Clair Schulz > Quotes

“Fans who insist that the voice of Myrt was never heard on the show will learn that she did appear one time at 79 Wistful Vista to wish the McGees well for the summer.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Broadcast just two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, this episode provides ample evidence that everyone involved with Fibber McGee and Molly is behind the war effort, from Wilcox’s reading a telegram from Johnson’s Wax authorizing NBC to break in with any news bulletins to Harlow’s appeal to buy defense bonds at the close which leads into a stirring version of the first verse of a patriotic hymn sung by everyone in attendance.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Fibber McGee and Molly boasted one of the strongest line-ups of any comedy program. Harold Peary, Bea Benaderet, Gale Gordon, Dick LeGrand, and Arthur Q. Bryan possessed some of the better-known voices on the air; Bill Thompson alone owned a handful of them.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“A Quinn quote of note that Fibber hopes will make Reader’s Digest is an explanation of why nature is always referred to as she: “Nature is inconsistent, unstable, unpredictable, beautiful, mean, gorgeous, appealing, nasty, and nobody yet has ever understood her.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Fibber delivers a Quinn quote of note in this definition: “A scoop is when you get there first to give some second-rater the third degree for the fourth estate.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Fibber’s take on architects is a quote worth noting: “They spend six years in Italy studying Greek architecture so they can come home and build Spanish bungalows with French windows for a lot of yankees who don’t know an English basement from a Turkish bath.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Except for some topical references to styles or political events, the show ages well due to the skill of the writers in conceiving funny situations which are still pertinent. Even many of references to World War II rationing are still amusing because of the way the lines are phrased such as Molly’s comment about Fibber on November 10, 1942: “He’s as proud and happy as a man who doesn’t own a car, can’t eat sugar, and hates coffee.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“If the first edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin used as a doorstop worth $200 in 1947 was the first printing in cloth published in two volumes in 1852, its current value would exceed $3,000.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Comments: This is an early instance of Fibber taking on city hall, a theme that will be repeated a number of times. Another example of self-deprecating humor occurs when Fibber mentions that the couple started working for Johnson’s Wax in 1935, pauses a beat, then adds, “Got our first belly laugh in 1938.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Comments: This episode is a strong candidate for the most patriotic half-hour of radio broadcast during the war, capped by Marian’s declaration that the weapon the Allies have that their enemies do not is “the knowledge that God is on our side,” a statement that would cause controversy if spoken on a top-rated network show today but which was widely regarded as accurate by most listeners then.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“The story told to Teeny is also different, the 1950 tale about rabbits because of it being closer to Easter and this story about cuckoos. Transcriptions of earlier shows were used to produce this episode. When Marian was still not well enough to return after three weeks of repeats, new shows were written.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Harlow’s announcement that it is not very often that Fibber McGee and Molly was heard on Christmas was understating the case. It had not happened before and would occur only once more (in 1951) during the period of half-hour broadcasts.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Fibber’s statement of “If I ever get to be 91…” is prophetic for that is the age Jim Jordan was when he died in 1988. The Old Timer celebrates his birthday on January 1st and claims to be 89 years old. Judging by the cost of the dinner, an evening of food and film for three adults in 1954 was about $6.00, less than the price of admission for one at a cineplex today.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Jim has never received adequate recognition for his skills as a comic actor. Fred Allen’s status as a witty ad-libber is well-documented, yet Jim could fire off an spontaneous line with the best of them. It is this talent of the quick quip that is noted in the comments of numerous episodes in this book.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“In the first episode the highly-regarded team of Tackaberry, Josefsberg, Balzer, and Perrin scripted for Benny (October 10, 1943), they paid homage to Fibber McGee and Molly by having the pilot (played by John Brown) engage in a Myrt bit with the person in the control tower. The Benny bunch knew that allusions to Fibber and Molly were like money in the vault. That fabled vault, first heard on January 7, 1945, could be considered a noisy stepchild of the McGee closet.