STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND BERNARDINE FLYNN
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| Margaret Rush, a young Sade and the brilliant-but-goofy, Vic |
Sade's mother is in town and staying with the Gooks, which is generally nothing but trouble for most every son-in-law -- but the real problem here is that Sade feels fat, dumb and unloved. An awkward Vic does his best to remedy the situation by handing out bad compliments.
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Before I read the above synopsis, I was led to believe this audition (which most-likely never aired since there is no newspaper account of it) was focused on Sade's mother visiting. That's part of what is going on, but the focal point of this audition is to show us just what a terrible inferiority complex Sade has at the beginning of the show's run and that the couple is in quiet dire straits as far as relationships go.
Vic doesn't really seem to know how to handle these things, as he is from Mars and Sade's from Venus. This audition version of Vic is miles away from the one who knows his wife's feelings so well in episodes like 37-xx-xx Vic Confides to Rush about Mothers. He does try to say and do the correct things, but fails miserably. And the way Sade seems to feel, it's pretty apparent he's probably a pretty lousy husband as well.
I personally don't blame this all on Vic but he certainly bears half of the responsibility. This episode clearly shows a relationship that's in deep trouble but continues on like there's nothing bad happening. When Sade realizes it and speaks up about her elephant-in-the-room feelings, Vic seems to not know what to do, except doing the same thing he's always done apparently, and that is he tries to shower Sade with half-pint compliments, such as telling her that she "has more brains than a horse."
Vic will become a better husband and a great father - no, make that a really great father. Sade will use her incredible instincts and not her temper. She will grow into a fabulous homemaker. Her leadership qualities (despite her lack of education) will one day shine.
All radio auditions seem to be (sans The Adventures of Superman) a way for the cast and crew to find out what works and doesn't work. Paul Rhymer will change things within a matter of just a few days of this audition and 'Vic and Sade' will go down as the most-unique radio show most of us have ever heard.
Trivia:
+ One of the things Sade did while Vic was at work was wash the car! In March! In North Central Illinois!
+ All kinds of friends and neighbors that were never 'seen' again show up in this audition: Tina Volk, Franny, Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Gillespie.
+ As far as I can tell, 'Pie-Face Pete', a comic that Vic saw in the newspaper, is a Paul Rhymer creation.
+ Sade's gained more than 19 pounds since she married Vic. She's cut out eating sweets. Still, she weighs 146 pounds.
+ Sade says they have been married almost five years.
+ There's talk of the couple cuddling (in the past); but they don't do it any longer because Sade was so heavy that she kept breaking Vic's cigars!
+ Sade raises an interesting point when she pours her heart out to Vic: she's very aware that he's around young, attractive lasses at Consolidated Kitchenware. To my knowledge, this precise point has never been brought up in any other script, synopsis or audio that we have.
I wouldn't doubt that it was brought up sometime in a script that wasn't this unheard audition. Doing so would leave an inkling of doubt in the listener's head about Lolita, Pom Pom and Miss Pauline Delacey. By the way - DIRienzi, DElacey, DEEEEVORCE... and 'Pom Pom' = a cheerleader.
+ Sade tells Vic that she has a 'bad temper'.
+ It's 1932, the height of the Depression, and Vic uses cream in his coffee. Cream was about thirty cents a quart in 1932. more than most things on a normal grocery list.
+ The ending of the audition has them shouting at each other. Post-1934, Sade would slowly walk upstairs in that situation, or Vic would go to Ike Kneesuffer's basement to play indoor horseshoes.
Neat! I'll have to go read some of these scripts- very strange after all these years listening to Vic & Sade to read about situations I'm not familiar with.
ReplyDeleteIs there any way possible to be able to hear this episode? A script synopsis is not much good if I can't hear what you are talking about!!
ReplyDeleteIn reading the script synopsis, Sade's comment about someone's job being called an excavating engineer, but in reality could very well be a ditch digger is interesting. Which goes to show that glorified sounding job titles are nothing new. I also wish the audio existed for these first episodes.
ReplyDelete