Another Country (Part 3)

Series
Work In Progress
Original Broadcast Date
1986
Cast
Joe Frank
Format
Serious Monologue, Narrative Monologue, 50 minutes
Preceded by:	Another Country (Part 2)
Followed by:	A Landing Strip In The Jungle
Purchase

His stepfather always tried to be cheerful   [original broadcast version]
Later, he and Ali walked back to Naim's house together   [current version]

Another Country (Part 3) is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series Work In Progress. It was originally broadcast in 1986.

Synopsis

The story picks up where part 2 left off: Protagon (the protagonist of the story, whom I give this name to make writing this synopsis easier) and Ali walking back to Naim's after their conversation at the Peacock Café. Ali tells Protagon about how groups mistreated outsiders, colonizers the colonized, big business third-worlders.

2:40: Naim and Protagon spend weekends touring Sana'a's old city, the Red Sea port city Hodeida, and Taiz (capital of South Yemen).

4:00: Protagon can't see a future with Naim. She gets mad. They fight.

6:40: Ali gives Protagon a letter to carry back to America. Protagon worries that it may have a sinister purpose but takes it.

9:00: The day after he got back 'the next morning an Arab wearing an expensive Western-style business suit and a pair of dark glasses came by the apartment to pick up Ali's uncle's envelope.'

9:20: 'in the middle of December he called Naim to tell her how much he missed her' which just makes her mad; she tells him not to call again.

9:40: He visits his parents in Cleveland, tells them, for the first time, the real purpose of his trip. They're appalled at first but he makes up a story that makes him out a hero. They arrange a small party to celebrate his heroism.

11:40: He places an ad in the City Paper's personals, SJM looking for an SJF. He's surprised by all the responses. The first date stands him up, without explanation. The second is a psychoanalyst who wants to analyze him, so he drops her. He and the third date a few times, have no sex; after a farcical Passover Seder at her parents he drops her.

17:20: Protagon has a longer relationship with the fourth, Michelle. She's into submission so much it bothers him though. They vacation on the resort her father owns on St. Thomas (Virgin Islands). It's luxurious for them. The motor on a boat they take out fails; they have to swim, spend a night rough, walk back to town. They tour the parts of the resort where the work is done, see how miserable, dirty, and dangerous it is.

31:50: Joe tells the story of Beauregard, the famous hitchhiking dog of St. Thomas, who rode buses, boats, and planes, was celebrated by all, given a funeral when he died.

35:50: Protagon learns of a bombing of the Israeli embassy when he gets back.

37:50: Protagon loses his job at the recording studio. Michelle tries to get him to go to Lifespring, a 'human potential organization'.

38:30: Naim calls in April, 4 months after they had last spoken. She's visiting in May.

39:20: Protagon picks up Naim at the airport.

40:10: They go to see Star Trek 2. They see a trailer for Best Defense, which depicts Arabs as fools, which angers Naim. She's come to divorce Kamal, who is now trying to start a burger chain in the Middle East, Queen of Sheba, which angers Naim for its abuse of her name.

42:20: Michelle gets him to go to Lifespring, which he dislikes, which ends their relationship.

45:40: He writes Naim a letter, wants to get back together.

47:30: The narrator describes a Queen of Sheba burger joint, how bad the food is, how wasteful.

Legacy Synopsis

The man's meek stepfather and commanding mother. The man and woman fight and break up in Yemen. He delivers a letter for the woman's ex. He returns home and tells his family about the trip. He takes classes at a Jewish cultural center, takes out personal ads. Joe reads Letter written by his dates. He dates a humorless therapist, someone looking to get in touch with hew Jewish identity, and a snobby faux-french intellectual. They vacation in St. Thomas in her father's hotel. He chats with a bar tender about the island history. They go on an idyllic boat trip. He visits the servant's part of the hotel. The story of a famous hitchhiking dog whose funeral procession causes the man to miss his return flight. He returns home and finds that the man to whom he delivered a letter had been shot while planting a bomb in the Israeli embassy. He goes on unemployment, begins to have trouble with the woman he's seeing who wants him to attend Life Spring meetings. The Yemeni woman returns. They go to a Star Trek movie and the previews offend her. They decide that the relationship is really over. His parents get busted for insider trading. Middle eastern fast food restaurants.

Music

• "Facades" - Philip Glass (from Glassworks, 1982) | YouTube [Intro] (original version)
• "Qu'ran" - Brian Eno and David Byrne (from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, 1981) | YouTube [8:04]
• "Makin' Whoopee!" - Nelson Riddle (from The Joy Of Living, 1959) | YouTube [12:44]

• "Spiritual Healing" - Toots Hibbert (from Spiritual Healing, 1983) | YouTube [19:54]
• "Hybrid" - Michael Brook (from Hybrid, 1985) | YouTube [46:42]

Additional credits

The original broadcast credits state: "Technical production by Tom Strother."

Miscellanea

• The original broadcast version is 60 minutes long and begins with a segment continuing the opening material of Another Country (Part 1).

The first segment is about how his stepfather always tried to be cheerful, is nearly identical to the segment of Karma Memories that begins at 39:40, except he tells it in third person and refers to 'his stepfather' instead of Freddy.

The next segment is similar to a portion of Karma Memories starting at 7:10 about Protagon getting back at his mother for being mean to his stepfather.

The third segment is nearly identical to the portion of Karma Memories that begins at 48:00, about his stepfather playing with the kids at family gatherings, having them abuse his good nature.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth are the same as segments at 49:10, 50:00, and 50:50 in Karma Memories.

The last segment is a condensation and extract of the segment of Karma Memories that begins at 34:00.

Philip Glass's 'Façades' plays as background.