# Fibber McGee and Molly - "The Mystery Is Solved" (Old Time Radio, 1955)

An episode of [Fibber McGee and Molly | Old Time Radio](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1858238532), 22 Aug 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74527252/61879c77ef26ddb5_mastered.mp3

Fibber McGee and Molly presents “The Mystery Is Solved,” originally broadcast on NBC on February 2, 1955. This local archival recording is episode 1089 of the series and stars Jim Jordan as Fibber McGee and Marian Jordan as Molly McGee. In the concluding chapter of a three-part domestic mystery, Fibber follows the trail of a missing household garbage can at the McGees’ home in Wistful Vista. The everyday problem receives the pair’s familiar comic treatment in this 15-minute weekday-era installment. 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 00:39 Original Broadcast 15:01 Closing Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: At the McGee home in Wistful Vista. Fibber is following
[0:03] Speaker 1: the trail of a missing household garbage can. This is
[0:07] Speaker 1: the concluding chapter of a three part domestic mystery with
[0:11] Speaker 1: Jim Jordan as Fiber McGhee and Marion Jordan as Molly
[0:16] Speaker 1: from NBC's weekday run Fiber, McGhee and Molly presents the
[0:21] Speaker 1: mystery is solved. Originally heard February second, nineteen fifty five,
[0:26] Speaker 1: episode one thousand eighty nine. The case has carried Fibber
[0:31] Speaker 1: from the disappearance of the can through a determined investigation
[0:34] Speaker 1: close to home. We now take you back to the
[0:37] Speaker 1: original broadcast.
[0:39] Speaker 2: It's time for Fiber McGhee and Molly. Sundays through Thursdays,
[0:50] Speaker 2: NBC brings you Fiber, McGhee and Molly transcribe.
[0:54] Speaker 3: The show is written by.
[0:55] Speaker 2: Phil Leslie and Lenn Levinson and directed by Max Shuttle.
[1:05] Speaker 2: Before tonight's curtain rises, here are febr and Bally.
[1:08] Speaker 4: Saying McGee, I just saw doctor Gamble coming home. Yeah,
[1:12] Speaker 4: he sure looks tired.
[1:13] Speaker 5: What he needs is a long rest and a change
[1:15] Speaker 5: of scenery. That's the advice he's always given me. It
[1:18] Speaker 5: costs me five bucks Besides.
[1:20] Speaker 4: Well, I'm afraid there's no rest in the cards for
[1:22] Speaker 4: Doctor Gamble this year, dearie. Too many people around here
[1:25] Speaker 4: really need him.
[1:26] Speaker 6: Well.
[1:26] Speaker 5: I sure hope those people recognized the need for prudential
[1:29] Speaker 5: sickness and accident protection before they needed Doc Gamble. A
[1:33] Speaker 5: prudential insurance company plan like that can sure take a
[1:36] Speaker 5: lot of the worry out of any sickness, that's right.
[1:38] Speaker 5: It can provide you with a regular monthly income if
[1:40] Speaker 5: you can't work at your job, yes, and pay you
[1:42] Speaker 5: for as long as ten years in case of sickness,
[1:45] Speaker 5: and possibly for the rest of your life in case
[1:47] Speaker 5: of injury.
[1:48] Speaker 4: And the prudential's income protection plan covers you twenty four
[1:51] Speaker 4: hours a day for every type of sickness and for
[1:53] Speaker 4: injuries received on the.
[1:55] Speaker 5: Job or not, and with a hospital and surgical expense policy.
[1:58] Speaker 5: In your sickness an accident plan, the prudential could pay
[2:01] Speaker 5: a big part of those swapping bills.
[2:03] Speaker 4: Friends, you really ought to ask your prudential agent to
[2:05] Speaker 4: tell you about these wonderful plans tomorrow. It's the kind
[2:08] Speaker 4: of day to day living protection every family.
[2:11] Speaker 2: Needs day before yesterday. Mister McGhee's garbage can mysteriously disappeared
[2:25] Speaker 2: from behind his garage yesterday while he was trying to
[2:28] Speaker 2: track down the guilty party.
[2:30] Speaker 7: The can was returned, just as mysteriously.
[2:32] Speaker 6: Only it wasn't returned, Doc, not really, well, make up
[2:35] Speaker 6: your mind. Was it returned or not?
[2:37] Speaker 5: A garbage can was returned, but it wasn't ours. It
[2:40] Speaker 5: was a brand new one. Whoever it was took our
[2:42] Speaker 5: can put the new one right back in the same
[2:44] Speaker 5: place sometime yesterday.
