Vic and Sade: What's So Funny About Radio's Homefolks Anyway?

©2002 by Bryan Wright
bryan@claxtonola.com

In his authoritative book on old-time radio, On The Air, John Dunning describes the vintage radio program Vic and Sade as a “landmark series.” The program’s announcer Bob Brown called it “an island of delight in the sea of tears” (quoted in Dunning 696). It’s even been said that Vic and Sade was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s favorite program. The program was on the air for nearly fifteen years: through the Great Depression and World War II, but sadly, it has been slipping slowly into obscurity ever since. Even among most collectors and fans of old-time radio, Vic and Sade is forgotten; those that hear it complain that it lacks imagination and find it completely boring. Despite having appeared on daytime radio in the midst of soap opera programs, Vic and Sade was not a traditional soap opera, but a relaxed fifteen minute comedy written by Paul Rhymer. The program’s small cast, sparse sound effects, and unusual or basic plots were totally unlike anything heard on evening comedy programs like Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Amos ‘n’ Andy, or Fibber McGee and Molly, yet Vic and Sade had a charm and humor all its own. Even today, Vic and Sade holds up remarkably well and displays many characteristics of the classic comedy.

Many would argue that Vic and Sade is not a comedy at all. No comic “hero” or “protagonist” is evident, and there is seldom a conflict more serious than a misplaced photo or a character’s annoyance at being ignored by the others. None of the characters in Vic and Sade could be said to truly suffer, nor are any of them extremely clever. Vic and Sade follows the day-to-day lives of Vic Gook, a bookkeeper for a kitchenware company, his wife Sade, and their adopted son Rush. Occasionally, Uncle Fletcher appears, but otherwise, the only voices ever heard are those of Vic, Sade, and Rush. Other characters are alluded to in the dialogue: they may be on the other end of a telephone conversation or even in the same room hiding under the couch, but they are never heard. In addition, the action of every program occurs at one time and always inside the Gooks’ home or on their porch. Thus, the Gooks are never directly exposed to any real danger through which they develop or change dramatically or are forced to use wit or cleverness to escape from harm.

Despite its apparent lack of many of the features of traditional comedies, Vic and Sade abounds in playfulness and incongruities. Vic, Sade, and Rush are ordinary middle class people, and like most people of the Great Depression and World War II they must take great care with the money they spend and the products they buy. A typical skit might involve Sade figuring out how she will accomplish the day’s shopping at Kleeberger’s Department Store with only two dollars and thirteen cents or her delight at arriving home from a shopping trip not having overspent her “allowance.”

Frequently, the conversations in Vic and Sade seem silly or heavily exaggerated—and usually they are. In the episode of November 14, 1939, the teenager Rush explains to Vic and Sade how he plans to single-handedly tear down an old, condemned house in town, thereby saving the wrecking crew the trouble and turning himself into a local hero in the process (thus attracting the attention of girls). Whether Rush really intends to accomplish this or not, we aren’t sure, but the comic effect produced by a teenager speaking as if he already had leveled an entire three-story house is quite amusing.

A comedic effect is also produced in Vic and Sade not only by what the characters say, but how they say it. The speech of characters in Vic and Sade frequently seems exaggerated. Paul Rhymer’s writing is very “tight” and well-crafted so that characters speak somewhat more eloquently than one would think they should. For an early teenager, Rush commands an impressive vocabulary and his syntax is remarkable. At times, the “formal” speaking habits of Vic, Sade, and especially Rush seem stilted and artificial, but when the listener allows him or herself to escape the “here, now, and real” and relax a little bit, this formal speech only heightens the humorous effect.

Paul Rhymer adds to the comic effect of Vic and Sade by populating the town where they live with many interesting and humorous characters. Of course, they are never heard directly and only come alive through the dialogues between members of the Gook family. In the opening dialogue of the November 24, 1943 episode, Sade and Russell (a temporary wartime replacement for Rush) discuss Albert Coomer:

Russell: I can understand how an individual can enjoy fish and I can understand how an individual can enjoy ice-cream. But I can’t understand how an individual can enjoy the two of ‘em together.
Sade: Who is it does this? I wasn't paying attention.
Russell: Albert Coomer. Albert Coomer claims to have a very rare type of stomach. He claims he was almost struck by lightning one timw [sic] and his stomach give a funny lurch and toppled over on its side and ever since then.....

