44-05-03 Russell Has Three Bosses

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

Putting up the swing is a ritual

It's time to put up the porch swing and Russell is elected.  Despite plenty of others around to help (Sade, Vic and Uncle Fletcher), Russell must do it alone.  Why?  Because he's one rotten little trivial laborer, that's why.

SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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Russell is at his best when thoroughly agitated.  It's shame we can't hear this one.

I imagine the ritual of putting up and taking down the porch swing was used for an episode backdrop most every year that Vic and Sade was on the radio.

TRIVIA:

* This episode implies that the Husher family lives on Virginia Avenue and is near the Gook house.  Also, the McForper family live on Virginia Ave. (To my knowledge, this is their only time mentioned).  The McForper's left their porch swing out during the winter and it's deep into spring in this episode; Sade considers this a knock on their housekeeping.

* Lodge devotee Honky J. Sponger was mentioned a few times in the script; one time his name was typed as "Honky G. Sponger".

44-04-10 Back Porch Small Talk

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Sade and Fletcher are chatting on the back porch on a warm spring day.
Sade's mind is on the beautiful weather, Fletcher's mind is on Virgil L. Guthrie's interesting life.

When they both speak at once, Fletcher says it means "one of us is going to take a trip to Detroit, Michigan." By the end of the episode they're up to nine trips to Detroit, Michigan.

According to Fletcher, Virgil L. Guthrie was a good deal like Ted (Fred) Stembottom: same shape head and same color complexion - married an Independence, Missouri woman 37 years old. When he was 41 years old his papa bought him a violin and hired a stylish music teacher and bought a music rack and had his oldest daughter make him a velvet pad full of sand to rest his chin on, but he couldn't master the instrument for love or money. He tried and sweat and scraped and worried and clawed and bit and yelled and stewed and moaned and... He made the music by hitting himself on the head with the violin and opening and closing his mouth, but it was sort of a hollow sounding, gurgly, coconut shell kind of music, but it caught on with the public. He would pass the hat after 15 or 20 solos and maybe show a profit of 5 or 6 dollars in a single evening - the tragedy was that it damaged his health. He wanted to give good measure for his pay and perform good loud music so that the spectators standing way back in the crowd could hear it, so he hit himself extra hard - his wife had to apply a fresh bandage after every concert. He eventually grew a little simple and childish from hitting himself on the head so much.

The original script had 14 pages, we have 12 of those pages here:

See the partial script (opening) (part 1) (part 2)

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.

43-01-15 Uncle Fletcher Cleans Out His Room

Fine!

Mis' Keller, Uncle Fletcher's landlady, has asked him to clean some junk out of the room he rents.  He does and carries it over to his niece's house - expecting Sade to return the items to the store!

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

[The gist of this episode was revealed in the book, Vic and Sade on the Radio: A Cultural History of Paul Rhymer's Daytime Series]

40-xx-xx Uncle Fletcher's Meals

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

An angry Uncle Fletcher comes to the Gook house complaining that his landlady, Mis' Keller, upon leaving for a two-week vacation, has set out his meals all over the house on various objects and platforms.

SEE THE SCRIPT

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In Series 3, there is an episode that is very much like this one but it has a far-different ending.  In this 1940 episode, it is Uncle Fletcher who plans to break down the porch in a show of force in front of Mis' Keller.  In the 1946 episode, the same thing occurs, but it is Mis' Keller who has the fit of rage and inexplicably destroys the porch railing.

Trivia:

+ This episode is the only instance we have where a "Mr. Keller" has been mentioned.  He's obviously referred to as being Mis' Keller's husband. If this was not some sort of anomaly, it is quite possible -- even probable -- that an episode exists after this one where Mr. Keller passes away and Uncle Fletcher vows to become her protector, or something similar.  

+ This is first instance we know of where Uncle Fletcher tells someone to "go down cellar".  He tells this to Rush (and later, to Vic).

+ Uncle Fletcher refers to his meals being scattered like "anthracite coal" -- the exact kind of coal that was extracted from the coal mine in Bloomington. 

