40-12-26 Gumpox's Traveling Bed

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

There's big-doings at the Bright Kentucky Hotel as Rush, his pals and a
newspaper reporter have been invited by Mr. Gumpox to witness occupied beds traveling down hallways, passing each other!  This is just another of the bizarre things that happen in their crazy world.

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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Yes, it's all true... and Vic and Sade are so enthralled with the story that they allow Rush to be out past 1 a.m.

Sade wants to tell the story to Mis' Donahue, who's bound to laugh out loud.

Trivia:

+ Blue Tooth's real name is William Gazelle Johnson.

+ There's yet another barber (who works at the Butler House Hotel's barbershop) living at the Bright Kentucky: Cunningham.  His bed is prone to take off too, when the long, heavy trains barrel past the run-down eyesore.

+ Mr. Gumpox says that when they are in bed and he passes Cunningham in the hall, they wave at each other and say, ''Ta ta'' and ''Bon voyage'', respectively.

+ According to Sade, it appears that sometime prior to this episode, a train jumped the tracks and plowed into Gumpox's room.  That'd be a fine how-do-you-do, wouldn't it?

+ Though we have heard and read accounts of beds traveling down the halls of the Bright Kentucky, this is the first account we have in script form.

43-07-22 Rishigan Fishigan and the Penthouse

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

old man

Afraid the passing freight train engineers will throw coal into the new 'penthouse' that he is building, Rishigan Fishigan asks Uncle Fletcher to live there, being he's an old man - and the railroad engineers won't throw hot coals into an old man's living quarters.

SEE THE SCRIPT

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This script is a very important one for the researcher of this great radio program.  First, it testifies to there being a Jayne Bayne - not that we ever doubted it.  But this little lady was only a verbal and second hand ghost (to most of us) until now.  Secondly, it shows us there really was a penthouse for Fishigan and his bride to be.  Third, there is proof here that the engineers lobbed hot coal into the Bright Kentucky Hotel.  It also helps to date a few other episodes.

Trivia:

+ There are few better stories than the one Fletcher tells about William Gubbitchocrank, who got married and regretted it five minutes later - slapping himself with his bare hand for over a half hour.  Had 1,700 head of buffalo fall on him.  His brother, Howard, swallowed a shotgun and later turned to putty.  Stuff 'turning to putty' seems to have haunted Uncle Fletcher.

+ Poor Betsy Vines, wife of Keith.  She never got to eat any pie in 40 years.  Her husband would take her piece every meal.  Pretty sad when you think about it.

42-07-12 Uncle Fletcher Gives Up His Bed

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

• Uncle Fletcher refers to Mis' Gilfop and her married daughter, Fern.  Her brother, Ying-Yang Britcher, fell off a 5-story building and still lived. Her other brother was named Edith!
• Mis' Keller's visitors are taking up room at her house, so Fletcher intends to get a room at the Bright Kentucky, but Sade insists he stay with the Gooks.
• Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Charlie Haverstraw from Belvidere who moved to Terre Haute, Ohio, married a  woman 26 years old, but she ran away.  So, he married a woman 36 years old and she ran away. then he married a woman 46 years old and she ran away, too. Finally, he married a woman 56 years old that lost her leg in a train wreck. She couldn't run away from him. - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

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We know that Sade doesn't like Uncle Fletcher to go near the Bright Kentucky Hotel at night because she is afraid he'll trip over the tracks and be run over by a "creepin', monstrous locomotive."  Of course, after a while at staying at the Gooks, Sade will be ready to get rid of him, for he will drive them all crazy.

Despite there being little information available about this episode, it's fortunate that these two stories from Uncle Fletcher are preserved.  They fit perfectly into his lore.

Note: If you ever desire to read all of the Uncle Fletcher stories, it's pretty simple to do.  Just click this link (which is easily found on the left-hand side of Vic and Sade Characters) and read each of the entries.  There are dozens of them, many with the audio stories, where available.

43-xx-xx Fear in the Bright Kentucky Hotel

The dangerous Bright Kentucky Hotel is more like a prison than a hotel, according to the stories told in this episode. 

