I met ‘Scout’ from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and asked about this Twilight Zone Easter egg

One of the most iconic roles in film history is Scout Finch in 1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.,” portrayed by Alabama-born Mary Badham, who was 10 years old at the time.

I had the opportunity to meet the now 71-year-old Badham recently and I had a question for her, only this one wasn’t about her most famous role. I wanted to know about another childhood role, this one on the iconic 1960s TV series, “The Twilight Zone.”

I met Badham backstage when she was in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of the touring company for the “To Kill a Mockingbird” Broadway play. She portrays Mrs. Dubose in the play. Meeting her had been on my bucket list for a long time and she was lovely.

As a child, Badham was also in the very last episode of the “Twilight Zone,” portraying a little girl name Sport in “The Bewitchin’ Pool.” It was an unusual episode for several reasons:

1. The actors’ voices in all the outdoor scenes of the episode are dubbed. I asked Badham if she recalled filming the episode and why it was dubbed. She told me that producers realized after filming was completed that background noise in the outdoor scenes, filmed in California, made it difficult to hear the actors’ lines. They wanted to re-record her lines but Mary had returned to Alabama. Instead of flying her back to California, they hired June Foray, an adult who was the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel in the Bullwinkle cartoons, and who had previously voiced Talky Tina in the “Twilight Zone” episode “Living Doll.” If you listen, you can hear the difference in Sport’s voice in the indoor and outdoor scenes (especially that authentic Southern accent!)
2. The brother and sister in the episode were named Sport and Jeb – quite similar to the siblings in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Scout and Jem. Although Jem was the older sibling in TKAM and Sport was the eldest in the TZ episode, Mary confirmed the names were a nod to the film, which had been released two years earlier to great acclaim. An early easter egg, if you will.
3. In the episode, Sport and Jeb are children in a dysfunctional family who find a portal in the bottom of their swimming pool to a world where children are happy and appreciated. It was written by Earl Hamner Jr., creator of “The Waltons,” and was one of the first TV shows to address divorce and the impact on children. (And here’s a little “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” for you: Richard Thomas, who played John Boy on “The Waltons” is in the touring play with Mary Badham. He plays Atticus Finch.)