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.]

42-12-18 Vic and Dr. Keevy

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Sade tries to sucker Vic to go on a trip to the Bijou (Gloria Golden, ugh!) and also visit Dr. Keevy's office, which has recently been refurnished. In the end though, Vic's well-documented fear of the dentist saves the day.

SEE THE SCRIPT: (part 1) (part 2)

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Until now, we've been under the impression that various Dr. Keevy's office rendezvous with Lolita di Rienzi and Pom Pom Cordova were all Vic's idea.  The script here suggests the original idea for using Keevy's office as a meeting place, belonged to Sade.

+ Gloria Golden and Four-Fisted Frank Fuddleman teamed up on screen for the flick, Kiss Oh Kiss These Lips of Mine, Assistant Trailer-Camp Manager Anderson.

+ Rush mentions the National Safety Council.  It sounds like they may have asked Paul Rhymer to include a PSA... and he double-crossed them:

+ Dr. Keevy's grand furnishings set him back $200. That's about $3000 today!

40-11-22 Third Lieutenant Stanley - Bright Kentucky Hotel

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON 

In an episode that will remind you of 42-03-xx Mis' Applerot's Petition, Sade comes home from her Thimble Club meeting upset that Mis' Appelrot hijacked the ladies with a silly petition to knock down the Bright Kentucky Hotel.

SEE THE SCRIPT

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This is actually the earlier of the two scripts and it appears as though the scripts are similar, there was a major re-working done in the other script.

This script does not include Rush saying over and over, "I will not sign!" (the petition) but he does allude to the fact that Uncle Strap and Mr. Gumpox would be out of a job and a place to live, respectively.

This episode is also full of Rush reading from an unnamed Third Lieutenant Stanley novel.  He reads:

Third Lieutenant Stanley gave the villainous crew of counterfeiting smugglers one supercilious glance. Then his eyes softened as he turned and gazed at the oval face of Lady Margaret. The beautiful woman smiled bravely, revealing twin rows of perfect teeth the rich color of old ivory. Her hand trembled slightly as she twirled her dainty pink parasol and her small foot in its fashionable French spat tapped nervously. Third Lieutenant Stanley touched her arm. "Let us share a hug an' kiss before we fight these miserable wretches," he grunted. Nothing loath, the beautiful woman lifted her veil an' thrust her lovely head forward. Jabbering amongst themselves, the counterfeiting smugglers watched the exchange of tender caresses an' there was a burst of rude laughter as Third Lieutenant Stanley began to cry. "Sweetheart," he blubbered, "Five minutes from now I may be dead. But, sweetheart, I want you to know that my love for you transcends everything in...   The handsome young officer faced death valiantly. "You fellows can go jump in the creek, I'm not scared," he growled to the leader of the counterfeiting smugglers. But for Lady Margaret he had a sweet smile an' eyes that twinkled merrily. "Give me one more kiss an' one more hug before I kick the bucket, sweetheart," he gloated. The beautiful woman simpered and coquettishly pretended that the mother-of-pearl buttons on her fashionable French spats had come unbuttoned. Finally, blushing furiously, she lifted her veil an' thrust forward her lovely head. "Just one hug an' one kiss now," she warned an' Third Lieutenant Stanley howled loudly his satisfaction an' approval.

The best part of the book was a part he did not get to read, but instead, gives us the juicy details:

The counterfeiting smugglers try to murder Third Lieutenant Stanley by tying him to a tree an' smearing melted marshmallow all over his clothes an' releasing two grizzly bears from a cage. Grizzly bears are very fond of melted marshmallow so it looks like curtains for Third Lieutenant Stanley.

While in the world of Vic and Sade, ridiculous things happen to all of the characters, the things that happen to them must not break the laws of physics or nature - that is, the world of Vic and Sade is a real world.

The world of books and motion pictures, however, go beyond ridiculous, even in the world of Vic and Sade.  The marshmallows and the grizzly bears are an example of this, as are most Third Lieutenant Stanley novels dealing with animals.

