Editing Fibber McGee and Molly (section)

==Cast and characters==
[[File:Fibber McGee Molly cast photo.JPG|right|250px|thumb|The other cast members circa 1939.]]
''Fibber McGee and Molly'' was one of the earliest radio comedies to use an [[ensemble cast]] of regular characters played by actors other than the leads, nearly all of whom had recurring phrases and running gags, in addition to numerous other peripheral characters [[unseen character|unheard from]] over the course of the series.

===Main===
* '''Fibber McGee''' (Jim Jordan) – a habitual storyteller and the central figure of the series. Originally portrayed with a cartoonish accent, the character settled into using Jordan's own natural voice by the early 1940s.
* '''Molly McGee''' (Marian Jordan) – Fibber's Irish wife and the [[straight man|straight woman]] of the [[double act]]. Her traditional putdown, "'Tain't funny McGee!", appears in the very first episode.

===Recurring===
* '''Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve''' ([[Harold Peary]]) – the pompous next-door neighbor with whom Fibber enjoyed twitting and arguing. Introduced in 1939. Gildersleeve went through several incarnations and first names, all voiced by Peary, before settling on Throckmorton. Many of his interactions with Fibber include the [[catchphrase]] "You're a hard man, McGee", in response to a harsh or critical statement from Fibber. Throckmortons's wife is frequently mentioned, never heard, and dropped when Peary moved on to his own show. However, the wife of Homer Gildersleeve (again played by Peary) was briefly heard from in one episode.
* '''The Old-Timer''' ([[Bill Thompson (voice actor)|Bill Thompson]]) – a hard-of-hearing senior citizen with a penchant for distorting jokes, prefacing each one by saying, "That ain't the way I heer'd it!" For no apparent reason, he refers to Fibber as "Johnny" and Molly as "Daughter". A recurring joke is that he refuses to tell his real name; he uses various aliases, and his "real name" is "revealed" more than once, one time as Rupert Blasingaime and another as Alderton P. Bagshaw. The Old-Timer's girlfriend is named Bessie, and she usually refers to him as "O.T." In the December 10, 1940 episode "Mailing Christmas Packages", his sister refers to him as "Roy".
* '''Tini''', also known as '''"Little Girl"''' and '''"Sis"''' (Marian Jordan) – a precocious youngster who frequently tried to cadge loose change from Fibber (often in cahoots with her rarely heard best friend Willie Toops). She often ended her sentences with "I betcha!", and when someone mentioned food, or a word that sounded like a food, she usually responded "I'm hungry." Tini was also known to lose track of her own conversations. When Fibber showed interest in what she was saying, she would forget all about it, and her conversation would switch from telling to asking. After Fibber repeated everything she had been telling him, Tini would reply "I know!" or "I know it!" in a condescending way. Her appearances were sometimes foreshadowed by Molly excusing herself to the kitchen or to have a nap. Fibber would wistfully deliver a compliment to her, saying, "Ah, there goes a good kid", upon which the doorbell would ring and Tini would appear, usually greeting Fibber with "Hi, mister!" On rare occasions Molly and Tini would interact.<ref name=Time/> During the 1944 season's episode titled "Aunt Sarah's Picture", Fibber asks Tini what her real name is. Tini responded, "When I was a little baby my daddy called me Martini and then they just started calling me Tini I guess". Fibber responds, "Why did your daddy call you Martini when you were a baby?", to which Tini replied, "He said I was never dry enough to suit him". In the December 21, 1948 broadcast Fibber learns that her real name is "Elizabeth" from a Christmas card she had sent him, and in the episode "Fibber Gets Stuck In Fresh Pavement", she reveals her last name is Whiticomb. She was perpetually a child, and her permanent youth was only mentioned once; Fibber asked her how old she was, to which she responded, "six". Then he asked how long she had been coming over to visit him and Molly. "Nine years", she answered. Then, after a pause, she asked, "Ain't it a wonderful world, mister?"
* '''Mayor Homer La Trivia''' ([[Gale Gordon]]) – the mayor of Wistful Vista, whose name was inspired by [[New York City]]'s famous mayor [[Fiorello La Guardia]]. In later episodes, Fibber occasionally addresses the mayor as "Homer" and in one episode, we learn that Fifi Tremaine's pet name for the mayor is "Chuckie". The McGees' regular routine with La Trivia entailed Fibber and Molly misunderstanding a figure of speech, in much the same vein as [[Abbott & Costello]]'s ''[[Who's on First?]]'' routine. La Trivia would slowly progress from attempting patient explanation to tongue-tied rage, in Gale Gordon's classic slow-burn. Occasionally, after La Trivia exited a scene, Fibber and Molly's dialogue makes it clear that they were deliberately winding him up.
* '''Foggy Williams''' (Gordon) – local weatherman and next-door neighbor who tells fanciful stories, lets Fibber borrow his tools, and takes credit or blame for the present weather conditions. He is known for his extensive use of tentative language and usually exits with the line "Good day... probably."
