The Golden Age of Radio - Fibber McGee and Molly (1947-48 Season)

Tonight's look at the Golden Age of Radio is the NBC cornerstone "Fibber McGee and Molly".

Fibber aired Tuesday nights at 930pm and was the cornerstone of NBC's most popular night or radio.  The evening began with "Amos N Andy" at 9pm (tied for #6 in the season ratings), then "Fibber McGee and Molly" at 930 (#2), followed at 10pm by "The Pepsodent Show starring Bob Hope" (tied at #6) and the night closed out at 1030 with "The Raleigh Cigarette Program starring Red Skelton" (#10).

"Fibber McGee and Molly" starred Jim and Marion Jordan as Fibber and Molly and with a top notch cast that at times included Harold Peary as  The Great Gildersleeve, Gale Gordon as Mayor Latrivia and Foggy Williams the local weatherman.  Also was the great voice man Bill Thompson who was The Old Timer, Wallace Wimple (the inspiration for cartoon's Droopy Dog), Arthur Q Bryan as Fibber's nemesis Doc Gamble (and the original voice of Elmer Fudd).  These and many many other voices made Fibber McGee and Molly second only to Jack Benny (in my opinion) as the greatest comedy of the golden age of radio.

From October 21st 1947
"Late Car Payment"

NY Times Bestseller List - NonFiction (06/30/2013)

New York Times Bestseller List

Non Fiction

Week Ending June 30th 2013

10 - The Duck Commander Family - Willie and Korie Robertson
(11 weeks on list)

9  -  Collapse of Dignity - Napoleon Gomez
(Debut)
The head of a mexican miners union describes the explosion that killed 65 miners in 2006 and his subsequent fight against corporate greed political corruption.

8  -  Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls - David Sedaris
(8 weeks on list)

7  -  The Guns At Last Light - Rick Atkinson
(5 weeks on list)

6  -  Eleven Rings - Phil Jackson
(4 weeks on list)

5  -  Keep It Pithy - Bill O'Reilly
(6 weeks on list)

4  -  Dad is Fat - Jim Gaffigan
(6 weeks on list)

3  -  Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell
(14 weeks on list)

2  -  American Gun - Chris Kyle with William Doyle
(2 weeks on list)
Kyle, a former member of the Navy SEALs who was shot to death in Texas in February, tells how 10 firearms changed United States History.

1  -  Happy, Happy, Happy - Phil Robertson with Mark Schlabach
(6 weeks on list)  (3rd non consecutive week at #1)

New York Times Bestseller List - Fiction (06/30/2013)

NY Times Bestseller List 

Fiction

Week Ending June 30th 2013

10 - Zero Hour - Clive Cussler and Graham Brown
(3 weeks on list)

9  -  The Hit - David Baldacci
(8 weeks on list)

8  -  Revenge Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
(2 weeks on list)
Andrea Sachs is now running a bridal magazine

7  -  The Last Original Wife - Dorothea Benton Frank
(Debut)
An Atlanta woman returns to her hometown, Charleston, to reassess her life.

6  -  The King's Deception - Steve Berry
(Debut)
The ex-government operative Cotton Malone Stumbles upon a C.I.A. operation attempting to call into question the legitimacy of Elizabeth I's reign and her conquest of Ireland

5  -  The Eye of Moloch - Glenn Beck
(Debut)
Continuing the fight to save America begun in"The Overton Window".

4  -  The Silver Star - Jeannette Walls
(Debut)
When their irresponsible mother takes off, a 12 year old California girl and her sister join the rest of their family in Virginia.

3  -  Bad Monkey - Carl Hiaasen
(Debut)
A defrocked Miami cop turned restaurant inspector investigates a grisly murder.

2  -  And The Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
(4 weeks on list)

1  -  Inferno - Dan Brown
(5 weeks on list) (5 consecutive weeks at #1)
The symbologist Robert Langdon, on the run in Florence, must decipher a series of codes created by a Dante-loving scientist.

