From the Radio Archives newsletter:
?One example of entertainment affecting real life happened around The Jolly Boys from The Great Gildersleeve. According to an article written in 1945, The Jolly Boys, originally just an idea for a single episode, not only caught on enough for the show to give the group a recurring role, but also translated into real groups in cities across the country. Although it?s hard to pinpoint where such groups did form, it seems largely a Southern phenomenon. In the article, it is mentioned that Hal Peary discovered a Jolly Boys group in Memphis. There?s also a Jolly Boys group apparently still active in Granada, Mississippi that began in 1945.?