Volume 6 of Radio Archive’s Great Gildersleeve features the final two episodes of the 1941-42 season and the start of the 1942-43 season, with Harold Peary as the Great Gildersleeve, Earle Ross as Judge Hooker, Lurene Tuttle as his niece Marjorie, Walter Tetley as his nephew Leroy, and Lillian Randolph as the household’s cook and housekeeper Birdie. Featured are episodes from the last two weeks of June and then from between August 30 and November 22, 1942. As always, Radio Archivesdelivers these episodes in the highest possible sound quality
The penultimate Season One episode features a similar gag to other Gildersleeve episodes, where family and friends create confusion by going at the same end without telling one another. In this case, it’s the goal of getting Gildersleeve a new chair for Father’s Day. It’s a simple idea, but well-executed and before the episode is over, chairs are being moved in and out with a dizzying degree of comic absurdity.
The final episode of Season One features Gildesleeve trying to romance Judge Hooker’s sister, Amelia, despite the judge’s objection. While Gildersleeve and the judge have many battles in the first season, the finale offers the most satisfying. It also previews some of the romantic plots that would make up later seasons of The Great Gildersleeve, only condensed into a single episode.
The Season Two episodes really saw the series starting to take on a form more familiar to those who have encountered later seasons of The Great Gildersleeve. Gildersleeve has an ongoing interaction with the Summerfield Water Commissioner that ends with him being appointed to the job. We also hear the Gildersleeve cast expand, with barber Floyd Munson (Mel Blanc), along with one of the most important Gildersleeve supporting players, Mr. Peavey (Richard LeGrand). LeGrand joined Peary in three of the four Great Gildersleeve episodes.
Unfortunately, the characters seem to just appear in the series. This may be because the three episodes prior to their first appearance are missing. So it’s possible there was a more fitting introduction to the characters that were originally broadcast but have since been lost.
The series also introduces Southern Belle widow Leila Ranson (Shirley Mitchell) as Gildersleeve’s crush. Leila is a bit of a flirt who uses her “wiles” to manipulate men (particularly Gildersleeve and his rival Judge Hooker) into doing her bidding. Mitchell plays another Southern Belle character in Season One, but this one would stick and be part of Gildersleeve’s life off and on for years to come.
The War and related government messaging remained part of the show, with the plots being used to hone key points. Summerfield was hit with an October snowstorm to educate the public about the importance of buying coal early and completing conversions from oil-powered to coal-powered furnaces necessitated by wartime shortages. Four weeks later, in response to a government directive to stay home to cut down on expenses and consumption. Gildersleeve, in a sort of Goofus and Gallant example of how not to follow the directive, stocks up on food and supplies and even buys a new piano for his quiet evening at home, which quickly goes awry and becomes a house party.
Overall, The Great Gildersleeve was headed in the right direction. Summerfield started to feel less like it was inhabited solely by Gildersleeve’s household and Judge Hooker and the episodes were generally even funnier than the first season’s already strong outings. On the other hand, I do think that setting up Judge Hooker as Gildersleeve’s rival for Leila Ranson’s affections just doesn’t work with the way the Judge was generally portrayed in the series. It feels like the writers needed Gildersleeve to have a recurring rival and didn’t want to introduce a new character. Never mind if it made sense.
It’s worth noting that the show seemed to forget its own continuity and imagine that Gildersleeve had been in Summerfield far longer than he had, with references in the Thanksgiving episode to Judge Hooker always eating Thanksgiving with Gildersleeve when this was only Gildersleeve’s second Thanksgiving in town and Hooker wasn’t there for the first one. However, while it might annoy modern listeners, it’s hard to consider it a demerit against the series, as most programs didn’t take continuity seriously. And given how long Gildersleeve would be on the air, a year or so here or there is not a big deal.
I think all of the episodes in this set are solid, without any weak ones in the bunch. However, my favorite episode had to be the one where Gildersleeve is appointed Water Commissioner. While any OTR fan knew Gildersleeve was going to get the appointment, it really does take an interesting journey to get there. Judge Hooker tells him he’s a shoo-in for a job and Gildersleeve takes it seriously. But Hooker had only been joking. Gildersleeve and family go into overdrive to play up the big event. Hooker realizes too late that they’ve taken it seriously, and Marjorie has to figure a way to save her uncle from further embarrassment while a dejected Gildersleeve stays at home.
The episode gives a brief exploration of the feelings of an over-the-hill man who wants to be of service at a time when younger man are going off to war and has had that chance seemingly snatched away. At the same time, for once, Marjorie is given a pivotal role in the story. Lurene Tuttle was one of Hollywood’s most talent radio actresses, yet rarely got a chance to show it. Her going to bat for her uncle is one of the best moments of the series so far, with Tuttle really showing how great an actress she was. And with this little bit of drama, the story is still a lot of fun, with even the happy ending coming about in a humorously ironic way.
At this point, The Great Gildersleeve was a series on the rise. After a solid first season, The Great Gildersleeve chose to build on it successes rather than resting on them.That bold direction pays off as each Gildersleeve box set continues to be stronger than the last one.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