There is a story in this episode about Mr. Gumpox that is well worth pointing out.  Rush explains:

He'll be asleep an' a fast passenger train'll flash by the Bright Kentucky sixty or seventy miles an hour an' by George the building starts to shake from the vibration an' he'll ride all around the room in his doggone bed just like you'd ride around in an automobile. One time he rode right outta the bedroom into the hall-way. Woke up the next morning in the hall by the fire-escape, thirty-five feet from the spot where he'd retired.

In an audio interview conducted in the 1970's, Jean Shepherd relayed this same story, but confused Gumpox with Rishigan Fishigan. [There may have been an episode like this about Fishigan, but consider that we know that Fishigan lived on the penthouse floor and the ground floor would be much closer to the trains than the penthouse.  It is also inferred that Fishigan was the only roomer on the penthouse floor.  So we assume that Shepherd was simply incorrect.]

41-xx-xx Sade and Ruthie Mail Each Other Five Dollars

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND BERNARDINE FLYNN 

There's deep confusion between Sade and Ruthie Stembottom over their recent muddled shopping money.

Ruthie, feeling bad about the whole thing and in order to set confusion aside and make things right between the ladies, mails Sade a five dollar bill.  She spends the episode explaining the money confusion to Vic (who acts like he cares but we know he could really care less) and explaining to him that she also sent Ruthie five dollars in the mail.

SEE THE SCRIPT

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Vic has the solution for the ladies but they never take his advice: use your own money to pay for your own items.  As simple as this sounds, the ladies simply cannot resist doing otherwise.

The ladies (plus Mis' Trogle) bought gum drops, a spool of thread and weighed themselves on the penny weighing machine.

+ Rush is at the YMCA watching the fat men play handball.

+ Raymond Belcher Beirman is mentioned again here but Vic uses his name as a figure of speech rather than referring to a real person.  Beirman must be a very mystical figure if we take him literally.

43-12-07 Uncle Fletcher – Veteran Man-hole Man

STARRING: DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

• Russell has been having a dull chat on the phone with Oyster Krecker:  "I've had a good many dull telephone conversations during the course of my career, but I believe this one takes the cake for being the dullest. Yeah. Beg pardon?  Repeat that dull remark, please, Oyster, I didn't quite catch it. It looked like rain yesterday?  Say, I believe that's the dullest remark you've made yet.  Let's hang up, Oyster.  Huh?  Draw a merciful curtain over this dull, sick telephone call."
• Fletcher: I expect you know what and where Detroit, Michigan are.
• Fletcher cautions Russell not to play with the telephone because he might get electrocuted.  "A little lad about your age living in Detroit, Michigan succumbed to temptation one afternoon when his mama was away from home, and he commenced to play with the telephone and what do you think happened?  Russell: (bluntly) "He got electrocuted".  Fletcher: (gently) "Yes. And all they ever found of him was one of his little patent leather booties with the tosil singed at the bottom."
• Fletcher mentions he's due at the corner of Main and Washington Streets at 4:30.
• He's carrying a red flag under his arm.  Russell thinks he's got the job of substituting for the watchman on the street gang.  Russell has jumped to an incorrect conclusion.
• Fletcher: "Art McWhinniman is going to be working in a man-hole at Washington and Main and I will serve as man-hole guard."  
• When city hall asked Fletcher to do the job, he wanted to know who'd be in the man-hole. That's important because of the need for teamwork.  He begins to explain using the example of a horse standing in the road.  
• He and Russell bicker a little over the horse's name.  Phone rings.  Fletcher insists on answering it. Russell: "Yeah, I guess you better.  I certainly don't want to get electrocuted."  Russell recognizes the voice on the phone is that of Mis' Trogle. But Fletcher, as he's inexplicably prone to do, tells her she's got the wrong number and hangs up, goes back to talking about his man-hole job, explaining he's an old hand at this business.  Why put a rookie on the job? "I'll be as cool-headed at Washington and Main as I'd be at the corner of Virginia and Kelsey in this quiet neighborhood." - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason
  

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It appears that Russell was snarky on the telephone.  As I've mentioned before, it's my opinion that Russell is as his best when he's being a jerk.

It's a known fact that people can get electrocuted through the telephone during a lightning storm; although on average, only one person is killed this way each year.

