Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

By Sunday March 26th, 1944, with Easter only two weeks away, Gildy had decided to run for mayor. Naturally, he needed a good campaign photo to go with it. By this time, Peary had become a film star, starring as Gildersleeve in both shorts and feature-length films.

As the first day of Spring approached, Gildersleeve contemplated running for Mayor of Summerfield on March 19th.

Shirley Mitchell voiced Leila Ransom. Ken Carpenter, by then a famous announcer, was the Kraft spokesperson.

On Wednesday March 15th, 1944 during battle, the allies dropped nearly one-thousand tons of bombs and two hundred thousand rounds of artillery on the Monte Cassino Monastery, while trying to storm the building. They were unable to dislodge the Germans.

The allies were having more success sinking submarines. Over the next forty-eight hours Allied forces sank one Japanese and three German subs.

On Thursday at a National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics seminar in Washington, D.C., NACA personnel suggested a jet-propelled airplane be developed.

On Friday the 17th Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying nearly ninety American aircraft and displacing twelve-thousand italians, while Soviet forces took Dubno and Zhmerynka.

The Soviets were set to begin their third Narva Offensive on Saturday as German soldiers began massacring people in both Romania and Italy.

The Germans were facing heavy bombing at home, and all of Europe knew an allied invasion was coming.

NBC’s War Telescope took to the air over WEAF in New York at 1:45PM.

By December of 1941 The Great Gildersleeve was such a hit that Kraft ordered thirteen weeks of repeats for eight more west-coast NBC stations to air Thursdays at 6:30PM beginning in January. The program would now air on sixty total NBC stations.

Summerfield was a pleasant slice of rural Americana. Most of the action took place in an eight-block area. There was a city park with an old-fashioned bandstand and a large reservoir that would soon come to play a major role. On October 18th, 1942 Gildersleeve would be appointed water commissioner, beginning an illustrious career that might be described as doing nothing at all.

The Great Gildersleeve’s rating cracked the top fifty in the first year. It rose to twenty-fourth in 1943, and by November it was pulling an 18.1. In the middle of March 1944 it was up to 19 points, good for fifth overall on Sundays.

On March 12th at 6:30PM eastern time, The Great Gildersleeve took to the air with an episode on the importance of registering to vote.

In his early twenties, Walter Tetley was already a radio veteran, having worked on The Children’s Hour, The Fred Allen Show, Raising Junior, and many other programs. As Leroy, he was a perfect deflater of Gildy’s tender ego. "Are you kiddin’?” he would snarl, bringing out the inevitable Gildersleeve retort—“Leee-eee-roy!” To Leroy, Gildy was simply “Unk,” a guy whose performance was usually out-stripped by his intentions. "What a character!” Leroy would bleat as he caught his uncle in the fib of the week. He later worked with Phil Harris and Alice Faye.

By 1944, then thirty-seven, Lurene Tuttle was one of the most versatile actresses on the air, capable of playing any part that required any age, and almost any dialect.

Lilian Randolph played Birdie Lee Coggins, housekeeper and voice of reason.

Of note, this recording came courtesy of the Armed Forces Radio Service. At this time, Howard Duff, still an unknown actor, was working for the AFRS and recutting many shows to get them on the air for enlisted servicemen around the world.

Hal Peary was born Harrold José de Faria to Portuguese parents on July 25th, 1908. He was fourteen when, in January of 1923, he made his radio debut on KZM in Oakland.

By the late 1920s he was working for NBC in San Francisco. Migrating to Chicago in 1937, he soon became one of radio’s insiders, gaining a reputation as a top utility man.

In 1937 he joined the cast of Fibber McGee and Molly playing every kind of bit part imaginable.

In the late 1930s, Peary approached McGee’s head writer Don Quinn with an idea for a recurring role. He wanted to play a pompous windbag who himself ran the biggest bluff in Wistful Vista. He thought it would be the perfect foil for McGee.

Quinn was the kind of man who innately understood how to write for radio. For Quinn it was simply a matter of creating Throckmorton Gildersleeve, moving him to 83 Wistful Vista, and letting the fur fly.

Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve’s first appearance was on September 26th, 1939. Quinn knew the value of sarcasm in comedy. It was also later revealed that Gildersleeve’s middle name was “Philharmonic.”

By 1941 the character proved so popular that it was decided to spin Gildersleeve off into its own show. An audition was recorded on May 16th. Peary’s last regular appearance on Fibber McGee and Molly was on June 24th in a memorable scene. McGee and Molly are headed to Hollywood for the summer.

