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(See photos #1 and #2)
The episode's writer, Earl Hamner Jr, got the story idea from a newspaper article about the increasing divorce rate for married couples and the effect family separation had on children in California's San Fernando Valley.
The opening confrontation sequence (where Jeb and Sport declare they don't have to live with their bickering parents anymore and dive into the pool for good), was not written in the script. Due to the large amount of unusable film (connected with sound issues). The final edited version came up a few minutes short so the entire section from the climax of the episode was tacked onto the opening. Whit's "Howdy!" greeting as the kids emerge from the "swimming hole" and the tracking shot of the children in Aunt T's yard were repeated as well for the same reason.
The episode was supposed to air about three months earlier than it did, but it was beset by several problems.
All of the outside scenes had to be dubbed due to excessive back-lot noise. (The Aunt T scenes were spared this.) Mary Badham had redubbed Sport, like the Sharewood actors did, but Badham was already back home in Alabama when it was decided the audio needed to be done again. Rather than pay to fly Badham back to Los Angeles.
June Foray was brought in to dub Mary Badham's lines (possibly during the same timeframe when "Living Doll" was recorded).
June Foray full career credits -- text only
Both Sharewood children speak with Southern accents while their parents have generic American accents.
The writer Earl Hamner Jr., who later created 'The Waltons', changed the Sharewood kids first names to be similar the film "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) once Mary Badham was cast for "The Bewitchin' Pool". In the film, the children were named Scout and Jem. In this episode, the children are Sport and Jeb.
(See photo #3)
Earl Hamner Jr. said that he disliked the characterization of 'Aunt T.' as played by actress Georgia Simmons. Hamner stated that there were women whom he characterized as "earth mothers". Hamner's inspiration for 'Aunt T' came from the film "The Night Of The Hunter" (1955) with actress Lillian Gish as the protector of children.
Lillian Gish in "The Night Of The Hunter" 1-minute YouTube clip
(See photo #4)
Georgia Simmons full career credits -- text only
The swimming pool used in episode is the same one seen in Twilight Zone's fifth season's "Queen of the Nile," and the second season's "The Trouble with Templeton".
Earl Hamner, Jr. plot eerily mirrored the lives of the four Sharewood actors. The constantly bickering husband and wife actors, Tod Andrews and Dee Hartford, were both divorced and remarried (never to each other) prior to the filming of this episode. Andrews was married three times and attempted suicide by sleeping pills in between marriages.
Tod Andrews full career credits -- text only
Dee Hartford full career credits -- text only
Marc Scott Zicree notes that this episode was one of the first shows on television to address the problem of divorce in a unique escapist fable.
Earl Hamner, Jr. acknowledged writing characters from rural areas as being better people with stronger principles than characters who are from large cities.
Mary Badham lived in Alabama. Badham's parents (Henry Lee Badham Jr and Mary Iola Hewitt) married, had two children, and remained married until death.
Mary Badham herself married her husband, Richard Wilt, in 1975 and never divorced.
Mary Badham talks about "To Kill A Mockingbird Bird" and her relationship with Gregory Peck whom she still addressed as 'Atticus' when talking to him years later 3.5-minute YouTube video
Mary Badham full career credits -- text only
(See photo #5)
Anna Lee, a British actress, met her second husband, George Stafford, as the pilot of the plane on her USO tour during the Second World War. They married on June 8, 1944, and had three sons, John, Stephen and Tim Stafford. Lee became a naturalised US citizen under the name Joanna Boniface Stafford (#123624) on 6 April 1945; certificate issued 8 June 1945 (#6183889, Los Angeles, California).
Shortly after "The Bewitchin' Pool" filmed, Joanna and George Stafford filed for divorce. The Twilight Zone child actor would have been around 8-years-old. The exact date of the finalized divorce is not easily found, but the year was 1964 so the process was playing out about the same time as "The Bewitchin' Pool" aired. At some point, between the late 1960s and early 1970s, Tim Stafford would change his to Jeffrey Byron.
(See photo #6)
Tim Stafford / Jeffrey Byron full career credits -- text only
Earl Hamner,Jr. expressed disappointment with the final product of this episode as did Producer William Froug who apparently blamed Director Joseph M. Newman for the episode’s shortcomings.
Joseph M. Newman, who previously helmed “In Praise of Pip,” “The Last Night of a Jockey,” and “Black Leather Jackets” (he also directed an impressive ten Alfred Hitchcock Hours). Newman also directed sections of the classic science fiction film "This Island Earth" (1955).
Twilight Zone Radio Drama -- "The Bewitchin' Pool"
40-minute YouTube Audio only
This completes the full fifth season of Twilight Zone