41-12-09 Hank Appointed Lodge's Best-Looking Man

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic has news to tell that he knows will bring Sade's scoffing and ridicule: Hank Gutstop has been elected as the lodge's Best-looking Man!

SEE THE SCRIPT (part 1) (part 2)

_______________

There's really not much to this script; it's just an excuse to put down the lodge and Gutstop. Sade doesn't think Hank is good-looking at all, and the ritualistic way in which he was chosen (blonde boy pulls his name out of a hat) is just a reminder of just how silly the lodge can be.

Trivia:

+ Rush mentions that he was reading about counterfeiting parachute jumpers in his Third Lieutenant Stanley book.

+ Gutstop was at the Lazy Hours Pool Hall playing bottle-pool.

+ Rush is bursting with knowledge again about the various idioms his parents are dishing out.  However, they could care less.  Rush seems to know his idiom sources quite well.

+ Instead of borrowing funds from Vic to buy new clothes, this time Hank just wants to borrow Vic's nice clothes (but not his socks).

+ Cuddy Jackson was mentioned. A member of the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way lodge. He stands four feet, eleven inches tall, is bald and has no teeth.

+ This episode aired two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  You wonder what kind of mood the listener may have been in and if this episode made them happy or if they even cared?

42-10-14 Rush's Soggy Books

STARRING: BILL IDELSON AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

• Fletcher: "Wilbur Yang was known around Sycamore there as ‘the man with the educated elbow'.  He could tell time with his elbow. As a young fella he fell off a hay-rack and broke his elbow.  After that happened his elbow was very sensitive, see? He could tell by his elbow whether it was gonna rain, whether it was gonna snow, whether it was gonna hail, or whether it was gonna sleet. And he could also tell the time.  His wife – he married a woman twenty-six years old – would wake him up in the middle of the night and say, ‘What time is it, Will?'  Wilbur would simply take hold of his elbow with his fingers, squeeze it good, and say, ‘It's three minutes and six seconds past one o'clock.'  And he'd be right!  Wilbur Yang married this woman twenty-six years old under very peculiar circumstances.  He was standing on the railroad station platform in East Pittston, Pennsylvania.  A stranger come up to him and tapped him on the shoulder and says, ‘Beg pardon, friend. Will you light my cigar for me?  I'm going to be married in half an hour and I'm so nervous I can't strike a match.'  Wilbur lit the fella's cigar for him and then got to thinking. ‘I oughta be married myself,' he said to himself. ‘I'm thirty-two years old.'  Well sir, he noticed a young lady down the platform a piece and he strolled over to where she was standing and says, ‘I'm Wilbur Yang.  I'd like to get married.'  The young lady never blinked an eye.  ‘I'd like to get married,' she said.  So they went to a lunchroom and ate a hearty meal, got in touch with a preacher, underwent the wedding ceremony in the presence of six book agents that happened to be in the neighborhood, caught the evening train for Logwater, Missouri, and for all I know they're still in that community."
• Fletcher: "Ernie Hawfer there in Belvidere claimed everything he ate tasted like molasses.  I say he ‘claimed' because naturally he couldn't prove it. Peaches, bread, chewing-gum, ice-tea, hominy, spinach, olives, turnip-greens, they all tasted like molasses.  That would have been all right only Ernie didn't like molasses.  He went to see the doctor about it.  "Doctor, everything I put in my mouth tastes like molasses."  The Doctor asks, "What's your name, friend?"  "Ernie Hawfer," says Ernie.  "Mister Hawfer," says the Doctor, "Get out of my office and stay out."  Ernie left Belvidere late in the spring of eighteen-eighty-six. He moved to Corpus Christi, Arizona, went into the Wholesale Baling Wire business, and, as I say, he passed away in nineteen-aught-two."  
• Fletcher: "Mervin Gossbeck there in Sterling – Mervin and his brother Charlie were sittin' out behind the house one evening and they got up a game of seeing which one could keep their mouth closed the longest.  Charlie was first and kept his mouth closed an hour and a half.  Well, Mervin was a stubborn half-wit, - couldn't bear to lose. He kept his mouth closed almost a week.  He lost fifteen pounds from going without eating and finally fainted from thirst. The lame-brain bet was only a nickel.  And Mervyn didn't even collect that.  Charlie didn't have a nickel.  Stubborn nit-wits that way – they'll stick with a thing till they drop."
• Rush is down in the dumps because he left his schoolbooks outside overnight and there was a heavy rain, turning his books into "big swollen, soggy chunks of unreadable pulp."  He figures it'll cost five dollars to replace them.
• Fletcher: "Old Harvey Geager there in Dixon used to say, ‘Somebody wins, somebody loses.  Nature takes up the slack.'"
• Uncle Fletcher had found a five dollar bill earlier in the day and wants Rush/Russell to take it to buy new books.  Rush doesn't believe he found it.  Fletcher takes severe umbrage.  The boy relents and accepts the bill.
• Fletcher: "Gus Cheebawater left DeKalb to move to Tulsa, Kansas.  In Tulsa, Kansas he married a woman seventeen years old, went into the Automatic Saxophone business, taught himself to ride horseback without any horse, successfully passed fourteen nickels in counterfeit money he'd made at home himself out of ordinary gingerbread, spent one whole winter sleeping on the handlebars of a bicycle to win a fifteen-cent bet and later died." - compiled by Barbara Schwarz, edited by Jimbo Mason

