Radio Back When

2006-10-07T19:17:00.000-07:00

Ten Great Old-Time Radio Broadcasts

The following are some of the shows in my own OTR collection that I consider to be among the very best. They are all so good that rather than try to rank them, I will just list them in alphabetical order.

1. Arthur Godfrey Time (7/8/46 and 7/9/46). Even though these are two separate programs, the connection between them is so strong that they should be experienced as a single entity. One of the most famous and long-running theme songs in all of radio history was "Seems Like Old Times," strains of which began countless Arthur Godfrey Time shows. In the Monday broadcast (7/8/46), Arthur asks whether any of the regulars knows the lyrics to the song, and amusingly no one does. Marshall Young promises to learn them by tomorrow, and true to his word comes back the next day and gives a splendid rendition.

There are many other enjoyable moments in these two shows. On Monday the sheet music to a new song called "Love Means the Same Old Thing" is brought out. No one is familiar with the song, which has a beautiful but tricky melody. When Arthur tries to perform it by a sight-reading, he blows it. Marshall then makes an attempt, but fares no better. Finally the marvelous Janette Davis steps up and nails it perfectly.

Much more, including Hank Sylvern and his orchestra, and The Jubilaires.

2. Bachelor's Children (7/8/38). Although my collection of radio soap operas is pretty extensive (over eight hundred episodes), I will exercise some restraint and include only one on this list. Several years ago when I began collecting OTR materials, the very first soap opera I heard was an episode of Bachelor's Children. I liked it so much that I began listening to lots of other soaps, and thus it acted as the gateway to all the ones I have acquired since. I still consider this serial to be one of the best of the soaps.

This episode (not the same one) is special because it is the one in which Janet, for whom Sam has suffered an unrequited love for years, finally realizes that she loves him as well. To those familiar with the series, you might say that Janet literally falls for Sam!

3. Dimension X. "The Martian Chronicles" (8/18/50). You don't have to be a science fiction fan to be enthralled by this transcendent masterpiece. Based upon Ray Bradbury's famous novel, this adaptation is riveting, profound and poetic. It explores man's capacity for greatness, creativity and survival in the face of the self-destructiveness, tragedy and doom that constantly stalk us.

4. Lux Radio Theater. "Madame Curie" (9/16/46). This series is of such uniformly high quality that I could have picked any number of episodes for inclusion on the list. I am partial to this one because it is both a stirring, sometimes electrifying representation of two of the most famous scientists in history, and also a convincing and beautiful love story. Stars Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.

5. The Mercury Summer Theater. "The Hitchhiker" (6/21/46). This is my candidate for one of the most frightening OTR broadcasts. Orson Welles stars as a motorist on a cross-country trip who keeps encountering the same ghastly hitchhiker time after time. Even in today's more sophisticated age, the resolution of this story is still shocking and disturbing. Should be listened to at night with all the lights turned off.

6. The Mysterious Traveler. "The Most Famous Man in the World" (11/20/51). Here is a remarkable story which offers a little bit of everything. It is eerie and ominous, exotic and charming, and in the end somehow consoling and hopeful. At the beginning, the narrator invites us to come along for the ride "as we meet two people who haven't even been born yet." It is a ride well worth taking.

7. On Stage. "Call Me a Cab" (2/21/53). An acclaimed series starring wife-husband team Cathy and Elliott Lewis. The story here has to do with two lonely people who share the same fantasy but don't know it. There is a distant, dreamlike quality throughout that calls to mind the human lament for all our lost days and years.

8. Sundial with Arthur Godfrey (9/21/39). I have written at some length about this program in another posting (see "Old-Time Radio's Complete Day"). The recording of WJSV's entire broadcast day from September 21, 1939 is the most prized item in my collection, and the Sundial show is the best part of it. For those who like nostalgia, or who appreciate old-time radio as a source of social and cultural history, nothing surpasses this.

9. Suspense. "The Search for Henri LeFevre" (7/6/44). Of the more than sixty episodes of Suspense in my collection, this is my favorite. The brilliant, uncompromising script by Louise Fletcher (she of "Sorry, Wrong Number" fame) is accompanied by some of the most beautiful, haunting music I have ever heard. Near the end, when you gradually realize just what is really happening, is when the chills come. Gripping and awe-inspiring.

