Friday, July 15, 2011

From The Vault: The Hi-Way Cafe - 2009

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I used to be part of an art blog called The Pop Project, where each month all the artists would submit pieces centered around a theme. One month it was "The Twilight Zone", so I chose to illustrate a shot from my all-time favorite TZ episode, "Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?"

Set entirely in a quiet, off-the-beaten-track greasy spoon, WTRMPSU? is about a bus full of passengers who get stranded there because of a massive snowstorm. Rumors fly that an alien has been seen nearby, and paranoia quickly takes root, with all the patrons suspecting its each other.

Its a creepy, funny, tense show, with a hell of an ending. I saw it for the first time when I was eighteen, and amazingly it still kinda creeped me out. I've watched it a few times since, and it still really works.

Anyway, I had a number of moments from the show to represent visually, but I liked this one, which is just before the big ending. There's no sound on the soundtrack; making this moment even more unnerving, since (if you've seen the show), you get a small sense that something is most definitely up.


Not too long after posting this piece on the blog, I was contacted by the granddaughter of actor John Hoyt, who starred in the episode and is represented above. She loved the piece, and that her Grandfather was remembered so many decades later. She asked for a copy of the piece, which I was only too happy to provide. Who would have guessed such a thing?


I like this piece overall; but I think my favorite part is the stuff seen through the window. It kinda looks like it would in real life: fuzzy and indistinct, but you can still sorta make out what's going on. I need to do more of that!


4 comments:

Wings1295 said...

Okay, the piece itself is just art, plain and simple. I would frame and hang that and enjoy looking at it for years. Kudos on that.

But getting contacted by Hoyt's granddaughter about it? Sweet icing on an already delicious treat! How cool!

John King said...

Couldn't agree more Joe... Good one!

CJ said...

Cool artwork!

howiecricket52 said...

I really love this episode too! At one point, it's kinda like Jack Elam is doing a stand up comedy routine! "Let's look for the person with 75 legs!" Then, this has a double twist ending! So cool!