___________________

This script was re-used on Christmas Eve, 1943, with Russell (David Whitehouse) taking the place of Rush.  The title therefore is different as well, being named: "Russell's Soggy Books."

This script is important for it's many stories from Uncle Fletcher.  Nine out of every ten stories he tells are worth noting, so the more we run across, the better.

As noted many times, Uncle Fletcher is a very thoughtful person.  He probably did find five dollars that day... and it would be just his way to help out anyone in need, especially his nephew.

42-10-01 Cherry Phosphates

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY,  BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Rotten Davis, the 19 year-old neighborhood showoff, has found a friend in Rush and Vernon Peggles when he buys a 50 gallon barrel of cherry syrup that is to be kept hooked-up at The Greek's confectionery counter.

Rotten is giving away cherry phosphates to one and all as many as you can drink. Rush and Vic figure that the 50 gallon barrel of syrup will make a stomach-turning 12,000 drinks!

________________________

A fun episode that finds Vic (in particular) in a very cheery (no pun intended) mood. His mood and Rush sounding like the 1938-9 variety, makes for some great entertainment.

Trivia:

+ Vic is reading from Volume 7 of his lodge library when the episode begins.

+ Rush and Vernon were at the YMCA earlier in the evening watching the fat men play handball -- but they left when the thin fellows started playing.

+ The 50 gallon barrel of cherry syrup was acquired from The Greek (who had gotten it by mistake) for an undisclosed amount of money.

+ Both Rush and Vernon drink 5 cherry phosphates each.

+ The Greek's confectionery has a screen door.

Vic's not joking... {{{HEAR}}}

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

42-04-06 Scrap Drive

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY,  BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

After being inspired by an auditorium talk by Mr. Chinbunny, Rush, Blue Tooth Johnson, Vernon Peggles and even Nicer Scott team up to form the Virginia Avenue Area Sons of Patriotism Salvage Indemnity: boys who collects scrap metals and paper for the U.S. Government during World War II.

Nicer and Rush have called a truce to their bickering for the duration of the war but Rush is keeping a little black book and putting down marks in it everytime Nicer does something that makes him mad. After the war (presumably) Rush will give Nicer "a paste upside the snoot" for every mark in the book.

________________________

The VASoPSI and friends - hard at work (imagined)

I can't prove it but this sounds very much like war propaganda and one of the few times that Paul Rhymer wrote one of these types of shows. The family doesn't quite sound the same here - especially Sade (Bernadine Flynn) who acts way too nicey-nice - almost as though she is giving the regular listening audience a clue that she doesn't like the fact that the government is pressuring Rhymer to write a certain way. However, that's only speculation on my part.

The fact though remains that Flynn seems to be overacting and saying things totally out her character, such as, "It really is a good thing (about the scrap drive.)"

