Ben Murphy was relaxing in his dressing room, shirtless and barefoot. After a brief knock on his door a PA meekly announced, "Mr. Murphy, I have next week's script." Ben opened the door and took the script, giving the PA a quick smile.

Ben liked his current gig on Smith and Jones well enough. He liked his co-star, Peter, and got along with the crew. He was getting tired, though, of the physical business required in each show - he would've preferred more opportunities to really show his acting chops.
He looked at the new script. "Shootout at Diablo Station", it was called. He began reading. It started off well enough, but - oh, no - it quickly turned into another Smith-and-Jones-in-peril episode. "I'm getting tired of this", he thought, "Another episode where I sit around the whole time tied up." Going further in the script, he thought, "Damn it! In the last act, I'm gagged and I hardly have any lines."

A week later, the cast was on the set for rehearsal of the episode. The director called out, "Okay, this is the scene where the outlaws bring Kid Curry to the window. I need a stagehand to tie Mr. Murphy for this scene."

"C'mon, why do we have to do that in rehearsal?", a surprised Ben exclaimed.

"Because we'll be shooting you from behind, Ben, and I need to see that the movements will work on camera. We'll make it quick."

A stagehand slipped in behind Ben and began to tie his hands.
Ben let out a sigh. "Alright, let's get it overwith - ow! Not so tight, okay, buddy?"

"Don't tie Mr. Murphy too tightly, please", said the director. "This is just a rehearsal."

A few days later shooting was nearly finished, much to Ben's relief. All that remained was the final scene in the station, where Ben was to work his gag loose and deliver his line. (Yeah, "line", Ben thought, exactly one in the whole scene.)
The director had other ideas, though. "We're going to add a bit of new business. Instead of Mr. Murphy working his gag loose, I'd like Mr. Duel to hop across the set and use his hands to pull out Kid Curry's gag. This means I'll need a stagehand to tie Mr. Duel. Any problem with that, Peter?"

Peter and Ben shared a look as if to say, "Directors! What're you gonna do?"

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