My husband and I have recorded most of the classic radio program from 1941 through 1954. The program began in September 1941 as a spinoff of Fibber McGee and Molly. The first episodes that fall were a bit too vaudevillian, but after the attack on Pearl Harbor, many radio programs took on a whole new patriotic point of view.
Throughout the war years The Great Gildersleeve portrayed the war effort though episodes about gasoline rationing, ration points for meat, Gildersleeve having to repair his own car because the mechanic went off to war, and having a soldier from a nearby army base join the family for Thanksgiving dinner. At the end of the program, Gildersleeve often reminded listeners to buy war bonds.
One memorable episode was about an upcoming election and Gildersleeve was running against Mayor Terwilliger for the position of mayor. It was a tense campaign with each candidate trying to persuade voters to vote for him. At the conclusion of the episode, Gildersleeve asks one of the townspeople, an immigrant from Italy, if he's going to vote the next day. The immigrant responds with a wonderful speech saying how proud he was to finally become an American citizen and how much he's looking forward to casting his vote for the very first time.
Gildersleeve realizes that it's not about winning as much as it is the privilege of living in a country where people can vote and how important it is that everyone proudly participates in the election process.
The radio program had a depth that the television program lacks. We watched two episodes of the television program just to see Willard Waterman and Lillian Randolph.