___________________

Clerk Charlie Urquhart ran the hotel under "ironclad rules."

An actual NBC promo

Kentucky Hotel's guests come under considerable scrutiny. The article states that the hotel was managed by

Whether you owned them or not, combs and brushes were chained to the wall, as was a smoking jacket Mr. Gumpox had received as a Christmas gift.

Rules were in place that you could not cook nor smoke in the rooms.  If you were caught doing either deed you were immediately moved to a room that nearly sat on the railroad tracks (barely six inches from death's door).  In this room, "the unhappy culprit wakes regularly as trains go by, expecting a locomotive to crawl up his pillow."

This punishment room also meant passing engineers might toss a hot coal or two into your window or swoop by and literally steal your meal.

Then there was the constant fear that the railroad men would someday chain the entire hotel to Engine 187 that was headed to Chicago and the rickety hotel would be no more.

+ Charles Urquhart was the name of Vic and Sade's director in 1943.

The date is probably correct but there's no guarantee.  This episode does share similarities with another episode but I have Barbara Schwarz's notes on that episode and there are details in this episode that aren't in the one she noted.

The name of the episode is made up by me and is used purely for identification purposes.

xx-xx-xx The Bright Kentucky Hotel

The Gooks explore the subject of the Bright Kentucky Hotel's Orange Gentian Room, a place where they ate pot roast every Sunday and the drummers who were given the corner rooms closest to the railroad tracks (purposely) so that they would be shaken across the floor.

___________________

Jean Shepard recalled this episode in an interview.  (((HEAR)))

The date is unknown (although it would have to be an early episode as Sade hated anything to do with the hotel.)  The title is one I gave the episode purely for identification purposes.

40-06-21 Hank's Job - Royal Throne Barbershop

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON 

Vic is excited.  He's just gotten off the telephone with his pal, Hank Gutstop, who informs him that he's gotten a new job at the Royal Throne 25 Cent Barbershop.

He procured the job by coming up with ideas to help improve business, plus he knows so many fellows in town that Ed Holvey, the shop owner, decided to give him a job.

But Hank, who has a bad history with holding a job, may not last the whole afternoon...

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Hank has a new job as a publicity manager for the Royal Throne Barbershop. Vic shares some of his ideas.

Hank has stumbled upon yet another job opportunity that will benefit him more than it will benefit his employers (free room and board, free lunch, and free haircuts included), but he can’t even hang onto that for a whole episode. Vic’s unending faith in him, given his employment history, is touching. Hank’s ideas are intriguing, but I’m not sure how well they’d actually work. Free lunch in a barbershop seems a little unsanitary. I’m worried you’d end up with hair clippings in your sandwich.
I’m always struck by this little moment in this episode:

SADE: I had quite a little conversation with Mis’ Eapers today.
VIC: How’s she?
SADE: All right. Little leaner than she was, I thought.
VIC: How’s TJ?
SADE: I never asked after TJ. Kinda afraid to, don’t ya know. After he was in jail those four times a person anymore kinda hates to inquire. Might make it embarrassin’.

"Vic and Sade" is full of little details like this — just passing comments that help add depth to the fictional community. Often they’re humorous or idyllic, but not always. Small towns all have those little things that everybody knows about but are too afraid, embarrassed, or polite to talk about. This moment always feels a little jarring to me because Vic and Sade talk about things like this so seldom. It’s also jarring because of the actors’ line readings — it’s the kind of thing that could have been played for laughs or not, depending on how the actors read it, and it is definitely not a humorous read (because Vic and Sade wouldn’t joke about this kind of thing). Listen to Vic’s voice, low and serious and sounding as if he’s anticipating bad news, when he asks "How’s TJ?", and Sade’s concerned tone as she answers. Notice, also, that she waits until Rush is out of the room before she even brings this subject up. Much like Rhymer’s rare and oblique references to World War II, this reference reminds you that darkness exists in Vic and Sade’s world — it just stays in the background, in other people’s lives. It’s these little details that add verisimilitude to "Vic and Sade" and make it the great portrayal of life that it is.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

________________________

Trivia:

+ Rush infers that Hank once had a job selling homemade candy.

