Book review: Vic and Sade on the Radio: A Cultural History of Paul Rhymer's Daytime Series, 1932-1944

I've just completed reading John T. Hetherington's Vic and Sade on the Radio: A Cultural History of Paul Rhymer's Daytime Series 1932-1944 [ISBN13: 9780786463039, ISBN10: 0786463031.]  It is available from many booksellers across the internet; I provided a link to Amazon.com because I often use them.  It is available only in paperback; and you can also purchase a copy for your Kindle or Nook.  It contains 210 pages.

The book is a fresh, intelligent read.  Hetherington has obviously done his homework at the Wisconsin Historical Society library.  The mention of the library should get your attention rather quickly; it's the place where the majority of Vic and Sade writer Paul Rhymer's unheard work sits housed quietly in dozens of boxes.  Hundreds, if not thousands of scripts from the radio series have been there for years.  One can only imagine how few times these mostly-unappreciated scripts have been held in a person's hand since the series left the air.  The unknown details in those boxes are precious to every Vic and Sade fan, because more than 3000 audio recordings of the show were purged by Procter and Gamble in a near-sighted attempt to save warehouse space.  Some 80% of these scripts have neither been seen nor heard since 1944.

The book is divided in two. The first half of the book focuses on the Media Context.  For a lack of a better definition, this part mostly deals with  Rhymer and the early days of Vic and Sade as well as other daytime radio during this time.

The first part of the book is the most important because Hetherington has dug up previously unpublished facts about the early days of Rhymer's writing career and of the show.  The book's first chapter is devoted to Rhymer's pre-Vic and Sade writings.  Hetherington points out in his examples how Rhymer seemed to be years ahead of others in the humor department.  Even before the days of Vic and Sade, Rhymer had a twisted wit. You'll enjoy reading about his "Fascination for disfigurement".  Also noted are some of Rhymer's early commercial writings for the soda pop, Orange Crush, where he also seemed to be decades ahead of his time.  This chapter of the book is important; until now, there was almost nothing of note written on the subject.

Hetherington takes a good look at the first week or so of the show.  Research reveals that during this time period, Vic and Sade was probably not very exciting to say the least, and as Hetherington points out, the show was "cramped".  The author points out how sad Sade was during the days before Rush.  All of his comments of this crucial period in the early days of the show - and the arrival of Billy Idelson - are an important contribution to the lore and overall preservation of Vic and Sade, as there is so little written about this previously.

Radio was the centerpiece cultural item of the time period, this fact is a focal point in the book.  While reading, I had a thought: Why is radio missing from the Gook's world?  Vic and Sade, after all, was a radio program.  Though not mentioned in the book, it appears as though Rhymer avoided the subject of radio intentionally.  The first audition, which never aired, does mention the Gooks having a radio and also an automobile.  Getting rid of the radio and car after that first audition tells us that Rhymer thought the show out very carefully.  The lack of a radio forced the Gooks to interact and entertain each other and the lack of a car made them have diversions close to home.

Hetherington's details of some specific subjects are often treated with two or more episode examples, most with quotes from the script and his own bit of commentary.  Every few times he mentions one of these episodes, he slips in a bit of worthwhile trivia that even the die-hard fan doesn't know.  One of these bits involve Willard and his association with Mis' Brighton, something I had wondered about for some time.  There are plenty of other juicy tidbits, but you'll have to read the book to find those out as it wouldn't be fair for me to share.

The second half of the book deals with Social and Cultural Contexts. The 'culture' eluded to includes the Bijou, Third Lieutenant Clinton Stanley's books, Vic's lodge activities, the Thimble Club and a few other things in the Gook world.  What is presented in this section is mostly new mentions of these things, rather than a laundry list that has been covered elsewhere.  It is left up to people such as overzealous webmasters and devotees to fill in the gaps.

Although Hetherington did cover most of the radar of entertainment involving the family, he completely left out or only barely touched on many of the most important activities, most ominously: indoor horseshoes.  These games were a very important psychological part of many shows, as these games represented Vic's ultimate escape when he was sad [sad = SADE].

The book does not include much about Sade spending considerable time at the neighbor ladies' houses.  Although gossiping is mentioned (at the Thimble Club), Dottie Brainfeeble was one of her very best friends in the world, and though most fans simply cannot stomach the lady or her husband on the show, she was such a large part of Vic, Sade and Uncle Fletcher's culture, you'd think that her inclusion would be a part of this book.  Dottie lived next door for at least three months, from February of 1943 to May or June of the same year.  That's at least 65 shows and probably more.  Yet, Dottie is not mentioned in the book.