* '''Dr. George Gamble''' ([[Arthur Q. Bryan]]) – a local physician and surgeon with whom Fibber had a long-standing rivalry and friendship. The two often come up with creative insults for each other's excessive weight. Before Bryan joined the cast, Gale Gordon played the part of the town doctor in several episodes.
* '''Ole Swenson''' ([[Richard LeGrand]], who also played Mr. Peavey on ''[[The Great Gildersleeve]]'') – a [[Sweden|Swedish]]-born janitor at the [[Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks|Elks Club]], often complaining that he was "joost donatin' my time!" His wife's name is Helga, and their children include Kristina, Sven, Lars, and Ole.
* '''Mrs. Abigail Uppington''' ([[Isabel Randolph]]) – a snooty society matron whose pretensions Fibber delighted in deflating. Fibber often addressed her as "Uppy". In the episode "Fibber Hires A Surveyor" (March 26, 1940) it is revealed that she is having a romantic relationship with orchestra leader Billy Mills, and in the episode "Gildersleeve's Diary" (October 22, 1940), we learn that she also has a romantic past with Gildersleeve. She also has a relationship with Horatio K. Boomer in a few episodes, and the McGees assume he is using her for her money. In several episodes, there are references to the fact that Mrs. Uppington wasn't always rich. In the episode "The Circus Comes to Town" (May 28, 1940), it is revealed that she met the wealthy Mr. Uppington when she was a circus bareback rider known as Mademoiselle Tootsie Latour. Her horse got scared during a trick, and she accidentally did a double back flip into Mr. Uppington's lap, and he proposed on the spot.
* '''Mrs. Millicent Carstairs''' ([[Bea Benaderet]]) – another of Wistful Vista's high society matrons, known to Fibber as "Carsty". Like Mrs. Uppington, Mrs. Carstairs doesn't come from a wealthy lineage. In "Fibber Thinks He's the Governor's Pal" (December 11, 1945), she lets slip that before she met Mr. Carstairs she was a blackjack dealer in a gambling joint.
* '''Wallace Wimple''' (Thompson) – Wimple was a soft-spoken man in the [[Caspar Milquetoast]] vein. He would enter the episode uttering his mush-mouth catchphrase, "Hello, folks!" Wimple might recite a verse he'd written but more often would recount the latest incident in his ongoing battle with the unheard Sweetie-Face, his massive and abusive "big old wife," whose given name was Cornelia. "Wimp", as Fibber called him, often reported provoking an overreaction from Sweetie-Face, followed by his attempt at revenge in a way that could be prankish, painful, or in some stories potentially fatal. One day (March 9, 1948) when he asked Sweetie-Face what she was doing, Wallace said she told him she was "practicing her weight-lifting". Wallace said he told Sweetie-Face, "My goodness, you do that every time you get up out of a chair." “Uh oh," fretted Molly. "And then when I regained consciousness," continued Wimple, "she'd left the room." With a typically evil chuckle, Wallace said that he got even by bolting her 200-pound barbell to the floor, causing her to strain so hard the next time she lifted weights that she popped her [[girdle]]. Though the term "wimp" as used to describe a weak-willed person predated<ref>{{cite web|title=dictionarycentral.com|url=http://www.dictionarycentral.com/definition/wimp.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624103833/http://www.dictionarycentral.com/definition/wimp.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 June 2016|website=wimp Definition, History, and Origin|access-date=23 June 2016}}</ref> ''Fibber McGee and Molly'', the Wimple character and Fibber's nickname for him may have contributed to a surge in popular use.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lileks|first1=James|title=40s Music and Drama|url=http://lileks.com/bw/40s/herewego/|website=lileks.com|access-date=23 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531230112/http://lileks.com/bw/40s/herewego/|archive-date=2016-05-31|url-status=dead}}</ref> Mr. Wimple had originated on ''[[Don McNeill's Breakfast Club]]'' in 1934 before he joined the ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' cast and would later use the voice and some of his deceptively devious mannerisms for the cartoon character [[Droopy]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/05/bill_thompson_k.html|title=Bill Thompson: King of Wimps|first=Kliph|last=Nesteroff|work=[[WFMU]]|date=May 20, 2007|access-date=June 7, 2019|archive-date=May 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525160006/https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/05/bill_thompson_k.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* '''Alice Darling''' ([[Shirley Mitchell]]) – a ditzy and boy-crazy young aircraft-plant worker who boarded with the McGees during the war.
* '''Horatio K. Boomer''' (Thompson) – a con artist with a [[W. C. Fields]]-like voice and delivery.<ref name=Time/> His appearances typically included him rummaging through a pocket or bag or other container and listing the things inside, usually ending with "a check for a short beer".
* '''Nick Depopulis''' (Thompson) – a [[Greeks|Greek]]-born restaurateur with a tendency toward verbal malapropisms.<ref name=Time/> He normally refers to Fibber and Molly as "Fizzer and Kewpie".
