A Stop at Willoughby

A few years ago, when we found that the "SyFy" channel had a Twilight Zone marathon, me & the missus sat down to watch. I'd seen many of these as a kid; she'd seen almost none.

This is one of her favorites: a dream of Willoughby is the ideal antidote to Mr. Misrell's (Mr. Miserable's?) relentless "push, push, push!" James Daly is outstanding as the exhausted & disillusioned ad manager, on the cusp of what they probably still call "a breakdown." Soon, there is nothing to separate the commuter train he rides each evening from the one his dreams.

Dozens of Twilight Zone episodes involved seeking solace in small towns (think: Of Late I Dream of Cliffordville, with Julie Newmar): this one of the best.

Of all of the episodes from The Twilight Zone it is this one that seems to stick in my mind most - alongside the episode entitled (I think) 'Terror at 10,000ft'.

Why 'A Stopover at Willoughby' should have such an effect on me I can not really say, but there is something about the idea of a place which you have never actually visited yet you know every street, building, shop, person, even the dogs on the streets that appeals to something deep within - maybe a psychological yearning for a place were you are eternally safe and free from worries. I have often had dreams like that and I guess that is what this episode taps into deeply, as do the very best of the rest of this amazing series.

The other thing that has stayed with me after watching this episode - which was some many moons ago! - is the train conductor saying "Willoughby, this is Willoughby...Willoughby, this is Willoughby..." When I am travelling on a bus (and, occasionally, the train) and it is idling at some stop somewhere I find myself saying these words in my head - now there are not many programmes that have the power to last that long in the brain!

James Daly plays a tired and unhappy businessman named Gart Williams who is stuck in a job he hates, working for an obnoxious man he despises. His wife is decent but equally unsatisfied, and obviously regrets marrying him. Gart takes a train to and from work each day, and becomes obsessed with an idyllic town named Willoughby that he has vivid dreams about, and becomes convinced actually exists, and that he is now determined to get too for good... Classic episode much like earlier 'Walking Distance' is even better, with a most believable performance by Daly as a man who yearns for a simpler life that fate denied him, and will risk all to attain. Will resonate more with older viewers for obvious reasons.

Along with Rod Serling's choice as writer, A Stop at Willoughby is one of the all time favorite of many fans in the entire Twilight Zone series. Its theme is classic and recalls the never-never Utopias of a human heart desperate to escape the pressures of every day reality.

Shangri-La from James Hilton's Lost Horizon and Brigadoon, the musical by Alan Jay Lerner (based on an old German story, Germelshausen by Freidrich Gerstacker) are just two of these places. Hilton's Shangri-La is based on the concept of Shambhala, a mystical city in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

In this memorable series show Serling's Willoughby takes its place among the literary Utopias. It was expanded into a TV movie in 2000, entitled, For All Time, starring Mark Harmon with a new teleplay by Vivienne Radkoff.

Many of us have from time to time dreamed of such a place where we could leave all of our cares behind and live an idyllic life. As in the best of The Twilight Zone episodes we are given that moment of revelation in the end and this time with a twist that some might call tragic while others might see it as hopeful.

Gart Williams is a harried, miserable Madison Avenue ad exec with a social climber of a wife, a relentlessly demanding boss, and an ulcer that won't quit. Riding the commuter train home to Connecticut one evening, he falls asleep and awakens on an 1890's train stopping at "Willoughby," a bucolic village where "a man can live his life full measure." He quickly returns to the present, but can't stop dreaming of the simple life for which he longs in a place where a band plays in the town square and kids carry fishing poles. There is little doubt that, when the pressures of modern day life become truly unbearable, Gart Williams will pay a visit to the place of his dreams. Rod Serling's most personal episode. When I had the privilege of seeing him in person in 1970, he described it, along with "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," as his two personal favorites. The final scene drew multiple gasps from the audience.