"The Mighty Casey"

Dr. Stillman (Abraham Sofaer) tells coach Mouth McGarry (Jack Warden)
all about his new star pitcher.

"The Mighty Casey"

Season One, Episode 35

Original Air Date: June 17, 1960

Cast:

Mouth McGarry: Jack Warden

Casey: Robert Sorrells

Dr. Stillman: Abraham Sofaer

Monk: Don O'Kelly

Doctor: Jonathan Hole

Beasley: Alan Dexter

Commissioner: Rusty Lane

Crew:

Writer: Rod Serling (original teleplay)

Directors: Robert Parrish and Alvin Ganzer

Producer: Buck Houghton
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson

Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Art Direction: George W. Davis and Merrill Pye
Set Decoration: Henry Grace and Keogh Gleason
Assistant Director: Don Klune and Edward Denault
Editor: Joseph Gluck
Sound: Franklin Milton and Philip Mitchell

Music: stock

And Now, Mr. Serling:

"This locker and liniment emporium houses a major league baseball team known as the Hoboken Zephyrs, all of which by way of introduction to next week's show, a wild and wooly yarn about the great American pastime. It's called 'The Mighty Casey' and it's all about a left-hander who pitches like nothing human simply because he isn't. Mr. Jack Warden takes us into the stadium next week for nine fast innings on The Twilight Zone."

Rod Serling's Opening Narration:

"What you're looking at is a ghost, once alive but now deceased. Once upon a time it was a baseball stadium that housed a major league ball club known as the Hoboken Zephyrs. Now it houses nothing but memories and a wind that stirs in the high grass of what was once an outfield, a wind that sometimes bears a faint, ghostly resemblance to the roar of a crowd that once sat here. We're back in time now when the Hoboken Zephyrs were still a part of the National League and this mausoleum of memories was an honest-to-Pete stadium. But since this is strictly a story of make-believe, it has to start this way: One upon a time in Hoboken, New Jersey, it was tryout day. And though he's not yet on the field, you're about to meet a most unusual fella, a left-handed pitcher named Casey."

Summary:

Robert Sorrells as Casey

            A scientist and inventor, Dr. Stillman, invents a robot named Casey. In an attempt to test Casey's skills, Stillman strikes a deal with Mouth McGarry, the manager of the Hoboken Zephyrs, a dreadful team on a tremendous losing streak. Stillman discloses to McGarry the true nature of Casey and after seeing what Casey can do from the pitching mound McGarry, as desperate as he is, agrees to put him on the team.

            Casey is an instant sensation. He pitches shutout after shutout and nobody from any opposing team can figure out how to hit his impossible pitches. The Hoboken Zephyrs zoom into fourth place and make national headlines. Then tragedy strikes and Casey is hit in the head with the baseball, landing him in the hospital where it is quickly discovered by the team doctor that Casey has no heartbeat. He has, in fact, no heart. The commissioner of baseball is brought into the situation and he consults the rules, which state that a team is made up of nine men. It seems that without a heartbeat Casey isn't a man and is disqualified from any further play.

            McGarry appeals to Stillman and the inventor agrees that he can give Casey a heart. Soon after, Casey returns to the team fully healed and with a new beating heart that members of the team can hear pounding away in his chest. Casey is reinstated with the league and put back on the mound for the Zephrys. Unfortunately, there is a side effect involved in giving a Casey a heart and it quickly becomes apparent. Casey no longer strikes out opponents but throws easy pitches that batters hammer away at, sending the Zephyrs right back on the path of a losing streak. Stillman explains to McGarry and the rest of the team that Casey's newly installed heart has built a great deal of compassion within the robot and that Casey no longer can bear to strike out opposing batters. With his baseball career effectively washed out, Casey states that he intends to go into social work where he can help people.

            As a consolation gift, Stillman gives to McGarry the blueprints to Casey and it doesn't take long for it to dawn on McGarry that there is a very real possibility of creating an entire team of incredible robots.

Rod Serling's Closing Narration:

"Once upon a time there was a major league baseball team called the Hoboken Zephyrs, who during the last year of their existence wound up in last place and shortly thereafter wound up in oblivion. There is a rumor, unsubstantiated of course, that a manager named McGarry took them to the West Coast and wound up with several pennants and a couple of World Championships. This team had a pitching staff that made history. Of course, none of them smiled very much but it happens to be a fact that they pitched like nothing human. And if you are interested as to where these gentlemen come from you might check under "B" for baseball, in the Twilight Zone."

