Fibber McGee and Molly

Fibber McGee and Molly

Jim and Marian Jordan, better known as Fibber McGee and Molly were two very important people of their time as well as two very important people to broadcasting as a whole. The impact made on America by the couple was great. The Fibber McGee and Molly show, as well as other shows that the couple were featured on, amused numbers of people throughout the country and influenced many more.

Marian Jordan, previously Marian Driscoll, was born in Peoria Illinois to a coal mining family. She spent most of her time in the church, teaching and singing in the choir. It was during this time that she met Jim Jordan, who was a fellow Peoria native. The two quickly fell in love and became childhood sweethearts. Jim left Illinois for a period of time to fight in World War I; upon his return in 1918 the two were married. The two lived a modest life working odd jobs in attempt of making enough money to support their family, which now also consisted of two children.

In the 1930’s radio was beginning to hit the height of its popularity. Because of the Depression people found that they were without excess in terms of money therefore cheaper forms of entertainment became very popular. Radio was wonderful because it could bring many different types of entertainment. People could follow sports through the radio, which many did. It was not uncommon for people to gather around the radio and listen to the Yankees game being broadcast. People could keep up to date with current affairs thanks to the news broadcasts that aired. This was very important at this time due to the impending problems that were taking place in Europe. “Fireside Chats” were broadcast by President Roosevelt as a way to keep the people of America informed on many things that were happening in the country. President Roosevelt discussed a number of topics including The New Deal, the economic problems, the impending war, unemployment, inflation, the coal crisis, and many other important issues. The Fireside Chats lasted for about ten years and were enormously popular. Americans could turn to the radio for drama in the form of daily soap operas; they found laughs in comedy and variety shows; and even could find tales of heroics in broadcasts such as The Lone Ranger or The Green Hornet.

The Jordans appeared in different comedic radio shows at the beginning of their career. They received a big break in 1931 when they paired themselves with writer Donald Quinn. Donald Quinn was an out of work cartoonist at the time. The three worked together to create a show entitled Smackout. The Jordans aided in writing but the majority was done by Quinn. Smackout, like many other shows that the two were featured in, was considered a vaudeville act. Vaudeville acts were a style of variety entertainment that began in the late 19th century. The show was aired in Chicago and was fifteen minutes in length. It was broadcast everyday.

Smackout focused on a general store run by its main character Luke Grey. Grey was always out of everything in the store that a customer might want so rather he would tell the customers tall tales. Marian offered her piano skills to provide music for the show as well as her vocal skills to provide two different characters.

NBC decided to pick up the show Smackout to be broadcast nationally however they wanted certain changes to be made first, for example Luke Grey became Fibber McGee. As the show progressed, Fibber became less of simple man full of tall tales but rather more of good intentioned man who always seemed to find disaster. Fibber’s wife Molly, who was played by Marian, was a strong but funny woman who frequently teased Fibber. Their chemistry was perfect. Even outside of the characters Fibber and Molly, the two seemed to make a very good pair. When Jim would mess up a line, Marian would laugh with a loud guffaw, quickly disguising the blunder.

Originally, NBC decided to broadcast the show Monday nights. However, at this time CBS was running a show called LUX Radio Theatre which was very popular. This show featured visits from many stage, film, and radio stars including the Jordans themselves twice. The two could not compete with this show and therefore NBC choose to broadcast their show on Tuesday nights instead. Tuesday nights on NBC became known as comedy night.

This show features hilarious sketches as well as interludes for music. The two shared witty banter about current situations and listeners found it to be very amusing. There was one particular thing that would never cease to arise in their show and that was Fibber’s closet. Fibber was known for having a closet that was filled to maximum capacity with his belongings. Frequently he would attempt to open this closet, against the pleadings of Molly, and of course everything in the closet would pour out making tremendous crashing noises. This became something