The Twilight Zone (1959–1964): Season 1, Episode 34 - The After Hours - full transcript
Marsha White is looking for a gold thimble as a gift for her mother. She can't find it anywhere in the store and an elevator operator suggests she try the 9th floor. She arrives there to find it abandoned but a sales clerk suddenly appears and has just what she is looking for. On the way back down to the main floor, she realizes the thimble she bought is scratched and goes to the complaints department where she is told there is no 9th floor in the building. She is shocked however to see a mannequin that looks just like the woman who served her. A return to the absent floor reveals the explanation to her dilemma.
The After Hours
First Aired: 10 June 1960
English Subtitles by
Pandorafilm - Heerlen
You're about to enter
another dimension.
A dimension not only of sight
and sound, but of mind.
A journey into a wondrous land
of imagination.
Next stop: The Twilight Zone
May I show you something?
-No, that's not what I'm looking for.
Going up, ma'am.
Housewares?
-That would be the mezzanine, ma'am.
What in particular were
you looking for?
Gold thimbles.
You had them advertised.
That would be Specialties, ma'am.
The ninth floor.
I'm not accustomed to such service.
-Ma'am?
There were a lot of people waiting
or the elevator. I have a private one.
This is an express elevator
to the ninth floor.
The others are all locals
this time of day.
Express elevator to the ninth floor
of a department store.
Carrying Ms Marsha White on a
most prosaic, ordinary errand.
Ninth floor.
There must be some mistake.
There's nothing here.
Ms Marsha White, on the ninth floor.
Specialties department,
looking for a gold thimble.
The odds are that she'll find it.
But there are even better odds that
she'll find something else.
Because this isn't
just a department store.
This happens to be
the Twilight Zone.
Was someone helping you?
Can I show you something?
Yes. I was looking for a gold
thimble. A gift for my mother.
A gold thimble. I think
we have something you'd like.
This way, please.
How about this?
It's 14-karat gold and quite
distinctive looking, I think.
Don't you?
-Yes, I think this will do.
This is a charge?
Is this a charge, miss?
I beg your pardon. A charge?
No, I'll pay for it.
You want it gift wrapped?
-Yes, please.
No, I'll wrap it myself.
-Miss, that's 22.80 plus tax.
$25 even.
Now that's odd.
-What is, Marsha?
You haven't any merchandise here
at all, except the thimble.
Except the very thing I needed.
The whole floor, it looks so empty.
You called me Marsha.
-Did I? I'm sorry.
That was forward of me. I apologize.
-How did you know my name?
I must have seen you in the store.
-No, you haven't. I've never seen you.
Forget it, but what
kind of a place is this?
All I want is a gold thimble.
I come up on a floor that hasn't a
thing, except what I'm looking for.
This I call odd.
-Please come again.
Any time.
Thank you.
-Ms White?
Are you happy?
-I beg your pardon?
Am I what? Am I happy?
Forgive me, but that's really
none of your business.
Really? It's none of my business.
All right, suit yourself.
It's none of my business.
Going down.
Found what you were looking for?
-As a matter of fact, I did.
Also as a matter of fact, it was the
only thing for sale on that floor.
Very efficient. One entire floor
devoted to the sale of one thimble.
An extremely oddball saleslady.
Somebody ought to look into.
This is scratched.
I didn't notice that before.
I can't send this to my mother.
It's scratched, and it's dented too.
Look here.
Complaints, third floor.
-Look at this thing!
It's scratched and it looks as
if somebody stepped on it.
Third floor, Complaints.
I told her that all the gold
thimbles that we have, are in Gifts.
And we would replace a damaged item.
I distinctly told her that.
Then what is the problem,
Mr Armbruster?
The customer claims that she
didn't get the item in Gifts.
That she got it
in another department.
Tell her to take it back to the
department where she purchased it.
That's just the point. She says that
she has purchased a gold thimble...
on the ninth floor.
Ninth floor?
Mr Armbruster...
I trust you informed the lady that
this store has no ninth floor.
I have tried desperately
to acquaint her with this fact.
She still insists that she was there
and waited on by a rather odd woman.
A personality trait that she would
be particularly knowledgeable about.
Anyway, this woman who allegedly...
-Never mind. I'll talk to her.
She's waiting right outside, sir.
Ms White. Our manager, Mr Sloan.
Perhaps I can help you.
-Perhaps you can.
This thimble, it's damaged.
-It most assuredly is.
Why don't you take it back
to the Gift department...
I did not purchase this in the Gift
department. But on the ninth floor.
That's what we don't understand.
We don't have a ninth floor.
I was taken to the ninth floor.
I was waited on by a very odd woman.
Your receipt?
I didn't get a receipt
But I paid cash.
I gave her $25.
She gave me this thimble and I...
There she is. There's the woman
who waited on me. Miss?