+ Mr. Erickson has been doing house repairs for about a year at the Gook house and in this episode, has a crew of five to help.  What's gotten into Mr. Erickson?

+ Not only is the Ohio Home for the Agreeable mentioned (it was mentioned also in the 1946 version) but so is Wisconsin State Home for the Obstinate (in Sweet Esther, of course).

 

4x-xx-xx Uncle Fletcher Fails at Telephoning

Phones are not fine.

Uncle Fletcher doesn't seem to like the telephone.  He's had nothing but trouble with them whenever he's encountered one.

In this episode, he's at the Gook house and phones Mis' Keller so he can get a hold of his buddy, Joe Walters, and invite him over to share dinner. But since he doesn't seem to really know how to use the telephone properly, he keeps Mis' Keller hanging while he tells the Gooks a story.  When he finally realizes Mis' Keller is on the phone - and she recognizes his voice - he is astounded.

Uncle Fletcher simply is a failure when it comes to telephones.

The title is one I have provided purely for identification purposes.

[The gist of this episode is revealed in the book, Vic and Sade on the Radio: A Cultural History of Paul Rhymer's Daytime Series] 

44-05-17 Hyena Grease Needs Deodorizing

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Pelter Unbleet, hired by Roy Dejectedly, is busy trying to remove the odor from Hyena Grease. The public objects to the odor; (Fletcher: "You can't expect it to smell of violets.") Unbleat needs a workshop and Fletcher suggests Sade's fruit cellar.

SCRIPT (page 1) (page 2)

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Hyena Grease, "the finest preparation for smearing on your shoes there is in the Entire Civilized World," includes, among its ingredients, turpentine, creosote, lampblack and tractor oil. These substances add materially to its potency, but, as one can imagine, they also add to its pungency! Hyena Grease may be a boon to the shoes of humanity, it is no friend to the NOSES of humanity. Pelter Unbleet's aspiration to develop a deodorized version of the concoction is laudable.

However, it was doomed to failure from the start, if for no other reason than Sade has always shown herself more interested in her household's welfare than in that of the civilized world's footwear. She is never comfortable with strangers in the house (as we see when her dear friends the Brainfeebles come to visit), and her basement is already crowded (as we learn when Mr. Gumpox offers her storage space in his stable). Besides, no sensible housewife willingly endures that piquant fragrance. Even the long-suffering Mis' Keller once threw out Uncle Fletcher's stash when he left it on her sideboard (46-07-18 Midsummer Madness.) As the date of that last program indicates, Pelter Unbleet never did find a way to make the stuff fit for the drawing room. But he never adulterated the quality, either In spite of its odor, Hyena Grease remained "The Finest Preparation for Smearing on Your Shoes There Is in the Entire. . .Civilized. . .World!"

Years later, radio comedians Bob and Ray parodied the preparations available for "grunging" up one's appearance by advertising a substance called "Grit." It was intended for white-collar workers who wanted to make their soft, clean hands look as dirty as if they were grease monkeys. It was such an effective product, though, that another product was necessary to remove it; and then another product to counteract the odor of the "Grit"-remover. In the end, bookkeepers who used "Grit" to look tough, also had to buy "Smurge" to get off the "Grit," and "Whiff" to get rid of the "Smurge." Instead of making do in the Gook fruit cellar, perhaps Mr. Umbleet should have offered his services to the better-equipped Bob and Ray Laboratories. Considering Bob and Ray's cast of characters, he would have fit right in! - SARAH COLE

TRIVIA:

+ Fletcher mentions the vest was invented in Sheboygan, Wisconsin by Bob Murphy, younger brother of Pat Murphy, who came from North Dakota where Bob lost all his hair in a windstorm in nineteen-aught-four.

+ Bob Murphy married a woman nineteen years old, chopped up, chewed and swallowed a violincello to win a bet, and finally sat in his bedroom all day long counting his money.

