That is the question, do we really want to know what others are thinking? Good, bad, about us, about others? It can be a loaded question, and it has been asked a few times over the years, notably in the movie “What Women Want” starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt in 2000. Now while it may be a nice thought and dream, I would imagine we might like the outcome.
Opening Narration: “Mr. Hector B. Poole, resident of the Twilight Zone. Flip a coin and keep flipping it. What are the odds? Half the time it will come up heads, half the time tails. But in one freakish chance in a million, it’ll land on its edge. Mr. Hector B. Poole, a bright human coin – on his way to the bank.”
In this episode, pre-Bewitched fame stars Dick York as a mild manner bank clerk Hector B. Poole. On his way to work one morning, he tosses a coin into a vendors box for the morning newspaper, and it miraculously lands on its edge. Suddenly he can hear other people’s thoughts, but at first, he is confused as to why everyone is talking but not speaking.
At work, he hears his Boss, Mr. Bagby, thinking about a weekend affair with his mistress. He also hears the thoughts of Helen Turner, a co-worker who admires him from afar and wishes he would be more assertive. While finalizing the paperwork for a $200,000 loan to a businessman, he hears him thinking about using the money at the race track, to win back more money he has embezzled from his company. Hector challenges the man, who accuses him of lying and withdraws his business from the bank to Bagby’s annoyance.
Next Hector hears an old, trusted employee, Mr. Smithers, thinking about how he will steal cash from the bank and escape to Bermuda. He talks to Helen in full confidence; though she doubts him, she urges him to tell Bagby about Smithers. Bagby doubt’s him but believes him enough to try and catch Smithers in the act, but Smithers is proven innocent. Bagby’s, now angry with the day’s events, Fires Hector. Mr. Smithers did admit that he has fantasized for years about such theft as an escape for his dead-end job, but is too much of a coward to ever go through with it.
Hector vents his unhappiness to Helen: being able to read minds has taught him more than he wanted to know about the disconnect between people’s thoughts and their actions. Bagby learns that the embezzling businessman has just been arrested for gambling with company money, offers to reinstate Hector. Feeling an upper hand blackmails Bagby with his knowledge of his adultery, demands a promotion and a vacation to Bermuda for Mr. Smithers at the bank’s expense.
After work, as Hector returns home with Helen, now his girlfriend. He goes to the same newsstand to purchase the evening edition, knocks over the same coin from before. Though he has now lost his ability to read people’s thoughts, it does not matter. He has a new girlfriend, a new job and is a changed man for the better with a new-found confidence in himself.
Closing Narration: “One time in a million, a coin will land on its edge, but all it takes to knock it over is a vagrant breeze, a vibration, or a slight blow. Hector B. Poole, a human coin, on edge for a brief time – in the Twilight Zone.”
A heartwarming episode that first aired on February 3, 1961, as the 16th episode from the second season. It was the second episode directed by James Sheldon and the third by George Clayton. It was one that I always enjoyed during reruns, as it stands apart from many Twilight Zone episodes due to its humor.
For me, “A Penny for Your Thoughts” is not about the desire to want to know what people are thinking to have an upper hand in life. On the surface that is the appearance. To me, it is about learning to have the confidence to better one’s self, whether it is having better self-esteem or fight for a better place in life. Most days, I feel like Hector B. Poole at the start of his day, learning on how to become him by the end of that day should be the goal and message for everyone.
