Mynydd Illtud & Twyn y Gaer Walk, Brecon Beacons Walks In Powys, Route & Scenery
Mynydd Illtud & Twyn y Gaer Walk, Brecon Beacons Walks In Powys, Route & Scenery
Mynydd Illtud Walk was about 2.75 miles in distance. The terrain of the route was a combination of common land and hill paths. The walking was easy on level or gradually undulating ground with one moderate ascent and one moderate descent. Route finding was easy with obvious paths, good waymarking and good landmarks. There were no stiles to negotiate.
Along the walk you visit; Libanus National Park Visitor Centre and the trig point of Twyn y Gaer. Scenery includes: undulating grassy paths and tracks across the common land of Mynydd Illtud, dotted with gorse bushes, trees and ponds; breathtaking views across the highest mountains in the Brecon Beacons National Park from the summit of Twyn y Gaer; the ramparts of an Iron Age fort and trig point at the summit of Twyn y Gaer. You may also encounter sheep grazing on the common land.
I did this walk with my wife Anne whilst on a Brecon Beacons National Park walking holiday during April 2019. We drove from our holiday accommodation in Talybont-on-Usk, Powys to the starting location of the National Park Visitor Centre, Powys and parked in the car park, at grid reference SN 978 262, about two kilometres north west of Libanus, which was also the start location of the walk.
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Are you looking for a circular walking route in the United Kingdom (UK)?
Or do you simply want to enjoy the scenery from around the UK?
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Rich Walking creates quality video slideshows of walk routes around the UK.
Every walking video is created from personal experience of the walk.
The following types of walk video slideshow are produced with background music which is slightly upbeat and/or relaxing:
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1 - UK Circular Walk Routes - These have 30 Route Photos displayed for 6 seconds each, showing a walker, walking ahead of you along the walk route.
Playlist -
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2 - UK Circular Walk Route Scenery - These have 30 Scenery Photos displayed for 6 seconds each, showing you just the scenery along and around the walk route.
Playlist -
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3 - UK Quick Tour Walks - These have many Route Photos displayed for 1 second each, showing a walker, walking ahead of you along the walk route.
Playlist -
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4 - UK Virtual Walk Scenery - These have the 30 Route Photos displayed for about 2.5 seconds each, showing a walker, walking ahead of you along the walk route, with a voice over describing the route. Following those, are many Scenery Photos display for 4 seconds each, showing you just the scenery along and around the walk route, with a voice over giving directions for each leg.
Playlist -
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SUBSCRIBE TO RICH WALKING :
NEW VIDEOS are published on a regular basis!
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BECOME A RICH WALKING PATRON:
If you enjoy this channel and would like to support it, making a pledge on the PATREON PAGE.
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SOCIAL MEDIA: Interact with Rich Walking here!
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Mynydd Illtud, Twyn y Gaer Hill Walk Scenery - Powys Walks - Tour Wales Walking Holidays UK
Mynydd Illtud, Twyn y Gaer Hill Walk Scenery - Powys Walks - Tour Wales Walking Holidays UK
Enjoy some great Mynydd Illtud and Twyn y Gaer hill walk scenery with relaxing music to see if you fancy Powys Walks whilst on tour Wales Walking Holidays UK. Along the walk you visit; Libanus National Park Visitor Centre and the trig point of Twyn y Gaer. Scenery includes: undulating grassy paths and tracks across the common land of Mynydd Illtud, dotted with gorse bushes, trees and ponds; breathtaking views across the highest mountains in the Brecon Beacons National Park from the summit of Twyn y Gaer; the ramparts of an Iron Age fort and trig point at the summit of Twyn y Gaer. You may also encounter sheep grazing on the common land.
…………………………………………………………………………….
SUBSCRIBE TO RICH WALKING :
NEW VIDEOS are published on a regular basis!
…………………………………………………………………………….
BECOME A RICH WALKING PATRON:
If you enjoy this channel and would like to support it, making a pledge on the PATREON PAGE.
…………………………………………………………………………….
Are you looking for a circular walking route in the United Kingdom (UK)?
Or do you simply want to enjoy the scenery from around the UK?
…………………………………………………………………………….
