Harold Peary

Harold "Hal" Peary (born Harrold José Pereira de Faria; July 25, 1908 – March 30, 1985) was an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, films, television, and animation. His most memorable role was as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, which began as a supporting character on radio's Fibber McGee and Molly in 1938 before being spun off to star in a successful radio series The Great Gildersleeve, several films and other media adaptations.

Born as José Pereira de Faria in San Leandro, California, to Portuguese parents, Harold Peary (pronounced Perry) began working in local radio as early as 1923, according to his own memory. He had his own show as a singer, The Spanish Serenader, in San Francisco. While in San Francisco, he and Eddie Firestone had several parts in Wheatenaville, a program broadcast on NBC's Pacific network beginning September 26, 1932. He then moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1935.

In Chicago, he became a regular on Fibber McGee and Molly, where he originated the colorful and arrogant Gildersleeve character as a McGee neighbor and nemesis in 1938. He also worked on the horror series Lights Out and other radio programs, but his success and popularity as Gildersleeve set the stage for the character's own program, which became the peak of his career.

Johnson Wax, which sponsored Fibber McGee & Molly, sponsored an audition recording for The Great Gildersleeve, and the Kraft Cheese Company signed on as the show's regular sponsor. Gildersleeve was transplanted from Wistful Vista to Summerfield with more than just a locale change—now a bachelor, and now the water commissioner instead of the owner of the Gildersleeve's Girlish Girdles company. With much of his pomposity and cantankerousness toned down, he was also newly domesticated and appointed guardian of his orphaned niece Marjorie and nephew Leroy. Implicitly well-off though by no means wealthy, Gildersleeve was depicted winding up his lingerie-making company and taking up a new life as Summerfield's water commissioner.

The Great Gildersleeve premiered on August 31, 1941, and became a steady hit for the rest of the decade. Peary's sonorous voice and flustered catchphrases were among radio's most familiar sounds. Lurene Tuttle originally played Marjorie with Louise Erickson succeeding her; Walter Tetley, a veteran of Fred Allen's Town Hall Tonight cast and other shows, played Leroy; and, Lillian Randolph played Gildersleeve's ego-puncturing maid and housekeeper, Birdie.

The show's humor, like that of McGee, was drawn through clever word-play and phrasemaking as well as Gildersleeve's earnest stumbling and basically warmhearted nature. His on-screen nemesis was Judge Horace Hooker (Earle Ross), who oversaw his guardianship of Marjorie and Leroy and became a friend and periodic rival in various schemes. Periodically, storylines were serialized, such as some of Gildersleeve's romantic interests and political aspirations; in time, some of the clever word playing was toned down.

Peary also found occasion to weave his singing voice into show episodes, such as "Mystery Voice" in which he referenced his former Spanish Serenader radio persona in a plot involving a Brazilian singer on a local radio show (Mel Blanc guested as the station manager), concurrently referencing his Portuguese heritage. But his best-remembered vocalism would be what radio historians have called his "dirty laugh", a descending giggle that could start from sarcasm and finish in embarrassment or substitute for being at a schoolboy-like loss for words.

Other characters in and out of the Gildersleeve orbit included Richard LeGrand as Peavey the druggist, Arthur Q. Bryan as Floyd the Barber, Ken Christy as police chief Gates, Shirley Mitchell as Leila Ransom, Bea Benaderet as another Gildersleeve paramour Eve Goodwin, and occasionally Gale Gordon as Rumson Bullard, a neighbor who served Gildersleeve the way Gildersleeve had once served Fibber McGee, Gordon's previous character on McGee.