Why is it that Uncle Fletcher hangs up the phone of Sade's lady friends when they call?  You wonder if he ever answers the phone at his landlady's house and if so, does he do the same thing there to her lady friends?

43-01-28 Sade's On the Phone

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN (SOLO)

Sade is busy at the phone, window and back door as she dodges (or tries to) the newly-moved davenport, which she keeps bumping into.

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

Our favorite radio actress

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This episode is a total solo effort from Bernadine Flynn. In interviews from the 1970's, she spoke about this episode: (((HEAR))) and (((HEAR))).  Flynn mentions some facts not associated with this particular show, so a Sade-solo may have happened more than once.

It's unfortunate that we are not able to listen to this episode, for I suspect we would come away more amazed at the talent of Flynn than we are now.

Trivia:

+ When Sade talks to Mis' Trogle on the phone, she briefly speaks about her daughter, Margaret.  Mis' Trogle also has the first name of Margaret!

+ Mr. Croucher has a son named 'Leland'.

+ Though Bill Idelson is in the Navy at this date, Rush raps at the window on two occasions.  That's mind boggling.  Yes, it's just a radio show.

+ Irving or Irvin?? The grocery delivery boy is referred to by different names (Irving or Irvin) by different family members in different episodes.  The script here says, ''Irving'', yet it's in the minority.  Just try and live with it.

41-xx-xx Sade Can Keep a Secret

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Mis' Husher is upset at Sade.  She had a secret that she had told only Sade and it's all over town now: Mis' Husher's husband sends his laundry regularly to his mother in Wisconsin to be washed and ironed.  (That's some pretty juicy stuff!)

Sade though, claims to have not revealed the secret.  Vic inquires, if Sade didn't tell, how then did the secret get around?

It finally comes out that Sade told Ruthie Stembottom and Ruthie blabbed it all over.  Sade still insinuates that she is innocent because she doesn't keep anything from Ruthie.

Finally, feeling guilty, she runs upstairs and away from her husband and Rush.

SEE THE SCRIPT

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I have a feeling that if we could hear this one, it would be among our all-time favorites. It's amazing how a very simple premise can have so much life to it (I hope you take the time to actually read the script someday, from the book.)

Sade, when feeling guilty, likes to take off up the stairs.  Does she cry on her bed?  Take a long, hot shower?  We don't know.

Vic might be joking but claims he played baseball for the Yukon River Rascals in 1910.

Rush relays a story about Nicer Scott, who claims he can unfry an egg!

41-01-09 Sade Smashes Mis' Applerot's Wrist-Watch

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

• Sade arrives home from Thimble Club all upset.  Vic is busy polishing his sword – she wants to talk. Rush tries to the Uncle Strap story...
• Sade says she smashed Mis' Appelrot's wrist-watch into a million splinters with her "gravel".  She slammed the gavel down without noticing Mis' Appelrot's arm was between the gavel and the table. Mis' Howard muttered over and over: "Oh my heavens, oh my heavens!" Mis' Appelrot's acting like it wasn't an accident.  Sade's chagrined because when it happened, she laughed.  "...glass an' springs an' wheels flyin'".
• Rush tries to help, telling a story of a fella in Texas that let a ton of coal fall on his grandmother's foot and he laughed so hard he had brain-failure and died on the spot.  Vic puts a stop to this helpful story.
• Mis' Appelrot's arm was in the way because she was reaching over to snoop into Sade's record-book, which is none of her business.
• Afterward, Mis' Appelrot's words accepted the accident, "but her eyes were cold and accusing as a horse."
• Sade says she'll never pick up another "gravel" as long as she lives.  Rush asks, "Isn't the word ‘gavel'?"  Sade will not be corrected.  She moves on to organize dinner.
• Vic (chuckling): "Your mother flourishes a mean ‘gravel'."  Rush (chuckles): "Yes, sir."  Vic: "She's a cute girl." - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason 

SEE SOME DIALOGUE AND SYNOPSIS

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This might be the first episode where Sade used the word 'gravel' instead of 'gavel.'  One of the many, many continuous jokes in the show's history.

If there was one character I would like to hear on the show, I think it would be Mis' Appelrot.  She would not be funny but I think she would make Sade mad a lot and I like it when Sade is mad!

