# Fibber McGee and Molly - "New Years Eve Party with Fred Waring" (Old Time Radio, 1946)

An episode of [Fibber McGee and Molly | Old Time Radio](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1858238532), 24 Sep 2026, 29 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75333100/8ff2d6584676d077_mastered.mp3

Fibber McGee and Molly presents “New Years Eve Party with Fred Waring,” episode 497, originally broadcast December 31, 1946. This local archival recording preserves an unusual New Year’s Eve installment from the series’ regular time slot. Instead of a visit to Wistful Vista, Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians host a festive musical celebration for Johnson’s Wax on NBC. Featuring Bill Bivens, the program takes listeners on a musical tour of Times Square and offers several seasonal takes on “Auld Lang Syne.” Fibber McGee and Molly presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience. Chapters: 00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction 00:55 Original Broadcast 28:50 Closing Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: December 31st, 1946 brought a New Year's Eve change of
[0:04] Speaker 1: pace to NBC's Johnson's Wax Hour, episode 497 in the
[0:10] Speaker 1: Fibber McGee and Mollie catalog. In place of the regular
[0:14] Speaker 1: Wistful Vista comedy, Fred Waring stepped in with the Pennsylvanians
[0:19] Speaker 1: for a half-hour musical celebration, with Bill Bivens joining the proceedings.
[0:24] Speaker 1: The program takes listeners on a musical visit to Times
[0:27] Speaker 1: Square and returns more than once to Auld Lang Syne,
[0:32] Speaker 1: all in the spirit of a national New Year's Eve observance.
[0:36] Speaker 1: Fibber and Molly do not appear in this special broadcast,
[0:39] Speaker 1: but their familiar time slot remains the setting for the
[0:42] Speaker 1: evening's festivities. From December 31, 1946, here is Fibber McGee
[0:48] Speaker 1: and Molly, New Year's Eve party with Fred Waring. Here
[0:53] Speaker 1: is the original broadcast.
[0:55] Speaker 2: From the Johnson's Wax People and from Thibber McGee and Molly,
[0:58] Speaker 2: a sincere good wish for your new year, expressed in
[1:01] Speaker 2: music by Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians.
[1:03] Speaker 3: Thank you.
[1:07] Speaker 4: We're going to ride, ride, ride, ride, ride.
[1:18] Speaker 2: It's New Year's Eve, the night of music celebration. And
[1:21] Speaker 2: the makers of Johnson's wax products for home and industry
[1:24] Speaker 2: present a brilliant half hour of music with Fred Waring
[1:26] Speaker 2: and his Pennsylvania.
[1:28] Speaker 5: Play, play, play, play, play. And here's your host, ready,
[1:35] Speaker 5: riding and shining for Johnson's Wax.
[1:40] Speaker 2: Fred Waring.
[1:40] Speaker 6: Hello, everybody.
[1:56] Speaker 3: Hello and thanks for coming. That was Bill Bivens, who
[1:59] Speaker 3: greeted you, and this is Fred Waring with 67 Pennsylvania
[2:03] Speaker 3: Noisemakers and music we hope you'll all enjoy. We're proud
[2:06] Speaker 3: that the Johnson's Wax Company invited us to pinch hit
[2:09] Speaker 3: for Fibber McGee and Molly and bring this special New
[2:12] Speaker 3: Year's greeting to their vast family of friends across the nation.
[2:16] Speaker 3: This is a happy reunion for the Pennsylvanians, having been
[2:18] Speaker 3: with you and the Johnson's Wax people all last summer.
[2:21] Speaker 3: So come to the party, everybody. It's a night of
[2:23] Speaker 3: reservations and resolutions. Fun without reservations, and as far as
[2:27] Speaker 3: resolutions are concerned, bring your own so you can break
[2:30] Speaker 3: them early. Our own resolution, tonight anyway, is just a plain, complicated, zippity-doo-dah.
[3:00] Speaker 5: The End Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay. My, oh my, what a wonderful day.
[3:30] Speaker 4: There'll be a sunshine in my way.
[3:33] Speaker 3: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay.
[3:37] Speaker 5: There's a bluebird on my shoulder. It's the truth, it's actual.
[3:42] Speaker 2: Everything is satisfaction. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay.
[3:48] Speaker 4: Wonderful feeling, wonderful day.
[3:50] Speaker 3: Mr.
[3:51] Speaker 5: Bluebird on my shoulder.
[3:52] Speaker 7: It's a true, it's a true. Everything is fine, it's fine.
[4:17] Speaker 7: Thank you.
[4:17] Speaker 2: Thank you.