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“In this episode, the only one in which the McGees cross the threshold of the Uppington manse, it takes Fibber less than two minutes to wreck various precious objects. Gildersleeve confesses that he weighs 232 pounds. In a bizarre twist at the end, McGee’s stirring speech in front of business leaders is misinterpreted, resulting in him and not Gildy being elected president. At this time Jim actually served as president of the Encino Chamber of Commerce.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Date: June 6, 1944 Title: Salute to D-Day Invasion Cast: Jim Jordan, Marian Jordan, Harlow Wilcox Summary: With no audience or commercials, the Jordans and Harlow introduce musical numbers which are interrupted by news about the invasion.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“There’s Laughter in the Air!, the book Molly is reading while Fibber tussles with the mower, contains excerpts from two Fibber McGee and Molly shows and portions of scripts from twenty other comedy programs. This episode features two extended similes that linger because of their descriptiveness: Fibber says the mower “runs like an iron deer being pursued by a stuffed dog through a petrified forest” and asserts that he is “making as much progress as a punch-drunk caterpillar trying to follow the white line around a revolving barber pole.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Bud Stefan appears for the first time. An indication of the strength of the dollar in 1949 (or the weakness of it now) is that Molly says that 1,000 pounds is equivalent to $4,000.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“New photographs have been chosen to complement the text. Because the hall closet running gag remains one of the most memorable aspects of Fibber McGee and Molly, Appendix C has been added which lists all the openings in order and a tally of the openings through the years. Another new feature is Appendix D which lists in chronological order the initial use of running gags, dates of first and last appearances of regular cast members, and other notable occurrences on one of radio’s most famous programs.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Betty Wand, who complements the King’s Men nicely on “Dearie,” was an unseen presence in a number of motion pictures, most notably dubbing songs for Leslie Caron in Gigi and Rita Moreno in West Side Story.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Comments: Marian is absent from this broadcast and will not return until April 18, 1939. During her absence the program is billed as Fibber McGee and Company. The orchestra of Billy Mills will provide the music until the end of the thirty-minute episodes in 1953. Fibber and Chris engage in a phone conversation in which there is confusion over a day nursery and a plant nursery. Don Quinn uses this device of two parties meaning different things a number of times to great comic effect.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Using the malapropisms percolator and prefabricated and going full speed ahead relentlessly, Fibber and the writers are in fine form as they usually are when McGee plays that old familiar strain “I fought the law and the law won.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“The writers chose a gem of an image reflecting the duration of Alice’s talkathon, that of Wilcox planting a redwood which will get to the sawmill before she relinquishes the phone. In their respectful closing the Jordans extend best wishes to Harry Truman who became president after Roosevelt’s death five days before this broadcast.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Fibber delivers the best line of the show after Wilcox reveals his shirt size. “17½? Wow! That ain’t a shirt. That’s a step-in.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“If Fibber McGee supplied a subtitle for this book, it would likely be “A lengthy log listing the legendary shows of the loquacious leader and his laudable lady who landed loads of laughable lines in the laps of lots of lads and lasses who loved listening in locales from the lofty ledges of Leadville to luscious Lake Louise.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“There is an in-joke near the beginning in which Fibber cites a police report with the names of officers Chester Lauck and Norris Goff, the stars of Lum and Abner.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Summary: The McGees endure a harrowing experience trying to get off a freeway filled with fast-moving vehicles. Writers: Phil Leslie, Len Levinson Sponsors: PSAs for American economic system, Easter Seals; promo by Jay Stewart for It Pays To Be Married Comments: This show was heard very early in the freeway era, at a time when McGee felt he was cruising at forty-five miles an hour, a speed motorists adopt on city streets today.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“During Marian’s long absence from the 1937 to 1939 and on several occasions in later years when she did not appear, Fibber and company continued on for the prime mover kept things moving along smoothly until she returned. Plainly put, Molly was too sensible and kindly to be funny all alone whereas impetuous, short-tempered Fibber could be a riot just talking to himself.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959

“Anyone who remembers licking stamps before the days of self-adhesives will appreciate Fibber’s description that the last batch he had “tasted like a rubber floor mat out of the engine room of a diesel-powered Scandinavian tuna boat.”
― Clair Schulz, FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY ON THE AIR, 1935-1959