(Meanwhile,) back at the ranch

[Mike Salovesh]

"Meanwhile, back at the ranch" is a throwaway line in a Danny Kaye
routine: the "Lobby Number".  That's the one where he synopsizes a whole
movie, beginning with

"Manic Depressive Pictures Presents  (roar)
'Hello, Frisco, Goodbye"
Produced by R. U. Manic and directed by D. Pressive."

After the credits, Kaye's description says the opening scene in the
movie has "the same old beautiful chorus girls" singing "When it's apple
blossom time in Orange New Jersy".  He goes on to describe an incredibly
unlikely film, with the hero going through all kinds of impossibilities,
until Kaye says "Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Bar None, our heroine is
. . . "  "Bar None?  That's the secret code of the FBI" . . . u.s.w.

The Lobby Number is in "Up in arms", Kaye's 1944  film about a
hypochondriac drafted into the army.  (Also in "Up in Arms": Dinah
Shore, Virginia Mayo and Dana Andrews.)  The other classic bit in the
film is Kaye's "Melody in 4-F", with its filler patter of "git gat
giddle a reat plassone" (approximate spelling, on which I'll accept
corrections if necessary.)

I'm not claiming that the "Meanwhile . . . " line originated in this
film. It's clear from Kaye's delivery that the line was a cliche in
1944.  This is just the earliest attested use of the phrase as a bound,
evocative unit I've been able to dredge up from memory.

-- mike salovesh                    <salovesh at niu.edu>
PEACE !!!