Podcast Summary

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Twilight Zone ep014 – “A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain”
Date: August 25, 2025
Host: Harold's Old Time Radio
Main Cast: Adam West (Harman Gordon), Stacy Keach (Narrator), Meg Tholkin (Flora Gordon), Christian Stolte (Raymond Gordon), Doug James and Lynn Foley
Adapted by: Dennis Etchison from Rod Serling’s script

Episode Overview

This episode features a radio adaptation of “A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain,” an original story from The Twilight Zone. The drama explores the deep fears and desires surrounding aging, love, and the quest for youth, told through the troubled marriage of the much-older Harman Gordon and his young, restless wife, Flora. Desperate to bridge the age gap and save his marriage, Harman makes the fateful decision to experiment with his scientist brother’s age-reversing serum—with unforeseen and ironic consequences.

Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. Opening: The Twilight Zone Premise (00:09)

• Stacy Keach (Narrator): Introduces the show’s setting: “You unlock this door with the key of imagination… You’ve just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.”

2. Introducing the Gordons: Age, Insecurity, and Tension (00:42–03:35)

• Harman Gordon is anxious about being late for his wife Flora, revealing his insecurity about living with a much younger woman.
• Flora Gordon is flippant and dissatisfied, her youthful energy clashing with Harman's tired routine.
• Narrator: “An aging man who leads his life... in quiet desperation... a slave of love… ever since his heart was captured by a woman some 40 years his junior... What he seeks most desperately is a fountain of youth.” (03:26)

3. Domestic Strife: Generation Gap and Resentment (04:45–13:11)

• Flora’s Discontent: Desires excitement, adventure, and resents Harman’s lethargy. “That routine gets old fast. Very old.” (05:11)
• Harman’s Plea: He apologizes and tries to connect, but Flora mocks his frailty and sentimentality.
• Memorable exchange:
  • Flora: “You better watch yourself, honey. If you ever take me to a swinging weekend in Egypt, I might just run away with a mummy. Know what I mean?” (08:32)
  • Harman: “There are things here that mean a great deal to me.” (07:47)

4. Desperation and Science: The Plea to Raymond (13:11–19:01)

• Harman calls his brother Raymond, a research doctor, for help late at night.
• Scene with test monkeys hints at youth and dominance in social structures, setting up the plausibility of the serum.

Notable Quote:

• Raymond: “She’s turned you into a fucking frightened, quaking damned fool who dotes on her, gives in to her whims and runs after her like a poodle.” (15:14)

5. The Forbidden Experiment: Harman’s Begging (16:31–19:01)

• Harman pleads with Raymond to test the rejuvenation serum on him.
• Raymond’s Objection: Warns of lethal risks, unknown consequences, saying human trials are “20 years away” and “we don’t know what we’re doing.”

Crisis Moment:

• Harman: “Then it’s the same as a death sentence.” (18:45)
• Raymond: “I wouldn’t try experimenting on a strange bum picked up off the street, let alone my own brother. The answer is a firm, irrevocable. No. No.” (18:47)

6. Ultimatum and Suicide Threat (19:11–21:51)

• Harman threatens suicide if he is not helped, expressing existential despair about love and aging:

  • Harman: “Do you know what it’s like to believe your life is over? And then suddenly one day she… to walk into a room and feel it begin all over again?” (20:02–20:31)

• Raymond relents, unable to refuse his brother’s desperation.

7. The Injection: Hope and Uncertainty (22:13–24:16)

• Harman is injected with the serum under dire warnings. First effects expected within six hours.

  • Raymond: “God help me, but you don’t leave me much choice.” (22:44)

• Harman is told to rest and await changes; the morning brings dramatic transformation.

8. Transformation: Youth Regained, But... (25:20–31:01)

• Raymond returns: Harman is visibly younger, looking 30 years old, full of energy.

  • Flora: “You look so. So young. What have you done to yourself?” (27:22)
  • Harman: “Like $10 million, tax-free, that’s how I feel.” (27:42)

• Process goes awry: Harman continues to regress, appearing younger by the minute—“If I keep going at this rate, I may get drafted again.” (29:27)

9. Ironic Justice: Regression Beyond Repair (31:06–35:47)

• Regression reaches infancy; Harman becomes a baby. Flora is horrified as the responsibility of care falls on her.

  • Raymond, to Flora: “Now it’s something else. Something very different. Take a good long look.” (34:09)

  • Flora: “You’re out of your mind if you think I’m gonna spend the rest of my life taking care of that grubby, thumb-sucking little baby in there.” (34:46)

  • Raymond: “That’s precisely what you’re going to do. Short of that… you leave the premises as you came, unadorned. The furs, the jewelry and everything else my brother gave you that remains here.” (34:52)

• Raymond delivers poetic justice: “He’ll be growing older, and so will you. Until you’re both truly old. A little poetic justice. Don’t you think that now you should finally have to drink from the same cup?” (35:47)

10. Final Narration: Twilight Zone Reflection (37:11)

• Narrator (Stacy Keach): “Harman Gordon is sleeping. He’s taking a little nap. He’ll wake up soon and impatiently demand a lollipop... Youth is like that. It demands.... the oppressed has become the persecutor, and youth has taken over. It’s simply the way the calendar crumbles in the Twilight Zone.”

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “You unlock this door with the key of imagination... You’ve just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.”
  —Narrator (Stacy Keach), 00:09

• “I could forgive her her appetites, Harmon... But I cannot forgive her for what she’s done to you. She’s turned you into a fucking frightened, quaking damned fool...”
  —Raymond Gordon, 15:14

• “You can't imagine what it's like. I feel... light all over. I could breathe again. No fatigue, no heavy, dull tiredness. I feel as if I'd been lugging a case of concrete on my back and somebody just cut it away.”
  —Harman Gordon, 29:52

• “You’re out of your mind if you think I’m gonna spend the rest of my life taking care of that grubby, thumb-sucking little baby in there.”
  —Flora Gordon, 34:46

• “Don’t you think that now you should finally have to drink from the same cup?... Youth always defeats age and then despises it for losing...”
  —Raymond Gordon, 35:47

Important Timestamps

• 00:09 – Classic Twilight Zone opening monologue.
• 03:26 – Narrator contextualizes Harman’s desperation for youth.
• 13:11 – Harman calls his brother to plead for help.
• 15:14 – Raymond’s brutal assessment of Flora’s impact.
• 18:45 – Harman's plea: "Then it's the same as a death sentence."
• 22:13 – The injection is administered.
• 27:22 – Harman’s dramatic transformation is recognized.
• 29:27 – Harman continues to rapidly regress in age.
• 34:46 – Flora is told her new responsibility is caring for infant Harman.
• 37:11 – Final Twilight Zone narration and moral reflection.

Tone & Style

• Dialogue-driven drama: Fast-paced, caustic exchanges between Harman, Flora, and Raymond.
• Darkly ironic: The “fountain of youth” brings poetic comeuppance rather than happiness.
• Narrative voice: Stacy Keach delivers classic, wry Twilight Zone prose.

Summary Takeaway

A deeply incisive Twilight Zone story about how the yearning to recapture lost youth, when granted without wisdom or restraint, can yield cruel and unexpected consequences. Harman’s desperation turns the promise of renewal into a tragic reversal, forcing both husband and wife to confront the full consequences of their choices—reminding listeners that neither youth nor love is free from the passage of time.