Overview

Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve was a popular character appearing each week on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show. On August 31, 1941, Gildersleeve landed his own situation comedy, The Great Gildersleeve, becoming radio's first spin-off. Gildersleeve moved from the town of Wistful Vista, where Fibber McGee and Molly lived, to Summerfield, where he oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie and Leroy Forrester. The household also included a cook named Birdie. The Great Gildersleeve was the first show to center on a single parent balancing child rearing, work, and a social life, and it was accomplished with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's slightly understated pomposity. Radio veteran Hal Peary originated the role of Gildersleeve and performs here in these twelve episodes that aired from December 1947 to March 1948: New Year's Eve PartyAnne Tuttle's Back in TownMarjorie's New RomanceSchool Board ElectionLicense Plate TimeActing MayorGetting GlassesLeila's Cousin Arrives in TownAdeline Is Trying to Steal BirdieGirl Shy LeroyThe DuelAdeline Wants to Visit the Jolly Boys

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9781504705431

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The Great Gildersleeve is one of the most fondly remembered of radio's comedic figures. -- Elizabeth McLeod, Sirus XM Satellite Radio

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Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales on 27 October 1914. In 1934 his first book of poetry, Eighteen Poems appeared, followed by Twenty-five Poems in 1936, Deaths and Entrances in 1946 and in 1952 his final volume, Collected Poems. He also published many short stories, wrote filmscripts, broadcast stories and talks, did a series of lecture tours in the United States and wrote Under Milkwood, the radio play.During his fourth lecture tour of the United States in 1953, a few days after his 39th birthday, he collapsed in his New York hotel and died on November 9th at St. Vincent's Hospital. His body was sent back to Laugharne, Wales, where his grave is marked by a simple wooden cross.In June 1994, his wife, Caitlin Thomas, died in Italy, where she had spent most of the years of her life after the death of Dylan Thomas. Her body is buried next to his. Harold Peary, a talented singer as a child, later went into radio in 1925. He had his own radio show by 1929 and got his big break in 1935 when he was cast as Throckmorton Gildersleeve in the Fibber McGee and Molly show. In 1939 Peary was making a personal appearance in a theater promoting the Fibber McGee and Molly show and casually did what would be his trademark giggle. It caught on with the audience, and Peary made it part of the Gildersleeve character. Peary eventually got his own radio show, The Great Gildersleeve, which debuted in 1941 and ran for seventeen years, one of the longest-running comedies in radio history. He went on to make numerous feature films, four of them based on The Great Gildersleeve radio show. His career in films tapered off by the fifties, but he became busy in television and records in that decade. His last film appearance was in 1964, and his television appearances continued into the early seventies.

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