The Barnwell people-sentinel. (Barnwell, S.C.) 1925-current, August 19, 1937, Image 3
Hm BarawtU PtopU^—ti—U Barawlt a. C- TliirWay. Arngmai If, lfS7
HEAVENLY DAYS FOR THE JORDANS
Marion and Jim—‘Fibber McGee and Molly’ to You—Hit the Top
in Radio After Years of Labor, Love and Laughter.,
IMPROVED
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
UNDAY
chool Lesson
By R
Dea
Here's Planned Prettiness
REV. HAROLD li LUNDQU1ST.
n ot tha Moody Bible Inatttut*
ot Chicago.
C Western Newspaper Union.
By WILLIAM C. UTLEY
SSTIT'HY don't you forget
VV about that guy Jordan?”
a suitor asked Marion Driscoll,
about 18 years ago. ‘‘He'll
never amount to anything. If
you m$rry him, you’ll be living
out of a suitcase all your life.”
That settled it. For \ there was
nothing Marion Driscoll would rath
er have done for the rest of her
life than live out of a suitcase—with
her Jim.
It was a good thing for you and
me, too. If this swell romance
hadn’t blossomed into happy and
lasting marriage, we would have
had to do without two of the most
good-humored and welcome visitors
who “call” at our homes—Fibber
McGee and Molly.
Marion and Jim Jordan “lived out
of a suitcase” and worked like the
dickens for a good many years be
fore, as Fibber and Molly, they be
came one of the five or six top-
ranking radio teams. In the rural
areas and small communities they
rank first. “We’ve got a bigger
audience than even Jack Benny
has,” is the way Jim puts it.
Fibber Born on Farm.
No wonder, either. They’ve al
ways been “small town folks,” even
though they’ve lived in Chicago for
a long time. Like Fibber and Mol
ly, the Jordans themselves are as
genuine as the eggs in a home-made
cake. One indication is sufficient:
During the leaner years when they
sometimes worked f9r $35 a week,
the Jordans and their two children
—Katherine, seventeen, and Jim,
Jr., thirteen—lived in an unpreten
tious residential district on Chi
cago’s northwest aide, where they
had a lot of friendly neighbors,
plain, ordinary folks like them
selves. When they suddenly found
themselves in the “big money” class
at last, did they buy a fine man
sion on the Gold Coast, with more
servants than closets? They did
not They built a little seven-room
house right in their old neighbor
hood; It was HOME to them, and
that was important.
Fibber (or Jim. if you prefer) eras
born on a farm near Peoria. UL,
and worked on It until he wae
twelve; he hod seven brothers and
sisters to help him out. Marion was
a Peoria girl, the youngest save
one of a family of 11.
Now there hardly lives a gal who
doesn’t like to look Into n mirror
once in a while, and Marion was no
exception. At oftEtnan aha wae a
very pretty girl and hod a voice
good enough to land her In the
church choir. It woe at choir prac
tice one day that aha caught her-
•elf aneeking a peek Into tho glass
above the piano. And whan aho
Lesion for August 22
THE PLACE OF RELIGION IN
A NATION'S LIFE.
%
M
•>
WM
Jr
Fibber McGee . . . and Molly.
for the one hundred twenty-second
engineers, but sickness prevented
his seeing service, and he was in a
hospital when the Armistice was
signed. Meanwhile, was Marion,
back home in Peoria, merely twid
dling her thumbs, awaiting his re
turn? “Heavenly days!” says she.
“I was that busy teaching piano to
50 pupils, some good and some bad,
I didn’t have a moment to myself!”
They decided to get out of the
show business when Jim came
back, but it was no go. Jim wasn’t
very successful finding steady work
and, with his brothers-in-law con
stantly taunting, “When are you go
ing to get a job?” he soon found
himself behind the footlights again.
He and Marion had real success
with their concert company, and no
one complained that he was shift
less any more.
Aa Agent Gets Fired.
Billed as a 15-piece ensemble, the
company was literally that—a 15
piece affair—but there were only six
people in it; some of them played
eeveral instruments. This led to
complications.
An advance man preceded them
on tour and arranged for their
billing. When they arrived they
usually met a stage crowded with
IS chairs and a manager stirred
with indignation at finding only six
musicians. At this point Jim would
become highly incensed at tho au
dacity of his agent in permitting so
gross a misrepresentation. Loudly
and righteously, in the sight of all
concerned, he would discharge the
agent. Marion and Jim estimate
that this hardy soul was “fired”
m such a manner twice a week for
four year*.
There followed more success, thia
time as a harmony team In vaude-
vtlie. Then the algid which was to
open up new and miraculous vistas
to them.
They were playing cards with
friends In Chicago in 1934 An old
m.
