Unfinished Kris

In recent weeks, the term “hell to pay” has been regularly gracing the news. Let me say up front, this is not a political post. While the Donald could certainly be the subject of a post titled “Hell Toupee”, other than the fact that he’s the one saying that there will be hell to pay, this is not about him or politics.

It *is* about creating. It’s about creating something that sticks with or even imprints on the consumer of the creation.

On April 13, 1986, I was imprinted upon by an episode of Amazing Stories. It was actually the title of the episode that stuck with me. The title was, “Hell Toupee”. I was 12 years old when I watched that episode, and I still remember the kick I got out of the title when it flashed on the screen. The word play piqued my interest and tickled my funny bone.

Fast-forward to 2024 when every other news anchor is quoting the president-elect about the hell there will be to pay if XYZ doesn’t happen. While I had always thought “hell toupee” with a giggle whenever I heard “hell to pay” throughout the many decades following that day in 1986, hearing it so many times recently forced me to think back to that day.

As a long buried imprint, I had never given it much thought. All I could remember was the basic gist of the episode and the title. I thought it must have been an episode of Tales from the Crypt or something like that, but I couldn’t really remember, so I Googled the title and there it was. (Thank you internet for holding all of my core memories for me!)

It struck me that this tiny little nugget of word play had stuck with me for, now, almost 4 decades!

My search tells me that Gail Parent and Kevin (or is it Ken?) Parent were the writers of this episode. I can’t find anything on Kevin Ken, but Gail also wrote for the Carol Burnett show among many other productions. So, obviously she was successful in many ways.

I just hope she knew (before she passed in 2016) that her work had imprinted greatly on at least one future creator who would strive to leave such an imprint on another. Thanks, Gail (and Ken/Kevin), for the imprint and the inspiration!