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Gart Williams (James Daly) works for an advertising agency, a job which he is quite ill-suited for. After his young protege fails to show up for an important business meeting, sending a telegram that he'll be working elsewhere (and taking a $3 million deal with him), Gart is reprimanded by his boss. He's quick to snap back, but instantly regrets it. On the train ride back home, he dreams of arriving at a place called Willoughby, a pleasant small town stuck in the summer of 1888. Before he can properly explore the place, he awakens back on the train.
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Gart Williams (James Daly) (Creator/JamesDaly) works for an advertising agency, a job which he is quite ill-suited for. After his young protege fails to show up for an important business meeting, sending a telegram that he'll be working elsewhere (and taking a $3 million deal with him), Gart is reprimanded by his boss. He's quick to snap back, but instantly regrets it. On the train ride back home, he dreams of arriving at a place called Willoughby, a pleasant small town stuck in the summer of 1888. Before he can properly explore the place, he awakens back on the train.
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* RageAgainstTheReflection: Gart smashes the mirror in his office bathroom after imagining Mr. Misrell repeating his “Push, push, push” mentality in it.
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* RageAgainstTheReflection: Gart smashes the mirror in his office bathroom after imagining Mr. Misrell repeating his “Push, push, push” mentality drivel in it.
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* RageAgainstTheReflection: Gart smashes the mirror in his office bathroom.
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* RageAgainstTheReflection: Gart smashes the mirror in his office bathroom.bathroom after imagining Mr. Misrell repeating his “Push, push, push” mentality in it.
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* {{Tuckerization}}: Gart's advertising company is handling the Bradbury account. This is a reference to Creator/RayBradbury, who later wrote "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E100ISingTheBodyElectric I Sing the Body Electric]]".
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* {{Tuckerization}}: Gart's advertising company is handling the Bradbury account. This is a reference to Creator/RayBradbury, who later wrote "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E100ISingTheBodyElectric "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E35ISingTheBodyElectric I Sing the Body Electric]]".
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* AmbiguousSituation: Did Gart really end up in Willoughby? Or was it all a dying dream before he ended his life? This ''is'' the Twilight Zone and there have been more surreal stuff going on...
to:
* AmbiguousSituation: Did Gart really end up in Willoughby? Or was it all a dying dream before he ended his life? This ''is'' the Twilight Zone Zone, and there have has been more surreal stuff going on...
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_stop_at_willoughby_1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Gart can't escape his joyless, soul-crushing existence...]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_stop_at_willoughby_2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:...or can he?]]
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': "This is Gart Williams, age thirty-eight, a man protected by a suit of armor, all held together by one bolt. Just a moment ago, someone removed the bolt, and Mr. Williams' protection fell away from him and left him a naked target. He's been cannonaded this afternoon by all the enemies of his life. His insecurity has shelled him, his sensitivity has straddled him with humiliation, his deep-rooted disquiet about his own worth has zeroed in on him, landed on target, and blown him apart. Mr. Gart Williams, ad agency exec, who, in just a moment, will move into the Twilight Zone - in a desperate search for survival."
Air date: May 6, 1960
Gart Williams (James Daly) works for an advertising agency, a job which he is quite ill-suited for. After his young protege fails to show up for an important business meeting, sending a telegram that he'll be working elsewhere (and taking a $3 million deal with him), Gart is reprimanded by his boss. He's quick to snap back, but instantly regrets it. On the train ride back home, he dreams of arriving at a place called Willoughby, a pleasant small town stuck in the summer of 1888. Before he can properly explore the place, he awakens back on the train.
Back home, Gart gets into an argument with his wife Janie, who's fed up with how sensitive and emotional he is. Gart hasn't lost his job after his earlier mistake, since he's still tied to a few deals that his boss would hate to lose, but he is tired of the masquerade he must pull off every day to succeed in the world. He realizes that he'd truly be much happier in a place like Willoughby, though Janie derides him for wanting to give up a profitable job to "become [[Literature/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn Huckleberry Finn]]". The next time Gart rides the train, he's told by the conductor that there's no such place as Willoughby, but he still dreams of it again. He once again awakens before he can explore it, however, and vows to actually get off at Willoughby the next time.
Gart's next day at work is horrible; he has a breakdown due to stress, and when he attempts to call Janie for reassurance, she just hangs up on him. On his very next train ride, he again dreams of Willoughby, and purposely abandons his briefcase in order to leave at the station before the train departs. He's immediately welcomed by the townsfolk, and walks into town as an elderly conductor checks the clock... which immediately transitions to a younger conductor's lantern. He and the rest of the train staff are discussing the fate of Gart, who from their perspective, leapt from the train while shouting "something about Willoughby" and died the moment he hit the ground. His corpse is carried into a hearse, and on its back door is written the following: [[WhamShot Willoughby & Son Funeral Home]].
