44-03-29 Letter From Bess Suggests Sade Come Visit

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND  DAVID WHITEHOUSE

A letter from Aunt Bess temporarily sidetracks Vic from a game of indoor horseshoes and then, has him accidentally laughing.  However, instead of blowing up, it only slightly aggravates Sade.

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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Sade usually would take out her frustration on Vic or Rush (or in this case, Russell) but instead, she seems to keep it inside.  Russell was the true instigator anyway.

TRIVIA:

* Walter read in the Freeport paper that the Consolidated Kitchenware plant in Dubuque, Iowa had a fire.  I'll bet Gus Fuss was in a rush.  And talk about your warm lemonade...

* Euncie is still learning the same piano piece ("The Great Colorado Train Robbery Scottish") and trying to do it without looking at the sheet music.

* Russell somehow gets under the davenport, looking for a penny.  The davenport  must be huge.  Bluetooth was also under this davenport in 1939.

* Is it a joke when the Paul Rhymer script tells of a man who was college-educated who's purpose was sharpening razors?  Even though we have oceans of articles on Rhymer, I have yet to even be offered a hint why he was seemingly so fascinated with barbers and razors.

* The letter suggests that Sade come for a visit; Bess all but eliminates Vic and Russell from coming in her wording.  It seems that Sade probably didn't take up her sister on her offer - according to the episodes we know to exist shortly after this aired.

44-04-20 A Letter from Bess - No Card Game

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

Vic, Russ and Uncle Fletcher come home and decide to play cards.  However, they get wind that Sade is home and has a letter from Bess. They quickly hatch a plan so that they won't hurt Sade's feelings and can still get in a few hands of cards.

When the plan begins to go into action, Sade smells a rat and begins looking at the men for signs of guilt. Surely, you know who wins.

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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All Vic and Sade fans know you can't fool Sade.  Vic and Russell surely know better, but that didn't stop them from trying.

This is yet another episode that talks about Euncie practicing the "The Great Colorado Train Robbery Scottish", which would eventually put her in bandages.  Just another of the long-running Paul Rhymer gags that he turned into a ridiculous situation.  I'm almost certain that somewhere in 1944, either Walter's kneecap completely healed up or it exploded.  I assume we will never know.

TRIVIA:

* Uncle Fletcher seems completely out of touch here.  Sometimes, he appears socially aloof, but in this episode, it really seems as though there is a bit of an unknown problem with his brain.

* It would be very interesting to know how many episodes we know of where cards were mentioned.  Also, letters/cards from Bess: this is about the 25th letter/postal card or so that we know that Sade has gotten from Bess.  My crazy math tells me that Sade got a letter from Bess about every two weeks.  That could mean that during the run of the first Series, she may have received/talked about 300 letters or so.  Is that possible?

* Uncle Fletcher tells of Quentin L. Spondle, who changed his wife's name from Leota to Dorothy, against her objections.

37-12-03 Rush Needs Money for Christmas Shopping

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Christmas 1937

Rush has made a Christmas list.  He's whittled it down to the bone.  He's got very little cash to work with.

He's going to Plan B; all he has to do is get the dough from good ole' Gov -- well, make that, get past Sade in order to get it from Gov.  It's not an easy task.

SEE SOME DIALOGUE AND SYNOPSIS

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Rush knows Gov has a soft heart.  The trouble remains; Sade also knows Vic has a soft heart.
 
This episode compares in some ways with this one, a rather odd episode where Rush went to Vic's office to ask for Christmas funds.

That particular episode took place in 1941.  Let's look at the difference in lists between the two episodes:

 We can compare Rush's Christmas lists from 2 years

The price of Vic's gift remained the same.  Poor Vic, always getting the shaft.

Trivia:

* In the story about the imaginary 'Rollo K. Wintersquat' at the institution, Vic suggests he be sent some fudge.  That's not the only time someone locked away and fudge being sent to them are mentioned; Dottie Brainfeeble sent fudge to Martin Jordle, the man whose wife signed a paper and then the next thing he knew, he was in prison for 40 years.

* You wonder how good you can "get in" with a man by buying him a stinky, nickel cigar?

* "Bernardine" is once again mentioned in the script as an homage (you'd think) to  Bernardine Flynn. I'm almost certain that "Bernardine" was mentioned another time as well, but I'll be doggone if I can find the reference.

