Fibber McGee and Molly - The Lost Episodes, Volume 8

Fibber McGee and Molly - The Lost Episodes, Volume 8 - 10 hours [Download] #RA161D

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Fibber McGee and Molly - The Lost Episodes
Volume 8

Marian and Jim Jordan star as "Fibber McGee and Molly" on NBC, circa 1954

A couple of little-known Midwestern vaudevillians would seem to be odd candidates to become one of radio's most beloved comedy stars, but Jim and Marian Jordan were welcome guests in millions of American homes for nearly a quarter of a century. Today, "Fibber McGee and Molly" remains one of radio's most enduring programs. Partnered with scriptwriter Don Quinn, the Jordan's proved that outright corn can make for a wonderfully satisfying comedy diet when delivered with a wink of endearing self-awareness by a well-rounded cast of character comedians.

Jim Jordan was born in 1896 on a farm located five miles west of Peoria, and when future wife Marian Driscoll arrived in this world two years later, her coal miner's family had set up stakes about three miles from the Jordan farm. Jim and Marian were childhood sweethearts, both having serious aspirations to be musical performers, but despite their talent - Jim sang, with Marian accompanying him on piano - the "big-time" proved to be an elusive goal. Jim would often have to turn to various jobs to supplement their meager performers' income and, with the arrival of daughter Kathryn and son James, Jr., he would be required to travel far from his little family to secure work in his chosen field - a field that reaped very little financial benefit for the burgeoning Jordan clan.

In 1925, radio was still in its infancy, but it provided valuable performing experience for entertainers who were fortunate enough to get in on the ground floor...and were, of course, willing to work for starvation wages. Had it not been for the fledgling medium, Jim and Marian might have continued on in obscurity as strictly small-town vaudevillians...but, while visiting in Chicago, Jim had made a $10.00 wager with his brother that he and Marian could do a much better job of singing than the performers he heard at a small-time radio station. This provided the impetus for the couple to audition for WIBO...and be hired for the princely sum of $10.00 a week. Two years later, they moved to WENR, a larger station, which helped them expand their horizons beyond music and into both comedic and dramatic acting. Much of their WENR work, in fact, provided a blueprint for their later success as Fibber McGee & Molly: Jim, for example, introduced an elderly tall-tale telling codger named Luke on the station's "Luke and Mirandi" farm program -- a character that would later develop into Wistful Vista's beloved bumbler, Fibber McGee. (Marian played Mirandi, an early prototype of Fibber and Molly's Mrs. Wearybottom.) The couple also appeared on a domestic comedy serial entitled "The Smith Family," in which Marian's characterization of an Irish wife was later adopted for Molly McGee. In addition, "The Smith Family" featured a running gag in which a living room couch was bedeviled by a loose spring - a comedic touch that would later be the inspiration for McGee's famed hall closet. While at WENR, the Jordan's also made the acquaintance of cartoonist-illustrator Don Quinn - a man who would play a large role in their future fortunes.

In 1931, the Jordan's moved to Chicago's WMAQ, a high-powered station owned and operated by NBC. Now making $200.00 a week, the couple were the stars of "Smackout," a five-a-week comedy skit program written by Don Quinn in which Jim's Luke character was resurrected in the guise of a grizzled grocery store proprietor who was always "smack out" of everything. For her part, Marian created a pesky child named "Teeny", who took delicious delight in unraveling Luke's homespun yarns. Henrietta Johnson, wife of advertising executive John J. Lewis, was an ardent fan of the program and soon convinced her husband that the Jordan's would be ideal choices for a show that the Johnson Wax Company was eager to put on the air. With the contribution of some scripts by Quinn, Lewis auditioned Jim and Marian and the couple was hired -- with a raise to $250.00 a week.

"Fibber McGee & Molly" premiered on April 16, 1935 and, as Jim later observed, he and Marian were fortunate to have signed a twenty-six week contract: "If we had been on for thirteen weeks I'm sure we would have been off by the end of thirteen weeks." Though the show's ratings were anemic at the start, they slowly developed a following. A move to a more favorable time slot on Tuesday nights a few years later proved even more beneficial and, by the 1940s, Jim and Marian were "must-listen radio" -- the stars of one of four comedy shows that were in constant competition for radio's top spot (the others being those of Jack Benny, Bob Hope and Bergen & McCarthy).

Fans of classic radio are well aware that many programs from the Golden Age simply did not survive the ravages of time and neglect. But "Fibber McGee & Molly" was one of the luckier shows thanks to the S.C. Johnson Company, whose devotion to the program gave them the foresight to hang on to most of the original transcription discs. (Fibber and Molly's runs for Pet Milk and Reynolds Aluminum have also been largely preserved as well.) For many years, it was thought that the Jordan's' 1953-56 weekday quarter-hour shows for NBC had gone missing...but in this, the eighth in a series of collections transferred from the long-lost original NBC Reference Recordings, Radio Archives invites you to listen to forty more 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 the mid-1950s. 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.

Molly Tries to Increase McGee's Sales Resistance
Wednesday, March 23, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Utters a Joke
Thursday, March 24, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Helps Doc Catch a Plane
Sunday, March 27, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Drives a Cab
Monday, March 28, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Meets a Texas Oil Man
Tuesday, March 29, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Tries to Avoid the Elks
Wednesday, March 30, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The Owl and the Pussycat
Thursday, March 31, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Little Boy Lost
Sunday, April 3, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Looks for his Raincoat
Monday, April 4, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Discovers a Talent
Tuesday, April 5, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

At the Recording Session
Wednesday, April 6, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Les' Career is Over
Thursday, April 7, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The Mystery Movie
Sunday, April 10, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The Shopping Crush
Monday, April 11, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Thinks Parking Meters are Coming
Tuesday, April 12, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Someone Keeps Phoning and McGee is Frustrated
Wednesday, April 13, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Gets a Pedometer
Thursday, April 14, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Finds an Old Unopened Letter
Sunday, April 17, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Molly Insists the Window Be Washed (20th Anniversary Show)
Monday, April 18, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Molly Gets Tired of Doc's and McGee's Insults
Tuesday, April 19, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The McGees Offer to Baby Sit for Teeny
Wednesday, April 20, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The First Day of Sitting with Brother Michael
Thursday, April 21, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Judges a Beauty Contest
Sunday, April 24, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The Noise Abatement Committee
Monday, April 25, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Doc and McGee Vie in a Golf Match
Tuesday, April 26, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The Golf Match Continues
Wednesday, April 27, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The Golf Match Finally Concludes
Thursday, April 28, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The Mystery Ladies Society
Sunday, May 1, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Finds a Phone Number in an Old Wallet
Monday, May 2, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Molly Gets her Christmas Cards Ready
Tuesday, May 3, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Molly Gets a Plumbing Job
Wednesday, May 4, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Doc Gamble Lays McGee Up
Thursday, May 5, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Writes to his Congressman
Sunday, May 8, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Molly Gets Jury Duty
Monday, May 9, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Finds a One-Dollar Error in his Bank Statement
Tuesday, May 10, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Learns About Business Problems
Wednesday, May 11, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Loses a Tune
Thursday, May 12, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

The McGees Take in a Movie
Sunday, May 15, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

McGee Finds an Old Recipe for Chili
Monday, May 16, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

Doc and McGee Fix the Garage Lock
Tuesday, May 17, 1955 - 15:00 - NBC, multiple sponsors

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	June 25, 2022
Reviewer: James Gauthier from East Haven, CT United States

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	May 24, 2022
Reviewer: Matt Ludwick from Portland, OR United States

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