Those Websters was a radio situation comedy series starring Willard Waterman and Constance Crowder as George and Jane Webster. The program was launched in New York and then moved to Chicago for a short spell before finishing its run from Hollywood.
The series replaced That Brewster Boy (1941–45), which starred a teenaged Dick York. Several Brewster cast members continued on with Those Websters, and the two situation comedies were quite similar. The transition is evident in the near-anagram: Brewster=Webster. In a 1991 interview with John Douglas, Dick York explained how That Brewster Boy morphed into Those Websters:
Those riotous Websters were heard Friday evenings at 9:30pm on CBS from March 9, 1945 to February 22, 1946 with Quaker Oats as the sponsor. On March 3, 1946, the series moved to Mutual where it aired Sundays at 6pm until August 22, 1948. [1]
The Webster family lived at 46 River Road in the Chicago suburb of Spring City where George Webster often attended the lodgehall meetings of the Sons of the Mustangs of the Moonlight Mesas. Attempting to prove that "families are fun," those hapless Websters continually encountered confusion, and plans usually went astray during their chaotic misadventures.
Jean Verhagen (later billed as Jean Hagen) played Betty Webster. [2] The children were Liz Webster (Joan Alt) and Billy Webster (Arthur Young, Gil Stratton Jr.), with Bill Idelson as Billy's friend Emil, Jerry Spellman (as Jeep) and Jane Webb (as Belinda Boyd). Fran Allison was heard as a family cousin, and the cast also included Clarence Hartzell, Parley Baer and Eddie Firestone Jr. (1921-2007). [3] Charles Irving announced the program, scripted by Priscilla Kent, Albert G. Miller and Frank and Doris Hursley. Frank Worth led the orchestra.
Two years after this series came to an end, Waterman replaced Harold Peary as the title character in The Great Gildersleeve in 1950.
Fibber McGee and Molly (1935–1959) was a longtime husband-and-wife team radio comedy program.
Jane Wyman was an American actress. A star of both movies and television she received an Academy Award for Best Actress (1948), four Golden Globe Awards and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 1960 she received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for both motion pictures and television. She was the first wife of President Ronald Reagan.
The Great Gildersleeve is a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was built around Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, a regular character from the radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly. The character was introduced in the October 3, 1939, episode of that series. Actor Harold Peary had played a similarly named character, Dr. Gildersleeve, on earlier episodes. The Great Gildersleeve enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 1940s. Peary played the character during its transition from the parent show into the spin-off and later in four feature films released at the height of the show's popularity.
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Harold "Hal" Peary was an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, films, television, and animation. His most memorable role is as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, which began as a supporting character on radio's "Fibber McGee and Molly" in 1938.
Beatrice Whitney Straight was an American theatre, film and television actress and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She was an Academy Award and Tony Award winner as well as an Emmy Award nominee.
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Also see: The ships Anne and Little James
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Island Venture is an American old-time radio adventure drama. It was broadcast on CBS from November 8, 1945, until June 20, 1946
That Brewster Boy is an American old-time radio situation comedy. It was broadcast on NBC from September 8, 1941, to March 2, 1942, and on CBS from March 4, 1942, to March 2, 1945. It was also carried on 13 stations in Canada.
'Those Websters', with Jane Webb (top) as 'Belinda,' Gil Stratton, Jr. as 'Billy Webster' and (bottom) Constance Crowder and Willard Waterman as Mama and Papa Webster, portraying the humorous highlights in the life of a typical American family, will become a Sunday feature over Mutual beginning March 3.