Fibber McGee and Molly

The Characters of Fibber McGee and Molly:
The two main characters were played by a husband and wife team, Jim and Marian Jordan. Fibber McGee was a grocer who just could not stop exaggerating and Molly was the girl who, in the course of the series, grew to be the ultimate in quiet understanding. There were the other characters who very often turned out to be verbal sparring partners for Fibber. One of them grew so famous that his character was spun off to form a new show. And Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, played by Harold Peary, came to life again in The Great Gildersleeve. There was also Mayor LaTrivia, Wallace Wimple, Doc Gamble and Mr Abigail Uppington among others and all these parts were played by actors who were well known at the time.

The Show Must Go On:
Though it was one of radio’s most popular comedies, the show came up against two factors that slowed it down. One was Marian Jordan’s health – she could only shoot in short bursts and so the show became a 15-minute one. The other was that radio was on the decline with TV coming into the fray. Till the end though, the show had its loyal listeners.

Gerald S. Nachman who is a radio historian noted that the Jordans were actually ready to renew their contract with NBC for another three years at the time that Marian’s battle with cancer took her life in the early sixties. During the seventies, “Jim Jordan” was able to briefly return to acting. However he died in the late eighties which was a year before the show was set to be inducted in the Hall of Fame for the radio.