Two Babes

Series
Work In Progress
Original Broadcast Date
1992
Cast
Nancy, Mimi
Format
Improv Actors, 58 minutes
Preceded by:	In The Dark (Part 2)
Followed by:	God
Purchase

"I think I'm over the illusions of prince charming and somebody to take care of me."

Two Babes is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series Work In Progress. It was originally broadcast in 1992.

Synopsis

0:30: Nancy says she's gotten over her illusions of finding a Prince Charming but doesn't want to become an old lady who has to mother her husband.

4:30: Mimi tells of her nephew who named his band, ‘Squirrel Tooth Alice’, after a famous madam of the old west. Mimi's mother, named Alice, takes offense, thinks he's named it after her. At a Thanksgiving at Mimi's she and her sister try to assuage their mother's anger, but she won't take it, leaves in a huff.

11:00: Nancy describes a series of radio programs for older people. All the couples in them, one is taking care of the other, something she doesn't want to do. She wants someone to play with and make love to. She describes a cop she found attractive. Her masseuse, who knew him, said he wanted someone who made chicken soup for him. Nancy and Mimi agree they don't want this.

16:00: Nancy talks about her favorite movie, Sam Shepard's ‘Fool for love’, that she wanted the cowboy from that movie. 2 days later she met Sean, her cowboy. He was a great lover and funny, but unreliable and alcoholic.

29:10: Mimi tells of the house her parents owned. A neighboring house had burnt down recently, killing 2 children upstairs. Determined to prevent this, her father rigged a rope from her bedroom window for her to escape and held fire drills. The fire drills made her the only girl who passed the boys' obstacle course in high school.

32:10: Mimi tells of her eldest daughter, Sarah, living in a teepee around Mt Shasta. She and her husband had a baby and another on the way. The husband ran off with the money and the car, allegedly to find himself in India. (He never left.) Sarah moved in with Mimi in Mill Valley. When he showed up, Mimi organized all their female friends to back Sarah up when she told him off.

37:40: Sarah and her husband got back together again anyway, in Santa Cruz. They lived in a school bus. One day, while she was shopping, he drove off.

39:00: Nancy tells of meeting an odd-acting fellow in a bar. He puts her off, but his kisses win her. He was a criminal on the lam from LA. He lived with her for 7 years. He cleaned up for a while, but went back to using heroin. While she was in Alaska he broke in, sold all her stuff for drugs.

53:00: They're both glad they don't do that anymore; they had fun, but it hurt.

Legacy Synopsis

Two northern California women talk about their lives. The roles an older woman is asked to play. A band named Squirrel Tooth Alice. Older people who only want care giving in a relationship. A relationship with a drunken cowboy. A daughter and her baby are abandoned twice by her boyfriend; a group of silent women stand behind her when she confronts him. One woman meets a yuppie-like addict in a bar and ends up staying with him for seven years.

Music

• "Your Own Sweet Way" - The Notting Hillbillies (from Missing... Presumed Having A Good Time, 1990) | YouTube [Intro]
• "Flight Feet & Root Hands" - Andreas Vollenweider (from White Winds (Seeker's Journey), 1984) | YouTube [38:48]

Additional credits

The original broadcast credits state: "With Nancy ██████ and Mimi ██████. Recorded by Jack Cheeseborough, and mixed by Theo Mondle."

Commentary

I listened to this on headphones. I enjoyed it more. They speak in separate channels, so I felt as though I were at a bar between them, felt more involved in the conversation.Arthur Peabody (talk) 18:31, 28 April 2024 (PDT)