Commentary:

"It was try-out day for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Mouth McGarry, the manager of the club, stood in the dugout, one foot on the parapet, both hands shoved deep into his hip pockets, his jaw hanging several inches below his upper lip."
                          -"The Mighty Casey" by Rod Serling, Stories from the Twilight Zone (1960)

        

            "The Mighty Casey" is an episode marred by a series of unfortunate events. To begin with, the episode is a slapstick comedy and this type of episode came across as patently unfunny on the series. Rod Serling and the other writers for the series would continue their attempts to bring comedy to the series and they would more often fail in these attempts as the screwball style of comedy had trouble finding traction on the show. More subtle forms of fantasy/comedy, as displayed in episodes such as Richard Matheson's "A World of His Own" or George Clayton Johnson's "A Penny For Your Thoughts," were much more effective on the series.
           "The Mighty Casey" also suffered from the fact that the episode had to be filmed twice. Little or no footage exists from the initial filming of the episode and none is known to have made it into the episode seen today. The reason for the re-shoot was the death of actor Paul Douglas, who portrayed Mouth McGarry in the first version, directed by Alvin Ganzer. Douglas, who had little experience in comedic roles and who also found the script unfunny, took the job due to a personal invitation from Rod Serling to appear on the series. Serling and Douglas were acquaintances from their days on the live anthology show Playhouse 90. Serling's only major reservation about hiring Paul Douglas was the aging actor's propensity for heavy drinking. Serling contacted Douglas's agent about this and was assured that Douglas no longer had a drinking problem. Satisfied, Serling and producer Buck Hougton went ahead with production.

            When Serling viewed the daily rushes from shooting, he suspected that he'd been lied to about Paul Douglas's drinking. The actor appeared haggard, mottled, and high in color on film. Douglas also had trouble delivering his lines, even brief passages, without running out of breath. When Serling contacted Douglas's agent to complain, the agent again guaranteed that Douglas was not drinking. The truth turned out to be much more tragic. Only a handful of days after the completion of photography for the episode, Paul Douglas died. The symptoms that Serling viewed on the daily rushes were those of heart failure and not excessive drinking. As Serling morbidly stated, "we were watching him literally die in front of us."

            Devastated, Serling vowed that he wasn't going to send out this knuckleball comedy of an episode with a well respected actor slowly dying on camera. Still, he was obligated to show CBS something and, after screening the completed episode, told the network executives that this could not air as is and would have to be entirely re-shot. CBS agreed that the episode was unfunny but, oddly enough, appeared to have no problem with the fact that Paul Douglas died shortly after the shoot and, as a result, were unwilling to part with the additional money required to re-shoot the episode.

            According to Marc Scott Zicree in The Twilight Zone Companion, Serling put $27,000 of his own money on the line to re-cast, re-shoot, and re-edit the episode. Director Robert Parrish was brought in and actor Jack Warden brought on to assume the role of Mouth McGarry. The planned broadcast date of the episode was pushed back from December to the following June with the re-shoot attempting to proceed as efficiently as possible. As a result, little remained on the cutting room floor and nearly all re-shot footage was left in to fill the time length required by the episode.

            Martin Grams, Jr., in his book The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic, reprints several unused or alternate intros, outros, and promos from various episodes that, for one reason or another, went unused in the final cut of the corresponding episodes. Many of these unused passages are of insignificant variation but Rod Serling's unused promo for "The Mighty Casey" is of interest because of the fact that the death of actor Paul Douglas necessitated the change. The unused promo is as follows: "Next week we take you into a state of wonderful confusion. The late Mr. Paul Douglas stars in a play we call 'The Mighty Casey.' Bring your imagination as we recount for you the trials and tribulations of a major league ball club called the Hoboken Zephyrs, a put upon manager, and the most fabulous baseball pitcher you'll ever watch in action. Next week on The Twilight Zone, 'The Mighty Casey.'"

            One result of Serling taking the initiative to fund the re-shoot from his own money was that CBS would forever after have their eyes glued to the financial books and constantly pressure Rod Serling about the budget for the series, a problem Serling often spoke about in a negative way.
            Of additional interest is an early Rod Serling script titled "Old Macdonald Had a Curve." This was one of the earliest sales from Serling to a live drama anthology. The script was performed on August 5, 1953 on Kraft Television Theatre, shortly before Serling rose to prominence with "Patterns" on the same program, a play which brought him the first of six Emmy Awards. "Old Macdonald Had a Curve" appears to have been an early attempt at "The Mighty Casey." "Old Macdonald Had a Curve" is a baseball comedy about a retired major league pitcher (played by Olin Howland) who is wasting away in a nursing home until an accident allows him to throw a wicked curveball. The old man scrambles to join his old team, a team which happens to be in the funk of a long losing streak. Though the old man suffers another accident which takes away his new curveball, he inspires his old team to go on a winning streak. The episode ends with a patent Serling wink, as the old man once again regains his curveball. "Old Macdonald Had a Curve" is also notable for featuring Jack Warden. 