40-xx-xx Uncle Fletcher Shows His Landlady's Photo Album

Sometime in 1940, probably in very late August or sometime in September, Uncle Fletcher shared the very same photos he shared with the Gooks in the first audio encounter we have with Uncle Fletcher in February of 1941.

We know this because Vic says under his breath to Sade. "These are the same photos he showed last Summer."

____________________

The whole family was probably in attendance but we just don't know.

The date is unsure and the title is one I made up for identification purposes only.

42-xx-xx Uncle Fletcher Drops by for a Visit at 5:30 AM

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

The Gooks are awakened from their 5:30 AM slumber to find Uncle Fletcher outside on their porch knocking on their door.  He's leaving by train to go to Dixon to visit some folks.

SEE THE SCRIPT

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The always-socialable, "thoughtful" Fletcher Rush just wants to say, "goodbye" before he goes.  5:30 AM or PM - it makes no difference to Uncle Fletcher.

Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Henry Fedrock: Left Belvidere in 1909. He moved to Albuquerque Colorado, married a woman twenty-eight years old, went bail for his brother-in-law that skipped the country, invented a fingernail file that run by electricity, and yes, later died. Wake him up out of a sound sleep and tell him something and he'd agree with ya and talk back intelligent as a horse an' the minute your back was turned he'd fall right back on the bed again.

44-04-13 The Gooks Await News of Fletcher's Visitors

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

• Uncle Fletcher is excited because he's expecting three visitors (Roy Dejectedly from Dixon, Howard Honeycrutch from Belvidere, and Dwight Twentysixler from Dismal Seepage, Ohio) all at the same time, all having made their plans independent of the others.   
• Mis' Keller calls Sade to say Fletcher's on his way over and to warn Sade that he's extremely excited.
• When he arrives, everyone expects him to spill the beans immediately, but he's acting calm and collected as if nothing's new.  They continue to anticipate his announcement will eventually arrive as an eruption.



Enigmatic

• Fletcher reveals "it's considered good luck to use your shoe to wipe mashed potatoes off your chin." - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

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This running gag of Roy Dejectedly coming for a visit finally ends; it began on December 21, 1943.  There are at least four known episodes that deal with the visit and I imagine there are more than we don't know about.  One of the things I enjoy about the show (and would enjoy more if we had the full run of audio) is these very long running jokes, of which there are many.

Dwight Twentysixler is a big name in the Series 2 and 3 but he's small potatoes in this original run of shows.  He's my favorite "real character" in the other two series but I think if he had been expanded in this original run - with the same attributes - he'd have been as noteworthy as Hank Gutstop or Mr. Gumpox.

Twentysixler has great 'ridiculous characteristics' - something that Rhymer gave some characters and not others.  The more ridiculous and the more talked about, the better.  After all, it's hard to remember a guy when he's only mentioned once.

Fletcher is not excited when he arrives at the Gook house - this is another Rhymer joke.  Fletcher should be jumping up and down but the tempered Fletcher only confounds the Gooks and the audience.

41-xx-xx The Stillness of the Afternoon is Broken

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

Sade's quiet afternoon is broken when Rush, Fletcher and Vic invade her telephone conversation.

The family all find out they are going separate ways.

SEE THE SCRIPT
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This episode features Sade, Vic, Russell and Uncle Fletcher in a somewhat crazy caricature of itself. After all, where else are you going to find "the horse that choked Billy Patterson" (to my knowledge this script is the only one to have a horse choke Billy Patterson!) and Vic admitting readily that he bought a hat, right to Sade's face (although no brim size is mentioned.) The episode also is crammed with exaggerations (especially from Sade) and lots of trivia that conflicts with prior episodes. This doesn't make the episode unfun but rather a curious anomaly and well worth hearing.

Trivia:

+ Uncle Fletcher contends a romance is brewing between his landlady, Mis' Keller and Rishigan Fishigan.  

+ Sade somehow knew that Vic had bought a new hat. It's never explained how she knew this.

+ Mis' Keller's name in this episode is "Helen." We'll be told over and over later in the series that her name is "Leota."

+ Mr. Gumpox now has an automobile horn on his garbage wagon.

