Harold Peary: Harold Loses his Job – ComicWeb Old Time Radio
Warning this is the same story as the
Harold Peary Audtion
Show.
ComicWeb
Old Time Radio
Program: Harold Peary
Episode:
Harold Loses his Job
Original Airdate: 09/17/
1950
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Born as
José Pereira de
Faria in
San Leandro, California to
Portuguese parents, Peary (pronounced
Perry) began working in local radio as early as 1923, according to his own memory, and had his own show as a singer,
The Spanish Serenader, in
San Francisco, but moved to
Chicago, Illinois in
1937.
In
Chicago his radio work came to a peak when he became a regular on
Fibber McGee and Molly, where he originated the Gildersleeve character as a McGee neighbor and nemesis in
1938. ("You're a haaa-aa-aard man, McGee" was a famous catch-phrase.) The character actually went through several first names and occupations before settling on Throckmorton Philaharmonic Gildersleeve and his stewardship of a lingerie factory. He also worked on the horror series
Lights Out and other radio programs, but his success and popularity as Gildersleeve set the stage for the character's own program.
The Great Gildersleeve premiered August 31,
1941 and became a steady hit for the rest of the decade, Peary's sonorous voice and flustered catchphrases ("You're a brii-iii-iight boy,
Leroy!" was a modification of his famous McGee catchphrase) among radio's most familiar sounds.
Lurene Tuttle played
Marjorie;
Walter Tetley, a veteran of
Fred Allen's
Town Hall Tonight cast and other shows, played Leroy; and,
Lillian Randolph played Gildersleeve's ego-puncturing maid and housekeeper, Birdie.
By 1950, however, Peary's run as Gildersleeve was over. With
CBS in the middle of a talent raid that had already lured
Jack Benny and other
NBC stars, Peary was offered a CBS deal of his own, after he chafed over NBC's and
Kraft's reluctance to let him use his singing voice more often on Gildersleeve and to give him more part in the show's ownership than he already had.
The problem was that Kraft wasn't willing to make the move with him. And they had a successor ready---Willard
Waterman, whose voice resembled Peary's and who had known Peary since their early Chicago days. Waterman refused to appropriate the famous Gildersleeve laugh, believing Peary alone should have title to that trademark, but otherwise slipped easily into the role.
Without Peary, however, Gildersleeve struggled on a few more radio years and bombed on television.
At CBS, Peary began a new situation comedy,
The Harold Peary Show, sometimes known as
Honest Harold, a title that was actually the name of the fictitious radio show the new character hosted.
Radio veteran
Joseph Kearns (later familiar as Mr.
Wilson on television's
Dennis the Menace) played veterinarian Dr. Yancey, known better as Doc Yak-Yak and resembling former foil
Judge Hooker.
The new show also borrowed 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. Additionally, Honest Harold's secretary at the radio station,
Glory, bears a more than passing resemblance to Gildersleeve's
Water Department secretary, Bessie: both are stereotypical giggly blondes.
Despite these efforts to recreate the power and ratings of "The Great Gildersleeve", The Harold Peary Show lasted only one season of 38 episodes.
text from
Wikipedia