Billboard Top 20 Digital Songs (06/29/2013)

Billboard Digital Download Chart

Top 20 Singles

Week Ending June 29th 2013

All In The Family Before It Was All In The Family

Norman Lear filmed a pilot for ABC in 1968, the show was called "Justice For All".  Starring Carroll O'Connor as Archie Justice, it was based on the british tv show "Till Death Us Do Part".   There was Jean Stapleton as Edith Justice and daughter Gloria played by Kelly Jean Peters and her Irish-American liberal husband Richard and his black friend Lionel Jefferson played by D'Urville Martin.
ABC didnt pick up the show for the 1968 season and the pilot never aired.  Norman Lear did a pilot for with basically the same script but this time it was called "Those Were The Days", Archie and Edith were the same but different actors played Gloria and Richard .  Also not picked up by any network, Lear reworked the script a third time with "Justice" gone and "Archie and Edith Bunker" in with 2 other actors as Gloria and renamed husband Michael Stivic (now polish-american) and Lionel Jefferson was played by Mike Evans.  This pilot would be picked up and ultimately aired as the debut of "All In the Family" on CBS in January 1971.

Here is the original "Justice For All" 

The Jack Benny Show 1952-53 Radio Season (Last show of the Season)

We wrap up the 1952-53 season for The Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny.

thank you again to my friend Buck Benny and his tremendous Jack Benny podcast.  Please follow him to hear these great Jack Benny shows and other greats from the golden age of radio.

click here to visit his page

The Lucky Strike Program Starring Jack Benny

"Gondola in Venice"

06/07/1953

New York Times Bestseller List - Fiction 06/15/2013

NY Times Bestseller List

Fiction

Week Ending June 15th 2013

10 - The Son - Philipp Meyer
(Debut)
More than 150 years in a Texas family, from Comanche raids to the present, and its rise to money and power in the cattle and oil industries

9  -  Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
(52 weeks on list)

8  -  12th of Never - James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
(5th week on list)

7  -  Silken Prey - John Sandford
(4 weeks on list)

6  -  Dead Ever After - Charlaine Harris
(4 weeks on list)

5  -  The Hit - David Baldacci
(6 weeks on list)

4  -  Zero Hour - Clive Cussler and Graham Brown
(Debut)
Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala and the rest of the Numa team search for a physicist's machine, buried in an ocean trench, that can cause deadly earthquakes.  The 11th Numa Files novel.

3  -  Deeply Odd - Dean Koontz
(Debut)
Odd Thomas, who can communicate with the dead, must forestall a crime by discovering the three innocent people who have been targeted by an evil killer.

2  -  And The Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
(2nd week on list)

1  -  Inferno - Dan Brown
(3rd consecutive week at #1 and 3rd week on list)

The Jack Benny Show 1952-53 Radio Season

This episode of The Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny ends with Jack trying to tune in the radio broadcast of the 1953 Indianapolis 500.

The 1953 Indy 500 was called "The Hottest 500" due to the track temperature exceeding 130 degrees.  This led to many drivers needing relief drivers but the winner, Bill Vukovich, did not.
 Bill Vuckovich had led 150 laps of the 200 in the 1952 Indy 500 but in 1953 he proved even more dominant.   He led 195 of the 200 and was the winner going away from the field.
This was the first of 2 consecutive wins for Vukovich and he was leading the 1955 race (which would have been his 3rd straight win), but was involved in a horrific accident that led to his car tumbling over the backstretch wall and landing upside down and killing him instantly.

Thanks to Buck Benny and his wonderful OTR podcast that features Jack and the Gang.

The Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny

"Jack Listens to the Indy 500"

05/31/1953

Great color newsreel about the month of May in Indianapolis 1953.  

This covers time trials and race day.  Great film footage.

In Case You Missed It

Just 6 months ago  Jiroemon Kimura was named by The Guinness Book of World Records as the worlds oldest living man he died today at the age of 116.
Born April 19th 1897, he was considered the last man being alive that was born in the 19th century.

click the above article to read the story on the USA Today website

here he celebrates his 116th birthday

NY Times Bestseller List - Fiction 06/09/2013

New York Times Bestseller List

Fiction

Week Ending June 9th 2013

10 - The Fall of Arthur - J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien
(Debut)
An unfinished narrative poem in Old English alliterative meter, written before "The Hobbit", with notes and commentary by Tolkien's son Christopher.

9  -  A Delicate Truth - John Le Carre
(3 weeks on list)

8  -  Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
(51 weeks on list)

7  -  A Chain of Thunder - Jeff Shaara
(Debut)
A novel about the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863; the second book in a trilogy about the Civil War.

6  -  Silken Prey - John Sanford
(3 weeks on list)

5  -  The Hit - David Baldacci
(5 weeks on list)

4  -  12th of Never - James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
(4th week on list)

3  -  Dead Ever After - Charlaine Harris
(3 weeks on list)

2  -  And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
(Debut)
A multigenerational family saga centers on a brother and sister born in Afghanistan; from the author of
"The Kite Runner".

