"Submitted for Your Approval: The Rod Serling Conference" will bring together scholars and industry professionals for talks, panel discussions, and screenings focusing on the man who rose to fame during television's "golden age." The conference will be held on the Ithaca College campus April 21-22.
The Ithaca College community is invited to particpate in the following events during the conference:
Friday, April 21
Serling's Planet of the Apes
1:40 p.m., Park Auditorium
Open to the IC Community
An examination of the evolution of Serling's screenplay for the 1967 film "Planet of the Apes" by Gordon Webb, assistant professor of television-radio at Ithaca College. Based on material from the Rod Serling Archives and interviews with people involved in the film, Webb's research settled once and for all the issue of who first conjured up the movie's classic twist ending.
Rod Serling's The Loner
3:00 p.m., Park Auditorium
Open to the IC Community
A discussion by Tony Albarella---who serves on the board of directors of the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation and is editor of "Timeless as Infinity: The Complete Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling"--of Serling's short-lived television series "The Loner," an existential Western that starred Lloyd Bridges.
Keynote Address: Marc Scott Zicree
8:00 p.m., Park Auditorium
Open to the Public, Limited seating available
Marc Scott Zicree, author of the Twilight Zone Companion, will speak with his wife, Elaine. Their credits include such series as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Babylon Five," and the 1980s version of "The Twilight Zone."
Saturday, April 22
The Twilight Zone Marathon
7:30 p.m., Park Auditorium
Open to the Public, Limited seating available
The conference will conclude with a marathon showing of "Twilight Zone" episodes voted most popular in a poll conducted through the conference website. To vote for your favorite episode, visit: https://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/serling/voting_script/index.php
Rod Serling:
Serling taught at Ithaca College from 1967 until his untimely death in 1975 at the age of 50. He had grown up in nearby Binghamton, and the family cottage on Cayuga Lake later became a frequent gathering place for students eager to learn from the six-time Emmy Award winner. Carol Serling, a longtime member of the board of trustees, established the Rod Serling Archives at Ithaca College, a collection of her late husband's television scripts, movie screenplays, unproduced works, and other artifacts. Serling's Emmys and other memorabilia will be on display at the conference, which is sponsored by the College's Roy H. Park School of Communications.
For conference information: visit: https://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/serling.