* Sade recalls Steve Kodunk in Dixon, whose father used to drown him with money.  He'd have a nickel or dime to spend every single recess and the kids would buzz around him like flies.

Hmmm.  You wonder how many kids would be swarming young Mr. Kodunk in 2015?  In the age of iPads and XBox, I'm guessing not a whole lot.

click to enlarge

* It's likely that this story line (or something like it) took place nearly every Christmas on the show.  I believe Rhymer eventually took Sade out of the equation because she's generally a major league frump when it comes to spondulix, plus the shows with just Vic and Rush (that we know about) all turned out to be genuine peachy episodes.  Certainly Rhymer knew
this or you'd think someone told him.

* This episode took place on the road, as did apparently, several other episodes during the latter end of 1937.  This episode was live from Kenosha, Wisconsin.  We are most fortunate (thanks to Barbara Schwartz and the Friends of Vic and Sade) to have an article from the local paper there from December 4, 1937.  The interview probably took place the same day this episode was broadcast.  [Dunno about you, but I love neat stuff like that.]

37-xx-xx Euncie's Learning Piano

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON  

Agnes Peterson

A letter from Sade's sister Bess brings news that her daughter Euncie is learning the piano.

Euncie's deaf piano teacher, Agnes Peterson, who also only has one leg and must put a heavy weight on the loud pedal, must bite the leg of the piano to pick up the vibration, so she can tell if Euncie is playing her piano pieces the correct way!! - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

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Euncie and her piano playing is bizarre. One day I promise to write a piece about this subject, since I am so fond of the piano myself.

This impossible premise is classic Paul Rhymer, and sits somewhere near the top of shows I'd most like to hear.

The date is not known exactly but Agnes Peterson was Euncie's teacher in 1937 according to the letter Vic had stored away from Bess in his jacket pocket.

The title is my own creation; it is used for identification purposes only.

39-05-10 Sade Visits Bess in Carberry

Sade takes a train trip to Carberry to visit her sister and  family, leaving Vic and Rush to fend for themselves.

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We can be sure of this episode because it is stated by Sade in 39-04-26 Sade's New Luggage that she is leaving on a trip to Carberry in less than two weeks.  In episode 39-05-11 The Davis' are Asleep Upstairs, Sade is away.

It is not known when she returned.

The title is one I gave the episode purely for identification purposes.

38-09-08 Rush Goes to Carberry

Rush goes to Carberry by train to visit his Aunt Bess, Uncle Walter and cousin, Euncie.

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We know this to be a fact due to a newspaper article about this very subect (Bill Idelson was actually on a fishing trip in Northern Wisconsin.) There's no data about how long he was away from the show.

The date is probably correct (although it could be a day off) and the title is one I have given the program for identification purposes only.

44-05-18 Euncie's Piano Accident

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL&

Sade arrives home bearing bad news: her niece Euncie has badly injured herself while practicing the piano! Russell seems interested in this news but Uncle Fletcher may or may not understand the importance of the situation.

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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Uncle Fletcher has something on his shoe and between his teeth - and feels that Sade needs to chill out!  At least, that's probably the way he feels.  It's hard to pinpoint Fletcher's motives and fragile emotions in 1944, as he's been known to use them against Sade in order to get attention.  Who knows?

It's funny to see Russell taking on the role of Vic here in 1944. By the time 1944 came around, Vic would playfully 'mess' with Fletcher as you could tell that both were getting under each other's collar. And note here that Russell (at age 14, I believe) acts totally different than Rush would have. Rush would never really have been irritated by Sade's uncle, but it's obvious that Russell feels he's being put 'down cellar' - something Fletcher never hesitated to say to and about him many times in these later episodes. There's no real animosity; both seem to go their merry way after the slight battles.

TRIVIA:

* Say what? Uncle Fletcher discusses Satchelbreffer trees: "Satchelbreffer Penobscot Spoon-Pine is largely grown in southeastern part of western North Dakota. The Pulp-head tribe of Dish-face Indians use it for making tuckels, goolies, spawtchers, and grelps. A tuckel is a gourd used for bawbaw, neepo, dorbrix, and powl." Later, he claims: "Bawbaw is a smashed cornmeal mixed with rainwater and salted down with Gumflower seeds – it's fed to babies."

