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''The Great Gildersleeve'' is a
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
situation comedy A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest
spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work * Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...
programs. The series was built around Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, a regular character from the radio situation comedy ''
Fibber McGee and Molly ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' (1935–1959) was a longtime highly popular 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. One of the most po ...
''. The character was introduced in the October 3, 1939, episode (number 216) of that series. Actor
Harold Peary Harold "Hal" Peary (July 25, 1908 – March 30, 1985) was an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, films, television, and animation. His most memorable role is as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, which began as a supporting character on r ...
had played a similarly named character, Dr. Gildersleeve, on earlier episodes. ''The Great Gildersleeve'' enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 1940s. Peary played the character during its transition from the parent show into the spin-off and later in four feature films released at the height of the show's popularity. In ''Fibber McGee and Molly'', Peary's Gildersleeve had been a pompous windbag and antagonist of Fibber McGee. "You're a ''haa-aa-aa-aard'' man, McGee!" became a Gildersleeve
catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
. The character went by several aliases on ''Fibber McGee and Molly''; his middle name was revealed to be "Philharmonic" on October 22, 1940, in episode #258, "Fibber Discovers Gildersleeve's Locked Diary". "Gildy" grew so popular that
Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...
—promoting its Parkay margarine—sponsored a new series featuring Peary's somewhat mellowed and always befuddled Gildersleeve as the head of his own family.


Premiere

''The Great Gildersleeve'' premiered on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
on August 31, 1941. It moves the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve oversees his late sister and brother-in-law's estate (said to have both been killed in a car accident) and rears his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie and Leroy Forrester. The household also includes a cook named Birdie. While Gildersleeve had occasionally mentioned his ( silent) wife in some ''Fibber'' episodes, in his own series he is a confirmed bachelor. At the outset of the series, Gildersleeve administers a girdle manufacturing company ("If you want the best of corsets, of course it's Gildersleeve"); later and during the remainder of the show he serves as Summerfield's water commissioner.


Family

A key figure in the Gildersleeve home was the cook and housekeeper Birdie Lee Coggins (
Lillian Randolph Lillian Randolph (December 14, 1898 – September 12, 1980) was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. She worked in entertainment from the 1930s until shortly before her death. She appeared in hundreds of radi ...
). In the first season, under writer Levinson, Birdie was often portrayed as less than intelligent, but she slowly developed as the real brains and caretaker of the household under John Whedon and other writers. Marjorie (originally played by
Lurene Tuttle Lurene Tuttle (August 29, 1907 – May 28, 1986) was an American actress and acting coach, who made the transition from vaudeville to radio, and later films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's more versatile a ...
, later by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) matured to a young woman through the 1940s. During the ninth season (September 1949-June 1950) she met and married Walter "Bronco" Thompson (
Richard Crenna Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003) was an American film, television and radio actor. Crenna starred in such motion pictures as '' The Sand Pebbles'', '' Wait Until Dark'', '' Un Flic'', '' Body Heat'', the first thr ...
), star football player at the local college. ''
Look To look is to use sight to perceive an object. Look or The Look may refer to: Businesses and products * Look (modeling agency), an Israeli modeling agency * ''Look'' (American magazine), a defunct general-interest magazine * ''Look'' (UK ma ...
'' devoted five pages in its May 23, 1950, issue to the wedding. After living in the same household for a few years, the newlyweds moved next door. Leroy ( Walter Tetley), who remained age 10–11 during most of the 1940s, began to grow up in the spring of 1949, establishing relationships with the girls in the Bullard home across the street. He developed interests in driving, playing the drums and dreaming of a musical career.


