Vic and Sade: The Best Radio Plays of Paul Rhymer

New York: The Seabury Press. Very Good in Very Good dj. (c.1976). First Edition. Hardcover. 0816492840 . [a solid copy, but with a dampstain affecting the bottom corners, front and rear, of both the jacket and the book; almost no effect on the book's pages, though, except for a minor stain at the bottom corner of the rear endpaper and the last text page]. These classic radio scripts are, quite simply, laugh-out-loud funny -- and occasionally so insanely imaginative as to border on the surreal. As Jean Shepherd puts it in his insightful foreword, "great reputations exist in the theater or the novel on far less profound and effective work that Rhymer's. In fact, he probably wrote more funny lines in one month of daily scripts than the combined output of five of the leading playwrights of modern times." He also notes that "these works were written to be performed, and yet in spite of that they come alive, snapping and crackling, off the page. Rhymer reads better than any of the so-called ' serious' writers of his era. The Vic & Sade scripts are not only still fresh and funny, but are absolutely recognizable as an authentic picture of American life which persists in millions of homes today." Shepherd is right on the money -- and I defy you to read such gems as "Sade and Ruthie Each Mail the Other a Five-Dollar Bill" or "Applying for a $4.80 Refund from the Lodge" without dissolving into a helpless fit of giggling. If you can resist this stuff, you've got a cavity where your funny-bone oughta be. .