* The piano piece Euncie hurt herself playing ("The Great Colorado Train Robbery Scottish") was also mentioned in March and June of '44 (in other words, a letter from Bess mentioned the piano piece at least 3 of 4 months. It's likely we are missing other episodes that talk about this complicated piano piece). This accident broke a bone, caused a bruise and initiated shock... (shock - aka acute stress disorder, may include these symptoms, according to Wikipedia:  numbing; emotional detachment; muteness; derealization; depersonalization; psychogenic amnesia; continued re-experiencing of the event via thoughts, dreams, and flashbacks; and avoidance of any stimulation that reminds them of the event. During this time, they must have symptoms of anxiety, and significant impairment in at least one essential area of functioning. Symptoms last for a minimum of 2 days, and a maximum of 4 weeks, and occur within 4 weeks of the event.)

The incidents involving Euncie and the piano are really worth taking a look at, because like all Paul Rhymer plot pieces, they seem to get more bizarre as time goes by.  Euncie is roughly 15-16 years of age and Rhymer is literally crushing her bones!

* Fletcher mentions Oscar McSpilcher's son Harry fell off of a piano and all he broke was his shoestring.

* Bess' letter mentions Mis' Bahcol, Euncie's music teacher, who said, "A person really needs 15 fingers to really execute the selections the way they really should be executed."

Some of the notes here came directly from Barbara Schwartz

40-08-13 Little Carberry Gossips

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Now that Sade has settled in back home, she tells all the gossip she got while she was in Carberry, much to the boys' dismay.

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The transcription disc for this episode survived but was either sold to Radio Spirits in the 1970's or was donated to the Library of Congress. (That might mean that we may never hear this episode.)

39-12-28 A Vic and Sade Christmas Show

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Rush realizes he has no money to spend on friends and relatives for Christmas, so he devises a plan: switch his savings account over to a checking account and write checks for Christmas.  He and Blue Tooth Johnson have decided that adults will not cash the checks ($25 each!) thinking it to be a ridiculous amount, therefore, no money will ever change hands.

As for friends his age, he will send the checks to their parents, who will not cash the checks, thinking either it's bogus or inappropriate.

SEE THE SCRIPT (This is a pdf file - please give it a minute to load)

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I've never thought about it until now but Rush's scheme to get a hold of his savings account is very much like Vic trying to get a wide-brimmed hat!

This appears to be the first episode for Vic after his first stint with heart trouble and long lay-off.  They let him out of the hospital in time for Christmas, it seems.  Or since "Vic" only uttered one line, perhaps it was another actor.

Though this may have not been him, it does appear that he was around the next day (Christmas.)

41-06-01 Uncle Fletcher Telephones Aunt Bess

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

Uncle Fletcher, having been careless in not writing his niece Bess Helfer, is prodded by his landlady Mis' Keller to call her long distance. He goes to the Gook house where they can all say hello to the Helfers.

But Uncle Fletcher hasn't called long distance much and doesn't really know or remember the procedure and so has to ask for help. The Gooks all have their own way of calling long distance and all talk at the same time.

Poor Uncle Fletcher!

MIS' CROWE SAYS:

Uncle Fletcher comes over to make a long distance telephone call and receives some very unhelpful technical support from the family.

As dated as this might seem on the surface – long-distance phone calls are not the complicated process they once were – I think it’s extremely easy to see my own family in this episode. There have been times when my grandmother has been “helped” with a computer problem by me, my parents, my aunt, and a younger cousin all at once, and everybody involved thinks they’re the only one who knows how a computer works, and by the end you’re wondering if it’s even worth it to have one! At the end of the episode, Fletcher is so overwhelmed and defeated, he hangs up and goes home without ever having talked to Bess. If only they’d just left it to the telephone operators – they would have been happy to walk him through the process, I’m sure.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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A very typical episode - but that's not a bad thing!

Trivia:

+ The Helfer's phone number is Carberry 18.

🎙Hear the Vic and Sadecast 077 – Uncle Fletcher to Telephone Bess Long Distance (11/16/17)

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44-09-13 A Letter from Aunt Bess - Ham Ham

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

As the family sits out on the back porch, Sade informs the boys that she's gotten a letter from her sister Bess Helfer and has Russell read it out loud. He mistakes "ha ha" in the letter with "ham ham." This upsets Sade and then has Vic read the letter out loud. He finds another "ham ham."

