In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 2)

Series
Work In Progress
Original Broadcast Date
1987
Cast
Tim Jerome, Larry Block, Laura Esterman, Ryan Cutrona
Format
Scripted Actors, 59 minutes
Preceded by:	In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 1)
Followed by:	In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 3)
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"All these morphines and pain killers, they didn't touch my body"

In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 2) is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series Work In Progress. It was originally broadcast in 1987.

Cast of characters

• Bud (Larry Block), a traveling salesman
• Ray (Ryan Cutrona, who owns the local road house
• Charlayne (Laura Esterman), a road house dancer
• Ryder (Tim Jerome), an ambulance driver

Synopsis

Bud describes the painful death of his father to Ray (Ryan Cutrona).

2:30: Ray tells Bud (Larry Block) about how they diverted the river, how that polluted it.

4:10: Ray admires Charlayne (Laura Esterman) dancing to 'The Stripper'.

5:00: Ray tells Charlayne how strongly he feels for her. He describes her stripping.

8:50: Ray sings 'For once in my life' to her. He complains to the orchestra that they don't stay in sync with his singing, slangs them.

13:50: Bud introduces himself to Charlayne, tells her how much he liked her dancing. He tells her of his accident. She tells him about her birth and raising in Lourdes, France. Her parents both drowned in the waters. Her grandmother took her to America. She started out dancing ballet, in better companies.

22:20: Bud tells Charlayne about the death of his father, unexpectedly, quickly, of a heart attack. He asks Charlayne how she'd feel if he died in a second, how they'd miss having a relationship. They step out on the porch to watch the river.

26:20: Ryder (Tim Jerome) and Ray play pool; Ryder makes every shot, which makes Ray mad. Ryder tells Ray why he's like the river.

33:10: Charlayne tells Bud how much she likes the river, would like to get a boat and float down it.

34:30: Bud tells Charlayne he wants her to come with him. He describes the different ways they could go together. She demurs.

38:40: Ryder teaches Charlayne how to shoot. He wants to hold her. She rejects his advances, calls him a slimy French man; he protests he's French but not slimy. He complains about all the mishaps he sees driving an ambulance.

42:20: Ryder sings 'One note samba' to Charlayne.

44:30: Charlayne tells Ryder he makes her miserable. She points the gun at him. He dares her to shoot him. They fight.

49:10: Bud recalls working as a dress salesman, how humiliating it was. He thought of himself as a salesman, took up selling Bibles instead of dresses. He describes his life as a salesman.

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Legacy Synopsis

• The guys in a roadhouse talk about the Bud's father dying slowly of disease, diverting a river, the roadhouse dancer.
• Ray offers a second person monologue to the dancer, sings "For Once In My Life" and yells at the band.
• Bud talks to Charlene: she grew up in Lords, he describes his robust father dying suddenly without warning.
• Ray and Rider play pool, compare Ray to the river.
• Bud asks Charlene to run away with him into an idyllic scene.
• Rider teaches Charlene to shoot.
• Rider sings "One Note Samba."
• Charlene tries to shoot Ray.
• Bud directs a second person monologue at his father about becoming a salesman.

Music

• "Make The World Go Away" - Hank Cochran and Jeannie Seely (from Honeysuckle Rose, 1980) | YouTube [Intro]

• "The Stripper" - Si Zentner And His Orchestra (from The Stripper And Other Big Band Hits, 1962) | YouTube [4:24]
• "For Once In My Life" - vocals by Ryan Cutrona [9:00]
• "One Note Samba" - vocals by Tim Jerome [44:18]

Additional credits

The original broadcast credits state: "With Tim Jerome, Larry Block, Laura Esterman, and Ryan Cutrona. It was recorded by Jess Plumley at Westrax Studio in New York City, and mixed by Tom Strother."