Voice at the End of the Line

Lawrence Marcus wrote a truly terrible screenplay for this failed episode, an indigestible mixture of inept comedy and insipid pathos starring great character actor Sorrell Booke in a sad sack role. It's a very lousy cast, with several players including the fake leading lady (a telephone answering service operator) not even getting a screen credit.

Set in Chicago, it revolves around Booke working as a warehouse shipping clerk who is the butt of a cruel practical joke by his co-workers, succeeding in utterly humiliating him. Maharis has arrived for his first day of work at this Chicago location, and finds himself in the unlikely Good Samaritan role trying to save Booke, literally, in a series of contrived and phony plot twists.

Milner has little to do, just tagging along and stuck with a ridiculous speech near the end trying to convince Booke that true love never runs smooth. For the second week in a row, Maharis dominates the show, and is saddled with a boring, overwritten monologue (like a manic film buff suddenly) endlessly relating the details and credits of a fictitious Helen Twelvetrees movie about Tschaikovsky. The episode's happy ending involving a prehistoric (1962) version of today's Catfishing is a ridiculous "surprise", totally phony.

Buz comes to the aid of a very shy co-worker who has been talking to a female operator for years over the phone, but doesn't have enough confidence to meet her in person.

This story unfolds nicely and has four distinct acts to it, which flows well and keeps the viewer involved. However in the end it seems like just a carbon copy of MARTY as well as full of a lot of stereotypes and clichés. The main asset of this episode is the fantastic on location shooting of Chicago. There are some great shots of the skyline, as well as Wabash Avenue, and even the Marina Towers under construction. There are also some nice scenes shot on the roof of the Tribune Tower and at Buckingham Fountain.

Actor Sorrell Booke gets a good early role as the shy and hopelessly self-conscious co-worker. He plays the part well enough that the viewer has sympathy for him without it going overboard and becoming pathetic. Buz is showcased quite well here and this maybe some of his best stuff from the entire series.

Grade: B-

More crazy continuity as we're back in Chicago, (and Tod is working at the same hotel the next episode takes place in- one they started working at in that episode). Buz has for some reason left his job at the hotel, (where he's still staying) to work as a stock clerk for a local company. He sees some of his new co-workers trying to wire up a loud-speaker and he advises them on how to do it, (it's just like his hi-fi set). It turns out they are playing a trick on the head of the shipping department, (Sorrell Brooke), who each day at a particular time, makes a romantic telephone call to a woman he has never met- one who works for his answering service. His men have a good time mocking him when it's broadcast to the entire facility and the guy, (his name is Sam), runs away, humiliated.

Buz enlists Tod in finding Sam and they catch up with him at the top of the Tribune Tower and convince him to get together with his lady love. They do the John Alden thing, (although Buz references an old movie about Tchaikovsky, probably "Song of My Heart", 1948) with the young and handsome Tod impersonating the short, dumpy middle-aged Sam. "Ruthie" steps out of a car and proves to be a drop-dead gorgeous young woman whom Tod falls hard for. Then comes a wonderful O Henry-type ending. I kinda wish I knew who played this "Ruthie" but she doesn't appear in the credits.

The *highly* under-rated George Maharis, as Buz, rhapsodizes, in thrilling detail, about old movies, as he tries to inspire frumpy little nice-guy Sorrell Booke to man up and meet his fantasy telephone lover. Sterling Silliphant took television writing seriously. All that and old Chicago locations -- and wicked jokes: "The gas station attendant says 'you haven't lived until you've seen Wisconsin' . . ."

So much of the acting is this episode is exaggerated, to the point that I had written it off about midway through. Too bad the director didn't ask everyone to dial it back by about 25%; a more natural, less hammy approach would have helped to draw the viewer into this appealing and compelling show.

GREAT "travelogue" of Chicago in '62--- State Street's Chicago Theater (with "The Music Man" film on the marquee), the El tracks, Tribune Tower, city skyline, Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain, Prudential Building, Marina Towers, the Art Institute, and Michigan Avenue are all beautifully documented, and serve as an eye-catching backdrop to the ongoing saga of Tod, Buzz and guest star Sorrell Booke.

Despite the drawbacks listed above, I was totally surprised and moved by the ending of the episode, which provided the perfect resolution to this tale of personal torment and self-doubt. How fitting that Buzz, in one of his improvisatory, stream-of-consciousness flashes of brilliance, recalls the true story of Russian composer Tchaikovsky's intense but distant relationship with his wealthy patroness (Nadejda von Meck) as a possible way of helping his new-found friend (Sorrell) deal with his own romantic dilemma.

You have to follow this one carefully, as the plot is sometimes a tad obscure. Especially important is the fact that Sorrell's "Dream Voice" woman works at an answering service, which becomes critical as Tod and Buz attempt to get the two would-be lovers together. And after a number of twists and turns, Sorrell's big solo climb up the staircase to his encounter with destiny is very well paced and photographed. Lovely musical cue at the final big reveal.

It is a love story that wears its O'Henry-esque charm and insight into the human condition very well. LR