Sade normally poo-poos anything to do with the government and most things in general.

Trivia:

+ This is the first time in surviving episodes that the war has been mentioned or alluded to.

+ Rush mentioned that he had spent 20 minutes with Nicer this day and had already made nine marks in his little black book. He even gave Nicer a mark in the book for tying his shoe.

+ Rush speculates that a story of Nicer Scott's Uncle Ralph might be untrue: the man was so insane about a woman in Ohio that he said he'd disown his own grandfather for her - and he did, in a ceremony held in Hoffman City, Oklahoma. His grandfather died of grief 20 minutes later.

+ Nicer Scott also claims that his Uncle Harry was very patriotic. He owned the Central Indiana Mid-Western railroad but with a pick and a shovel he went out and removed all the rails and gave them to the U.S.government. He also gave the government all of his tools. In addition, he gave the government 10,000 miles worth of tracks, 46 locomotives and 19 switch engines.

The one drawback to all of this is that it left the city of Indianapolis cut off from civilization.

+ Vic mocks Rush and lists off a bunch of the names of his friends. One of those names was "Harry Phapp," which hasn't been mentioned before. He has mentioned a "L. Wiley Phapp" who works with Gus Fuss at Plant #17 in Dubuque, Iowa - I'm going to assume that they are the same person and going to characterize Wiley Phapp as being sometimes referred to as "Harry."

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

41-12-01 Vic's Trip to Plant Number 17

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic is in a rush because his boss is sending he and Ike Kneesuffer on a trip to Dubuque, Iowa (Plant Number 17) at the last minute. However, the Gooks have visitors and Sade keeps inisisting Vic take the time to say hello to them. He hasn't the time! And Ike is outside wanting Vic to hurry up - the train leaves in 15 minutes!

________________________

Whenever Vic is in a hurry, it seems that it's because of his boss and Sade is always in the business of delaying him!

Trivia:

+ The Gook kitchen has a gas stove.

+ Plant Number 17 is in Dubuque, Iowa. In the past, we found out Gus Fuss and L. Wiley Phapp work there and each are mentioned in this episode also. We also learned, in an earlier episode, that there is the Soverign Saturn Chapter of the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way in Dubuque and 4 of it's members are Cully Gratch, E.M. Blurk, H.B. Slyze and Axel Fungal.

+ Visiting the Gooks are Bert Tyson, his wife Winnie Chugman-Tyson and Bert's cousin, Mis' Geck, who is asleep upstairs in Vic and Sade's bed. It's the first time these three have been mentioned.

+ The telephone number for the taxi service in town is #6759-J.

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

41-11-20 Rush Humiliated on Thanksgiving

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Nicer Scott has been over at the Gook house and notices that Rush uses a small set of eating utensils; something like a small child would use.   The utensils even have an angel on them.

Nicer takes this information, spreads it across the neighborhood and hopes to smear and humiliate Rush.

Meanwhile, Rush is infuriated with Nicer and plans to go over and "wang him one upside the bean." Instead, he has to answer degrading phone calls that inquire if he does other baby activities.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:

Nicer Scott is at it again. He has discovered a dirty secret about Rush and is spreading it all over town.

I love what this episode says about families, and the way that each family has its own unique quirks that no one ever mentions because they’ve always done something a certain way. It can be either eye-opening or embarrassing to have the outside world come into your private family sphere and look with fresh eyes at the way you do things. It never even occurred to Rush that his little knife and fork were unusual, until someone else called attention to it.

What did you find out was weird about your family later in life? I learned that most families don’t put weird-tasting dead bacteria on their popcorn, that animal skulls are not as widely-used in home decor as I thought, and that cars that don’t work anymore usually go to the junkyard, not just the backyard. 

SEE THE TRANSCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

________________________

Sarah Cole said it best:

[Rush] is in a rage at the neighbor boy, who has passed the word among his friends that Rush eats with a baby knife and fork. As it turns out, Rush DOES eat with baby silverware, because that's what Sade has always put by his plate, and he didn't want to make a fuss about it. His struggle is the struggle we all face, or that remind us of what our children are confronting.