[4:49] Speaker 3: Well, I hope Molly enjoyed that, sitting at home this
[4:54] Speaker 3: New Year's Eve with Fibber as he cracks jokes and walnuts. Now,
[4:57] Speaker 3: Bill Bivens, make Harlow Wilcox proud of you.
[5:00] Speaker 2: Well, just a few words to say about the coming
[5:02] Speaker 2: New Year. If you'd like to make your kitchen a brighter,
[5:05] Speaker 2: more cheerful place to work in all next year, remember
[5:07] Speaker 2: that good old friend of yours, Johnson's Self-Polishing Glow Coat.
[5:12] Speaker 2: Regular glow coat care not only gives your linoleum a
[5:15] Speaker 2: really beautiful shine, it freshens up the colors and brings
[5:18] Speaker 2: out the original gay pattern. Makes your whole kitchen clean
[5:21] Speaker 2: and bright. You know, of course, how easy glow coat
[5:24] Speaker 2: is to use. You just apply it, then let it dry.
[5:26] Speaker 2: That's all. There's no rubbing or buffing. Glow coat shines
[5:30] Speaker 2: as it dries. Remember that in 1947, will you? And
[5:33] Speaker 2: for brighter floors and a brighter kitchen, Johnson Self-Polishing Glow Coat.
[6:01] Speaker 3: New Year's Eve is Broadway's birthday. Tonight, as on no
[6:04] Speaker 3: other night of the year, the roar of the city
[6:06] Speaker 3: has a special meaning. Its rhythm, an invitation to excitement.
[6:10] Speaker 3: Its words, an invitation to gaiety. Your Manhattan Serenade.
[6:14] Speaker 8: © BF-WATCH TV 2021 A happy New Year's in the air.
[6:51] Speaker 6: © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Let's find around.
[7:24] Speaker 9: The time to see the.
[7:28] Speaker 6: World go by.
[7:34] Speaker 8: Let's listen for the midnight chime.
[7:51] Speaker 6: Let's try not.
[7:53] Speaker 5: To cry for things that you believe.
[7:57] Speaker 6: Rise up, keep your eyes.
[7:58] Speaker 10: Up for the things you believe.
[8:01] Speaker 5: So we send you our love to the mountain.
[8:04] Speaker 9: © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © BF-WATCH TV 2021.
[8:54] Speaker 5: O'er the land.
[9:02] Speaker 6: Of the free and the home of the brave?
[9:36] Speaker 3: Should old acquaintance be forgot? New Year's Eve does bring
[9:40] Speaker 3: memories of old times, doesn't it? Pennsylvania spent so many
[9:44] Speaker 3: with you.
[9:44] Speaker 2: How many, Fred? How many? Why, Bill? Not to embarrass you, but...
[9:48] Speaker 2: What isn't that?
[9:49] Speaker 3: I just hadn't... Fred Cully, how many.
[9:52] Speaker 2: New Year's Eves have we worked together? Are you kidding?
[9:55] Speaker 3: No.
[9:55] Speaker 7: How many?
[9:56] Speaker 2: Well, let's see. My oldest daughter graduated from college in.
[10:00] Speaker 3: Would you settle for 20?
[10:01] Speaker 2: That's conservative. And that's diplomacy. So all these years, while
[10:05] Speaker 2: people were running up and down Broadway with paper hats
[10:07] Speaker 2: and horns, why, you folks have been playing somewhere all anxiety.
[10:12] Speaker 11: Always.
[10:13] Speaker 2: Listen, Bill. Hear that? Hear that?
[10:15] Speaker 3: Know what it is?
[10:16] Speaker 2: Why, sure. It's New Year's Eve on Broadway.
[10:18] Speaker 3: A million people being happy.
[10:20] Speaker 2: You know why?
[10:21] Speaker 4: Why?
[10:21] Speaker 2: Do I know why they're happy? Yes. Well, Fred, it's
[10:25] Speaker 2: sexist to say.
[10:27] Speaker 3: That they're... I don't either, but I bet I find out.
[10:29] Speaker 4: How?
[10:30] Speaker 2: Just get out and ask him. You mean go right
[10:32] Speaker 2: down there to Times Square?
[10:33] Speaker 4: Yes.
[10:34] Speaker 2: Tonight? Yes, right now. Let's go.
[10:36] Speaker 3: For 20 years, we sing Auld Lang Syne, and now
[10:39] Speaker 3: we gotta find out why.
[10:48] Speaker 2: I never thought that.
[10:58] Speaker 3: Oh, Bill, here's some youngsters harmonizing.
[11:08] Speaker 2: Let's ask them. Well, why not? Hey, kids, you're singing.