+ Rishigan Fishigan dressed up. He was wearing nearly the same outfit as Uncle Fletcher in this episode.

+ Vic got his initials put inside his hat. The hat salesman's name was Arthur Willis.

+ The town has two ladies named Mis' McFreemer. One lives on South Morris Ave. and the other on West Monroe Street.

43-12-30 Trial Visit Trial Visit

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

This could be Roy...

• Fletcher has stopped by to announce that Roy Dejectedly will visit  him one night next week rather than next month.  He's also going to visit with Parker Gibbs in Dismal Seepage, Ohio one night.  The idea is that Roy will then decide where he'd rather spend a week next month.  He'll test the beds and meals provided in both places and then make a decision.  Sade is outraged at this rudeness. - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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No one ever accused Sade of liking Roy Dejectedly; as a matter of fact, she probably doesn't like him.  The occurrences in this episode may be the impetus of that.  He's plain rude.

Trivia:

+ Russell talks about climbing into a barrel of Bibles... Rush, also talked about the same thing. (See: 40-03-25 Smelly Clark's Big Date) and on other occasions as well.

+ Uncle Fletcher threatens to get a switch and thrash Russell. Times have sure changed...

+ Vic was in the cellar polishing his lodge sword.

+  When I was a kid growing up in Texas, when someone talked at the same time you did and was saying the same thing you were saying, we called that a 'jinx.'  And whoever said it was a jinx first made the other person buy them a cream soda.

43-12-14 Misery in Dismal Seepage, Ohio

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND MERRILL MAEL

• Vic: "It's simple as a horse, Sadie. The towns of Dismal Seepage, Ohio and Sick River Junction, Kentucky have this keen athletic rivalry.  They play some game called, "Misery" on January the twenty-sixth, a date commemorating the tragic disappearance of the entire town of Spider Plague, Missouri, which sunk without cause into the muddy waters of the Wretched Indian River during the coldest winter ever experienced in…"
• Uncle Fletcher: "I like the noon-hour – always did.  Sade, I expect you remember Art McSwitchel there in Belvidere and his opinion on the noon-hour.  This was Art McSwitchel – not Frank."
• Fletcher refers to Vic's friend "Mary" Greetcham, the Mayor of the City.  Vic: "His name is not 'Mary.'  His name is Robert.  Robert S. Greetcham.  Mayor Robert S. Greetcham."
• Fletcher wants Vic to ask the mayor for advice on his intention to sue the Little Tiny Petite Pheasant Feather Tea Shoppy.  He had ordered three weenie sandwiches, and the waitress neglected to put the condiments on the counter.  He was visiting with Ernie Fadler and ate all three weenies and then realized he hadn't added condiments.  Vic says Fletcher has no case.  Uncle Fletcher wants Vic to get "Mary's" opinion.
• Finally Vic gets to explain to Sade:  the members of the lodge's All-Star Marching Team have been asked to go to Dismal Seepage, Ohio for the game of "Misery" because everyone on the Sick River Junction team has died and the marching team is needed to substitute for the deceased. - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason  

SEE THE SCRIPT

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What's amazing is we have a tragedy - where the local holiday in Dismal Seepage is termed, "Misery" - and while Vic and his Marching Team are making plans to go to be a part of the remembrance, Uncle Fletcher (who we know was Merrill Mael in this episode) is oblivious to it all.

Look at the names of the places:

Dismal Seepage
Sick River Junction
Spider Plague
Wretched Indian River

Bill Idelson said this about grim situations and writer Paul Rhymer: (((HEAR)))

The concept of suing others in this show does not go unnoticed.  Blue Tooth Johnson once wanted to sue the Bijou and had done so previously (without luck.)  Rush also had a lawsuit all worked up in his head one time.  And now, Uncle Fletcher may sue over his three weenie sandwiches, sans condiments.

Uncle Fletcher previously referred to Mayor Greecham as "Mary" in this episode.

This episode was wonderfully recreated by the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound in 1994 and can be heard here:  (((HEAR)))

Thanks to them.

