David Wayne – Dallas Decoder

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, Pam Ewing, Patrick Duffy, Reunion Part 2, Victoria Principal

Cold cash

In “Reunion, Part 2,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Jock (Jim Davis) is reading the newspaper on the patio when a drunken Digger (David Wayne) drives onto Southfork in a beat-up sports car and gets out carrying get-well gifts Pam (Victoria Principal) brought him earlier.

JOCK: [Approaches Digger, followed by Bobby, Pam, Gary and Val] Barnes, what in the hell do you think you’re doing?

DIGGER: Returning gifts to the ladies auxiliary. [Tosses them onto the driveway] There they are – magazines, quarter books, jigsaw puzzles, whatever. Gifts for the poor and infirm.

PAM: Daddy –

DIGGER: Cease! I have business to discuss. Now, sir, I refuse charity.

JOCK: So you refuse. Now get off of this ranch.

DIGGER: I refuse charity, but those but those things which are rightfully mine I accept.

JOCK: Well now, what’s rightfully yours this time?

DIGGER: Something there’s no doubt about.

JOCK: What do you want?

DIGGER: Now you took my oil wells and give me nothing in return.

JOCK: I’m sick and tired of hearing that.

DIGGER: You took my oil wells and my money and my sweetheart and I never got a cent for ’em. Well, that’s ancient history.

JOCK: Well, what do you want?

DIGGER: Money!

JOCK: For what?

DIGGER: The only thing I had that you can get.

JOCK: [Turns and sees Pam standing over his shoulder; Bobby, Gary and Val look away] Do you mean to tell me that you want money for Pamela?

DIGGER: Well, she was a Barnes and now she’s a Ewing – just like the oil wells….

JOCK: You’re unbearable, Barnes! How much do you want?

DIGGER: Ten thousand.

JOCK: [Harrumphs] Ten thousand! [He reaches into his jeans pocket, pulls out a wad of cash, peels off a $100 bill and throws it at Digger. It lands on the ground.] There’s a hundred.

DIGGER: [Bends down, scoops up the bill and studies it briefly] Sold.

Digger gets back in the car and drives away. Jock snickers and walks past Bobby and stony-faced Pam.

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 5 – ‘Barbecue’

Barbecue, Dallas, David Wayne, Digger Barnes, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing

Best of enemies

“Barbecue,” the final entry in “Dallas’s” too-brief first season, is probably best remembered as the episode where J.R. accidentally causes a pregnant Pam to fall from the hayloft and lose her baby, but I think it’s notable for other reasons.

This is one of the few “Dallas” installments set during a single day. (“Winds of Vengeance,” the previous episode, is another.) “Barbecue” is also the first time Jock and Digger come face-to-face on the show, and seeing the characters together reminds us how smartly the producers cast the roles.

More than anyone else in the “Dallas” ensemble, Jim Davis and David Wayne look like their characters. Davis is as big as Texas. Wayne is small and pitiful. They are Jock and Digger.

I also love the actors’ use of body language in “Barbecue.” Watch closely when Jock and Digger walk to the bar to toast Pam’s pregnancy. Davis strides with effortless confidence; Wayne’s gait is slowly deliberate – exactly how we expect a broken man like Digger to make his way through the world.

But as much as I enjoy Jock and Digger’s scenes together, my favorite “Barbecue” moment is the gossipy exchange between the Ewings’ caterers, Tilly and Sam.

“How are things out there?” Tilly asks.

“Crazy,” Sam responds.

“Oh that ain’t no news. Tell me some news.”

“She’s on the nest – Digger’s girl.”

“Now that’s news.”

I’ve always believed Southfork’s servants represented untapped storytelling potential. Throughout “Dallas,” we see Teresa the maid and Raoul the butler hovering in background, but they’re more like props than people.

Turning the servants into real characters could have grounded “Dallas” a bit more, allowing them to become the audience’s eyes and ears in the world of the Ewings.

Tilly and Sam fill this role in “Barbecue,” but the characters are never seen again after this episode. Too bad. Aside from being a hoot, Tilly and Sam are also among the few African American faces to appear on “Dallas.”

The good news: TNT’s forthcoming “Dallas” revival is expected to offer more of a “Downton Abbey”-ish view of life at Southfork. One of the new characters will be Carmen Ramos, the Ewings’ cook, played by Marlene Forte.

Who knows? Maybe Teresa and Raoul or even Tilly and Sam will show up to give Carmen pointers on working for those darned Ewings.

Grade: B

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Please don’t go, girl

‘BARBECUE’

Season 1, Episode 5

Airdate: April 30, 1978

Audience: 15.9 million homes, ranking 11th in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Jacobs

Director: Robert Day

Synopsis: At the Ewing barbecue, Bobby and Pam announce her pregnancy, while Jock and Digger reignite their feud. J.R. insults Pam and when he tries to apologize, she falls and suffers a miscarriage. Bobby wants to leave Southfork, but Jock persuades him and Pam to stay.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), James Canning (Jimmy Monahan), Haskel Craver (Sam), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Irma P. Hall (Tilly), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jo McDonnell (Maureen), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), David Wayne (Digger Barnes)

“Barbecue” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com, iTunes and TNT.tv. Watch the episode and share your comments below.