[2:46] Speaker 6: Oh the devil would do a silly thing like that.
[2:48] Speaker 4: That's a good question, doctor, And another good question one
[2:51] Speaker 4: I've been asking him all day is what's the difference?
[2:54] Speaker 6: Who did it?
[2:54] Speaker 4: We've got a brand new garbage can.
[2:56] Speaker 6: Why don't we just forget the whole thing? But he won't,
[2:59] Speaker 6: all he won't.
[3:01] Speaker 5: I got a few clues on who it was might
[3:02] Speaker 5: have done this thing, and I'm gonna check them out scientific.
[3:05] Speaker 5: Besides that, Doc, I got a book that's going to
[3:07] Speaker 5: help me solve this case.
[3:08] Speaker 1: A book.
[3:09] Speaker 6: Oh this is gonna be a big help, doctor. This book.
[3:13] Speaker 4: It's by Hemingway Savage McGee's favorite mystery writer.
[3:16] Speaker 6: Oh him, yep.
[3:17] Speaker 5: It's called The Case of the Missing Case, and it's
[3:19] Speaker 5: all about somebody stole a briefcase from Savage c and
[3:22] Speaker 5: the next day they returned it back to where they
[3:24] Speaker 5: stole it from, just like whoever it was done with
[3:25] Speaker 5: our garbage can. Yeah, but what's that gut done? Only
[3:27] Speaker 5: it wasn't his briefcase they returned. It was a new
[3:30] Speaker 5: one that looked like his. And that's what happened with
[3:32] Speaker 5: our garbage can. See the familiarity.
[3:34] Speaker 6: That's very interesting.
[3:36] Speaker 5: It turns out in the book that the reason they
[3:37] Speaker 5: stole his briefcase was on account because there was a
[3:39] Speaker 5: fortune in jewels hid in the lining of it.
[3:41] Speaker 4: You see, the lining in our garbage can was made
[3:43] Speaker 4: out of an old newspaper.
[3:44] Speaker 6: Doctor.
[3:45] Speaker 4: I don't think there were any jewels in it, unless
[3:48] Speaker 4: maybe the upstairs made throughout a few of my old
[3:50] Speaker 4: diamond Terrara's.
[3:52] Speaker 5: All right, all right, scoff, if you want a d ride,
[3:55] Speaker 5: But by George Julesy.
[3:57] Speaker 6: The first clue I'm going to follow is I'm going
[3:58] Speaker 6: to go downtown in.
[3:59] Speaker 5: Case the hardware start, soll I find out who bought
[4:01] Speaker 5: the garbage can that they put back in our alley yesterday. Well,
[4:03] Speaker 5: good luck, Sherlock, But if I were you, I'd go
[4:06] Speaker 5: lie down with a cold cloth over the face. I
[4:08] Speaker 5: think you're suffering from a severe case of private eyestrain.
[4:28] Speaker 5: And that's the type of garbage can that I'm checking on,
[4:30] Speaker 5: right there, Bud, that big one.
[4:32] Speaker 8: Oh yes, well, this is a very popular model, sir,
[4:36] Speaker 8: my model twelve double galvanized.
[4:38] Speaker 6: How many would you like you sell a lot of them? Huh?
[4:41] Speaker 7: Yes?
[4:42] Speaker 9: How many?
[4:42] Speaker 6: Would you like you? Recall selling any of these cans yesterday? Oh?
[4:46] Speaker 8: Yes, I do remember selling one to a gentleman who
[4:48] Speaker 8: seemed to be in a great hurry. I take it
[4:51] Speaker 8: you're not.
[4:52] Speaker 5: Nope, Suppose you give me a good description of this
[4:54] Speaker 5: quick customer, Bud. You don't happen to have a photo
[4:57] Speaker 5: of him around, do you know? I guess not. I'll
[4:59] Speaker 5: start describing Bud.
[5:01] Speaker 8: Excuse me, mister, but just who are you?
[5:04] Speaker 6: Never you mind? I asked you a question.
[5:06] Speaker 8: Well I'm not answering until you answer mine first.
[5:09] Speaker 5: Oh no, Well, now, maybe you'd like me to show
[5:13] Speaker 5: you my badge, Bud.
[5:15] Speaker 8: Yes, as a matter of fact, I would.
[5:17] Speaker 5: Well, just because you're so no ley, I ain't gonna
[5:20] Speaker 5: show it to you. Are you either start describing this
[5:23] Speaker 5: character or else put on your hat and muffer and
[5:25] Speaker 5: we'll take a little walk down to the station.