+ Some of Hank's barbershop ideas include:

• Free lunch - there was no talk of what this may constitute.
• Improving the appearance of the barbershop - no details were given
• Every 50th haircut free - Rush worked it out that it may take three years to get a free haircut.

+ Ed Holvey is always sleeping in the barber chair.  Rush says he lives there - Hank had plans to live there too (also sleeping a barber chair) as part of his payment.

+ Mr. Sludge came home crying again this day.

+ The barbershop is a hot place, according to Rush - no breeze can get in there.

+ Jim Skooner at the Butler House hotel barbershop is Vic's regular barber.

+ Sade called the shop 'dirty' and 'dingy.'

Perhaps it's a joke but a look at Google and "royal throne" brings up as many toilet references as royalty references.

Download the complete commercial-free, sound-improved episode!

44-03-28 Grown Men Trading Names

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Vic tells the Sade the news that Stacey Yopp and Y.I.I.Y. Skeeber are "trading names".  It sounds ludicrous to you and I - and it sounds just as asinine to Sade.

Though it's clear she understands, she needles Vic, probably because she thinks all of his friends are lunatics (and let's face it, most of them are). 

If you like a cold Sade, you'll love this one. 

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

___________________

What could be more ridiculous than grown men exchanging names with each other?  Why would Stacey enjoy the name Y.I.I.Y. better?

The fact that there is a ceremony (Hank's going to sing a couple of songs, there's going to be food, etc.) is even more ridiculous.

44-03-09 Uncle Fletcher Plans Entertainment For Roy Dejectedly's Visit

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

• Fletcher still expects a visit from Roy Dejectedly.  He's riding down with Harry Giggletta, who's on his way to Springfield on business and will drop Roy off from 7 am to 7 pm.
• Planned entertainment includes a ride on Mr. Gumpox' garbage wagon, an introduction to Ernie Fadler at the Interurban Station, a visit with Pelter Unbleet at the Bright Kentucky Hotel.
• Roy and Pelter both spent the summer of nineteen-aught-nine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, yet they've never met each other.  Also a visit to B. B. Baugh at the Butler House Hotel barber shop, because they're both inventors.
• Fletcher clarifies: Roy didn't actually invent Hyena Grease, but he did discover the ingredients that make it suitable for smearing on shoes.  Uncle Fletcher wants to include a visit to Vic's office on the schedule.  Vic suggests a full inspection tour of the whole works, and Fletcher is thrilled.  "Roy Dejectedly'll scream like a half-wit panther!"
• Vic reads news article aloud: "Windsor, Ontario man experiments with raw oysters."  Sade resents interruption of her own reading.
• "Hartman L. Kacker, little-known merchant of Windsor, Ontario claims he expects to astound science in the near future with new and…"
• Uncle Fletcher on the weather: "Might sneeze itself up a light snow before morning."  - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

___________________

If this episode is any indication, the visit by Roy Dejectedly was planned four months ahead (since December 21, 1944 - this would also mean that Paul Rhymer must have had this trip planned in his head/on paper for almost four months).

You wonder why there is a 12 hour window for Gigletta to drop off Roy?

Though the entertainment for Roy seems sparse, one would imagine any of Fletcher's friends in town would enjoy that kind of entertainment; Roy probably would also.

44-02-10 Mr. Donahue's Grudge Against Mr. Gumpox

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Russell explains to Vic and Sade that Mr. Gumpox, the garbage collector, feels that Mr. Donahue doesn't much care for him.

There's a bounty of evidence to back up this theory, including new allegations that the friendly man-next-door throws hot coal into Gumpox's window in the middle of the night, scaring the poor man to death (man, he's got it tough in that crazy hotel!)