While the Gooks played cards often, there's barely a page worth of material in the book about the pasteboards.  Cards were no fluke to the Gooks. Instead, cards were often a central backdrop in hundreds (perhaps thousands) of episodes.  Rhymer also chose the activity of playing cards as another way to show that Vic had no superiority against Sade.  He would often beat Rush or Russell at cards.  When he did this, he would change his name from Vic to "Victor" ("Victor one, Rush nothing!") - Victor, means "the winner" - that is, the one on top.  When Sade would play cards against him, she would drag the game out or simply quit; either way, he never got the chance to defeat her.  He was never the victor over her.

Cards were the absolute glue that forced Vic and Fred Stembottom to remain "friends" despite the fact that Vic obviously did not like Fred, who was tricky, conniving and probably not very smart to boot.  Vic would probably have nothing to do with Fred otherwise, you'd think.  And this "friendship", with it's never-ending strawberry and chocolate ice cream running joke, was no doubt part of dozens and dozens of Gook evenings.  These evenings of games of Five Hundred are barely mentioned.

Much more importantly, Rush was forced to fend for himself on those evenings of Five Hundred.  Imagine those nights when he stayed at home, he would have to endure listening to the Stembottoms and his parents converse about God-knows-what.  You know that he would have not been allowed to participate in these conversations, and this would have shaped his need even more to escape into the world of books and films.  One could have a grand time imagining the hours of conversation between the couples; but when you imagine these evenings from Rush's point of view, you can see how the boy may have been semi-tormented by the fact that he wasn't allowed to participate in the games or the conversations, but only to sit idly by with a book or "thinking thoughts".  I'll just bet he thought thoughts - and they probably weren't very pleasant ones.  What kind of nourishment is that for a young boy or a growing teen, exactly?  Exploring this in the book would have made for insightful reading as well, considering the fact that card playing was the impetus for what we can only imagine could have presented horrendous psychological problems.  Yes, I know it's only a radio program.

Another important subject missing is Rush and Russell playing sports at Tatman's vacant lot.  Both boys appear to have been fine athletes.  Rush relayed how his friends encouraged him on the ball field, something his parents rarely - if ever - did in any situation.  The name Rush can actually mean athletic prowess of a freshman or a sophomore - and Rush was perpetually a sophomore for a while.  Rhymer's naming him that was probably not an accident, since we know he was a master of words.  And these times of social interaction may have been the most important part of Rush's young life, yet these sports moments aren't talked about at all in the book.

Sade became somewhat of a prolific gardener.  She was a neighborhood social phenomena for a bit.  It appears that she not only had her own species of flower - the Panther's Blood - but designed gardens for others.  Yet this pastime is not really examined, despite the fact that Mis' Harris was also a devoted gardener and there's hints abounding that the Thimble Club also had many gardeners.  There is just a mention of Mis' Husher being a sweet pea gardener.

While there is lots of new information in the book, Hetherington did spend a great deal of time on telling us about culture that didn't involve the Gooks, or the show.  While this would seem to be important, I found most of these sections to be something I did not care to explore as in-depth as the author chose to.  The fans I encounter every day will probably appreciate the parts of the book that focus on the show rather than vice versa.

I'm guessing Hetherington felt as though his material from the show would not cover enough ground and chose to fill up the non-show parts with items such as Soap Opera and Serial radio material.  It's unfortunate that he did not dip his toe into the psychological waters of the day-to-day activities of the Gooks and imagine the problems that are inferred, but unsaid, by Rhymer. This might have made for compelling reading, no matter how ridiculous the premise might be.  And even though the opportunity is there and Hetherington did not go down these particular (perhaps) conspiratorial rabbit trails I have presented, that does not mean that the book fails.  It is a joy to read all the new material and is the only Vic and Sade book in existence that provides information about the show in a way no other book does.  I read the Hetherington book in less than two days (while taking vigorous notes), devouring it's contents like I would a plate of tender beef punkles.  By mostly avoiding the information already "out there", Hetherington really does provide something worth having.

While I have printed the synopsis of some of the episodes he mentions in the book (on The Crazy World of Vic and Sade), Hetherington goes into much deeper detail than anything I divulged.  He also takes some of the same episodes that Barbara Schwarz worked with and expands on them with new information as well as some of the audio episodes that you will no doubt recognize.

To boil it down, the book isn't perfect - it does have a few minor inaccuracies and weaknesses.  The book misses golden opportunities to explore new thoughts everywhere, but probably not so much that the average fan would care or notice.  The fact that Hetherington did his homework in the Wisconsin Historical Society library gives instant credence to the work and for this I give him bonus points galore.  All-in-all, there's enough new talky talk in the book to choke Billy Paterson and it's new information that's important when we're talking about Paul Rhymer and Vic and Sade.  The book seems to be selling out quickly in more than one place, so grab Ruthie and run down to Yamilton's and grab a copy.  And a few washrags.