Freedom From Want

Trivia:

+ The episode title mentions Thanksgiving. Although Thanksgiving isn't mentioned on the show, November 20, 1941 was indeed Thanksgiving.

+ It's worth pointing out that this was the very first Thanksgiving since Franklin Roosevelt's famous Four Freedoms speech (January 1941.) The Four Freedoms would be masterfully depicted by Norman Rockwell in 4 paintings two years later, including the famous, "Freedom From Want" Thanksgiving scene.  This was also the last Thanksgiving before rationing and World War II, so this Thanksgiving embodied a freedom from want.

1941 US Postage stamp

You could imagine families talking about this Thanksgiving during the war as the Thanksgiving where various foods were in abundant supply.  In the war years, there would be little butter, sugar, meat etc.

The Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor 17 days from the day this episode aired, forever changing the world and certainly changing Thanksgiving dinners for the next four years.

+ It's well known that Rush dislikes Nicer Scott a lot. So, one wonders why was Nicer over at the Gook house to begin with?  The answer might simply be: Thanksgiving.  Perhaps the Scott family was invited over.

I can imagine a missing episode where Rush protests inviting them over, much like he whined about Nicer having to sleep over when the Scott's had company.

+ Sade is preoccupied reading the paper and about a local wedding.  Mentioned in the list of wedding guests Sade reads is "J. Cadwalader Urquart" - reminding one of "Otis J. Cadwalader" who was Molly's old boyfriend on Fibber McGee and Molly (and played by Gale Gordon both on radio and in the motion picture, "Here We Go Again." )

Oddly, the first Fibber McGee and Molly motion picture was Look Who's Laughing that came out the day after this episode aired.  (November 21, 1941.)

Isn't it likely that Paul Rhymer saw a pre-screening of the film (in Chicago, the home of both Vic and Sade and Fibber McGee and Molly at the time) and was influenced to use the name, which he had heard many times on the radio?  Perhaps the name was used in "Look Who's Laughing?"

+ Sade reads that the bride and groom rode away from the wedding on a motorcycle.  That was probably a very funny idea in 1941 but really doesn't seem that odd today...

+ The back of the fork has "Darling Baby" inscribed on it. Why would the fork say this if Rush was adopted at 7 years old? And if the utensils are for a baby, why are they 2/3rds the size of regular forks and not 1/3rd or smaller?

+ Dismal Seepage, Ohio is mentioned for the first time in the surviving audio. It will later go down in Vic and Sade lore more than places like Grovelman, South Carolina and East Brain, Oregon.

+ It's mentioned that Mr. and Mrs. John M. Weeper lives on South Center Street.  They held the wedding party that Sade read about in the paper.

+ This episode didn't just occur on Thanksgiving, but on the very first Thansgiving that those in the United States observe.

Sade mixes up her metaphors: {{{HEAR}}}

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

41-10-10 Fred's Tires

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Fred Stembottom makes it known to Sade that the Stembottoms want a new tire as their gift from the Gooks for Christmas. As a matter of fact, Fred is apparently spreading it around everywhere that they want new tires and Sade has totaled up the number of new tires to be five.

Sade doesn't think it's right to ask for tires because Ruthie will be left out of having Christmas fun.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Here we see Fred Stembottom at his very worst – trying to scam his wife out of fun Christmas presents for utilitarian purposes. Vic is right – Fred Stembottom is a baboon. Maybe it’s a long con to get rich on the black market and be able to shower Ruthie with the presents she wants! Then again, maybe Fred isn’t that smart or insightful…

SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

________________________

I find this episode to be totally ironic on a few counts. First of all, rubber was already in short supply in October 1941 (the time of this episode) due to Lend-Lease, a subject I wrote about about not too long ago in this blog.

Dec. 12, 1941, Ottawa Citizen

Secondly, in 2 months and 2 days time from this episode's debut, new tires would no longer be sold on the open market until World War II was over. All rubber manufacturers were using their production then for the war effort. The only tires you could buy were used tires (and it's probable many of those were given to the U.S. Government in scrap drives.) As Rush points out, in October 1941, a used car tire might sell for $2-3. By December 12th, 1941, the price probably escalated to 4 to 5 times that amount, although I could find no advertisements in newspapers to back up that claim.