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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Sade, not knowing if 'Pa' Donahue is a coal chunker or not, does not accept the accusations.  After all, his wife and she are arms-around-
the-neck chummy.  However, prior incidents of blowing of kisses was misinterpreted and the fact that Donahue's lunch was once eaten by Howard (because of Donahue's own carelessness), can't really be blamed on Gumpox.  By all accounts, Gumpox is a nice, generous, sensitive (albeit somewhat narcissistic) man - that everyone likes - except Mr. Donahue and perhaps, Vic.

Trivia:

+ The family discuss the fellows in town who cry a lot.  Who cries the most?  The Brick Mush man, followed by Messrs Sludge, Gumpox and - a surprise - Erickson, the Gooks' landlord.  This is the first we have heard of Erickson's emotional outbursts.

+ This may be first time Leland Richards has been mentioned since he stayed with the Gooks and became 'homesick' about a year prior to this episode.  He appears to at least be an acquaintance of Russell.

+ Both 40-01-19 Gumpox's Horse Eats Donahue's Lunch and 40-06-24 Mr. Gumpox Blows Kisses were mentioned in this episode.

44-02-02 Boo Boo Baugh and Bracy Yopp

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

• After visiting with Hank Gutstop out in the alley, Vic tells the family of events of a highly fantastic nature at the Bright Kentucky Hotel – a man's hair turned white, and another man's hair turned black:  Boo Boo Baugh, B.B. Baugh's twin brother: his hair turned from snow-white when he went to sleep to jet black when he woke.
• Bracy Yopp is Stacey's twin brother.  He went to bed with jet black hair and woke with snow-white hair.  Hank believes this story is startling and colorful enough to command a price.  He wants to sell it to a newspaper or magazine.
• Boo Boo slept with the window open, and coal and soot blew in.  Bracy, was in room #7 in the Bright Kentucky Hotel where a train passes every hour within two feet of the room.  He got scared – terrified, frantic, and terror-stricken from the screaming of the trains and whistles and bells.
• After dinner, Uncle Fletcher reads an advertising leaflet for a tonic: "Testimonials from Mr. John Loppers of Indiana, Mr. Arthur McRotwalk of Montana, Mr. Orpolord of Texas, A. Eisenmenger of Kansas, Ernest Twentysixler Jr. of Maryland." - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

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The legend of the Bright Kentucky Hotel continues to grow - as does the long list of residents.

The room #7 gag (train coming so close to building that residents are in fear) has been used numerous times on television sit-coms, most notably perhaps on I Love Lucy (episode "First Stop") but originated by Paul Rhymer.

44-01-04 Vic's Bottom Dresser Drawer Violated

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND  DAVID WHITEHOUSE

• Despite a sacred agreement not to fuss with Vic's bottom dresser drawer, Sade's housekeeping sense caused her to violate the pact.  She saw a necktie sticking out and went into a cleaning frenzy.  She tries to blame Vic for saving an entire Sunday paper just to preserve the line "B. B. Baugh of the Bright Kentucky Hotel spent Tuesday in Peoria."  Vic insists Sade abide by their agreement and return everything:  loose tobacco, shoe-horns, belt buckles, chewing gum, table knives, a tennis ball…
• Vic asks Russell to read more facts from his book, "My Golden Treasury of Startling Facts," to keep him calm and not dwell on the violation of his dresser drawer.  Russell reads:
• "Ladies in Texas have bluer eyes than ladies in Oklahoma."
• "The origin of ‘giddap' is attributed to Charles S. Giddap of Sweet Esther.  Giddap was a great friend of all animals.  He was born July 11, 1803 and died December 2, 1880."
• "Kissing among Eskimo tribes of the far north is gradually dwindling. Sam Slurper, noted explorer, reports that he saw only one kiss exchanged between these hardy people in all the years he spend in that frosty region."
• "Hogs enjoy eating coal, lemons, paper plates, and that gray, feathery substance one sees underneath the bed before Mother dusts."
• Vic (referring to Morry Flootcher at the office): "He's been bald-headed ever since he was eighteen years old and isn't any more sensitive about it than your undershirt."
• Russell continues reading:  "The use of water to extinguish fires dates back over eighty years."
• "In southern Indiana and northern Kentucky little children address their mamas as ‘papa' and their papas as ‘mama'.  This quaint custom is a source of much confusion and hearty laughter on the part of visitors from other sections of the country."
• "Certain Indian tribes of North America eat cigars as well as smoke them."
• "Beautiful women on the island of Punkly – 39 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico prepare a deadly poison from sliced bananas, rain-water, and old people."
• "The use of the term ‘square' as applied to boxes is derived from boomix, a by-product of petroleum."
• "Arnold L. Shoppe of Dismal Seepage, Ohio was the first man east of the Mississippi river to wear shoes.  His brother, Ernest, holds the distinction of being the first man east of the Mississippi to wear a hat, and his sister Bessie claims to be the first woman east of the Mississippi to wear gloves.  All three passed away August 11, 1905, while appearing in a tent-show near Fiendish, Indiana."
• "A simple way to manufacture mucilage at home is boil a pair of ordinary leather shoes eight hours in…"
• "Contrary to popular belief, Michigan is south of Texas." - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason
  