At first, Albert Coomer may seem totally ridiculous and unbelievable, but if the listener is willing to let go of practical concern and believe in the “non-real,” characters like this make the town surrounding Vic and Sade’s home on Virginia Avenue a little more flavorful and entertaining. In addition to odd personalities or eating habits, Paul Rhymer gave interesting (and unbelievable) names to many of the characters mentioned in the show. A list of the Gooks’ friends includes such notables as Dottie Brainfeeble, Ike Kneesuffer, Blue-Tooth Johnson, Smelly Clark, and Rishigan Fishigan of Sishigan, Michigan who married Jane Bayne from Paine, Maine.

Ambiguity also seems to be a key element in most comedies. One character is often mistaken for another, and the audience’s knowledge that such a mix-up has occurred usually results in laughter. The mistaken character must either continue in his or her disguise, or try to correct the mistake. Such a mix-up was one of the long-running jokes in Vic and Sade. Some friends of Vic, the Hinks (with such first names as Robert and Slobert, Bessie and Messie, Bertie and Dirtie, Cupid and Stupid, etc.), always misunderstood Rush to be a girl: Ruth. Apparently they had never met in person as they lived in distant Hooperstown, but in the episode of August 20, 1942, Sade and Rush are alone at home when they receive a long-distance telephone call from the Hinks. From what we hear of Rush’s side of the telephone conversation, all of the Hinks are lined up at the telephone for a chance to speak to Sade’s “beautiful, charming daughter Ruth,” and Rush, unable to convince them of his masculinity, relents and answers inquiries about his weight, height, eye color, hair color, and whether he fancies himself a good-looking girl. Meanwhile, Sade—standing nearby—replies with disgusted sighs, until it is her turn to speak. The episode concludes with Sade willingly answering the very same questions.

Although the characters of Vic and Sade may at times be a bit peculiar, they are nevertheless quite ordinary: typical American middle class people of the 1930s and 1940s. Thus, they are easy for the audience to identify with, but exaggerated enough to allow some emotional disengagement, so that we may laugh while Vic is unhappy about being forced to move his treasured “Sacred Stars Of The Milky Way” lodge items from his own basement to an abandoned barn on Sade’s orders, or return a wide-brimmed hat he has bought because Sade doesn’t like it. In the July 10, 1941 episode, a rather serious discussion over Sade’s finances becomes comic as young Rush keeps trying to explain to Sade that he accidentally broke a china plate. Vic and Sade are so heavily engaged in their conversation that they don’t even seem to acknowledge Rush’s presence, so that every four or five lines we hear Rush pipe up with “It was the most astonishing accident I ever...” and later “No doubt you people are...” and then “Just to interject an important remakr [sic] without monopolizing the conversation, let me say I...” and finally “Now that there’s a lull in the conversation I might as well inform you people I...” Not until the last minute of the ten-minute skit does Rush receive a reply. What is not particularly funny to the Gooks may seem very funny to the listener; we’ve all been ignored at some point and can sympathize with Rush. And yet, the breaking of a plate seems such a minor event that we can laugh at Rush’s inability to attract attention to make an important announcement over such a trivial matter.

As with many other comedies, an open questioning of authority is apparent in Vic and Sade. Just as many teenagers, Rush challenges the decisions of his parents, but (perhaps less true today) still remains respectful of their status as parents. Although he is only fourteen years old, he longs to be treated as an adult capable of making his own decisions and takes offense at being dragged to Kleeberger’s and Yamilton’s Department Stores to shop for school clothes with Sade in the August 24, 1942 episode. He argues he should be given the money to shop alone for his clothes like other boys his age, but Sade ultimately triumphs. In a 1939 episode, Rush is upset when Sade volunteers him for a pageant without consulting him first. After much arguing, he informs Sade that he would have been glad to take the part, but wishes he could have been consulted before being committed to the play.