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The Great Gildersleeve was a radio situation comedy spawned from Fibber McGee and Molly and was one of the earliest ever spin-offs. The year was 1941.

In Fibber McGee and Molly, the character Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve was the bombastic, pompous windbag owner of a girdle factory in Wistful Vista and was introduced to radio audiences in an October 1939 episode. There, he was the antagonist of Fibber McGee and his character became so very popular, the new series arose - featuring the same lead actor in the role of Gildersleeve. Harold Peary.

In the spin-off, which took Gildersleeve from Wistful Vista to Summerfield, Gildersleeve was somewhat mellower and once there, eventually morphed into the town’s Water Commissioner with a family - a niece and nephew, whose parents are said to have died in an automobile accident. And thus, there, he headed a household comprised of Marjorie and Leroy Forrester and a housekeeper and cook by the name of Birdie.