Franklin McMahon (II)

While finishing up the interviews yesterday I ran across some interview answers from Franklin McMahon, who had drawn the pictures for the Mary Frances Rhymer book, "The Small House Halfway Up in the Next Block."

Well, I didn't know this until just now, but McMahon was much more than I ever knew. I invite you to look at his Wikipedia page.

Yikes

I went to add a bunch of stuff under the announcers page - looks like I left it a mess yesterday.  Dunno how that happened!  But it's much better now and I added a lot of stuff.

God bless my mess.

Things may be messy now and then.  Hopefully it will all get worked out.

Working on that dog gone map!  This might take a while or maybe I can find a solution of some sort...

Ted MacMurray the show's producer...

Wasn't Fred MacMurray the actor.

But Paul Rhymer called Ted MacMurray "Fred" all the time, just to mess with him.

Over time, he became "Fred" to everyone.

Conversely, Fred Stembottom eventually became "Ted" on the show - thanks to Rhymer's sly sense of humor!

Pelter Unbleat's imaginary brother

I found out this weekend that Pelter Unbleat's imaginary brother --- was a REAL character on the show.  He was played by Butler Mandeville, who also played Pelter Unbleat, I suppose (but don't know) in "Series 3."

My research shows that he often played in daytime series in Chicago (soap operas) so adding him to the cast would not have been hard to do.

I also found out the names of a few other actors who played real characters, including Mr. Gumpox, who I mentioned in a post the other day.  Cliff Soubier voiced him.  The other actors aren't exactly household names today but may have been well known character actors in the mid 1940's.

I'll be adding those shortly.

Also working on the map - that's going to be a headache.

Blue Tooth under the davenport

In the episode where Blue Tooth is under the davenport, one thing seems to have escaped me until now -duh- and that is that Sade is upset when she finds out he's inside.  The real reason she is mad is because she's been talking about people behind their backs and he heard every word. Did he go and tell the neighbors who went and told their moms?  You know darn well he did.

We know stuff like that happened to Sade before.  In the episode 41-xx-xx Sade Can Keep a Secret, her blabbin' has made others mad at her.   And you know there were other times.

I am wonderin' how I missed this fact until now?

Big barrel of Bibles

Here's the Rush reference:

(((HEAR)))

Crawling into a big barrel and swearing

In the episode, Trial Visit, which I posted today, Russell is said to talk about crawling into a big barrel of Bibles and making a solemn promise.

Well while fixing the sound on the episodes, I came across a nearly identical statement by Rush in 40-03-25 Smelly Clark's Big Date.  There he also talks about crawling into a barrel of Bibles and swearing.

More additions to the left-hand side

I hope to add the following additions this week to the now notorious left-hand side of The Crazy World:

+ Photos for as many of the cast as possible.  This would include multiple photos and maybe some you have never seen before.  These will be under the star's BIO, etc...

+ A Vic and Sade Museum.  This may or may not happen.  Don't ask me what it will be because at this very second, I don't really know.  But I do know every graphic I have ever uploaded is kept by Blogger and I can retrieve it if I want.  So there may be a museum - or maybe not.

+ Just curious, have you seen the Hartzell bio I got from the Lum and Abner Society?  It's comprehensive (look under 'Hartzell.')  By the end of the year, I will have more Hartzell surprises... but I can't tell you about it now.

+ I need to update the nicknames for Rush.  And I also have the nicknames for Russell, so there's another page that has to be done.  I hope to have these done soon.

+ I need to finish The Best of Vic and Sade.  Those are the YouTube videos.  I don't know if I will get to those this week.

+ I may make a video called, "How to use this website."  Or maybe I won't.

+ I need to finish fixing the sound on the first 50/75 episodes.  I hope to have that done this week.  Maybe today.  (I may do that after writing this post.)

+ I have characters that do not appear in the audio portion of episodes, nor in the Schwarz episodes.  These characters - some classic - "have no home."  So, what to do with them?  I suppose I'll put them in the Character site and designate them as having no episode attached to them.  I'm not sure what happened - maybe Schwarz ran out of time or didn't complete her notes but there's a "hole" of characters that have no episode attached to them.

There are also plots to characters I already have that have no episode, so they can't be linked to.  I can just add those to the Character website and somehow designate that there is nothing to link back to.

+ I still want to do a map.  This will be the 3rd map I have done.  The last map was okay but it was too small to write things on (ran out of room.)

The new idea is to take a screen shot from Google Earth and turn that into a digital "pencil drawing."  I will print that out, make notes on it by hand, then scan it.  That seems to be the only way I can make the map the way I want, since I'm not an expert with graphic programs and I don't really know anyone who is or if I do, they don't want to seem to help.

+ I still have plenty of scripts and script episodes to post.  These will be the last episodes posted.

+ I still have 4-5 "second hand story" episodes, with audio that I got from the interviews.  These will be posted, probably this week.

+ I have a Mel Allen audio interview to post.  He was an announcer at one time for V&S.  Although in the interview, he fails to mention V&S!

+ I may put links to all V&S stuff found in Google Books - you can go right to the reference.  But I may not... I haven't really had time to think about it.

