33-08-05 Vic, the Housework Dodger

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND  BILL IDELSON

Sade has plans to varnish the living room floor and needs all of the furniture moved out of the house.  Vic is pre-occupied...

SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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Honestly, not much going on in this one.  The episode does provide a bit of a window into Consolidated Kitchenware, but not much.

TRIVIA:

+ In 1933 (at least) Alvy Trogle worked with Vic in the bookkeeping department of Consolidated Kitchenware.

+ Conrad is a 'new man' who also works with Vic, probably in bookkeeping.

+ The Kitchenware Quarterly goes back to at least 1925.  We know this because Vic found an old copy.

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.

44-09-29 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.

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44-08-16 A Dandy Picture of Vic

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Vic is going to be featured once again in the Kitchenware Quarterly. Vic says they botched his picture and bio in the current issue (a missing episode?) but they have apologized and plan on making up for it in the next issue. He's at the house seeking the perfect photo to send in.

Meanwhile, Sade is expecting company and wants the house spotless. She's handed Russell a dust cloth but he seems reluctant to actually do any work.  The two stories go back and forth.

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Not-so-memorable episode but fun none-the-less.

In the end, the best photo of himself that Vic can find is one where's hanging upside-down from a tree. He'll send that in and ask them to print it upside-down.

Trivia:

+ It's Mis' Brighton and her brother Willard that are coming over to see Sade.  Mis' Brighton is a particular housekeeper, according to Sade and this is why she is so set on having the house being perfect.

+ Despite the fact that Hank Gutstop is gainfully employed and has been for months, Russell attempts to tell Vic that he saw Hank at the Illinois Central depot (and though he is interrupted and we never hear the whole story, we might suspect that Russell saw him asleep there; Sade has seen him asleep there often.)

+ When Vic starts to go through the photos in the window seat, he finds there are seven photos of himself wearing women's hats. There's another of him sitting in Sade's lap.

+ Among the other photos is Steve Chestbutter riding a bicycle. There's another with Vic and Ike Kneesuffer and someone named I. H. Zee. Still another photo of Vic, Charlie Razorscum and Ike sleeping on a roof. Finally, there's a photo of Vic sitting on the garbage box.

+ Russell has to be barked at for dusting while sitting and then another time while laying on his back!

+ Kind of odd... the Brick Mush man calls and wants to know if they are in need of any brick mush.  In another episode where cleaning was also the priority (44-06-09 The Lunges are Coming) the Brick Mush man makes himself quite conspicuous, ringing the doorbell and asking if he can change his shoelaces on the Gook front porch.  Makes you wonder about writer Paul Rhymer's thought process...

Russell thinks Uncle Fletcher might be at the house - taking a vacation from a vacation from a vacation: {{{HEAR}}}

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44-06-16 Piercing Blue Eyes

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

At home, Sade catches Vic making odd movements with his face and eyebrows. When she inquires to why he is doing such a thing, he sheepishly admits that he and the kids at the office again had a talk about his eyes.

Although Sade is already onto him and knows what he's going to say, he admits that Lolita di Rienzi told him he had "piercing blue eyes" and Steve Chestbutter told Vic he should accentuate them by using facial and eyebrow movements. Chessbutter also told Vic that if he had eyes like that, he would lower the tone of his voice.

Once the cat is out of the bag, Vic begins practicing both things full tilt, frustrating Sade.

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Great moment when the telephone rings and Vic says "Telephone's ringin'!" in his low voice: {{{HEAR}}}

Trivia:

+ Mis' Appelrot was born in Hopedale. Her father was an agent for a veternary supply house and thus she lived all over Central Illinois. Her father owned five farms in the county.

+ Fred Stembottom calls and without wavering, both Vic and Sade refer to him as "Ted" - despite a previous episode where Sade exclaimed to Uncle Fletcher and the family that it must not continue.

When the Gooks call him "Ted" though, he doesn't seem to mind.

+ Someone calls with the wrong number; although it's never said who called or who they called for, can't we imagine the call was for Fat Jackson?