Miss, I wonder if you'd...
How is she?
-All right. She was just frightened.
What about this delusion of hers?
-I don't know, I didn't talk to her.
But she's resting now.
I think, maybe even gone to sleep.
Tell her we're closing.
Tell her to come back tomorrow.
And we'll get her a replacement
or a refund.
Ms Pettigrew, we're closing up now.
What I'd like to give her is a one-way
bus ticket to a department store...
preferably in Chicago or
Los Angeles or Honolulu.
Ms Pettigrew, did you hear me?
We're closing up now. Ms Keevers...
you have a customer. Hurry, please.
-All right, I'm coming.
Somebody?
Please, I'm locked in here.
Anyone?
I need some help.
Anyone? Please?
Marsha.
Marsha.
Marsha?
Who do you think you're fooling?
Come on, dear.
Climb off it.
You remember, Marsha.
You know who you are.
You remember, Marsha.
-Climb off it. Come on.
Come on, dear.
Now, Marsha, dear.
You'll forgive an observation but
you're acting like a silly child.
Come now, Marsha.
Think now.
Concentrate.
Remember now?
All of us will try and help you.
We'll help you concentrate.
Remember now?
Coming back to you?
That's really odd, but suddenly...
-Remember. Coming back now, is it?
I'm a mannequin. That's what I am.
And it was my turn...
Your turn to leave us for a month.
Becoming much clearer now, isn't it?
You left us for a month and
you lived with the outsiders.
But you were due back yesterday
and you didn't show up.
That's very selfish.
All of us wait our turn and we
simply do not overstay it.
It was my turn starting last night.
I'm one day delayed already.
Of course, I'm sorry.
I forgot.
When you're on the outside,
everything seems so normal.
As if...
-As if what, Marsha?
As if we were like the others.
Like the outsiders.
Like the real people.
-Well, no serious harm done.
Well, I'll see you all in a month.
Take good care of yourselves.
-Have a ball.
And you'll all miss me?
-Yes!
And you'll all be here
when I get back?
Bye.
Did you enjoy yourself?
Was it fun?
Ever so much fun.
Ever so much fun.
Good morning, dear. We're expecting
$100 out of you today.
Keep your powder dry, darling.
Well, it will sell.
Morning, ladies.
Here, break it up. Back to
your posts, girls. It's 9:00.
Marsha White in her normal
and natural state.
A wooden lady with a painted face
who, one month out of the year...
looks as normal and as
flesh and blood as you and I.
But it makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Just how normal are we?
Just who are the people we nod our
hellos to as we pass on the street?
A rather good question to ask.
Particularly in
the Twilight Zone.
English Subtitles by
B. Cornelis - Pandorafilm - Heerlen
First Aired: 10 June 1960
English Subtitles by
Pandorafilm - Heerlen
You're about to enter
another dimension.
A dimension not only of sight
and sound, but of mind.
A journey into a wondrous land
of imagination.
Next stop: The Twilight Zone
May I show you something?
-No, that's not what I'm looking for.
Going up, ma'am.
Housewares?
-That would be the mezzanine, ma'am.
What in particular were
you looking for?
Gold thimbles.
You had them advertised.
That would be Specialties, ma'am.
The ninth floor.
I'm not accustomed to such service.
-Ma'am?
There were a lot of people waiting
or the elevator. I have a private one.
This is an express elevator
to the ninth floor.
The others are all locals
this time of day.
Express elevator to the ninth floor
of a department store.
Carrying Ms Marsha White on a
most prosaic, ordinary errand.
Ninth floor.
There must be some mistake.
There's nothing here.
Ms Marsha White, on the ninth floor.
Specialties department,
looking for a gold thimble.
The odds are that she'll find it.
But there are even better odds that
she'll find something else.
Because this isn't
just a department store.
This happens to be
the Twilight Zone.
Was someone helping you?
Can I show you something?
Yes. I was looking for a gold
thimble. A gift for my mother.
A gold thimble. I think
we have something you'd like.
This way, please.
How about this?
It's 14-karat gold and quite
distinctive looking, I think.
Don't you?
-Yes, I think this will do.
This is a charge?
Is this a charge, miss?
I beg your pardon. A charge?
No, I'll pay for it.
You want it gift wrapped?
-Yes, please.
No, I'll wrap it myself.
-Miss, that's 22.80 plus tax.
$25 even.
Now that's odd.
-What is, Marsha?
You haven't any merchandise here
at all, except the thimble.
Except the very thing I needed.
The whole floor, it looks so empty.
You called me Marsha.
-Did I? I'm sorry.
That was forward of me. I apologize.
-How did you know my name?
I must have seen you in the store.
-No, you haven't. I've never seen you.
Forget it, but what
kind of a place is this?
All I want is a gold thimble.
