Although best remembered as The Great Gildersleeve, Harold Peary was as much a singer by trade as an actor initially. One of his earliest radio roles was on an NBC station in San Francisco. Using both his ability to mimic accents and his singing voice, Peary appeared on air as The Spanish Serenader. Playing off of Peary’s singing ability, The Great Gildersleeve introduced a group that often regaled the audience with barbershop quartet type songs. Gildy and his friends, Barber Floyd Munson, Pharmacist Peavey, Judge Hooker, and Police Chief Gates, came together on one episode to provide a club that would be a place for Summerfield’s boys to gather and stay out of trouble. What it became, however, was a hall above Munson’s barbershop, where Gildy and the others sang around an old piano and drank Coca Cola. Supposed to be a one off gag, the audience loved The Jolly Boys and they became a part of the show. Laughter in the midst of small town life makes The Great Gildersleeve one of the best shows of classic radio.
Experience it for yourself in twelve original broadcasts in this collection, presented exactly as broadcast, complete with commercials for Kraft Foods. The Great Gildersleeve, Volume 12, restored to sparkling digital quality.