Oddly enough by the time they got back, it was Gildersleeve who’d permanently departed from Wistful Vista. Tragically, Gildersleeve’s sister and brother-in-law were killed in a car accident and he needed to go to Summerfield to oversee their estate and raise his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie and Leroy Forrester.

He left on August 8th, 1941, creating with him a new American concept: the sitcom spinoff. The show premiered at 2:30PM Pacific Time over KFI in Los Angeles, and at 6:30PM Eastern Time over WEAF in New York.

Kraft would sponsor the series. They signed on for thirty-nine weeks over twenty-eight NBC Red Network stations.

Gildersleeve’s first head writer was Leonard Levinson. The character’s long-running feud with Judge Hooker began right from this first train ride. Music was done by William Randolph’s orchestra. Cecil Underwood produced the show and Jim Bannon announced.

Radio legend Frank Nelson, then on twenty-nine, provided multiple supporting parts in this episode. Walter Tetley played Leroy and Lurene Tuttle played Marjorie.

In Breaking Walls episode 148 we spend February of 1944 with America’s top comedian, Bob Hope, as he whisks himself around the country, entertaining troops and broadcasting to the masses.

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Highlights:

• Leslie Townes Hope’s Rise to Stardom

• Broadway and Early Radio Shows

• The Big Broadcast of 1938

• The Pepsodent Program

• Early February 1944 World War II News

• NBC Dominates Tuesday Nights in 1944

• Bob with Guest Ginger Rogers

• The 4th War Bond Drive

• Command Performance with Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland

• Mid February World News Roundup

• Bob with Guest Bing Crosby

• Bob with Guest Carole Landis

• News as we Leave February

• Bob Gets Sick, Is Honored by The Academy

• Looking Ahead to March with The Great GIldersleeve

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The WallBreakers:

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Subscribe to Breaking Walls everywhere you get your podcasts.

To support the show:

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The reading material used in today’s episode was:

• On The Air — By John Dunning

• Bob Hope: The Road Well-Traveled — By Lawrence J. Quirk

• The Spirit of Bob Hope: One Hundred Years, One Million Laughs — By Richard Grudens

• Network Radio Ratings — By Jim Ramsburg

• Bob Hope: The Road from Eltham — By Charles Thompson

As well as articles from:

• Aces of World War II

• Broadcasting Magazine

• The Military Times

• Radio Daily

• The Seattle Times

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On the interview front:

• Bob Hope was with both Dick Cavett in 1972 and Johnny Carson in 1974.

• Ken Carpenter, Jim Jordan, Hariet Nelson, Wendell Niles, Hal Peary, and Lurene Tuttle spoke with Chuck Schaden. Hear these chats at Speakingofradio.com

• Jim Jordan also spoke to Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran for WTIC’s The Golden Age of Radio. Hear these interviews at Goldenage-WTIC.org

• Red Skelton spoke with Merv Griffin in 1975

• Bing Crosby spoke with Same Time, Same Station

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Selected music featured in today’s episode was:

• Thanks For the Memory — By Bob Hope and Shirley Ross

• Ghost Bus Tours — By George Fenton

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A special thank you to Ted Davenport, Jerry Haendiges, and Gordon Skene.

For Ted go to RadioMemories.com, for Jerry, visit OTRSite.com, and for Gordon, please go to PastDaily.com.

An extra special thanks to Doug Hopkinson who provided the Bob Hope episode with Bing Crosby that aired February 15th, 1944.

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Thank you to:

Tony Adams

Steven Allmon

Orson Orsen Chandler

Phil Erickson

Gerrit Lane

Jessica Hanna

Perri Harper

Thomas M. Joyce

Ryan Kramer

Earl Millard

Gary Mollica

Barry Nadler

Christian Neuhaus

Ray Shaw

Filipe A Silva

John Williams

Jim W.

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WallBreakers Links:

Patreon - patreon.com/thewallbreakers

Social Media - @TheWallBreakers

Well, that brings our look at Bob Hope’s career in February of 1944 to a close. We’ll be staying in 1944 the remainder of the year and next month we’ll spend March 1944 with a program considered to be the first spin-off in sitcom history.

Next time on Breaking Walls we spotlight Hal Peary and The Great Gildersleeve, which between February and March of 1944 pulled a rating of nineteen points, making it the most-listened to show airing at 6:30PM in radio history.

The reading material used in today’s episode was:

• On The Air — By John Dunning

• Bob Hope: The Road Well-Traveled — By Lawrence J. Quirk

• The Spirit of Bob Hope: One Hundred Years, One Million Laughs — By Richard Grudens

• Network Radio Ratings — By Jim Ramsburg

• Bob Hope: The Road from Eltham — By Charles Thompson

As well as articles from:

• Aces of World War II

• Broadcasting Magazine

• The Military Times

• Radio Daily

• The Seattle Times

——————————

On the interview front:

• Bob Hope was with both Dick Cavett in 1972 and Johnny Carson in 1974.