Neighbors and friends

Outside the home, Gildersleeve's closest association was with the executor of his brother-in-law's estate, Judge Horace Hooker ( Earle Ross), with whom he had many battles during the first few broadcast seasons. After a change in scriptwriters in January 1943, the confrontations slowly subsided and the two men became friends. During the second season, pharmacist Richard Q. Peavey ( Richard LeGrand) and barber Floyd Munson (
Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...
for the first year,
Arthur Q. Bryan Arthur Quirk Bryan (May 8, 1899 – November 30, 1959) was an American actor and radio personality. He is best remembered for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr. Gamble on the radio comedy ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' and f ...
from December 1942 onward) joined Gildersleeve's circle of acquaintances. In the fourth season, these three friends, along with Police Chief Donald Gates (Ken Christy), formed the nucleus of the Jolly Boys Club, whose activities revolve around practicing barbershop quartet songs between sips of
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlan ...
. Several women passed through Gildersleeve's life during the series, including three he almost married before settling into a pattern of casual dating. His friends included
Shirley Mitchell Shirley J. Mitchell (November 4, 1919 – November 11, 2013) was an American radio, film, and television actress. Early life Mitchell was born in Toledo, Ohio, the daughter of Sam Mitchell & Mary Ann Daniels, Jews who emigrated to America to esc ...
(Leila Ranson),
Una Merkel Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress. Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film ...
(Adaline Fairchild),
Bea Benaderet Beatrice Benaderet ( ; April 4, 1906 – October 13, 1968) was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that ...
(Eve Goodwin), Martha Scott (Ellen Bullard Knickerbocker)
Jeanne Bates Jeanne Bates (May 21, 1918 – November 28, 2007) was a retired American radio, film and television actress. After performing in radio serials, she signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1942 which began her career in films both in bit ...
(Paula Bullard Winthrop) and
Cathy Lewis Catherine Lee Lewis (December 27, 1916 – November 20, 1968) was an American actress on radio, film, and television. She is remembered best for numerous radio appearances but also noted for making a number of film and television appearances in ...
(Katherine Milford). Another woman in Gildersleeve's life was his inept, milkshake loving secretary Bessie played by Gloria Holiday who became Mrs. Harold Peary in real life.


Decline and fall

In 1950, Harold Peary was persuaded to move ''The Great Gildersleeve'' to CBS, but sponsor Kraft refused to sanction the move. Peary, now contracted to CBS, was legally unable to appear on NBC as a star performer, but ''Gildersleeve'' was still an NBC series. This prompted the hiring of
Willard Waterman Willard Lewis Waterman (August 29, 1914 – February 2, 1995)Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . was an American ...
as Peary's replacement as Gildersleeve. Peary, meanwhile, began a new series on CBS which attempted to reproduce the Gildersleeve show with the names changed. ''
The Harold Peary Show ''The Harold Peary Show'' is a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States September 17, 1950-June 13, 1951 on CBS. Some sources refer to the program as ''Honest Harold''Dunning, John. (1998). ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time R ...
'', lasting one season, included a fictitious radio show within the show. This was ''Honest Harold'', hosted by Peary's new character. As with most radio sitcoms still on the air at the time, ''The Great Gildersleeve'' began a slow but massive reformat in the early 1950s. Starting in mid 1952, some of the program's longtime characters (Judge Hooker, Floyd Munson, Marjorie and her husband, Bronco) were missing for months at a time. In their place were a few new ones (Mr. Cooley the Egg Man and Mrs. Potter the hypochondriac) who would last only a month or so. By 1953, Gildersleeve's love life took center stage over his family and friends. His many love interests were constantly shifting, and women came and went with great frequency. In November 1954, after an extended summer hiatus, ''Gildersleeve'' was reformatted as a 15-minute daily sitcom. Only Gildersleeve, Leroy and Birdie remained on a continuing basis. All other characters were seldom heard, and gone were Marjorie and her family as well as the studio audience, live orchestra and original scripts. The series finally ended its run in 1958.


