Stray Kats Theatre Company To Present

‘Fibber McGee And Molly’

The Stray Kats Theatre Company, a not­for-profit, professional theater company, will present as its fifth offering in its inaugural season Don Quinn and Phil Leslie’s Fibber McGee and Molly. A staged reading will be offered beginning at 7:30 pm on Friday, April 8, in The Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street in Newtown.

Tops for popularity among all US weekday radio entertainers just behind Sunday top-liners Jack Benny and Edgar Bergen was an old time, tank-town vaudeville couple from Peoria, Jim and Marion Jordan, better known by their radio aliases, Fibber McGee and Molly of 79 Wistful Vista.

To 20 million regular listeners, Fibber’s garrulous tales, the dry comeuppances Molly metes out to him, and the dated antics of his numerous stooges are as familiar as a favorite chair. Fibber is an incorrigible blowhard, but he’ll try his luck at anything, from barbering to running an army.

“The Fibber McGee and Molly Program” debuted on April 16, 1935, from NBC’s Studio 8-H in New York.  From the very beginning Don Quinn was hired to write the series, but the Johnson Wax Company insisted on having total control over both the program’s story line and the commercials. Since the company’s primary products at the time were auto polish products, the ongoing story line featured a middle age couple touring the country in their car. After four weeks the program returned to Chicago and continued there until 1939.

Fortunately in the fall of 1935 the Johnson Wax Company decided to promote its new line of floor wax products. On August 26, 1935 the McGees purchased a home in Wistful Vista thus setting the stage for the format that would characterize the program for the next 20 years.

The McGee home and the constant flow of neighbors, friends and relatives became the focal point of the program.

Directed by Kate Katcher, the Stray Kats cast will feature Tom Zingarelli as Fibber and Nadine Willig as Molly, both appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association.

Ms Willis has performed Off Broadway at The Miranda, Synchronicity Space in Bench Plays, Pulse in Touch of Madness. Ms Willig can regularly be seen in JIB Productions Play With Your Food readings throughout Connecticut and New York.

Tom Zingarelli has been involved in all aspects of the theater for more than 35 years as an actor, director, writer, producer, teacher, and administrator. He starred in Tall Tales, a ten-series video production for children about American folk heroes in which he played the on-camera host and performed all the animation, narration, and the character voices.

The evening will include coffee and dessert. Tickets are $25 and are available by calling 203-514-2221 or at www.StrayKatsTheatreCompany.org.