A Passage for Trumpet

"A Passage for Trumpet" is episode thirty-two of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

Plot

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.

Production notes

In his "limbo" state, Joey's reflection is supposed to be absent from any mirrors. But his reflection is clearly seen twice: once in the window of the theater ticket counter and the other in a jukebox he was leaning against.
Beginning with this episode and lasting through the end of the season, a new title sequence featuring a blinking eye was shown. It featured shorter narration than the original opening. Also, these episodes featured a different starfield at the conclusion which looked more like blinking light bulbs than stars. This episode seems to have been re-syndicated with the earlier lagoon opening.^[1]

References

^ Template:TV.com episode

External links

"A Passage for Trumpet" at IMDb

[1] Template:TV.com episode

[1]

v t e The Twilight Zone (1959) episodes
Season 1	"Where Is Everybody?" "One for the Angels" "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" "Walking Distance" "Escape Clause" "The Lonely" "Time Enough at Last" "Perchance to Dream" "Judgment Night" "And When the Sky Was Opened" "What You Need" "The Four of Us Are Dying" "Third from the Sun" "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" "The Hitch-Hiker" "The Fever" "The Last Flight" "The Purple Testament" "Elegy" "Mirror Image" "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" "A World of Difference" "Long Live Walter Jameson" "People Are Alike All Over" "Execution" "The Big Tall Wish" "A Nice Place to Visit" "Nightmare as a Child" "A Stop at Willoughby" "The Chaser" "A Passage for Trumpet" "Mr. Bevis" "The After Hours" "The Mighty Casey" "A World of His Own"
Season 2	"King Nine Will Not Return" "The Man in the Bottle" "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" "A Thing About Machines" "The Howling Man" "Eye of the Beholder" "Nick of Time" "The Lateness of the Hour" "The Trouble with Templeton" "A Most Unusual Camera" "The Night of the Meek" "Dust" "Back There" "The Whole Truth" "The Invaders" "A Penny for Your Thoughts" "Twenty Two" "The Odyssey of Flight 33" "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" "Static" "The Prime Mover" "Long Distance Call" "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" "The Silence" "Shadow Play" "The Mind and the Matter" "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" "The Obsolete Man"
Season 3	"Two" "The Arrival" "The Shelter" "The Passersby" "A Game of Pool" "The Mirror" "The Grave" "It's a Good Life" "Deaths-Head Revisited" "The Midnight Sun" "Still Valley" "The Jungle" "Once Upon a Time" "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" "A Quality of Mercy" "Nothing in the Dark" "One More Pallbearer" "Dead Man's Shoes" "The Hunt" "Showdown with Rance McGrew" "Kick the Can" "A Piano in the House" "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" "To Serve Man" "The Fugitive" "Little Girl Lost" "Person or Persons Unknown" "The Little People" "Four O'Clock" "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" "The Trade-Ins" "The Gift" "The Dummy" "Young Man's Fancy" "I Sing the Body Electric" "Cavender Is Coming" "The Changing of the Guard"
Season 4	"In His Image" "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" "Valley of the Shadow" "He's Alive" "Mute" "Death Ship" "Jess-Belle" "Miniature" "Printer's Devil" "No Time Like the Past" "The Parallel" "I Dream of Genie" "The New Exhibit" "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" "On Thursday We Leave for Home" "Passage on the Lady Anne" "The Bard"
Season 5	"In Praise of Pip" "Steel" "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" "A Kind of a Stopwatch" "The Last Night of a Jockey" "Living Doll" "The Old Man in the Cave" "Uncle Simon" "Probe 7, Over and Out" "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain" "Ninety Years Without Slumbering" "Ring-a-Ding Girl" "You Drive" "The Long Morrow" "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" "Black Leather Jackets" "Night Call" "From Agnes—With Love" "Spur of the Moment" "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" "Queen of the Nile" "What's in the Box" "The Masks" "I Am the Night—Color Me Black" "Sounds and Silences" "Caesar and Me" "The Jeopardy Room" "Stopover in a Quiet Town" "The Encounter" "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" "The Brain Center at Whipple's" "Come Wander with Me" "The Fear" "The Bewitchin' Pool"

Plot

Production notes

References

Further reading

External links