I was just watching the news about Ukraine, and seeing how they are on the verge of Balkanizing themselves even though they aren't even in the Balkans, and it brought to mind a TV show that I had seen back in the 1960s and have often thought of but never pursued.
It was written by Rod Serling and had the feel of a Twilight Zone episode. I remembered a segment of that show depicting the world after a nuclear war, when we had basically bombed ourselves back to the stone age, but the people were not satisfied to stop there. Some guy, designated as The Imperial ME, was rallying the survivors to continue to fragment and kill one another, until only one of them was left.
I just Googled a phrase from that show that I remembered, "I am the Imperial Me" and found that the show I remembered was a United Nations special titled, "A Carol for Another Christmas." It was broadcast in December of 1964, but then never rebroadcast until late December of 2012 and again in December of 2013, on TCM.
The cast is a mindblower. Peter Sellers, Sterling Hayden, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Gazzara, Steve Lawrence, Pat Hingle, Robert Shaw, Britt Ekland, Percy Rodrigues. I had to click the name of Percy Rodrigues and then search for his images to find out who he was. Yet another instance of a Rod Serling show that casts someone before he had become recognizable.
They didn't list the bit players in the credits. Joe Santos, later of the Rockford files, was one. Peter Fonda had his part cut out of the finished print, and Richard Harris's name is elsewhere associated with the casting, leading to the conclusion that he might have been in unused footage also.
It is listed variously as unavailable for sale, and so as best as I can determine, the only way to see it presently is to visit one of the two film museums that have copies. I'm hopeful that TCM will run it again this December.
It was written by Rod Serling and had the feel of a Twilight Zone episode. I remembered a segment of that show depicting the world after a nuclear war, when we had basically bombed ourselves back to the stone age, but the people were not satisfied to stop there. Some guy, designated as The Imperial ME, was rallying the survivors to continue to fragment and kill one another, until only one of them was left.
I just Googled a phrase from that show that I remembered, "I am the Imperial Me" and found that the show I remembered was a United Nations special titled, "A Carol for Another Christmas." It was broadcast in December of 1964, but then never rebroadcast until late December of 2012 and again in December of 2013, on TCM.
The cast is a mindblower. Peter Sellers, Sterling Hayden, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Gazzara, Steve Lawrence, Pat Hingle, Robert Shaw, Britt Ekland, Percy Rodrigues. I had to click the name of Percy Rodrigues and then search for his images to find out who he was. Yet another instance of a Rod Serling show that casts someone before he had become recognizable.
They didn't list the bit players in the credits. Joe Santos, later of the Rockford files, was one. Peter Fonda had his part cut out of the finished print, and Richard Harris's name is elsewhere associated with the casting, leading to the conclusion that he might have been in unused footage also.
It is listed variously as unavailable for sale, and so as best as I can determine, the only way to see it presently is to visit one of the two film museums that have copies. I'm hopeful that TCM will run it again this December.