THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE Love, Life, and Leila Ransom

“The Great Gildersleeve” made our grandparents laugh through WWII, and it's easy to see why. Radio Spirits has remastered 16 episodes of the 1942-43 radio show, complete with commercials for something called "margarine," and collected them in an enjoyable boxed set. Even if his name doesn't ring a bell, Harold Peary's voice and unique laugh will. Peary's Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, plucked from the "Fibber McGee and Molly" radio show for a spin-off, is still funny more than sixty years later. Like its audiobook descendants, the radio show uses voices, music, and sound effects to brilliant effect. Peary's performance as the blustering, bumbling hero, aided by Lurene Tuttle, Walter Tetley, and a half-dozen talented actors, is a joy. M.S. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2008]