Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was a long-running comedy program on United States radio which played a major role in determining the form of what is now called old-time radio, and also a major role in defining American culture of the mid-1930s through to the 1950s. Arguably the first situation comedy, the show debuted on April 16, 1935.
The stars of the show were Jim Jordan and Marian Jordan, a real-life husband and wife Vaudevillians who tried several radio personae before settling on the characters with which they became permanently identified. The show put a cheerful face on despairing circumstances, and the couple's home at "79 Wistful Vista" (itself a famous phrase of the day) seemed to exist in a kind of neverland where money was never coming in, was always the target of schemes, and yet no one ever really went wanting -- not the truth, but not far from the truth for many Americans of the day.
A typical episode of the show was for man-of-the-house Fibber McGee, a Midwestern small town layabout and blowhard, to pursue some mundane task (e.g. painting the house) or harebrained moneymaking scheme (e.g. digging an oil well in the backyard) while his long-suffering wife Molly indulged his foibles. The show would then be a forum for friends and neighbors to visit the McGees' home and comment on Fibber's foolishness. After roughly twenty-five minutes, the show would reach an ironic O. Henry-esqe conclusion.
The show was notable for employing regular characters, each of whom had catchphrases or recurring gags, such as The Old Timer (a hard-of-hearing senior citizen with a penchant for distorting jokes, prefacing each one by saying "But that ain't the way I heared it!"), Teeny (a precocious youngster voiced by Marian Jordan, usually trying to cadge loose change from Fibber, and constantly quipping "I'm hungry!" and "I betcha!"), Mayor LaTrivia (who would get tripped up with literal interpretations of colloquialisms), Dr. Gamble (a local physician and surgeon with whom Fibber had a long-standing rivalry), and Swedish-born Ole (always complaining that he was "joost donatin' my time!"). Each episode also featured an appearance by pitchman Harlow Wilcox, whose job it was to weave an ad for the sponsor into the plot without having to break the show for a real commercial. Wilcox's introductory pitch lines were usually met with groans or humorously sarcastic lines by Fibber.
The Jordans were experts at transforming the ethnic humor of Vaudeville into more rounded comic characters, no doubt due in part to the affection felt for the famous supporting cast members who voice these roles, including Bill Thompson, Harold Peary, Gale Gordon, Marlin Hurt, and others. "Fibber McGee and Molly" was spun off into Peary's The Great Gildersleeve. Today, the show is best-remembered for a series of catch phrases and situations whose origin may be opaque to many: "Fibber McGee's closet" (referring to the stuffed-full hall closet that would frequently be opened to clamorous results); "Tain't funny, McGee"; "That ain't the way I heerd it"; "Heavenly days" -- listening to these programs today, it is remarkable how much of American speech can be traced to performers now forgotten by most.
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