Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve was a popular character appearing regularly on The Fibber McGee & Molly Show. On August 31, 1941, the character landed his own situation comedy show, The Great Gildersleeve, becoming radio’s first spin-off. Gildy moved from the town of Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where he raised his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie (Lillian Randolph).

Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve was a popular character appearing regularly on The Fibber McGee & Molly Show. On August 31, 1941, the character landed his own situation comedy show, The Great Gildersleeve, becoming radio’s first spin-off. Gildy moved from the town of Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where he raised his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie (Lillian Randolph).

Created by Irving Brecher, The Life of Riley starred William Bendix as Brooklyn-born Chester A. Riley, a family man who worked as a wing riveter at the fictional Cunningham Aircraft plant in California. The stories were usually set at home, where Riley would cheerfully disrupt life with his malapropisms and ill-timed intervention into minor problems. His stock answer to every turn of fate became a popular catchphrase: "What a revoltin' development this is!"

Fibber McGee & Molly had a long and successful run on radio from 1935 to 1959, featuring its creators and stars, married couple Jim and Marian Jordan. Living in the fictional Midwestern city of Wistful Vista, Fibber was an American teller of tall tales and a braggart, usually to the exasperation of his long-suffering wife, Molly, who tried to keep him out of trouble.

Get out the vote! It's no-holds-barred, winner-take-all small town politics at its best as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve sets his sights on high office! But can Gildy's mayoral aspirations stand up against the competition? And can he balance his campaign against his developing romance with the local school principal? All's fair in love and at the polls in 16 fun-filled 1944 episodes starring Harold Peary as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve!

Let’s all visit 79 Wistful Vista, the home of Fibber McGee and Molly, who each week invited millions of listeners to tune in to their comedic, family-friendly radio adventures. Few radio programs were more beloved than Fibber McGee and Molly, and even fewer play as well more than a half century later.

Is Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve (Harold Peary), Summerfield's most notorious "bachelor on the prowl," about to adopt a third child? That's how it seems when he finds an abandoned baby girl in the backseat of his car. Informed that the child could be taken away from him because of his bachelor status, The Great Man proposes to Adeline…and her cousin…Gildy's old flame, Leila Ransom!

From 1947 to 1954, CBS' Escape was radio's leading high-adventure anthology series. The show's famous opening, delivered by Paul Frees and William Conrad, asked: "Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you... Escape!" This was followed by another announcer adding, " Escape! Designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure!" Many of the episodes, which included both original stories and adaptations, centered on a protagonist facing a life-or-death situation.

Radio westerns were aimed at kids until 1952 when Gunsmoke hit the radio airwaves. Produced for adult listeners, the stories were grim, the deaths brutal, and life on the plains was harsh. Radio audiences had never heard anything like Gunsmoke, and they made it the number one Western on radio. It soon made a successful transition to television, becoming the longest-running dramatic series in TV history.

During the height of its popularity, almost the entire country listened to the fifteen-minute, Monday-through-Friday adventures of Amos and Andy. Department stores open in the evening piped in the broadcasts so shoppers wouldn't miss an episode; movie theaters scheduled their features to end just prior to the start of Amos 'n' Andy so they too could pipe it in. The characters were members of the Mystic Knights of the Sea Lodge, of which George Stevens was "the Kingfish."

Willard Waterman stars as radio's romantic water commissioner in 16 laugh-filled episodes of The Great Gildersleeve! Walter Tetley co-stars as nephew Leroy, with Mary Lee Robb as niece Marjorie, and Lillian Randolph as housekeeper Birdie Lee Coggins. Gildy goes toe-to-toe with the likes of crotchety Judge Horace Hooker (Earle Ross), sardonic barber Floyd Munson (Arthur Q. Bryan), Summerfield druggist J.W. Peavey (Richard LeGrand), and Marjorie's husband Bronco (Richard Crenna).

Jack Benny liked to portray himself as a skinflint but his generosity as a comic allowed other characters to get their fair share of laughs...usually at his expense. Benny got more laughs playing the straight man and didn’t care if he was the butt of the jokes. With his brilliant timing, smooth delivery, and trademark mannerisms, Benny was a huge influence on the development of the radio sitcom. References to Benny’s reputed stinginess, vanity, and infirmities were expected and weekly running gags established the program’s memorable characters.

The Aldrich Family was a popular situation comedy that was heard on radio and seen in films, on television, and in comic books. Teenager Henry Aldrich, the creation of playwright Clifford Goldsmith, was an endearingly bumbling kid growing awkwardly into adolescence. Episodes revolved around Henry's misadventures with girls, his family, and his friends.

Stand back! The closet door swings open once again and out tumble Fibber McGee and Molly! Join Jim and Marian Jordan and their regulars, Gale Gordon, Bill Thompson, Isabel Randolph, Billy Mills, the King's Men, and Harlow Wilcox for 20 laugh-filled half-hours from the very peak of their radio popularity!

He's settling in with his new life and his new family in Summerfield U. S. A.—and now Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve has a new job! How does a man whose only experience with plumbing is turning on the faucet end up as the new Water Commissioner? These 16 digitally restored and remastered episodes feature Walter Tetley as Leroy, Lurene Tuttle as Marjorie, Lillian Randolph as Birdie, Earle Ross as Judge Hooker, Dick LeGrand as Mr. Peavey, Shirley Mitchell as Leila Ransom…and Harold Peary as Gildy.