Needless to say, Sade is furious and storms into the house. The boys, not wanting to feel the wrath or coldness of Sade, decide to take a walk downtown.

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Sade is mighty touchy when it comes to her precious letters from her sister, who has broken her back to write trash that they already know.

Vic actually knows better than to make fun of the letters - or not listen when the letters are read out loud. You can hear him stepping on tip toes the whole way through the episode. Russell, on the other hand, seems much more reckless than Vic (or even Rush) and plows ahead and says whatever he feels like saying, many times without thinking of the consequences.

I assume Russell knew the letter actually meant "ha ha" but the "ham ham" was just too obvious for him not to point out. His "mistake" though hurts Sade... and I'll never understand why it does - but it DOES.

Vic, on the other hand, just mistook the "ha ha" for "ham ham" and I'm sure while he was walking downtown with Russell, regretted it the whole way there and back. I can imagine him telling Russell to "play along" and appease Sade when it comes to the stupid letters from her sister, no matter how hard it is for him.

While you'll get no argument from me that the episodes with Russell are not as good as the episodes with Rush, there is generally something to enjoy in almost every one. We all can assume this episode would have been even better with Bill Idelson playing the son instead of David Whitehouse but Whitehouse still does an adequate job here. This is a well-written episode that has all the hallmarks of other episodes of this ilk, including the ones where Idelson plays Rush. There's little to complain about in this episode.

Trivia:

+ Sade had a cold. I wonder if her friends brought her "hot soup?"

+ Euncie had been sick with a cold as well.

+ Blue Tooth Johnson's father's had a bad cold as well. This is the first time he's been mentioned in the surviving series.

1939 "Mercury Head" dime

+ Blue Tooth found a 1939 dime. Considering it was found on the street, it probably wasn't in pristine condition. It's value today (depending on the mint mark and condition) would probably range from about $2.00 to about $35.00.

When Russell informs Vic and Sade about the find, Sade asks, "Did he find the owner?"

+ Russell complains that he scratched (up) his knee. Recall he injured himself another time playing baseball.

+ Gus Fuss sent Vic a letter about a month prior where he also wrote "ham ham" instead of "ha ha."

+ Euncie has been learning a new piano solo, Facin' the Barkin' Revolvers of Frank and Jesse James. This piece allows her to scrape her thumb down the white keys and stomp the loud pedal with both feet.

+ For the first time in the surviving episodes, the sound of a slammed back door is heard when Sade storms inside.

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44-06-15 A Letter From Bess - Listen Please

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

Sade gets another predictable letter from her sister Bess. She tries to force the family and Uncle Fletcher to listen to it but they have other ideas.

SEE THE SCRIPT (PART 1) (PART 2) 

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While this is your typical "letter from Bess" fare, this one is different because this is the first time we get to hear Russell try to sit through an Aunt Bess letter and Uncle Fletcher hasn't been around in the previous letter readings either (at least not in the surviving epsiodes).

Vic, on the other hand, is a trained veteran and can listen to the boring fare and knows where to fake a chuckle, otherwise, he'd get yelled at by Sade.

Trivia:

+ Uncle Fletcher speaks of Ray Feltcher, who invented the electric toothpick, which was a complete failure. He says people were apprehensive to use it because when you turned it on, it went "jab-jab-jab-jab." Feltcher passed away on February 14, 1902 before he could patent the device. Feltcher used to cut ice with Uncle Fletcher.

+ Bess says in the letter that Euncie is going around barefooted despite the fact that she's almost an adult.

+ In Carberry news, Bess says Fern Doonbelter got married (at last.) She married an older man who's been married previously.

+ Walter has promised Euncie that if she practices the piano for an hour everyday during the summer that he will give her five silver dollars when school starts back. She is trying to memorize the piano piece, The Great Colorado Train Robbery Scottish so that she can play it without the sheet music. Bess says the song is, "Full of sharps and flats and big notes and trash." [She began learning this piece in March of 1944].

+ Surprise! Euncie has a new piano teacher, Mis' Bahcol.

+ This episode does something only one of the surviving previous episodes do - it fades out.

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43-10-01 A Letter from Bess - Sewing Buttons

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Russell runs home to get his football helmet but makes the mistake of checking the mail and bringing in a letter Sade received from her sister, Bess Helfer.

