A TUMBLEWEED IN COWTOWN
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In another time, in another place, A Tumbleweed in Cowtown would have made a good episode on Love American Style. The story is simply a variation on a stock boy-meets-girl story: nerdy lonely guy is set up by swinging best friend on a blind date with knockout single gal. In A Tumbleweed in Cowtown, the lonely guy is Phil Horton (played with considerable comic ability by Charles Spencer), a man who hasn’t touched a woman since his girlfriend Debbie moved out several years before. And the swinging best friend is Jack (Benjamin Werling), who sets Phil up on a blind date with Monica, a friend of his girlfriend Brenda. Having no confidence that Phil can break his long dry spell all by himself, Jack insists they go on a double date, so he can orchestrate Phil’s seduction of Monica.
Before the evening begins, Jack drops by to give Phil the usual locker-room advice about how to get “laid by a modern girl nowadays.” This lecture goes on and on; just when you think the play is about to get going again, Jack unveils his “five commandments” of dealing with women. “Five commandments,” Phil guffaws, “what did you do, drop one of the tablets?” (Canned laughter.) These “Commandments” turn an otherwise uninteresting scene into an offensive one. Commandment one: “Thou shalt consider women’s lib bullshit.” Commandment two: “Thou shalt be the boss.” Commandment three: “Thou shalt not be subservient; women want a lover not a waiter.” You get the idea. Jack is an asshole pig, in the great sit-com tradition of Ralph “A man’s home is his castle” Cramden. Naturally, Jack is no more capable of following his own advice than Ralphie-boy is. Soon we’ll see who’s the real “boss” in Jack’s relationship.
