41-09-25 Bright Kentucky Hotel Speaker

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic has been asked by Stacey Yopp to give an entertaining speech in the lobby of the Bright Kentucky Hotel at 8:30 that evening.

Vic tells Rush, who little by little, delivers bad news to Vic about how few people will be there to hear the talk. Intermingled with Rush's bad news are others who call Vic and give implausible excuses for not attending.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Vic is invited to speak for an audience that starts out small and becomes progressively smaller. The question is: was Stacey Yopp trolling Vic, or is he just a very poor planner? Probably the latter, although setting up such an ill-fated appearance would be a brilliantly rotten trick to play on Vic.  I always enjoy Vic & Rush episodes. Vic’s dignified self-importance combined with Rush’s ability to see the funny side in anything and everything always makes for great comedy. Vic can’t even be mad at Rush here because everything he’s saying is true and he can’t do anything about it. If anything, Rush is preserving him from humiliation by warning him about the state of affairs at the Bright Kentucky.

SCRIPT (transcribed Lydia Crowe)

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Via Smelly Clark's Uncle Strap, Rush is able to be 'in the know' about the Bright Kentucky Hotel. Seems as though he may be as big of a gossip as his mother.

Poor Vic, like most of his big plans, he is shot down a notch at a time until there is barely anything left to hold on to.

Trivia:

+ The title of the speech Vic wants to deliver: " The Importance of Good Sportsmanship in Modern Business."

+ Stacey Yopp, Y.I.I.Y Skeeber and Alf Musherton (who all are barbers at the other hotel in town, the Butler House) live at the Bright Kentucky Hotel.

Have you ever noticed the number of barbers on Vic and Sade? Barbering is the most frequent occupation by the characters on the show by far - they even outnumber "regulars" on the show who work at Consolidated Kitchenware! Sade's brother-in-law, Walter Helfer, is a barber and many other random characters also happen to be or used to be barbers: Ed Holvey, Harry Fie, Jim Skooner and Muddy. LeRoy Snow has 3 uncles who are barbers. And of course, Yopp, Skeeber and Musherton.  Later, we find that Smelly Clark's father is a barber and Smelly wants desperately to be one himself.

+ Again, we get to see how well Vic knows his lodge library. He must have memorized all of the volumes as he knows what page many things are on.

However, it seems he doesn't know it as well as he thought, as when Rush reads what Vic tells him to, it's the wrong part, twice.

+ Mr. Gumpox, Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Jeffries all live at the Bright Kentucky Hotel and never miss a first run film at the Bijou. (Cunningham and Jeffries had not been mentioned before this episode.)

+ Two other never mentioned before, Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Slatch are residents of the hotel and are deaf.

+ Mr. Yamerly, yet another person never mentioned before, lived at the Bright Kentucky until he got fired from the railroad. He moved away to Niles, Michigan, where his brother-in-law lives.

+ Rush reads aloud twice from the lodge library:

Volume VII, page 163: I beat my breast in agony, I clutch my throat with rage, The wild beasts of jungle, Are not one half as dangerous as I, The frosty moon shines...

Volume IX, page 47: Sweetheart, your eyes are like limpid pools seen by moonlight in the deep forest; your soft hands put to shame the velvet petals of the hyasinth...

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