"Vic and Sade" was the most unique radio program ever, (1932 - 1944), written by the most-underrated writer of the 20th Century, Paul Rhymer.
It's June - so you know what that's time for in the world of Vic and Sade! 
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.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.
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[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.
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MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Rooster Davis has a restaurant idea. A…rather…upsetting restaurant idea.
This is it — the legendary “Bacon Sandwiches” episode. There are a lot of “Vic and Sade” scripts that are as weird and dark as this one, but this one has achieved a certain notoriety because it’s one of the recordings that wound up on tons of “Vic and Sade” LPs and “Best of Old Time Radio” compilations. Although there’s no Vic in this episode, it’s a good choice for an introductory episode of “Vic and Sade.” It’s an excellent example of Paul Rhymer’s sense of humor and of the dissonant combination of warmth and horror that the show is capable of evoking. In this episode, even Sade is horrified by the central idea and wants no part of it — when Rush finally works his way to the point of the story, she cuts him off with an emphatic “Ish!” and he is allowed to go no further.SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)
Most Americans don’t like to think about where their meat comes from. Of course, we’re aware of it, but we don’t like to know about the specifics. In fact, some meat producers are intent on passing laws that ensure we can’t know about the specifics. Americans prefer their meat to come in neat little packages that resemble the animal as little as possible. Some Americans do, that is. Growing local food movements such as farm-to-table seek to counteract this ignorance, encouraging consumers to be aware of the animals and see the conditions under which they are raised. If I wanted to, I could visit a local farm, pick out a heritage-breed pig, look it in the eye as it foraged for acorns in the forest, and pay it my best wishes before it was turned into my Christmas ham. In New York City, there are live meat markets where you can choose your animal, have it slaughtered on the spot, and even watch the slaughtering process if you want to. But it’s hard to source your meat more locally than “out in back of the restaurant.” I’m beginning to wonder if an idea like Rooster’s is the next step in carnivorous hipster dining. “HELP WANTED: New Brooklyn restaurant seeks trained nurse.” Watch out for it, everyone.
Check out the curious echo of this episode I noticed in “Sawbones,” a medical history podcast I enjoy, in which a conversation about pig skin used for human skin grafts leads to the discussion of “bacon stripped from the living pig as he squeals in agony and yet is preserved through witchcraft.” 74 years later, this is still an abhorrent idea. As I’ve observed before, Paul Rhymer was ghoulish ahead of his time.
MIS' CROWE SAYS:SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)
Mr. Donahue gets a much-deserved promotion to Traveling Inspector of Locomotives.
We so often hear about the bad side of small-town gossip — backbiting and public shaming and libel. But Paul Rhymer shows that there’s a good side, too. Neighbors share in each other’s good fortune and experience it as if it were their own. Mr. Donahue is moving from blue-collar to white-collar, from the overalls class to the derby hat class. He’s achieved the American dream, and in the time of the Depression and World War II, it’s a nice reminder for Sade and others that that Puritan work ethic of theirs really does pay off.
This episode exemplifies “Vic and Sade” as the original show-about-nothing. A neighbor got a promotion. Sade talks about how she’s really happy for him. That’s it. That’s all there is for ten minutes. No conflict. No resolution. And yet it’s STILL entertaining and funny.
Why is Sade so excited? I've always thought it was because the Donahues had a "dream realized" - something the Gooks actually never seem to have happen to them. So in a way, Sade is living vicariously through Mis' Donahue.