1  -  Inferno - Dan Brown
(2nd consecutive week at #1)

NY Times Bestseller List - Non Fiction (06/09/2013)

New York Times Bestseller List

Non Fiction

Week Ending June 9th 2013

10 - Bunker Hill - Nathaniel Philbrick
(4 weeks on list)

9  -  The Outsider - Jimmy Connors
(2 weeks on list)

8  -  Cooked - Michael Pollan
(5 weeks on list)

7  -  Keep It Pithy - Bill O'Reilly
(3 weeks on list)

6  -  My Greek Drama - Gianna Angelopoulos
(2 weeks on list)

5  -  The Guns at Last Light - Rick Atkinson
(2 weeks on list)  (Last week's #1)

4  -  Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls - David Sedaris
(5 weeks on list)

3  -  Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell
(11 weeks on list)

2  -  Happy Happy Happy - Phil Robertson with Mark Schlabach
(3 weeks on list)

1  -  Eleven Rings - Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty
(DEBUT)
An autobiography by the successful coach, who led his teams - the Chicago Bulls 6 times and the LA Lakers 5 times - to NBA World Championships.

Flashback - Billboard Top Ten Singles (June 16th 1984)

Billboard Hot 100

Top Ten Singles

Week Ending June 16th 1984

10 - Borderline - Madonna

9  -  Dancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen

8  -  Jump (For My Love) - The Pointer Sisters

7  -  Self Control - Laura Branigan

6  -  The Heart of Rock N' Roll - Huey Lewis and The News

5  -  Sister Christian - Night Ranger

4  -  Oh Sherrie! - Steve Perry

3  -  Let's Hear It for the Boy - Deniece Williams

2  -  The Reflex - Duran Duran

1  -  Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

(2nd of 2 consecutive weeks at #1)

The Jack Benny Show 1952-53 Radio Season

From May 24th 1953, The Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny.  This season Jack would be the #2 show behind a resurgent Amon N' Andy who followed Jack on Sunday nights at 730pm.

thanks tremedously to Buck Benny and his wonderful podcast for allowing me to post this season of shows.
Please follow Buck for all the great OTR all summer long.

The Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny

May 24th 1953

Insurance Medical Exam

NY Times Bestseller List - Fiction (06/02/2013)

New York Times Bestseller List

Fiction

Week Ending June 2nd 2013

10 - Best Kept Secret - Jeffrey Archer
(3 weeks on list)

9  -  A Step of Faith - Richard Paul Evans
(2 weeks on list)

8  -  Whiskey Beach - Nora Roberts
(5 weeks on list)

7  -  Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
(50 weeks on list)

6  -  A Delicate Truth - John Le Carre
(2 weeks on list)

5  -  The Hit - David Baldacci
(4 weeks on list)

4  -  12th of Never - James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
(3 weeks on list)

3  -  Silken Prey - John Sandford
(2 weeks on list)

2  -  Dead Ever After - Charlaine Harris
(2 weeks on list) (last week's #1)

1  -  Inferno - Dan Brown
(DEBUT)
The symbologist Robert Landgon, on the run in Florence, must decipher a series of codes created by a Dante-loving scientist.

NY Times Bestseller List - NonFiction (06/02/2013)

New York Times Bestseller List

Non Fiction

Week Ending June 2nd 2013

10 - Dad Is Fat - Jim Gaffigan
(2 weeks on list)

9  -  My Greek Drama - Gianna Angelopoulos
(Debut)
A memoir by a lawyer and former member of Parliament who was instrumental in rescuing the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens from possible disaster.

8  -  The Outsider - Jimmy Connors
(Debut)
A memoir by the bad boy of 1970s tennis, who was for a time the world's top-ranked, and probably most obnoxious, player.

7  -  Duck Commanders - Willie and Korie Robertson
(7 weeks on list)

6  -  Keep It Pithy - Bill O'Reilly
(2 weeks on list)

5  -  Cooked - Michael Pollan
(4 weeks on list)

4  -  Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls - David Sedaris
(4 weeks on list)

3  -  Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell
(10 weeks on list)

2  -  Happy, Happy, Happy - Phil Robertson and March Schlabach
(2 weeks on list)  (Last week's #1)

1  -  The Guns At Last Light - Rick Atkinson
(DEBUT)
The final volume of the Liberation Trilogy describes the Allied victory in Europe, from D-Day in June 1944 to the German surrender 11 months later.