Aaron Tracy

I think if you think of the other great anthology series of the time, which was The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling, when he went and had writers writing for him, Richard Matheson was a really good match for Rod Serling in much the same way.

I mean, Hitchcock already thought like Roald Dahl did.

in terms of wanted twist endings, wanted a lot of macabre subtext, but also humor and surprise.

And they seem to be almost the same person in that regard.

So whether Hitchcock was directing it or one of his trusted people like Norman Lloyd was directing it, it came out the same way.

And also, Hitchcock was British.

And so there's that sort of affinity with understanding the understated approach to things that works with Roald Dahl stories.

I asked David to describe two of the most famous Dahl stories that were used on Hitchcock's show, the ones David referred to as classics.

Man from the South stars Steve McQueen before he was star Steve McQueen in Vegas with his last like dollar and a half.

And a guy early, early in the morning in Vegas comes up to him and offers him basically a bar bet.

And says, I've got the latest convertible.

I'll give that to you if the lighter that you just lit your cigarette with can light 10 times in succession without failing.

And Steve McQueen's character says, well, I don't have anything to bet.

And he said, well, I wouldn't ask you to bet anything that you couldn't afford to lose.

I'm just how about just the little finger on your left hand?

And so that's what the whole show is.

It just screams, don't try this at home.

I can't imagine this being on TV today.

But that was the idea.

That was one Roald Dahl story.