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36-476: In Fibber McGee and Molly , Peary's Gildersleeve had been a pompous windbag and antagonist of Fibber McGee. "You're a haa-aa-aa-aard man, McGee!" became a Gildersleeve catchphrase . The character went by several aliases on Fibber McGee and Molly ; his middle name was revealed to be "Philharmonic" on October 22, 1940, in episode #258, "Fibber Discovers Gildersleeve's Locked Diary". "Gildy" grew so popular that Kraft Foods —promoting its Parkay margarine—sponsored

72-420: A cook named Birdie. While Gildersleeve had occasionally mentioned his ( silent ) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series he is a confirmed bachelor. At the outset of the series, Gildersleeve administers a girdle manufacturing company ("If you want the best of corsets, of course it's Gildersleeve"); later and during the remainder of the show he serves as Summerfield's water commissioner. A key figure in

108-476: A decade later. A Great Gildersleeve story appeared inside of a 1944 edition of Supersnipe comic book. Catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase ) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass media (such as films, internet, literature and publishing, television, and radio). Some become

144-455: A few Gildersleeve plot devices, such as running for mayor and engagements to two women. In what was possibly a desperate attempt to recreate the Gildersleeve magic, it even brought in actress Shirley Mitchell , virtually recreating her Gildersleeve role of Leila Ransom, under the name of Florabelle Breckenridge." The program was knocked in at least two published articles. Dunning wrote about

180-495: A higher stage of society. The Harold Peary Show The Harold Peary Show is a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States September 17, 1950-June 13, 1951 on CBS . Some sources refer to the program as Honest Harold or The Hal Peary Show . The period 1948-1950 brought major changes to network radio, as CBS hired a number of stars from NBC in what some have called "talent raids". Some of

216-446: A new program ( The Harold Peary Show ) for Peary and a new star ( Willard Waterman ) for Gildersleeve . Radio historian John Dunning commented that The Harold Peary Show "failed to gain any measure of an audience in its lone season". The Harold Peary Show featured a radio show within a radio show. The main character, Harold Hemp -- called "Honest Harold," was host of a program called "The Happy Homemaker". As one would expect from

252-525: A new series featuring Peary's somewhat mellowed and always befuddled Gildersleeve as the head of his own family. The Great Gildersleeve premiered on NBC on August 31, 1941. It moves the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve oversees his late sister and brother-in-law's estate (said to have both been killed in a car accident) and rears his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie and Leroy Forrester. The household also includes

288-418: A new series on CBS which attempted to reproduce the Gildersleeve show with the names changed. The Harold Peary Show , lasting one season, included a fictitious radio show within the show. This was Honest Harold , hosted by Peary's new character. As with most radio sitcoms still on the air at the time, The Great Gildersleeve began a slow but massive reformat in the early 1950s. Starting in mid 1952, some of

324-405: A new show and a new character for that network. It must have seemed like a bright idea at the time. Events have proved it to be an unqualified disaster both for the network and Mr. Peary. A newspaper obituary for Peary commented about The Harold Peary Show , "That series, however, never achieved the popularity of Gildersleeve and gradually faded away." In addition to Peary as Honest Harold Hemp,

360-694: A psychology professor at Kansas State University who studied why people like to cite films in social situations, using film quotes in everyday conversation is similar to telling a joke and a way to form solidarity with others. "People are doing it to feel good about themselves, to make others laugh, to make themselves laugh," he said. He found that all of the participants in his study had used film quotes in conversation at one point or another. "They overwhelmingly cited comedies, followed distantly by dramas and action adventure flicks." Horror films, musicals and children's films were hardly ever cited. The existence of catchphrases predates modern mass media. A description of

396-461: A review in Radio Life magazine that he summarized, in part, as follows: "Waterman was a 'splendid' replacement in a tough situation ... he won over the studio audience ... cast members rooted for him wholeheartedly ... Waterman's own intrinsic thespian integrity contributed to an initial performance that was greeted with enthusiasm. The same review panned Honest Harold as derivative, unexciting, and, in

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432-502: A single 78rpm recording for Capitol of Dr. Seuss ' Gerald McBoing-Boing with full orchestration and sound effects. Peary continued his career (often billed as Hal Peary) in films and television well into the 1970s; he was especially active as a voice actor for cartoons produced by Rankin-Bass and Hanna-Barbera , among others. He died of a heart attack in 1985. Waterman, who was a regular supporting character on radio's The Halls of Ivy while doing his version of Gildersleeve , died

468-501: A situation comedy, humor arose from Hemp's interaction with other characters in the episodes. They included his mother, his nephew, a marshal, a doctor, the radio station's switchboard operator, and girlfriends. Although not an exact duplicate, The Harold Peary Show bore much similarity -- perhaps too much similarity -- to The Great Gildersleeve . Dunning wrote, "Peary tried with Honest Harold to do Gildy all over again." One old-time radio website commented: "The new show also borrowed