* '''Milt Spilkt''' – the nephew of Kramer from Kramer's Drugstore.
* '''The Toops Family''' – Mort and Mabel Toops, and their son Willie, live in the McGees' neighborhood next door to Dr. Gamble. They are rarely heard on the show, but have occasional lines (for example, Mabel has several lines during "Fibber Cooks Dinner for Molly's Birthday" (October 23, 1951), Mort has some lines in "Halloween Party" (October 28, 1935), and Willie is heard in "Soapbox Derby Racer for Teeny" (April 24, 1951)). Willie Toops is most often mentioned in conjunction with Teeny, who sometimes refers to him as her boyfriend or future husband. The character of Beulah first appeared when she stopped at the McGees' on her way to her first day of work at the Toops' house. Mort was a regular on the Jordans' previous series ''Smackout'', where Jim Jordan had voiced him.
* '''Myrtle''', also known as '''"Myrt"''' – an almost-never-heard-from telephone operator (she makes a brief appearance in the June 22, 1943 episode) that Fibber is friends with. A typical Myrt sketch started with Fibber picking up the phone and demanding, "Operator, give me number 32Oooh, is that you, Myrt? How's every little thing, Myrt? What say, Myrt?" Commonly, this was followed with Fibber relaying what Myrt was telling him to Molly, usually news about Myrt's family, and always ending with a bad pun. Myrtle made one brief on-air appearance on June 22, 1943, when she visited the McGees to wish them a good summer—the McGees did not recognize her in person.
* '''Fred Nitney''' – another never-heard character, until episode 715, which aired January 6, 1953. They meet and chat briefly at the train station. Fibber's old vaudeville partner from [[Starved Rock State Park|Starved Rock, Illinois]].
* '''Aunt Sarah''' – Molly's rich aunt who always sends useless gifts for Christmas, a silent character.
* '''Fifi Tremaine''' – another never-heard-from character, Fifi was an actress and was courted by both Doc Gamble and Mayor La Trivia, and Fibber enjoyed pitting the two against each other in their competition for Fifi's affections.
* '''Herbert Appel''' – a stock boy at the hardware store, his character is distinguished by his odd speech patterns. By putting non-standard emphasis on syllables and sounds, his sentences can be confusing and/or humorous (what would now be considered [[mondegreen]]). For example, "I had to get up at eight o'clock" is heard by Fibber and Molly as "I had to get a potato clock", "I got up too early" comes out as "I got up twirly", and his own name sounds like "Herber Tapple" (in "Fibber Puts Up Christmas Lights", December 20, 1949).
* '''[[Beulah (series)|Beulah]]''' – the McGees' black maid and possibly the series' most unusual character. Unlike the situation on ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'', where black actor [[Eddie Anderson (comedian)|Eddie Anderson]] played "Rochester", Beulah was voiced by a white male, [[Marlin Hurt]]. The character's usual opening line, "Somebody bawl fo' Beulah??", often provoked a stunned, screeching sort of laughter among the live studio audience; many of them, seeing the show performed for the first time in person, did not know that the actor voicing Beulah was neither black nor female, and expressed their surprise when Hurt delivered his line. Her other catchphrase, typically delivered after a fit of laughter over a Fibber gag, was, "Love that man!" Hurt had created the Beulah character independently and had portrayed her occasionally on other shows prior to his joining the ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' cast.<ref name=Star/>
* '''Lena''' – the McGees' second maid during the series, she replaced Beulah after the character was spun off into her own show. Like Beulah, Lena was played by male actor Gene Carroll.
* '''Uncle Dennis''' ([[Ransom Sherman]]) – Molly's hard-drinking uncle, Dennis Driscoll, who was the subject of a running gag (see below) and was generally never heard. He did appear in a few episodes in 1943–44, including "Renting Spare Room" (October 5, 1943), "Fibber Makes His Own Chili Sauce" (November 9, 1943), and "Dinner Out to Celebrate" (January 25, 1944).
* '''Sigmund "Sig" Wellington''' (Sherman) – the manager of the Bijou Theater

===As themselves===
* '''Billy Mills''' – wisecracking leader of ''Billy Mills and the Orchestra'', who led the show's ensemble through musical numbers in each episode. In addition to standards and popular tunes, Mills occasionally showcased his own original compositions, including "I'm in Love with the Sound Effects Man" (in the episode "Amusement Park" (June 17, 1941) and later covered by [[Spike Jones]]), and "The Cocky Cuckoo" (in the episode "Businessmen's Symphony", (06/12/51)). Mills also was the composer of the show's theme song, "Wing to Wing", that was used from 1940 until the series' end.
* '''[[Ulderico Marcelli|Rico Marcelli]]''' – the original bandleader prior to Mills's arrival. Unlike Mills, Marcelli had no non-musical role in the series.
* '''[[Harlow Wilcox (announcer)|Harlow Wilcox]]''' – announcer for the series, whom Fibber regularly interrupts during commercial breaks.