June 1, 2003 - 750702 - Come Back With Me

[vgarci]

This week's program was presented for your review, by DSDNBLM (Member #70).

For those who do not have the program, you can download it (with or without a Streamload account) at: www.streamload.com/vgarci (http://www.streamload.com/vgarci)

[vgarci]

First, as evidenced by the post-show AIDS commercial, the program I have listed as a 1975 broadcast must have been a rebroadcast as I don't think the disease we know as AIDS was given a name until the 1980's. Further, the Volkswagen commercial notes a 1990 model car.

This play centers on a man who hears the calling of his youth. He begins to imagine life in the past and he longs for the music, culture, and simplicity of his glory days as a 19 year old. Unfortunately, people around him have moved on and are unable to imagine the time he envisions. His relationship with his wife has been strained for years and though she finally sees and hears people from earlier days, she is unwilling to go back in time.

I thought this was a terrific selection. I listened to it late at night, when I usually fall asleep, but found I was mesmerized by this story. In many regards, I can relate to the main character because I visit my younger days everytime I spin up a CBSRMT program. The acting was excellent and though I suspect some reviewers will think the play moved too slowly, I liked the pace and felt it was necessary to provide us with the detail the show needed. Anecdotally, I've noticed that more of my male friends would go back to their high school days than would my female friends and this is certainly the case for my wife and me. As such, I certainly have an affinity for our main character. I rated this program as a 4/5 but my vote would actually be a 4.5/5 if half points were permitted by the polling system.

[Texas]

I agree with Vince. I also think this is one of those programs (and there were SO many of them on the RMT) where at story's end you could say "and the moral of the story is..."

If I were going to try I'd guess the moral of [i:a41940aae7]this[/i:a41940aae7] story is..."The past is over and gone...live for the [i:a41940aae7]future[/i:a41940aae7]". (Strangely, my own Mom told me just yesterday of some saying like "If you live in the past you'll forget about the present", which would be equally applicable here.

The main character in the story is voiced by the talented Howard DaSilva, who (if a report I've read on the Web is correct) may have been one of the few if not only RMT players to have been at one time "blacklisted" as a communist. No matter his political beliefs he turns in a strong performance as a daydreaming executive of a company that's in deep financial trouble. I forget the actress' name who plays his wife but I always think she sounds like original [i:a41940aae7]Saturday Night Live[/i:a41940aae7] alumni Jane Curtin...(it won't be my first choice, but if I get the opportunity I'll going to put as "show of the week" a dynamite CBS RMT play called "The house on Chimney Pot Lane", where this same Jane Curtin-sounding actress had a great set of roles). His wife is also an executive with their firm yet, unlike her husband, she sees both the gravity of their situation and a possible way out.

Friends, I've been there where I was such a daydreamer I was blinded to reality. DaSilva's character is there, unfortunately for him, and as a result his marriage isn't in that good of a shape, either. He wants to restore the latter, however, and is convinced he can do so if he takes his wife away from the present and back to their college days when he was a happy, carefree, dashing young man. In fact, he's able to do so himself, going back to a bar owned by a friend of his during the college days who was killed in World War II. When he goes to the bar it's a lively happy place, filled with music, booze and good times, and it's a great place for him to run away from his current troubles.

Problem is, whenever he hires a taxi to take him there he has to put up with taxi drivers who raise their eyebrows at him because the building where the "bar" is an abandoned, broken, destined-for-demolition wreck of a structure. And the taxi drivers don't know what he's going through well enough to tell him: "Dude, all those happy people from your past you see in that bar? Today they're all [i:a41940aae7]dead[/i:a41940aae7]..."

EXCELLENT choice for a show of the week, DSNDBLM... smile.gif I hope as many people as possible hear the program and live looking ahead of rather than behind them.

[brian1984_2001]

This was a well-written melodrama and you can never go wrong with Howard Dasilva. I did not know that he had been blacklisted.

I think this episode is so appealing is because it appeals to something that is in all of us. It's not hard to sympathize with teh guy who is sacrificing a bleak future for some time in a joyful past.

I have listened to this episode before and enjoyed it as much the second time as I did the first.

[hamlet2003]

I enjoyed this episode particularly for the lead actor who always does a fine job. (The story reminded me the Twilight Zone episode called "Static" in which an eldery man in a boarding house begins to hear old time radio programs on his radio and longs for the past. He can't convince anyone he is actually hearing live broadcast of these long gone shows, not even his one-time fiancee who also lives in the boarding house. Even the music that is playing in the bar in in this CBSRMT episode is heard in that Twilight Zone episode. ) The ending of this story was definitley a downer but also inevitable I guess.

