Twilight Zone Episode: Night Call

 "The Twilight Zone" was a weekly television series on the CBS network from 1959 until 1964. It was revived in the 1980s and again later. The original show had no regular cast, unless you count the show's creator, Rod Serling, who typically appeared a couple of minutes after the show began to give a little explanation of what was to come, and then he appeared again at the end to close out the show. Each episode was a different story, with no common storyline, except that they all involved ventures into mysterious and bizarre happenings, with some being a bit light and comical, and some others being downright chilling.   

 

This episode was first broadcast in February 1964. Its star, Gladys Cooper, was a long time English actress of stage and film both in the United Kingdom and in the United States. American actress Nora Marlowe is one of those people the public would recognize by sight, but not likely by name, and she made many an appearance, especially in television shows in those days.   

 

Cast: 

 

Gladys Cooper as Elva Keene 

Nora Marlowe as Margaret Phillips, the housekeeper

Matine Bartlett as Miss Finch 

The episode opens with a darkened room brightened at times by flashes of lightening, followed by crashes of thunder. We see an empty wheelchair, and then we see an older lady tossing and turning in her bed, as the rage of the storm makes it hard for her to sleep. The telephone rings and the clock shows a couple of minutes past two. The lady answers, but there is no voice on the line, only the sounds of some crackling and buzzing. She hangs up, and the phone rings again. Again she answers, but the same thing happens. Rod Serling's initial narration tells us the woman's name is Elva Keene and that the story is set in London Flats in a rural part of the state of Maine. (Note: Rod Serling was the creator of "The Twilight Zone," whose comments both introduced and ended the episodes.) The next morning the housekeeper, Margaret, arrives to find Elva on the telephone to the telephone company about the two overnight calls. Miss Finch, the telephone company representative explains to Elva that the company has been overwhelmed with complaints about disruptions of service by the storm. Elva and Margaret talk, and we learn that Elva is terribly lonely. A little while later the telephone rings and Elva answers. As during the night, there is no voice on the line, only a little buzzing. Elva calls for Margaret and hands her the telephone, but Margaret says there is no one there and she hangs up. Elva is concerned, but Margaret tells her not to worry about it, and that there must still be trouble with the telephone line from the storm. 

 

After making sure Elva is safely in bed for the night, Margaret leaves. After she goes out the door, the phone rings. Elva reluctantly answers, but this time there is the sound of moaning. Elva demands to know who is on the line and finally the voice says, "Hello ... hello." Elva lets go of the phone and the receiver hangs down by her bedside. The next morning Elva calls Miss Finch again at the telephone company and explains what happened. Miss Finch tells her she will have a serviceman check the line, but that it could take a little time, as there are still many problems needing repairs from the storm. Elva tells Margaret that Miss Finch likely doesn't believe her and that she thinks it is something in her imagination. Later, with Elva in her wheelchair, Margaret nods off in the other room and the phone rings. Elva answers and the voice repeatedly says, "Hello." Elva hangs up, and then she decides to leave the receiver off, but then she says that if they can't call, she'll never find out who it is. As soon as she replaces the receiver, the phone rings. She answers and the voice again keeps saying "hello," as Elva begs for the caller's identity. She hangs up and calls out for Margaret and tells her it is a man who has been calling her. Margaret tries to calm Elva, and indeed, she takes the receiver off and lays it on the stand, but a visibly worried Elva keeps asking why he is calling her. Later, Margaret puts Elva to bed and again she lays the receiver on the nightstand, but the dial tone keeps Elva from sleeping, so the distraught Elva puts the receiver back on the phone and just seconds later the phone rings. She fearfully picks up the receiver and she hears a man's voice ask, "Where are you? Where are you? I want to talk to you." Elva screams, "No! No! Leave me alone," and she cuts off the connection. 

 

The next afternoon Elva sits and plays cards with Margaret, but she can't concentrate, as she waits to hear from Miss Finch and the phone company. The telephone rings, but Elva lets Margaret answer. It's Miss Finch and Margaret gives the phone to Elva. Miss Finch tells Elva that a serviceman traced the calls to a fallen line "on the edge of town." Elva is upset, and she says it could not have been a fallen line, because a man has been calling her and that there must be a telephone there. Miss Finch tells her there is no one at the location of the fallen line, because it's the cemetery. (Note: Obviously a 'dead line,' and a cause for 'grave' concern.) Elva has Margaret drive her to the cemetery where they see the wire hanging from a utility pole. The wire rests on the grave of a Brian Douglas, 1905 to 1932, who it turns out was Elva's fiancé. Elva tells Margaret the two of them were out for a ride just a week before their marriage and that she (Elva) had insisted on driving, and that she always had to have her own way, and that she was dominating, and that Brian always did what she wanted. She lost control of the car and it hit a tree, throwing Brian through the windshield killing him, and that she was crippled in the wreck. She says Brian is now trying to reach her, "I can talk to him and I won't be lonely anymore." 

Later Elva is in bed and Margaret is hesitant to leave her, but Elva tells her she can go. Elva looks at the telephone and waits for it to ring, but nothing happens. She takes the phone and picks up the receiver and calls out for Brian. The voice comes on and says, "You told me to leave you alone, and I always do what you say." Elva bursts into tears. Rod Serling's voice can now be heard saying about men and women sometimes create their own particular private Hell. "A case in point, Miss Elva Keene, who in every sense has made her own bed, and now must lie in it, sadder, but wiser, by dint of a rather painful lesson in responsibility, transmitted from the Twilight Zone."

  

     

Photo is of the CBS/Paramount Home Entertainment 2020 DVD box set

WORD HISTORY:

Cemetery-This word is somewhat distantly related to "city" and to "civil," words of Latin derivation borrowed by English via French. "Cemetery" goes back to Indo European "kei/key," with the notion of "to lie down, to be settled in." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "koimáō," meaning, "to sleep, to put to sleep," and this gave transliterated Greek the noun "koimētḗrion," meaning, "place for sleeping, room for sleep, dormitory," but also, "chamber for the dead." Latin borrowed the word as "coemeterium," meaning, "burial ground," with the meaning seemingly getting heavy influence from Christianity (graveyards were often on church grounds) and this later became "cemeterium," and this passed into Latin-based Old French as "cimetiere," meaning, "burial ground, graveyard." English borrowed the word as "cimiterie," circa 1400, and it then became "cimitery," before "cemetery" circa 1500.