            It would have been difficult for an episode with a fantastic script to come out on the other side of the production of "The Mighty Casey" with any semblance of its initial impact or resonance. By all indications, "The Mighty Casey" was a bad episode with Paul Douglas in the lead role and Alvin Ganzer behind the camera. With an under-budgeted, rushed, and poorly edited re-shoot, the episode comes off as an unfunny blemish on the face of a show generally held to an exacting standard. It is perhaps because of the unfortunate events that characterized its production that "The Mighty Casey" has not simply been forgotten altogether.

Grade: F

Notes:

--Rod Serling apparently found enough fascination in the story of Casey to make it the very first teleplay he adapted into prose for the three short story collections he wrote based on the series. "The Mighty Casey" can be found in Stories from the Twilight Zone, originally published by Bantam Books in April, 1960.

--Actor Jack Warden also starred in the earlier season one episode, "The Lonely." Warden also appeared in Rod Serling's original drama, "Noon on Doomsday," which appeared on April 25, 1956 on The United States Steel Hour. Serling's script was infamously censored as it originally concerned the murder of black teenager Emmett Till by white men in Mississippi in 1955. Also appearing with Warden were future Zone actors Albert Salmi, Everett Sloane, and Philip Abbott. 

--Director Alvin Ganzer also directed the season one episodes, "The Hitch-Hiker," "What You Need," and "Nightmare as a Child."

--Director Robert Parrish also directed the season one episodes, "One for the Angels" and "A Stop at Willoughby."
--Science fiction fans will recognize Abraham Sofaer from a far more memorable role than that of Dr. Stillman. Sofaer played Arch, the Kyben leader who pursued humanity's immortal guardian, Trent, through time in Harlan Ellison's Outer Limits episode, "Demon With a Glass Hand."
--Twilight Zone actor Fritz Weaver ("Third From the Sun," "The Obsolete Man") performed a reading of Serling's story adaptation of "The Mighty Casey" for Harper Audio in 1992.

--"The Mighty Casey" was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Paul Dooley.
--"The Mighty Casey" was adapted into comic book form for the 1979 book Stories from the Twilight Zone (Bantam; a Skylark Illustrated Book) by Rod Serling, adapted by Horace J. Elias and illustrated by Carl Pfeufer.
--Actor Robert Sorrells, who portrays the robot Casey, received a 32 years to life sentence in 2005 for the 2004 murder of one man in a bar and the attempted murder of another. 
--Rod Serling was partially inspired to write "The Mighty Casey" by the famous baseball poem, "Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888" by Ernest Thayer, about a batter whose over-confidence causes him to squander the chance to be a hero at the plate. 

--JP

"A Stop at Willoughby"

Gart Williams (James Daly) longs for escape to Willoughby

"A Stop at Willoughby"

Season One, Episode 30

Original Air Date: May 6, 1960

Cast:

Gart Williams: James Daly

Jane Williams: Patricia Donahue

Mr. Misrell: Howard Smith

Young Conductor: Jason Wingreen

Old Conductor: James Maloney

Helen: Mavis Neal

Man on Wagon: Max Slaten

Boy One: Billy Booth

Boy Two: Butch Hengen

Trainman: Ryan Hayes

Crew:

Writer: Rod Serling (original teleplay)

Director: Robert Parrish

Producer: Buck Houghton
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson

Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Art Direction: George W. Davis and Merrill Pye
Set Decoration: Henry Grace and Keogh Gleason
Assistant Director: Don Klune
Editor: Joseph Gluck
Sound: Franklin Milton and Philip Mitchell

Music: Nathan Scott

And Now, Mr. Serling:

"This old-fashioned railroad car is about as extinct as the dinosaur but next week it takes us to a little village that is not only a place but a state of mind. It's the transportation to what we think is one of the most unique stories we've ever presented. Next week, Mr. James Daly stars in 'A Stop at Willoughby.' We hope you stop with him. Thank you and good night."

Rod Serling's Opening Narration:

"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."

Summary:

            Advertising executive Gart Williams sits at a table in the conference room of a high rise office suite surrounded by other middle-aged men. Gart is nervous, his hands moving in dreaded anticipation. At the opposite end of the table from Gart is an older, rotund gentleman, the owner of the agency, Mr. Misrell, who sits smoking a large cigar and looking perturbed. The men sit for a moment in silence until Mr. Misrell breaks it. He demands to know where another advertising man is, a young protégé of Gart's named Jake Ross that Gart has put in charge of a very important account. Ross is already over half an hour late to the meeting. Gart attempts to make a phone call to find out where Ross is but to no avail.  Moments later, a letter arrives. It is a communication from Jake Ross tendering his resignation with Mr. Misrell's agency and taking the important and lucrative account with him.

