The Great Gildersleeve, Old Time Radio Show, 421011 First Cold Snap

The Great Gildersleeve was a radio situation comedy broadcast in the USA 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 around the character Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, a regular element of the radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly. The character was introduced in the October 3, 1939 episode (number 216) of that series. Actor Harold Peary 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. The Great Gildersleeve premiered on NBC on August 31, 1941. It moves the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve oversees his late brother-in-law's estate 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 (unseen) 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 a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve"); later and during the remainder of the show he serves as Summerfield's water commissioner. Our channel is dedicated to preserving Old Time Radio classic shows, such as this. Enjoy this classic from The Classic Archives! Make sure you check out our online store that contains over 50,000 classic titles on DVD or CD. Our MP3 DVD's will allow you to take this title and place it on your IPOD or another MP3 player and carry it around with you on the go! Visit http://www.theclassicarchives.com for titles like these published on DVD.