Once upon a time, my dear,
People didn’t have TVs or video games
(pause for gasps).
What did they do of an evening?
Read? Talk?
Yes, a little of both but after 1935
People who had a radio listened to Fibber Mcgee.
What is listening, mother?
Radio is like TV – but with no screen.
How did you know the story?
When people listened to Fibber Mcgee and Molly
The only clues to the story was
The voices of the actors and
Sound effects. So when Fibber Mcgee
Opened the door to his very stuffed hall closet
Everything fell out with a cacophony of sounds,
Bells, whistles, falling tin cans and bangs.
(This is interesting, dear),
Everyone pictured a unique closet
With different things falling
On distinctive floors.
While we listened in common
Each of us had our own Fibber Mcgee’s closet.
I still listen to Fibber McGee and Mollie sometimes and the stuff is still falling out of his closet.
Although I haven’t heard of Fibber Mcgee, I came to the US later, I can still picture our world the way you described. Today, I miss the books we read so avidly, the imagination running riot at the radio sounds. No two people had the same ‘Mcgee closet’. Thank you.
Beautiful, wise, clever use of sound for each to indivudalize what their mind sees. Sometimes, the advent of tv and pictures diminishes the magic of imagination. Well done!