"The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.
In this episode, a man finds he has the ability to trade anything, even personal traits and conditions, with whoever agrees to the swap.
Distinguishing physical characteristic: a badly broken hand, which will require emergency treatment at the nearest hospital.
Estimate of potential success: a sure bet for a listing in Who's Who in the Twilight Zone.Salvadore Ross is a brash, insensitive, ambitious 26-year-old man who desires a lovely young social worker named Leah Maitland.
He offers a number of young men (beginning with a hotel bellboy) $1,000 (equivalent to $10,000 in 2023) for each year of their lives they trade to him.
Her father is there and unimpressed with the superficial change in Ross, knowing that he does not love Leah, but simply wishes to possess her.
Frustrated, Ross approaches Mr. Maitland, who is kind to him despite his disrespectful and condescending demeanor, but does not think he would be a good husband for his daughter.
Ross meets with Mr. Maitland in private to apologize for his previous behavior and asks for his permission to marry Leah.
Offer limited to...the Twilight Zone.Henry Slesar adapted his story for an episode of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, A Bargain in Blood, which was broadcast on June 10, 1974.