+ I do have a link to find the latest V&S stuff posted on the internet.  Yes, my site comes up as the first 3 or 4 things on there but looking under that, people are talking about V&S.  Every now and then, it's something cool.  Be on the lookout for that.

+ I'm going to write a long piece on V&S before the end of the year.  It may be the longest thing I've ever written (unless you count this or my other websites.)

+ There are other things cookin' but I can't tell you.  You'll find out somewhere around the end of the year.

+ Also, I hope to use this blog as more of an expression of trivia I find. Right now, you are seeing me rattle off what I am doing.  I'm sure that's boring.

And the fact of the matter is, I have tons of stuff I have found.  Whether it comes out here or in The Crazy World, it's coming out...

So eventually, this will become a "trivia" website - not like "game show" trivia but "hey, here's what I found out" trivia.  It's just right NOW I am busy.  And what's on my mind is finishing.  I can be a very driven, obsessive person.  GET OUT OF MY WAY!  (Just kidding.)

Now off to work!

Bernadine is Bernardine

Louie Johnson, a fellow Vic and Sade enthusiast and one who was a part of the Barabra Schwarz group, told me a while back that despite Flynn's name being printed 'Bernadine' in several places, her name is in fact, 'Bernardine.'

After some research, I see he's right.   The problem is "Bernadine" must be printed in my website at least 500 times.

I've changed each one up to 1941.  I'll try and change a year every day until I am finished (or at least by the end of the week.)

You see?  This job is never ending.  There are other names that are spelled wrongly too (or differently from the scripts:)
Rhymer - Donohoe    Me - Donahue
Rhymer - Trogle        Me - Trogel
Rhymer - Jordal        Me - Jordle

And there are about 500 more.  I don't know how many I will wind up fixing.  Right now, the only important one to fix is 'Bernardine.'

Ta-da! Interviews all done

With the recent completion of Johnny Coons and dividing his interview up properly, I have completed this big step!

Franklin McMahon

The illustrator for the Mary Frances Rhymer book of scripts answered a couple of questions in an interview.

You can find his stuff at The Crazy World under Announcers. You might find him easier though by going to OTR Audio Interviews.

Interview up for Ed Roberts

The interview is up and dispersed for Ed Roberts. You can find him under Announcers. Not much more to go.

Bugged

None of the interviewed cast, announcers or special guests in 2 to 3 hours of commercial-free interviews remembers David Whitehouse's name. He's barely mentioned at all. That bugs me.

Another round of Hartzell questions

Added another Hartzell interview (some of the questions Bill Idelson and he shared the answer) and since he talked a bunch about Rhymer, added his answer to a Rhymer page. If I am not finished today, I'll certainly be finished by tomorrow morning.

Announcer Bob Brown's interview

Announcer Bob Brown's interview has now been uploaded and you can find out his thoghts on the show and especially his thoughts about Rhymer.

His complete offering is under "announcers" on the Crazy World but he's easier to find at thet OTR Interview site.

Left-hand side Rhymer

Now includes 4 interview pieces with Jean Shepard.

More on the way!

A real question; if I can't ask you (the reader) who can I ask?

I have bits of information about real people's names and occupations from whom characters on the show were patterned after. I don't have a lot of names, but some. Is this something I need to keep track of? Something that needs to be shared? Is it worth sharing? Does it mean anything to you? There probably isn't enough information in this area to bother with... But isn't all information important?

Providence

It was pretty difficult to work yesterday as I was very tired.  But after a good night's sleep, I hope to make a lot of progress today.

I still got quite a bit done yesterday.

After the interview stuff is done, it's off to more projects for the website.  There are probably 10 more large projects to do.

I had something HUGE prepared for the end of the year.  Unfortunately, I've had little response from those I have asked to help.  So the HUGE thing will be more tempered.  But that's okay.  I think what I am providing here and what the others who have done me the honor of replying to my emails, it going to still be something to be quite proud of.

There are so many things to share with all of you Vic and Sade fans and I am very excited about doing so.  Every little bit I learn about the show is a thrill.  Every time I can add another "horse" - to me that's FUN!  Every new character or story that's accumulated - each piece of the puzzle - that's just something I really enjoy.

It's really funny to me that here I am doing THIS and there were other people doing the same thing before me.  I only wish I had known before I spent countless hours of my own time going though everything.  But now we have two separate records and I can look at each and find things that don't match.   Surprisingly, other than spelling, you'd be shocked at just how they have matched up.

The notes I have on the stuff from the U of W library though is the real gem, because otherwise, they would have just sat there in some homes of older people.  I can imagine that stuff being thrown away as I sit here and type because someone had died and their kids had thrown it away.

It's providence that has me sitting at a keyboard sharing this stuff with you.  There's a reason why *I* was doing the same thing the others were doing.  I can imagine the Vic and Sade group sitting around thinking about how to put this stuff on the internet.  There is so much work involved.  Even if there are 10 people.

Here it is, almost November and I am thankful that I have the opportunity to do this!

Now, off to work!

As always, check back here and Twitter for updates.

