This is a snippet from Breaking Walls Episode 96: Halloween On The Air (1943 - 1953)

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On August 31st, 1941, Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve stepped off a train in the town of Summerfield, bringing with a now common concept in American entertainment: The series spinoff.

Gildersleeve began as a character on Fibber McGee and Molly. The man behind its voice was Harold Peary. Peary joined the cast in 1937, first playing every kind of bit part imaginable.

Peary was born Harold José Pereira de Faria to Portugese parents on July 25th, 1908. In January of 1923, at the age of fourteen, Harold had his first radio appearance at 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 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 the perfect foil for McGee.

Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve’s first appearance was on September 26th, 1939.