            Mr. Misrell nearly explodes at this bad news. He berates Gart for his lack of sound judgment and lectures him on the nature of the advertising business until Misrell's voice grows in power and force. Gart, at a breaking point, tells Misrell to shut up and storms from the room. Gart grabs at his chest and, ignoring the curious and concerned looks of those around him, closes himself off in his darkened office.

            While taking the train out of the city, Gart briefly speaks with the usual conductor and then falls asleep. He soon finds himself awakened by the conductor, a different, older, and curiously dressed conductor, announcing the train stop at a town called Willoughby. Gart is confused by this because everything has changed but it doesn't feel like a dream. Where it was winter it is now summer. Where it was 1960, it is now 1888. The friendly conductor tells Gart these things as Gart gazes out the window at Willoughby, a town which by appearance epitomizes a simpler, slower, more innocent and less stressful time. Gart looks again for the conductor and sees that the man has moved down to the farther cars on the train. Gart gets up and chases after the man. As he is about to step off the train, he finds himself jerked back to reality. He asks the conductor, his normal conductor, about a town called Willougby and the conductor tells Gart that he's never heard of such a town. Gart writes the experience off as a particularly vivid dream.

            At home, it is apparent that Gart is not only the victim of an unhappy career but also an unhappy marriage. His wife Jane is a mocking and unhappy woman with a large appetite for the best that money can buy. Her initial fear upon hearing that Gart had a breakdown at work was whether or not it would cost him his job. Gart tells her about his "dream" of Willoughby and his wishes to return to a simpler, slower time. But Jane isn't listening. When her fears about Gart's job security are alleviated, she berates Gart for being a child that has never grown up and walks out of the room.

            The next evening, on his way home, Gart again falls asleep on the train and gets a glimpse of Willoughby. He again runs after the conductor, yelling. He is instead awakened by the regular conductor when the man hears Gart calling out in his sleep. Unperturbed, Gart makes a promise to himself that he is going to get off the train at Willougby next time.

            After another harrowing day at the office Gart heads for home. On the train he becomes aware that this is his only chance to escape from the horrors of his life. He lowers the blind on the window, closes his eyes, and falls asleep.

            When Gart again opens his eyes he sees that the train has stopped at Willoughby. At the encouragement of the conductor, Gart steps off the train. Gart is greeted by the townspeople as though they've known him all his life. Smiling happily, Gart walks off toward the center of town.

            Meanwhile, back in 1960, Gart's dead body lies in the snow below the train tracks. According to the conductor, Gart said something about a town called Willoughby and then stepped off the moving train, falling to his death. As a final twist, Gart's body is taken away by a funeral home with a car marked Willoughby & Son.

            We close on the image of Gart having fully escaped into his fantasy world, walking toward the bandstand that sits at the center of Willoughby.

Rod Serling's Closing Narration:

"Willoughby? Maybe it's wishful thinking nestled in a hidden part of man's mind, or maybe it's the last stop in the vast design of things, or perhaps, for a man like Gart Williams, who climbed on a world that went by too fast, it's a place around the bend where he could jump off. Willoughby? Whatever it is, it comes with sunlight and serenity, and is a part of The Twilight Zone."

Commentary:

"And then Williams realized that once again he stood in the middle of an old-fashioned train car and, approaching him from the opposite end, was the old conductor with the brass buttons and the old-fashioned cap.
            "'Willoughby,' the conductor smiled at him. 'All out for Willoughby.'"
             -"A Stop at Willoughby" by Rod Serling, More Stories from the Twilight Zone (Bantam, 1961)

James Maloney as the Conductor for the Willoughby train

            "A Stop at Willoughby" is generally considered one of the finest offerings of the show's first season (and perhaps of the entire series). Producer Buck Houghton went so far as to identify this episode as Rod Serling's finest teleplay of the first season. The episode has certainly endured among viewers and, in a narrower sense, remains essential among episodes that play on the theme of an escape from an undesirable reality into a past or imagined paradise, a theme that nearly every writer for the show tackled at one time or another. None of the show's writers, however, took on the subject more frequently than series creator Rod Serling. In point of fact, Serling had already written a similar first season episode, "Walking Distance," and another drama, "The Time Element," which aired on Desilu Playhouse before the premier of The Twilight Zone. Though "The Time Element" squarely focused on the terrors of time travel, "Walking Distance" presents a theme and subject very similar to "A Stop at Willoughby." You can read our review of "Walking Distance" here.

            Serling initially felt, incredibly, that "Walking Distance" was an all-around failure of an episode, though he would later come to recognize the episode's qualities. He had the general plot of "A Stop at Willoughby" in mind at the very beginning of The Twilight Zone’s creation and likely pushed the script into production so soon after the airing of "Walking Distance" because he felt the first episode had inadequately conveyed the theme he was attempting to bring across. "A Stop at Willoughby," however, lacks the impact and emotional resonance of "Walking Distance" due mainly to inflated characterizations and a baffling twist-in-the-tale ending. 