Sade's in a hurry (she is going shopping downtown and "there's a monster of a washrag sale going on at Yamilton's") and has buttons to sew on her jacket, so she has Russell read the letter to her. But he makes it plain that he'd rather be outside playing football and squawks about it the whole way through.

To make matters worse, this is the longest letter from Bess we have heard!

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For the first time, we get to hear Russell at his very best and he's enjoyable to listen to.

The episode ends oddly because it fades out with Russell and Sade talking at the same time about two entirely different subjects.

Trivia:

+ Mis' Hollway was mentioned for the first time. She was born and raised in Carberry.

+ Sade plans to meet Ruthie Stembottom and Mis' Holloway at Dr. Keevy's office. He's the dentist who took the photo of Vic for the magazine article.

+ Sade says that button cost almost a nickel.

+ Mis' Sutton was mentioned for the first time. She is Russell's English teacher. He was let of school early this day because she had to give a speech about the poet Tennyson for the Senior Mother's Club.

+ Sade calls Russell, "Mr. Man" and "Mr. Hoosh."

+ It appears that somewhere in the missing episodes, Beulah Feeple and Sade have become friends - or at least gossiping buddies.  However, in this episode, Sade calls her, "Beulah Erickson" - did she get a divorce from Noah Feeple?

+ Euncie Helfer has another new piano teacher; previously there was Agnes Peterson (she only had one leg) and then there was Mis' Snell. Now she's under the tutelage of Mis' Hendrix.

Euncie is also wanting fancy didos on her nightgown.

+ Mr. Crowell in Carberry passed away. He is survived by a daughter named Agnes who is close to 70 years old. Mr. Crowell lived near Edith Brauns.

In other Carberry news, Grace McCutley will marry Mr. Hunkers who manages the new Ten Cent store.

Sade acts silly on the telephone with Ruthie: {{{HEAR}}}

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43-03-18 Mis' Appelrot Picks on Dottie

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND RUTH PERROT

Sade and Dottie Brainfeeble are shopping and run into Mis' Appelrot in the underwear department of Yamilton's. Mis' Appelrot is mean to Dottie, making fun of her weight, her husband's job and calling her "Mis' Beanfrabble" (as if the name, 'Brainfeeble' isn't bad enough.)

This upsets Sade who actually cries at the end of the episode.

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A somewhat difficult episode to audibly understand even after the clean up.

There's really not much to this episode.

Trivia:

+ Sade gets a letter from Bess but she's so upset that she never finishes it.

+ Chuck Brainfeeble works for a manufacturing company.

+ Dottie weighs almost 200 pounds.

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42-08-06 Christmas Cards C.O.D.

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY,  BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Sade - always on her toes to deflect Christmas card salesmen (especially during the summer months) is tricked into purchasing a set of cards from her niece, Euncie Helfer, who has deviously(?) mailed the package C.O.D.

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Sade doesn't really know if she was intentionally tricked or not. One might say then that if this really was a trick by Euncie, it worked perfectly.

Don't put it past Euncie to be devious. Recall in an earlier episode she put a nix to the letter-writing that Sade and her mother kept backing her into a corner -- by writing letters at an alarming rate.

Trivia:

+ Despite the fact that a set of the Toldeo, Ohio Christmas cards have always been ten dollars, Sade only had to pay $2.46 for her set from Euncie. Is that just the postage? We'll never know.

+ Sade received all the free gifts that come with a purchase of the Christmas card sets: a coupon entitling your initials to be pasted inside one of your hats, a coupon for one hour's worth of free parking in Toledo, Ohio and a coupon for three free handshakes from anyone you choose out of the telephone book of the St. Paul, Minnesota telephone directory.

+ Since the last episode about the selling of Christmas cards, the following people have taken up the job: Euncie, the Brick Mush man and Beulah Feeple.

+ Sade was wanting to put the Christmas cards away in the bottom buffet bureau drawer. Recall that the drawer has been relegated to a lot of items precious to Sade but also a lot of junk in the past.

+ Before she can put the cards up though, Rush wants to purchase them and give them to his friends.

+ Sade and Rush discuss the fact that "Sade is not a comical person."

+ Vic is away on an inspection tour for Consolidated Kitchenware.

+ The show's original ending has the organist playing Christmas music (this is an August episode.)

