On This Day, August 25: Fibber McGee (1955/1957) and Scotland Yard
Also featured: One Man's Family.
August 25 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, serial multi-part narrative arcs, and story synopses for historical broadcasts transmitting on August 25 across American network, two later-era Fibber McGee & Molly domestic comedy classics (including NBC Monitor), Inspector Peter Black solving a spiritualist inheritance murder on Scotland Yard, Alton Hall Blackington's Cape Cod folklore, Carlton E. Morse's One Man's Family (Book 77, Chapter 10 for Alka-Seltzer), and Irna Phillips' The Guiding Light for Duz (1947–1957):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Back Porch Paint Job (Fibber McGee & Molly — NBC)" | NBC (WRCA) 1955-08-25 10:00 PM EDT |
Sustaining Comedy Strip |
Jim Jordan (Fibber), Marian Jordan (Molly) | Phil Leslie, Max Hutto, John Wald | ["Comedy", "Sitcom", "Domestic", "Americana", "Dialect"] |
"NBC presents Fibber McGee and Molly!" Fibber decides to touch up the railing on the back porch at 79 Wistful Vista with bright canary-yellow paint, inadvertently painting himself and Doc Gamble's trousers into an inescapable corner. |
| "The Great Summer Hammock (Fibber McGee & Molly — NBC Monitor)" | NBC (WRCA) 1957-08-25 7:05 PM EDT |
Sustaining NBC Monitor Vignette |
Jim Jordan (Fibber), Marian Jordan (Molly) | Phil Leslie (Writer), Fred Collins | ["Comedy", "Sitcom", "Domestic", "Americana", "Dialect"] |
"Fibber McGee and Molly on NBC Monitor!" Fibber attempts to string up a heavy-duty rope hammock between the two elm trees in the backyard, wrestling with tangled knots and gravity while Molly watches with wry amusement. |
| "The Case of the Voice from the Dead (Basil Dignam as Inspector Black — Mutual)" | Mutual (WOR) 1947-08-25 8:00 PM EDT |
Sustaining British Procedural |
Basil Dignam (Inspector Black), Ralph Truman | Ernest Dudley, Harry Alan Towers, Patrick Barr | ["Police", "Procedural", "British", "Mystery", "Crime"] |
"Scotland Yard! Calling the Black Museum of London's Metropolitan Police!" Inspector Peter Black of CID investigates a wealthy spiritualist dowager who claims to receive nightly spoken warnings from her deceased sister, discovering a concealed dictaphone cylinder used in an elaborate inheritance murder conspiracy. |
| "President Grant's Cigar (Alton Hall Blackington — Yankee Yarns)" | CBS New England 1951-08-25 7:15 PM EDT |
Sustaining Folklore Series |
Alton Hall Blackington (Host/Storyteller) | WEEI Boston Operations | ["Folklore", "Historical", "Americana", "Storytelling", "Regional"] |
"Yankee Yarns, with your New England storyteller, Alton Hall Blackington!" Blackington spins the delightful historical lore surrounding an unsmoked Havana cigar presented by President Ulysses S. Grant to a Massachusetts tavern keeper in 1869, which became the prized relic of a multi-generational Cape Cod feud. |
| "Book 77, Chapter 10: The Book of Henry (Father Barbour — Alka-Seltzer)" | NBC (WNBC) 1950-08-25 3:00 PM EDT |
Miles Laboratories Alka-Seltzer & One-A-Day |
J. Anthony Smythe (Father Barbour), Minetta Ellen | Carlton E. Morse (Creator/Dir.), Ken Carpenter | ["Drama", "Soap Opera", "Domestic", "Family", "Human Interest"] |
"One Man's Family, dedicated to the mothers and fathers of the American home, brought to you by Alka-Seltzer!" In Book 77, Chapter 10 ('The Book of Henry'), patriarch Father Barbour confronts rising family tensions in the Sea Cliff home in San Francisco, offering wise guidance to Paul regarding Henry's business dilemmas for Alka-Seltzer. |
| "Ted and Meta Have a Discussion (Meta Bauer White — Duz Soap)" | CBS (WCBS) 1950-08-25 1:45 PM EDT |
Procter & Gamble Duz — "Does Everything!" |
Jone Allison (Meta Bauer), Ted Osborne | Irna Phillips, Art Wallace, Bud Collyer | ["Drama", "Soap Opera", "Domestic", "Marriage", "Human Interest"] |
"The Guiding Light, created by Irna Phillips, brought to you by Duz!" In the town of Five Points, Meta Bauer White faces an emotional crisis as husband Ted White delivers an ultimatum regarding her involvement in stepdaughter Kathy's troubled marriage for Duz Soap. |