Fibber McGee Junk Drawer

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi there, Martha. This is Kyle from San Diego.

Hey, Kyle. Welcome to the show.

What’s up, Kyle? How can we help?

So, I have an old saying that my mom would say to my brother and I growing up that, say, we were instructed to clean our rooms, and instead we kind of just scooted everything off into the closet. She would say that that was Finnegan McGee’s Corner.

Finnegan McGee’s corner?

Yeah, and asking her about it, the first time that she had heard it was her mom on her Irish ancestry side, of course, talking about her great aunt and that she had this very well-put-together house. But if you opened a certain room, it would just be all of her knickknacks kind of piled up, and it would be Finnegan McGee’s room.

So my brother and I were just mentioning that to each other the other day, and we’re realizing we really had no idea where that came from.

That’s interesting. Are you sure it was Finnegan?

Yeah, Finnegan McGee.

Okay.

Is there a similar one that you know?

Well, as a matter of fact.

As a matter of fact, there is. Do you ever listen to a lot of old-time radio?

No.

I guess not.

There was a classic show. I mean, it was the number one show in the country for a while, on the air from 1935 to 1959, starring Jim and Mary and Jordan. And it was called Fibber McGee and Molly.

And Fibber and his wife Molly had, it was basically a sitcom set up, family set up. And Fibber was kind of a rascal and she was the long-suffering wife. And anyway, one of the things that he always claimed that he was going to do was finally clean out that closet.

And so at various times, every few episodes or so, he would go to a closet and open it up. And then the sound effects guys would have a really good time for like 90 seconds where it was everything in the world sounded like it was falling out of that closet. Bowling balls and jingle bells and bricks and books and flags and anything that could make the slightest noise or the biggest noise.

And it was a running gag and they used to get amazing laughs from it. But it’s Faber-McGee’s closet is the original expression. And for a long time, and it’s faded now because old time radio isn’t what it was. But for a long time, you could find Fibber McGee’s closet or McGee’s closet or Fibber’s closet mentioned in newspapers and books and songs and in other movies, other radio shows as a really messed up, dirty, crowded thing that needed a lot of TLC.

Interesting.

So I probably just got changed again over the course of my family history.

Yeah, probably.

Sounds like it.

Yeah.

I’ve known people that have Fibber McGee drawers, too. That’s just where you put everything.

Yeah, I certainly have a few of those around.

That’s neat.

I had no idea that it would be coming from your world, right?

So mystery solved.

Yeah, well, little did I know I’d be getting some radio history here.

Yeah.

It’s a pretty good bet. I used to be a big old-time radio buff. I still listen now and again.

Do you have a Fibber McGee corner or closet or drawer?

Oh, at least one. And countertops and bookshelves.

Litterbox.

Well, not the litterbox.

Don’t we all?

Anyway, thank you so much for your call.

Yeah, thank you so much, Grandmaster.

Take care, Kyle.

Bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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