----
!!A Trope at Willoughby:
* AmbiguousSituation: Did Gart really end up in Willoughby? Or was it all a dying dream before he ended his life? This ''is'' the Twilight Zone and there have been more surreal stuff going on...
* BornInTheWrongCentury: Gart's wife Janie invokes the trope, saying he was born too late. [[JerkassHasAPoint Gart agrees]].
* BrokenRecord: Mr. Misrell, in the opening scene.
-->'''Misrell:''' This is a push business, Williams. A push-push-push business. Push and drive! But ''personally,'' you don't delegate responsibilities to little boys. You should know it better than anyone else. A push-push-push business, Williams. It's push-push-push, all the way, all the time! It's push-push-push, all the way, all the time, right on down the line!
** BigShutUp: "Fat boy, why don't you shut your mouth?!"
* BittersweetEnding: Gart has died in the real world, but it's possible that Willoughby is an actual alternate dimension that he's alive and well in.
* DomesticAbuse: The emotional abuse Janie puts Gart through is just as horrible as it was meant to be. Surprisingly ahead of its time for 1960.
* DrivenToSuicide: Gart jumps off a train in motion, killing himself on impact. However, from his perspective, he saw himself as getting off safely and into Willoughby--and since this is ''The Twilight Zone'', [[AmbiguousSituation maybe he really did]].
-->'''Gart:''' Willoughby. Next time, ''I'm going to get off''!
* EmpathicEnvironment: New York/Connecticut, where Gart is utterly miserable, is cold and snowy. Willoughby, where he's happy, is in the midst of a warm and sunny summer.
* FatBastard: Mr. Misrell, with his "push-push-push" mentality. Lampshaded by Gart.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: At the very beginning, after Gart angers his boss, his secretary asks if he'd like anything. She's asked for a razor and a diagram of the circulatory system, showing that Gart's no stranger to suicidal thoughts...
* TheGayNineties: Technically, a couple of years earlier. The conductor at Willoughby tells Gart it's 1888. But otherwise it fits all the aesthetics.
* HappyPlace: Willoughby is an idealized escapist fantasy for Gart, but another interpretation is that it's actually {{Heaven}}, given that he dies to get there.
* HenPeckedHusband: Aside from work, Gart is worn out from trying to please his wife Janie and satisfy her neverending "appetites". It's even implied that the reason he chose a career path he clearly didn't like in the first place was because she urged him to.
* IronicEcho: Willoughby, the name of the idyllic town Gart finds that can't be found on a map, is actually the name of the funeral home which takes his corpse.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Mr. Misrell rubs Gart's nose in the fact that new employee Jake Ross was not only too young for the company's project, but too unreliable and untrustworthy for it.
* LongingForFictionland: Gart keeps dreaming of Willoughby, an idyllic 1880s town straight out of Creator/MarkTwain's work.
* MeanBoss: Mr. Misrell may [[JerkassHasAPoint have a point]] that Gart is ''way'' too trusting with new employees, but his BrokenRecord of "push, push, push! Push and drive!" would make ''anyone'' go insane with annoyance.
* MeaningfulName: Mr. Misrell's name sounds like "Miserable", a very appropriate name for one who is head of a company that Gart is completely unhappy to work at.
* NoSympathy: Gart's wife Janie is avaricious, dismissive, and completely unsympathetic to her husband's feelings. But her worst moment comes when he calls her from the office, clearly in the middle of a nervous breakdown, ''[[YankTheDogsChain and she hangs up on him]].''
* NostalgiaFilter: Gart's imagining of the 19th century seems a bit ''too'' idyllic.
* RageAgainstTheReflection: Gart smashes the mirror in his office bathroom.
* RichBitch: Gart's wife Janie is a passive variation. She's cold, nearly emotionless, and is clearly using Gart's career to further her own social standings. It's apparent she doesn't care that his career path is making him stressed and miserable, and belittles his wish to live the simple life. The next morning, when he has a breakdown and expresses how badly he wants to quit his job, she hangs up when he calls and it's strongly implied she leaves Gart, all when he needed emotional support the most.
* RuleOfThree: The third time that Gart dreams of Willoughby, that's when he actually departs the train.
* RuleOfSymbolism: The first two times Gart tries to leave the train, he's unable to, as though he's metaphorically held back by the things that motivate him to endure his miserable lifestyle. The third time, he starts to pick up his briefcase before deciding to leave it behind, showing that he's abandoning the trappings of his old life.
* SnowMeansDeath: Whenever Gart's shown on the train, and at the end when we see his corpse, it's during a November snowstorm.
* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: The final music the band plays in Willoughby is "Beautiful Dreamer". Subverted in that he's not "dreaming", per se.
* TakeThat: Against TheFifties ideals, something that Serling himself wasn't a fan of.
* {{Tuckerization}}: Gart's advertising company is handling the Bradbury account. This is a reference to Creator/RayBradbury, who later wrote "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E100ISingTheBodyElectric I Sing the Body Electric]]".
* UngratefulBastard: Jake Ross, the new employee that Gart gave an important project to. Gart wholeheartedly entrusted he would help the company with this project, but he stabs him in the back and takes the project to another company, leaving poor Gart high and dry.
* WhamShot: The final shot of the Willoughby hearse.
* WorldOfJerkass: The world outside of Willoughby is this for Gart, with everyone from his boss to his wife making him utterly miserable.
-----
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': "Willoughby? Maybe it's wishful thinking nestled in a hidden part of a man's mind, or maybe it's the last stop in the vast design of things - or perhaps, for a man like Mr. Gart Williams, who climbed on a world that went by too fast, it's a place around the bend where he could jump off. Willoughby? Whatever it is, it comes with sunlight and serenity, and is a part of The Twilight Zone."
[[caption-width-right:350:Gart can't escape his joyless, soul-crushing existence...]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_stop_at_willoughby_2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:...or can he?]]
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': "This is Gart Williams, age thirty-eight, a man protected by a suit of armor, all held together by one bolt. Just a moment ago, someone removed the bolt, and Mr. Williams' protection fell away from him and left him a naked target. He's been cannonaded this afternoon by all the enemies of his life. His insecurity has shelled him, his sensitivity has straddled him with humiliation, his deep-rooted disquiet about his own worth has zeroed in on him, landed on target, and blown him apart. Mr. Gart Williams, ad agency exec, who, in just a moment, will move into the Twilight Zone - in a desperate search for survival."
Air date: May 6, 1960
Gart Williams (James Daly) works for an advertising agency, a job which he is quite ill-suited for. After his young protege fails to show up for an important business meeting, sending a telegram that he'll be working elsewhere (and taking a $3 million deal with him), Gart is reprimanded by his boss. He's quick to snap back, but instantly regrets it. On the train ride back home, he dreams of arriving at a place called Willoughby, a pleasant small town stuck in the summer of 1888. Before he can properly explore the place, he awakens back on the train.
Back home, Gart gets into an argument with his wife Janie, who's fed up with how sensitive and emotional he is. Gart hasn't lost his job after his earlier mistake, since he's still tied to a few deals that his boss would hate to lose, but he is tired of the masquerade he must pull off every day to succeed in the world. He realizes that he'd truly be much happier in a place like Willoughby, though Janie derides him for wanting to give up a profitable job to "become [[Literature/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn Huckleberry Finn]]". The next time Gart rides the train, he's told by the conductor that there's no such place as Willoughby, but he still dreams of it again. He once again awakens before he can explore it, however, and vows to actually get off at Willoughby the next time.
Gart's next day at work is horrible; he has a breakdown due to stress, and when he attempts to call Janie for reassurance, she just hangs up on him. On his very next train ride, he again dreams of Willoughby, and purposely abandons his briefcase in order to leave at the station before the train departs. He's immediately welcomed by the townsfolk, and walks into town as an elderly conductor checks the clock... which immediately transitions to a younger conductor's lantern. He and the rest of the train staff are discussing the fate of Gart, who from their perspective, leapt from the train while shouting "something about Willoughby" and died the moment he hit the ground. His corpse is carried into a hearse, and on its back door is written the following: [[WhamShot Willoughby & Son Funeral Home]].
----
!!A Trope at Willoughby:
* AmbiguousSituation: Did Gart really end up in Willoughby? Or was it all a dying dream before he ended his life? This ''is'' the Twilight Zone and there have been more surreal stuff going on...
* BornInTheWrongCentury: Gart's wife Janie invokes the trope, saying he was born too late. [[JerkassHasAPoint Gart agrees]].
* BrokenRecord: Mr. Misrell, in the opening scene.
-->'''Misrell:''' This is a push business, Williams. A push-push-push business. Push and drive! But ''personally,'' you don't delegate responsibilities to little boys. You should know it better than anyone else. A push-push-push business, Williams. It's push-push-push, all the way, all the time! It's push-push-push, all the way, all the time, right on down the line!
** BigShutUp: "Fat boy, why don't you shut your mouth?!"
* BittersweetEnding: Gart has died in the real world, but it's possible that Willoughby is an actual alternate dimension that he's alive and well in.
* DomesticAbuse: The emotional abuse Janie puts Gart through is just as horrible as it was meant to be. Surprisingly ahead of its time for 1960.
