A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain
Encyclopedia
"A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone
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asked that his occupation be changed to that of a research scientist. Serling complied.
This episode (because of a lawsuit filed by someone claiming they had the idea for the story first) was not included in the Twilight Zone syndication package
until 1984. When this and other long-unseen episodes became available, a series of short introductions were shot featuring commentary from the cast and crew of the original episodes.
In the segment with Patrick O'Neal for this episode, O'Neal remarked on how accurately the show's makeup effects artists had aged him, as he now very closely resembled his older appearance in this episode. O'Neal was actually only five years older than Lee.
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
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Synopsis
A wealthy old man married to a younger woman is exhausted by his wife's youthful lifestyle. Seeking to keep up the pace, he asks his scientist brother to inject him with an experimental youth serum (if he doesn't, he claims he'll find out which one of them "reaches the pavement first"). Reluctantly, his brother agrees. The serum works wonders; the old man grows younger by the hour. Unfortunately, it does not stop when he hopes, and the regression continues until he is a toddler. His wife tries to leave him, but his clever brother forces the wife, whom he abhors, to stay and raise him, else she will be cut off from his fortune—and she will receive nothing else. He will take legal action against her and battle her to the death. Now she is stuck. Forever. He reminds her, "As he grows older, you'll be growing...old." And he caustically predicts that when his brother does grow old enough, another woman is sure to take him away from her. "It's not fair, Raymond," she shudders to her brother-in-law. "Everything...is on his side!" "Well, you see, Flora?", Raymond Gordon responds somewhat sarcastically. "As you get older...see how wise you get?"Production
Initially, the Raymond Gordon character was to be a typical family physician. Disturbed by the character's willingness to experiment on a fellow human (Harmon, his brother), CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
asked that his occupation be changed to that of a research scientist. Serling complied.
This episode (because of a lawsuit filed by someone claiming they had the idea for the story first) was not included in the Twilight Zone syndication package
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
until 1984. When this and other long-unseen episodes became available, a series of short introductions were shot featuring commentary from the cast and crew of the original episodes.
In the segment with Patrick O'Neal for this episode, O'Neal remarked on how accurately the show's makeup effects artists had aged him, as he now very closely resembled his older appearance in this episode. O'Neal was actually only five years older than Lee.