Getting the Laundry Done

Originally aired January 10, 1938, this episode finds Fibber McGee in a domestic dilemma when he discovers he’s down to his last pair of clean clothes. True to form, Fibber launches a wildly overcomplicated quest to get his laundry done—beginning with attempts to hire a laundress, fending off a stream of door-to-door salesmen, and culminating in the purchase of a washing machine from a Sears, Roebuck catalog. Joined by his ever-faithful helper Silly Watson, Fibber encounters a parade of quirky characters including a Rolls Royce-driving laundress, an artist’s model mistaken for a washerwoman, and a Chinese laundryman who refuses to handle “big shot” laundry. All the while, Fibber boasts of his old vaudeville persona, “Soft Soap McGee, the Super-Soaper of Sausalito,” adding his usual flair of absurd exaggeration. The episode’s comedic climax hits when Fibber’s newly delivered “washing machine” turns out to be a concrete mixer, sending his wardrobe—and his pride—into shreds. Complete with live musical interludes by Ted Weems’ orchestra and those ever-glowing Johnson’s Wax ads, this remastered broadcast of Fibber McGee & Molly delivers laundry-day laughs in true golden-age radio style.