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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A wacky episode which may remind you of 40-03-29 No, Vic, No Trip to Chicago where Rush is reading from his book, "Interesting Facts About Darkest Africa."  Both books indeed contain some amazing "facts."

Sade seems to disappear after she's been busted for violating Vic's drawer.  I wonder where she went?

43-xx-xx Rishigan Fishigan Gets Married

Clarence Hartzell (Uncle Fletcher) once told a brief story about Rishigan Fishigan that was neither left to us via an audio episode or found in the scripts or notes.  The story goes something like this:

Rishigan Fishigan (from Sishigan, Michigan) got married to Jayne Bayne (from Payne, Maine.)  They wanted to spend their honeymoon in the Bright Kentucky Hotel but the penthouse had no stairs going up to it.  The only way to get up to the penthouse was to shinny up a drainpipe -- and no self-respecting woman is going to want to shimmy up a drain pipe.  (((HEAR)))

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We have evidence of penthouse atop the hotel being built in July of 1943.

The title is one I made up for identification purposes only.

43-02-02 Bright Kentucky Hotel and the Locomotive

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND BERNARDINE FLYNN

• Vic is just off the phone from speaking with Y.I.I.Y. Skeeber.  He almost  shuddered at the startling news.
• Vic: "On the west side of the building – where our garbageman's room is located – there is only six inches of space between the speeding train and the wall."
• He's waiting for further word about the arrival of train #9 south-bound from Chicago.  The hotel may remain standing or may not. It may become a pile of "remnants, a poor sick heap of twisted bleeding planks.  Vic drags out the story for dramatic impact.  Sade reacts impatiently.
• Rishigan Fishigan is the hero of this tale, possibly having saved the life of every man in residence at the Bright Kentucky Hotel.  He had seen a newspaper article stating that the C & A Railroad had purchased a new locomotive.  It seemed to him that the locomotive was larger than the ordinary ones.  He called the Superintendent of Motive Power of the C & A shops and verified it's a larger locomotive.  He raced back to the Bright Kentucky which was quickly evacuated.
• Now there's nothing to do but wait.  Skeeber phones.  Turns out the new locomotive had twenty-seven twenty-eighths of an inch clearance.
• Vic: (low, vibrant tones) "In fact it scraped the paint."  - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

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Realistically, the Bright Kentucky Hotel is probably a death trap.  Petitions have been drawn up for it's removal; it was condemned in the 1910's; this episode here proves that there could easily be a very drastic accident where a speeding locomotive runs into the hotel, potentially killing several people... and yet we laugh about it.

But that's a crazy Paul Rhymer script for you.

The hotel is full of the town's seediest - and most notorious - characters.  It's located near the most dangerous part of town (many rails from both the railroad and the interurban station's streetcars merge there.)