The five tires Fred and Ruthie would receive at Christmas would have been worth a small fortune on the black market. Assume a brand new tire would be $20-25 after the attack on Pearl Harbor - and five would be worth about $125. And since we are talking a full set plus a spare, we might even be talking about $150. $150 was a lot of money in 1941.

Now, consider a brand new Cadillac cost $1000 in 1941. Hence, $150 in 1941 is equivalent today to about $5000 as far as spending goes (if my economic assumptions are correct.)  Sade may poo-poo Fred's wants but it appears as though Fred Stembottom was a genius!

Trivia:

+ Salt and matches are two items Sade wants Rush to get at the store. Those two items were also among the items he was to get at the store in this episode. They were also on the grocery list that Bess wrote on top of her letter in this episode.

+ Fred has a brother in Oklahoma.

Sade imitates Fred and his laugh: {{{HEAR}}}

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

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.

________________________

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}}}

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

41-07-xx Fred's Concrete Partition

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Fred Stembottom calls Sade and the couples make a date to play "500." Fred invites Rush to come along as well. Vic suddenly smells a rat when Sade says Fred was laughing the whole time on the phone and tells Sade to have Vic bring his overalls.

Come to find out, Fred, who had one time invited Vic over to play "500" and tricked him into helping change four flat tires, needs a concrete partition removed in the cellar and wants Vic to help him do the job.

________________________

From everything we have gathered so far on the show, Fred is not really liked that much by Vic to begin with. As a matter of fact, Fred may be the person Vic cares about the least on the program, along with his brother-in-law, Walter Helfer.

The fact that Fred pulled a similar stunt before had Vic on his guard.

This is one of those inconsequential episodes; there's really not much going on. We do get more insight into Fred's psyche I think but there's little else.

Trivia:

+ Toward the end of the episode, Uncle Fletcher calls and asks before he comes over. This is odd because he's never called before about coming over, he simply shows up (sometimes with guests.)

Uncle Fletcher's phone call ends up being the excuse Vic gives Fred over the telephone for the Gooks not coming over. However, we can assume the telephone call is actually a tiny MacGuffin as Fletcher has always come over at will without ever calling.

Recall that writer Paul Rhymer used another MacGuffin in a previous episode, 41-01-24 Mr. Ruebush Has to Wait.

+ When Vic and Sade are seeking an excuse to beg off of going over to Fred and Ruthie's house, Rush chimes in with an idea (edited): {{{HEAR}}}

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

41-06-03 Hammock

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Sade: Our family's always been unlucky with hammocks.

Rush ponders if he should try once again to become friends with rival Nicer Scott so that he may enjoy the luxury of two trees that are in his backyard; Uncle Fletcher has loaned Rush the use of a hammock and the only convenient place to hang it is the Scott's backyard.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Rush talks through a moral dilemma.

A classic Rush vs. Nicer episode, and what feels like a classic sitcom conflict. Is it okay to pretend to be friends with someone you can’t stand because you want to come over and use their cool stuff? Rush tries hard to rationalize the scheme to Sade, and Vic attempts to put his business acumen to use and come up with an equitable division, but ultimately the family decides against it. Vic and Sade have fun imagining the chaos of a hammock shared between two households.

One thing that stands out to me particularly about this episode is the list of Nicer Scott’s friends, which reads like a mirror universe version of Rush’s group of buddies. Scissorneck Edwards, Ed Hoggle, Wilburt Stang, Fat Morris. We don’t know anything about them besides their names, but they sound like a rough bunch of fellas to me.  

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcription by Lydia Crowe)

________________________

The entire episode revolves around comfortable swinging furniture as Sade is hoping to get Vic to fix the porch swing as well.

Trivia:

+ Holder Brothers (a hardware store) was mentioned for the first time.

+ It was revealed in this episode that Uncle Fletcher likes to ride around on Mr. Gumpox's garbage wagon with him.

+ Though relations between the two have never been fantastic, we learn now that Mis' Scott is "chilly" to Sade.