SEE THE SCRIPT  (very large, be patient when loading)

43-12-03 One Soggy Garbage Wagon Pass

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

• Sade mentions having seen Pom Pom Cordova on North Mason Street.
• Sade: I'm envious as a horse.
• Sade: Mis' Keller's niece in Saint Louis: Adelle Garroway, maiden name is Dwyer.
• Fletcher: "I'll – tell – you – why – I – stopped – by.  I wouldn't give a copper for a fella that couldn't squeeze out a snicker now and again."  
• Uncle Fletcher can't remember why he stopped by.
• Vic: "Perhaps you stopped by to unscramble some eggs but stubbed your toe and you commenced to cry and the piano teacher that lives under the porch borrowed a nickel and…"
• Fletcher: "A cousin of Roy Dejectedly's claimed he could unscramble eggs.  I'm not sayin' it's a fact this cousin of Roy Dejectedly's could unscramble eggs. I'm sayin' he claimed he could unscramble eggs."  
• Uncle Fletcher remembers why he stopped by – in reference to the garbage wagon pass given to him by "Mary" (Mayor) Greetcham.  He never told Gumpox about the pass, thinking it might not sit right with him. That afternoon while Fletcher was riding Gumpox, it started raining.  So he crawled in the back of the wagon with the garbage and pulled a tarpaulin over himself, which Gumpox frowns on.  Vic wonders if it was hot back there, and Fletcher admits that it was.  Gumpox thinks if he has to get wet, Fletcher should, too.  So Fletcher flashed his official pass at Gumpox.  Gumpox looked at it for maybe ten minutes and it turned into a soggy, gooey mess.  Fletcher wants to know from Vic if "Mary" Greetcham would replace the pass, and Vic assures him it won't be a problem. - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

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Riding on the wagon with Gumpox and being near Howard are very important to Fletcher.  It's a big part of his social life, not to mention that he has a love for horses.  The garbage pass is one of the most important things in Uncle Fletcher's life.   But it's apparent from this and another episode that writer Paul Rhymer tries to make it clear to us, is that Fletcher doesn't like to get wet.  He doesn't mind a potato peel getting on him, the obvious smell of the refuse or getting dirty in general.  But by golly, if the rains come, he's going to jump in the back with the trash and hide under the tarp.  Hiding under the tarp can create steam, which Fletcher doesn't like.  He and water must not get along.

Unscramble an egg?   Nicer Scott once claimed he could unfry an egg.

43-12-01 B. B. Baugh and the 10-Cent Store Weigh-Machine

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

• Sade and Mis' Harris had been talking about the effects of furnace heat.  Mis' Harris' roomer Mr. Sludge had been sitting on the floor by the hot-air register night before last or sometime, putting sticks of peppermint candy in rows and making houses out ‘em, and all of a sudden he just sprawled out fast asleep.
• Russell returns from having gone to the YMCA to watch the fat men play handball but was disappointed – it was all skinny fellas.  "they don't fall down and they don't get out of breath and they don't waddle around and bump into junk and they …"
• Sade: "You stay and watch the skinny fellas?  Russell: "For maybe half an hour.  Kept hoping some good old trusty, dependable fat men'd show up.  But none did.
• He eventually went to the Illinois Traction System Depot (i.e., the Interurban Station) to get warm and encountered a group of other guys in there getting warm:  Hank Gutstop, B. B. Baugh, Rishigan Fishigan from Sishigan, Michigan,  Y.I.I.Y. Skeeber, Stacy Yopp, Ernie Fadler, and Uncle Fletcher.
• Sade objects to Russell hanging out with that crowd even if Uncle Fletcher is with them.  Vic sees no harm in it.  She's shocked to learn the topic of discussion was "women."  Russell clarifies they were discussing the psychology of how women react when they step on a penny weighing-machine.  B. B. Baugh, who owns the peanut machine at the Interurban Station is considering the purchase of the 10-cent store weighing-machine.  Women prefer a machine that registers lower, rather than actual, weight.
• Sade is shocked to learn that her name was mentioned - by Uncle Fletcher - who mentioned Sade, Ruthie, and Mis' Keller complain about the 10-cent store machine because it gives correct weight.  He said they prefer the machine at Kleeberger's because it registers three to five pounds lower than reality.  B. B. plans to buy the 10-cent store machine and gear it down so it'll register ten pounds below reality, and then hire agents to spread the news among the ladies. - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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It's been said by both Vic and Uncle Fletcher that B.B. Baugh is the most-enterprising businessman in town.  Though the cost of getting weighed is only a penny in 1943, you'd think that after 2-3 years, it'd be clear profit for Baugh, who seems to take low-risk money gambles.

