Waltons 2.23: The Five Foot Shelf

Airdate: 3/7/74

George Reed, a travelling salesman of 50 Harvard classic books, comes to the Walton homestead, and Olivia is so beguiled she spends her mad money as a down payment for the entire set, much to the delight of John-Boy’s voracious reading appetite. Reed is a weary, reticent man, and when the family takes him in for a few days, they learn that some of his stories don’t quite add up. After much questioning, John discovers that Reed had taken the down payment money and spent it on a doll for his daughter, and that the salesman had no intention of delivering the remaining books. After Reed is kicked out, he returns to the family, repentant, and returns the money, whereas Olivia puts two down-payments down; weeks the later the family receives the set of books and can now place them on a hand-wrought, wooden shelf, courtesy of Grandpa.

Ben Piazza delivers one of the series’ best guest-star performances as George Reed, the travelling salesman. He balances a delightfully quirky exterior with deep, Depression-laden pathos underneath – his pauses and mannered dialogue delivery almost feel out of place in the perky Walton universe; even the show’s denouement, involving his departure from the house, seems entirely unresolved. I’ve always found salesmen to be inherently tragic characters anyway – Reed is a perfect cross between Willy Loman’s desperation and Woody Guthrie’s transience: his next meal relies entirely on his next sale, and the doll that he buys for his daughter is a symbol of the home, the roots, that he knows he never will have. A bit of The Music Man here too, as the thirst for learning unlocked by the books is really what matters here, more so than the dubious morals of its provider.

Piazza has done tons of supporting roles in TV and movies from the 50s to the 90s; I remember him best (with less hair) as John Adams in the episode of Family Ties where Alex imagines himself at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and as the callous principal in Mask who won’t allow Cher’s son, who has a deformed face, to attend his school.