40-10-14 E-Z Slippers

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic finds out that he's about to become the recipient of many pairs of E-Z slippers for Christmas (just 10 weeks away).

SEE SOME DIALOGUE AND THE SYNOPSIS

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I'll bet you - like me - never realized that E-Z slippers were as popular on the show as all of this.

Perhaps you didn't realize that Mr. Sludge and Vic were 'arms around the neck, chummy.'  Well, they weren't.  But 1940 was a far different world than 2015 and beyond.  Mr. Sludge and Vic were neighbors.  They lived across the alley from each other.  Vic had talked baseball with Mr. Sludge - even though Vic had no interest in talking with him (he referred to him as a slob) {{{HEAR}}}  No, they weren't friends, but Mr. Sludge probably thought pretty highly of Vic, enough to MAKE him a pair of E-Z slippers.  I'll bet Vic didn't make Sludge anything.

Vic wasn't friends with Noah and Beulah either, but they sent him E-Z slippers.  Beulah's father rented to Vic.  That was enough of a connection to draw a homemade Christmas gift in 1940!

That's another thing about this episode - people made gifts for one another.  They took their own personal time to construct the gifts.  They didn't lay out $12 each at Walmart (Yamilton's) and purchase them by the bushel, like we might do today.

Trivia:

+  Miss Hammersweet's E-Z Slippers have little calendars on them.  They fit over the insteps like shoe buckles – small metal frames, and inside the frames are little... (we never find out the rest).

+ Who's Vic getting slippers from?  Miss Hammersweet, Beuhla and Noah, the Brainfeebles, Mr. Sludge, Ike Kneesuffer, Mr. Ruebush, H.K. Fleeber, and Mr. Gumpox.

39-09-29 Two Tons of Coal #5

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Before reading this, even if you have heard/read it before, I strongly suggest you check out 39-07-05 Two Tons of Coal #1, 39-08-16 Two Tons of Coal #2 , 39-08-25 Two Tons of Coal #3 and 39-08-29 Two Tons of Coal #4

• Vic and Rush are about to start a game of cards, but Sade returns home from shopping and announces that  Mr. and Mis' Donahue are going to move back to Mulberry Street to the same house they used to live in.  Vic and Rush are stunned by this news.
• They each explode with, "I'm not gonna move that coal again!"  
• Sade thinks they should care about their good neighbors moving away, not about moving a little coal.
• Vic and Rush firmly state they're through carrying coal.
• Sade alters her statement to allow that the Donahues are only thinking about moving.  Vic tells her to write herself a note that he'll run away to Alaska before he moves any more coal.  Sade: (laughing) "I haven't said anything about coal."  Vic: "You've exhibited wise restraint.  Keep up the good work.  Continue not to say anything about coal."
• Rush asks if the Donahues intend to continually move back and forth between Virginia Avenue and Mulberry Street for the rest of their lives.
• Vic suggests "a distinct insane note in these proceedings.  He thinks they'd be better off living in a dray wagon."
• Sade points out all the positives leading the Donahues to consider the move again.  Vic is still incensed about the coal.  
• Sade can't see the need to move the coal again since it's already in the Gooks' cellar. Rush wonders where this rumor began.  Sade knows only that Mis' Trogle heard it from Miss Leepman.
• Vic sarcastically suggests that maybe another farewell party will be in order.
• Sade goes off to fix supper, and Vic and Rush pick up the cards, amazed at the unexpected unpleasant turns life suddenly presents. - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

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Imagine it being 1939 and you are faithfully listening to Vic and Sade.  It's the end of September and by now you have heard Two Tons of Coal, parts 1-4, which began way back on July 5th.

You turn on the radio to hear the show and to your surprise, you realize once again, the crazy Donahues could be moving again and oh, that coal!

We only have one audio file to listen to concerning this story.  But the one file we have shows just how much the boys don't want to move the coal - and that was just the first episode.  Imagine the thespian howls used by Art Van Harvey and young Billy Idelson to suggest to the audience the outright silliness, pain and frustration in once again being faced with moving two tons of coal from basement to basement.

I am pleased as a peach to present these parts of scripts to you but I don't think for one minute that they in any way express what Vic and Rush lamented to the probable-howling audience. In my imagination, parts 4 and 5 of this story might be some of the funniest radio we have never heard.

