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Podcast: Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting
Episode: BW - EP149—001: March 1944 with The Great Gildersleeve—The First Ever Comedy Sitcom Spin Off
Description: Hal Peary was born Harrold José de Faria to Portuguese parents on July 25th, 1908. He was fourteen when, in January of 1923, he made his radio debut on KZM in Oakland.
By the late 1920s he was working for NBC in San Francisco. Migrating to Chicago in 1937, he soon became one of radio’s insiders, gaining a reputation as a top utility man.
In 1937 he joined the cast of Fibber McGee and Molly playing every kind of bit part imaginable.
In the late 1930s, Peary approached McGee’s head writer Don Quinn with an idea for a recurring role. He wanted to pl...