[Charlie]

Getting ready to listen. I have not read comments. Isn't the number 750702?

Charlie

[Charlie]

This is a repeat broadcast from 1991 according to a Volkswagen commercial at the end, as well as a Tom Bodett/Motel 6 spot that wasn't from 1975 - then an AIDS P.S.A.

Awesome program! I like the concept behind this one. The acting was excellent. The story line was good. I was locked in from the beginning. I never lost interest at all.

As someone who likes old things and things from the past (as I assume most of us do) this was right on target. Really a great program with a sad ending but it made sense - as much as these things do, and there is a good lesson in it as well.

I gave it a 5 and I compliment the choice of program this week!

Charlie

[vgarci]

Charlie,
Thanks for the correction on the date....my error!

[Michael]

First of all, many thanks to Vince for allowing me to download the program. It was one I do not yet have.

Let me begin by admitting that I am not a big Tammy Grimes fan. I also should acknowledge that I prefer episodes that contain more of an element of terror or at least suspense. “Tales of the macabre” if you will.

That said, I enjoyed this weeks episode. I think Howard Da Silva is one of the finest actors ever cast by Mr. Brown.

Everyone who has ever experienced a professional set back can relate to Bill’s desire to go back to a happier time. A time when your whole life stretched before you. I found it appropriate that Zelda was able to see that the bar was not reality and that everyone there was dead. She had no desire to live in the past. Most of us have probably attended or will shortly attend our 20-year high school reunion. Having attended mine last fall, I can tell you that the sexes were divided by their topics of conversations. The women talked about their children, families and careers. They were very grounded in the here and now. We men obsessed over who scored which touchdown or sank a game winning foul shot. Stories of pranks and good times 20 years past dominated the male portion of the conversation.

I feel that the message in the ending was-no matter how inviting the past may appear, if you try to live there the present will fall apart around you.

[vgarci]

Michael,
I'm glad you were able to get the program (holler if you want any others as I'd be glad to host them whether they are the show of the week or not) and it's great to see your comments. I have to agree that I really like the stories of the macabre. That said, I also enjoyed this program because I could sure relate to enjoying moments from the past. I think most OTR listeners would say they enjoy the past but it's critical to maintain a healthy balance. It's perfectly healthy to enjoy the familiarity of the past, live for the day and look forward to the future.

[Lagavulin]

0301
Come Back With Me
7/2/1975

A man overwhelmed with the pressures and cynicism of the present seeks out the comfort and safety of the past. While the neighbourhood of his youth has declined into a state of danger and disrepair, his mind recreates the people, places, and pleasures of the past. His wife worries about his ability to cope but accompanies him briefly on his journey into the past, and both reach their own conclusion about the future.

I thought that Teri Keane gave a particularly strong performance as the beleagured wife.

This episode rates
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
out of a possible 10

[dnagle]

This is an interesting episode. The host (EG Marshall) seemed more philosophical than in other shows, and also more omniscient. The main character's dementia is never really explained, other than unhappiness in the present. But I think that is a good thing, and one of the strengths of the series, that it left things hanging (and often troubling). Howard DaSilva was in a lot of episodes, at one point (around the Bicentennial) he was starring in shows and was also in some of the commercials broadcast around it! I was a bit confused by the AIDS commercial just before the epilogue, that puts this broadcast no earlier than the early 'eighties. At any rate, another good Show of the Week.

[Ethelmertz]

Any time I hear a show has been written by Sam Dann I know it will be a good one. The acting was great and it was not slow at all.

Going through tough business times, a man travels back to a nightclub of his youth. His old friends are there, the good times and music . This is also where he met his wife. Even though the building is condemmed and there is no one there, he keeps going back because he can hear the music and see and interact with the people. He is reliving his youth and much happier times of his life. When he brings his wife there, she sees all of these people and tells him she wants to leave because she notices that all of these people that they are seeing are already dead.
The desire to relive the good, worry -free life of his past has a fatal result when the nightclub building is knocked down with him in it.

I liked this show and the idea that if you live in the past you lose the present and the future. It's something I try to remember every day of my life.
A good show of the week choice !

Camille

[dave]

a pretty good show over all. my tastes tend to be more on the horror side though.

although this story has been done before this did keep my interest.
good acting. well written.