The Masks

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The Twilight Zone original series Season five (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5) Fall 1963 – Summer 1964 List of The Twilight Zone episodes
Episodes: In Praise of Pip Steel Nightmare at 20,000 Feet A Kind of a Stopwatch The Last Night of a Jockey Living Doll The Old Man in the Cave Uncle Simon Probe 7, Over and Out The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain Ninety Years Without Slumbering Ring-a-Ding Girl You Drive The Long Morrow The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross Number 12 Looks Just Like You Black Leather Jackets Night Call From Agnes—With Love Spur of the Moment An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Queen of the Nile What's in the Box The Masks I Am the Night—Color Me Black Sounds and Silences Caesar and Me The Jeopardy Room Stopover in a Quiet Town The Encounter Mr. Garrity and the Graves The Brain Center at Whipple's Come Wander With Me The Fear The Bewitchin' Pool

“The Masks” is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.

“The Masks” publicity shot

Details

Episode number: 145
Season: 5
Production code: 2601
Original air date: March 20, 1964
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ida Lupino
Producer: Bert Granet
Music: uncredited

[edit] Cast

Jason Foster: Robert Keith
Wilfred Harper: Milton Selzer
Emily Harper: Virginia Gregg
Paula Harper: Brooke Hayward
Wilfred Harper Jr.: Alan Sues
Dr. Samuel Thorne: Willis Bouchey

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

On the verge of dying, Jason Foster summons his greedy family to help him celebrate Mardi Gras. He requires, as a condition of receiving his inheritance, that they all wear masks during dinner. These one-of-a-kind faces, crafted by "an old Cajun", hold in their unsightly expressions every blemish and vice in the Fosters' shallow personalities -- the faces of a money-grubbing miser, a miserable coward, a vainglorious songbird and a careless, sadistic oaf, while Jason wears a mask that represents death. Many hours go by, during which the ugly masks become very uncomfortable. Midnight approaches and Jason passes away, leaving his relatives his entire fortune as dictated by his will; but as they rip off their masks, they discover that their faces have taken on the physical characteristics of the masks. As Jason's final wish, they must now wear in their countenances the selfishness and greed that they wear in their hearts.