1
Marion says thsss candid camera shots of Jim and her are typical of a
Jordan day at home.
saw s slim youth of seventeen look
ing over her shoulder her heart beat
like a studio gong; she decided right
there that Jim Jordan (for that’s
who it was) was the man for her.
It must have been a two-way mir
ror, for Jim Jordan decided the
same thing.
Jim sang with a quartet which
was rehearsing with the choir.
They had their first date on New
Year's eve. Marion can’t suppress
a little giggle whenever she thinks
of it.
They Still Tease.
“His mother went along with us,
and took him home afterward!” she
laughs. Even after 20-odd years
this charge still makes him hot un
der the collar. “Oh, here now,” he
objects. “Cut that out I” Then,
with a grin: “Anyway, didn’t you
always bring your big brother along
on our dates after that?”
For three years they courted be
fore they were married, and for 19
years since. Before their marriage,
Jim toured in vaudeville with a
musical act called, “A Night With
the Poets.” He sang on the Chau
tauqua circuits, and later started a
concert company that toured the
tank towns, an experience which
may have developed some of the
“tank town tourist” flavor which
characterises the McGee and Molly
Shortly after their marriage Jas
left tar France as a uplsruwewt
battery radio set was blatting away.
Conversation was all but impos
sible as what might or might not
have been a harmony team strug
gled with the notes in the upper
rimges.
Jim Wins a Bet.
Jim stood it as long as he could.
Then:
“Dad rat it!” he cried. “We
can do better than that!” His host
was a doubting Thomas with a bit
of sporting blood and bet Jim they
couldn’t. So the next day found
them seeking an audition at the sta
tion to which they had been listen
ing—old WIBO, , "the top of the
dial,” in Chicago.
They clicked immediately, and
soon made their debut in a com
mercial program on the ether
waves as the O’Henry twins—at $10
a broadcast! They collected the $10
they had * bet, too.
Those were the days before any
body got fat eating on a radio star’s
salary. Marion and Jim for eight
months broadcasted two hours a
day for $35 a week. They were
known under dozens of different
names, and it is a tribute to their
amazing versatility that they did
not run out of things to do. They
sang songs, acted out little skits,
dialogs and monologa, and Marion
played the
microphone for another year in the
theaters. Then when WENR went
on the air they returned, never to
leave. The character of Fibber Mc
Gee may be traced by veteran lis
teners to that of an old man named
Luke in one of their early broad
casts. Molly is much the same
character as Mrs. Smith in their old
skit, “The Smith Family.” They
had another program called the
“Smackouts,” which they intend to
bring back to radio some day.
All this time it might be supposed
that the national networks were
overlooking them; in fact it has
often been reported that they never
had a chance at the networks untl
Fibber and Molly came to life.
Nothing could be further from the
truth, Jim insists. They simply
made so much money off loca
broadcasts plus theater appear
ances that they avoided the net
works. When NBC bought WENR
they went to WMAQ, where they
could remain a local team, but when
NBC bought WMAQ, aa well, Jim
had to hit the national hookup as
“Mr. Twister.”
Mariea Has Msay
The first Fibber McGee and Molly
broadcasts was in March. 1935. The
a "natural” from the
they left the
“show
•tart. That It has remained so, In
fact has never ceased to add to ita
popularity, testifies to Jim Jordan's
showmanship. The sponsor wanted
to base the show on Fibber’s “fish
stories” and out land iah lies, but Jim
saw that the listeners would soon
tire of them and refused. Instead
we hear this quaint Irish couple,
genuine, witty, and at all times
sympathetic, surrounded by some of
the funniest characters radio ever
has known. Fans have learned to
love end laugh at the little girl
whoae tiny voice can ask the moot
embarrassing questions on earth;
Geraldine, the tittering bride;
Grandma, the old lady with the
chorus girl philosophy; sirs. Weary*
bottom, who always seems as If she
will surely run down like an old-
time phonograph before she finishes
a sentence, but never does, quite;
and Molly, herself, an able toil for
the cocky McGee. All of these and
more are played by Marion herself!
Horatio K. Boomer, the small
time big shot; the raspy Russian,
who says “HaUo. Petrushka! Hal
lo, Tovarich!”; the Scotchman, and
other dialect characters, are played
by young BUI Thompson, whom Jim
discovered. Silly Watson, the po
litely uproarious blackface come
dian, is Hugh Studebaker, who nev
er acted at all until he got into
radio—he was a pipe organist.
Studebaker also has a show of his
own, "Bachelor's Children.” Harpo,
the announcer who loves to "spoU”
Fibber’s favorite jokes by “sneaking
in” a commercial announcement, la
Harlow Wilcox, who is Harold Isbell
in real life. Fibber, of course, is
Jim Jordan.
