The Great Gildersleeve - Neighbors and Friends

Neighbors and Friends

Outside the home, Gildersleeve's closest association was with the cantankerous estate executor Judge Horace Hooker (Earle Ross), with whom he had many battles during the first few broadcast seasons. After a change in scriptwriters from Levinson (August 1941 to December 1942) to the team of Whedon and Moore in January 1943, the confrontations slowly subside and a true friendship slowly blossoms. In an early episode, Throckmorton was given the key of the city to Gildersleeve, Connecticut, a village in the town of Portland, Connecticut.

Joining Throckmorton's circle of close acquaintances during the second season (September 1942) are Richard Q. Peavey (Richard LeGrand), the friendly neighborhood pharmacist, whose nasal-voiced delivery and famous catchphrase, "Well, now, I wouldn't say that!" always elicited giggles from the studio audience (and was frequently quoted in animated cartoons such as 1945's Draftee Daffy); and Floyd Munson (Arthur Q. Bryan), the rough-around-the-edges neighborhood barber.

Munson was played by Mel Blanc in at least two episodes of the first season: coincidentally, Bryan was the originator of the voice and character of Elmer Fudd, the one voice which Blanc never thought he had made his own. Blanc appeared frequently in other episodes, uncredited, often voicing two or more supporting characters: deliverymen in "Planting A Tree" and "Father's Day Chair" also "Gus", a petty crook in the latter; a radio station manager and a policeman in "Mystery Singer" are a few.

In the fourth season, (October 8, 1944) these three friends, along with Police Chief Donald Gates (Ken Christy), form the nucleus of the Jolly Boys Club whose activities revolve around practicing barbershop quartet songs between sips of Coca-Cola.

Adding spice to Gildersleeve's life are the women who come and go: the Georgia widow Leila Ransom (Shirley Mitchell), who leaves him at the altar on the last show of the 1942-43 season (June 27, 1943), and the school principal Eve Goodwin (Bea Benaderet), who was another close call at the altar of matrimony (June 25, 1944). After almost being trapped a third time (1948-49 season) to Leila's cousin Adeline Fairchild (Una Merkel) Throckmorton learns his lesson and makes sure his future involvement with women is much more circumspect. He dates the sisters of his surly neighbor from across the street, Ellen Bullard Knickerbocker (Martha Scott) and Paula Bullard Winthrop (Jeanne Bates), as well as Nurse Katherine Milford and school principal Irene Henshaw (both played by Cathy Lewis) in an on-and-off fashion over many years, making sure the situation doesn't progress beyond the just friends state (although he's always after that special kiss).

To add adversity to Gildersleeve's world is the aforementioned surly neighbor from across the street: the retired millionaire Rumson Bullard, after initial portrayals by another actor, was portrayed definitively by Gale Gordon, who was more pompous than the earlier version of the Gildersleeve character. Coincidentally, Gordon also portrayed Wistful Vista's Mayor La Trivia on Fibber McGee and Molly, filling the role of "pompous neighbor" which had previously been Gildersleeve's. Bullard was the focus of a continuity error: he began as a happily married man with two children and inexplicably became a widower with sisters and nieces living with him periodically. In numerous episodes, Mr. Bullard alternates between being chummy with "Gildy" (in order to get something he wants) to calling him a "nincompoop water buffalo". The two often court the same women (particularly Katherine Milford).