            The major problem with "A Stop at Willoughby" is that it is characteristically over-the-top. Whereas "Walking Distance" perfectly struck a nostalgic, melancholy tone, "A Stop at Willoughby" is instead depressing, filled with unlikable and unbelievable characters. Though James Daly is excellent as Gart Williams, both his high-pressure boss and his gold-digging wife are gross caricatures. The entire episode is the equivalent of watching Gart Williams bounce from one stress inducing obstacle to another with intermittent scenes of his gradual passage into a fantasy land which feels artificial and bizarre. Serling perhaps should have portrayed a fantasy which had no such immediately recognizable place within American history. Show the simple nature of an idealized time in the past but there is no need to define it as the summer of 1888 (Serling repeated this tendency in the fourth season episode, "No Time Like the Past," which contains elements of "A Stop at Willoughby"). 
                 It also seems a strange choice of escape for the main character, who seems to have no reason for his chosen fantasy other than it is a time that moved slower and in which a man could presumably live his life to the fullest. "Walking Distance" worked much better in this regard as the fantasy is firmly grounded in the character's personal past. The only difference is that, in "Walking Distance" (as well as in "No Time Like the Past"), the main character discovers that you can't go back again to what once was, whether real or imagined. The character of Gart Williams, in “A Stop at Willoughby,” has not even a tenuous relationship to his fantasy. He couldn’t possibly have lived within the time frame of the fantasy and the viewer is given no reason for such a fixation upon this specific time in the past. We also know that life in 1888 was in fact very difficult. It is doubtful that many of us would enjoy living in a time of deeply systemic racism, before women were allowed to vote, before the essentials of modern medicine, dependable sanitation systems, electricity, the automobile, and on and on.     
            “Walking Distance” is also a more uplifting episode with its fundamental message that only those who look to the past for happiness fail to see the happiness which lies before them. Martin Sloan, in "Walking Distance," realizes that the solution to his problems do not lie in a simple escape into fantasy. The lesson learned is that he controls his own existence and if he needs to slow down to take control of his own life then he can do so. Serling's views on the matter by the time he brought "A Stop at Willoughby" into production seem to have changed as the main character is now the victim of such a powerful onslaught that he has lost all control and is left with no choice but to cling to his fantasy and escape into it even though it may (and in fact does) cost him his real existence. Gart Williams's death becomes a sort of grotesquely symbolic suicide. 

            "A Stop at Willoughby" is informed by Serling's personal interactions with advertising executives as he had been in television long enough by this point to run into the constant roadblocks characteristic of advertiser-supported television. What is interesting is that even though Serling turns the general industry of advertising into a villainous leach feeding upon the lifeblood of the working man, he is still able to identify with the alienated individual and use that to examine his own set of moral and ethical ideals.

            The episode does have some great dialogue from Serling and fits the half-hour time slot accorded it quite perfectly, with excellent pacing from director Robert Parrish. It's interesting to note here that Serling originally conceived the script as a one-hour play for possible sale to one of the popular anthology programs of the second half of the 1950s. It seems as though had he actually produced the play as a one-hour program, the fantasy construct and the patience of the viewer would both have been stretched to the breaking point.

            A quick note on the only aspect of the production side of the episode which was lacking and this concerns the music from composer Nathan Scott. Scott's score seems to flourish whimsically during moments of grave seriousness and then quietly pulse during moments of pure fantasy where the whimsical flourish would be most appropriate. Scott's music was used one other time for the show, in season three's "Young Man's Fancy," a disturbing dark fantasy also concerning the past. It is interesting to think what a composer such as Bernard Herrmann, Nathan Van Cleave, or Jerry Goldsmith would have done with such a fantasy-rich episode.

            The ending of the episode is where most of the fault in the script lies. Many times The Twilight Zone was guilty of tacking on a twist ending that had little or no logical reason being there. Unfortunately, "A Stop at Willoughby" is one of these times. It must be assumed that viewers enjoy twist endings for no other reason than the memorable nature of the sudden and ironic change. According to dialogue in "A Stop at Willoughby," Gart Williams got up and stepped off the actual moving train when he decided to get up and step off at the fantasy stop of Willoughby. This doesn't work for two reasons. First, earlier in the episode Gart did get up and walk to the end of the car and onto the deck looking out over Willoughby yet in his real existence he never moved from his seat. From this basis, would it not stand to reason that what Gart did in the fantasy world, what he said, how he moved, would inform what he did in the real world? We were also shown scenes of Gart speaking the same words in both realities. It would have made more sense for Gart to have simply disappeared into the fantasy world, for the conductor to have walked down the aisle and found Gart's seat empty. Additionally, placing the name Willoughby and Son on the back of the hearse makes no sense other than to so serve as a sly, albeit confusing, wink to the viewer. Yes, we know that Gart has gone to Willoughby, but the attempt to have that literal translation in the world of his previous existence is nonsensical. The twist in the episode should always flow logically from the events preceding it. 

