Harold Peary and Willard Waterman · NBC, 1941-1958
No sign-up · one tap. It plays right here, around the clock.
Standalone channel One series, every episode in the order it first aired. Part of Laugh Track, where all the series play mixed.
15 episodes, in the order they first aired. Each plays on to the next. Subscribe in any podcast app with the feed.
502 more episodes are waiting: Potato Plus members play them all now
The Great Gildersleeve was one of the earliest spin-offs in broadcasting, built around a character from Fibber McGee and Molly. The Great Gildersleeve: 517 episodes of the old-time radio comedy series from NBC, 1941-1958, starring Harold Peary and Willard Waterman. Free, live around the clock and as a podcast (a new episode every day), every episode in the order it first aired.
The Great Gildersleeve is the old time radio sitcom about Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, a pompous, soft-hearted bachelor raising his orphaned niece and nephew in the town of Summerfield. Harold Peary created the character as Fibber McGee's blustery neighbor, and in 1941 Gildy got his own show, one of the earliest spin-offs in broadcasting. Peary's sliding, sly giggle became Gildy's trademark. He started out running a girdle company and became Summerfield's water commissioner in October 1942, a job he kept for the rest of the run.
The show ran on NBC from 1941 into 1958, and it grew up with its characters. Marjorie went from schoolgirl to bride in a 1950 radio wedding, while Leroy, played by Walter Tetley, stayed 10 or 11 for most of the 1940s. Around them were Birdie the housekeeper (Lillian Randolph), Judge Hooker, Peavey the druggist and the Jolly Boys barbershop club. When Peary left in 1950, Willard Waterman, who sounded remarkably like him, took over the role.
Gildersleeve is a warmer sitcom than most of its era. Gildy is vain and blustery, but he is trying to raise two children, and the stories often end with him doing the right thing in spite of himself. Over the years the characters age and change: Marjorie grows up, marries and has twins, and even Leroy finally starts growing up in 1949. With a new episode every day, it is a comfortable show to live with for months.
NBC, 1941-1958. With Harold Peary, Willard Waterman, Lillian Randolph, Lurene Tuttle, Mary Lee Robb, Richard Crenna.
The The Great Gildersleeve recordings here come from the Old Time Radio Researchers' The Great Gildersleeve Singles set (517 episodes), hosted by the Internet Archive. Our thanks to the Old Time Radio Researchers, the volunteers who found, dated and assembled the set, and to the Archive and the collectors whose uploads it rests on. The sound is our remaster of those files (rumble, hiss and hum cleaned out, levelled to steady broadcast loudness); the recordings themselves are theirs. About our sources.
Every The Great Gildersleeve episode: the full list, with air dates and stories
Spotted a wrong date, title or name? Report a mistake · Missing a series? Request a show · Suggest a note
Yes. Gildersleeve was the McGees' pompous next-door neighbor from 1939, and he got his own show on August 31, 1941. It is often called broadcasting's first successful spin-off hit.
Harold Peary created the role and played it until June 14, 1950. Willard Waterman took over on September 6, 1950; the two sounded remarkably alike, but out of respect Waterman never copied Peary's famous laugh.
In 1950 Peary wanted a share of the show's ownership. Kraft owned the property, and when Peary signed with CBS, Kraft refused to move the show, so the role went to Willard Waterman.
Walter Tetley, an adult who kept the voice of a preteen boy all his life. He also played Julius on The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show and later voiced Sherman in the Mr. Peabody cartoons.
Right here on Stupid Potato. Episodes play free on this page with no sign-up, and the free podcast brings them to any podcast app, a new one every day, in broadcast order.
Yes. The Great Gildersleeve is free to listen to, live around the clock and as a podcast: no sign-up, no app and no subscription. Potato Plus is optional and never required.
No. It is an internet radio channel, live 24 hours a day: press Listen live, no sign-up and no app needed.
No modern ads, and we promise none until Valentine's Day 2027 (February 14). Nothing breaks into the show to sell you something you never asked for. Any commercials you hear are the original sponsor spots that aired with the broadcast.
The Great Gildersleeve is a Stupid Potato channel (https://stupidpotato.com/), made by Stupid Potato Studios and powered by MonsterCast. The other channels and the Stupid Potato cartoons are at https://stupidpotato.com/.
Stupid Potato
Join Potato Plus