Sade worries about Russell hanging out with Fletcher's gang of cronies, while Vic sees no harm; Vic shouldn't see any harm as they are all his friends as well!  I can imagine Sade saying: "There's nothing more frightening than a gang of seedy barbers and peanut machine misfits filling my little son's head with oceans of talky-talk and trashy-trash!"

Trivia:

+ Paul Rhymer used the word, soporific.

43-11-25 Fletcher's All Dressed-Up

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

Yes!

Both Vic and Russell have just seen Uncle Fletcher on Kelsey Street all dressed up. Uncle Fletcher stops past and they try to find out why... Uncle Fletcher explains he'd been sitting on the cistern lid whittling a shoe-horn when Mis' Keller poked her head out the window and suggested it would be a good time to fix his everyday pants, which he had on. So he changed into his good pants. Figured it would make sense to put on his good shirt, too. And his good coat and shoes and vest and suspenders and sleeve-garters, and socks and hat.

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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When someone asks you what Vic and Sade is really all about - and you tell them that it's not really about anything - and when they give you that puzzled look, you can show them this script.  That's when they shrug their shoulders and leave you as they head for the television.

This episode is simply about Sade's uncle changing clothes.  He figures he'll go ahead and get dressed up, you know, why the heck not?  Vic and Sade and Russell were a bit curious, but really, they really could have cared less!

And THIS is typical of the show.  Even so, it's entertaining as a horse.  For instance, is this not typical of Uncle Fletcher?:

But my favorite is this one:

This episode took place on Thanksgiving day.

43-11-24 Vic Brings Home A High-Crown Cowboy Hat

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Vic arrives home. Sade and Russell had both seen him approaching as they talked, but he enters without the parcel he had been carrying. Sade immediately inquires if he bought a hat. They discuss the fact that there have been no recent disputes about hats, and they're probably due for one.

Tom Mix - popular man

Vic tells Sade (and a nosy Russell) how the hats are popular in Dismal Seepage, Ohio... and Sade tells him (while walking out on him) to take the hat back to Kleeburgers. 

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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When you see 'hat' in the title, you know what's about to take place at the small house halfway up the next block.  Audiences in 1943 knew what was about to take place too, provided they'd been listening a while.

Why does Vic even bring the hats to the house?  Why not keep the hats at Ike's house?  Leave one at work and one at the lodge?  Why does he torment himself?  Perhaps he lacked the love of his mother as a child and yearns to be idled by Sade's nagging voice?

Have you noticed that as time goes by in the series, the wide-brimmed hats have suddenly become cowboy hats?  Vic can't resist buying hats with larger and larger brims.  Did we miss Vic purchasing a sombrero?  I wouldn't be surprised.

We see that Russell is stitching up an indoor baseball.  I've made note of it before but I have yet to figure out what an "indoor baseball" is.  Both Rush and Russell have stitching duties with theirs, in various episodes.  Vic and Sade expert Louie Johnson suggests a soft baseball of some sort.

41-xx-xx Uncle Fletcher and Sade Will Have Lunch Together

STARRING: BERNADINE FLYNN AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

It's morning and Mis' Keller, Uncle Fletcher's landlady, has just left on the train. Before she left, she packed him a box lunch.  The box includes cold chicken, bread and butter sandwiches, watermelon pickles, cabbage cole slaw, molasses cookies and coffee (in a Thermos.)  He has plans to go and visit Ed Kennedy and eat his box lunch there, because Ed owns a gas station there at the corner of Morris Avenue and Route 66.  Fletcher can watch the cars and the people while he eats.

