Editing Fibber McGee and Molly (section)

==Sponsors==
Each episode also featured an appearance by announcer Harlow Wilcox, whose job it was to weave the second ad for the sponsor into the plot without having to break the show for a real commercial. Wilcox's introductory pitch lines were usually met with groans or humorously sarcastic lines by Fibber. During the many years that the show was sponsored by [[S. C. Johnson & Son|Johnson Wax]], Fibber nicknamed Wilcox "Waxy", due to Wilcox's constant praises of their various products, and during the years the show was sponsored by [[Pet, Inc.|Pet Milk]], Fibber changed the nickname to "Milky". In a style not unusual for the classic radio years, the show was typically introduced as, "The [[S. C. Johnson & Son|Johnson Wax]] Program, with Fibber McGee and Molly". Johnson Wax sponsored the show through 1950; [[Pet, Inc.|Pet Milk]] through 1952; and, until the show's final half-hour episode in mid-1953, [[Reynolds Metals|Reynolds Aluminum]]. Fibber sometimes referred to Harlow as "Harpo".

The show also used two musical numbers per episode to break the comedy routines into sections. For most of the show's run, there would be one vocal number by The King's Men (a vocal quartet: [[Ken Darby]], Rad Robinson, Jon Dodson and Bud Linn), and an instrumental by The Billy Mills Orchestra. For a short time in the early 1940s, [[Martha Tilton]] would sing what was formerly the instrumental.

Before and during [[United States|America]]'s involvement in [[World War II]], references to or about the war and the members of the [[Axis Powers]] were commonplace on the show. Just after the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] attacked [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]] in December 1941, Jim Jordan, out of character, soberly ended the ''Fibber McGee'' show by inviting the studio audience to sing "[[My Country, 'Tis of Thee|America]]". During the show of December 9, the Mayor is seeking a globe in order to keep up with current events. Molly asks him, "Do you want one with Japan on it?" The mayor says, "Why, of course." "Then you better get one quick," Molly says, receiving thunderous applause from the studio audience.

Also commonplace were calls to action to buy [[war bond]]s (both through announcements and subtle references written into the script), and condemnation of food and supply [[hoarding]]. On the other hand, the Jordans gladly cooperated in turning the show over to a half-hour devoted entirely to patriotic music on the day of the [[D-Day]] invasion in 1944, with the couple speaking only at the opening and the closing of the broadcast. This show remains available to collectors amidst many a ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' packaging.

When the shows were broadcast overseas by the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS), all three commercials were eliminated from the program. Harlow Wilcox's middle ad was edited out, and the two advertisements at the beginning and end of the show were replaced by musical numbers, so that the show on AFRS would have two numbers by Billy Mills and the Orchestra, and two by The King's Men.

The Jordans were experts at transforming the ethnic humor of vaudeville into more rounded comic characters, no doubt due in part to the affection felt for the famous supporting cast members who voiced these roles, including [[Bill Thompson (voice actor)|Bill Thompson]] (as the Old Timer and Wimple), [[Harold Peary]] (as Gildersleeve), [[Gale Gordon]] (as La Trivia), [[Arthur Q. Bryan]] (as Dr. Gamble; Bryan also voiced [[Elmer Fudd]] for the [[Warner Brothers]] [[Looney Tunes]] cartoons, which also borrowed lines from ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' from time to time), Isabel Randolph (as Mrs. Uppington), Marlin Hurt (a white male who played in dialect the McGee's maid, Beulah), and others. They were also expert at their own running gags and catchphrases, many of which entered the American vernacular: "That ain't the way ''I'' heeard it!"; "'T'ain't funny, McGee!"<ref name=Fib91NYT/> and "Heavenly days!" were the three best known.