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He plugged away at his Washington job and, by 1937, made another network bid with shows for Barbasol and Carnation Milk. Though profitable for Godfrey, these shows left the nation unmoved. He was now so firmly labeled a "local boy" that Godfrey had to threaten to go back to NBC before CBS would agree to pipe part of his early-morning show into New York. But this show caught on, and in 1944 he made his third and final assault on network listeners. Keeping his local jobs, he undertook to broadcast over CBS without salary until he had lined up some sponsors. Further, he convinced CBS that he should be left on the air regardless of what the Hooperatings revealed. "It takes a long time to build up loyalty on a daytime show," he says. "I figured I had at least five years' work ahead of me."
For nearly two years listeners and advertisers stayed away in droves. Then, almost overnight, the flood ran the other way. Chesterfield sponsored his daytime show and it began to sprout additional sponsored quarter-hours. Thomas J. Lipton Inc., searching for a new nighttime program, decided to take a chance on Talent Scouts. Godfrey was in.
Mug Says No. His ascent to stardom has not been entirely a one-man show. Considerable credit goes to hardworking, 35-year-old Mug Richardson, who has been with him for 16 years, ever since —as "Miss North Carolina of 1934"—she stopped off in Washington on her way to New York. Arthur, visibly impressed, pays her the highest tribute he can make to womanhood: "She's wholesome." And he adds: "I knew she wouldn't fit into the kind of razzmatazz she was headed for, so
I told her she could have a job with me any time she wanted it."
Beginning as his secretary, Mug moved up to a quasi-partnership in Arthur Godfrey Productions, Inc., and has frequently been subject to fitful bursts of Godfrey generosity. At one time or another he has given her a secretarial education, a sloop, a farm in North Carolina, a Pontiac, a mink coat. Godfrey, referring both to her efficiency and her stubbornness, describes Mug as "my left arm—with my right hand on it." He superstitiously credits her with being a good-luck piece, and is apt to blame failures, like his dismal showing in the 1946 Broadway musical Three to Make Ready, on her periodic resignations.
The material turned out by Godfrey's five writers is channeled through Mug, who sits beside Arthur on most of his shows. Items that she finds amusing are passed on. He has great faith that her judgment is in tune with that of "the people." She also acts as a buffer between Godfrey and the advertising men. "Whenever anything's suggested to Arthur, Mug always says no," observes CBS President Frank Stanton. "That gives him time to think. If he decides to do it, he can say he finally talked Mug around. If he decides not to, he can always say Mug won't give in."