MovieChat Forums > The Twilight Zone (1959) Discussion > Was Helen Foley molested as a child?

Was Helen Foley molested as a child?

posted 7 years ago by AngularTurnip (3337)
12 replies | jump to latest

With the censors being what they were back then there was no way Serling would be able to address this theme the way TV could today. But considering what Peter Selden admits to Helen -- that he had a crush on her when she was just a child ( he himself being at the time an adult)-- and the fact the young Helen is in bed when Peter attacks her it's entirely possible Serling dropped as many clues he could as to Helen's molestation without crossing a line and attracting the censor's ire.

[–] Xonioc (76) 7 years ago

Which episode is this??

[–] AngularTurnip (3337) 7 years ago

Nightmare as a Child

[–] Xonioc (76) 7 years ago

Oh right, I was going to watch that about an hour ago, but I was kinda put off by the blonde girl on the stairs.

[–] AngularTurnip (3337) 7 years ago

Pedophobia?

[–] Tristan_Booth (405) 7 years ago

To be fair, the girl was rather creepy. However, the actor played a more normal role as a teenager (dating Chip Douglas):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4T7M0cbDJg

[–] AngularTurnip (3337) 7 years ago

The best part was when Markie says to Helen "You still don't understand," and, as Helen replies "Understand what?" you can see Markie mouthing Helen's words. Whether that was a mistake or intentional it's still a pretty freaky touch.

I've never seen Terry Burnham in anything else except "Nightmare as a Child." Thanks for the link.

[–] Jennie_Portrait (804) 7 years ago

thanks for the clip. She was a lovely teenager. But she ended up having a sad life.

[–] kr-1959 (110) 7 years ago

If I remember correctly, wasn't he shown fleeing immediately after killing her mother? I may be mistaken; its not one I watch frequently.

[–] doug65oh (205) 7 years ago

You know, I’m not sure offhand, kr – but I distinctly recall Selden telling Helen Foley just before his own death that the only thing that had saved her young life years before was the fact that she started screaming hell for leather immediately, raising the alarm to her mother’s murder and forcing Selden to flee and leave behind a living witness.

It's either shown or we hear about it from Selden himself - or perhaps both.

Here we are, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUbp5q436x0 The timing is weird, but if you seek to roughly 22:09 and let it play through until 25:23 the whole thing is laid out - Selden's theft, all of it.

[–] sleepingtiger (712) 7 years ago

Kr-1959:
Hey, thanks! Watched TZ the whole time I was growing up, but I don't ever remember seeing this episode. BTW, how do you post links on here so people can actually click on them? I still haven't found out how to do that, and would like to.

[–] Tristan_Booth (405) 7 years ago

The formatting info is not the easiest to find, but I looked it up a while back:

Your URL link must include: http(s)://

Type URL as in this example: (URL)https://moviechat.org(/URL)
Except, the parentheses above should be brackets: [ ]
(If I had typed it with brackets in the example, it would have been a clickable URL.)

Basically, it begins with the code of what you want to do, and ends with slash/code to end it.
It's the same format with italics (i), bold (b), quote (quote), and spoiler (spoiler).

[–] kr-1959 (110) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] telegonus (738) 7 years ago

I'd say if Helen Foley was not literally physically molested she was probably abused in some way as a child, and maybe by Selden. Shepperd Strudwick's playing of Selden makes him one of the creepiest villains of the entire Twilight Zone. There's an air of serene evil about him. The actor's aristocratic bearing and refined speaking voice suggest a kind of middle aged Dorian Gray. He oozes unwholesome...