Ohhh, 'Zatchyoomryt?

Translation: "Oh, is that you, Myrt?"

Yes, more Fibber McGee and Molly nonsense from the BleggahBlog. I've mentioned this before, but to recap, I had an aunt who was a telephone operator in the 1930s and 40s. (Insert jpeg of Aunt Eth but do not print this little bit of text in parentheses...) 

Aunt Ethelyn a.k.a. Myrt

Her name was Ethelyn, but everyone called her Myrt because of a very popular character on the radio show Fibber McGee and Molly, or, as it was officially called, The Johnson Wax Program With Fibber McGee and Molly. (Insert jpeg of Fibber McGee and Molly but not this text within the parentheses...)

Jim and Marian Jordan as Fibber McGee and Molly, illustrated by Sam Berman for a 1947 NBC promo

Here's how the Myrt bit worked in a nutshell: McGee would pick up the telephone, usually in a huff, and start nagging the operator to make the connection as soon as possible! This was important business! "Hello, operator! Get me the Mayor's office! I've got a bone to pick with---" and then he'd abruptly stop; his mood would change, and he'd be as nice as could be... "Oh, is that you Myrt?" (In the old days there were several operators working at a time and it was just chance which one of them randomly answered your call.) When McGee got Myrt on the line, everything else seemed unimportant. There was always time to chat with Myrt.

Keep in mind, you never heard Myrt. She was on the other end of the phone and you could only surmise what she was saying based on McGee's reactions. The joke was always on poor Molly. Molly -- like us -- only heard McGee's end of the conversation, and the way McGee spoke, it always sounded like something dreadful was happening in poor ol' Myrt's life.

Here's a couple of my favorites...

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Not that anybody's reading this, but the phrase "Get a bar upon your arm" meant you got another stripe (or bar) on the sleeve of your uniform, if you were an officer receiving a promotion. (An ensign had only one stripe, a lieutenant had two, a commander had three, a captain had four, etc.) (I hear you saying, if you have to explain the joke, it ain't funny.) (Well, I'll ignore that only because I know nobody's reading this.) (We now return to Fibber McGee and Molly, already in progress...)

Here's one more Myrt bit, then I gotta go... (I'm moving today. Wanna help?)

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That's all for now. I gotta go. Thanks once again for Blogging at Bleggah. Which is a stupid signoff, actually, because you're not the one blogging; I am. Blogging is the act of creating a blog, isn't it? Not the act of reading a blog. I don't know for sure. The fact that nobody's reading this, however, puts my mind at ease and am therefore not in a big hurry to change my signoff. How about a simple goodnight all. That's how Molly used to end The Johnson Wax Program With Fibber McGee and Molly. "Goodnight all." Also, I'd like to get a sponsor for my blog, like Johnson's Wax, their HQ is not far from where I live, actually. I could drive over there and ask them if they'd sponsor my blog and then I'd call it The Johnson Wax Blog Featuring Bleggah and All Stuff Like That There...