The lights dim, and a hush falls over the audience, who wait with worms on their tongues bated breath for the show to begin. First on the stage are the owner of the Bar Double E Ranch, Cow Pattie (Bonnie-Lee Bowman), and her romantic interest, Buffalo Chip (Gil Moon). You see, we had Buffalo Bill all lined up to be in the show, but then a last-minute sprain of his trigger finger prevented him from showing. So, Buffalo Bill sent his younger brother Chip to perform in his place.

After Cow Pattie and Buffalo Chip welcome the audience to the show, they turn over the emceeing to the ranch foreman, Gentle Ben (Ben McGuire). Ben states that the best way to get the cowboys in the first act to come out is to sing a "soft, gentle, love song." Whereupon he breaks into fractured strains of Mule Train, which includes "Get out here, you mangy, floppy-eared. . ." Obediently, the cowboys appear, all seventeen of them coming one by one out of the outhouse door.