Cola Many ’Catch Phrases.*
You’ll find no "mother-in-law”
jokes on the Fibber McGed 1 and
Molly program. “ ’Taint funny,
McGee 1” Molly said, and that was
that. And you’ll never hear any
thing on the program that you
wouldn’t want your children to
hear; Marion and Jim have children
of their own. Don Quinn, who has
written the Jordan scripts for seven
years, has taken a lesson from the
honest-to-goodness romance that
has followed the pair throughout
their married life. You will never
hear any serious arguments be
tween Fibber and Molly; it’s very
apparent that they love each other,
and you love them for it.
Seldom has any troupe in the
show business coined so many catch
phrases that have become by-words
throughout the nation. Among all
classes of people today you may
hear repeated almost any time Mol
ly’s “Heavenly days, McGee!” and
“ Tain’t funny, McGee!”; Fibber’s
“Dad rat it!”; the little girl’s “I
betcha!” and Grandma’s “Hi, Skip-
pyl”
They’re riding on top of the world
right now, the Jordans. But would
they quit if they could > “Just give
me a chance,” says Jim. “Boy, I’d
like to go right back where I start
ed. I’d like to live on a little fans
by s lake and taka life easy.**
“Heavenly days!" says Marion
’’You tot.** Jim repUasi
LESSON TEXT—Exodus 25:1. 2. S. •;
29:43-46; 40:34-38.
GOLDEN TEXT—Blessed Is tbs nation
whose God Is the Lord. Ps. 33:12.
PRIMARY TOPIC—The MeeUng House.
JUNIOR TOPIC—The House ot the Lord.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC
—Why a Nation Needs Religion.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC—
The Place of Religion in e Nation's Life.
The nation of Israel was under
the direct government of God-
theocracy as distinguished from a
monarchy, or a democracy. God
spoke to them through his servant
Moses, biit his relationship to the
people was far more intimate than
that of a distant power delivering
laws through a representative. God
dwelt in the midst of his people*
and today we consider how he made
provision for a place in which to
meet with them, for a holy priest
hood to minister before him, and
made known his personal presence
by a manifestation of his glory.
I. A Place to Meet God (Exod.
25:1, 2, 8, 9; 29:43-46).
Every place of worship, whether
the tabernacle in the wilderness, or
a church on a busy city street,
testifies to the fact that man is
indeed “incurably religious.” He is
a spiritual being, made by God
for fellowship with himself. He is
never satisfied until he meets God.
The pattern or plan for the taber
nacle was given by God (v. 9),
and was to be followed in every de-
talL But note that the people were
to make a willing offering of all
that was needed for its construc
tion. God gives man the glorious
privilege of partnership with him.
Shortsighted end foolish is the man
who grumbles because the church
needs money. A father might just
as well grieve because his children
outgrow their clothing. Thank God
if your church is alive and grow
ing, and be glad for the opportuni
ty to buy It some "new clothes.'*
Sacrificial gifts and faithful build-
1 n g according to God's ph
I brought to completion a place of
meeting which God sanctified and
accepted.
II. Priests to Minister to 0
(w 44,45).
Note, first, that they were men
called of God. Those who stand
to minister to him for the people
dare not appoint themselves, • r I
seek an appointment by men. Ttoy
| must to "God-cailed.”
They were also sanctified, or or
dained. by God. Only as men act In !
! true recognition of God's selection
end setting apart of his chosen
i servants does ordination have real
; meaning.
Finally, notice that the priests
were “to minister to” God. His |
! servants are to serve him, and thus
' to meet the need of the people for |
| whom they apeak. They are “put
in trust with the gospel.” and there-
fore to **00 . . . speak; not as '
j pleasing men, but God” (I Theta.
2:4). If you have that kind of a
pastor, praise God for him, and |
give him your earnest support and
| encouragement.
HI. The Presence of God (Exod. 1
29 45, 46 ; 40 944S).
He dwelt in the midst of his peo-
pie. Christians also know what It
j means to have “God frith us,” for
such is the very meaning of the
name “Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14; Matt. |
1:23). He it was who as the living
Word “became flesh and dwelt
among us” (John 1:14).
For our further instruction and
blessing let us observe that when
God dwelt with his people his glory
"filled the tabernacle’* (v. 34). Is
that true of our churches? Have we
so loved God and so fully yielded
ourselves and our churches to him
that he is free to fill the place with
his glory?
The word “abode” in v. 35 is
significant. What blessed peace and
assurance must have come to Is
rael when they knew that God had
come to abide with them. In this
world of transitory things we need
such an anchor for the soul—God’s
abiding presence.