I recently went on Google Earth and took a look at the city of Bloomington, to see if there was such a convergence of tracks and here's what I found:

Bloomington, Illinois circa 2011

Perhaps in Rhymer's mind, this was very near the place where the Bright Kentucky Hotel sat. By my count, there are currently 13 tracks there; there's room there for many more and you wonder if there weren't 20+ tracks there in the 1940's?  No wonder Sade worried about Uncle Fletcher's welfare at night when crossing these tracks!  Look at the photo enlarged - imagine it's nighttime and there are 20 tracks there.  It looks to be a good 75 yards across.  Would you feel comfortable crossing those tracks at night?

The hotel is an icon for the show.  Exploring it's various stories can be a great way to spend an afternoon.

46-07-11 Chief of Police Visits

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

Vic has offered Chief of Police William Cullerson the use of his front room for his office while workman are at work at the police station.  The Chief is on the lookout for a man with endless aliases.

Vic wants to help and gets a hold of a uniform.  This gives him a chance to play a tough Irish cop.

________________________

Uncle Fletcher told stories like crazy when he first joined the cast.  They gradually tarried off into no stories at all (during the end of the "Series 1.")  "Series 2" saw a smattering of stories but none of them really worth writing about.

This episode, however, harkens back to the first days of Uncle Fletcher, in that he tells a bunch of stories.  Some of them are rehashes of previous stories - or at least he uses elements of things that he's previously used.

Still, this is the Uncle Fletcher we got to know and love when he came aboard.

Trivia:

+ The narrator says Rush is mending his seam on his "indoor baseball." This was the same thing Russell was doing at the beginning of episode 44-07-26 Sade Pleads to See a Movie. And I still don't know what an "indoor baseball" is.

+ Uncle Fletcher talks about F.L. Rodgisherly, who gave the advice of, "Never go to sleep." His life seems to parallel those of Eugene Parklow and George McFulferm (or perhaps Uncle Fletcher just has his names mixed up.) He ran for coroner and got beat. Ran for sheriff and got beat. His one big ambition was to run for mayor and get beat; he realized that ambition.

+ Uncle Fletcher talks about Virgil K. McSneese who married a woman 38 years old, hit her on the head with a straw suitcase in disgust, poked her father in the jaw, wore his shoes on the wrong feet and held a section gang at bay with a 2x4 plank.

+ Uncle Fletcher talks about Bobton L. McQuirk who invented a vinegar bottle that had a button.  Married a woman 19 years old.  Deserted the powdered rabbit business.  Painted his house and barn without the use of either paint or paintbrush.  Died.

+ Uncle Fletcher talks about Mervin L. Melkowitz who refused all drinking water that didn't come from a stream in Idaho.

+ Police Chief Cullerson is on the lookout for Cortney Van Corlick (aka The Cunning Culprit from Covington, Kentucky, aka The Intrepid Evildoer of El Dorado, Arkansas, aka Ronald Rudman the Ruthless Ruffian from Radford, Rhode Island, aka Irving Ishouwood the Injurious Ingrate from Indianapolis, Indiana, aka Phillip Peggles the Purloined Pickpocket from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- whose real name is Pete McPunker.)

+ In a fun swipe at Uncle Fletcher, Vic tells Rush to "Go down cellar."

+ Mr. Sprawl shows up looking for his daughter Mis' Harris. When he notices Chief Cullerson and then Vic dressed up as a cop, he tries to flee under the davenport, spilling all of his peanuts with the chocolate smeared on the outside of them.

+ Vic, who somehow has a police uniform for himself, puts it on and talks now and then with an Irish accent: {{{HEAR}}}

Download the complete commercial-free, sound-improved episode!

44-09-19 Vic to be Best Man

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Uncle Fletcher has dire news for the Gooks and calls Vic to come home from the office early. Upon arrival, Uncle Fletcher tries to give the job of 'best man' of the upcoming wedding of his land lady/Mr. Feedburn to Vic, who wants no part in the wedding ceremony and does not understand why he was dragged home from the office.

Then, Uncle Fletcher really pulls the rabbit out of the hat when he suggests that Mr. Feedburn - who is arriving two weeks prior to the wedding - stay at the Gook house in the interim.

Sade, while not refusing, questions his request in such a way that we know she will eventually refuse.