I come up on a floor that hasn't a
thing, except what I'm looking for.
This I call odd.
-Please come again.
Any time.
Thank you.
-Ms White?
Are you happy?
-I beg your pardon?
Am I what? Am I happy?
Forgive me, but that's really
none of your business.
Really? It's none of my business.
All right, suit yourself.
It's none of my business.
Going down.
Found what you were looking for?
-As a matter of fact, I did.
Also as a matter of fact, it was the
only thing for sale on that floor.
Very efficient. One entire floor
devoted to the sale of one thimble.
An extremely oddball saleslady.
Somebody ought to look into.
This is scratched.
I didn't notice that before.
I can't send this to my mother.
It's scratched, and it's dented too.
Look here.
Complaints, third floor.
-Look at this thing!
It's scratched and it looks as
if somebody stepped on it.
Third floor, Complaints.
I told her that all the gold
thimbles that we have, are in Gifts.
And we would replace a damaged item.
I distinctly told her that.
Then what is the problem,
Mr Armbruster?
The customer claims that she
didn't get the item in Gifts.
That she got it
in another department.
Tell her to take it back to the
department where she purchased it.
That's just the point. She says that
she has purchased a gold thimble...
on the ninth floor.
Ninth floor?
Mr Armbruster...
I trust you informed the lady that
this store has no ninth floor.
I have tried desperately
to acquaint her with this fact.
She still insists that she was there
and waited on by a rather odd woman.
A personality trait that she would
be particularly knowledgeable about.
Anyway, this woman who allegedly...
-Never mind. I'll talk to her.
She's waiting right outside, sir.
Ms White. Our manager, Mr Sloan.
Perhaps I can help you.
-Perhaps you can.
This thimble, it's damaged.
-It most assuredly is.
Why don't you take it back
to the Gift department...
I did not purchase this in the Gift
department. But on the ninth floor.
That's what we don't understand.
We don't have a ninth floor.
I was taken to the ninth floor.
I was waited on by a very odd woman.
Your receipt?
I didn't get a receipt
But I paid cash.
I gave her $25.
She gave me this thimble and I...
There she is. There's the woman
who waited on me. Miss?
Miss, I wonder if you'd...
How is she?
-All right. She was just frightened.
What about this delusion of hers?
-I don't know, I didn't talk to her.
But she's resting now.
I think, maybe even gone to sleep.
Tell her we're closing.
Tell her to come back tomorrow.
And we'll get her a replacement
or a refund.
Ms Pettigrew, we're closing up now.
What I'd like to give her is a one-way
bus ticket to a department store...
preferably in Chicago or
Los Angeles or Honolulu.
Ms Pettigrew, did you hear me?
We're closing up now. Ms Keevers...
you have a customer. Hurry, please.
-All right, I'm coming.
Somebody?
Please, I'm locked in here.
Anyone?
I need some help.
Anyone? Please?
Marsha.
Marsha.
Marsha?
Who do you think you're fooling?
Come on, dear.
Climb off it.
You remember, Marsha.
You know who you are.
You remember, Marsha.
-Climb off it. Come on.
Come on, dear.
Now, Marsha, dear.
You'll forgive an observation but
you're acting like a silly child.
Come now, Marsha.
Think now.
Concentrate.
Remember now?
All of us will try and help you.
We'll help you concentrate.
Remember now?
Coming back to you?
That's really odd, but suddenly...
-Remember. Coming back now, is it?
I'm a mannequin. That's what I am.
And it was my turn...
Your turn to leave us for a month.
Becoming much clearer now, isn't it?
You left us for a month and
you lived with the outsiders.
But you were due back yesterday
and you didn't show up.
That's very selfish.
All of us wait our turn and we
simply do not overstay it.
It was my turn starting last night.
I'm one day delayed already.
Of course, I'm sorry.
I forgot.
When you're on the outside,
everything seems so normal.
As if...
-As if what, Marsha?
As if we were like the others.
Like the outsiders.
Like the real people.
-Well, no serious harm done.
Well, I'll see you all in a month.
Take good care of yourselves.
-Have a ball.
And you'll all miss me?
-Yes!
And you'll all be here
when I get back?
Bye.
Did you enjoy yourself?
Was it fun?
Ever so much fun.
Ever so much fun.
Good morning, dear. We're expecting
$100 out of you today.
Keep your powder dry, darling.
Well, it will sell.
Morning, ladies.
Here, break it up. Back to
your posts, girls. It's 9:00.
Marsha White in her normal
and natural state.
A wooden lady with a painted face
who, one month out of the year...
looks as normal and as
flesh and blood as you and I.
But it makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Just how normal are we?
Just who are the people we nod our
hellos to as we pass on the street?
A rather good question to ask.
Particularly in
the Twilight Zone.
English Subtitles by
B. Cornelis - Pandorafilm - Heerlen