where did the saying meanwhile back at the ranch come from
Meanwhile, back at the ranch "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." is a catch phrase[1] that appears in a variety of contexts. For example, it may be employed by narrators of American cowboy movies and TV shows to indicate a segue from one scene to another but there is often more to this than meets the eye. The expression originated as a stock subtitle in the silent movies[1] and at first the reference to the ranch was literal.[2][3] Later, as the phrase became a cliché, it was used more and more loosely and with a growing sense of mockery or levity, often with a vague focus. In this manifestation the phrase came into common use in unrelated contexts.[4]