[5:28] Speaker 8: Well, actually there's not much to describe.
[5:31] Speaker 6: That's better.
[5:32] Speaker 8: Man was in and out of here so fast. I
[5:34] Speaker 8: can't tell you what he looked like. I was busy
[5:36] Speaker 8: filling out the sales slip most of the times.
[5:38] Speaker 6: Sail slip a haha. Was it a charge or cash?
[5:42] Speaker 8: I don't recall. Let me look. Seems to me it
[5:46] Speaker 8: should be just about yes, here it is.
[5:50] Speaker 6: Well it was cash. Oh, d read it.
[5:53] Speaker 3: But he gave me his name.
[5:54] Speaker 8: Eh, we always ask for our mailing list. Uh, the
[5:58] Speaker 8: man's name is uh Fiber McGhee seventy nine, Wistful Vista.
[6:02] Speaker 2: Ah No, back to Wistla Vista in a minute. Hello,
[6:16] Speaker 2: Charlie boy, what do you know? Farm buildings? Farm buildings
[6:19] Speaker 2: that work for you? That's what I know, Buildings that
[6:22] Speaker 2: work for you. I don't get it, Charlie boy.
[6:24] Speaker 10: You will if you read Better Farming Buildings designed to
[6:26] Speaker 10: make money for the farmer, up to the minute, buildings
[6:29] Speaker 10: with a brand new look, do everything but milk the.
[6:31] Speaker 6: Cow for you.
[6:32] Speaker 10: This sounds great. Where'd you say you read about them?
[6:34] Speaker 10: In Better Farming? Better Farming for February.
[6:37] Speaker 3: Yes, the article new buildings work for you is only
[6:41] Speaker 3: one of the many features you'll find in Better Farming.
[6:44] Speaker 3: All these features, all that you read in Better Farming
[6:47] Speaker 3: is designed for just one thing, to help you make
[6:51] Speaker 3: your farm a better farm. That's our dedicated aim, better
[6:54] Speaker 3: farming for better farm living. And that's why. Incidentally, the
[6:58] Speaker 3: name of Country Gentlemen was chain to better Farming. Now
[7:02] Speaker 3: the name and the aim are the same. Better farming,
[7:06] Speaker 3: read better farming, read better farming, and help make your
[7:09] Speaker 3: farm a better farm.
[7:22] Speaker 5: Can you imagine the gall of that garbage can snatch
[7:24] Speaker 5: your molly, swipes our can, then buys a new want
[7:26] Speaker 5: to replace it, and tells the guy he bought it
[7:27] Speaker 5: from he's me.
[7:29] Speaker 4: Well, I will admit this is kind of intriguing. What
[7:32] Speaker 4: does your favorite mystery author have to say about a
[7:35] Speaker 4: thing like this?
[7:35] Speaker 6: Frankly, it's kind of confusing.
[7:37] Speaker 4: That's the understatement of the week.
[7:39] Speaker 5: You see in the case of the Missing Case, that's
[7:41] Speaker 5: the book I'm working from on this Hemingway Savage didn't
[7:43] Speaker 5: run into a situation quite like this, Lucky him in
[7:46] Speaker 5: the book, when Savage checked up to see who bought
[7:48] Speaker 5: the new briefcase to replace the case they stole from him.
[7:51] Speaker 5: It turned out the chief place to buy a briefcase
[7:53] Speaker 5: was a joint called Ace Mason's Briefcase Place at the
[7:55] Speaker 5: corner of Grayson Basin Streets. Oh So Savage rented space
[7:59] Speaker 5: in a placed the face Dace Mason's Briefcase Place and
[8:02] Speaker 5: case the joint from the basement casement for weeks and weeks.
[8:04] Speaker 4: On end sounds uncomfortable.
[8:06] Speaker 5: We sat at that window facing Mason's, munching Racin's and
[8:09] Speaker 5: watching the patrons. And he carefully kased every single face
[8:11] Speaker 5: that went in and out of Ace's Place till he
[8:13] Speaker 5: saw on face that he couldn't place the face of
[8:15] Speaker 5: a guy with a new briefcase.
[8:16] Speaker 6: And he said to himself, he done it. Hmmm.
[8:19] Speaker 5: He took a quick look at the briefcase the's face
[8:21] Speaker 5: while Ace Mason was placing the case in the safe.
[8:23] Speaker 6: See then he.