Rush and Sade read off some of the new '42 cards (edited): {{{HEAR}}}

CHRISTMAS CARDS

Before the advent of email and animated websites, people used to celebrate important occasions by using the postal service to send each other decorated pieces of sturdy paper, often featuring some sort of encouraging or celebratory verse. These notes were called "greeting cards." Do you remember them? Electronic communication has made them less prevalent, though they can still be purchased if one knows where to shop. They provided the recipient with a token of good wishes more permanent than a telephone call, or an email. Back when Vic and Sade was being produced, greeting cards were a principal way to commemorate important occasions.

Of course, I'm being facetious. Even today, the greeting card industry is far from dead. At one time, though, greeting cards were such an important part of life that they were available, not only in shops, but from enterprising friends and neighbors. A reader could hardly open a magazine without seeing advertisements for sales kits from greeting card companies. On Virginia Avenue, greeting cards – or more specifically, their sales agents – regularly figured in the adventures at the Gook home. Those magazine ads for greeting card salesmen must have been especially effective in that town. At least five of the neighbors compete for Christmas card sales, and at least five surviving episodes describe their attempts to sell cards to Sade. She is a reluctant customer, partly because she doesn't like to be coerced into a purchase, and partly because of the social politics that would be involved (after all, if she buys from one neighbor, she could offend the other ones.) She also objects to the idea of buying Christmas cards in the summer, which is when the sales pitches begin. But, most of all, Sade has no use for the absurd sentiments the cards express. They range from the insipid ("Give me a kiss and make me feel fine / This is Christmas Nineteen Thirty-Nine") to the offensive (". . .The Christmas season's here again / If I had a club, I'd smash your shin.") Even the premiums are no inducement. No one in the family has any use for an hour's worth of free parking in Toledo, Ohio; or has a desire to shake hands with any three inhabitants of St. Paul, Minnesota, listed in the telephone book. Though it's a great strain on Sade, she is able to resist the sales agents' overtures.

That is, until her young niece Euncie pulls a fast one. Maybe it was youthful naïveté, or a calculated ploy to unload her stock, but her method was to send her unsuspecting aunt a package, cash on delivery. When Sade pays the fee, she finds she has bought a box of Christmas cards. Naturally, this selection of cards has the most awful mottoes of any of them, including such warmhearted expressions as "You're ugly and stupid and mean as a fox / I wonder what old Santy will dump in your socks." Sade would never use greeting cards like these.

Now, I've always enjoyed this episode, for the observation Paul Rhymer makes, through the voice of Rush, about how men communicate. Rush points out that, when men want to show affection for each other, they do it through insults. Even Vic and his close friends frequently refer to each other as "horse thieves." The harsh expressions in these cards are, in fact, masculine endearments. To me, this was a revelation! For years, I had been troubled by the nasty things men say to each other. Even upstanding churchmen will jokingly impugn each other's intellect or character. I won't say I entirely approve of such conduct, but at least the reason for it is now clear. It really is a guy thing!. Rush then proves he is on the right path to manhood: he arranged to buy then from Sade, for use with his own circle of friends.

So, thanks to Rush, we learn that cutting cruelty can sometimes be rough kindness. In that spirit, I extend to you, at Christmas and always, this heartfelt wish:

I wouldn't' trust a rattlesnake like you any further than I can throw a rock.

Still and all, however, I hope you find two dollars, or its equivalent, in the toe of your shabby, worn-out sock! 

-  Sarah Cole 

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42-06-08 A Letter from Bess (Sleepy)

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY,  BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Sade pressures Vic into reading another boring letter from her sister Bess. He doesn't want to do it.  To make things worse, he fall asleep.

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Seems as though every other week there is a letter or postal card from Bess. It wouldn't be so bad if there was some exciting news in there but the best that Bess can do is tell stories of Euncie's piano practicing and tidbits about her neighbors.

Trivia:

+ Euncie is learning to play a new song - Little Redskin Comanche Sweetheart of Mine. During the song she gets to hammer on top of the piano with her fists and also lets out an Indian war hoot. When she does this, it scares Walter.

+ Euncie's piano teacher is now Mis' Snell; in the letter from 1937 that Vic has stashed away in his checkred suit, Euncie's teacher was Agnes Peterson.

+ Mrs. Guffer is mentioned in the letter from Bess. She lives across the street from the Helfer family. She wore/broke in Bess' shoes over a weekend in Freeport.

