How the Father’s Plea to Save His Son in Twilight Zone’s “Long Distance Call” Was Rewritten

If a phone rings in the fifth dimension, think twice about picking it up.

Perhaps, as Miss Elvira Keene discovered in Twilight Zone‘s “Night Call,” you’ll find your deceased fiancé on other end of the line. Or it may be your late mother reaching out to encourage your son Billy to, ahem, hasten his demise so he can join her in the hereafter.

That’s the startling premise behind TZ’s “Long Distance Call,” which culminates in a desperate plea from an anguished father to his departed mother to not to take Billy to the other side.

Obviously, if the episode was going to work, the way that call was written and performed was of paramount importance. Charles Beaumont and Bill Idelson had written a solid script, but their initial effort at the father’s speech fell flat. As we learn from Marc Scott Zicree’s write-up of the episode in “The Twilight Zone Companion,” Rod approached them as the episode was being filmed and said it wasn’t working.

Here’s how the call originally went:

“Ma! Ma, if you can hear me, give him back to us. You said you loved me, and I know you did. I remember so many things. Remember that funny little dog I had? You let me keep him even when he tore up all the furniture. Pa wanted to give him away, but you said no. And remember the first day of school? How scared I was… And you sat in the back of the room all morning so I wouldn’t cry? And that first pair of long pants. And the time I broke the window with the ball? You hit me under the bed when the policeman came. My graduation… And that first date I had, you remember?  With that skinny redhead, how mad you were? We had lots of fights, but I always knew you loved me. And I loved you too, so very, very very much. I never really got a chance to tell you. Oh, Ma, please give him back to us, so we can love him too. Give him back to us.“

Now, that’s not bad. But if you’re familiar with the episode, you know it’s not as strong as what we eventually got on screen. The problem, Beaumont and Idelson realized, was that the speech was focused too much on the father and not enough on the son. So they rewrote it on the spot:

“Mother, if you can hear me, listen. You said you loved Billy. At his birthday you picked him up and you hugged him — and you said he gave you life again. If you really love Billy, give him back. He’s only five. He hasn’t even started. He doesn’t know anything about going to school. Or girlfriends. Or wearing long pants. Even pitching a baseball. He’s hardly been out of this room, out of this house. There’s a whole world he hasn’t even touched. Mother, you said Billy gave you life again — now you can give him life. If you really love him, let him live. Give him back. Give him back, Ma!“

That’s much better, I think we can all agree. Even the grandmother, whose devotion to Billy was too strong for her own good, couldn’t deny its power. She relents, and Billy lives.

So kudos to Beaumont and Idelson — and actor Philip Abbott, who infused the revised scene with quiet, touching urgency. It’s a big part of the reason this episode remains a Zone classic.

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Hope to see you in some corner of the fifth dimension soon!