504-416: A young woman through the 1940s. During the ninth season (September 1949-June 1950) she met and married Walter "Bronco" Thompson ( Richard Crenna ), star football player at the local college. Look devoted five pages in its May 23, 1950, issue to the wedding. After living in the same household for a few years, the newlyweds moved next door. Leroy ( Walter Tetley ), who remained age 10–11 during most of

540-567: Is falling in love. The fourth and final film in the series, Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944) had Gildersleeve's ancestors, Randolph and Johnson, rise from the dead to help his campaign for police commissioner. Warner Archives released a DVD collection of all of the Gildersleeve RKO movies in January 2013. This multi-film release includes a fifth film, Seven Days' Leave , a 1942 Lucille Ball / Victor Mature musical comedy in which Peary co-stars as

576-450: The 1940s, began to grow up in the spring of 1949, establishing relationships with the girls in the Bullard home across the street. He developed interests in driving, playing the drums and dreaming of a musical career. Outside the home, Gildersleeve's closest association was with the executor of his brother-in-law's estate, Judge Horace Hooker ( Earle Ross ), with whom he had many battles during

612-411: The Gildersleeve home was the cook and housekeeper Birdie Lee Coggins ( Lillian Randolph ). In the first season, under writer Levinson, Birdie was often portrayed as less than intelligent, but she slowly developed as the real brains and caretaker of the household under John Whedon and other writers. Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle , later by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb ) matured to

648-467: The Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve character. A 1960 version of Gildersleeve, still played by Peary, appears in the 1944 Warner Bros. film The Shining Future , a promotional film for war bonds. The Gildersleeve character was parodied in the 1945 Bugs Bunny cartoon Hare Conditioned , in which the rabbit distracts a menacing department store manager by telling him that he sounds "just like that guy on

684-482: The corners of streets. Not one utters this phrase without producing a laugh from all within hearing. It seems applicable to every circumstance, and is the universal answer to every question; in short, it is the favourite slang phrase of the day, a phrase that, while its brief season of popularity lasts, throws a dash of fun and frolicsomeness over the existence of squalid poverty and ill-requited labour, and gives them reason to laugh as well as their more fortunate fellows in

720-425: The de facto or literal "trademark" or "signature" of the person or character with whom they originated, and can be instrumental in the typecasting of a particular actor. Catchphrases are often humorous, but are never long enough or structured enough to be jokes in themselves. However, a catchphrase can be (or become) the punch line of a joke, or a callback reminder of a previous joke. According to Richard Harris,

756-499: The end, 'just another show.'" Meanwhile, media critic John Crosby commented in a column published March 1, 1951: Last summer, the intellectual hierarchy at the Columbia Broadcasting System announced triumphantly that they had absconded with one more NBC star, namely Harold Peary who had been "The Great Gildersleve" on NBC since the year two. Mr. Peary, said CBS, had been signed to a seven year contract and would create

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792-478: The first few broadcast seasons. After a change in scriptwriters in January 1943, the confrontations slowly subsided and the two men became friends. During the second season, pharmacist Richard Q. Peavey ( Richard LeGrand ) and barber Floyd Munson ( Mel Blanc for the first year, Arthur Q. Bryan from December 1942 onward) joined Gildersleeve's circle of acquaintances. In the fourth season, these three friends, along with Police Chief Donald Gates ( Ken Christy ), formed

828-627: The nucleus of the Jolly Boys Club, whose activities revolve around practicing barbershop quartet songs between sips of Coca-Cola . Several women passed through Gildersleeve's life during the series, including three he almost married before settling into a pattern of casual dating. His friends included Shirley Mitchell (Leila Ranson), Una Merkel (Adaline Fairchild), Bea Benaderet (Eve Goodwin), Martha Scott (Ellen Bullard Knickerbocker), Jeanne Bates (Paula Bullard Winthrop) and Cathy Lewis (Katherine Milford). Another woman in Gildersleeve's life

864-555: The phenomenon is found in Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds published by Charles Mackay in 1841: And, first of all, walk where we will, we cannot help hearing from every side a phrase repeated with delight, and received with laughter, by men with hard hands and dirty faces, by saucy butcher lads and errand-boys, by loose women, by hackney coachmen, cabriolet-drivers, and idle fellows who loiter at

900-552: The program's longtime characters (Judge Hooker, Floyd Munson, Marjorie and her husband, Bronco) were missing for months at a time. In their place were a few new ones (Mr. Cooley the Egg Man and Mrs. Potter the hypochondriac) who would last only a month or so. By 1953, Gildersleeve's love life took center stage over his family and friends. His many love interests were constantly shifting, and women came and went with great frequency. In November 1954, after an extended summer hiatus, Gildersleeve