+ Mis' Frostscum is mentioned. She's another neighbor of the Helfer's who thought Vic was distinguished-looking when she saw him on the Gook's last visit through Carberry.

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42-05-xx Trip to Carberry

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

Sade gets word from her sister Bess that Euncie is having a piano recital in Carberry; she going to play The Aurora Borealis Elegy and Gallop (which was composed by San Francisco.)

It's not easy, but Sade finally pins down all the men in her life to go to Carberry. However, there seems to be a last-minute change of plans...

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Uncle Fletcher once again complicates matters; if nothing else, you get a sense that over the last 6 or 7 episodes that Sade - though she loves him - is frustrated by him.

The episode is a tour-de-force of interesting Uncle Fletcher stories.

Trivia:

+ Putting 2 and 2 together, we can assume the unnamed gas station mentioned in an earlier episode is actually Miller's Gasoline station, which was mentioned by name for the first time. Uncle Fletcher likes to hang out down there and "work."

+ Uncle Fletcher added another friendly reminder to anyone who would listen that a train conductor enjoys any snack that you may care to give him. He basically said the same thing is a previous episode.

+ Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Tracy Flankers from Belvidere. Had a secret hiding place for his money up against the roof of his mouth; it had a leather strap close to his tonsils and a wire hooked to his wisdom teeth. It would baffle any burglar in the country.

+ Uncle Fletcher tells of H.D. Glack from Belvidere who moved to San Fancisco, just to spite his father-in-law. He married either Ivy Stover or Opel Spunk. Crowley Soft married whichever girl that Glack didn't. Uncle Fletcher never liked Glack, Ivy or Opel.

+ Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Arch Van Geekrock who traveled from Yellow Jump, North Dakota to Dismal Seepage, Ohio by train. He wanted to get on the good side of the train conductor that he gave him a silver watch, a derby hat, #2 in cash and introduced him to his 22 year-old niece. The conductor put on the watcher, slammed the hat on his head, bought candy and cigars with the two dollars and married the niece. Vangeekrock claimed it was the most pleasant train trip he ever took in his life.

+ Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Otto Heepler from Sycamore who used to be pretty good on the piano. He made a piano out of corn cob, bailing wire and horse hair. When he was 40, he married a woman who was 36.

+ Euncie backed out of the recital due to an injury to her wrist; she sprained it scraping her finger along the white keys of the piano.

Uncle Fletcher says he bet that Euncie broke a toe stomping on the white keys as he keeps confusing the "stomping of the loud pedal" with "stomping on the keys."

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42-03-09 Uncle Fletcher's Unopened Letter

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

Sade gets a postal card from her sister Bess which she tries to read but Uncle Fletcher keeps butting in to the extent that Sade finally gives up. Uncle Fletcher mentions he has a letter from Bess in his pocket that's remained unopened since he got it, exactly one month prior!

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While not being rude, Uncle Fletcher is socially impossible with his bad hearing and wondering mind.

The unopened letter from Bess will remind the avid Vic and Sade fan of the episode 40-12-23 Bess' Letter from 1937, where Vic had accidentally put away a letter from Bess in his checkered suit and Sade found it more than 3 years later (and also recall that in that particular episode, Walter had done the same thing with a letter from Sade.) This episode makes the whole "forgotten letter" thing something of a phenomenon.

Another of the very hard-to-understand episodes because of bad sound.

Trivia:

+ When Sade asks Uncle Fletcher if he wants to hear the postal card from Bess, Uncle Fletcher tells her, "No."

+ According to the postal card from Bess, her daughter Euncie has learned to cross over with her hands and to use the loud pedal in her piano practicing.

+ We find out that Walter and Bess have the last name of Helfer.

+ Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Arnie Hunkerman from Belvidere, who made all of his wife's clothes. He left Belvidere in 1913 and moved to Farmington, Minnesota and went into the ? ? business and later died.

+ Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Luke Backer from Belvidere. He married a woman 15 years old, moved to Texas and went into the chocolate-flavored Band-aid(?) business.

+ Uncle Fletcher again tells a story, this one of Oaf Beverly, who married a woman 34 years old, paid the expenses of having all of her teeth extracted, moved to Wash River, Kentucky. Then went into the corduroy looking glass business and later died.

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41-06-09 Letter-writing Plot

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic: Linked together by a chain of loathsome correspondence...