________________________

Vic and Sade, while trying not to be negative to Uncle Fletcher during his busy time of helping prepare for the wedding, have to be on their guard; for Uncle Fletcher is full of surprises and is trying to brush off some of the responsibilities off on the couple.

Has he bitten off more than he can chew? Why does he care if his land lady gets married? Why did he take oceans of responsibility if he wasn't able to tackle it? Questions better left until another episode because the answers aren't in this one.

Trivia:

+ Russell asks permission to go to the YMCA to watch the fat men play handball; this is the first time I recall either he or Rush asking permission to do that. As a matter of fact, the only things I ever recall the boys needing permission to do anything was for sleeping over at a friend's house and going to the Bijou on a school night (many times.)

+ When Russell arrives at the house, Uncle Fletcher wants Vic, Sade and himself to go to Vic's office at the Consolidated Kitchenware plant so they can be alone. When Vic questions Uncle Fletcher about this asinine suggestion, Sade tells Russell to "Go down cellar." It may not seem that funny to the casual Vic and Sade fan but it struck me as being one of the top 50 or so moments in the show's history; this is because of the way Bernadine Flynn delivers the line (almost a whisper to Russell) and the fact that in a previous episode, Uncle Fletcher tried to shoo Sade and Russell into the cellar to talk business with Vic.

I'm guessing that writer Paul Rhymer was shooed into the cellar in his youth or just has a warped sense of humor. Cellars are no place to congregate and spend time. Imagine the spiders and whatnot down there... Either way, the notion (to me anyway) is hilarious.

Russell, understanding he's "not wanted" during the "big news" suggests, "Why don't I go to the Miller Park lake and jump in? I'd be just about as welcome there..."

+ There are a number of lines in this episode that are funny but only if you have been following the whole "Mis' Keller is getting married" thing. Uncle Fletcher deems it necessary to talk superfluously while speaking about his responsibilities and has been repeating the phrase, "the unbearable alternative" throughout the weeks of this particular storyline. When he says it in this episode, Vic suggests he gets the meme "tattooed to his chest."

+ When talking about the two hotels in town - the Butler House and the Bright Kentucky - Uncle Fletcher says, "One is expensive and one is shabby." While this is true and it's well-known to even the casual Vic and Sade fan that reads Vic and Sade material strewn over the internet (Wikipedia for example.) This is the first time the two hotels have been compared in this exact stereotyping.

Download the complete commercial-free, sound-improved episode!

44-09-11 Honeymoon Guide

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Russell [reading]: "3rd Lieutenant Clinton Stanley, his large, square teeth the color of expensive ivory, glittered horsely."

Uncle Fletcher complains that the whole weight of the upcoming wedding of his landlady is on his shoulders. In addtion to everything else he's done, he's consented to be the 'best man' and will also hire a guide for the honeymooning couple: Rishigan Fishigan.

________________________

Vic makes Uncle Fletcher's problems worse by teasing him considerably.

Trivia:

+ Uncle Fletcher refers to the football stadium as the 'football diamond.'

+ Mis' Keller has lived in town 4 years but doesn't know the city well at all. She has never even been to Miller Park, which seems to be the town's biggest attraction.

+ Olive Street was mentioned for the first time.

Russell reads from a 3rd Lieutenant Stanley "story book"... {{{HEAR}}}

Download the complete commercial-free, sound-improved episode!

44-07-12 Phone Call from Yellow Jump

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Uncle Fletcher is very serious when he visits Sade and Vic: he has news that he thinks is very important.

The couple find the news a bit compelling but not enough to make a whole big thing over. Still, they act surprised and try to listen attentively to Uncle Fletcher's revelation. His landlady got a telephone call from her beau in Yellow Jump, North Dakota.

________________________

It seems more and more evident that Uncle Fletcher will soon have to vacate Mis' Keller's rooming house and will wind up in the Bright Kentucky Hotel - much to Sade's chagrin.

Trivia:

+ The "news" Uncle Fletcher had to share was of such a delicate nature that he gave Russell money to go to the movies, so he wouldn't be around the house.

