41-02-24 Uncle Fletcher To Meet 1 AM Train

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNADINE FLYNN, BILL IDELSON AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

The Gooks are about to retire for the evening when lo and behold, Uncle Fletcher stops by. It seems the kind-hearted Uncle of Sade has taken it upon himself to meet Mis' Trogle's one o'clock AM train so her husband Alvy can get some much-needed rest as he has to get up early for work.

That's Uncle Fletcher - the little kindnesses he does for people... he is extremely thoughtful.

In order to kill time until he must go and meet the train, he figures he would hang out with the Gooks. But the burden of staying up late and listening to Fletcher's stories and viewing his tiresome mementos is too much for Vic and Sade. They retire to bed shortly after his arrival.

Rush, on the other hand, is game to Uncle Fletcher's exciting and hilarious tales of a man's youth that has long faded. Well, for about 5 minutes anyway...

MIS' CROWE SAYS:

Another classic Uncle Fletcher episode. This time, he shows up at almost 11 o'clock at night hoping to kill time at the Gooks’ until a 1 A.M. train comes in. (Side note: is anyone else besides me surprised at how late the Gooks stay up? Often their card games with the Stembottoms don’t even start until 8:30 or 9, which is when I usually go to bed. They’re much more exciting than me.) Sade is aghast and Vic is amused at the appalling presumption on Fletcher’s part but nobody can be mad at him because they know that’s just the peculiar way he is.

Fletcher comes bearing antique Christmas cards from his youth, which he assumes, correctly, that Rush will enjoy looking at. In true Uncle Fletcher fashion, he doesn’t have any idea who most of the people named in the Christmas cards are. Particularly relevant to those interested in the more mysterious aspects of Uncle Fletcher’s mythology is a card where U.Q. Tuttle (a name Fletcher claims he doesn’t recognize) fondly remembers “jolly times” with Fletcher in Boone, Iowa. In the face of this eyewitness testament to his having been in Boone, Fletcher doubles down on his denial that he’s ever visited the city. His noisy objections to suggestions that he’s been in Boone always make me wonder if he’s protesting too much. What happened in Boone so many years ago? Fletcher, just what are you hiding?

I like how Uncle Fletcher continues holding forth all by himself after Vic and Sade have both gone to bed and Rush has passed out on the davenport. He loves an audience, but he doesn’t really need one.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcription by Lydia Crowe)

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Fletcher's kindness to one can be a burden to someone else, as demonstrated by this episode.

This is the second surviving audio episode where Fletcher actually appears and though he is the center of attention after his arrival, it's his lack of reaction to the others (particularly Sade and Vic, respectively, as they wander up to bed) that's the real winning piece of comedy here.

Trivia:

+ The show begins with Vic reading from Volume 7 in his lodge library.

+ Fletcher virtually ignores Sade and Vic when they go to bed. Both instances are good moments...(EDITED): {{{HEAR}}}

People mentioned in the Christmas cards brought over by Uncle Fletcher:

+ James S. Dread (Christmas card sent to Edna, Bess, Arhur and Bug Eye.)

+ U. Q. Tuttle - He claims he knew Fletcher back in Boone, Iowa, a place Fletcher denies he's ever been.

+ George Yeeply - Fletcher never knew him. He knew George Yipper and George Wheatland though.

+ Eleanor Sweeting - Fletcher said he never knew her.

+ Ed Niledorf and Charlie Slime - Fletcher knows Ed, "Like he knows his own brother" but he has no idea who Charlie Slime is. He and Ed worked together at Webber's grocery store on the city limits of Sterling, Illinois. Ed loved to eat popcorn late at night. He'd pop it and keep it in his bedroom. Ed would rather eat popcorn than apple pie.

 + August and Henrietta Fishelby - Fletcher has no idea who they are.

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