Rich Walking creates quality video slideshows of walk routes around the UK.
Every walking video is created from personal experience of the walk.
The following types of walk video slideshow are produced with background music which is slightly upbeat and/or relaxing:
…………………………………………………………………………….
1 - UK Circular Walk Routes - These have 30 Route Photos displayed for 6 seconds each, showing a walker, walking ahead of you along the walk route.
Playlist -
…………………………………………………………………………….
2 - UK Circular Walk Route Scenery - These have 30 Scenery Photos displayed for 6 seconds each, showing you just the scenery along and around the walk route.
Playlist -
…………………………………………………………………………….
3 - UK Quick Tour Walks - These have many Route Photos displayed for 1 second each, showing a walker, walking ahead of you along the walk route.
Playlist -
…………………………………………………………………………….
4 - UK Virtual Walk Scenery - These have the 30 Route Photos displayed for about 2.5 seconds each, showing a walker, walking ahead of you along the walk route, with a voice over describing the route. Following those, are many Scenery Photos display for 4 seconds each, showing you just the scenery along and around the walk route, with a voice over giving directions for each leg.
Playlist -
…………………………………………………………………………….
SUBSCRIBE TO RICH WALKING :
NEW VIDEOS are published on a regular basis!
…………………………………………………………………………….
BECOME A RICH WALKING PATRON:
If you enjoy this channel and would like to support it, making a pledge on the PATREON PAGE.
…………………………………………………………………………….
SOCIAL MEDIA: Interact with Rich Walking here!
FACEBOOK: The Rich Walking Facebook community page.
TWITTER: Tweet Rich Walking here.
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Mynydd Illtud, Twyn y Gaer Hill Walk, relaxing music walking scenery video, Powys, Wales, UK
Want to enjoy some relaxing music walking scenery video with scenery photography taken on a relaxing walk around Mynydd Illtud and Twyn y Gaer, Powys, Wales. Subscribe here:
Mynydd Illtud, Twyn y Gaer Hill Walk, relaxing music walking scenery video, Powys, England, UK
Play this relaxing music walking scenery video to experience some relaxing music with scenery photographs taken on a relaxing hill walk around Mynydd Illtud and Twyn y Gaer, Powys, Wales, UK. This lovely hill walk around Mynydd Illtud and Twyn y Gaer uses a combination of common land and hill paths. Starting and ending in Libanus National Park Visitor Centre it visits: Mynydd Illtud common land and the trig point of Twyn y Gaer. It includes views of: undulating grassy paths and tracks across the common land of Mynydd Illtud, dotted with gorse bushes, trees and ponds; breathtaking views across the highest mountains in the Brecon Beacons National Park from the summit of Twyn y Gaer; the ramparts of an Iron Age fort and trig point at the summit of Twyn y Gaer. You may also encounter sheep grazing on the common land.
A Road Trip To Brecon Beacons เที่ยวอังกฤษ #exploreUK #BreconBeacons #England&wales#simplyeasy
ขับรถเที่ยวเบรคอนบีคอนส์,เวลล์ โดยรถยนต์ ใช้เส้นทางชนบทเล็กๆแคบๆ ผ่านชุมชน ฟาร์มแลนด์ ชมวิวสวยๆสองข้างทาง ต้นไม้ ลำธาร แกะเล็มหญ้ามีให้เห็นตลอดเส้นทาง
จุดแรกที่แวะ คือศูนย์บริการนักท่องเที่ยวของอุทยานแห่งชาติ มีร้านกาแฟที่มีอาหารบริการด้วย พิเศษในวันนี้ มีงานเปิดท้ายขายของด้วย มีที่จอดรถฟรี แบะถ้าใครอยากจะเดิน มีเส้นทางเดินเล่นพักผ่อนสำหรับครอบครัว#ที่นี่สามารถมองเห็นยอดสูงสุด Pen Y Fan และยอดรอง Corn Du ได้อย่างชัดเจน
ที่หมายสุดท้าย คือ ยอด Corn Du และ Pen Y Fan ทั้งสองยอดอยู่ติดๆกัน ซึ่งอยู่ไม่ไกล จอดรถในที่จอดติดถนนใหญ่ ปกติจะมีร้านขายอาหารเครื่องดื่ม วันนีวันหยุดมีหลายร้านแบะมีนักท่องเที่ยวเยอะพอควร ส่วนใหญ่มาเป็นครอบครัว มีเด็กๆ และขาดไม่ได้สุนัข ถ้าใครมีจะพามาด้วย
เวลาโดยเฉลี่ยเดินขึ้นและลง ประมาณ 2-3 ชั่วโมง
ที่นี่ไม่หลงทางแน่นอน! เพราะ มองเห็นหมด กว้างไกลสุดขอบฟ้าเลย มีแค่หญ้า และแกะ! กับเนินเขาสลับซับซ้อน ในวันที่ไปอากาศสบายๆ มีแดด ข้างบนจะเย็นๆและมีลม เหมาะมาพักผ่อน ปิคนิค กับครอบครัว เด็กๆเล่นน้ำในลำธาร..สุดยอด
แนะนำ ควรมาสักครั้ง เพราะไม่ไกล เส้นทางสบายๆ เหมาะกับทุกวัย
โปรดตรวจสอบสภาพอากาศก่อนเดินทาง
ฝากคอมเมนต์ สำหรับข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมค่ะ
ขอบคุณค่ะ
สาย ลูอีส
A Roud Trip to Brecon Beacons,South Wales, UK
It was our first trip to Brecon Beacons on the local road which is small and narrow with great scenery of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Our 1st stop is the National Park Visitor Center, had our lunch and coffee there and there's car boot sale the day we visited. We also had a nice walk in that area before heading to Corn Du and Pen Y Fan for the next stop.
We park the car at Pont Ar Daf Car Park, had some icecream and walk up to the popular PenY Fan and Corn Du.
You can check out in another video for more details about climbing up.
An average time for climbing is about 2-3 hours.
Thank you.
Sai Lewis.
Motorbikes speeding past the site of a fatal crash near Defynnog
Residents who are campaigning for safety improvements on a main road near where they live have released a video of bikers speeding at a spot where a fatal accident occurred in May.
The stretch of the A4215 between Libanus and Sennybridge, near Defynnog, is a hotspot for motorbikes and boy racers. Heavy goods vehicles are also known to emerge from an unclassified road which forms the crossroads at Cwmbrynich.
When vehicles take the shortcut – that leads past the Brecon Beacons National Park Visitor Centre – they pull out on to the A4215 at a point where a small hill forms a blind summit.
Get the full story here:
(Video sent in by resident Anita Denny)
Brecon to Swansea 10/12/2016
A very wet drive from Brecon to Swansea. (10 December 2016).
00:00:00 Departure from Brecon Beacons National Park
00:05:09 Joining the A470
00:09:05 Brecon
00:10:15 Stopping for Petrol
00:17:32 Rejoining the A470
00:21:24 Libanus
00:33:16 Joining the A4059
00:38:02 RHONDDA CYNON TAF
00:42:54 Penderyn
00:47:53 Joining the A465
00:51:16 NEATH PORT TALBOT
01:03:58 Neath
01:13 44 Joining the A483
01:18:11 SWANSEA
01:20:24 Arrival at Ibis Hotel, Swansea
You Bet Your Life: Secret Word - Face / Sign / Chair
Julius Henry Groucho Marx (October 2, 1890 -- August 19, 1977) was an American comedian and film and television star. He is known as a master of quick wit and widely considered one of the best comedians of the modern era. His rapid-fire, often impromptu delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers and imitators. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. These exaggerated features resulted in the creation of one of the world's most ubiquitous and recognizable novelty disguises, known as Groucho glasses, a one-piece mask consisting of horn-rimmed glasses, large plastic nose, bushy eyebrows and mustache.
Groucho Marx was, and is, the most recognizable and well-known of the Marx Brothers. Groucho-like characters and references have appeared in popular culture both during and after his life, some aimed at audiences who may never have seen a Marx Brothers movie. Groucho's trademark eye glasses, nose, mustache, and cigar have become icons of comedy—glasses with fake noses and mustaches (referred to as Groucho glasses, nose-glasses, and other names) are sold by novelty and costume shops around the world.
Nat Perrin, close friend of Groucho Marx and writer of several Marx Brothers films, inspired John Astin's portrayal of Gomez Addams on the 1960s TV series The Addams Family with similarly thick mustache, eyebrows, sardonic remarks, backward logic, and ever-present cigar (pulled from his breast pocket already lit).
Alan Alda often vamped in the manner of Groucho on M*A*S*H. In one episode, Yankee Doodle Doctor, Hawkeye and Trapper put on a Marx Brothers act at the 4077, with Hawkeye playing Groucho and Trapper playing Harpo. In three other episodes, a character appeared who was named Captain Calvin Spalding (played by Loudon Wainwright III). Groucho's character in Animal Crackers was Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding.
On many occasions, on the 1970s television sitcom All In The Family, Michael Stivic (Rob Reiner), would briefly imitate Groucho Marx and his mannerisms.
Two albums by British rock band Queen, A Night at the Opera (1975) and A Day at the Races (1976), are named after Marx Brothers films. In March 1977, Groucho invited Queen to visit him in his Los Angeles home; there they performed '39 a capella. A long-running ad campaign for Vlasic Pickles features an animated stork that imitates Groucho's mannerisms and voice. On the famous Hollywood Sign in California, one of the Os is dedicated to Groucho. Alice Cooper contributed over $27,000 to remodel the sign, in memory of his friend.
In 1982, Gabe Kaplan portrayed Marx in the film Groucho, in a one-man stage production. He also imitated Marx occasionally on his previous TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
Actor Frank Ferrante has performed as Groucho Marx on stage for more than two decades. He continues to tour under rights granted by the Marx family in a one-man show entitled An Evening With Groucho in theaters throughout the United States and Canada with piano accompanist Jim Furmston. In the late 1980s Ferrante starred as Groucho in the off-Broadway and London show Groucho: A Life in Revue penned by Groucho's son Arthur. Ferrante portrayed the comedian from age 15 to 85. The show was later filmed for PBS in 2001. Woody Allen's 1996 musical Everyone Says I Love You, in addition to being named for one of Groucho's signature songs, ends with a Groucho-themed New Year's Eve party in Paris, which some of the stars, including Allen and Goldie Hawn, attend in full Groucho costume. The highlight of the scene is an ensemble song-and-dance performance of Hooray for Captain Spaulding—done entirely in French.
In the last of the Tintin comics, Tintin and the Picaros, a balloon shaped like the face of Groucho could be seen in the Annual Carnival.
In the Italian horror comic Dylan Dog, the protagonist's sidekick is a Groucho impersonator whose character became his permanent personality.
The BBC remade the radio sitcom Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel, with contemporary actors playing the parts of the original cast. The series was repeated on digital radio station BBC7. Scottish playwright Louise Oliver wrote a play named Waiting For Groucho about Chico and Harpo waiting for Groucho to turn up for the filming of their last project together. This was performed by Glasgow theatre company Rhymes with Purple Productions at the Edinburgh Fringe and in Glasgow and Hamilton in 2007-08. Groucho was played by Scottish actor Frodo McDaniel.
Suspense: Tree of Life / The Will to Power / Overture in Two Keys
Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller was his third silent film The Lodger (1926), a suspenseful Jack the Ripper story. His next thriller was Blackmail (1929), his and Britain's first sound film. Of Hitchcock's fifteen major features made between 1925 and 1935, only six were suspense films, the two mentioned above plus Murder!, Number Seventeen, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and The 39 Steps. From 1935 on, however, most of his output was thrillers.
One of the earliest spy films was Fritz Lang's Spies (1928), the director's first independent production, with an anarchist international conspirator and criminal spy character named Haghi (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), who was pursued by good-guy Agent No. 326 (Willy Fritsch) (aka Det. Donald Tremaine, English version) -- this film anticipated the James Bond films of the future. Another was Greta Garbo's portrayal of the real-life, notorious, seductive German double agent code-named Mata Hari (Gertrud Zelle) in World War I in Mata Hari (1932), who performed a pearl-draped dance to entice French officers to divulge their secrets.
The chilling German film M (1931) directed by Fritz Lang, starred Peter Lorre (in his first film role) as a criminal deviant who preys on children. The film's story was based on the life of serial killer Peter Kurten (known as the 'Vampire of Düsseldorf'). Edward Sutherland's crime thriller Murders in the Zoo (1933) from Paramount starred Lionel Atwill as a murderous and jealous zoologist.
Other British directors, such as Walter Forde, Victor Saville, George A. Cooper, and even the young Michael Powell made more thrillers in the same period; Forde made nine, Vorhaus seven between 1932 and 1935, Cooper six in the same period, and Powell the same. Hitchcock was following a strong British trend in his choice of genre.
Notable examples of Hitchcock's early British suspense-thriller films include The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), his first spy-chase/romantic thriller, The 39 Steps (1935) with Robert Donat handcuffed to Madeleine Carroll and The Lady Vanishes (1938).
The Great Gildersleeve: Gildy Drives a Mercedes / Gildy Is Fired / Mystery Baby
Premiering on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company (If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve) and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon, father of Tom Whedon (who wrote The Golden Girls), and grandfather of Deadwood scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.
Report on ESP / Cops and Robbers / The Legend of Jimmy Blue Eyes
Extrasensory perception (ESP) involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition or retrocognition. ESP is also sometimes casually referred to as a sixth sense, gut instinct or hunch, which are historical English idioms. It is also sometimes referred to as intuition. The term implies acquisition of information by means external to the basic limiting assumptions of science, such as that organisms can only receive information from the past to the present.
Parapsychology is the pseudoscientific[1] study of paranormal psychic phenomena, including ESP. Parapsychologists generally regard such tests as the ganzfeld experiment as providing compelling evidence for the existence of ESP. The scientific community rejects ESP due to the absence of an evidence base, the lack of a theory which would explain ESP, and the lack of experimental techniques which can provide reliably positive results.
Vincent Jimmy Blue Eyes Alo (May 26, 1904 -- March 9, 2001) was a New York mobster and member of the Genovese crime family who set up casino operations with mob associate Meyer Lansky in Florida and Cuba.
Calling All Cars: June Bug / Trailing the San Rafael Gang / Think Before You Shoot
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California.
The LAPD has been copiously fictionalized in numerous movies, novels and television shows throughout its history. The department has also been associated with a number of controversies, mainly concerned with racial animosity, police brutality and police corruption.
The radio show Calling All Cars hired LAPD radio dispacher Jesse Rosenquist to be the voice of the dispatcher. Rosenquist was already famous because home radios could tune into early police radio frequencies. As the first police radio dispatcher presented to the public ear, his was the voice that actors went to when called upon for a radio dispatcher role.
The iconic television series Dragnet, with LAPD Detective Joe Friday as the primary character, was the first major media representation of the department. Real LAPD operations inspired Jack Webb to create the series and close cooperation with department officers let him make it as realistic as possible, including authentic police equipment and sound recording on-site at the police station.
Due to Dragnet's popularity, LAPD Chief Parker became, after J. Edgar Hoover, the most well known and respected law enforcement official in the nation. In the 1960s, when the LAPD under Chief Thomas Reddin expanded its community relations division and began efforts to reach out to the African-American community, Dragnet followed suit with more emphasis on internal affairs and community policing than solving crimes, the show's previous mainstay.
Several prominent representations of the LAPD and its officers in television and film include Adam-12, Blue Streak, Blue Thunder, Boomtown, The Closer, Colors, Crash, Columbo, Dark Blue, Die Hard, End of Watch, Heat, Hollywood Homicide, Hunter, Internal Affairs, Jackie Brown, L.A. Confidential, Lakeview Terrace, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Life, Numb3rs, The Shield, Southland, Speed, Street Kings, SWAT, Training Day and the Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour and Terminator film series. The LAPD is also featured in the video games Midnight Club II, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, L.A. Noire and Call of Juarez: The Cartel.
The LAPD has also been the subject of numerous novels. Elizabeth Linington used the department as her backdrop in three different series written under three different names, perhaps the most popular being those novel featuring Det. Lt. Luis Mendoza, who was introduced in the Edgar-nominated Case Pending. Joseph Wambaugh, the son of a Pittsburgh policeman, spent fourteen years in the department, using his background to write novels with authentic fictional depictions of life in the LAPD. Wambaugh also created the Emmy-winning TV anthology series Police Story. Wambaugh was also a major influence on James Ellroy, who wrote several novels about the Department set during the 1940s and 1950s, the most famous of which are probably The Black Dahlia, fictionalizing the LAPD's most famous cold case, and L.A. Confidential, which was made into a film of the same name. Both the novel and the film chronicled mass-murder and corruption inside and outside the force during the Parker era. Critic Roger Ebert indicates that the film's characters (from the 1950s) represent the choices ahead for the LAPD: assisting Hollywood limelight, aggressive policing with relaxed ethics, and a straight arrow approach.
The Great Gildersleeve: Birthday Tea for Marjorie / A Job for Bronco / Jolly Boys Band
Premiering on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company (If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve) and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon, father of Tom Whedon (who wrote The Golden Girls), and grandfather of Deadwood scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.
The Great Gildersleeve: Gildy the Executive / Substitute Secretary / Gildy Tries to Fire Bessie
Aiding and abetting the periodically frantic life in the Gildersleeve home was family cook and housekeeper Birdie Lee Coggins (Lillian Randolph). Although in the first season, under writer Levinson, Birdie was often portrayed as saliently less than bright, she slowly developed as the real brains and caretaker of the household under writers John Whedon, Sam Moore and Andy White. In many of the later episodes Gildersleeve has to acknowledge Birdie's commonsense approach to some of his predicaments. By the early 1950s, Birdie was heavily depended on by the rest of the family in fulfilling many of the functions of the household matriarch, whether it be giving sound advice to an adolescent Leroy or tending Marjorie's children.
By the late 1940s, Marjorie slowly matures to a young woman of marrying age. During the 9th season (September 1949-June 1950) Marjorie meets and marries (May 10) Walter Bronco Thompson (Richard Crenna), star football player at the local college. The event was popular enough that Look devoted five pages in its May 23, 1950 issue to the wedding. After living in the same household for a few years with their twin babies Ronnie and Linda, the newlyweds move next door to keep the expanding Gildersleeve clan close together.
Leroy, aged 10--11 during most of the 1940s, is the all-American boy who grudgingly practices his piano lessons, gets bad report cards, fights with his friends and cannot remember to not slam the door. Although he is loyal to his Uncle Mort, he is always the first to deflate his ego with a well-placed Ha!!! or What a character! Beginning in the Spring of 1949, he finds himself in junior high and is at last allowed to grow up, establishing relationships with the girls in the Bullard home across the street. From an awkward adolescent who hangs his head, kicks the ground and giggles whenever Brenda Knickerbocker comes near, he transforms himself overnight (November 28, 1951) into a more mature young man when Babs Winthrop (both girls played by Barbara Whiting) approaches him about studying together. From then on, he branches out with interests in driving, playing the drums and dreaming of a musical career.
The Great Gildersleeve: A Date with Miss Del Rey / Breach of Promise / Dodging a Process Server
The Great Gildersleeve (1941--1957), initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. Built around Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly, first introduced on Oct. 3, 1939, ep. #216. The Great Gildersleeve enjoyed its greatest success in the 1940s. Actor Harold Peary played the character during its transition from the parent show into the spin-off and later in a quartet of feature films released at the height of the show's popularity.
On Fibber McGee and Molly, Peary's Gildersleeve was a pompous windbag who became a consistent McGee nemesis. You're a haa-aa-aa-aard man, McGee! became a Gildersleeve catchphrase. The character was given several conflicting first names on Fibber McGee and Molly, and on one episode his middle name was revealed as Philharmonic. Gildy admits as much at the end of Gildersleeve's Diary on the Fibber McGee and Molly series (Oct. 22, 1940).
He soon became so popular that Kraft Foods—looking primarily to promote its Parkay margarine spread — sponsored a new series with Peary's Gildersleeve as the central, slightly softened and slightly befuddled focus of a lively new family.
Premiering on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company (If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve) and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon, father of Tom Whedon (who wrote The Golden Girls), and grandfather of Deadwood scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.