Originally broadcast on NBC, 7 December 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1941–1957
- Surviving broadcasts
- 528
- Genre
- comedy
The Great Gildersleeve is a radio situation comedy broadcast from August 31, 1941, to March 21, 1957. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was built around the character Throckmorton P.
1957 · 21955 · 11954 · 231953 · 14
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 10 of 40Listenable · 3 of 40Rough but complete · 27 of 40
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: Otrr_The_Great_Gildersleeve_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
15 dated broadcasts across 17 years on the air, with 13 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1953, in original transmission order.
- 1. Flattery · 30 Sep 1953
- 2. Home Haircut · 7 Oct 1953
- 3. Gildy Involved with Teacher and Principal · 14 Oct 1953
Family Prepares For Easter
16 Apr 1957 · 22 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 16 April 1957. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Gildy Causes Water Outage
7 Mar 1957 · 21 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 7 March 1957. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Floyd's Inheritance
20 Oct 1955 · 23 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 20 October 1955. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Opera Committee
7 Dec 1954 · 14 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 7 December 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Pal To Leroy
26 Oct 1954 · 13 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 26 October 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Trying to End Aunt Hattie's Stay
2 Jun 1954 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 2 June 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Visit by Aunt Hattie
26 May 1954 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 26 May 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Gildy Runs for Sheriff
19 May 1954 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 19 May 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
7 Dec 1954
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 7 Dec 1954.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 7 December 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on NBC
NBC in 1941–1957
Other series the network carried while The Great Gildersleeve was on the air.
Same seasons
comedy on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
Friends in front of a microphone
Jack Benny and Fibber McGee sold intimacy: recurring characters, in-jokes, a house style. The modern hang-out show is the same trick without the script.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of The Great Gildersleeve
Modern series carrying this form forward.
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