Neither Rush or his cousin Euncie Helfer seem to enjoy being forced to write letters to each other. Euncie, either sensing this or prodded by Rush - seems to have devised a plot that will not only benefit herself but Rush also. She has written four rather mundane letters to Sade, including one via Special Delivery. In the meantime, Rush prods Sade along to answer the letters, much in the way she had prodded him along in the past to do the same.

Sade finally gives up and tells Rush she doesn't care any longer if he answers letters from Euncie or not.

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I'm thinking that it was Rush who provided the letter "bombardment" idea to Euncie. Since all the letters were virtually the same, it does indeed seem like a plot.

Rush reveals to Vic that it's Euncie's idea but I truly wonder...

Trivia:

+ Euncie refers to Vic as "Uncle Victor".

+ Mis' Hettles had been over at the Gook house earlier in the day.

+ Sade refers to Blue Tooth Johnson as, "That Blue Tooth Johnson kid."

+ The Scrawler family has moved in the 700 block of Monroe Street, near Mr. and Mis' Hettles. Mr. Scrawler works in the C and A Shop. You may recall that's the place where Uncle Fletcher was to have the doorstops cut into 400 pound pieces.

+ In none of the letters from Euncie did she mention her father's kneecap twinges.

🎙 Hear the Vic and Sadecast: Vic and Sadecast 080 – The Letter-writing Plot (11/19/17)

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41-05-xx 14 Days in Grovelman, South Carolina

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic gets a letter from H.K. Fleeber, that asks the Gooks to come spend two weeks with them in Grovelman, South Carolina.

However, upon further inspection of the letter, it appears that the two weeks are staggered into days with other days intermingled in which the Gooks aren't invited.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Vic receives a friendly, but very strange invitation.

H.K. Fleeber is another one of Vic’s lodge buddies who’s not quite there in the upper story. Vic is so baffled by this invitation that he doesn’t really even jump to H.K.’s defense. We already know that H.K. Fleeber has, at best, a tenuous grip on reality from previous episodes — his claim to having forty-eight teeth holds about as much water as his claim here that Grovelman is the geographic center of the United States, and his invitation to the Gooks, while it seems to come from a place of goodwill, is just bizarre. H.K. is also one of several of Vic’s acquaintances who seem to think that Vic has a daughter and not a son: Robert and Slobert Hink believe that he is a girl named Ruth, even after talking to him on the phone. Rush takes all this in stride.

To me, incredibly specific and unnecessary serving dishes are very much part of the mid-20th-century middle class aesthetic — one of my grandmothers keeps trying to pass down a 30-person set of crystal dinnerware to me, and I can’t imagine ever having to entertain that many people, much less having them be unsatisfied with plastic or paper plates. So I always love hearing about Sade’s “fancy cut-glass olive and pickle shoe” in this episode. The object itself seems to be one of Rhymerian invention, but I can just imagine my dear grandma giving me something like that as a wedding gift.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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Check the graphic above. The scheduling makes little - if any - sense. Maybe Sade is right when she suggests H.K. Fleeber is a little off his rocker.

Trivia:

an undamaged pickle and olive shoe

+ Before the episode, Rush broke Sade's pickle and olive shoe, which is apparently a fine, glass dish that is meant to sit on the table and hold pickles and olives.

Sade makes him feel guilty about it (edited): {{{HEAR}}}

+ To fix the broken olive and pickle shoe, Rush suggests mucilage. Mucilage is something I hadn't heard of before this episode. It's a sticky substance that comes from plants that when mixed with water creates an even stickier substance. One of it's purposes (according to Wikipedia) is for fixing broken china.

+ Sade keeps prodding Rush to answer cousin Euncie's letter.

+ H.K. Fleeber's letterhead states that Grovelman, South Carolina is the the actual geographic center of the "lower 48" is near Lebanon, Kansas, which is probably close to 1500 miles to the west of "Grovelman."

Having said that, it is possible that "Grovelman" (a fictional city name) could conceivably be on the same longitude as Lebanon, Kansas.

+ There's a ton of "Latin" provided in the letter to Vic. If you enjoy the fake Latin, please have a look at the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way section as it is posted there along with the other "Latin" found in the series to date.

+ H.K. Fleeber is under the impression that Rush is little girl whose name is, "Eliza."

🎙 Hear the Vic and Sadecast 075 – 14 Days in Grovelman, South Carolina (11/13/17)

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