+ Vernon Peggles' Aunt May lives on Morris Avenue. It's the first time Aunt May or Morris Avenue have been mentioned.

+ Mis' Healy was mentioned for the first time.

+ We learn the names of five of Nicer Scott's friends, whose names had never been mentioned before in a surviving episode:

• Ed Hoggle 
• Scissorneck Edwards 
• Bill Veeply 
• Fat Morris 
• Wilbert Strang

+ Sade states that her family has always been unlucky with hammocks:

• Her father fell out of a hammock in Stanwood, Iowa and broke his collarbone.
• Sade's Cousin Robert fell out of a hammock in St. Paul, Minnesota and smashed his thumb so badly, he had to give up playing the violin.
  
• Uncle Fletcher, too, fell out of a hammock; got a goose egg on his head as "Big as my shoe." according to Sade.

🎙 Hear the Vic and Sadecast 078 – The Hammock (11/17/17)


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

41-05-xx Rush, Bulletin Board Monitor

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic comes home from work early in order to do a little work on the lawnmower and presumably, he or Rush would mow the lawn soon after it was fixed.

However, Vic instead lounges around talking over the bulletin board material Rush has brought home to sort out.

________________________

Not a memorable episode but an informative one in which we get to hear some of the unheard characters say things about themselves, via the bulletin board material.

Trivia:

+ Sade mentions she could hear the courthouse clock when it struck 4:30. The courthouse building is on Virginia Avenue, roughly 2 blocks from the Gook home.

+ Rush is the Bulletin Board Monitor at school.

+ Vernon Peggles' bulletin board material included these facts: He plans on moving to Alaska after he gets married; his Uncle and Aunt (James and Bertha Wyatt) live at 226 N. Mason Street and recently cooked dinner for them. His favorite foods are grapes, butter, ketchup and celery.

+ LeRoy Snow's "facts" include bragging that he is getting smarter, isn't afraid of snakes or poisonous insects and has 3 uncles that are barbers.

+ Charlie Razorscum can be seen painting his window screens.

+ Rush reads a notice from the school that states, "Several Freshman girls have developed the habit of monopolising the second floor drinking fountain at the west end of the building. They crowd around and keep thirsty students from getting water."

+ Mr. Chinbunny stated that there would be severe penalties for students who are caught tampering with the delicate instruments in the physics lab.

+ Mis' Engle was mentioned for the first time. She is the school librarian.

+ Rush has a pair of ice skates for sale.

+ It seems perhaps Nicer Scott (recall, he claims to be acquainted with more than 2 billion individuals) may be a bit of a narcissist: {{{HEAR}}}

🎙 Hear the Vic and Sadecast 076 – Bulletin Board Monitor (11/15/17)

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

41-05-30 Five Men from Maine

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Homer U. McDancey from East Brain, Oregon calls the Gook household trying to get in touch with Vic. Instead, Rush, who is home alone, takes a message.

The message: five men from Hunkerman, Maine want to meet up Vic. They aren't from the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way and they aren't from Consolidated Kitchenware.

 The mystery ensues... who are these men and what do they want?

WHAT MIS' CROWE SAYS:

Vic receives a very strange phone message.

This is one of my favorites. We never find out who these five men from Maine are and how they know about Vic. We aren’t even offered any convincing explanations. The entire episode is just Vic, Sade, and Rush being mystified about it. This is also another instance of the number five as a comedy device in Vic & Sade, which supports my husband’s theory that five is the funniest number.

Rush offers the possible explanation that McDancey’s story is an effort to get him into Maine for an “ambush,” and as proof comments that the names sound “fictitious as a horse.” Sade agrees with him. I like how they are so convinced that these names sound fake when they are no more ridiculous than most of the names in the Rhymer universe – in fact, they’re quite tame for Vic & Sade, except for the last guy, who has the same first and last name, and seems to have the middle name “Pew” (I listened to this so many times – I’m convinced he’s saying “Pew” and not “Q”). 