Television

As with most radio series, the show suffered from the advent of television. A televised version of the series, produced and syndicated by
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
, also starring Waterman, premiered in 1955, but lasted only 39 episodes. During that year, both the 15-minute radio show and the television show were being produced simultaneously. On the television series, Gildersleeve was sketched as less lovable, more pompous and a more overt womanizer. Harold Peary stated that the problem with the television series was that "Waterman was a very tall man" and "Gildersleeve was not a tall man, he was a little man, who thought he was a tall man, that was the character." He added, "Willard atermandid a very good job on the radio show" but was "miscast on the television version". Actress Barbara Stuart landed her first television role on ''The Great Gildersleeve'' in the role of Gildersleeve's secretary, Bessie. Child actor
Michael Winkelman Michael Lew Winkelman (June 27, 1946 – July 27, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He was perhaps best known for playing Little Luke in the television sitcom series '' The Real McCoys''. Winkelman was born in Los Angeles, Califo ...
, later of ''
The Real McCoys ''The Real McCoys'' is an American situation comedy starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan. Co-produced by Danny Thomas's Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's Westgate Company, it ...
'', also made his first television appearance on the show in the role of 9-year-old Bruce Fuller. Actor
Clegg Hoyt Clegg Hoyt (December 10, 1910 – October 6, 1967) was an American film and television actor. He appeared in over 100 films and television programs, and was perhaps best known for his silent role as the Sportscaster's sidekick, George, in the 19 ...
also made his television debut on the series as a carnival barker in "Practice What You Preach" (1955).


Films

After joining Jim and
Marian Jordan Marian Irene Driscoll Jordan (April 15, 1898 – April 7, 1961) was an American actress and radio personality. She was most remembered for portraying the role of Molly McGee, the patient, common sense, honey-natured wife of Fibber McGee on the N ...
(as Fibber McGee and Molly) and fellow radio favorite
Edgar Bergen Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Ch ...
in ''
Look Who's Laughing ''Look Who's Laughing'' (aka ''Look Who's Talking'') is a 1941 film from RKO Radio Pictures. The film is built around a number of radio stars from the Golden Age of Radio and centers around radio personality Jim Jordan as Fibber McGee from the c ...
'' (1941) and '' Here We Go Again'' (1942), Peary received top billing for a brief series of
RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
films. ''
The Great Gildersleeve ''The Great Gildersleeve'' is a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was built ...
'' (1942) also carried Randolph from the radio cast to the screen, with Nancy Gates as Marjorie and Freddie Mercer as Leroy. Walter Tetley, who played Leroy on radio, could not appear on screen as Leroy because he was actually an adult playing a child character. ''
Gildersleeve's Bad Day ''Gildersleeve's Bad Day'' is a 1943 American comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas from a screenplay by Jack Townley. The picture was the second in the Gildersleeve's series produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, based on the popular ...
'' (1943) revolved around the mishaps when he is called to jury duty. ''
Gildersleeve on Broadway ''Gildersleeve on Broadway'' is a 1943 American film starring Harold Peary as his radio character The Great Gildersleeve. It is the third of four Gildersleeve features, others were '' The Great Gildersleeve'' (1942), '' Gildersleeve's Bad Day'' ...
'' (1943) centered on Leroy as the odd boy out as everyone around him is falling in love. The fourth and final film in the series, '' Gildersleeve's Ghost'' (1944) had Gildersleeve's ancestors, Randolph and Johnson, rise from the dead to help his campaign for police commissioner. Warner Archives released a DVD collection of all of the Gildersleeve RKO movies in January 2013. This multi-film release includes a fifth film, '' Seven Days' Leave'', a 1942
Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...
/
Victor Mature Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include '' One Million B.C.'' (1940), ''My Darlin ...
musical comedy in which Peary co-stars as the Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve character. A 1960 version of Gildersleeve, still played by Peary, appears in the 1944
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
film ''The Shining Future'', a promotional film for war bonds.