* DrivenToSuicide: Gart jumps off a train in motion, killing himself on impact. However, from his perspective, he saw himself as getting off safely and into Willoughby--and since this is ''The Twilight Zone'', [[AmbiguousSituation maybe he really did]].
-->'''Gart:''' Willoughby. Next time, ''I'm going to get off''!
* EmpathicEnvironment: New York/Connecticut, where Gart is utterly miserable, is cold and snowy. Willoughby, where he's happy, is in the midst of a warm and sunny summer.
* FatBastard: Mr. Misrell, with his "push-push-push" mentality. Lampshaded by Gart.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: At the very beginning, after Gart angers his boss, his secretary asks if he'd like anything. She's asked for a razor and a diagram of the circulatory system, showing that Gart's no stranger to suicidal thoughts...
* TheGayNineties: Technically, a couple of years earlier. The conductor at Willoughby tells Gart it's 1888. But otherwise it fits all the aesthetics.
* HappyPlace: Willoughby is an idealized escapist fantasy for Gart, but another interpretation is that it's actually {{Heaven}}, given that he dies to get there.
* HenPeckedHusband: Aside from work, Gart is worn out from trying to please his wife Janie and satisfy her neverending "appetites". It's even implied that the reason he chose a career path he clearly didn't like in the first place was because she urged him to.
* IronicEcho: Willoughby, the name of the idyllic town Gart finds that can't be found on a map, is actually the name of the funeral home which takes his corpse.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Mr. Misrell rubs Gart's nose in the fact that new employee Jake Ross was not only too young for the company's project, but too unreliable and untrustworthy for it.
* LongingForFictionland: Gart keeps dreaming of Willoughby, an idyllic 1880s town straight out of Creator/MarkTwain's work.
* MeanBoss: Mr. Misrell may [[JerkassHasAPoint have a point]] that Gart is ''way'' too trusting with new employees, but his BrokenRecord of "push, push, push! Push and drive!" would make ''anyone'' go insane with annoyance.
* MeaningfulName: Mr. Misrell's name sounds like "Miserable", a very appropriate name for one who is head of a company that Gart is completely unhappy to work at.
* NoSympathy: Gart's wife Janie is avaricious, dismissive, and completely unsympathetic to her husband's feelings. But her worst moment comes when he calls her from the office, clearly in the middle of a nervous breakdown, ''[[YankTheDogsChain and she hangs up on him]].''
* NostalgiaFilter: Gart's imagining of the 19th century seems a bit ''too'' idyllic.
* RageAgainstTheReflection: Gart smashes the mirror in his office bathroom.
* RichBitch: Gart's wife Janie is a passive variation. She's cold, nearly emotionless, and is clearly using Gart's career to further her own social standings. It's apparent she doesn't care that his career path is making him stressed and miserable, and belittles his wish to live the simple life. The next morning, when he has a breakdown and expresses how badly he wants to quit his job, she hangs up when he calls and it's strongly implied she leaves Gart, all when he needed emotional support the most.
* RuleOfThree: The third time that Gart dreams of Willoughby, that's when he actually departs the train.
* RuleOfSymbolism: The first two times Gart tries to leave the train, he's unable to, as though he's metaphorically held back by the things that motivate him to endure his miserable lifestyle. The third time, he starts to pick up his briefcase before deciding to leave it behind, showing that he's abandoning the trappings of his old life.
* SnowMeansDeath: Whenever Gart's shown on the train, and at the end when we see his corpse, it's during a November snowstorm.
* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: The final music the band plays in Willoughby is "Beautiful Dreamer". Subverted in that he's not "dreaming", per se.
* TakeThat: Against TheFifties ideals, something that Serling himself wasn't a fan of.
* {{Tuckerization}}: Gart's advertising company is handling the Bradbury account. This is a reference to Creator/RayBradbury, who later wrote "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E100ISingTheBodyElectric I Sing the Body Electric]]".
* UngratefulBastard: Jake Ross, the new employee that Gart gave an important project to. Gart wholeheartedly entrusted he would help the company with this project, but he stabs him in the back and takes the project to another company, leaving poor Gart high and dry.
* WhamShot: The final shot of the Willoughby hearse.
* WorldOfJerkass: The world outside of Willoughby is this for Gart, with everyone from his boss to his wife making him utterly miserable.
-----
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': "Willoughby? Maybe it's wishful thinking nestled in a hidden part of a man's mind, or maybe it's the last stop in the vast design of things - or perhaps, for a man like Mr. Gart Williams, who climbed on a world that went by too fast, it's a place around the bend where he could jump off. Willoughby? Whatever it is, it comes with sunlight and serenity, and is a part of The Twilight Zone."