At the end, we get a little bit of pathos from Vic, as he obviously knows that the story of five men across the continent who are dying to shake his hand can’t be true, but obviously wishes that it was. We know how much Vic loves attention and admiration! Although he never had any real intention of going to Maine, he’s still a little sad and disappointed that it will never be.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

________________________

The men from Maine mystery is never solved (at least in this or other surviving episodes.)  One guess is that the five men from Maine are book publishers and would like Vic to write a book - possibly about parade ingenuity - but that's only a guess.

[In November of 2014, I found in the 'Schwarz Notes' that Vic did contemplate writing a book on parade procedure, as remembered by a Friends of Vic and Sade alumnus...]

McDancey, who has written at least one book and a is fellow member of the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way All-Star Marching Team, may have told his own publishers about Vic's prowess as both a writer and as a parade enthusiast. Of course, that's only a shot in the dark but we have so few facts to work with that almost anything is a possibility.

Trivia:

+ There is no Hunkerman, Maine according to Google Earth.

+ The five men from Maine are:

• Ollie J. Yawk
• V. Donald Gicks 
• Q.L. Cunningham
• D.S. Slank
• Erkhardt Q. Urquhart 

click to enlarge

+ As of at least 1940, the Vic and Sade producer was named Charles Urquart (see photo.)

+ Sade mentions Mis' Scott's brother, Erkhardt  (you may recall, he's the fellow with the bed in the back of his car) and notes that he's from Iowa.

+ Sade tells "the funniest thing she's ever heard", but Vic and Rush seem to care very little about her story about Mis' Elders storming out of an argument, only to find she had retreated from her own house. Vic seems to be far more intrigued as to who the 5 gentlemen from Maine could be and what they want with him.

+ As she has said in the past about Mr. Buller and H.K. Fleeber, she thinks Homer U. McDancey is a bit crazy.

Rush thinks that Homer U. McDancey has an ambush set for Vic: {{{HEAR}}}

🎙 Hear the Vic and Sadecast 074 – Five Men from Maine (11/12/17)


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

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)

____________________

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}}}

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

41-05-12 Exalted Big Dipper Day

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

Vic knows that in a few days, it will be Exalted Big Dipper Day. According to the Volume 7 of Vic's lodge library, there is a ritual that must be attended to in the home if no formal celebration is held at the lodge.

The ritual for Vic is elaborate and a barefooted Sade is needed to help perform it correctly. So Vic has Rush read the ritual out of the book.

Somehow, Vic manages to talk Sade into helping him with it. She doesn't even put up a fight.

WHAT MIS' CROWE SAYS:
A very important celebration draws near.

A hilarious episode and, as with all the episodes that deal with the Lodge, a commentary on the nature of ritual. What is a somber, serious, awe-inspiring display to one person is a ridiculous, “heathenish” joke to another. But we all have to put our reactions and our derision off to one side and treat it with respect, especially if we live in the same house with the first person. Sade is giggly at first, but she manages to corral her amusement and come through for Vic. Rush, of course, treats it with delighted amusement the entire time.

My favorite part:

RUSH: “If convenient, station several persons in an adjoining room and instruct them to maintain a low moaning and wailing during the course of the meal.”
SADE: I’m afraid that won’t be convenient.
VIC: No…it won’t.
RUSH: [excitedly] Leland Richards and Vernon Peggles and Bluetooth Johnson and Smelly Clark’d be only too delighted–
VIC: Read.
RUSH: Huh?
VIC: Read!
RUSH: Leland Richards can slop out more low moaning and wailing than any–
VIC: Read.
RUSH: [disappointed] Oh…

Vic would have made Rush’s day if he’d allowed that – and completed the eerie atmosphere necessary for his ceremony – but he can’t stomach Rush’s amusement. Knowing Rush and his friends it wouldn’t have been long before the low moaning and wailing dissolved into uncontrollable giggling, anyway.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcription by Lydia Crowe)

________________________

One of my favorite episodes. The ritual is silly enough to make you laugh on it's own. Surprisingly, Sade goes along with it without much of a fuss at all!

Trivia:

+ Letters from the lodge come in yellow envelopes.

