Episode 7: Fibber McGee and Molly

The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show

Show notes for Episode 7:

“Dolan’s Poker Party” (ca. 1925-29) by Frank Crumit
Four aces and a joker is a lovely hand at poker --
All the money in the pot is yours according to the law.
Though I never like to gamble, let me say without preamble
That I am a trifle partial to a quiet game o’ draw.
On Thursday night McCarty organized a poker party.
There was Dolan, Martin, Doyle, and Reilly -- six of us in all.
Although the game was very quiet, but it ended in a riot
Sure they overturned the stove and smashed the pictures on the wall.
Listen and I’ll tell ye how the trouble did begin:
Dolan opened up a pot and three of us went in.
’Twas opened for a quarter and when Dolan won the pot
He counted it and found that sixty cents was all he got -- ho ho ho ho ho.
Oh, Dolan got excited and declared that he would right it.
He got up and intimated he was ready for a bout.
Then he reached for Reilly’s Galways which he carried with him always
And before we could prevent it he had plucked a handful out.
Just to keep the ball a-rollin’ I declared meself for Dolan
Sure they threw me on the floor an’ slammed the stove upon me back,
All o’ the furniture was broken and I carry yet a token
Of the luck I had the night that Dolan opened up the jack.
All the furniture was broken and I carry it a token
Of the luck I had the night that Dolan opened up the jack.
Here’s a brief bio of Frank Crumit.
As mentioned on the show, the song appears on Ricky Jay Plays Poker, a collection of old poker songs compiled by the sleight-of-hand artist. And here’s that interview with Ricky Jay from NPR’s Weekend Edition in which he discusses the collection.

“Poker and the Written Word” by Tim Peters
This time Tim offers an interesting overview of the history of poker books, reaching back to George Devol’s Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi (1887) to Herbert O. Yardley’s The Education of a Poker Player (1957) to Doyle Brunson's Super/System (1978) on up to the present day (and beyond).
Send Tim your thoughts to pokerbooks at mac dot com. And visit his website, The Literature of Poker, for reviews and other interesting writings related to poker and the written word.

The Education of a Poker Player by Herbert O. Yardley
I read a short excerpt from the beginning of Yardley’s classic instructional manual-slash-autobiography.
Click here to read my earlier post about the book, written last year to mark its fiftieth anniversary.

“Poker Game,” Fibber McGee and Molly (originally aired February 23, 1943)
Starring Jim Jordan, Marian Jordan, Bill Thompson, and Harlow Wilcox.
Here's the Wikipedia entry on the show, and here is a link to a large archive of old episodes.
Download.