Vic, in his deep voice, talks to Ted Stembottom on the telephone: {{{HEAR}}}

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44-05-30 Lolita di Rienzi Compliments Vic

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Lolita di Rienzi suggests to Vic that he write a series of articles or even a book about his recent experiences on his trip to the Midwest with Mr. Ruebush.

Although the things that happen to him are quite routine, the impetus of Lolita's suggestion has him in very good spirits. Of course that ends quickly enough once he's home and begins to tell Sade and Russell, who rib him into leaving the house.

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Vic once took a trip where he wrote a long article about it; the newspaper editor Ed Greefer was not at all impressed.

Trivia:

+ Vic's lunch hour at work is over at 1:00; we certainly have assumed that but now we know.

+ "Old Man" Chieferson was seen in the neighborhood. He lives on Oakland Avenue now but apparently used to live on Virginia Avenue or thereabouts. He has a daughter named Louise McDermott.

+ Lolita works in the boxing department of Consolidated Kitchenware.

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43-07-12 Gumpox's Lodge Regalia

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Mr. Gumpox is innocently proceeding through his garbage route wearing an old lodge robe and plumme' hat that was given to him by Ike Kneesuffer. This enrages Vic, who plans on stopping Gumpox, make him remove the regalia and ceremoniously bury a fish, per Volume 7 of the Lodge Library.

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Trivia:

+ Vic is so upset, he comes in the front door. We know that coming in the front door is something Sade does not allow. The blinding rage also makes him say, "Gumbage man Garpox."

+ "Sarah" is the name Vic uses for Sade 11 different times in this episode.

+ Sade relays two previous instances where lodge regalia was worn inappropriately: Vic had asked Sade to "destroy" an old plumme' lodge hat, which she simply took and put in the trash. Mr. Gumpox retrieved it and put it on Howard as a sun hat; Hank Gutstop once wore full lodge regalia when he worked as the official greeter at the Butler House Hotel.

+ Ruthie Stembottom was once so taken with the design of Vic's Exhalted Big Dipper robe that she had patterned a dress out of it but Vic intervened to squash those plans.

+ Russell mentions a friend he played baseball with at Tatman's vacant lot, Raymond Surrells, who noticed Russell had bloodied himself sliding into second base.

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42-03-12 Little Tiny Petite Pheasant Feather Tea Shoppy

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY,  BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic has been invited to dine for lunch with some muckity-muck business associates at the Little Tiny Petite Pheasant Feather Tea Shoppy but unfortunately, the small restaurant only has 3 tables.  A scheduled party makes is necessary to scoot the table with Vic's associates against the side of the restaurant, making one spot unavailable to sit in.

Never fear; one of the dinner guests (Gus Fuss) comes up with the brilliant idea to shove the table against the window rather than the wall and seat Vic (the odd man out) perched outside against the window on a ladder.  This way, Vic can be a part of the dining experience.

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Vic has a positive attitude from the start and is more than willing to partake of his dinner on a ladder. Even when a cold March rain begins to fall, Vic carries on with a courageous and uplifted attitude.

To me, this will always remain one of the more clever episodes written by Paul Rhymer.  It seems possible that when he was writing this episode that he thought of sticking Vic beneath the table (Rush suggests that may be where Vic is sitting.)  But sticking him outside by the window on a ladder in the rain is just plain funny - and clever.

Trivia:

+ The other business associates that will be dining "with" Vic are Mr. Buller, Gus Fuss and Mr. Ruebush.

+ Vic says Mr. Buller has been to the Little Tiny Petite Pheasant Feather Tea Shoppy in the past and has been impressed both with the portions and Mrs. Idler Grice's home-cooking skills.

+ In this episode, Vic refers to himself as a "cog in the wheel of big business."

+ In a story that is probably somehow connected to a missing episode, Rush tells Sade that Rain Brain Woofer, a chum in Rush's gym class and who shares a nearby locker, claims to be related to Sade's friend, Edith, from Raliegh, Kentucky.

+ We find out that Sade has a "rule" that the boys should always enter the house by the back kitchen door rather than the front door.

+ This episode provides ample proof of how much Clarence Hartzell's portrayal of Uncle Fletcher has help mold and influence all three Gook players. Listen carefully how they say, "Fine!"

