Marshak reels off the reasons why he hates Andy and his punk behavior, Hammer pushes the old man out of the way and returns to his hotel room. A detective comes by to pick him up for questioning; together, they leave for the police station. As they enter the hotel's revolving door, Hammer again assumes the boxer's appearance. The detective rushes back into the building to find Hammer.
Marshak's father is standing on the street, with a gun on Hammer. The con man tries to demonstrate that he is not who the old man thinks he is, but before he can concentrate and change his face, Mr. Marshak shoots him. As Hammer lies dying, his face shifts from one person to another until he dies wearing his own face.
Closing narration
He was Arch Hammer, a cheap little man who just checked in. He was Johnny Foster, who played a trumpet and was loved beyond words. He was Virgil Sterig, with money in his pocket. He was Andy Marshak, who got some of his agony back on a sidewalk in front of a cheap hotel. Hammer, Foster, Sterig, Marshak—and all four of them were dying.
This episode is notable for its heightened, theatrical lighting, blocking and set design. While most episodes are presented in a very theatrical manner (with limited locations, heightened dialogue and theatrical blocking) not many episodes present themselves as if the action took place on a stage. This theatricality is especially present in its use of harsh shadows and in the neon-signage that hangs above the set to represent Manhattan. One very clear example of this would be when Arch Hammer exits the jazz bar where a bold lighting change indicates that he has put Maggie and the events at the club out of his mind and now seeks his next target. The cinematography is also unusually elaborate and quite cinematic. Extreme, low, wide canted angles drift languidly folly Arch through the streets, symbolising how sleazy and careless his world is. POV shots zipping down from one elevator button to another. A birds-eye view watches him scramble out of an elevator. The camera swirls in smooth reverence around Maggie as she sings her lament. The jazz score is incessant and adds a distinct, coherent rhythm to the episode.
Production
"After the first half-dozen stories had been written, part of the hustle was getting an agent. Through those years I found several who would let me use their names, though few cared to sign a contract with me. One of these men, Jay Richards - at the time head of the television department of the Famous Artists Agency, long since absorbed by I.F.A. (International Famous Agency), and since embedded in I.C.M. (International Creative Management), which represents me now in television and movies - agreed to read something. I showed Jay 'All of Us Are Dying.' After reading it, he crossed out the title with a ballpoint pen and wrote in 'Rubberface!' Then he sent it to Rod Serling, who had a new series that season called The Twilight Zone." — George Clayton Johnson, writing in the August 1981 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine
In 2005, "The Four of Us Are Dying" was produced for the stage by 4 Letter Entertainment.[citation needed]
Further reading
Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN978-1-59393-136-0
Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN978-0-9703310-9-0
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