• Ken Carpenter, Jim Jordan, Hariet Nelson, Wendell Niles, Hal Peary, and Lurene Tuttle spoke with Chuck Schaden. Hear these chats at Speakingofradio.com

• Jim Jordan also spoke to Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran for WTIC’s The Golden Age of Radio. Hear these interviews at Goldenage-WTIC.org

• Red Skelton spoke with Merv Griffin in 1975

• Bing Crosby spoke with Same Time, Same Station

——————————

Selected music featured in today’s episode was:

• Thanks For the Memory — By Bob Hope and Shirley Ross

• Ghost Bus Tours — By George Fenton

——————————

A special thank you to Ted Davenport, Jerry Haendiges, and Gordon Skene.

For Ted go to RadioMemories.com, for Jerry, visit OTRSite.com, and for Gordon, please go to PastDaily.com.

An extra special thanks to Doug Hopkinson who provided the Bob Hope episode with Bing Crosby that aired February 15th, 1944.

——————————

Thank you to:

Tony Adams

Steven Allmon

Orson Orsen Chandler

Phil Erickson

Gerrit Lane

Jessica Hanna

Perri Harper

Thomas M. Joyce

Ryan Kramer

Earl Millard

Gary Mollica

Barry Nadler

Christian Neuhaus

Ray Shaw

Filipe A Silva

John Williams

Jim W.

——————————

WallBreakers Links:

Patreon - patreon.com/thewallbreakers

Social Media - @TheWallBreakers

On February 29th, 1944 Bob Hope was supposed to be in Mobile, Alabama for the first leg of a tour. He was unfortunately grounded by a cold. Instead, he broadcast his portion of the show from Hollywood, while the cast broadcast from Mobile.

Once able to travel, Hope met his crew in transit, but not before being given a special award for his many services to the Academy at the March 2nd, 1944 Oscars.

The Hope show’s itinerary included the Annual White House Correspondents dinner for President Roosevelt on March 4th. On March 7th, the cast would be in Miami; On March 14th in Jacksonville; On March 21st in Macon, Georgia; On March 25th a special from the Cleveland Canteen; and on March 28th, they’d be in Colorado Springs.

On Friday February 25th, 1944 "Big Week," the allies six-day strategic bombing campaign against the Third Reich ended with a successful bombing of German cities Rostock and Augsburg, as well as several Dutch cities near the German border. Unfortunately, many civilians were killed or left homeless. The Germans also lost more than three-hundred-fifty aircrafts, and most importantly, more than one-hundred pilots.

Meanwhile two large Japanese ships were torpedoed, killing five-thousand Japanese soldiers, but also thirty-five hundred Japanese laborers and hundreds of allied POWs.

On Saturday the 26th, more than six-hundred Soviet bombers raided Helsinki. That day at 1:45 PM, NBC’s War Telescope signed on at 1:45PM eastern time.

With the U.S. congress squabbling, Europe looked on.

On Sunday February 27th, The U.S. Office of Strategic Services began Operation Ginny I with the objective of blowing up railway tunnels in Italy to cut German lines of communication. The mission failed when the OSS team landed in the wrong place and couldn’t locate the tunnel.

That same day, the Soviets massacred more than seven-hundred villagers in Chechnya they deemed non transportable.

On Monday the 28th, the German 14th Army mounted new attacks against the U.S. VI Corps at Anzio, while also massacring roughly one thousand ethnic Poles in the village of Huta Pieniacka.

Although the tide of war was slowly turning, there were atrocities and accidents on both sides, and neither the Allies or the Axis was fighting a pristine campaign.

Regardless, Europe understood that in a post war world, if victory was achieved, the U.S. needed to be a main part of whatever League of Nations could be built after, while the U.S. didn’t yet fully grasp just how much responsibility the country would have in rebuilding Europe.

On Tuesday February 22nd, 1944 The Bob Hope Show took to the air with a special broadcast for the Coast Guard. The guest was Carole Landis.

Hope’s radio cast from this era is his most famous. Along with Jerry Colona and songstress Frances Langford, the squeaky, man-crazed Vera Vague, voiced by Barbara Jo Allen was tremendous. Blanche Stewart and Elvia Allman played high-society nitwits Brenda and Cobina, modeled after real-life socialites Brenda Frazier and Cobina Wright Jr. Wright filed suit but settled, Hope remembered, when he invited her on the show as a guest.

Wendell Niles was often Hope’s announcer for Pepsodent.