+ I can't prove it but I will bet you almost anything that writer Paul Rhymer set up the Little Tiny Petite Pheasant Feather Tea Shoppy in the earlier episode (where Hank Gutstop gets the job as a hostess) just to set up the premise for this episode.

+ Though it can be seen many places all over the internet as the Tiny Petite Pheasant Feather Tea Shoppe, the fact of the matter is that in this episode and a previous episode where the restaurant was mentioned, Vic mentions that the title of the restaurant is the Little Tiny Petite Pheasant Feather Tea Shoppy.  "Shoppy" is spelled this way instead of the traditional "shoppe" in OTR logs.

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41-09-09 Vic Gets Gift "Rap" Again

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

The gang at work has elected Vic to buy a gift for Mr. Ruebush at Christmas. While he and Sade discuss possible gifts to buy, Rush is busy in the background, almost constanly using the telphone to collect debts that will allow him to buy Defense Savings Stamps.

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This is sort of an unusual episode.

For one thing, Rush is there the whole episode but the action seems to be taking place around him.

For another thing, this seems to be some sort of propaganda episode for Defense Savings Stamps.

Even though this episode took place about three months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor (and thus the Declaration of War against the Japanese), the United States began selling Defense Savings Stamps in May of 1941 to help support the production of military equipment, most of it for the British Allies and the Lend-Lease deal.

Some stamps could be had for as little as a dime.

The photograph on the left shows that less a week after this episode aired it was, "Defense Week."

It was common for radio shows to be used for government propaganda purposes - although as a rule, it seems that Paul Rhymer and his Vic and and Sade program were not usually a part of such campaigns.

Trivia:

From 41-08-26 Uncle Fletcher the Protector

+ Sade mentions that Vic had went on a trip with Mr. Ruebush. This seems to imply that perhaps the recent Art Van Harvey vacation could have been (and probably was) explained away using that excuse.

+ Mr. Ruebush likes candy.

+ The Thimble Club (with Sade as one of the committee members) bought Defense Savings Stamps.

+ Cracky Otto is described as wearing a skull cap (a beanie, most probably) and tennis shoes.

+ Sade suggests (jokingly) that she and Vic should sit in the basement in the evenings in order to elude phone calls for Rush.

+ Here's a list of the gifts Sade suggests that Vic buy for Mr. Ruebush for Christmas:

• easy slippers 
• pipes 
• cigars
• valice (luggage) 
• handkerchiefs 
• candy 
• chair 
• footstool 
• umbrella holder 
• picture 

+ Rush calls several friends in this episode and that provides us with a list of telephone numbers that we haven't known before this episode:

• Smelly Clark (#2457-J) 
• Vernon Peggles (#2596-W) 
• Arnold Shipley (#7329-L)
• LeRoy Snow (#6509-R) 
• Heinie Call (#5542-L)

I love it when Vic gets frustrated when the telephone rings. His expression can't be beaten!: {{{HEAR}}}

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41-06-30 Vic Writes Biography

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic finds out he will be included in the book, Who's Who in Kitchenware and is having trouble coming up with a catchy biography about himself.

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Vic comes up with a very odd bio for himself and I dare say, Rush's contribution may be even more odd.

Trivia:

+ Y.I.I.Y. Skeeber was mentioned for the first time.

+ Stacey Yopp was mentioned for the first time. He's a barber at the Butler House Hotel. He went on a six week fishing trip to Crowler, Michigan. His cousin is Alfred Juggler of New Auburn, Wisconsin and has an Uncle Harry Soon who lives in West Phatt, Kentucky.

+ Vic was over in Charlie Razorscum's backyard, discussing things.

+ In the front of every Third Lieutenant Stanley book, it says: "Third Lieutenant Stanley is a shining example for every American boy to follow."

+ Neither Ike Kneesuffer or Steve Chestbutter is to have their bio included in the Who's Who in Kitchenware book.

+ F. Dodson Gitch was the first Superintendent of Schools the town ever had. William W. Gullbizer was the first mayor. Gullbizer was born in West Yakbone, Missouri. Hunting and fishing were his early enthusiams as well as the study of American History, arithmetic and grammar. He loved all outdoor sports.