37-09-02 Lodge Convention Trip Story

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

On a very warm September day, Sade tells the story of how Mis' Appelrot stole Ruthie's thunder about a proposed lodge trip to Hawaii. 

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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Rush says Rooster Davis read a book where "some French explorer was traveling through the Sahara Desert in the blistering sun and the natives began missing him... and so went looking for him; all they found was a small pool of liquid. They poured him into a bottle and took the bottle to France and gave it a decent burial."

The above story is one I really wish I could hear.  I think it would be a 'Rush classic'.

By the way, you may not realize that there is a very high probability that Mis' Appelrot and Ruthie are in-laws. Although, I'm not 100% sure of this.

Hot day?  All three characters in this episode comment about the heat.  The "Heat Wave of 1937" was apparently pretty bad, although I don't have the data to prove it.  I did find a newsreel about it though:


Bess had written a letter to Sade about a month before this (actually, August 9, 1937) which Vic had put into his suit and had forgotten about. It was found in late 1940.

The letter gives details about the very hot 1937 Summer they were experiencing in Carberry: Bess says "The thermometer has been in the 90's even in the evening" and tells of a neighbor up the street "Going barefooted these terrible, hot days."

Below is a special note from Barbara Schwarz attached to the script obtained from the University of Wisconsin library:
Perhaps at the time she obtained the script these details were deemed correct; however, we now know of at least two other episodes involving Hawaii and the lodge, both from 1938 (38-01-10 Hawaiian Islands Itinerary and 38-05-11 Sade Refuses Simple Hawaii Research).

46-08-22 Sade and Mis' Kessler Fight

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

Sade, having gone over to Mis' Kessler's home to borrow an egg beater, comes home all in a dither because the two had a "monstrous" quarrel over Mis' Trogle's shoe size!

Then Mis' Kessler comes over and the argument continues but it's far from being "monstrous."

And when the argument can't be settled, Vic has a simple solution to ending it.

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One of the better episodes in "Series 3" but that's not saying much.

Gone are the card games, the talk of Rush's daily activities and the thousand other little things that make Vic and Sade special.  "Series 3" continues on as if it's a different show altogether.

Trivia:

+ The episode begins with Rush reading from a Third Lieutenant Stanley novel. The enemy he faces is a counterfeiting clarinet virtuoso.

The book tells of the Lieutenant waving a crimson pennant. When asked by Vic why the Lieutenant would do this, Rush states that it's done by the Lieutenant to show he liked the kisses from Lady Margaret. If he doesn't enjoy the kisses, he "whips out a green pennant and waves it." He also has a brown pennant he waves if he enjoys a hug she gives him and a purple pennant if he doesn't enjoy the hug. He also has a grey pennant if he enjoyed the kiss but not the hug. There's also a burnt orange pennant to wave if he enjoyed the hug but not the kiss. If he enjoyed both the hug and the kiss, there's a maroon pennant to wave. There's also a striped pennant... but we never find out what that's for - and it might be a good thing we don't know.

+ Sade says Mis' Trogle wears size 5½ shoe, Mis' Kessler says 4½.

+ Mis' Kessler is a member of the Thimble Club.

+ Mis' Watson was mentioned for the first time; she lives on Chestnut Street. She likes Sade's peanut brittle and is a member of the Thimble Club.

+ Mis' Armbruster was mentioned also for the first time. She is an 87 year-old member of the Thimble Club. She has been known to be somewhat confused as she told the ladies her son was a balloonist (he might actually be a balloonist, yet the ladies still think she's confused.) She also thought Mis' Trogle wore size 4½ shoe.

+ Rogers' shoe store was mentioned for the first time. It's owned by (drum roll) Mr. Rogers who also makes his V&S debut.

+ Mis' Trogle's daughter is Margaret who is about 11 years old.  She talks to Vic on the phone and tells him that her mother wears 2 different shoe sizes.

+ Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Larry Wayne from Dismal Seepage, Ohio; he founded the city of Blue Grove, Minnesota and named every street in the city "Alvira Jordle."  He married a woman aged 36 - he was also 36

+ Uncle Fletcher tells the story of Verly W. Rozstingy who tried to get the Southeastern part of North Dakota to succeed from the union.  Married a woman 19 years old and hit her on the head with a coal scuttle immediately after the wedding ceremony so there wouldn't be any doubt in her mind who was boss.

+ The part of Mis' Kessler was played by veteran actress Viola Berwick.

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

46-07-04 Women's Auxiliary

 

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

Sade spoke for Vic and told Vernon Korkell she would fix it so that he could join the Sewage Worker's Silver Cornet Band, even though his instrument is the piano, not the cornet  (it is revealed that he also plays the banjo.)  Vic argues with Sade and tells her the banjo doesn't belong in an all-cornet band.

Meanwhile, Vic has news of a Women's Auxiliary for his lodge. Sade - not-so-suprisingly - refuses to join, despite the promise that she can ride either a horse or a motorcycle.  Eventually she changes her mind when she makes a deal with Vic - that if he will fix it so that Vernon can play his banjo in the Sewage Worker's band, she'll ride in the parade.

Intertwined is Rush and Orville Wheeney practicing "evil chuckles."

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This is the first episode of "Series 3" that was presented "in full" - that is, no prior editing was done to it.  "Series 3" begins with a vignette or gist of the episode that gives you a hint of what the episode is about.

The 30 minute Vic and Sade episodes were really a bad idea.  There's more of the new characters, there's the annoying incidental music and almost three times the story length of those in the first and second series.

While this episode seems to be about the lodge, it's not really about the lodge at all.  It's much more about these suddenly-real characters.

The idea that Sade would agree (at any cost) to ride in a lodge parade at all -- seems silly. 

Trivia:

+ In this episode we learn that Vic's in-laws Bess and Walter Helfer once gave him long underwear for Christmas. Recall they once gave him a pair of easy slippers as a Christmas gift as well. They were decorated with Indian heads and tassels.

+ Vic says this is the first time the Women's Auxiliary has been official at his lodge. True, but once there was mention of a Women's Auxiliary Marching Team.

+ Rush says Mildred Tisdale publicly said he "wasn't good-looking."  Rush then goes on to say that, "He's plenty good-looking!"  This is not the first time he's gone down that avenue of thought.

+ Orville Wheenie is again a gas meter reader.  Recall he was fired from this same job in "Series 2."

+ Rush reads aloud from a volume of Third Lieutenant Stanley.  In it, he faces counterfeiting clothes manufacturers.  He has a solid gold revolver in a mink holster.  He also has twin rows of teeth(!) - of course, the color of old ivory.

+ When Uncle Fletcher and Roy Dejectedly (a real character now in "Series 3") arrive, they say they are seriously talking about buying part of the Little Tiny Petite Pheasent Feather Tea Shoppy.  However, they only plan on investing $9.00.

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

44-09-29 Farewell Show

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

Russell, Vic, Uncle Fletcher and Sade are all at the house but all are getting ready to leave, each going a different direction.

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The episode is a metaphor of the entire series, Vic and Sade, which ended after this show. It had been on the air for 13 consecutive years.

The show would come back to the air in about a year's time but the show would change and would sadly begat some real actors playing parts that we have only imagined in the past.

This final episode to the original 13 year run has a special ending which I have kept as part of the original program. The ending sounds like this: {{{HEAR}}}

Trivia:

+ Russell is all dressed up to go watch the fat men play handball at the YMCA. One wonders why.

+ Sade is going to the Bijou with Mis' Kilgore and Mis' Trogle. Recall that Mis' Kilgore lives near the Stembottoms.

+ It is mentioned for the first time that Vic's lodge meetings are held at the Unity building, downtown.

+ Uncle Fletcher mentions Martin Jordle and notes he is from Sycamore, Illinois. He helped bury Anderson L. McFlutcher, who had got caught between two cyclones.

+ Uncle Fletcher has plans to spend the evening with "jumpy" Mr. Feedburn, who was obviously not so "lost" after all. They plan to: fool with the peanut machine in the inter-urban station (Uncle Fletcher is half-owner), hang around the Butler House Hotel lobby and listen to the drummers talk politics and go down to Chicgao-Alton depot and watch the fast meat train to Kansas City go through.