936-419: The radio cast to the screen, with Nancy Gates as Marjorie and Freddie Mercer as Leroy. Walter Tetley , who played Leroy on radio, could not appear on screen as Leroy because he was actually an adult playing a child character. Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943) revolved around the mishaps when he is called to jury duty. Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943) centered on Leroy as the odd boy out as everyone around him

972-571: The radio, the Great Gildersneeze!" The taxidermist responds with "I do ?!" followed by Gildersleeve's chuckle. The Gildersleeve voice in this cartoon was done by comedian Dave Barry . (Earlier, in A Coy Decoy , Daffy Duck used Gildersleeve's "you're a ha-a-ard man!" line in an attempt to divert a wolf that is chasing him.) His voice was also imitated by actor Kent Rogers in Tex Avery 's 1943 cartoon short One Ham's Family . Elroy Jetson ,

1008-401: The series, produced and syndicated by NBC , also starring Waterman, premiered in 1955, but lasted only 39 episodes. During that year, both the 15-minute radio show and the television show were being produced simultaneously. On the television series, Gildersleeve was sketched as less lovable, more pompous and a more overt womanizer. Harold Peary stated that the problem with the television series

1044-551: The series, reverting to the title of the first and released in 1947, included " Snow-White and Rose-Red " and " Cinderella ", once more with full orchestral accompaniment. The music was by Robert Emmett Dolan . Capitol Records brought in The Great Gildersleeve's chief writers at the time, Sam Moore and John Whedon , to adapt the stories to Gildersleeve's style. In 1950, Peary, as "the Great Gildersleeve", narrated

1080-521: The show in the role of 9-year-old Bruce Fuller. Actor Clegg Hoyt also made his television debut on the series as a carnival barker in "Practice What You Preach" (1955). After joining Jim and Marian Jordan (as Fibber McGee and Molly) and fellow radio favorite Edgar Bergen in Look Who's Laughing (1941) and Here We Go Again (1942), Peary received top billing for a brief series of RKO films. The Great Gildersleeve (1942) also carried Randolph from

1116-460: The son on Hanna-Barbera 's 1962 animated series The Jetsons , is named after Leroy Forrester. Elroy is an anagram of Leroy. At the height of the show's popularity, Harold Peary recorded three albums as Gildersleeve, reading popular children's stories for Capitol Records in heavy-bookleted four-disc 78rpm record albums . Stories for Children, Told in His Own Way by the Great Gildersleeve ,

The Great Gildersleeve - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-451: The top performers who changed networks were Jack Benny , Red Skelton , Edgar Bergen , and the husband-and-wife duo George Burns and Gracie Allen . One result of the changes was that 12 of the 15 highest-rated radio programs at the end of 1949 were on CBS. Harold Peary did not find such success, however. Peary switched to CBS, while the program in which he had starred, The Great Gildersleeve , stayed on NBC. Those changes resulted in

1188-485: Was his inept, milkshake loving secretary Bessie played by Gloria Holiday who became Mrs. Harold Peary in real life. In 1950, Harold Peary was persuaded to move The Great Gildersleeve to CBS, but sponsor Kraft refused to sanction the move. Peary, now contracted to CBS, was legally unable to appear on NBC as a star performer, but Gildersleeve was still an NBC series. This prompted the hiring of Willard Waterman as Peary's replacement as Gildersleeve. Peary, meanwhile, began

1224-403: Was reformatted as a 15-minute daily sitcom. Only Gildersleeve, Leroy and Birdie remained on a continuing basis. All other characters were seldom heard, and gone were Marjorie and her family as well as the studio audience, live orchestra and original scripts. The series finally ended its run in 1958. As with most radio series, the show suffered from the advent of television. A televised version of

1260-505: Was released in 1945 and was Capitol's first-ever such release for children. With orchestral accompaniment, it featured " Puss in Boots ", " Rumpelstiltskin " and " Jack and the Beanstalk ". The second album, Children's Stories as Told by the Great Gildersleeve , in 1946, featured " Hansel and Gretel " and " The Brave Little Tailor ", again with orchestral accompaniment. The third and final album in

1296-513: Was that "Waterman was a very tall man" and "Gildersleeve was not a tall man, he was a little man, who thought he was a tall man, that was the character." He added, "Willard [Waterman] did a very good job on the radio show" but was "miscast on the television version". Actress Barbara Stuart landed her first television role on The Great Gildersleeve in the role of Gildersleeve's secretary, Bessie. Child actor Michael Winkelman , later of The Real McCoys , also made his first television appearance on

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