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Opening narration

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{{Infobox television episode
| series = [[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]
| image = Buster Keaton Twilight Zone 1961.JPG
| caption = Keaton as Woodrow Mulligan
| season = 3
| episode = 13
| airdate = {{Start date|1961|12|15}}
| production = 4820
| writer = [[Richard Matheson]]
| director = [[Norman Z. McLeod]] (with an uncredited sequence by [[Les Goodwins]])
| guests ={{plainlist|
* [[Buster Keaton]]
* [[Stanley Adams (actor)|Stanley Adams]]
* [[Jesse White (actor)|Jesse White]]
* [[James Flavin]]
* [[Gil Lamb]]
* [[Milton Parsons]]
* [[Warren Parker]]
* [[Harry Fleer]]
* [[George E. Stone]]}}
| music = [[William Lava]] (piano score played by Ray Turner)
| season_article = The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) (season 3)
| episode_list= List of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes
| prev = [[The Jungle (The Twilight Zone)|The Jungle]]
| next = [[Five Characters in Search of an Exit]]
}}
"'''Once Upon a Time'''" is episode 78 of the American television [[anthology series]] ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''. It originally aired on December 15, 1961. It features early film star [[Buster Keaton]] in one of his later roles, as an unlikely time traveler, and the opening and closing scenes pay tribute to the [[silent film]]s for which he was famous.

==Opening narration==
{{cquote|Mr. Mulligan, a rather dour critic of his times, is shortly to discover the import of that old phrase, '[[Out of the frying pan into the fire]]'—said fire burning brightly at all times—in The Twilight Zone.
}}

==Plot==
Woodrow Mulligan is a grumpy man in 1890, dissatisfied with what his world has come to: the nation's budget surplus is only 85 million dollars, prices are shockingly high to him, and his once-quiet town of [[Harmony, New York]] is bustling with [[livestock]] roaming the streets, which are full of traffic such as horse-drawn carriages, and [[penny-farthing]] bicycles zipping along at the [[speed limit]] of 8 mph. A collision with a bicyclist dumps him in a water trough, forcing him to take off his pants to dry them when he gets to his place of work.

He works as janitor for Professor Gilbert, who has just invented a "time helmet", which can transport the wearer to another decade for 30 minutes. Mulligan tries it on and it sends him to 1961; Harmony is now a busy city with streets full of cars, all sorts of urban noise, and astonishingly high prices. In the chaos he loses the helmet, which is picked up by a boy on roller skates, requiring Mulligan to give chase on a contemporary bicycle. He recovers the damaged helmet as he runs into Rollo, a scientist. They take the helmet to a "fix it" shop, where Rollo and the proprietor argue over repairs, while Mulligan wanders off and acquires a pair of pants by [[slapstick]] means.

Rollo regards the 1890s as an idyllic period, and wants to go back there in Mulligan's place. He runs off with the helmet, but Mulligan catches him at the last instant and they both go back. Mulligan is relieved to be home, and Rollo finds it charming. A week later, Mulligan has found a new appreciation for life in 1890, but Rollo is dismayed at the lack of technology and modern comforts. Annoyed by Rollo's griping, Mulligan sets the helmet for 1962, puts it on Rollo's head, and sends him back to his own time.

==Closing narration==
{{cquote|'To each his own'—so goes another old phrase to which Mr. Woodrow Mulligan would heartily subscribe, for he has learned—definitely the hard way—that there's much wisdom in a third old phrase, which goes as follows: 'Stay in your own backyard.' To which it might be added, 'and, if possible, assist others to stay in theirs'—via, of course, The Twilight Zone.
}}

==Cast==
* [[Buster Keaton]] as Woodrow Mulligan
* [[Stanley Adams (actor)|Stanley Adams]] as Rollo
* [[Milton Parsons]] as Professor Gilbert
* [[Gil Lamb]] as Officer Flannagan
* [[James Flavin]] as First 1962 Policeman
* [[Harry Fleer]] as Second 1962 Policeman
* [[Warren Parker]] as Clothing Store Manager
* [[Jesse White (actor)|Jesse White]] as Repairman
* [[George E. Stone]] as Fenwick

==Production==
Buster Keaton was one of the biggest stars of the [[silent film|silent era]], and this episode featuring him was intended as an homage to that work.<ref>"I met Buster Keaton through Bill Cox...and I thought "Gee, that would be wonderful to get Keaton into a ''Twilight Zone''"-''Richard Matheson.'' {{cite book|author=Zicree, Mark-Scott|title=The Twilight Zone Companion|year=1982|publisher=Bantam|isbn=0-7607-5634-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780760756348/page/260 260–261]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780760756348/page/260}}</ref> One sequence, occurring almost immediately after traveling to the episode's present day, is a near exact replication of a gag Keaton introduced some forty-one years earlier in a [[Fatty Arbuckle]] film titled ''[[The Garage (1920 film)|The Garage]]''.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

The parts set in the 1890s are done in the style of a silent film with [[intertitle]]s and feature only a soundtrack of a saloon piano (and Rod Serling's customary opening and closing narration). The music was composed by [[William Lava]] and was performed (uncredited) by veteran Hollywoodstudio and session pianist [[Ray Turner (pianist)|Ray Turner]].

Much is made of the fact that Mulligan shows up in 1962 with no pants due to his getting run over by a "high speed" bicycle and falling into a water trough, forcing him to remove the pants while they dry. A [[running gag]] has a pants-less Mulligan being chased by a policeman in both the past and the present.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. {{ISBN|978-1-59393-136-0}}
*Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-9703310-9-0}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb episode|0734607}}

{{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes}}
{{Richard Matheson}}

[[Category:1961 American television episodes]]
[[Category:The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 3) episodes]]
[[Category:Television episodes about time travel]]
[[Category:Television episodes written by Richard Matheson]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1890]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1962]]

Once Upon a Time (The Twilight Zone) - Revision history

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GOTV>SatBehindYouInMath: /* Opening narration */