41-06-03 Hammock

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Sade: Our family's always been unlucky with hammocks.

Rush ponders if he should try once again to become friends with rival Nicer Scott so that he may enjoy the luxury of two trees that are in his backyard; Uncle Fletcher has loaned Rush the use of a hammock and the only convenient place to hang it is the Scott's backyard.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Rush talks through a moral dilemma.

A classic Rush vs. Nicer episode, and what feels like a classic sitcom conflict. Is it okay to pretend to be friends with someone you can’t stand because you want to come over and use their cool stuff? Rush tries hard to rationalize the scheme to Sade, and Vic attempts to put his business acumen to use and come up with an equitable division, but ultimately the family decides against it. Vic and Sade have fun imagining the chaos of a hammock shared between two households.

One thing that stands out to me particularly about this episode is the list of Nicer Scott’s friends, which reads like a mirror universe version of Rush’s group of buddies. Scissorneck Edwards, Ed Hoggle, Wilburt Stang, Fat Morris. We don’t know anything about them besides their names, but they sound like a rough bunch of fellas to me.  

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcription by Lydia Crowe)

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The entire episode revolves around comfortable swinging furniture as Sade is hoping to get Vic to fix the porch swing as well.

Trivia:

+ Holder Brothers (a hardware store) was mentioned for the first time.

+ It was revealed in this episode that Uncle Fletcher likes to ride around on Mr. Gumpox's garbage wagon with him.

+ Though relations between the two have never been fantastic, we learn now that Mis' Scott is "chilly" to Sade.

+ Vernon Peggles' Aunt May lives on Morris Avenue. It's the first time Aunt May or Morris Avenue have been mentioned.

+ Mis' Healy was mentioned for the first time.

+ We learn the names of five of Nicer Scott's friends, whose names had never been mentioned before in a surviving episode:

• Ed Hoggle 
• Scissorneck Edwards 
• Bill Veeply 
• Fat Morris 
• Wilbert Strang

+ Sade states that her family has always been unlucky with hammocks:

• Her father fell out of a hammock in Stanwood, Iowa and broke his collarbone.
• Sade's Cousin Robert fell out of a hammock in St. Paul, Minnesota and smashed his thumb so badly, he had to give up playing the violin.
  
• Uncle Fletcher, too, fell out of a hammock; got a goose egg on his head as "Big as my shoe." according to Sade.

🎙 Hear the Vic and Sadecast 078 – The Hammock (11/17/17)


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

41-05-30 Five Men from Maine

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Homer U. McDancey from East Brain, Oregon calls the Gook household trying to get in touch with Vic. Instead, Rush, who is home alone, takes a message.

The message: five men from Hunkerman, Maine want to meet up Vic. They aren't from the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way and they aren't from Consolidated Kitchenware.

 The mystery ensues... who are these men and what do they want?

WHAT MIS' CROWE SAYS:

Vic receives a very strange phone message.

This is one of my favorites. We never find out who these five men from Maine are and how they know about Vic. We aren’t even offered any convincing explanations. The entire episode is just Vic, Sade, and Rush being mystified about it. This is also another instance of the number five as a comedy device in Vic & Sade, which supports my husband’s theory that five is the funniest number.

Rush offers the possible explanation that McDancey’s story is an effort to get him into Maine for an “ambush,” and as proof comments that the names sound “fictitious as a horse.” Sade agrees with him. I like how they are so convinced that these names sound fake when they are no more ridiculous than most of the names in the Rhymer universe – in fact, they’re quite tame for Vic & Sade, except for the last guy, who has the same first and last name, and seems to have the middle name “Pew” (I listened to this so many times – I’m convinced he’s saying “Pew” and not “Q”). 

At the end, we get a little bit of pathos from Vic, as he obviously knows that the story of five men across the continent who are dying to shake his hand can’t be true, but obviously wishes that it was. We know how much Vic loves attention and admiration! Although he never had any real intention of going to Maine, he’s still a little sad and disappointed that it will never be.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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The men from Maine mystery is never solved (at least in this or other surviving episodes.)  One guess is that the five men from Maine are book publishers and would like Vic to write a book - possibly about parade ingenuity - but that's only a guess.

[In November of 2014, I found in the 'Schwarz Notes' that Vic did contemplate writing a book on parade procedure, as remembered by a Friends of Vic and Sade alumnus...]

McDancey, who has written at least one book and a is fellow member of the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way All-Star Marching Team, may have told his own publishers about Vic's prowess as both a writer and as a parade enthusiast. Of course, that's only a shot in the dark but we have so few facts to work with that almost anything is a possibility.

Trivia:

+ There is no Hunkerman, Maine according to Google Earth.

+ The five men from Maine are:

• Ollie J. Yawk
• V. Donald Gicks 
• Q.L. Cunningham
• D.S. Slank
• Erkhardt Q. Urquhart 

click to enlarge

+ As of at least 1940, the Vic and Sade producer was named Charles Urquart (see photo.)

+ Sade mentions Mis' Scott's brother, Erkhardt  (you may recall, he's the fellow with the bed in the back of his car) and notes that he's from Iowa.

+ Sade tells "the funniest thing she's ever heard", but Vic and Rush seem to care very little about her story about Mis' Elders storming out of an argument, only to find she had retreated from her own house. Vic seems to be far more intrigued as to who the 5 gentlemen from Maine could be and what they want with him.

+ As she has said in the past about Mr. Buller and H.K. Fleeber, she thinks Homer U. McDancey is a bit crazy.

Rush thinks that Homer U. McDancey has an ambush set for Vic: {{{HEAR}}}

🎙 Hear the Vic and Sadecast 074 – Five Men from Maine (11/12/17)


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

41-04-23 Sleep Tight, Mr. Donahue

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

In order to get some sleep, Mr. Donahue (who just got back from Chicago) decides to sleep in the back of a friend's car. The car is being driven to Chicago and back in about 7 hours. When Donahue gets back home, he had to go back to Chicago on the train.

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An episode where not a lot is going on other than Vic and Rush watching Mr. Donahue leave for Chicago in his pajamas.  A funny premise, very Paul Rhymer-like but bereft of funny lines.

Trivia:

+ The man who owns the car is Erkhardt. He is the brother of Mis' Scott. His car has a bed in the back. Ekrhardt and Mr. Donahue are good friends.

+ This is the first episode in which Vernon Peggles was mentioned. He is a smart boy with an adenoid problem. He found a train ticket from Phelps City, Oklahoma to Rutherford, Nebraska. According to Vic, it's worth about $50.00.

When Vic and Rush are looking out the window to see Mr. Donahue get into the back of the car in his pajamas, there's a lot of waving at the folks outside (EDITED): {{{HEAR}}}

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