But before he goes, he stops by and visits his niece, Sade.  After they talk, they decide to eat lunch together.

SEE THE SCRIPT

____________________

Another episode where there's not much going on.  Sade has received a postal card from her sister Bess and she tries hard to read it to Fletcher but she keeps getting interrupted by him.  He keeps talking about how he should never be trusted with a postal card because he loses them all of the time; (that's true with his other mail too.  Besides, he doesn't really want to hear the postal card, you'd imagine.)

Vic and Mr. Buller are eating at the Purple Room of the Butler House Hotel; this seems to happen every time Mr. Buller (from Chicago) is in town.

Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Steve Yowper from Belvidere; got into a "rassling" match with a fellow who had a thermometer - when the thermometer got up to 100 in the shade he got overheated, asked for a glass of cold lemonade, climbed on his bicycle, waved to the girl he was gonna marry, keeled over and kicked the bucket in "19 aught 10." He would have been 47 his next birthday.

41-04-xx Mis' Keller's Birthday

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

Happy Birthday, Mis' Keller!

Uncle Fletcher wants to surprise his landlady with an almost  quarter ton present; a piece of railroad to be used as a heavy door stop!

SEE THE SCRIPT

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This absurd idea by Fletcher will pop up over and over again and be expanded upon in other episodes.  It's typical of Paul Rhymer to take an absurd idea (especially by Uncle Fletcher) and by repeating it many times, gets the listener used to the idea.  After a while, Fletcher's absurd idea of a 400+ pound object as a door stop no longer seems absurd but almost normal.

In this episode, Mis' Keller is said to be named, 'Geraldine Laura Keller.'  In 1944, she was known as Leiota Keller.  In another episode she was known as Annabel.

Rush makes reference to being at the YMCA to watch the fat men play handball.

40-11-08 Mis' Keller and Uncle Fletcher to Move to Town

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

• Vic and Rush arrive home to find Sade in a pensive mood. Mis' Keller has just left, having announced that she's renting a house on Kelsey Street, and Uncle Fletcher will be living there as well.
• Rush is delighted as a horse. Sade isn't so sure.
• Vic asks why they've decided to leave Dixon. Mis' Keller's married daughter has settled in town, and she wants to live nearby.
• Vic asks how can Uncle Fletcher tear himself away from Dixon?  Sade says he'd rather do that than tear himself away from the comforts of home.  Vic still wonders how he can tear himself away from his cronies in Dixon.  Sade explains his cronies are just about all gone:  Mr. Wheepman passed away in October. Last year Steve Juggle and P. W. Fleem died.
• Sade's having trouble imagining Uncle Fletcher living right in town, so close to the Gooks. Rush and Vic think he'll adjust quickly.  Rush: "He don't take any raw oatmeal off'n anybody.  Quiet and peaceful a a horse, but some guy rub him the wrong way an' there's liable to be a paste upside the snoot."
• Vic suspects Sade is wary about the move because she has a sneaking idea that Uncle Fletcher will be underfoot all the time. Sade admits, "he's such a cotton-head.  Like some little child. Person worries over him like they would an infant.  Always botchin' stuff up."  Sade feels responsible for him, and she's embarrassed at his riding on the garbage wagon covered in potato peelin's and introducing himself as her uncle.
• Rush answers the phone;  it's Uncle Fletcher, calling long distance.  Rush: "We're all happy as horses about it.  Best news I've heard in a coon's age."  Vic tells Fletcher: "...so I understand, an' I've left word with the sheriff not to let you inside city limits ."  
• Sade decides after all that she's glad Uncle Fletcher's moving to town. - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

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Having Uncle Fletcher move to town will change the lives of most everyone associated with the family.  Sade's life will change the most as it is like she has another child to watch over.

Mis' Keller's daughter is Florence Upskutch.