Fibber McGee and Molly

Fibber McGee and Molly
Jim and Marian Jordan as Fibber McGee and Molly in 1941
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home station
Starring
AnnouncerHarlow Wilcox
Created by
Written by
Original releaseApril 16, 1935 –
October 2, 1959
No. of episodes1611
Opening theme
  • "Save Your Sorrow (For Tomorrow)" by Al Sherman and B.G. DeSylva (1935-40)
  • "Wing to Wing" by Billy Mills (1940-59)
Sponsored by
  • Johnson's Wax
  • Pet Milk
  • Reynolds Aluminum

Fibber McGee and Molly (1935–1959) was a longtime[3] husband-and-wife team radio comedy program.

The situation comedy was a staple of the NBC Red Network from 1936 on, after originating on NBC Blue in 1935.[4] One of the most popular and enduring radio series of its time,[5] it ran as a stand-alone series from 1935 to 1956, and then continued as a short-form series as part of the weekend Monitor from 1957 to 1959. The title characters were created and portrayed by Jim and Marian Jordan, a husband-and-wife team that had been working in radio since the 1920s.

Fibber McGee and Molly followed up the Jordans' previous radio sitcom Smackout.[6] It featured the misadventures of a working-class couple: habitual storyteller Fibber McGee and his sometimes terse but always loving wife Molly, living among their numerous neighbors and acquaintances in the community of Wistful Vista. As with radio comedies of the era, Fibber McGee and Molly featured an announcer, house band and vocal quartet for interludes. At the peak of the show's success in the 1940s, it was adapted into a string of feature films. A 1959 attempt to adapt the series to television with a different cast[7] and new writers was both a critical and commercial failure, which, coupled with Marian Jordan's death shortly thereafter, brought the series to a finish.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference QuinnNYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Phil Leslie, Writer, 79". The New York Times. September 25, 1988. p. 44. Archived from the original on July 22, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022. who for more than a decade created the comic antics of Fibber McGee and Molly on radio
  3. ^ "Jim Jordan, Radio's Fibber McGee, Is Dead at 91". The New York Times. April 2, 1988. p. 10. Archived from the original on September 13, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  4. ^ "Fibber McGee and Molly (Radio)". The Paley Center for Media. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  5. ^ J.G. (September 16, 1959). "'Fibber McGee and Molly' in TV Debut". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 21, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2022. one of the more durable institutions of radio
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference BritSmack was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference BritFibs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).