32-07-06 Mr. Ruebush invited to Dinner (Part Two)

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND BERNADINE FLYNN

• Everything goes wrong as Mr. Ruebush and Sade's mother arrive at the Gooks' at the same time.
•  Mr. Ruebush arrives for dinner. He persistently rings the bell, but  Sade won't let him in – she's fretting over her dress.  She suggests Mis'  Fisher could pretend to be Vic's wife.  Ruebush leaves. Sade's mother  calls. Vic is short with her and Sade gets annoyed. She tells him dinner's  ruined.  Mis' Fisher phones to ask if the Gooks' doorbell is working.  Sade changes into her black dress but rips it in the process.  Meanwhile the back door buzzer buzzes constantly. It's Mr. Ruebush.
•  Sade's mother and Mr. Ruebush are alternating at front and back doors.  Mis' Fisher calls to see if they know there are people outside trying to get in.  Mr. Ruebush sees Vic through the window. Vic waves like an idiot.  Mr.  Ruebush and Sade's mother are talking.  Mis' Fisher is coming across the lawn...
• Vic: "I bet your mother's asking (Mister) Rubbish what he wants here and he's probably telling her to go jump in the lake, and the three of ‘em will probably break the door down."  
• Sade: "Vic… 
• Vic: "It's been a great dinner party, hasn't it?"
  
• Sade: "Oh, Vic!" (She cries hysterically, and he laughs.) - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

32-07-01 Vic's Lunch Delays Sade

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND BERNARDINE FLYNN

Vic gets mad at Sade's mother on the phone (she thinks he's delayed Sade on purpose) and so Sade threatens to leave Vic.  Then, Vic cuts his hand on a can and she doesn't go anywhere.  How sweet!

SEE SOME DIALOGUE AND THE SYNOPSIS

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A young Rhymer

Writer Paul Rhymer was trying to find the right formula.  What he comes up with seems cliche' now - but I'm not sure it was cliche' then.  Either way, it's neither convincing or compelling material in these times.

Trivia:

+ Sade's mother (Margaret Rush) is mentioned.  She was also mentioned in the audition and a few of the pre-Rush episodes.

+ Before Vic became the Chief Accountant at Plant #14, he was still important enough to have a secretary.  She's mentioned here: Miss Schoeffel.

+ Vic explains to Sade that his boss (Mr. Ruebush) didn't like his hat.  That could explain a thing or two.

+ Vic smokes a cigarette, the only time we know of.  He's been known to smoke cigars and then there was the pipe.

+ Giese's drug store is mentioned the only time we know of.  They serve food.

+ In this episode, there's talk of Sade taking the trolley (streetcar).  In later episodes, you might notice that Sade walks everywhere she goes, unless someone picks her up by car.  I'm pretty sure the reason for this is that Rhymer wanted the characters to have some of the same phobias (etc.) as the people who portrayed them and Bernardine Flynn (Sade) did not like streetcars.

32-06-30 Vic Abused and Dispossessed

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND BERNARDINE FLYNN

Sade's mother has come for a visit.  Vic doesn't like the way he's being treated.  He tells Sade of his bad night on on the davenport:

Vic: Of course I've been abused.  During the long silent watch of the night as I lay on that troubled couch, my feverish brow damp with misery and wretchedness, with both hands I clung to the back of that davenport.  If I hadn't, I would have fallen off - off I tell you.  I might have broken my neck.  I hung out my feet, stuck out in the chill night air laden with the dews and damp of pestilence disease.  My arms, being too weighty on my body, were numb with agony.  My head, bruised and upbraided from that cruel room, fogged and whirled in the bitter blackness.  From the other room - that other room, I heard the soft, measured breathing of you and your mother.

SEE THE PARTIAL SCRIPT

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In what is one of the very first episodes, we see, with what little we have, the writing style of Paul Rhymer. The above Vic soliloquy sounds just like Vic.

According to the book, Vic and Sade on the Radio: A Cultural History of Paul Rhymer's Daytime Series, Sade planned on leaving Vic and Vic didn't seem upset at this and certainly did not object.  As she is going out the door, he cuts his hand on a sardine tin and she instinctively runs to him, bringing them together.

That's fairly unimaginative writing, and sappy as well.  There's no telling how bad this show would have been or how lost it would have become without the addition of Bill Idelson, who completely changed the dynamics of the writing.

32-03-28 Audition - Too Many Gooks

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND BERNARDINE FLYNN

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.

SEE SOME DIALOGUE AND THE SYNOPSIS

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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.