This classic work of American humor was first broadcast on June 29, 1932, and by December, 1943 had a listening audience estimated to number over 7 million by Time magazine. No one knows for certain exactly how many scripts were written, but they had to number in excess of three thousand, and every single script was written by one man; Paul Rhymer.
In contributing this vast body of work, Mr. Rhymer used sophisticated humor to chronical life for the working middle-class white family in the 30's and 40's in a style that can legitimately be compared with Mark Twain. Long before Bob Newhart, Shelly Berman, et al, Paul Rhymer demonstrated the art of humor through one-sided telephone conversations with characters we never hear, yet feel as if we know them.(It is my guess that Rhymer was one of the very first to use this technique, and none has done it better.)
Not too surprisingly, there are still many hundreds...maybe thousands of Vic and Sade fans today. Some will admit to being old enough to remember listening to the series when it originally aired , but many others (like myself) discovered this diamond in the sea of cubic zirconium that was "Old Time Radio" long after the original series left the air on September 29, 1944.
The Bad News:
One of the greatest tragedies in the annals of advertising and corporate
irresponsibility occurred when Proctor & Gamble (the major sponsor of
Vic and Sade beginning in November, 1934) decided that it didn't
have room to store the original transcriptions of the program and ordered them
to be burned. As a result of that action, there are relatively few surviving
audio tapes (at least when you consider that the program aired on an almost
daily basis for over 12 years with additional runs in an attempt to revive the
series).
The Good News:
That there is any organized effort to seek out as yet undiscovered episodes
and to preserve the known surviving transcriptions is almost exclusively due
to an eclectic, enthusiastic and devoted assortment of Vic and Sade
aficionados banded together by Barbara Schwarz and known officially as
Friends of Vic and Sade. It is to them I
owe a debt of gratitude for the resources made available to me from which
most of the information here is extracted. In addition to the formidable
library of audio tapes they have assembled (in both cassette and reel-to-reel
formats), they have a virtual treasure trove of scripts and other materials
related to Vic and Sade that would delight any fan of Old Time
Radio. Access to their library is limited to members, however,
membership is easily, painlessly and inexpensively achieved by contacting them
directly at the following address:
Barbara Schwarz
Friends of Vic and
Sade
7232 N. Keystone Ave.
Lincolnwood, IL 60646
If you are interested in seeing a listing of some of the episodes known to have survived, click on the link below. If you are already a fan of Vic & Sade, be sure to also visit Steve Lawson's page.
 |  |  |
|
Click on the button above to see the list of surviving episodes. (  ; Listen to the 06/30/41 episode on Real Audio!) |
|
Click the button above to go to the most entertaining Vic and Sade site you'll find on the internet. |
Disclaimer:
Any advertising banner appearing below is not connected to the owner
of this page in any way.