Syracuse Has Ties To The Twilight Zone

I'll bet you didn't know the creator of the series 'The Twilight Zone' was born in Syracuse on Christmas Day in 1924. Rod Serling was the second of two sons born to Esther and Sam Serling.

Rod Serling spent the majority of his growth years living and going to public school in Binghamton. Labeled the class clown by his teachers, until Rod reached the 7th grade and his English teacher put him on the track to public speaking.

Rod started to write early on and his writings, some based on what he heard on the radio, were the basis for the shows the public came to remember.

Shortly after his stint in the Army, he used the G.I. bill to go to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio and graduate with a degree of Bachelor of Arts. While attending college he met his future wife Carol Kramer. Rod and Carol had two daughters shortly after they married in 1948.

While doing the research on this blog I discovered how much of Rod's success was due to the scripts he wrote for radio early on while attending college. Serling won his first accolade as a writer and moved from radio to television as a writer for WKRC-TV in Cincinnati. As Serling 's time in college ended his scripts began to sell. He continued to write for TV and make a name for himself as a producer.

Rod packed up the Serling family in the late 50's but retained the family property in Binghampton and Cayuga Lake as a retreat.The family moved to California to be closer to the industry as a whole. Just about the time shows were being done live.

My wife and I watch the Twilight Zon marathon when ever it comes on the SyFy channel. Somehow there is always one episode that we haven't seen. Does that happen to you? Such a very talented artist that we lost far too soon.  So much information is available on this artist you could spend hours on it. We've only just scratched the surface as we have done here.

Hope you enjoyed this short piece thanks to Wikipedia.

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