[8:23] Speaker 5: Yanked us forty four swore and coicked in the door
[8:26] Speaker 5: of the store, and boy, they run in all directions,
[8:28] Speaker 5: scattered like a covey of quail. Ace Mason went racing
[8:31] Speaker 5: Don Bason while the guy with a face that he
[8:33] Speaker 5: couldn't place at a heck of a face down Gray
[8:35] Speaker 5: Street and between racing down Bason Chas and Ace Mason
[8:38] Speaker 5: and trying to keep pace with the guy on Grace.
[8:39] Speaker 6: He couldn't get the first base.
[8:40] Speaker 5: With a briefcase case, so he called off that Chason
[8:42] Speaker 5: wrote a whole new chapter.
[8:46] Speaker 6: Well, good for him.
[8:47] Speaker 4: At least Hemingway Savage knows when to give up, which
[8:50] Speaker 4: is more than I can say.
[8:51] Speaker 5: Oh he didn't give up, no, sir, not him. He
[8:54] Speaker 5: merely went off on a different line of investigation. He
[8:57] Speaker 5: solved the crime all right right here, it's three hundred
[9:00] Speaker 5: and seventeen right there.
[9:01] Speaker 6: He tells who don't who done it? Or who did it?
[9:05] Speaker 6: That's what's the dog gone confusing Molly.
[9:07] Speaker 5: The guy that done in Savage's book is a guy
[9:09] Speaker 5: that we don't know any of that kind of guy's on.
[9:11] Speaker 6: The whole thing is so wait a minute, I'm not
[9:13] Speaker 6: going anywhere. Seems to me. I remember her. Yeah, yeah,
[9:19] Speaker 6: he told me hisself that she that's it. I got it, MA,
[9:22] Speaker 6: I got it.
[9:23] Speaker 4: Well drop it. It's making you red in the face.
[9:25] Speaker 5: In the words of Hemingway Savage, my dear, the pieces
[9:28] Speaker 5: of the puzzle have finally fell into place, and I
[9:30] Speaker 5: shall now bust this case open like a dropped watermelon
[9:33] Speaker 5: had me the phone. I'll call the culprits and get
[9:35] Speaker 5: him over here. Stand by kiddo, here they come.
[9:47] Speaker 6: Now.
[9:47] Speaker 4: Honestly, McGee, if this isn't the silliest, stupidest idea you
[9:51] Speaker 4: ever had.
[9:52] Speaker 6: You'll see.
[9:53] Speaker 5: You'll see just stand by me and Hemingway Savage will
[9:56] Speaker 5: have a confession before you can say.
[9:57] Speaker 6: Come in. I e breston McGhee.
[10:01] Speaker 11: Oh, mister McGee phone and asked us to come.
[10:03] Speaker 4: I know sally, Come in, both of you.
[10:05] Speaker 11: You sounded urgent, mister McGee, what's up?
[10:08] Speaker 6: Kindly be seated, both of you. I shall be briefed,
[10:12] Speaker 6: Oh McGhee, if this is my dear.
[10:16] Speaker 5: Now, as you both know, our garbage can mysteriously disappeared
[10:19] Speaker 5: from behind our garage on the night of Monday last.
[10:23] Speaker 9: Yeah, uh huh, we heard sure was mysterious, all right.
[10:28] Speaker 5: Yeah, as you also know, sometime yesterday a new can
[10:33] Speaker 5: was replaced in our alley, making us even real mysterious. Yes, sir,
[10:38] Speaker 5: I have here in my hand exhibit A a copy of
[10:41] Speaker 5: Hemingway Savage's latest book, A Mystery, which is almost exactly
[10:45] Speaker 5: similar to our missing garbage can mystery. Oh, missus Nelson,
[10:50] Speaker 5: since your marriage to Leicester. Here you have been a
[10:53] Speaker 5: Nelson right, well, well, of course, oh.
[10:57] Speaker 9: Sure, it's just so right on the license, our license.
[11:00] Speaker 6: However, before your marriage, what were.
[11:04] Speaker 11: You you mean my maiden name? I was a butler,
[11:07] Speaker 11: Sally Butler was my ah, missus McGhee, I hand you
[11:12] Speaker 11: here with exhibit A this book.
[11:15] Speaker 5: Finally read the closing line. Oh for the right there,
[11:18] Speaker 5: if you please.
[11:20] Speaker 4: It says, as Hemingway Savage has once more approved, it's
[11:24] Speaker 4: always the butler who done it?
