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"Shirley Temple's Storybook" The Terrible Clockman (1961)
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Overview
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TV Series:
"Shirley Temple's Storybook" (1958)Original Air Date:
29 January 1961 (Season 2, Episode 18)Plot:
Based on a story by Jules Verne, an evil alchemist moves to a small Swiss village and wishes to marry the local clockmaker's beautiful daughter... more | add synopsisPlot Keywords:
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Slightly Scary-Children Can Handle This One more (2 total)Cast
(Episode Credited cast) | Shirley Temple | ... | Gerande |
 | Eric Portman | ... | Van Der Graf |
| Sam Jaffe | ... | Zacharias |
 | John Wengraf | ... | The King |
 | Jacques Aubuchon | ... | The Burgomaster |
| David Frankham | ... | Aubert (as David Frankman) |
| Betty Garde | ... | The Flowerwoman |
| Garrett Lewis | ... | The Clockman |
| George Ives | ... | The Apothecary |
 | Jon Peters | ... | The Ironmonger |
| Joe Higgins | ... | The Tavernkeeper |
| Arthur Malet | ... | The Cook |
 | John Astin | ... | The Coachman |
| Henry McCann | ... | Van Der Graf's Servant |
| Ida Mae McKenzie | ... | Burgomaster's Wife |
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"Shirley Temple's Storybook" was an anthology series that Shirley hosted for children on NBC in the early 1960's. Shirley also typically played a role in each of the stories in the series. As a young child I was a big fan of the series and for me "The Terrible Clockman" (1961) was the most anticipated of the entire collection. At the conclusion of each week's telecast there would be a trailer for next week's show and I couldn't wait for this one to be shown. It looked to be very scary and it was based on a Jules Verne story.
Unfortunately it proved a disappointment. Although the format of "Shirley's Storybook", three act plays with theatre style production design, worked fine for drama it was not a good fit for science fiction. Too much suspension of disbelief was required. The title character is a man size clock, actually a guy inside a gold colored suit of medieval armor with a clock face. It looks surreal enough to be scary but the action sequences are very poorly staged.
The basic story involves an alchemist (played by Eric Portman) in league with the devil who wants to marry the beautiful daughter (played by Shirley) of a clockmaker (played by Dr. Zorba from "Ben Casey"). He blackmails them with a spell that manipulates time and turns a giant clock into a walking monster.
Watch for John Astin ("The Addams Family") in a minor role as the Coachman; you will probably recognize his voice before you recognize his face.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.