and Jackie look on.
Air date: February 28, 1963
The Dansburg Courier, a small-town newspaper, is being run out of business by the Gazette, a larger and better-funded competitor across town. Despite the best efforts of its dedicated founder and editor Douglas Winter (Robert Sterling) and his girlfriend/secretary Jackie Benson (Pat Crowley), the Courier's woes are seemingly overwhelming, and those woes only hit a new low when Douglas' linotype operator Andy Praskins (Charles Thompson) enters his office and announces his resignation, intending to go and work for the Gazette. He has nothing against Douglas, calling him the best boss he’s ever had, but the months without pay have been too hard.
Depressed, Douglas downs a bottle of scotch and drives out to a bridge, intending to jump from it to his death. His moping is interrupted by a dapper man who calls himself Mr. Smith (Burgess Meredith), who asks for a light and points out that the short drop is unlikely to kill him. Douglas gives Mr. Smith a ride into town, stopping for drinks at a cocktail lounge, where Smith treats Douglas because he can’t cover his tab. Smith then touts his supposed skills as a reporter and linotype operator, saying that he came to town in order to work for Douglas. Douglas and Jackie are amazed when they see Smith's work on the linotype. They have no money to pay him, but he agrees to work for free until the Courier crawls out of its slump.
Mr. Smith goes on to deliver a series of incredible scoops, such as a robbery beng committed in broad daylight, a school principal confessing to bigamy, and a local man who wins big in the lottery before he even knows about it. The biggest scoop of all, he reports on a fire that destroys the offices of the Gazette. Because the story was published only 30 minutes after the fire started, rival publisher Mr. Franklin (Ray Teal) accuses the Courier of arson, but Douglas has alibis for his whereabouts that day. After this run of good fortune, Mr. Smith offers Douglas another deal: even greater glory in his profession in exchange for his soul. Mr. Smith is confident in this tactic, gaslighting Douglas that he's an educated man who knows that there’s no such thing as the Devil. After some hesitation, Douglas signs Smith's contract.
When Douglas has second thoughts and tries to terminate the contract, Smith retaliates by writing a story where Jackie sustains severe injuries in a head-on car crash, revealing that he has imbued the linotype machine with his demonic magic, modifying it so whatever stories it produces will come true. His story will ensure that Jackie will dies unless Douglas agrees to kill himself and deliver his soul. He then asks Jackie for a ride to the airport and offers to take the wheel, driving at dangerously high speeds.
Alone in his office, Douglas takes control of the linotype. He writes a new story where Jackie has survived the car crash and Mr. Smith left after his contract was rendered void. While another car does run into Jackie’s convertible, she survives and the other driver finds her alone in the car. After the disturbance, Douglas and Jackie have the linotype machine removed.
Printer's Tropes:
- Deal with the Devil: Mr. Smith waits until after he's turned the Courier's fortunes around to offer his traditional soul contract. Douglas is able to get out of it by using the linotype machine to render said contract void.
- Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: Douglas gets the idea to use Mr. Smith's linotype machine against him, sending him away while keeping Douglas and Jackie protected. It's technically left unknown whether the linotype actually had the power to undo the contract for Douglas' soul, though.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Jackie slapping Mr. Smith was uncalled for, but his response, working to kill her in a car crash, was even more uncalled for.
- Double-Meaning Title: "Printer's Devil" refers to both the Devil (appearing as Mr. Smith) being employed as the reporter and linotype operator of The Dansburg Courier, and an old term for a printer's apprentice.
- Eccentric Millionaire: Mr. Smith passes himself off as one while prodding him to hand over his soul.Smith: The world is full of eccentric, rich old men. Crazy old men who do all kinds of things for crazy reasons. Now, why don't you think of me like that?
- Faux Affably Evil: Mr. Smith, who boosts the reputation and sales of Douglas' newspaper in exchange for his soul.
- Finger-Snap Lighter: One of the first signs that Mr. Smith isn't who seems to be, though he does it while Douglas isn't looking.
- Have a Gay Old Time: A notable example from this episode: "I hate to tell you, but I'm afraid this time you've pulled a boner!"
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Being the Devil, Mr. Smith uses a magic linotype machine to create disasters by writing stories about them. When he uses the machine to get Jackie killed unless Douglas kills himself, Douglas uses the same machine to write a new story where everything turns out okay, since Jackie survives and his contract is void.
- Immune to Bullets: Douglas shoots Mr. Smith three times in the chest at point-blank range, but he is completely unharmed
- Interrupted Suicide: Depressed by the impending closure of the Courier, Douglas prepares to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, until he unwittingly summons the Devil, who appears under the name "Mr. Smith" and offers his services as a reporter/linotype operator.
- Louis Cypher: The Devil uses the name Mr. Smith as he meets with Douglas and Jackie.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Mr. Smith not only tells Douglas what he's been doing and how he's been doing it, but he leaves Douglas alone with the magic linotype machine. Douglas doesn't hesitate for a fraction of a second to get rid of Smith and save Jackie by way of that same machine.
- Post-Modern Magik: Mr. Smith causes various disasters by cursing the Courier's linotype machine, and attempts to get Douglas to sell his soul to him in exchange for the newspaper's success. He then uses the linotype to write a story about a car crash in an attempt to kill off Jackie. Douglas' final solution to the problem? Use the machine to write his deal with Smith out of existence and save Jackie's life.
- Reverse Psychology: Smith employs the practice to get Douglas to sign his contract for his soul. He says that since Douglas is "a sophisticated, intelligent twentieth-century man", he should know better than to believe in the Devil in the first place.Smith: Fancy that; a grown-up man who believes in the Devil!
Douglas: [angrily] This stupid thing! [signs furiously] There! Now let's not hear any more about this, shall we? - Rewriting Reality: The linotype machine, after being magically modified by Mr. Smith, ends up being able to write news stories that actually happen. However, it's not just Mr. Smith who can take advantage of it.
- Speak of the Devil: Literally, in Douglas' case.
- Take a Third Option: Douglas takes advantage of Mr. Smith's own machinations by printing up a story where he gets out of choosing between whether he or Jackie dies.
- Take That!: Mr. Smith tells Douglas that he isn't the first editor he helped. The writer Charles Beaumont intended this as a reference to William Randolph Hearst.
- Too Good to Be True: Douglas learns that Mr. Smith, his new star reporter and linotype operator, is the Devil himself, who wants his immortal soul in exchange for turning his paper into a hit.
