Fibber McGee and Molly - The Lost Episodes, Volume 1

Fibber McGee and Molly - The Lost Episodes, Volume 1 - 10 hours [Audio CDs] #RA050

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Fibber McGee and Molly: The Lost Episodes
Volume 1

"Heavenly days!"

Jim and Marian Jordan, pictured here in a 1940 photo, played Fibber and Molly on radio for 24 years and also in a popular series of films for RKO Radio Pictures.

Jim and Marian Jordan, pictured here in a 1940 photo, played Fibber and Molly on radio for 24 years and also in a popular series of films for RKO Radio Pictures.

By the fall of 1949, television was making serious dents in the large audience numbers that radio had enjoyed for well over a decade. Though TV had long been fodder for many a radio comedian's jokes, the ratings of radio's more popular comedy programs were starting to shrink as listeners became viewers -- and comedy acts like Jimmy Durante and Burns and Allen were seriously considering their futures and looking to get in on the ground floor of this new-fangled fad, abandoning their radio shows in the process.

Jim and Marian Jordan (a.k.a. Fibber McGee and Molly) were a rarity. Here were two performers that had sized up the situation and determined that television had nothing to offer them. The Jordan's did reluctantly acquiesce to long-time sponsor Johnson's Wax's request that they film a pilot for the cathode ray tube but, having fulfilled that obligation, the team was dissatisfied with the result and decided to stick with what they felt was their métier. Though the floor polish merchants from Racine, Wisconsin would decide to drop their sponsorship of "Fibber McGee and Molly" at the end of the 1949-50 season, they bore no ill will or bad feelings toward the Jordan's; they, like many a sponsor, were just heck-bent and determined to move their substantial advertising cash into the burgeoning new video marketplace.

Pet Milk assumed sponsorship of "Fibber McGee and Molly" from 1950-52, followed by Reynolds Aluminum for the 1952-53 season, but radio's overall ratings continued to droop. Under normal circumstances, Fibber and Molly would have been opening their script for that week's broadcast only to find a pink slip, but the National Broadcasting Company wasn't ready to let their long-time stars walk away -- especially since the network had paid big money in 1948 to buy the show lock, stock, and barrel from the team and series' co-creator Don Quinn. So, in the fall of 1953, "The Fibber McGee and Molly Show" was revamped into a five-day-a-week, quarter-hour program that would play on the network twice each weekday: once in the daytime and once in the evening.

From October 5, 1953 to March 23, 1956 - a total of 577 fifteen-minute broadcasts - Fibber and Molly McGee continued to generate mirth from their famous address at 79 Wistful Vista. Due to varying sponsorship, the budget for the daily series was considerably smaller than had been allotted to the half-hour weekly programs and, unlike the live evening show, the daily show was prerecorded without the presence of a studio audience. Money saving also dictated the departure of many of the performers associated with the long-running comedy program: Gale Gordon, who had played both Mayor LaTrivia and weather man "Foggy" Williams, bandleader Billy Mills, and singing group The King's Men were all absent from the new series. Even announcer Harlow "Waxy" Wilcox was given his walking papers, replaced by John Wald -- though Wald's previous experience on Fibber and Molly's famed spin-off "The Great Gildersleeve" did make him the ideal man for the job. Bill Thompson (as the Old Timer and Wallace Wimple) and Arthur Q. Bryan (as Doc Gamble) still remained from the earlier days and, fortunately, the series was able to make good use of the talents of "Radio Row": Virginia Gregg, Parley Baer, Joseph Kearns, Herb Vigran, and Mary Jane Croft can be heard on many of the programs. (To add a little character variety, the creative minds behind the fifteen-minute shows did give the McGee's a pair of new neighbors: Les and Sally Nelson, as played by Robert Easton and Mary Lou Harrington.)

Don Quinn, the creator and creative wordsmith of "Fibber McGee and Molly", had departed from the show as well; he gradually phased himself out during the 1949-50 season while developing his other radio sitcom hit, "The Halls of Ivy," and turned over the writing duties to his longtime partner Phil Leslie. By 1953, Leslie was the head writer, and he in turn hired reliable scribes like Ralph Goodman, Leonard Levinson, and Joel Kane to assist him in scripting duties; Max Hutto assumed responsibility in the director's chair.