+ Vic weighs 165 pounds and stands 5 foot 9 and 3/4ths inches.

Rush comes up with a possible entry for Vic's bio: {{{HEAR}}}

As does Vic: {{{HEAR}}}

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41-05-16 Uncle Fletcher's Door Stop Plan

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Uncle Fletcher has an idea: use 4 foot pieces of railroad track as doorstops.

Though they will weigh 440 pounds each, they will be covered with velvet and have an embroidered saying on it:

I'm only a piece of heavy steel,
A product of the forge.
I'll hold your door either open or closed,
Step up and call me 'George.'

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Uncle Fletcher has an idea for a unique one-of-a-kind gift and Sade wants to put a stop to it.
I love this episode, especially Sade’s horror, and Rush’s/Vic’s/Paul Rhymer’s bizarre idea of what constitutes a bright saying that might be embroidered on a pillow. It makes sense that Fletcher would have this notion, since he used to be a railroad worker and still spends quite a lot of time hanging around railroad stations. I wonder if he had permission to make off with these railroad tracks in the first place. 

I don’t have much else to say about this episode except that if I knew how to get four-foot lengths of railroad tracks, this would be a great handmade gag gift for some people in my family. I wonder if my Mazda can carry 440 pounds…

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcription by Lydia Crowe)

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Though Sade worries that such a gift would create a problem for the four families he plans on distributing the rails to, Vic seems to think it won't be a problem because there will be no way of him ever moving the 4 rails (a combined weight of 1760 pounds).

Though spoken of a lot in this episode, Uncle Fletcher isn't in the episode at all!

Trivia:

 + Rush mentions bright sayings found on pillows:

• Welcome to Galena, Illinois 
• Conductor, get off of my foot! 
• Stop making them goo-goo eyes 
• Every cloud has a silver lining 
• Ouch! Your dog-gone dog bit me on the leg again!

+ Vic mentions other witty sayings that perhaps could be embroidered on the door stops:

Your cousin is a halfwit,
Your brother is a slob.
I think I'll quit the section gang
And get another job. 

and

The night is dark and stormy,
The rain is comin' down.
I'll button up my....

+ Rush quotes Uncle Fletcher: {{{HEAR}}}

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41-04-xx Company Coming, 13 People

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

Sade: As Uncle Fletcher would say, "Fine!" 
Uncle Fletcher: Fine!
At the last minute, Vic tells Sade he's got company coming. Steve Chestbutter and A. J. Spence are coming over for a lodge meeting.  Sade has company too, as she has invited over Mis' Brighton and her brother, Willard. Of course, things get more complicated from there as Mis' Donahue calls and says she has company and Mr. Donahue needs to sleep and asks if he can come over and catch some nap time at the Gooks. Immediately after the telephone call, Uncle Fletcher shows up and has news that he invited Mis' Keller's daughter and husband over to meet Sade.

But that's not all. Rush arrives and reminds Sade he had invited Blue Tooth Johnson, Leland Richards and Vernon Peggles to study algebra. Sade had completely forgotten about that. Not only does that make more guests at the house, it also creates a dilemna as to where Mr. Donahue is going to sleep (Sade had planned on him sleeping in Rush's bed.)

Sade then finds out that Fred and Ruthie Stembottom have decided to come over under the impression that they will be playing, "500" with the Gooks.

So how many is that? {{{HEAR}}}

WHAT MIS' CROWE SAYS:
The Gooks’ residence is the most happening place in town tonight. 
Since we usually see it with just 3 or 4 people in it, it’s fun to imagine Vic and Sade’s little house so crowded with guests. I like how none of the family seems put out by any of this, even though the crowd is totally unexpected. They’re just ready to have a good time.

One notable bit in this script is the concept of “people who are company” vs. “people who are not company.” Mis’ Brighton and Willard don’t count as “company” because they’re “comfortable old friends,” and Chestbutter and Spence don’t count as “company” because they’re frequent visitors on Lodge business and are “as common as old shoes”. Fletcher doesn’t count as company because he’s part of the family. I’m guessing that Rush’s pals don’t count, either, and certainly not Donahue, who frequently visits to nap in Rush’s bed, or Fred and Ruthie, who are over at the Gooks’ to play cards almost every night. The definition of “company” must be “someone entering your house for whom you have to change your ordinary behavior.” Florence and Emmett Upscutch, strangers to the Gooks, are probably the only ones of these 13 guests whom Vic and Sade consider “company." 

There’s a hidden little joke in this script that the characters do not acknowledge: the reason Donahue is coming over to sleep at Vic and Sade’s in the first place is because there is company at his house – Mis’ Donahue’s sister and several of her children. I wonder what kind of sleep Donahue will get in Vic and Sade’s bed, with 15 other people in the house!

 SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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This fun show ends in the best way possible!

Trivia:

+ We find out that "Mr. Spence" (of former episodes and a roomer of Mis' Harris) is actually named, A.J. Spence. We also find out also he is a lodge member in the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way. I have gone back to previous episodes he was in now and changed "Mr." to "A.J." to reflect our new-found knowledge.

+ Sade calls Willard an "old, comfortable, easy friend." Until this episode, Willard had only been mentioned once in the surviving episodes, as a guest at Ruthie Stembottom's party. Why Mis' Brighton's brother is a big deal to Sade, we may never know.

+ Mrs. Keller's daughter and her husband are Emmett and Florence Upskutch.

+ When Sade is contemplating where Mr. Donahue can sleep, she says, "He generally balks at sleeping in our (Sade and Vic's) bed." Since she used the word, "generally" doesn't that lead us to believe that Mr. Donahue has been over a number of times to sleep at the Gook house? While not completely absurd, it seems that the Donahues put quite an imposition on the Gooks at times.

+ Evan was mentioned for the first time. All we know about him is that Ruthie was over at his house.

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41-03-27 Hank's Weather Service

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Hank Gutstop has a new idea: he's going to start a weather service. Charging a dollar a month, he'll call a subscriber's house and tell them what kind of clothes they should wear for the day ahead.

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The Weather Service idea is, of course, asinine, but it's not funny. At $1.00 a month, Sade can't get too worked up to cause a riot. Rush's "Good morning, it's ___ weather" jokes are not funny either. Add to that, there's little else going on in the episode, with no subplot. I hate to say it but this is a very weak episode.

The Weather Service idea is such a stupid one that when Rush actually points out what little is positive about it, Vic thinks he's making fun of it!

Trivia:

+ Hank's Weather Service is a reasonable $1.00 a month. His appointed time to call the Gook household is 7:30 AM.

+ It seems that main reason Sade is against the Weather Service is that she will be the ne that will have to answer the phone when Hank calls as the men will be upstairs at that time - and she dislikes Hank.

+ This episode marks the first mention of Y.I.I.Y. Skeeber and Alf Musherton. They are a part of a group of men who have subscribed to Hank's Weather Service. Other known subscribers are Steve Chestbutter, Charlie Razorscum and Ike Kneesuffer. The last 3 are confirmed Big Dippers in the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way. Hank is a Little Dipper in the lodge. One could make an assumption that the others are also lodge members but for the record, we won't mark them as such, yet.

+ The Weather Service does not run on Sundays; that makes the average cost of the Weather Service roughly 4 cents per day.

+ We never hear if the Weather Service actually works or fails. Hank doesn't "lose" his job in this episode but you have to think there is a monkey wrench in there somewhere that will cloud his sunny skies.

Vic describes Sade's usual mood (especially when discussing Hank Gutstop:) {{{HEAR}}}

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40-xx-xx Hank's $200 Wardrobe

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Hank Gutstop has gotten a $10 a week job singing tenor for a local church quartet. He needs some clothes and some other items to look presentable, so he asks Vic if he can borrow $200.

Vic doesn't seem to mind lending him the money but knows Sade will never go for it. But before Sade can give her answer, Hank calls and says he lost the job.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Hank, at last, has a job, but there’s a catch…and, of course, it involves Vic’s wallet.

