The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-08-12

microphone for another year in the
theaters. Then when WENR went
on the air they returned, never to
leave. The character of Fibber Nc
Gee may be traced by veteran lis
teners to that of an old man named
Luke in one of their early broad
casts. Molly is much the same
character as Mrs. Smith in their old
skit, "The Smith Family" They
had another program called the
'Smackouts," which they intend to
bring back to radio some day.
All this time it might be supposed
that the national networks were
overlooking them; in fact it has
often been reported that they never
had chance at the networks until
Fibber and Molly came to life.
Nothing could be further from the
truth, Jim insists. They simply
made so much money off local
broadcasts plus theater appear
ances that they avoided the net
works. When NBC bought WENR
they went to WMAQ, where they
could remain a local team, but when
NBC bought WMAQ, as well, Jim
had to hit the national hookup as
"Mr. Twister."
Marion Has Many Tongues.
The first Fibber MCGEE and Molly
broadcasts was in March, 1885. The
"ShoW" was a natural from the
start. That it has remained so, in
fact has never ceased to add to its
popularity, testifies to Jim Jordan S
showmanship. The sponsor wanted
to base the show on Fibber's fish
stories" and outlandish lies, but Jim
saw that the listeners would soon
tire of them and refused. Instead
we hear this quaint Irish couple,
genuine, witty, and at all times
sympathetic, surrounded by some of
the funniest characters radio ever
has known. Fans have learned to
love and laugh at the little girl
whose tiny voice can ask the most
embarrassing questions on earth /;
Geraldine, the tittering bride /;
Grandma, the old lady with the
chorus girl philosophy; Mrs. Weary
bottom, who always seems as if she
will surely run down like an old
time photograph before she finishes
sentence, but never does, quite;
and Molly, herself, an able foil for
the cocky MCGEE. All of these and
more are played by Marion herself!
Horatio K. Boomer, the small
time big shot; the raspy Russian,
who says Halo, Petrushka! Hal
10, Tovarich!"; the Scotchman, and
other dialect characters, are played
by young Bill Thompson, whom Jim
discovered. Silly Watson, the DO
litely uproarious blackface come
dian, is Hugh Studebaker, who nev-
er acted at all until he got into
radio-he was pipe organist.
Studebaker also has a show of his
own, Bachelors Children" Harpo,
the announcer who loves to "spoiP'
Fibber's favorite jokes by 'sneaking
i'm commercial announcement, is
Harlow Wilcox, who is Harold Isbell
in real life. Fibber, of course, is
Jim Jordan.
Coin Many Catch Phrases
You'll find no "mother-in-law''
jokes on the Fibber MCGEE and
Molly program. "'Taint funny,
McGee!" Molly said, and that was
that. And you'll never hear any,
thing on the program that you
wouldn't want your children to
hear; Marion and Jim have children
of their own. Don Quinn, who has
written the Jordan scripts for seven
years, has taken lesson from the
honest-to-goodness romance that
has followed the pair throughout
their married life. You will never
hear any serious arguments be-
tween Fibber and Molly; it's very
apparent that they love each other,
and you love them for it.
Seldom has any troupe in the
show business coined so many catch
phrases that have become by-words
throughout the nation. Among all
classes of people today you may
hear repeated almost any time Mol
ly's Heavenly days, McGee!" and
'Tain't funny, McGee!"; Fibber's
dad rat it!"; the little girls 81
betcha!" and Grandma's eli, Skip
py!"
They're riding on top of the world
right now, the Jordans. But would
they quit if they could? "Just give
me chance" says Jim. boy, I'd
like to go right back where I start
ed. I'd like to live on a little farm
by lake and take life easy"
Heavenly days!" says Marion.
"You bet," Jim replies.
Western Newspaper Union.