Happy Birthday to the Bard! Glad He Isn’t Here!

Today is the 449th birthday of William Shakespeare.  The above video is from the hilarious The Bard episode of The Twilight Zone broadcast in 1963.  William Shakespeare is brought by magic into modern times and works as a script writer for a television show.  Burt Reynolds gives an absolutely dead on impersonation of Marlon Brando.  Rod Serling poured into the script his own frustrations as a television writer and the episode can be taken as a searing, albeit humorous, critique of the level of literacy of what was being broadcast.  I have always found the episode a hoot, but now my enjoyment is tinged with sadness with the knowledge that most television programs from that era read like Shakespeare compared to the toxic dump that is most television fare these days.  I am glad that Shakespeare is not around to see it.

Ah, but that is too dark.  If Shakespeare stands for anything in his plays it is the infinite possibilities in men and women, and that with courage we can all play our roles with honor, no matter the odds against us.