Legacy

The Gildersleeve character was parodied in the 1945
Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merr ...
cartoon '' Hare Conditioned'', in which the rabbit distracts a menacing
taxidermist Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...
by telling him that he sounds "just like that guy on the radio, the Great Gildersneeze!" The taxidermist responds with "I ''do''?!" followed by Gildersleeve's chuckle. The Gildersleeve voice in this cartoon was done by comedian
Dave Barry David McAlister Barry (born July 3, 1947) is an American author and columnist who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the ''Miami Herald'' from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comic ...
. (Earlier, in '' A Coy Decoy'',
Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Me ...
used Gildersleeve's "you're a ha-a-ard man!" line in an attempt to divert a wolf that is chasing him.) His voice was also imitated by actor
Kent Rogers Kent Byron Rogers (July 31, 1923 – July 9, 1944) was an American actor who appeared in several live-action features and shorts, and a voice actor for Warner Bros. Cartoons and Walter Lantz Productions. Career For Warner Bros. Cartoons, Ro ...
in
Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His most s ...
's 1943 cartoon short ''One Ham's Family''.
Elroy Jetson The following is a list of major characters in ''The Jetsons'', an American animated comic science fiction Animated sitcom, sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and first broadcast in prime-time on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as p ...
, the son on
Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
's 1962 animated series ''
The Jetsons ''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produced f ...
'', is named after Leroy Forrester. Elroy is an
anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...
of Leroy.


Recordings

At the height of the show's popularity, Harold Peary recorded three albums as Gildersleeve, reading popular children's stories for
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
in heavy-bookleted four-disc 78rpm record
album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
s. ''Stories for Children, Told in His Own Way by the Great Gildersleeve'', was released in 1945 and was Capitol's first-ever such release for children. With orchestral accompaniment, it featured "
Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" ( it, Il gatto con gli stivali) is an Italian fairy tale, later spread throughout the rest of Europe, about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for h ...
", "
Rumpelstiltskin "Rumpelstiltskin" ( ; german: Rumpelstilzchen) is a German fairy tale. It was collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of ''Children's and Household Tales''. The story is about a little imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a g ...
" and "
Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Col ...
". The second album, ''Children's Stories as Told by the Great Gildersleeve'', in 1946, featured "
Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...
" and " The Brave Little Tailor", again with orchestral accompaniment. The third and final album in the series, reverting to the title of the first and released in 1947, included " Snow-White and Rose-Red" and "
Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
", once more with full orchestral accompaniment. The music was by
Robert Emmett Dolan Robert Emmett Dolan (August 3, 1908 - September 26, 1972) was a Broadway conductor, composer, and arranger beginning in the 1920s. He moved on to radio in the 1930s and then went to Hollywood in the early 1940s as a musical director for Paramoun ...
. Capitol Records brought in ''The Great Gildersleeve's'' chief writers at the time, Sam Moore and John Whedon, to adapt the stories to Gildersleeve's style. In 1950, Peary, as "the Great Gildersleeve", narrated a single 78rpm recording for Capitol of Dr Seuss' "Gerald McBoing-Boing" with full orchestration and sound effects.


After Gildersleeve

Peary continued his career (often billed as Hal Peary) in films and television well into the 1970s; he was especially active as a voice actor for cartoons produced by
Rankin-Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...
and
Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
, among others. He died of a heart attack in 1985. Waterman, who was a regular supporting character on radio's ''
The Halls of Ivy ''The Halls of Ivy'' is an American situation comedy that ran from 1950 to 1952 on NBC radio, created by '' Fibber McGee & Molly'' co-creator/writer Don Quinn. The series was adapted into a CBS television comedy (1954–55) produced by ITC Entert ...
'' while doing his version of ''Gildersleeve'', died a decade later.


Comics

A ''Great Gildersleeve'' story appeared inside of a 1944 edition of Supersnipe comic book.


References


Further reading

* ''The Great Gildersleeve'' by Charles Stumpf and Ben Ohmart, 157 pp, illustrated, . Albany GA
BearManor Media
* ''Tuning In The Great Gildersleeve: The Episodes and Cast of Radio's First Spinoff Show, 1941–1957'' by Clair Schulz, 236 pp,
McFarland & Co. Inc. Pub.
* ''Gildy's Scrapbook''. Albany: BearManor Media


External links

; Audio
The Gildersleeve Project (includes over 500 shows)

Great Gildersleeve'' old time radio show
; Video
All entries for “Gildersleeve” videos, including the TV series
on the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Gildersleeve, The 1941 radio programme debuts 1957 radio programme endings 1940s American radio programs 1950s American radio programs American comedy radio programs 1950s American sitcoms NBC radio programs Radio programs adapted into television shows Radio programs adapted into films