+ Here is the ritual from Volume 7, page 118 of the lodge library:

The Exalted Big Dipper will seat himself at a small table at precisely 11 o'clock. The room will be illuminated by green lights so arranged that large shadows are cast on the wall opposite of the Exhalted Big Dipper.

The Exalted Big Dipper's wife will enter bare footed, carrying a plate of thin soup. This she will place on the table, bow twice to the Big Dipper without speaking, turn around and tip-toe away.

The Exalted Big Dipper's wife's face will be free of talcum powder and lip red. She will see that hands are clean and her hair neatly combed. If convenient, station several people in an adjoining room and instruct them to maintain a low moaning and wailing in the course of the meal.

After the Exalted Big Dipper has finished the thin soup he will be served a small bunch of white grapes. The white grapes will be followed by one ounce of rare beef, ungarnished by salt, pepper or any other condiments.

The beef will be followed by a single lettuce leaf and a sip of cold water.

At the conclusion of the meal, the Exalted Big Dipper will remain seated and ponder for two hours.

Our founder, R.J. Konk, instituted this procedure on the 19th day of December, 1881. He was in Topeka, Kansas at the time and in an address he delivered to the fire department in that city he said, "in hoc ey de burg gee spim spittle dum cluck no but am vip ad nauseum spinch gonk cornacopia division..." 

+ Rush volunteers the services of Smelly Clark, Blue Tooth Johnson, Leland Richards and Vernon Peggles to make moaning and wailing sounds but Vic declines.

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

41-05-08 Landlord's Sneaky Trick

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

The Gook landlord, Mr. Erickson, drops by and tells Sade that he is giving the home the Gooks rent to his daughter Beulah Feeple as an anniversary present. He envisions wrapping up the house up in red ribbon and Rush being dressed up like Cupid to present the gift.

The bottom line is this: he's actually not giving Beulah the deed - thus, it really won't be her house. Basically, it's just another trick by the sneaky landlord but this time it's a sneaky trick against Beulah and not the Gooks.

________________________

Erickson must really be a crumb. While Vic and Sade show no empathy to Beulah, this episode contains none of the usual derogatory comments leveled her way by Sade. So maybe there is some empathy for her, only hidden.

Trivia:

+ When Vic sees Rush coming up the sidewalk he says, "Here comes Raymond Belcher Beirman, the brainy bum from Buffalo." [Yet another reference to Beirman, who is showing up in many places in this part of the series.]

+ This is Beulah's 7th wedding anniversary.

+ Vic says, "The only advantage Beulah gets from the anniversary present is being able to say she owns property on Virginia Avenue."

+ Rush tries to tell a story about Smelly Clark (edited): {{{HEAR}}}

+ Rush tells a quick story about Cracky Otto, who broke a violin over a guy's head and still tried to take violin lessons (edited): {{{HEAR}}}

+ Rush tells another quick story, this one about Vernon Peggles and Leland Richards: {{{HEAR}}}

+ Freda was mentioned for the first time in the audio episodes. She is Heinie Call's sister.

Rush tells yet another quick story about Heinie at Freda's wedding: {{{HEAR}}}

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

41-04-23 Sleep Tight, Mr. Donahue

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

In order to get some sleep, Mr. Donahue (who just got back from Chicago) decides to sleep in the back of a friend's car. The car is being driven to Chicago and back in about 7 hours. When Donahue gets back home, he had to go back to Chicago on the train.

________________________

An episode where not a lot is going on other than Vic and Rush watching Mr. Donahue leave for Chicago in his pajamas.  A funny premise, very Paul Rhymer-like but bereft of funny lines.

Trivia:

+ The man who owns the car is Erkhardt. He is the brother of Mis' Scott. His car has a bed in the back. Ekrhardt and Mr. Donahue are good friends.

+ This is the first episode in which Vernon Peggles was mentioned. He is a smart boy with an adenoid problem. He found a train ticket from Phelps City, Oklahoma to Rutherford, Nebraska. According to Vic, it's worth about $50.00.

When Vic and Rush are looking out the window to see Mr. Donahue get into the back of the car in his pajamas, there's a lot of waving at the folks outside (EDITED): {{{HEAR}}}

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