 |
Broadcast History : April 16 - July 2, 1935, Blue Network. 30m, Tuesdays at 10. Johnson's Wax. Aired from New York until May 7, then from Chicago. July 8, 1935 - March 7, 1938, NBC; Blue Network until June 1936, then Red. 30m, Mondays at 8, 1935-37; Mondays at 9, 1937-38. Johnson's Wax. Broadcast from Chicago. March 15, 1938 - June 30, 1953, NBC. 30m, Tuesdays at 9:30. Johnson's Wax, 1935-50; Pet Milk, 1950-1952; Reynolds Aluminum, 1952-53. Broadcast from Chicago until 1939, then from Hollywood. October 5, 1953 - March 23, 1956, NBC. 15m, five a week, various days and times. Various sponsors. June 1, 1957 - September 6, 1959, NBC. Five vignettes of about 4m, each Saturday and Sunday on Monitor. |
SERIES CAST: Jim Jordan as Fibber McGee Marian Jordan as Molly McGee, Teeny Isabel Randolph, beginning Jan 13, 1936 as various parts, finally as Mrs. Abigail Uppington. Bill Thompson as Nick Depopoulous, beginning January 27th, 1936. Also as Widdicomb Blotto and Horatio K. Boomer as of March 9th, 1936. Also as The Old TImer, starting May 31st, 1937. Wallace Wimple, starting April 15th, 1941. Cliff Arquette as Wallingford Tuttle Gildersleeve, the original Gildersleeve, first heard April 13th, 1936. Harold Peary as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, beginning September 26th, 1939. Gale Gordon as Mayor LaTrivia beginning October 14th, 1941. Also as Foggy Williams, the weatherman. 
|
 Arthur Q. Bryan as Doc Gamble, starting April 6th, 1943. Shirley Mitchell as Alice Darling beginning October 5th, 1943. Marlin Hurt as Beulah, first appearing on January 25th, 1944. Bea Benaderet as Mrs. Millicent Carstairs. Hugh Studebaker as Silly Watson. Ransom Sherman as Uncle Dennis. Gene Carroll as Lena. |
Jim Jordan was born in Peoria, Ill on November 16th, 1896.Jim Jordan met Marian Driscoll at choir practice at St. John's Church in Peoria.
Marian Driscoll was born in Peoria on April 15th, 1898.
Jim and Marian's first radio contract paid them $10 a show for six months on The Oh Henry Candy show in 1924. They were heard on WIBO, Chicago as The O'Henry Twins for 26 weeks.
From 1925 - 1927, Jim and Marian played over Chicago's WENR in a series called Marian and Jim in Songs.
On WENR, from October 3rd, 1927 - December 31st, 1929 Jim and Marian were heard on The Air Scouts, where Teeny first came to life.
In 1929, the Jordans continued on WENR with The Farmer Rusk, where they met Don Quinn.
On March 2nd, 1931, The Crossraods of the Air opened, the Jordans created Uncle Luke Gray, and placed him in a store called Smackout. This series aired on WMAQ, and was broadcast to a national CBS audience. The series moved to NBC-BLUE with the sale of WMAQ in 1931.
"Smackout" aired for four years, and was the direct fore-runner to Fibber McGee and Molly. Many of the characters seen in the early episodes of Fibber and Molly were created here. Marian Jordan played 69 separate characters. Jim topped her with 71 characters.
Smackout finished its run on August 3rd, 1935. During the "Smackout" run, Jim and Marian also starred in Marquette, the Little French Girl, Marian and Jim in Songs, Mr. Twister, Mind Trickster, Kaltenmeyer's Kindergarten, The Breakfast Club, and Saturday Night Jamboree. The McGees moved into 79 Wistful Vista on September 2nd, 1935. The house was a prize in a raffle contest.
Marian Jordan dropped out of the show in 1937. Her departure lasted for 18 months. The dates run from November 15th, 1937 - April 18th, 1939. At the time, a nervous breakdown was given as the reason. 30 years after her death, it was learned that she was battling a problem with alcohol during that time. During this period, the series became known as Fibber McGee and Company.
By January 1940, the show had a 30.8 Hooper rating.
Fibber McGee and Molly was the top rated show in 1943.
In August 1941, The Great Gildersleeve became the first major spin-off to another program.
Arthur Q. Bryan died November 30th, 1959.
Harlow Wilcox died September 24th, 1960.
Marian Jordan died April 7th, 1961.
Bill Thompson died July 15th, 1971.
Billy Mills died October 20th, 1971.
Don Quinn died January 11th, 1973.
Harold Peary died March 30th, 1985.
Jim Jordan married Gretchen Stewart after Marian's death. He died April 1st, 1988, at the age of 91.
The scripts to Smackout and Fibber were donated to the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago.