Zeus

Here We Go Again (1942)

• Director
  • Allan Dwan
• Writers
  • Paul Gerard Smith(screenplay)
  • Joe Bigelow(screenplay)
  • Don Quinn(material: Fibber McGee and Molly)
• Stars
  • Jim Jordan
  • Marian Jordan
  • Edgar Bergen

  Filmed on leftover Magnificent Ambersons sets, Here We Go Again is the most endearingly wacky of RKO Radio's Fibber McGee & Molly vehicles. The story begins as the popular radio duo prepares to leave their home town of Wistful Vista and embark upon a second honeymoon. After discovering that hotel where they originally stayed 20 years earlier is now a rundown fleabag, Fibber (Jim Jordan) and Molly (Marian Jordan) head to fancy-schmansy Silver Tip Lodge, where they run into Molly's former sweetheart Otis Cadwalader (Gale Gordon) and Fibber's "friendly enemy" Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve (Harold Peary). Meanwhile, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy pals Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd are trying to enjoy an outdoor camping trip, only to be periodically interrupted by a hungry bear and an irascible Indian tribe. The destinities of the various characters are brought together when Cadwalader tries to convince Fibber to invest in a revolutionary motor-fuel formula, while Bergen romances Gildersleeve's pretty niece Jean (Ginny Simms). Also contributing to this "comedy salad" are Fibber McGee and Molly regulars Bill Thompson as wispy Wallace Wimple and Isabel Randolph as haughty Mrs. Uppington, and Edgar Bergen's radio orchestra leader Ray Noble. Highlights include Fibber's special effects-laden billiard game, Charlie McCarthy's song-and-dance number "This Delicious Delirium" (the dapper little dummy is rather obviously doubled by a midget in the long shots!), and the film's whimsical black-comedy fadeout gag. An enormous box-office hit, Here We Go Again is an absolute must for old-time radio aficionados.