The Great Gildersleeve — 1942
44 episodes broadcast in 1942.
Flush with New Year's resolve, Gildersleeve wagers Judge Hooker $100 that he can shed ten pounds in seven days, and suffers through the diet that follows.
A mixed-up car swap and Leroy's box of rabbits snowball into Gildersleeve's arrest as a suspected car thief hauling dynamite.
Gildy and Leroy shop for a surprise new bed for Marjorie while she's away at Red Cross school (with Sam Hearn as Schlepperman).
Gildersleeve plays matchmaker to find a wife for the lonely Judge Hooker, and the complications pile up.
When Leroy runs away from home, Gildersleeve winds up delivering a rousing patriotic speech from a jail cell.
Fresh from fixing Birdie's sewing machine, Gildersleeve is roped into lecturing the Red Cross ladies on auto mechanics.
February 15, 1942
It's Washington's Birthday, and Gildersleeve's vow to tell nothing but the truth makes running the drugstore nearly impossible.
Gildersleeve tries his hand at fortune-telling, only to find plenty of trouble in his own future.
March 8, 1942
Named one of Summerfield's ten best-dressed men, a preening Gildersleeve springs for a fashionable new Orkney Twist suit.
The Gildersleeve household is saddled with a set of thoroughly obnoxious new neighbors.
Gildersleeve helps Marjorie write to servicemen, and things get complicated when one exchange starts sounding like a proposal.
April 6, 1942
April 13, 1942
A stray goat with a laugh uncannily like Gildersleeve's own wanders into the garden and adopts the family (Horace voiced by Mel Blanc).
Bound for the San Francisco christening of the Liberty ship named for him, Gildersleeve gets the family onto the wrong train.
Gildersleeve secretly moonlights as Ricardo, the masked baritone 'Mystery Voice' serenading Summerfield's radio listeners.
An old college chum turns his visit into a sales pitch, hawking shares in a dubious magnesium mine.
May 24, 1942
Gildersleeve's determination to throw a testimonial dinner for Judge Hooker runs into one complication after another.
A baffling fit of allergic sneezing drives Gildersleeve out of the house and into Leroy's tree house.
Gildersleeve lends his living room -- and then himself -- to the Summerfield Little Theatre's summer-stock season.
For Father's Day the children surprise their guardian with the big easy chair he's always wanted (Sam Hearn as Schlepperman the dealer).
Season finale: Gildersleeve sets out to romance Amelia Hooker, the Judge's sister.
Ordered by his doctor to relax, Gildersleeve takes the family on a fishing trip that proves anything but restful.
Difficult visiting musician Bill Farris comes to town, and the friction spills onto the golf course.
September 13, 1942
September 20, 1942
September 27, 1942
Gildersleeve wakes up resolved to plant a giant Ponderosa cherry tree, with all the fuss that entails.
An October snowfall leaves Gildersleeve fuming at Summerfield's water commissioner.
Gildersleeve is appointed Summerfield's water commissioner -- the post he'll hold for the rest of the series.
Gildersleeve reports for his first day as water commissioner, brimming with self-importance at his inauguration.
Determined to spend a whole weekend bonding with Leroy, Gildersleeve kicks it off with a duck-hunting trip.
Meaning to save money with a quiet night in, Gildersleeve instead goes out and buys a piano (Peary sings 'Why Do I Love You?').
The visiting son of an old college pal turns out to be every bit the chip off the old block Gildersleeve feared.
A Thanksgiving broadcast finds Gildersleeve chasing down a coveted wartime 'B' ration book.
At the Summerfield Opera House for 'The Student Prince,' Gildersleeve brags of his old friendship with its star, Vera La Val.
Nursing a bad toothache, a stubborn Gildersleeve does everything he can to avoid the dentist.
December 13, 1942
As Leila heads South for the winter, Gildersleeve shops for a Christmas gift for Judge Hooker.
Gildersleeve hunts for a private spot to read a sealed letter from Leila Ransom, all while dodging Leroy's bottle of nitroglycerine.
◆ ◆ ◆
Other seasons: 1941 · 1943 · 1944 · 1945 · 1946 · 1947 · 1948 · 1949 · 1950 · 1951 · 1952 · 1953 · 1954 · 1955 · 1956 · 1957 · 1958