Fibber McGee and Molly on Old Time Radio

The 1930's gave life to several of the most colorful and lovable characters that would grace the radio airwaves during what would later be known as the golden age of American radio.  Talented actors made their mark in the entertainment industry using this old media form as a stepping stone for greater things.

Like many contemporaries of their time, husband-and-wife team James "Jim" Jordan and Marian Driscoll's roots in entertainment can be traced back to their stint as vaudeville performers.  Both Jim and Marian's passion for music and the performing arts pushed them to persevere in what their parent's believed was a useless pursuit.  Their determination eventually paid off when the pair found themselves listening to what they thought was a boring musical act while at the home of Jim's brother in Chicago.  Jim's brother bet them $10.00 that they couldn't do better and in order to win their bet, Jim and Marian went to WIBO station to prove him wrong.  Their on-air performance grabbed the attention of the station's executives and they were offered a contract for a weekly program that paid $10 on the spot.

And the rest you can say is history. The success of their weekly program "The Oh Henry! Twins” sponsored by Oh Henry! candy opened doors for the couple and landed them more jobs with meatier roles.  The dry and witty humor of Jordan was perfectly complemented by Driscoll's rather whimsical portrayal of the characters she played.  Their real life romance was apparent in their on-screen chemistry and this set a precedent for the formula of most of their old radio shows.

One of their earlier husband-and-wife tandems was the “Luke and Mirandy” show, in which the couple played a tall-tale telling farmer and his partner.  This was heralded as the beginnings of situational comedy.  "The Smith Family" was another of their ventures into comedic farce; Driscoll used her acting skill to portray the role of an Irish wife to Jordan's American police officer.  

In April 1931, the dynamic duo teamed up with cartoonist-turned writer Donald Quinn and came up with a program for station WMAQ in Chicago called "Smackout" about a general proprietor who always seemed "smack out of it" when asked to procure whatever it was that his clients were looking for.  Marian Driscoll voiced sixty-nine (69) roles during the entire run of the program. She was most famous for breathing life into the character of a young girl named "Teeny" and another one of her namesake.  NBC radio picked up the old time radio series and broadcasted it nationwide until August 1935.

However, what propelled Jordan and Driscoll to stardom was their weekly program, "Fibber McGee and Molly" which premiered on NBC station on April 16, 1935.  The show followed the lives of Fibber McGee and his wife Molly, who was your average all-American couple settling in the quiet but quirky neighborhood of Wistful Vista.  Their witty repartee as well as the many foibles Fibber would often land himself in set them apart from the contemporary comedy shows of their time.