Virtually every legitimate name on the series

The legitimate names on the series, not the crazy names, came from real people - who lived in Bloomington or elsewhere. NBC employees' names were used extensively on the series.

Graphic I left out this in this morning's post

I'm going to show the graphic I left out in the earlier post at The Crazy World.  It may not make any sense to you (I tried to say things without actually saying them.)

Making the graphic makes me realize how deep in the gutter my mind is.  {blush}

No offense to anyone but you'll probably not decypher the graphic.  I could have made it much easier to understand but... I... didn't...

click to enlarge

Ignore the "imagined photos" in this graphic - it's the occupations and where they live that are important for those 2 characters.

Second Lieutenant Womble

Have you ever heard of Second Lieutenant Womble? There actually was a character by that name in Vic and Sade and he preceded Third Lieutenant Clinton Stanley. Yes, he was a fictional book character. Yes, Rush read for those books. What happened was, each character was named after a show producer. Womble was around from the early years and then Clint Stanley came along in the late 1930's. Since there was already a 2nd Lieutenant, Rhymer made Stanley a 3rd Lieutenant, a fictional rank. Now you know!

Pass the bagels

Yes, I admit it. I stayed up all night.

I got quite a bit accomplished too. Although at one point I got so sleepy I had to do other junk to stay awake.

I just had a bagel but I hurt my teeth crunching down on a padlock. That's the last time I eat locks and bagels.

But seriously, I've got a ton of stuff to do. If you could see my desk, you'd feel sorry for me. Notes scattered everywhere!

By the way, There was nothing but good that came out of listening and capturing all of those Vic and Sade interviews, yesterday. I not only got the sound clips (probably 100 or more) but I took notes the whole time, I really got a lot of material that I didn't have. I can't wait to share it all with you.

The posting this morning about Howard the horse from Jean Shepard is just one item. Wasn't that a GREAT story?

Did P&G actually give transcriptions to WWII scrap drive?

Bill Idelson, who was pretty upset at P&G for destroying the transcription disks of Vic and Sade material, seems to avoid something that was brought up on a show I heard (where he was not a guest.) A talk show claimed the transcription disks from P&G were made of metal (which transcription disks sometimes were) and were not "destroyed" so much as given up in a World War II scrap drive - oddly enough, Idelson starred in a Vic and Sade show about the scrap drive during the war. How's that for irony. Idelson did say in an interview that a full week's worth of disks were saved of the show. Here's guessing this was from 1944, when we have all the Mis' Keller-Harry Feedburn about to get married episodes. And Rush is not even on the series then. Wonk, wonk, wonk.

Questions raised in my own head after interview-listening

After listening to all of the interviews today (I guess now it would be "yesterday") I realized how ill-informed the interviewers were in the 1970's. This was a product of -I BELIEVE- there only being 12 known recordings at the time available. I felt sorry for them. But it made me think of questions I would ask Idelson, Flynn and Hartzell: Did Rhymer have a background in Freemasonry? Whatever happened to Mis' Fisher, the busybody so prominent in the very early episodes? Whatever happened to the Drummond family? How did Rush and Nicer get to be enemies? Why is David Whitehouse so forgotten? (None of the cast could remember his name in any interview and he was rarely spoken about.) Why did the continuity of the show change dramatically when Rush joined the Navy? (He did JOIN by the way.) Forget appearances and forget movements - was Rhymer a little like Groucho Marx in terms of his fearlessness? (I honestly believe he was.) These are just a few Q's I'd have. Well... back to work.

7-8 new episodes found (sort of)

Via audio, found some gist of a a few episodes, some, quite funny. These will be uploaded (with audio from those interviews) over the next few days.

Bern Flynn audio galore

Spent a good amount of time separating the Flynn audio interviews that exist, by question. Not every single one but 9 of every 10. Then I took them and divided them up into: all Flynn, Flynn talks about Idelson, Flynn talks about Van Harvey and Flynn talks about Rhymer. These can all be found on the left hand side of The Crazy World, under the specific person (in other words, Flynn's audio portions that pertain to Rhymer are on the Rhymer page.) Now, on to Idelson!

Updated Answers

Updated the answers page. Finally found the audio about Carberry being Carlyle and Walter/Bess/Rhymer.

Writing here everyday

I'm gonna try and write here everyday.  I am constantly finding out little bits of trivia - and I want to have a place to pass that on.  This will be that place.

This will also serve as a place where I can relay notes about The Crazy World of Vic and Sade, which is in a pleasant metamorphesis right now, growing by leaps and bounds and it's "look" is changing, hopefully for the better.  I apologize if you hate change but I like change and I like to change the headers now and then.  I also like messing with the colors, etc.  But hopefully, I can find the right mix.

Please watch this website.

Not just Leland Richards

Hiya, welcome to my notebook!

You know that Leland Richards was on at least two episodes as a live character during the first run of the show (the 'first series'.).  There were other friends of Rush and Russell also on the show during this same time period.  Blue Tooth Johnson was also scheduled to be a guest for a week.

As a matter of fact, it appears that many of the friends were to be on the show, all being there for a week each.

However, the only surviving episodes (audio or otherwise) appears to be the two with Leland.