            Prolific actor James Daly began his career on television, appearing frequently on anthology programs, including genre turns on The Clock, Suspense, The Web, Danger, Climax!, and Suspicion before his appearance on The Twilight Zone. Moving into the 1960's and beyond, Daly had roles in some of the most fondly remembered television programs and in some cult fare as well, including Combat!, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Star Trek, Ironside, Mission: Impossible, and The Invaders. He co-starred in the classic 1968 science-fiction film Planet of the Apes (co-written by Rod Serling), playing the role of Honorious. He died on July 3, 1978 in Nyack, New York. Roots: the Next Generation (1979) was his last credited work.

            Director Robert Parrish began his career as an actor while still a child, appearing uncredited in such films as the Academy Award winning All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and the Charlie Chaplin film City Lights (1931). He worked on All the King’s Men (1949) and won an Academy Award for editing the 1947 film Body and Soul before moving into the director’s chair with 1951's Cry Danger. He went on to direct several more mid-budget thrillers including the cult-classic A Town Called Hell (1971) starring Telly Slavalas and Robert Shaw. He died on December 4, 1995 on Long Island, New York.

            Veteran actor Howard Smith, portraying the villainous Mr. Misrell, made a career playing supporting roles, usually as a police officer or some other authority figure. His film credits include Kiss of Death (1947), Call Northside 777 (1948), The Street with No Name (1948), and A Face in the Crowd (1957). He was a fixture on television from the late 1950's onward with appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Perry Mason, Green Acres, and Bewitched. He died on January 10, 1968 in Hollywood.

            Actress Patricia Donahue appeared on a number of mystery and western television programs during the 1950's and 1960's, including The Thin Man, Richard Diamond: Private Detective, Peter Gunn, Philip Marlowe, Bat Masterson, Michael Shanye, Bonanza, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Perry Mason, The Saint, Rod Serling's Night Gallery, The Rockford Files, Barnaby Jones, and an episode of Little House on the Prairie.

            "A Stop at Willoughby" remains an enjoyable episode which embodies much of the enduring themes of The Twilight Zone in general and of Rod Serling's writing in particular. Serling and producer Buck Houghton certainly felt that it was one of if not the strongest script produced during the high-quality first season and, like nearly every episode from that inaugural season, "A Stop at Willoughby" is graced by good acting, directing, and a general high quality of production.

Grade: C

Notes:

--Patricia Donahue also appeared in two episodes of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, "The Dear Departed" and "The Hand of Borgus Weems."
--Jason Wingreen also appeared in two episodes of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" and "The Nature of the Enemy." 
--Mavis Neal also appeared in an episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery titled "The Ghost of Sorworth Place." 
--Robert Parrish directed two additional episodes of The Twilight Zone, "One for the Angels" and, sharing credit with Alvin Ganzer, "The Mighty Casey," both from season one.

--Producer Buck Houghton noted in an interview with Marc Scott Zicree, author of The Twilight Zone Companion (second ed., Silman-James, 1989) that the Willoughby sets for the episode were on the MGM back lot and were originally constructed for the Judy Garland musical Meet Me in St. Louis (1944).

--As reported by Martin Grams in his book The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic (OTR Publishing, 2008), the made for TV movie For All Time (2000) reuses and revises Serling's script to present a modern retelling of "A Stop at Willoughby."
--"A Stop at Willoughby" was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Chelcie Ross. 
--Rod Serling adapted his teleplay into a short story for More Stories from the Twilight Zone (Bantam, 1961). 

--"A Stop at Willoughy" bears resemblance, almost certainly of a coincidental nature, to a tale from notable ghost story writer A.M. Burrage titled "The Wrong Station," first published in 1916 and later collected in Burrage's 1927 volume Some Ghost Stories. In the tale, a traveler by train is persuaded to exit at the wrong station, upon which he finds himself in an idyllic setting among happy children and adults. He finds a woman to whom he is attracted. The traveled is abruptly pulled away from this situation but returns at story's end after he dies from a heart attack. 

--"Willoughby" was the name of the family in the first published ghost story of Henry James, "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes." When James revised the tale for inclusion in his 1885 collection Stories Revived, he changed the family name to Wingrave. 