[11:11] Speaker 2: We're Fred Waring and we... Yeah, so?
[11:14] Speaker 3: Well, we were enjoying your traditional Scottish air.
[11:16] Speaker 2: Our.
[11:17] Speaker 11: What?
[11:17] Speaker 3: Your application of the modern harmonic idiom to traditional balladry.
[11:22] Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you, mister.
[11:23] Speaker 3: In the early carapace of the Sorafon, the best minds
[11:25] Speaker 3: hold the tenor felignano franze in Perrine on the fissurato
[11:28] Speaker 3: in Glyne.
[11:29] Speaker 2: Now, can we sing?
[11:30] Speaker 4: Sing.
[11:30] Speaker 6: For auld lang syne, lovely lady, feast of auld lang syne.
[11:44] Speaker 6: We'll take a comfort to a kindness. We're in and
[11:49] Speaker 6: over yet. For auld lang syne.
[11:57] Speaker 7: We'll think of auld.
[12:16] Speaker 2: Hey, Fred, look at all those big chairs in the
[12:18] Speaker 2: window there. My feet hurt. I want to sit down.
[12:20] Speaker 3: Don't go in there, Bill. That's the Union League Club.
[12:23] Speaker 3: Here comes the butler.
[12:23] Speaker 2: Oh, I don't care what it is. I got it. Gentlemen,
[12:26] Speaker 2: what is it you wished? Well, we're Fred Waring, and we.
[12:31] Speaker 3: We want to know how you're celebrating New Year's Eve. Personally,
[12:34] Speaker 3: I have a small red horn, which I sound at
[12:37] Speaker 3: 30-minute intervals.
[12:39] Speaker 1: The gentlemen, however, are listening to a musicale of two pianos.
[12:44] Speaker 9: Thank you.
[13:20] Speaker 6: Thank you.
[13:40] Speaker 3: Hey, Bill, look up there in front of that record shop.
[13:42] Speaker 3: That's something.
[13:43] Speaker 2: Hey, girls dancing. Man, are they having a time. Hey, girls.
[13:47] Speaker 8: Oh, girls.
[13:48] Speaker 2: Hi, Squares. What goes? Well, uh, we're fed wearing, uh.
[13:52] Speaker 3: Oh, I can't feel it.
[13:53] Speaker 7: Pass this, Cass.
[13:55] Speaker 3: Let these eggs post.
[13:56] Speaker 2: Take it from the top, mister.
[13:58] Speaker 3: Well, we want to know what you're celebrating.
[14:00] Speaker 2: Don't be an E-flat. New Year's don't. 1947.
[14:04] Speaker 12: What do you want?
[14:05] Speaker 11: 1927?
[14:05] Speaker 3: Come to think of it, maybe you got something there. Hey!
[14:14] Speaker 6: Oh, my God.
[14:16] Speaker 2: Oh, my God.
[14:44] Speaker 5: Thank you.
[14:45] Speaker 4: Thank you.
[15:18] Speaker 2: Now what, Bill? This is Roseland, isn't it? That's right.
[15:21] Speaker 3: Probably the most famous dance spot in America.
[15:24] Speaker 2: Oh, my aching dogs. Listen, I couldn't drag one foot after.
[15:27] Speaker 6: Why, Willie.
[15:28] Speaker 5: Willie Bibby.
[15:31] Speaker 3: Where did you come from?
[15:33] Speaker 2: Lookie here now, dog gone. If it ain't little Sally
[15:35] Speaker 2: Watson from down home. Happy little old New Year, honey.
[15:38] Speaker 3: And me just pining for a dance in May.
[15:41] Speaker 2: Well, honey, that's what you find no more.
[15:46] Speaker 3: Should old acquaintance be forgotten.
[16:03] Speaker 5: Thank you.
[16:31] Speaker 6: Oh, the praise and fear for God.
[17:01] Speaker 2: Hey, my feet are killing me, Fred.
[17:03] Speaker 10: Last stop, Bill.
[17:04] Speaker 3: In here where the light's burning.
[17:05] Speaker 2: It's an old friend.
[17:06] Speaker 3: Best shoemaker in New York.
[17:11] Speaker 2: Well, now, he ought to have a place to sit down.
[17:13] Speaker 2: He has. Hello, Jim.
[17:15] Speaker 12: Why, hello, Fred. Come in.
[17:16] Speaker 3: We're... We're Bill Bivens, and we'd like to sit down.
[17:20] Speaker 2: Yourself.
[17:21] Speaker 12: Throw the cat out of the big chair.
[17:23] Speaker 2: Thanks. Man, oh, man. You're not celebrating this year, Jim.
