On This Day, August 24: Fibber McGee and It Pays to Be Ignorant
Also featured: One Man's Family.
August 24 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, serial multi-part narrative arcs, and story synopses for historical broadcasts transmitting on August 24 across American network, domestic sitcom, comedy panel quiz, and long-running serial radio drama history (1945–1958):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Taking the Old Timer to Dinner and the Movies (Jim & Marian Jordan — NBC)" | NBC (WNBC) 1954-08-24 10:00 PM EDT |
Prudential Insurance Life Insurance Co. USA |
Jim Jordan (Fibber), Marian Jordan (Molly), Bill Thompson | Phil Leslie & Ralph Goodman, Max Hutto, Harlow Wilcox | ["Comedy", "Sitcom", "Domestic", "Americana", "Vaudeville"] |
Fibber and Molly offer to treat the cantankerous Old Timer to an upscale restaurant dinner and an evening at the picture show, but his endless tall tales and stubborn restaurant etiquette complaints test Fibber's patience to the limit. |
| "Doc Gamble's Fishing Tackle & The Hall Closet (Jim & Marian Jordan — NBC)" | NBC (WRCA) 1955-08-24 10:00 PM EDT |
Sustaining NBC Comedy Feature |
Jim Jordan (Fibber), Marian Jordan (Molly), Arthur Q. Bryan | Phil Leslie (Writer), Max Hutto, Harlow Wilcox | ["Comedy", "Sitcom", "Domestic", "Americana", "Vaudeville"] |
Fibber borrows Doc Gamble's prized vintage fishing tackle for a local weekend outing, only to accidentally tangle hundreds of yards of nylon line inside 79 Wistful Vista's infamous hall closet. |
| "Wallace Wimple's Garden Problem (Jim & Marian Jordan — NBC)" | NBC (WRCA) 1957-08-24 10:00 AM EDT |
Sustaining NBC Comedy Feature |
Jim Jordan (Fibber), Marian Jordan (Molly), Bill Thompson | Phil Leslie (Writer), Max Hutto, Harlow Wilcox | ["Comedy", "Sitcom", "Domestic", "Americana", "Vaudeville"] |
Henpecked milquetoast Wallace Wimple seeks Fibber's aggressive masculine advice to deal with his formidable wife Sweetie Face's demands to dig up his prized petunia patch. |
| "McGee's Backyard Recreation Yard (Jim & Marian Jordan — NBC Monitor)" | NBC Monitor 1958-08-24 2:30 PM EDT |
Sustaining NBC Monitor Feature |
Jim Jordan (Fibber), Marian Jordan (Molly) | Phil Leslie (Writer), Max Hutto, Harlow Wilcox | ["Comedy", "Sitcom", "Domestic", "Americana", "Vaudeville"] |
Fibber decides to convert his backyard into a community sports recreation center with homemade horseshoe pits and croquet wickets, driving Molly crazy with his grand construction plans. |
| "What Is Etiquette? (Tom Howard & Lulu McConnell — Philip Morris)" | CBS (WABC) 1945-08-24 9:00 PM EWT |
Philip Morris & Co. Philip Morris Cigarettes |
Tom Howard, Lulu McConnell, George Shelton | Tom Howard (Writer), Herb Polesie, Ken Roberts | ["Comedy", "Quiz", "Satire", "Vaudeville", "Panel"] |
"It Pays to Be Ignorant, the only show where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!" Tom Howard asks the utterly nonsensical question 'What is etiquette?' and unleashes an avalanche of zany cross-talk and screaming insults between Lulu McConnell, George Shelton, and Harry McNaughton for Philip Morris. |
| "Book 77, Chapter 9: The Book of Henry (Carlton E. Morse — Alka-Seltzer)" | NBC (WNBC) 1950-08-24 8:00 PM EDT |
Miles Laboratories Alka-Seltzer & Vitamins |
J. Anthony Smythe, Minetta Ellen, Michael Raffetto | Carlton E. Morse (Author/Dir.), Ken Peters | ["Drama", "Family", "Domestic", "Soap Opera", "Serial"] |
"One Man's Family is dedicated to the mothers and fathers of the American family..." In Book 77, Chapter 9 (The Book of Henry), Father and Mother Barbour comfort young Henry through emotional turmoil in the family living room in the Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco. |