Newspaper ad for the show "The Johnson Wax Program with Fibber McGee and Molly" (The show's full spoonsored name) is one of the rare radio programs which has achieved a kind of immortality. Well after the series petered out in the mid-1950s, people still respond to the words "Fibber McGee's Closet," even if they've never heard the original.
Jim and Marion Jordan honed their comedy timing early on, first in small-town vaudeville, and later local Chicago programs like "Smackout." Fibber McGee and Molly also had to evolve -- a listen to the very first show from 1935 reveals an almost unrecognizable set of characterizations. It took a year or two for the couple to settle in Wistful Vista, and a few more years to bring out the supporting cast (like the Great Gildersleeve) and the recurring gags (the closet didn't appear until 1940) that would make it a weekly favorite.
Listeners today will find the show a time capsule, full of corny jokes, dated references, and as many now-obscure topical moments as any wartime Looney Tunes cartoon. But there are also genuine good feelings and a true sense of happiness in the episodes. The fact that one man, Don Quinn, singlehandedly wrote most of the episodes is a real achievement.
Click on a script title below to view it:
| Apr 18 1939 | Molly Wants a Budget |
| Mar 12 1940 | Fibber's Closet |
| Apr 02 1940 | Fibber is Housesitting |
| Jan 21 1941 | Fibber Tries to Learn Piano |
| Jan 28 1941 | Fibber Gets His Hand Caught in a Bottle |
| Apr 04 1941 | Fibber Gets Stuck in Fresh Tar |
| Apr 29 1941 | Man in the Street |
| Oct 28 1941 | Fibber Meets a Racketeer |
| Apr 07 1942 | Scrap Collection |
| Jun 08 1943 | Fibber Has a Happy Face |
| Jun 22 1943 | Camping at Dugan's Lake |
| Jan 04 1944 | The Big Businessman |
| Nov 06 1945 | Making Fudge |
| Dec 18 1945 | Fibber Paints a Christmas Tree White |
| Feb 19 1946 | Fibber and Doc Dine Out |
| Feb 22 1949 | Washington's Birthday |
| Mar 01 1949 | The Abandoned Jalopy |
| Apr 04 1950 | The Census Enumerator |
| Oct 03 1950 | Fibber Has a Stomach Ache |