But God’s people must move on.
There are victories to be won, a
promised land to take. So we read
that the cloud arose when they were
to move forward, and when it was
“not taken up, then they journeyed
not until the day that it was taken
up.”
The Psalmist tells us that “the
steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord” (Ps. 37:23). I believe
it was George Mueller of blessed
memory who inserted three words
—“and the stops.” The man, or the
church, or the nation, that trust
God, will have both “steps” and
“stops” “ordered by the Lord.”
V\
11
IWI
I F AUTUMN comes will you be
left behind with faded summer
frocks, Madam? No, no, many
times no—that is, not if you will
but accept this cordial invitation
from Sew-Your-Own. It’a the
easy way to become frock-sure of
chic for yourself and your daugh
ters, as well. So Madam, why not
aew, aew, aew-your-ownl
A Dutch Treat.
It isn’t often mother gets a break
(it’s beauty before age, you know)
but this trip she does. Sew-Your-
Own has designed, especially for
her, an all-occasion frock (above
left) that's simply lovely to look
at. If father’s compliments have
become a bit rusty from lack of
use, thia frock will bring them
back to their former brightness.
It’s pretty in any fabric: gingham,
•ilk crepe, rayon prints, percale,
or sheer wool.
Sweet V Simple.
It's a treat, too, for mother when
she finds a drees for Little &ia
that’s as carefully planned ea the
captivating model stove centi
It gives the growing girl the fluffing
out aha needs in the shoulders, end
the prettily flared skirt offers her
graceful poles Indoors, plus full
freedom for activity out of doors.
It’s adorable with the cellar end
cuffs In white linen. It heightens I
the contrast of her luscious healthy
requires 2 yards of 35-inch mate
rial, plus % yard contrasting.
Pattern 1327 is designed for sizes
12 to 20 (30 to 38 bust). Size 16 re
quires 4 Vi yards of 39-inch mate
rial, plus 3Vi yards of cord for lac
ing. With long sleeves, 4H yards
required.
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020,
211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, DL
Price of patterns, 15 cents (in
coins) each.
Plndt Way to Hava
Young-Looking Skin
at 391
The man who fears nnihlnf Is
not leas powerful than to who ta
feared by every one, flrhlfisc.
M0R0UNE
Chle for the CL F.
And a tree! for aU concerned la
the frock Sew-Your-Own has cre
ated for The Girl Friend. She may
be collegiate, high school iah, a
ateno, mother's helper, or a young
lady of leisure, but whatever the
Is she’ll look the pert and prettier
In e take-off on Pattern 13m. It Is
new, novel, end easy to sew. It Is
undoubtedly the frock to wear
when your escort, the time, end
the place ere important.
Pattern 1372 is designed for sizes
34 to 46. Size 36 requires 4% yards
of 35-inch material.
Pattern 1967 la designed for sizes
4, 6, 6, 10, end 12 years. Sue 6
Beginning of Eternal Life
Eternal life does not just mean
that when our bodies die our souls
last on. It means a kind of life
which we can begin to live here and
now, and which cannot be destroyed
by death because it is united with
God.—A Day Book of Prayer.
Always aa
A little girl was once teased by a
skeptic,' Srho remarked that God
bed not answered her prayer.
“Yea,” aha said, “be answered. He
Smiles
Fancy Meeting Yon!
Two friends met in midair.
“Where have you come from?”
greeted one. *Tve just dropped
from an airplane.”
“Oh,” replied the other, “I’m
rising from my stove.”
A doctor says we should never
go to sleep In a bad temper. As
the proverb didn’t pot it: “Surly
to bed, surly to rise.**
No Orders
An old lady sat knitting at the
end of the pier, from which a
pleasure steamer was about to
start.
Suddenly the captain shouted:
“All right! Cast off now!’*
The old lady looked up sharply.
“Thank you, officer,” she called,
“but I’m quite capable of doing
my own knitting.”
Sentinels
of Health
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Peace With Reason
Peace rules the day, where rea
son rules the mind.—Collins.
666
MALAIM
fat three dare
GOLDS
LIQUID. TABLETS ,
salve, nose Dion Hssdieht, 80 ab
Hot Weather is Here—
Beware of Biliousness!
Have you ever noticed that In
very hot weather your organs of
digestion and elimination seem to
become torpid or lazy? Your food
■ours, forms cas. causes belching,
heartburn, and a feeling of rest
and Irritability.
Them are aom* of the more
common symptoms or warnings of
biliousness or so-called
liver." so prevalent in hot <
Don't neglect them. Take
tabs, the Improved calomel
pound tablets that give von tho
effects of calomel and mtta. o
b::.e<l. You win be
the prompt relief they