-JP

"One for the Angels"

Ed Wynn as lovable sidewalk salesman Lew Bookman

“One for the Angels”

Season One, Episode 2
Original Air Date: October 9, 1959

Cast: 
Lew Bookman: Ed Wynn 
Mr. Death: Murray Hamilton 
Maggie: Dana Dillaway 
Truck Driver: Merrit Bohn 
Doctor: Jay Overholts 
Truck Driver: Merritt Bohn
Little Boy: Mickey Maga

Crew: 
Writer: Rod Serling (original teleplay) 
Director: Robert Parrish 
Producer: Buck Houghton
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Art Direction: George W. Davis and William Ferrari
Set Decoration: Rudy Butler and Henry Grace
Assistant Director: Edward Denault
Casting: Mildred Gusse
Editor: Lyle Boyer
Sound: Franklin Milton and Jean Valentino 
Music: Stock

And Now, Mr. Serling: 
“Next week I’ll have a reunion with a unique talent and a valued friend.  Our first since ‘Requiem for a Heavyweight.’  Next week on The Twilight Zone, Mr. Ed Wynn stars in ‘One for the Angels,’ playing an old pitchman who sells mechanical toys like this, but whose competition is Mr. Death.  We hope you’ll join us then.  Thank you and good night.”

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 
“Street scene, summer, the present.  Man on a sidewalk named Lew Bookman—aged sixtyish, occupation—pitchman.  Lew Bookman: a fixture of the summer.  A rather minor component to a hot July.  A nondescript, commonplace little man whose life is a treadmill built out of sidewalks.  In just a moment Lew Bookman will have to concern himself with survival.  Because as of three o’clock this hot July afternoon he’ll be stalked by Mr. Death.”

Summary:
Against the backdrop of a bustling urban walkway, Mr. Lew Bookman makes his living selling oddities and knick knacks to busy patrons of the city on their way from one place to another.  Mr. Lew Bookman: a warmhearted, elderly fellow with a gentle disposition, who wants nothing more in life than to put a smile on the faces of all he meets.  Mr. Bookman is wrapping things up for the day and will momentarily close down his traveling thrift shop and make his way back to the modest apartment space that he calls home.  Unbeknownst to him, this is to be the last day of his life, for Mr. Death is about to make himself known to the elderly man.

          When he gets to his apartment building, Bookman is greeted by a horde of adoring neighborhood children that have been eagerly awaiting his arrival.  His gentle demeanor and quirky stage antics appear to be the highlight of their day.  Upon entering his apartment, however, Bookman is greeted by an abrasive Mr. Death who appears immune to the old man’s charm.  Death launches into his task with the subtlety of a freight train.  He informs the salesman that he is to die at midnight and has until then to get his affairs in order.  Bookman laments to Death that he has always desired to make that one big sales pitch, a pitch grand enough “for the angels.”  He says that to die before doing so would leave him with a sense of failure.  Mr. Death is touched by the man’s plea and agrees to let him live until he makes such a pitch.  Bookman is overcome with joy that he doesn’t have to die, at least not until he makes that big pitch which, as he points out to Mr. Death, could take an indefinite amount of time, possibly even years, to accomplish.  Death, realizing he has been swindled, informs Bookman that he will have to take a replacement instead.  Minutes later a neighborhood girl is hit by a truck in the middle of the street.  Death informs Bookman that the girl is to die at midnight.  As midnight approaches Bookman attempts to divert Death away from his appointment by engaging him in the grandest sales pitch he has ever delivered, a pitch “for the angels.”  The tactic works and Death is unable to claim the little girl.  The salesman is now ready to face the afterlife with an accepting smile as he and Mr. Death stroll casually off into the night.

Rod Serling’s closing narration:
“Lewis J. Bookman.  Age, sixtyish.  Occupation: pitchman.  Formerly a fixture o the summer.  Formerly a rather minor component to a hot July.  But throughout his life a man beloved by the children, and therefore...a most important man.  Couldn’t happen, you say?  Probably not in most places.  But it did happen...in the Twilight Zone.

Commentary:
         "One for the Angels” is the first example on The Twilight Zone of what had already become an emblematic theme of Rod Serling’s work; an essentially decent human being, etching out a simple existence, struggling with an obstacle much greater than himself.  In this case we have a quirky, aging salesman who feels that he’s done nothing substantial with his life, attempting to outfox Death itself.  “In Praise of Pip,” “The Night of the Meek,” “Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room,” and “A Stop at Willoughby” are all episodes that reflect a premise similar to this one.  The lowly protagonist would become one of several reoccurring motifs in Serling’s episodes.  This was Serling’s greatest strength as a writer.  Although his villains and supporting characters were often crude and one dimensional, his efficiency to tap into the aspirations and frailties of the common man were what made his protagonists so accessible to an audience.  This is what made his dramatic work in the decade before The Twilight Zone so compelling.