[11:26] Speaker 6: Exactly?
[11:28] Speaker 5: Do you wish to make a full confession, Missus Nelson
[11:31] Speaker 5: ex butler?
[11:32] Speaker 11: Oh my goodness, if this is well, I guess i'd better.
[11:36] Speaker 9: Tell all well, I will be jiggered. It looks like
[11:39] Speaker 9: he's got us Sally dead to rights.
[11:42] Speaker 11: What well, actually, mister McGee, it was all an accident.
[11:46] Speaker 11: I was backing the car out the other night and
[11:48] Speaker 11: I backed over your garbage can just ruined it.
[11:51] Speaker 4: Oh, for goodness sakes, well, what's the difference?
[11:53] Speaker 11: It doesn't Well, I felt badly about it, so I
[11:56] Speaker 11: put it in the car and threw it out of
[11:58] Speaker 11: the city dump. And then I tried to some places
[12:00] Speaker 11: to get one like it.
[12:01] Speaker 6: But I should z.
[12:02] Speaker 9: Awful upset about it, mister McGee. So I went looking
[12:04] Speaker 9: for one yesterday, and well, gee, by that time, you
[12:07] Speaker 9: were all riled up, and I was scared to tell
[12:09] Speaker 9: you about it.
[12:10] Speaker 11: So when he did find one, we just put it
[12:12] Speaker 11: back of your garage and hope you'd let it go
[12:14] Speaker 11: at that.
[12:18] Speaker 5: Hell, the persecution rest kids who'd like a hot butter
[12:21] Speaker 5: root beer.
[12:22] Speaker 6: Molly, get the root beer. I'll get the buttery.
[12:35] Speaker 7: Fibber.
[12:36] Speaker 3: Lolly will be right back.
[12:38] Speaker 2: The soap that gets you extra queen is Dial Dial Dial.
[12:44] Speaker 6: The soap that keeps you extra queen is Dial Dial Dial.
[12:49] Speaker 7: Dial users say they just don't feel as clean with
[12:52] Speaker 7: any other soap, and it's true. With Dial, you'll never
[12:55] Speaker 7: worry about order because Dial removes the cause. You see,
[12:59] Speaker 7: normal person ration is odorless until skin bacteria go to
[13:03] Speaker 7: work on it. They cause the odor, and ordinary soaps
[13:06] Speaker 7: leave thousands of these bacteria, but daily washing with Dial
[13:10] Speaker 7: removes up to ninety five percent of them. That's because
[13:13] Speaker 7: Dial's the only leading soap with eighty seven or hexachlorophine.
[13:18] Speaker 7: There's nothing else as good at stopping odor, and this
[13:21] Speaker 7: ingredient clings to your skin, protecting you all day. Several
[13:25] Speaker 7: days if need be. That's why Dial stops order before
[13:28] Speaker 7: it starts and keeps you nice to be around, aren't
[13:32] Speaker 7: you glad you use dial soap? And don't you wish
[13:36] Speaker 7: everybody did?
[13:48] Speaker 5: I can't imagine how Sally Nelson managed to come all
[13:50] Speaker 5: the way over here and run over our garbage can
[13:52] Speaker 5: when it's twenty feet from our things.
[13:54] Speaker 6: On your side, Well, Claire, Honey, you real good. I'll
[13:58] Speaker 6: turn it just a little more.
[14:00] Speaker 5: There's really no excuse for anybody to be so careless
[14:02] Speaker 5: that they run over Oh no, don't tell me I
[14:08] Speaker 5: run over our new garbage can.
[14:10] Speaker 4: McGee, you've run over the Nelson.
[14:13] Speaker 6: Let's get out here. Good night, good night all.
[14:22] Speaker 2: Pepper, McGhee and Molly is an NBC Radio Network production
[14:25] Speaker 2: transcribed with Bill Thompson as the Clerk, Arthur Q. Brian
[14:29] Speaker 2: as Doctor Gamble, and Robert Easton and Mary Lou Harrington
[14:32] Speaker 2: has lesson Sally Nelson. This is John Wall inviting you
[14:35] Speaker 2: back with us again tomorrow night.
[14:37] Speaker 3: Good night.
[14:49] Speaker 2: Join the Great Guilder Sleeve and all his friends tonight
[14:51] Speaker 2: on the NBC Radio Network.
[15:02] Speaker 1: That concludes Fibermagee and Mollie in the Mystery is Solved
[15:06] Speaker 1: follow Fibermagee and Mollie for more classic broadcasts.

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