How much money was $200 in 1940? I never bothered to look this up before — though I knew it must have been a pretty large amount — but thanks to the internet and the careful documentation of inflation, we can calculate it to the penny. So hold on to your hats: 200 1940 dollars, in 2014, is $3,329.97. Which is a semester at a reputable public university. Two round-trip tickets to Europe plus car rental and hotel room. More than a month’s pay for a comfortable middle-class worker. This is what Hank Gutstop is asking to borrow from Vic. To pay for a wardrobe. For a job that pays $10 ($166 today) a week.

All I can say is Vic sure has one heck of a blind spot when it comes to Hank Gutstop. There was absolutely no way that he could have framed this proposal that would have made Sade consent to it. How dare he suggest that her reaction amounts to “hysteria” and imply that she’s just tired and cranky (as one might say of a four-year-old). But bless him for asking her permission in the first place.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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While the running gag (in every episode that Hank Gutstop gets a job he loses it at the end of the program) is funny, there's an even better gag below the surface. Vic wants to loan useless Hank $200 but neither he or Sade will give Rush a dime! This joke is woven in so slyly by writer Paul Rhymer, that it's barely noticeable.

Trivia:

+ Vic had been playing indoor indoor horseshoes at Ike Kneesuffer's house.

+ It's inferred her that Leland Richards lives on Kelsey Street.

+ The singing job Hank acquired was at the Ellesworth Avenue Church. That's the first time that street or church has been mentioned in the surviving episodes.

Hank can sing... {{{HEAR}}}

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40-12-23 Bess' Letter from 1937

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Almost four years ago, Vic had checked the mail and found a letter from his sister-in law, Bess Helfer. He was distracted, put it in his coat pocket and forgot all about it. Sade has just found the letter YEARS LATER and will put Vic through one of her patented guilt trips!

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Sade makes a disturbing discovery in one of Vic’s suit pockets.

Brrr…Sade really gives the boys (mostly Vic) a faceful of icy rage in this one. Whenever Sade is in ill humor, I’ve noticed, the boys tend to try and sacrifice one another in a desperate effort to make themselves look better. In “39-05-xx Writing To Walter,” for example, Rush, sensing danger as he watches Vic become increasingly ornery about writing the letter, immediately dedicates himself to writing a long and borderline obsequious one. When Sade is upset about Hank Gutstop, Rush is usually quick to take her side. In this episode, watch how Vic seizes this opportunity to throw Rush under the bus, vainly trying to get his own head off the chopping block:

SADE: “...I suppose Rush is enjoyin’ his summer vacation. He’ll be in the seventh grade, won’t he, when he goes back to school?”

RUSH: [giggles]

VIC: Cut out the feebleminded titterin’, Sam. I wanna hear Aunt Bess’ interestin’ letter. Don’t wanna listen to you giggle and guffaw. Continue, Kiddo; I’ll see that he behaves himself.

It doesn’t work, of course. Rush makes a lot of dangerously smart-alecky interjections as Sade reads, but none of it is enough to draw Sade’s fire away from Vic. Poor Vic! I hope he got to go to Ike Kneesuffer’s in the end to play indoor horseshoes…and maybe have a couple of beers.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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This is one of those episodes where I feel that Vic should have to put Sade in her place. Vic had no intention of hiding, losing or forgetting the letter. Sade's little game of trying to make him pay for his honest mistake is simply one of the petty things she does.

For all her crying and moaning about Vic spending money on lodge stuff, she has her list of sins as well. She is almost a constant nag... and her guilt trips are beyond normal.

Trivia:

+ When was the letter from? (edited): {{{HEAR}}}

+ The Summer of 1937 must have been terrible hot.  Check this episode from 1937 which has a few stories about the heat.  Bess' letter also talks about the extreme heat.

+ The people in Carberry that were mentioned in Bess' letter:

● Mr. Deecher - lives up the street from Walter and Bess. It's been s hot (in 1937) that he's been going around in his bare feet. Bess says he asks about Sade: "How's your good-looking sister?"

● Agnes Peterson - Euncie's piano teacher. Bess says she is considered, "quite good" - even though she only has one leg and put a flat iron on the loud petal.

● Ed Rafferman - He got the job he was after in Dubuque (Iowa.)