           Fantasy, however, especially fantasy formulated to fit a half-hour television show, is quite different; it revolves primarily around the plot instead of the characters.  This is where Serling often came up short as a writer.  “One for the Angels” is no exception.  In the story, Death is unable to claim the life of eight year old Maggie because Bookman distracts him with his magnificent sales pitch and Death never makes it into her apartment to do so.  The significance of Death having to actually be in her apartment to take her seems oddly convenient in terms of plot, especially considering that earlier in the day he was able to orchestrate the poor girl getting hit by a truck when he wasn’t even outside to witness it.
           There is another motif at work in this story that was common to many scripts Serling wrote for The Twilight Zone: the idea that fate is the omniscient universal force and that those who interfere with it do so at a high cost.  When Bookman requests that he be granted an additional stay on Earth he is merely attempting to cheat Death into granting him immortality.  What he doesn’t realize until later is that cheating fate can have dier consequences (although he ends up cheating Death a second time and doesn’t suffer the same fate).  “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs is the most famous example of this sort of story, where a character is granted a wish that comes true at an enormous price.  This is a popular theme is the field of dark fantasy and it is one that Serling would unfortunately rely on as a crutch, given his contractual obligation to write the majority of the series.  “Escape Clause,” “Time Enough at Last,” “A Kind of Stopwatch,” “The Last Night of a Jockey,” and “The Man in the Bottle” (a direct imitation of "The Monkey’s Paw") are all examples of this same theme.

           Stepping into the role as the lovable Lew Bookman is the equally lovable Ed Wynn.  Known for his slapstick brand of humor and his gentle demeanor, Wynn is remembered today as one the most beloved icons of Hollywood during the 1950's and 60's.  Wynn's career as an entertainer actually stretches back to the turn of the twentieth century when he started as a vaudeville comedian in the famous Ziegfield Follies stage productions, often co-starring with W.C. Fields.  When his vaudeville days began to dry up Wynn turned his talents to radio starring in the popular show The Fire Chief during the early 1930's.  The show spawned two film adaptations, Follow the Leader (1930) and The Chief (1933), with Wynn starring in both.  From 1949 to 1950 Wynn hosted two different variety shows, The Ed Wynn Show on NBC and The Camel Comedy Caravan on CBS.  Several years later Wynn's son (and fellow Twilight Zone alumni)Keenan Wynn encouraged him to take up acting.  In 1956 Wynn, then in his mid-sixties, suprised everyone when he delivered an incredibly moving dramatic performance in the Playhouse 90 production of Rod Serling's Requiem For a Heavyweight.  During the last decade or so of his life Wynn experienced the most successful chapter of his career and proved himself as an actor that could easily switch back and forth between comedy and drama.  His notable films roles include The Great Man (1956), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959; he was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his performance as Albert Dussell), a live action comedy version of Cinderella (1960) starring Jerry Lewis, and the George Stevens epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).  He also found a home at The Walt Disney Company during this time and many of his best known performances are as Disney characters.  He was the voice of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland (1956), as the Toymaker in Babes in Toyland (1961), as the Fire Chief in The Absentminded Professor (1961) and as Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins (1964).  Wynn passed away in 1966 at the age of 79.
            Murray Hamilton also turns in a good performance here as Mr. Death.  Hamilton was a prominent stage and screen actor during his career which spanned over four decades.  He is best remembered today for his role as the mayor in Jaws and Jaws 2.  He also appeared in such landmark films as No Time For Sergeants (1958), The Hustler (1961), The Graduate (1967) and The Way We Were (1975).  He died in 1986 at the age of 63.
           All in all, “One for the Angels” may not be a particularly memorable episode within the scope of The Twilight Zone catalog, but I wouldn’t discourage people away from it.  It’s an easy-to-view episode with a warmhearted charm, and Ed Wynn’s performance as Lew Bookman is immensely enjoyable.

Grade: C

Notes:
--Serling had actually written a script called “One for the Angels” several years before for the CBS Television anthology series Danger, in which a second-rate pitchman delivers a pitch so grand that he is able to keep a crowd of onlookers gathered around his apartment in order for his little brother to escape a band of angry mobsters (he ends up being shot and killed anyway.)  He reused the title and the lead character but rewrote the entire script to incorporate a fantasy element.  He supposedly wrote the lead character especially for Ed Wynn after the two had worked together in “Requiem for a Heavyweight.”
--"One For the Angels" was adapted into a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Ed Begley, Jr. (Falcon Picture Group, 2002).

--Ed Wynn also starred in the fifth season episode, “Ninety Years without Slumbering.”
--Robert Parrish also directed two other Season One episodes, "The Mighty Casey" and "A Stop at Willoughby."
--Murray Hamilton also appeared in an episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery titled "Dr. Stringfellow's Rejuvenator." 

--Brian Durant