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

44-09-06 Muted Silver Moonbeam Chimes

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND BERNARDINE FLYNN

ping tinkle tinkle ping tinkle

Vic is once again busted by Sade for his extracurricular activities with Lolita di Rienzi and Pom Pom Cordova. While Vic is certainly not fooling around with either woman, he does seem to be around the women often and without Sade's knowledge.

As in the past, it's once again music that brings the three in contact. And just as in the past episodes, Vic is subjected to embarrassment and slight ridicule by his wife.

Is Sade jealous?  Does she pretend to be jealous?  These are things we can only guess at for there is no way for us to know.

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This one unfolds pretty much like the others where Vic teams up with "the kids" at work - and there are no surprises here - the odd musical instrument (muted silver moonbeam chimes) being the one exception.

There's quite a bit of new information about the town in this episode and I always enjoy expanding my encyclopedia of characters, buildings, map, etc.

I can't imagine for the life of me that Sade is really jealous of the two young ladies.  Vic is just too goofy to be taken seriously by any female, it would seem to me.  Sure, he has charm at times and from everything we have heard, he's good looking and has pretty eyes and wrists, etc.  But come on, who would fall for Vic (aside from Sade?) 

Trivia:

+ We find out that the town Vic and Sade live in has a bus system. We never knew this before this episode. Sade and Mis' Trogle are taking the bus to Oakland Avenue to visit Mis' Schill. This is the first time she's been mentioned. Since she lives on Oakland Avenue, we can assume her husband makes a lot of money, since the street is referred to in previous episodes as being one of the more expensive neighborhoods.

+ Shoe laces are mentioned again. Specifically, brown shoe laces. This is at least the second time Sade mentioned brown shoe laces at Emson's shoe store. Careful listening to the series will provide enough mention of shoe laces to literally choke Billy Patterson.

+ Herder's music store was mentioned for the first time. It's owned by Mr. Herder and it's the first time he's been mentioned in the surviving series.

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44-08-07 No Dinner Today

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Sade has a dress to make and instructions in her head that she doesn't want to lose so she purposely fails to make lunch for Vic and Russell, who are forced to fend for themselves.

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An amusing bit of radio, although not among the best of Vic and Sade.

Trivia:

+ Sade is trying to make a wool crepe dress with drop shoulders.

+ Neither Vic nor Russell like Portuguese Lima Bean soup and the sardines in the pantry is missing it's "key." Russell makes a joke that very few will "get" when he refers to George P. Thurston not even being able to open the can. Thurston was a leading British naval architect in the first half of the 20th century.

The Gooks also have milk, but neither want to drink any.

Wool crepe dress pattern circa 1945

+ In this episode, Vic says that he can't cook but in 39-06-05 Y.Y. Flirch Tries to Phone Vic he claims he would like to - and has plans to - cook a steak.

+ Sade is in the living room while the boys are in the kitchen for the majority of the episode.

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44-07-07 Second Letter from Yellow Jump

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Sade is in a terrible hurry for she has just been reminded of a shopping date with her lady friends downtown. About the time she is about to get ready to straighten the house a bit and get dressed to go, her Uncle Fletcher shows up.

In a story that she doesn't want to hear because she is busy, he tells her that his landlady (Mis' Keller) got a second letter this week from her beau in Yellow Jump, North Dakota. This news seems to assure him that he will have to move into another place and he again has his eye on the Bright Kentucky Hotel as a place to live. Again, Sade tells him this is against her wishes - however, she is in such a hurry that she pretty much gives into him - at least for this episode.

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Sade worries about how Uncle Fletcher will negotiate the railroad tracks and the "Kansas City freight drags creeping up on a person," near where the Bright Kentucky Hotel sits.

Trivia:

+ Sade sets up a meeting with her lady friends at the underwear department of Yamilton's department store - the frequent accidental meeting place for most every other episode.

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44-03-07 Hank Gutstop's Proposition

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

Hank Gutstop's job as a house detective is still intact - but Hank is finding it hard to keep the job for the simple fact there are no criminals or skalawags to apprehend.

