Walking Distance

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For the Robert Earl Keen album, see Walking Distance (album).

“Walking Distance”

The Twilight Zone episode

Gig Young in Walking Distance

Episode no.

Season 1
Episode 5

Written by

Rod Serling

Directed by

Robert Stevens

Guest stars

Gig Young : Martin Sloan
Frank Overton : Martin's Father
Irene Tedrow : Martin's Mother
Ron Howard : The Wilcox Boy:
Byron Foulger : Charlie
Patrick H. O'Malley Jr. : Mr. Wilson

Featured music

Original score by Bernard Herrmann

Production no.

173-3605

Original airdate

October 30, 1959

Episode chronology
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"The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine"	"Escape Clause"

List of Twilight Zone episodes

“Walking Distance” is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

1 Opening narration
2 Plot Summary
3 Closing narration
4 Trivia
5 Themes
6 Critical response
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Opening narration

“

Martin Sloan, age thirty-six. Occupation: vice-president, ad agency, in charge of media. This is not just a Sunday drive for Martin Sloan. He perhaps doesn't know it at the time, but it's an exodus. Somewhere up the road he's looking for sanity. And somewhere up the road, he'll find something else.

”

[edit] Plot Summary

A middle-aged man, Martin Sloan, is driving cross-country when he stops his car. He walks toward his hometown, which appears exactly as it was when he was a boy. He goes into a drugstore, and has an ice cream soda while recalling his memories from the past. He says "One of the greatest memories I have is old man Wilson, may God rest his soul, sleeping in his comfortable chair just like he did before he died". The cashier looks shocked but doesn't say anything and as Martin leaves the store, the cashier goes up to a room where Mr. Wilson is sleeping and says "We'll need more chocolate syrup Mr. Wilson." He responds by saying "I'll order some more of it this afternoon."

Martin continues walking until he eventually sees himself as a boy, and following him home, meets his parents. Trying to convince his parents that he is their son from the future, he succeeds only in proving his insanity. Martin tries to warn his younger self to enjoy his childhood before it is too late, but his advances scare young Martin, who falls off the merry-go-round and injures his leg. Finally, his father confronts him. Having seen the papers in Martin's wallet and now believing him to be who he says he is, he tells him to return to his own time. Martin finds himself back in his own time, walking with a new limp.

[edit] Closing narration

“

Martin Sloan, age thirty-six, vice-president in charge of media. Successful in most things but not in the one effort that all men try at some time in their lives—trying to go home again. And also like all men perhaps there'll be an occasion, maybe a summer night sometime, when he'll look up from what he's doing and listen to the distant music of a calliope, and hear the voices and the laughter of the people and places of his past. And perhaps across his mind there'll flit a little errant wish, that a man might not have to become old, never outgrow the parks and the merry-go-rounds of his youth. And he'll smile then too because he'll know it is just an errant wish, some wisp of memory not too important really, some laughing ghosts that cross a man's mind, that are a part of the Twilight Zone.

”

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

The park in the episode is said to be inspired by Recreation Park in Rod Serling's hometown of Binghamton, New York. Like the park in "Walking Distance", Recreation Park has a carousel and a bandstand. There is a plaque in the Recreation Park bandstand commemorating the episode.[1][2]
The episode was filmed predominantly at sets built for the 1959 television movie remake of Meet Me in St. Louis. The carousel used in the episode was a rental.
Bernard Herrmann's evocative string music for the episode was reused in later episodes of the series.

[edit] Themes

Similar themes are explored in “The Incredible World of Horace Ford” and, to a lesser extent, “Young Man's Fancy”. The episode also deals with the relentless pressures of the business world, which also serve as the basis for “A Stop at Willoughby”, “The Brain Center at Whipple's” and two Serling teleplays from before and after The Twilight Zone: Patterns and the Night Gallery episode “They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar”.

[edit] Critical response

"It's been three decades since he made that journey but the experience still tingles the flesh and waters the eye. This was "Walking Distance,” Episode Five of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone. Originally aired on October 30, 1959, it was the most personal story Serling ever wrote, and easily the most sensitive dramatic fantasy in the history of television. The yearning to recapture one's youth is an inescapable part of the human condition, and to discover, in the end, that the past is irrevocably behind you can be heartbreaking and sobering. With mesmerizing performances by Gig Young and Frank Overton, Serling played out this theme of ice cream and irony, of band concerts and broken dreams, and allowed us to take a better look at ourselves in the process. Devoid of the gimmickry that pervaded other episodes, "Walking Distance" stands alone in its simplicity and maturity. It captured the essence of Serling's poignant pen. Moreover, it's a fine example of how inventive cinematography and inspired direction could propel a half-hour teleplay forward—a rarity in the "golden days" of harried, grind-'em-out production schedules." —Paul Mandell, excerpt from "'Walking Distance' from The Twilight Zone", first published in the June 1988 of the American Cinematographer magazine.