I try and find inspiration everywhere. As a kid I watched a lot of t.v. I can say honestly 60% were shows created before I was born and the rest were a part of my generation. One of these shows was The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling was the creator and mad genius behind most of the stories that were turned into this episodic magic on that was on boob tube.
I recently watched the episode Trouble with Templeton again and found myself inspired. I wanted to share that inspiration with you.
Have you had moments where you find yourself over analyzing your life? Looking into your past and wondering about the what-ifs? Remembering days gone by and wishing you could relive them?
A man by the name of Booth Templeton who happened to be aging and unhappily married to a younger to a wife, finds himself constantly thinking about his past. He thinks about his younger years and his time being in love with his first wife Laura.
With heavy feet he drags himself to the theater to prepare himself for his next role but finds himself insecure and unsure about what he is doing. When he abruptly leaves the theater he finds that is not in 1960 anymore but rather its 1927. He was a big star then and he finds his wife Laura and his best friend Barney are alive and waiting for him at a local speakeasy. Booth is bewildered by everything but even more so at how flippant both Laura and Barney seem to him because it is so out of character to the way they he remembered them. They both take turns dismissing Booth and overwhelmed by all of this he runs out of the club only to find he was holding a script that he took from Laura.
In the script was every word that was spoken to him in the speakeasy along with the title, "What To Do When Booth Comes Back". Booth realizes that Laura and Barney wanted Booth to ride out the rest of his life with joy and energy and passion. They wanted him to live.
Going through the journey with Booth you watch a man feeling defeated by the present and living in the past only to understand that those who loved us before and are no longer with his would never want us to dwell on what was but to find peace and joy in what is.
When we are in a slump, when we feel defeated, when we feel to tired to keep it going--we can remember Booth Templeton. If all we do is dwell on what ifs, we will never find pleasure and happiness in our present moments.
I think we could all use that reminder from time to time. Thank you Mr. Serling or rather Mr. Booth Templeton.
"Mr. Booth Templeton, who shares with most human beings the hunger to recapture the past moments, the ones that soften with the years. But in his case, the characters of his past blocked him out and sent him back to his own time, which is where we find him now. Mr. Booth Templeton, who has a round-trip ticket into the Twilight Zone."
A Vintage Nerd Supplementary Reading:
Lovely post! And this is one of my favorite episodes in the series, because it has a simple, yet very relatable plot.
ReplyDeleteAlso, now going to binge read all of your other Twilight Zone posts. LOVE The Twilight Zone and Mr. Rod Serling.
xoxo
-Janey
*When I say "your" I really mean your supplementary reading.
ReplyDeleteYour comments are as heartwarming as the T.Z. episode. What made it for me was Laura's sad expression after Booth ran out, having just rejected him. Only a superb actress could express so powerfully what was for me the key moment of "The Trouble with Templeton." She really loved and respected Booth. I have to say Pippa Scott was the perfect actress for the role, expressing so much with just her eyes. You're right about how meaningful the entire episode was, and you describes beautifully. The episode was one of the best of the series. Thanks for commenting on it.
ReplyDeleteOh thank you Paul! You’re right, her expression was so powerful. So much going on in that one scene alone. It’s one of my favorites too!! xox
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