Posted on 08/28/2014 12:14:53 PM PDT by jmaroneps37
This episode of The Twilight Zone was first broadcast on May 6, 1960, and is said to be one of series creator Rod Serling’s favorites. Perhaps that’s because this bittersweet little gem reflected some of the tensions running through Serling’s own real life at the time.
The story focuses on stressed-out (complete with an ulcer) NYC advertising exec Gart Williams (James Daly), and as the pic opens he is seated with several others in a board room.
They’re all awaiting the arrival of Williams’ protégé Jake Ross, who is supposed to be bringing in a large automobile account. Instead, they get a belated note that Ross has resigned, and has taken the account to his new firm.
At this, Williams is berated by his boss Mr. Misrell (Howard Smith), who reminds him that advertising is a “push” business. “It’s push, push, push.
All the way, all the time…right on down the line.” Shortly thereafter, we segue into Serling’s voice-over: This is Gart Williams, age thirty-eight, a man protected by a suit of armor all held together by one bolt. Just a moment ago, someone removed the bolt, and Mr. Williams’ protection fell away from him and left him a naked target.
He’s been cannonaded this afternoon by all the enemies of his life. His insecurity has shelled him, his sensitivity has straddled him with humiliation, his deep-rooted disquiet about his own worth has zeroed in on him, landed on target, and blown him apart.
Mr. Gart Williams, ad agency exec, who in just a moment will move into the Twilight Zone—in a desperate search for survival.
The scene then shifts to his commuter train home, the New Haven Line, traveling to his stop at Westport/Saugatuck……
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
I try never to miss this episode when a Twilight Zone weekend rolls around on Dish. This one is a pure classic.
One of serling’s best. I can relate to the desire for a simpler time and place.
Thanks for that. I remember seeing the original, and this read was good therapy.
I am thankfully at a point where I can very comfortably retire, and even though I work for a very good company, I’ve also had it with the present state of affairs. We do things for the gubmit, and safe to say that I wouldn’t hire any of our “customers” to be a janitor in an engineering firm were I to be in such a position.
So, it’s retirement...very soon.
Thanx
I’m very envious! Also I wish you the very best. Enjoy your retirement, you have earned it! And give a thought, sometimes, to those of us who will just have to slog it out with a stiff upper lip, as the British say.
It’s quite possibly my favorite episode. James Daly’s performance was Emmy-caliber. One thing I would have done differently is the manner of his death. I think he should have simply died of a heart attack or a stroke in his seat. He is under so much stress, his death is expected. The earlier brief visits to Willoughby could be seen as little mini heart attacks or strokes from which he comes back, until he has the fatal one at the end. Ah well, still a great episode. I have them all on Blu-ray now.
Even winding up the early 80s would be ok.
There are several variations of this story, before and since, and even within The Twilight Zone series.
It may have begun with Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889). More contemporary was the stage play Brigadoon (1947) that was a huge Broadway hit, and made into a 1954 movie, that really showed the New York City business pressure-cooker.
Within The Twilight Zone there was also “Walking Distance”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_Distance
“The Trouble With Templeton”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Templeton
This episode had an eerie tone about it, especially the final credits with the interior of the railroad coach as backdrop.
With that clerestory down the middle it looked like the inside of a casket in shape. Spooky!
My favorite is “A Piano In The House”.
Just FYI for any old geezers like me that watch the Twilight Zone on METV, the geniuses at METV have removed the Twilight Zone from their Fall 2014 schedule.
They brought back a lot of memories!
I always enjoyed Burgess Meredith’s appearances — the man was a brilliant actor with great range ...
(And Lois Nettleton was none too tough on the eyes, either ;)
Loved that episode on many levels: the somewhat creepy/sinister 1890s conductor, the song “Beautiful Dreamer” the band was playing, the way the clocks pendulum segued into the lantern the engineer was swinging, and the blindsiding ending that left me saying “WOW!”.
Mark Harmon did a retake of that episode, albeit with a happier ending in “For All Time”. The movie even gave credit to Willoughby at the beginning.
Ooohh, let’s play “choose your fave twilight zone!”
Mine has always been Willowby also Bunny Lake (the Ring girl who saves her town), the one with Anne Francis, and the one that scared the living daylights out of me for years and years and year of my life (and I bet Steven Spielberg too, because I see it in Poltergeist) Little Girl Lost - the Little Girl Lost in the Wall, although that one I always had a small problem with the obviously fake voice they used for Tina, the little girl.
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