10. Wayside Theater. "Food for Thought" (1/22/39). Fans of light romantic comedy will find Chicago's Wayside Theater a gem. Olan Soule and Patricia Dunlap make the most of a succession of consistently delightful scripts. Here we see what happens when a man on a strict diet of fruit juice, raw carrots, fresh greens and apples runs head on into a meal of roast pork with stuffing, cheese dumplings, sweet potato pie and black walnut cake.

2006-09-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

June 6-7, 1944 Soap Opera Broadcasts on CBS

The following is an annotated list of soap operas aired June 6th and 7th, 1944 on the CBS Radio Network. These are part of the D-Day coverage which has been preserved and is available from various sources. All times are Eastern War Time.

June 6, 1944

10:00 a.m. Valiant Lady. General Mills (commercials suspended). Joan and Tubby are suspected of smuggling.

10:30. The Open Door. Royal Puddings and Gelatins. John and Rennie Merrick quarrel over whether their parents should re-marry.

10:45. Bachelor's Children. Wonder Bread. Ruth Ann cries over "Joan Gray," a fictitious ex-girlfriend of Dr. Bob's.

11:00. Amanda of Honeymoon Hill. Phillips Milk of Magnesia. Jeanette regrets mailing a letter to her husband.

11:15. Second Husband. Dr. Lyons Tooth Powder. A rebellious Fran has moved in with show producer Elsa King.

11:45. Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories. Spry All-Vegetable Shortening. Jim Abbott stands to inherit a fortune, but only if he agrees to a very unusual condition.

12:15 p.m. Big Sister. Rinso. Beautiful Hollis Travers declares her passionate love for John.

12:30. The Romance of Helen Trent. Benefax Multivitamins. Helen delivers an ultimatum to Gil-- marry me now or never.

June 7, 1944

9:45 a.m. This Life is Mine. Commercials suspended. Eden is concerned that Bob's ex-wife Lois is still very much a part of his life.

10:30. The Open Door. Royal Puddings and Gelatins. John threatens to sell the family feed and grain store.

10:45. Bachelor's Children. Wonder Bread and Hostess Cakes. To everyone's surprise, a real Joan Gray turns up in town.

11:15. Second Husband. Dr. Lyons Tooth Powder. Mildred is ineffective in trying to persuade Elsa to send Fran back home.

11:30. Bright Horizon. Swan Soap. An inscription on a bronze vase may cause Michael West to drop out of the race for governor.

11:45. Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories. Spry All-Vegetable Shortening. White ruffled curtains bring hope to Jim and Claire's relationship.

12:15 p.m. Big Sister. Rinso. Frank takes Steve to a semi-conscious Ricky.

12:30. The Romance of Helen Trent. Bisodol. Gil ponders his decision while Helen worries.

12:45. Our Gal Sunday. Anacin. Lord Henry and Sunday discuss the whereabouts of villainous Ambrose Fairbrook, III.

1:00. Life Can Be Beautiful. Ivory Soap (commercials omitted). Chichi will marry Stephen and accompany him on his trip to South America.

1:15. Ma Perkins. Oxydol. The Pendletons both want to see Jeffrey Powell, but for vastly different reasons.

2:00. Portia Faces Life. Grape Nuts Flakes and Grape Nuts Wheat Meal. Portia and Colonel Wakefield try to thwart the evil Nazi, Herr Doktor.

2:15. Joyce Jordan, M.D. Postum. A kiss between Vic Manion and Carol Brewster.

3:00. The Story of Mary Marlin. Tenderleaf Tea. Wealthy constituent Reed Morton chooses a clever way of introducing himself to Mary.

2006-09-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

Another Radio Soap Opera Quiz

Match each radio soap opera series listed below with the fictitious location which provides its primary setting.