[17:29] Speaker 12: Me?
[17:29] Speaker 2: Sure, I'm celebrating.
[17:31] Speaker 12: Look, I got paper streamers, new calendar, radio going.
[17:36] Speaker 2: Oh, I mean outside. Crowds, trick hats, horns. Not anymore, Fred.
[17:40] Speaker 12: Last few years, I've sort of celebrated inside, I guess
[17:44] Speaker 12: you'd call it.
[17:45] Speaker 3: Oh, we've been trying all evening to find out what
[17:48] Speaker 3: people are so happy about.
[17:49] Speaker 2: Of course, they didn't know. No, do you?
[17:52] Speaker 3: What are you celebrating with your paper streamers and your
[17:55] Speaker 3: new calendar?
[17:57] Speaker 12: Oh, a lot of little things that mean something to me.
[18:01] Speaker 12: Nothing you'd write a song about like love or world peace.
[18:05] Speaker 2: Things like, well, tulips, maybe. Tulips? You, Jim?
[18:10] Speaker 8: Yeah, tulips.
[18:12] Speaker 12: Kid brought me some bulbs from Holland. Me, I'd never
[18:16] Speaker 12: seen one before, so I looked them up. They grow
[18:19] Speaker 12: red and yellow and white. You can't tell by the
[18:23] Speaker 12: bulbs they all look alike. But the kid says they're
[18:26] Speaker 12: tulips and the book says that's how they look. So
[18:29] Speaker 12: I picked a spot in the alley back of the
[18:31] Speaker 12: shop and put them in. You know, Fred, I think
[18:35] Speaker 12: about them tulips all the time. Figuring how they're going
[18:38] Speaker 12: to look and wondering which will be which.
[18:41] Speaker 3: So you're the tulip king of 8th Avenue and you celebrate.
[18:44] Speaker 2: Tonight?
[18:45] Speaker 3: Yes. New Year's Eve is like that.
[18:48] Speaker 12: Like them bulbs in my house. Sure, maybe in April
[18:52] Speaker 12: I'll have to dig them up and find them still
[18:54] Speaker 12: looking like a dime's worth of dried onion. But tonight
[18:57] Speaker 12: they're red and yellow and white. Midnight and night don't
[19:02] Speaker 12: separate different years any more than any other night. But
[19:06] Speaker 12: being people, we've got to have a beginning and an
[19:08] Speaker 12: end to things. So we fixed ourselves a brand new
[19:11] Speaker 12: beginning every year.
[19:12] Speaker 2: New bulbs.
[19:15] Speaker 12: Another chance for the fine red and yellow and white
[19:18] Speaker 12: things we wanted and didn't get.
[19:21] Speaker 2: Can't you see, Fred?
[19:22] Speaker 12: Those people out there aren't silly or crazy. They're celebrating
[19:26] Speaker 12: the finest thing God ever gives a fellow.
[19:29] Speaker 2: A new hope for tomorrow. A new hope for tomorrow.
[19:35] Speaker 11: When you walk through a storm Keep your chin up
[19:43] Speaker 11: high And don't be afraid of the night.
[19:57] Speaker 5: Of the sun in the golden sky, and the sweet
[20:04] Speaker 5: silver sun of the light.
[20:24] Speaker 6: We'll be gone and gone.
[20:55] Speaker 4: Thank you.
[21:01] Speaker 2: Thank you.
[21:48] Speaker 5: Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart, and
[21:54] Speaker 5: you'll never You'll never walk alone.
[22:41] Speaker 7: Thank you.
[22:56] Speaker 3: And now Bill Bivens for Johnson's Black.
[22:58] Speaker 2: Thank you, Fred. I would like to remind our audience
[23:01] Speaker 2: about the excellent protection that Johnson's no-rubbing, no-buffing glow coat
[23:05] Speaker 2: gives to linoleum and other floors. I do know that
[23:08] Speaker 2: about anything else, you want your floors to look nice.
[23:11] Speaker 7: And of course.
[23:12] Speaker 2: Glow coat is wonderful for giving your floors a really
[23:15] Speaker 2: bright shine. But you see, the same lovely glow coat
[23:18] Speaker 2: shine that gives your floors such beauty also protects them
[23:21] Speaker 2: against wear and scuffing shoes. So, with regular glow coat care,
[23:26] Speaker 2: your linoleum keeps new looking years longer. This wax protection
[23:30] Speaker 2: saves you work, too. Filled things and dirt wipe up
[23:33] Speaker 2: so easily and quickly. Try Johnson's self-polishing glow coat, won't you?
