The Rod Serling Zone
Binghamton, New York
For an-all-too-brief period after World War II, the city of Binghamton pumped out mid-level celebrities. They were the not-quite-giants of their day: Richard Deacon, who played the boss on the Dick Van Dyke Show and Lumpy's dad on Leave it to Beaver; Jim Hutton, who starred in Period of Adjustment and The Green Berets (and fathered Timothy Hutton); Johnny Hart, the cartoonist who created B.C. and The Wizard of Id. All were honored with bronze stars on the Binghamton Sidewalk of Stars, which extended out from Binghamton's Metrocenter like a red carpet of cracking concrete.
Bandstand memorial to Serling's Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance."
The first member of the Sidewalk of Stars was Binghamton's most famous hometown hero: Rod "Twilight Zone" Serling, whose family moved here in 1926 when he was less than two years old. The popularity of Rod can be seen in the wear and tear inflicted on the stars next to him, from years of Twilight Zone fans standing on them while admiring Rod. Let's take a moment to acknowledge those long-suffering neighbors: John Covelli (guest conductor of the Boston Pops), Frank T. Mincolla (a producer), and Anthony George (a soap-opera actor). Rod's star notes his role, simply, as "Writer."
Binghamton's Walk of Stars was torn up in 2014, with plans to relocate to the Forum Theatre on Washington Street. In 2020 the sidewalk remained starless, a tragic loss of celebrity appreciation -- but perhaps it continues to exist in some parallel dimension Binghamton.
Rod Serling fans can still get in the Zone downtown and in other Binghamton locales.
In the lobby of the Forum Theatre, a permanent exhibit titled "Day of a Playwright" chronicles Rod Serling's life, with a highlight being his 1937 Good Penmanship certificate.
A historical marker on the front lawn of the high school proclaims that Rod was here, although the plaque itself looks suspect -- like it once commemorated something else and was retooled as a shop class project.
Further west, in Recreation Park, an inscription in the floor of the bandstand honors "Walking Distance," a Twilight Zone episode set in a very similar park in which Gig Young plays a 36-year-old burned-out executive (Rod was 36 at the time).