The half-hour version of "Fibber McGee and Molly" only occasionally featured "serialized" plot lines - stories that would play out over two or more broadcasts - but with the quarter-hour format, Leslie took a page from the "Lum 'n' Abner" scrapbook and began to fashion lengthy story arcs to accommodate the new five-times-a-week broadcasts. The longest running of these was the saga of "Citizen X" (displayed in the first three programs of this collection), a contest cooked up by Wistful Vista's merchant community to boost the local economy. Over the course of fourteen episodes, Fibber McGee valiantly tried to unveil the identity of "X"...finally discovering, to his embarrassment and chagrin, that the culprit was none other than his better half, Molly.

Thanks to the talents and professionalism of the writers and performers involved, the show retained a consistent level of quality; unlike many a contemporary radio series that both tightened its belt and overstayed its welcome, "Fibber McGee and Molly" was never allowed to dwindle into tossed-off "What the heck, no one's listening anyway" mediocrity. Though constrained by a tight budget and a dwindling radio audience, the new "Fibber McGee and Molly Show" did manage to attract a few sponsors to pay the bills -- including Tums (with Jack Benny's announcer Don Wilson doing the commercials), Richard Hudnut Home Permanents, and Carter's Little Liver Pills. Oddly enough, however, even the financial largesse of these and other fine merchants made it impossible to do much regarding the McGee's famed hall closet; would you believe that, in 577 quarter-hours, that immortal gag figured in only EIGHT episodes? (Apparently, sponsor or no sponsor, sound-effects men do NOT come cheap!)

On the inaugural broadcast of the five-a-week run, Fibber and Molly's longtime chum Wallace Wimple recited a poem he composed in honor of their new format:

Welcome to Mr. and Mrs. McGee,
Back again on NBC.
As I look ahead It makes me shriek.
What'll you do FIVE times a week?

The answer is simplicity itself: charm and entertain a new generation of radio fans both old and new. In this, the first of a new series of collections transferred from the long-lost original NBC Reference Recordings, Radio Archives invites you to listen to some irrefutable evidence: forty full-length programs that, for the most part, have not been heard since they originally aired over fifty years ago. An additional bonus is their sparkling audio quality; thanks to the innovations of the digital age, these classic shows can now be heard at a level of clear and crisp high fidelity that far exceeds what was available to the average listener in 1954. The result is shows that sound - and are - just as bright, fresh, and entertaining as they were when first heard -- a real tribute to the time, talent, and devotion to quality that went into their production.

McGee's Birthday
Friday, January 22, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

The "Citizen X" Contest Concludes
Monday, January 25, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

Celebrity Molly
Tuesday, January 26, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Tums

Inherit the Winded
Wednesday, January 27, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

South Atlantic
Thursday, January 28, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Sink or Swim
Friday, January 29, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Banking on It
Monday, February 1, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

Sprucing Up
Tuesday, February 2, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Tums

Inferior Decorators
Wednesday, February 3, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

Check and Double Check
Thursday, February 4, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

A Thing as Lovely as a Tree
Friday, February 5, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Dial "M" for Myrt
Monday, February 8, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

In a Pickle
Tuesday, February 9, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Tums

Stay Away From the Attic
Wednesday, February 10, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

Classified Information
Thursday, February 11, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Open House
Friday, February 12, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

There Goes the Neighborhood
Monday, February 15, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

Closet Case
Tuesday, February 16, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Tums

The Old Master Painter
Wednesday, February 17, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

Noises in the Attic
Thursday, February 18, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Movies are Your Best Entertainment
Friday, February 19, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Father of Our Country
Monday, February 22, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

Big Game Hunter
Tuesday, February 23, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Tums

All the News That's Fit to Print
Thursday, February 25, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

Trophy Wife
Friday, February 26, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Peace in the Valet
Monday, March 1, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

A Taxing Problem
Tuesday, March 2, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Tums

McGee's Lucky Day
Wednesday, March 3, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut and Carter's Little Liver Pills

A Mother of an Invention
Thursday, March 4, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Mr. Miggins Goes to Wistful Vista
Friday, March 5. 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Stung
Monday, March 8, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut

Opportunity Knocks
Tuesday, March 9, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Tums

Missed Management
Wednesday, March 10, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Richard Hudnut and Carter's Little Liver Pills

Hard Sell Crab
Thursday, March 11, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Deep Freeze
Friday, March 12, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Hot Air-Waves
Monday, March 15, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Sleepwalk
Wednesday, April 7, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sponsored by Arrid Deodorant

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?
Thursday, April 8, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

Brand New Key
Friday, April 9, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

I'd Rather Fight Than Switch
Monday, April 12, 1954 - 15:00 - NBC, sustaining

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