He has an idea though: have Uncle Fletcher come in the hotel twice a day in disguises and then he can throw him out. This way he'll have something to write down on his daily worksheet.

When Uncle Fletcher tries to run this by Sade, she is totally against it and Uncle Fletcher meekly goes away.

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Hard to believe Hank still has a job!
 
Trivia:

+ Hank has had his job at the Butler House Hotel three weeks as of this episode.

+ B.B. Baugh and Uncle Fletcher own a peanut vending machine at the Interurban streetcar station, Recall that Uncle Fletcher is probably wealthy.

+ Uncle Fletcher sometimes works as the substitute ticket ticker at the Bijou.

+ We found out earlier that Uncle Fletcher also substitutes on a milk wagon route. We find that the name of the milk company is the "Snow and Palmer Dairy."

+ Uncle Fletcher sometimes holds the red flag for the street gangs around the neighborhood when they tear up the streets.

+ Uncle Fletcher says he substitutes for "Kelly Landis" at the gas station when he goes to lunch. I believe this may be a mistake as there is a Kelly Morse who runs the gas station that Uncle Fletcher has mentioned before. We'll assume "Landis" is Kelly's middle name.

+ In this episode, Uncle Fletcher says, "bridal suit" instead of "bridal suite" and also insists that he's Sade's niece.

+ Hank Gutstop had to throw William S. McFelters out of the Butler House Hotel lobby just so he could have something to write down on his daily worksheet. McFelters has been a resident of the hotel for 35 years. He was quite upset after the incident as it took the hotel management an hour and half to calm him down afterwards.  (edited): {{{HEAR}}}

At the end of the episode, Uncle Fletcher once again speaks about oiling his shoes.

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43-11-29 A Garbage Wagon Pass

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Vic has come home early so he can be alone and do some accounting work... but things aren't going his way. He added up one of his columns wrong and put a decimal point in the wrong spot, his fountain pen is on the blink and to top off, Sade has called and he's not happy about his day.

To make matters worse, Uncle Fletcher comes over. Vic tries to pretend he's not there but is found out anyway. Uncle Fletcher senses he's intruded upon Vic's work but Vic still tries to be a good host. The two talk about an Annual Garbage Wagon Pass that Uncle Fletcher received in the mail and thinks Vic is the reason he got it from the Mayor. Vic says he knows nothing about it.

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I believe this is the first episode we have come across where the only two live characters in the show are Vic and Uncle Fletcher. Once Vic gives up on his work, the two have a fun time together.

Trivia:

+ Uncle Fletcher briefly mentions a man he knows named Walter Shoes - who he describes as a "careless painter."

+ Willis Rohrback comes to the back door of the Gook home to borrow a meat grinder.

+ The Annual Garbage Wagon Pass that Uncle Fletcher received in the mail was signed by Mayor Greecham. We find out in this episode that Vic knows the Mayor personally.

Uncle Fletcher talks about hanging up the telephone receiver: {{{HELP}}}

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43-11-10 Eight Million Jobs

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE 

Sade is busy around the house but is being constantly interrupted by the phone, the door and Russell.

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A better than average episode, mainly because Russell puts in a better-than-usual performance. Otherwise, not much here.

Trivia:

+ B.B. Baugh calls to ask Sade if she will represent him as his agent in selling his stingyberry jam to the Thimble Club ladies. She refuses.

+ Russell refers to B.B. Baugh as "Ba Ba Boo."

+ Russell came in the front door to bring in the mail; even so, he was asked twice why he came in the front door (coming in the front door is a Gook household no-no.)

+ A man comes to the door wanting to fix the Gook piano; of course they don't own a piano.

David Whitehouse as Russell

+ While the beef punkles are cooking, Sade tells Russell twice to poke them to see if they are tender and also tells him to add water; this scenario tells us that the punkles are being braised. This indicates that punkles are a cheap cut of beef that must be "pot roasted" to make tender. (We certainly have assumed this all along but now we KNOW for sure.)

+ Someone calls for "Fat." (We assume it was  for "Fat Jackson.")

+ Croucher's (telephone #8987-J) has a delivery boy named "Irvin."  One of the better moments of the episode is hearing Russell talk smart to him on the telephone: {{{HEAR}}}

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