+ Uncle Fletcher called and had Mis' Kneesuffer interrupt Vic's game of indoor horseshoes in Ike Kneesuffer's basement. Vic hurried home.

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44-07-07 Second Letter from Yellow Jump

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Sade is in a terrible hurry for she has just been reminded of a shopping date with her lady friends downtown. About the time she is about to get ready to straighten the house a bit and get dressed to go, her Uncle Fletcher shows up.

In a story that she doesn't want to hear because she is busy, he tells her that his landlady (Mis' Keller) got a second letter this week from her beau in Yellow Jump, North Dakota. This news seems to assure him that he will have to move into another place and he again has his eye on the Bright Kentucky Hotel as a place to live. Again, Sade tells him this is against her wishes - however, she is in such a hurry that she pretty much gives into him - at least for this episode.

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Sade worries about how Uncle Fletcher will negotiate the railroad tracks and the "Kansas City freight drags creeping up on a person," near where the Bright Kentucky Hotel sits.

Trivia:

+ Sade sets up a meeting with her lady friends at the underwear department of Yamilton's department store - the frequent accidental meeting place for most every other episode.

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44-07-04 Sade Plays Rummy

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Vic and Russell are playing Rummy when Sade enters the house and wants to play with them.

Once given her "tickets" she begins to gossip, drop cards and rearrange the cards into colors and never does play, frustrating her opponents.

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This is neither the first nor the second episode where Sade delays a card game with her antics.

Trivia:

+ Before the "game" started, Sade was outside tending to flowers (her 'Panther's Blood.')

+ Sade saw Mr. Sludge and he was "washing his shoes." She also noticed he was sun-burned. She says he got it from standing in from of the dime store (Five and Teen Cent store) looking in the window for an hour. Some items in the window: combs, pencils, fancy face powder boxes, sheet music, hair pins and framed pictures of Gloria Golden.  (((HEAR)))

+ Sade mentions Mr. Scalder from Dixon, whose wife Elizabeth left him after he made wild hand gestures at her.

+ Sade recounts a game played by "Ted" Stembottom down at the foundry where the loser gets hit in the head with a sledgehammer. It may be called "Beefsteak:" {{{HEAR}}}

+ Sade says Fred is very impatient with Ruthie when they play cards.

+ Mis' Keller may move to North Dakota if she gets married and Sade is worried Uncle Fletcher will move to the Bright Kentucky Hotel, which worries her because he's have to negotiate the train tracks often.

+ Someone called again for Fat Jackson.

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43-11-03 Watch Fob Collection

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

The Gooks are expecting Fred and Ruthie Stembottom over for a game of "500" when Uncle Flecther appears and sets out telling stories about his box full of watch fobs.

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This episode will remind you of 42-08-xx Washrag Collection and it seems to a major reworking of that script.

The episode has it's moments (as any episode does where Uncle Fletcher is telling stories) but after hearing 42-08-xx Washrag Collection, there's not many surprises.

Trivia:

+ Uncle Fletcher wants to go to the Bright Kentucky Hotel to visit Rishigan Fishigan. Since he'd have to cross the tracks to get to the hotel, Sade persuades him to go to the interurban station, which is in effect what we know as the train depot.

Uncle Fletcher seems to be a danger to himself in this episode (and perhaps, slightly out of his mind.) Sade is so concerned about him that she sends Russell to go with him out and about.

+ Ernie Fadler works as a ticket agent at the inter-urban station and is a friend of Uncle Fletcher. Fletcher decides he'll go and show him the watch fob collection.

+ Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Earl McFripp from Belvidere, who wore a razor strap as a watch fob. Wore yellow, bulldog-toed Oxfords; one shoe buttoned up while the other was laced up.

+ Uncle Fletcher has a gold watch fob that turned to putty! Originally the property of Dr. Aubrey Collins of Carlock, Illinois; the fob was 18 carart solid gold... but after he moved to Dismal Seepage, Ohio (where the climate is damp and peculiar...) in fifteen years, the climate changed the watch fob gold to putty.

+ The Stembottoms seem to make it inside the house but this is when the episode ends and we never hear their voices.

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