Cowboy Chuck and the Happy Rangers - Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts

It all takes place in a fictional town called Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts...

Well, no.  Chicopee Falls is a real place, but the radio station, WCFS in this sleepy burg is fictional.  Here is where happens a slice of World War II intrigue...and comedy.

This is, by the way, a two-act play I'm talking about, written by me and performed by people all over this great land (well, bits of this great land, anyway) who should know better, but don't.  If your community theatre, or college, or high school, or middle school drama club is looking for a swell comedy that takes place during a live radio adventure show (during World War II), or just looking for a comedy that takes place in Chicopee Falls...or just likes the name, Chicopee Falls (it has a ring to it), then this might just be the script for you. 

It's COWBOY CHUCK AND THE HAPPY RANGERS!

Here's a synopsis:

The time is December 1942, the setting is a radio station where "Cowboy Chuck and the Happy
Rangers," a children's adventure program featuring hero Cowboy Chuck, his best gal, his sidekick, the villain, and the announcer all wrapping up an episode. When the station manager informs them this locally-produced show is about to make its nationwide debut and Life magazine photographers are coming to do a story on them, they are thrilled, but not about having to wear the outrageous western costumes chosen for them.

Behind the scenes, however, trouble is brewing, as the actor playing the show's villain, who is actually an undercover FBI agent, discovers that the station owner is a Nazi sympathizer and the new script they are to perform coast-to-coast contains coded secrets on national security about to be broadcast to the enemy.  The confused cast, the bumbling sound effects man, the prim organist, the show's bickering husband-and-wife team of writers all work together in true bumbling, patriotic Cowboy Chuck and the Happy Rangers can-do fashion to foil the bad guys.

It's published by Brooklyn Publishers and you can get your script here.  No need to send in any box tops.

Model Railroad Show - West Springfield, Massachusetts

Trains are only part of the fun for the model railroad enthusiast.  The imaginative detail of the accessories to that little world -- buildings, people, autos all illustrating the busy lives in the tiny towns.  There's a lot to feast your eyes on when the model railroader melds his imaginings with yours.

This weekend is the annual Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show held in West Springfield, Massachusetts on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition.  An enormous show spread out through four buildings on the grounds, it is a feast for the eyes and a joy to the young at heart.  Over 25,000 people visit the event every year.  Huge train setups continually race around miles of track, and vendors fill the buildings with every imaginable facet of this hobby.  For more information, have a look the official website here.

One Horse Open Sleigh - Sturbridge, Massachusetts

 

 

Sleight rally at Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts, 2011.