"A Passage for Trumpet" is the thirty-second episode of the The Twilight Zone.
Episode Details[]
Title Sequence[]
This is the final episode of the series with the UPA title sequence.
Opening Narration[]
Part 1[]
Joey Crown, musician with an odd, intense face, whose life is a quest for impossible things like flowers in concrete, or like trying to pluck a note of music out of the air and put it under a glass to treasure.
Part 2[]
Joey Crown, musician with an odd, intense face, who in a moment will try to leave the Earth and discover the middle ground; the place we call the Twilight Zone.
Episode Summary[]
Joey Crown (Jack Klugman) is a down-and-out, alcoholic trumpet player in New York, looking for a chance to work again. After being turned down by the manager at his old club, and insulted by a pawn shop owner (after he is forced to sell his beloved trumpet for cash), Joey decides that his life is worthless, and steps into the path of a speeding truck. When Joey comes to, he finds that the people around him cannot see or hear him, and assumes that he is dead. Returning to his old night club, he meets another trumpet player (John Anderson), and is startled to discover that the other man recognizes him. The other man explains that Joey is in "a kind of limbo"; while the people he encountered are actually dead, he can still return to the living, if he so chooses. With the player's encouragement, Joey remembers that even at its worst, life still has enough good in it to be worth living, and he chooses to go back. As the other player leaves, Joey asks his name; he answers, "My name? Call me Gabe. Short for Gabriel." Joey wakes up on the street, just after his collision; he is shaken but otherwise unharmed. The driver of the truck, not wanting his driving record tarnished, pushes some money into Joey's hand, enough for him to buy his trumpet back. That night, while Joey is playing to himself, a girl (Mary Webster) approaches to express her appreciation. Introducing herself as Nan, she explains that she is new to the city; excited to be connected to another human being, Joey offers to show her the town.
Closing Narration[]
Joey Crown, who makes music...and who discovered something about life: that it can rich and rewarding and full of beauty just like the music he played, if a person would only pause to look and to listen. Joey Crown, who got his clue...in the Twilight Zone.
Preview for Next Week's Story[]
"Next week, you'll meet the occupant of this desk, whose name is James B.W. Bevis, a warm and winning twentieth-century oddball about a mile and a half from the norm. He likes things like zither music, little kids, and stuff like this [motions to a stuffed squirrel he is holding]. Orson Bean stars next week on The Twilight Zone as "Mr. Bevis", and Henry Jones plays his guardian angel. He's this kind of oddball."
Background Information[]
Cast[]
- Rod Serling as Narrator (voice only); uncredited
- Jack Klugman as Joey Crown
- John Anderson as Gabriel
- Frank Wolff as Baron
- Mary Webster as Nan
- James Flavin as Truck Driver
- Ned Glass as Pawnshop Man
- Peter Gabel as Guy with a Match; uncredited
Crew[]
- Rod Serling (executive producer: Cayuga Productions)
- Buck Houghton (producer)
- George T. Clemens (director of photography)
- Joseph Gluck (film editor)
- George W. Davis (art director)
- Merrill Pye (art director)
- F. Keogh Gleason (set decorator)
- Henry Grace (set decorator)
- Ralph W. Nelson (production manager)
- Donald C. Klune (assistant director; credited: Don Klune)
- Franklin Milton (sound; credited: Frank Milton)
- Philip Mitchell (sound)
- Van Allen James (sound effects editor; uncredited)
Production Companies[]
- Cayuga Productions
- Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (in association with)
Distributors[]
- Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1960) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
Home media release[]
This episode is included on the Image Entertainment Vol. 4 DVD along with "Mr. Dingle, the Strong", "Two" and "The Four of Us Are Dying".
Trivia[]
- Right after Joey looks in the mirror to see that he has no reflection, he turns around to the ticket booth, which clearly shows his reflection in the glass, his reflection is also seen later in the glass of a jukebox in a bar, his shadow is also seen throughout the remainder of the episode.
- The Buch Houghton & Co. truck is a tribute to producer Buck Houghton.
External Links[]