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From: wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler)
Newsgroups: net.wanted
Subject: Re: 'meanwhile bach at the ranch' origin query
Message-ID: <840@pyuxa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 25-Jun-84 12:57:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxa.840
Posted: Mon Jun 25 12:57:32 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Jun-84 01:26:59 EDT
References: <346@pyuxss.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 17

"Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." comes from the old cowboy
tv shows where a narrator was used to shift scenes and generally
help the plot along.  While the Hero was out doing Hero things,
the plot was being thickened back at the ranch.  In order that
the viewer did not lose the thread of this mini dramas, the
narrator would step in to explain where we were in the scheme
of things.  Now that I think of it, this device even goes back
further to the radio days of the Lone Ranger and Red Ryder.
Yes, that's it, the narrator kept the plot going with this
little device.  Early tv westerns used the same thing, but it soon
died out.  Other plot gluers were Meanwhile, back at the saloon...
or back at the Sheriffs office... or back in town... or back
at the mine ...  and on and on.  I have used it for years and
years.  The use of this phrase to change venue in a subject
is not really new.
T. C. Wheeler