Twilight Zone - The Chaser/A Passage for Trumpet

I'm closing in on the end of the first season. As I was going through the first season again, I realized how extraordinary it really was that Serling could produce so much television. It's insanity, today, to think any show would offer this many episodes in a single season. But in the early days of television, this was just the norm.

 

The Chaser

SYFY had some serious cuts in the episode, but considering this is one of my least favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone, that didn't bother me. I'm sure this episode will annoy and irk people who might take offense to George Grizzard's Roger Shackleford using a love potion he bought to "influence" the mind and heart of a woman he had no chance in hell of winning over without it. Leila (Patricia Barry) so head over heels and obsessed with Roger's happiness and pleasure she drives him back to a professor (John McIntire) he bought the love potion from. I am very impressed with the huge library where the professor resides. The shelves reach up and up like some big tree out of California. Books and more books. I do wonder what they contain. As far as Roger and his issues: he deserves exactly what he gets. He wanted her absolute adoration and got it. It's all a lie: without the "liquid influence", Leila would have nothing to do with this guy. It is him who initiated all of this because he just couldn't take no for an answer. And when he gets "the chaser" to "eliminate his problem", Leila present to him another "problem". Couldn't have happened to a more deserved rube. (SYFY; 5:30AM, Mon, Nov 22) 

A Passage for Trumpet

This episode helped to cleanse the palate of the previous "The Chaser". "A Passage for Trumpet" is the least watched of the Klugman classic Twilight Zone episodes, but it wasn't intentional as much as this particular one just didn't air that much when I was watching marathons in the 90s. Even in the early 2000 marathons I seemed to always miss this episode. And Klugman is just as on fire in this episode as all the others. I do like "Death Ship", but I think "A Passage of Trumpet" is superior (and shorter). Klugman's dead trumpeter, Joey Crown, lost his way after succumbing to "the hooch", sold his music instrument for next to nothing at a pawn shop (the guy put it on sale for $25 after asking only $8 for it! Fucking pawn shops...), and threw himself in front of an oncoming truck. You know, we often discuss the actors known for their memorable appearances on the show. Klugman, for instance, was in four episodes. But we forget that John Anderson, too, was in four episodes. He's cast in the episode as angel, Gabriel, really good on the trumpet (oh, so clever), helping Klugman realize he's in limbo and could return to the living, offered a second chance. I really enjoy Klugman and Anderson's big scene together in the episode...in an alley, dark and brooding, the two talk about where Joey Crown currently is and what could possibly await him if he decides to embrace life again. I also enjoyed the interesting limbo Gabriel mentions regarding the others Joey Crown attempts to talk to...they can't hear them because these ghosts are allowed to continue believing they are alive. Joey even seems to have a chance at romance with an out-of-towner who just moved into the city. It is brief, but Joey even blows through his trumpet on the roof of his apartment complex at night as the other NYC buildings give him a type of urban view. I've probably watched even the 45 minute "Death Ship" more than this one, but "A Passage of Trumpet" is a new favorite I consider such a beaut. And the reason is practically all because of Klugman. I will admit, Klugman has a certain acting style that is consistent. He does mostly play the down and out, down-on-his-luck, angst-ridden loner with very few prospects. Whether he is a struggling musician, poolhall junkie, or guilt-stricken bookie, Klugman is able to develop just enough difference in each character to make them unique and relatable. A wealth of great acting in The Twilight Zone. (SYFY; 3:00AM, Sat, Nov 20)

It is quite a library! "The Chaser"