[23:37] Speaker 2: It's easy to apply. There's no rubbing or buffing. It
[23:40] Speaker 2: shines as it dries. In 20 minutes, your floors are
[23:44] Speaker 2: all ready to walk on and shining beautifully.
[23:54] Speaker 3: To all of us with our paper hats and horns
[23:56] Speaker 3: or up here singing Auld Lang Syne. New Year's does
[23:59] Speaker 3: mean a new hope for, as Jim would put it,
[24:02] Speaker 3: the fine red and yellow and white things we've wanted
[24:05] Speaker 3: and haven't had. Let's hope they lie just ahead beyond
[24:08] Speaker 3: the blue horizon.
[24:09] Speaker 5: Beyond the blue horizon waits a beautiful day.
[24:14] Speaker 7: Goodbye to.
[24:18] Speaker 8: Things that For me I see a new horizon.
[24:33] Speaker 2: My life has only begun.
[24:36] Speaker 3: Beyond the blue horizon lies.
[24:39] Speaker 6: A high rising sun.
[24:41] Speaker 10: © BF-WATCH TV 2021 It's a beautiful day. Goodbye, good
[25:35] Speaker 10: things that.
[25:38] Speaker 2: Fall.
[25:40] Speaker 5: Good things that fall.
[25:43] Speaker 8: Joy is waiting for me. I see a new horizon.
[25:52] Speaker 3: My life has only begun.
[26:00] Speaker 5: For beyond the blue horizon, lights are rising.
[26:09] Speaker 6: Ah!
[26:11] Speaker 3: Ah!
[26:11] Speaker 2: Ah!
[26:12] Speaker 4: Ah!
[26:13] Speaker 2: Ah!
[26:13] Speaker 7: Ah!
[26:14] Speaker 2: Ah!
[26:15] Speaker 5: Ah!
[26:15] Speaker 3: Ah! Ah! Ah!
[26:17] Speaker 4: Ah!
[26:17] Speaker 5: Ah! Ah!
[26:19] Speaker 3: Ah!
[26:19] Speaker 6: Ah!
[26:19] Speaker 5: Ah!
[26:20] Speaker 7: Ah! On the blue horizon The.
[26:32] Speaker 6: Blue horizon.
[26:55] Speaker 7: Oh, land of mine, my dear. Oh, land of mine.
[27:11] Speaker 5: We'll take a cup of kindness yet.
[27:20] Speaker 3: Oh, This is Fred Waring.
[27:34] Speaker 2: Thanks again for coming.
[27:36] Speaker 3: Here's to your very happy New Year. And we're glad
[27:39] Speaker 3: the Johnson's Black people called on us to express it
[27:41] Speaker 3: musically for them.
[27:42] Speaker 2: Fibber McGee and Molly and.
[27:43] Speaker 3: Don King and all of the folks at 79 Whistle History.
[27:47] Speaker 3: Fibber and Molly will be back answering the door chime
[27:50] Speaker 3: next week at this same time. And when you care
[27:52] Speaker 3: to call on us, we're on the air every morning
[27:55] Speaker 3: over NBC. Now, the low bow to the arrangers, Simeon Ringwald,
[27:59] Speaker 3: Aidan Gerhardt, soloist Gordon Goodman, Jack Joff, Jane Wilson-Morling, Gerhardt, and.
[28:04] Speaker 2: All the Pennsylvanians.
[28:05] Speaker 3: May there be music, gladness, and all good things in
[28:08] Speaker 3: your new year. May it be tops. And as for us,
[28:11] Speaker 3: all through 1947, we're going to ride, drive, ride.
[28:15] Speaker 6: We're going to ride, ride, ride, ride, ride.
[28:18] Speaker 11: We're going to ride, ride, ride, ride, ride.
[28:21] Speaker 2: We're going to ride, ride, ride, ride, ride.
[28:23] Speaker 8: We're going to ride, ride, ride.
[28:28] Speaker 2: Good night and Happy New Year. This is Bill Bivens
[28:31] Speaker 2: speaking for the makers of Johnson's Wax products at Horman Industry,
[28:34] Speaker 2: inviting you to tune in to every McGee and Marley
[28:36] Speaker 2: as usual next Tuesday night.
[28:38] Speaker 5: Good night.
[28:39] Speaker 3: This is NBC, the national broadcast company.
[28:48] Speaker 2: Chicago WMAQ.
[28:50] Speaker 1: And so concludes the New Year's Eve musical special in
[28:53] Speaker 1: the Fibber McGee and Molly time slot. Follow Fibber McGee
[28:57] Speaker 1: and Molly for more classic broadcasts.

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