Six Shooter – More Than Kin. ep13, 531213

Cowboy standing next to his horse.
Cowboy Next to His Horse 2002. "Used with permission from Microsoft."

A dose of culture comes to town in the form of a Shakespearean troupe. Though they are heckled badly by the crude Westerners in town, the locals won’t let the thespians off the stage without their money’s worth of entertainment. Brit Poncet rides to town, and marvels at the latest high tech gadgets. Brit realizes that he knows the master thespian, and his bride from his past, but culture seems to have elevated the old pals. They fill Brit in on how they’ve made the change from ordinary dry goods store owner to flashy exotic actors. Just when the acting troupe has plans to leave town for more grateful audiences, a big opportunity crosses their path.

Has Brit’s old friends just past up a deal of a lifetime? When a man claiming to be PT Barnum is turned away from their next performance, it sends the actors into doing some scrambling around, the opera house is once again secured, word passed around town about the show, and Brit finds PT Barnum to make sure he will attend. What could go wrong?

What will Barnum think if the same unruly crowd shows up again tonight? Is there anything Brit could do to ease things along? His pal, Arch, lays it all out, though the listener isn’t privvy to the speech, Brit has all intentions of just saying no. Fast forward to the theater, and the heckling crowd. You guessed it, Brit is forced on stage to read lines. Will it actually work to calm down the crowd, or just make Brit a laughingstock along with the rest?

Brit feels pretty much the fool with his appearrance, and costume he was forced to wear, but the proof comes when Barnum meets the friends after the show. Did it work, did his friends get in good with Barnum?