+ Bess says she would have answered sooner but Walter had put the letter in his suit pocket and forgot to give it to Bess... Sade seems to ignore this completely.

+ The letter states that "The people around here think there might be a war in Europe." Granted, there was talk of Nazi Fascism taking over Europe in 1937 but the bigger and much more obvious threat then were the various Pacific conquests by the Japanese. If one were to get technical, World War II actually started in 1933 with the Japanese occupying parts of China.

Guilt trip: {{{HEAR}}}

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40-05-15 Vic's Picture Totally Mislabeled

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON 

Vic's Kitchenware Dealer's Quarterly has come and he knows his picture and a long, biographical sketch will be printed. However, thanks to the utter sloppiness of the editors of the magazine, the photo of Vic really isn't Vic at all.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
The Kitchenware Dealers’ Quarterly completely misrepresents Vic.

click to enlarge

If Vic would only lighten up and have a sense of humor about this, if he would embrace his new image before the wisecracking crowd, he’d come off much more gracefully. You know Vic’s coworkers are only doing this because they know how much this editorial snafu is going to upset him. Vic’s image is everything to him, and even if most of the magazine’s readership will never meet Vic, this is a severe blow. It’s interesting how easily Vic is able to ignore his wife and son’s merriment at his predicament this time — maybe such domestic mirth seems trivial in the face of the embarrassment he feels in front of his colleagues. Although Sade and Rush laugh at the image, they’re unusually sensitive and sympathetic toward Vic here. Even smart-aleck Rush is tiptoeing around him toward the end.

This episode contains the first (surviving audio) mention of the mysterious Midwestern delicacy, beef punkles. I’ve always thought that beef punkles, whatever they are, sound delicious. I am not sure why this is. I’m not fond of beef and, in fact, haven’t eaten it regularly since I was a child. We know that beef punkles take a long time to “get tender” (four hours, in fact), which makes me think they come from either a very tough, stringy old cow or from some part of the cow we don’t normally eat (the word sounds like ''knuckles''). Depression-era Midwestern cuisine, in general, is not what you’d call ''delicious'' (is anything delicious after you boil it for four hours?). All evidence suggests that beef punkles are probably terrible. Still, I have an urge to try a beef punkle. Leave it to Paul Rhymer to put together a bunch of nonsense phonemes that sound delicious.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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This is the first of many episodes where both the Kitchenware Dealer's Quarterly and the lodge quarterly will absolutely butcher Vic's photo and/or biographical sketch.  Personally, I think it's one of the funniest running jokes in the series - and this is one of the funnier episodes.  (For some reason, it's always fun to laugh at Vic's woes!)

Vic is a proud man and lousing up his photo is no joke to him (although funny to his family and us listening at home.)   It's just Paul Rhymer's way of keeping Vic down a bit.

Trivia:

+ This is the first surviving episode that mentions beef punkles. They aren't done and Vic always makes a bit of fuss when he comes home noon and the meat's not done.

+ We find out that Mr. Chestbutter's first name is 'Steve.'

+ The biographical sketch of Vic lists him as living in Grovelman, South Carolina and that he is about to go swimming in the Pacific Ocean. (See graphic up top.)

+ Vic had planned on ordering a dozen copies of the Quarterly and sending them to friends and relatives

+ Ike Kneesuffer, Mr. Ruebush and Stan Turpin all call Vic and talk about his picture in the Quarterly.  This is the first time Stan Turpin has been mentioned.

Vic gets a phone call from Ike Kneesuffer: {{{HEAR}}}

+ Mr. Ruebush, Vic's boss at the plant, calls and says he recognizes the man in the photo as Chalmers Zest Hadee, who works in the Boxing Department of Consolidated Kitchenware Plant Number 8, Shockersly, Oregon.

What does Vic think of the Quarterly?: {{{HEAR}}}

Just a bit upset... (((HEAR)))

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40-04-10 Nicer to Sleep Over for Two Weeks

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

It's April but Nicer Scott has told Rush that his traveling salesman uncle will be in town in August for two whole weeks. Nicer (who somewhere in the lost episodes is now Rush's enemy) makes it plain to Rush that he plans on taking over Rush's bed and bedroom.

