44-03-28 Grown Men Trading Names

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Vic tells the Sade the news that Stacey Yopp and Y.I.I.Y. Skeeber are "trading names".  It sounds ludicrous to you and I - and it sounds just as asinine to Sade.

Though it's clear she understands, she needles Vic, probably because she thinks all of his friends are lunatics (and let's face it, most of them are). 

If you like a cold Sade, you'll love this one. 

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

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What could be more ridiculous than grown men exchanging names with each other?  Why would Stacey enjoy the name Y.I.I.Y. better?

The fact that there is a ceremony (Hank's going to sing a couple of songs, there's going to be food, etc.) is even more ridiculous.

41-07-10 Bring Your Figures

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Muddled shopping money?  No big deal.  Stuff happens.

We know to expect this whenever Sade and 'Lady' (Ruthie Stembottom) get together downtown.  So what if the gals can't keep track of the tiny amounts of money that they are allowed?  So what if there's a few dollars missing?  It's not like they are buying anything important.

As a matter of fact, the ladies consume the same kinds of worthless junk every week.  It's money to blow and really, is of no consequence to the bread winners...

That's the way the story is supposed to go, anyway.  Vic, an accountant by trade, is fine with the mixed-up money.  I think he kind of gets a kick out of the way the ladies foul it all up; it's entertainment to him.  But Fred, Ruthie's blue collar husband, has a bad reaction this time around to the unaccounted-for spondulix.

Who's responsible?  No one knows (and no one will ever know) but Fred aims to find out!  He's even bought those stereotypical green visor caps for all four people (it's use is to lessen eyestrain) as he intends to have a pow-wow with the Gooks and go step-by-step through the muddled transactions! By golly, he wants some answers to that missing penny and the other misplaced monies.

But wait; one big 'ole ish and kybosh on that!

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2) (part 3)

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This script is surprisingly good and it reads fresh. I use the word 'surprisingly' because the notes I had previously were terribly short.  It was as if this episode had been overlooked.  Rhymer provides strong voices to each character.  It feels as if he were completely in his prime here.  This script could very well be in the top 50 I have seen. 

Trivia:

+ Mr. & Mrs. Coomer live on Madison Street.

+ Sade bought white thread #50 (she always buys that color/#) and the girls bought gum drops, weighed themselves, had ice cream...

+ The fact that Vic could care less about a few dollars (remember, this was still ''The Great Depression'') might provide circumstantial proof that Vic was better off financially than perhaps we - or Sade - know. 

+ The concept of the green visors is clever and totally Rhymeresque; there is always pleasure reading/hearing the way he took something that was already absurd and made it even more so.  Can you imagine Sade and Ruthie wearing green visors, trying to figure out where they lost seven cents?

+ While he was there and at-the-ready to contribute to the conversation with appropriate anecdotes, Rush gets totally ignored in this episode.  You'd figure an ordinary American citizen...

+ This episode ends with the ''stuff happens'' phrase.

39-12-xx Sade Volunteers Rush for Pageant

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON  

read Jimbo's alternate commentary

It's late at night, Vic has gone to bed, the furnace has been extinguished - but Rush comes downstairs to confront Sade. She volunteered him for a pageant that will be occurring in a week or so.

Rush is not happy and though Sade admits she did this without Rush's permission (even though he was there when it happened!) she admits no guilt in the matter, even upon pressure and confrontation.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Rush has a stern talk with Sade about the matter of a pageant she has volunteered him for.

Rush, like any teenager, has a tendency to be sulky and childish when he is upset with his mother, so I really admire his calm, maturity, and thoughtfulness in this episode. He is becoming an adult, and he shows that he can resolve a conflict like an adult — by clearly and concisely stating his feelings without attacking Sade or emotionally manipulating her (not that Sade can be manipulated). He deserves especial kudos for maintaining this kind of calm under these circumstances…this play he’s been roped into sounds completely dopey.

This part, especially, shows that Rush is a cut above most boys his age:

RUSH: …I don’t give a darn about missing out on the football. I can play football anytime. And I don’t care about bein’ in this crazy, dumb play of Mis’ Gissing’s, either. I’d do it if she asked me to. I’d do it for the fun of it. After all, nobody’s gonna see me with rosebuds on my head and stardust in my hair except a buncha ladies.

He’s able to see past the mortification of prancing around with flowers on his head and reciting insipid monologues because, doggone it, these things are fun. What he objects to is not being treated like a grown human being who can make his own decisions, and at least in this episode, he proves that he deserves to be treated as such.

How much of this got through to Sade? It’s hard to say! She certainly seems taken aback by the end, though. I think that she starts out playing innocent just to save face, but by the end of this episode, she realizes that young Rush is growing up, and she’s not sure how she feels about it.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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Haven't we all experienced the same kind of stuff from our moms or dads? I remember being volunteered to do things for the neighbors that I wanted no part of.

This experience though is worse than anything my parents ever volunteered me for. Rush will have to wear flowers on his head and be "sprinkled with stardust" - which I assume is glitter.

This episode is missing Vic but if he were around you can imagine he would take Sade's side on this one. Though she admits no guilt, she acts guilty and takes no pleasure in the confrontation. At one time she even seems to get halfway serious:

(((HEAR)))

Trivia:

+ Mis' Gissing (and also her husband, Mr. Gissing) is mentioned for the first time. It is her play that Rush will have to participate in.

+ Sade doesn't like Mis' Gissing. Rush has heard Sade tell Ruthie that "She talks behind people's backs."

+ The name of the play seems to be, "Sweet Flowers of April."

+ LeRoy Snow is exactly Rush's age and is already shaving.

+ Mis' Johnson (barely mentioned) lives on East Washington Street.

+ Rush says, "It's no flash off your foot."

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