"Decluttering" is a running gag in the Brown family household - just like Fibber McGee's hall closet joke. ... "Fibber of old-time radio," it said. That would be Fibber McGee, of course.

Thus began a trajectory that led to "Fibber McGee and Molly," which debuted April 16, 1935, on NBC. In some form, the scripted program continued until 1959, two years before Marian Jordan died.

For three years knuckle-headed, know-it-all Fibber McGee has been larding his fun program with monthly propaganda plugs—about waste fats, car pools, etc. The funniest part is that the customers ...