Even though the visit is months away, Rush is already brooding about it. For one thing, Nicer is bigger and older than Rush and can easily bully him around and for another, who wants to give up their bedroom to an enemy? To top if off, Rush knows his mother will give in to Mis' Scott's request of letting Nicer sleep over.

By some miracle, Nicer's uncle shows up this same day in April rather than August and it isn't long before Mis' Scott calls and makes a prophet out of Rush.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Utter disaster strikes Rush Gook…or is scheduled to strike, the last two weeks in August.

Nicer really is a little menace. To take such joy in inflicting yourself upon somebody who openly despises you, to take advantage of the unwritten laws of good neighborly hospitality, is truly rotten. The kid ain’t right. We know that Mis’ Scott isn’t a terribly pleasant person to be around, either. But do you think Sade would ever, for a moment, let her think that Nicer sleeping over at their house was the tiniest bit of an imposition? Never! And thus Midwestern Niceness claims another victim on peaceful Virginia Avenue.

 SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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Despite the fact that she caves in and Nicer will be allowed to sleep over, Sade is just doing the neighborly thing. You can't really fault her for being kind. She may talk about people behind their backs but she is nice to most everyone to their face.

Who hasn't had to give their bedrooms to people they didn't know or people they didn't like? I certainly was put into that same situation when I was a kid many times.

What luck for Rush though that the uncle of Nicer Scott just happens to drop in this day...

Trivia:

+ Rush called Nicer a "reptile" 3 different times in this episode.

+ Vic was playing indoor horseshoes at Ike Kneesuffer's before he came home. He won 5 games. He took on Ike, Charlie Razorscum, Steve Chestbutter and Mr. Spence. This is the first time Mr. Spence has been mentioned. He is a roomer at Mis' Harris' house.

+ Sade asks to play rummy 3 different times.

+ We may never know what caused Nicer and Rush to become enemies...

Rush knows what Sade will say...(edited): {{{HEAR}}}

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39-10-31 Blue-Tooth Under Gook Davenport

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON 

To Rush's surprise, Vic and Sade arrive home unexpectedly.

Hearing strange noise in the house, Vic blames mice, the barometric pressure and even an earthquake. Realizing that Rush is acting a bit strange, the couple soon find out the strange noises are due to the fact that Blue Tooth Johnson is under the davenport, hiding from Smelly Clark.

MIS; CROWE SAYS:
Vic and Sade are spending a quiet evening at home when they find that they have unexpected company…and have had it for the entire evening.

This is such a classic Rush scheme-gone-terribly-wrong episode. I love the slow exposition of the situation as this absurd teenage drama unfolds before Vic and Sade. We can tell from the start that Rush is wound-up about something, but we don’t know exactly what. Bluetooth does an admirable job maintaining his silence under the davenport, as though Rush is actually going to talk the two of them out of this pickle if he just keeps his trap shut.

It is no coincidence that this episode aired on October 31st. Ghostly noises in the house…strangers skulking outside in the darkness…the chilling feeling that you’re being watched…a man on the run from the law…it’s about as close as “Vic and Sade” gets to thriller territory. (May I just point out that “Broken Alarm Clocks" is also a Halloween episode?)

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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This episode holds a special place in my heart as it was (for some reason) the first episode of Vic and Sade I ever heard. Although this episode did not impress me the first time, I was intrigued enough to keep listening to the show and found that there really was a crazy world I could fall into.

The episode takes place on October 31, 1939 - Halloween night.  Halloween is not mentioned in the script.  But knowing that it's Halloween night tells us a few things: for one, why all the kids were skulking around outside.  We don't know exactly why Blue Tooth is hiding from Smelly Clark, but maybe the motive has something to do with Halloween or candy.

This would also explain why Vic (and Sade in particular) are freaked out about Blue Tooth hiding underneath the davenport.  Halloween night has an extra creepy chill in the air. 

Trivia:

+ Emerson, Calhoun and Oak streets are mentioned for the first time in the surviving audio.

Rush tries to act casual... {{{HEAR}}}

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