SERIES

1. Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories

2. Aunt Mary

3. Big Sister

4. The Brighter Day

5. Hilltop House

6. Ma Perkins

7. Pepper Young's Family

8. When a Girl Marries

9. Young Dr. Malone

10. Young Widder Brown

Settings

a. Elmwood

b. Glen Falls

c. Glendale

d. Littleton

e. Rushville Center

f. Simpsonville, West Virginia

g. Stanwood

h. Three Oaks

i. Three Rivers

j. Wakefield

Answer Key

1d, 2j, 3b, 4i, 5c, 6e, 7a, 8g, 9h, 10f

2006-09-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

D-Day Coverage on CBS Radio: A Collector's Item

Anyone interested in collecting old-time radio broadcasts might consider the CBS D-Day coverage of Tuesday, June 6 and Wednesday, June 7, 1944. My own set of tapes, which I acquired from a dealer no longer in business, begins at 8:30 a.m. on the 6th and runs continuously until 4:45 p.m. on the 7th except for a break between 3:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on the second day. The sound quality is almost uniformly outstanding.

Control central for these transmissions was CBS World News Headquarters in New York, which fully exercised its authority in pre-empting regularly scheduled programs in favor of a multitude of war-related presentations. Nevertheless-- and happily for the collector-- a great many other shows were swept up in the broader net and have been preserved as well. These are mostly musical performances and soap operas, but with a sprinkling of other generic forms also. They make this package about more than just the war, and therefore enhance its value to the student of the era's social and cultural history.

I have seen this material advertised by a number of internet dealers, usually identified by titles beginning with "CBS," "D-Day," or "Complete Day."

Following is a list of the broadcasts taken from my own copy. All times are Eastern War Time.

June 6, 1944:

8:30 a.m. D-Day news. Lead is press reaction to invasion.

9:00. CBS World News. With Douglas Edwards.

9:30. D-Day news. Lead is report on reaction in London.

10:00. Valiant Lady (soap opera).

10:15. The Light of the World (Biblical dramatic series).

10:30. The Open Door (soap opera).

10:45. Bachelor's Children (soap opera).

11:00. Amanda of Honeymoon Hill (soap opera).

11:15. Second Husband (soap opera).

11:30. D-Day news. Lead is report of Charles DeGaulle's arrival in London.

11:45. Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories (soap opera).

12:00 p.m. Kate Smith (commentary).

12:15. Big Sister (soap opera).

12:30. The Romance of Helen Trent (soap opera).

12:45. D-Day news. Lead is Edward R. Murrow from London.

1:30. Crisco's Radio Newspaper. With Bernadine Flynn.

1:45. D-Day news. Lead is military music.

2:30. Unannounced music. First number: "Stars and Stripes Forever." News reports follow.

3:00. D-Day news. Lead is address by King George VI from London.

3:30. D-Day news. Lead is Merrill Mueller from Eisenhower's headquarters in England.

4:00. Unannounced music. News reports interspersed.

5:00. D-Day news. Lead is John Daly.

5:15. "Archie Bleyer and the Orchestra." First number: "A Pal Joey Medley."

5:30. D-Day news. Lead is news summary.

6:00. D-Day news. Lead is Quincy Howe.

6:30. Jeri Sullivan's Dream House. Music. First number: "My Honey's Lovin' Arms."

6:45. The World Today. With Douglas Edwards.

7:00. D-Day news. Lead is John Daly.

7:15. The Passing Parade. A "special D-Day edition."

7:30. The American Melody Hour. First number: "Long Ago and Far Away."

8:00. Columbia Presents Corwin. "An American Trilogy, Part I: Sandburg."

8:30. D-Day news. Lead is John Daly.

9:00. The Burns and Allen Show (comedy).

9:30. The Doctor Fights (drama).

10:00. D-Day news. Lead is speech by President Roosevelt.

10:30. United States Navy Band Program. First number: "Victory Fanfare."

11:00. D-Day news. Lead is Ned Calmer.

11:15. Words and Music by Joan Brooks. First number: "Look for the Silver Lining."

11:30. D-Day news. Lead is George Hicks from an American warship at sea.

June 7, 1944:

12:30 a.m. "Harry James and His Musicmakers" [The first of several remote band broadcasts between now and 3:30 a.m.] First number: untitled original.

1:00. D-Day news. Lead is Robert Trout.

1:30. "Bill Snyder, His Piano and His Orchestra." First number: "What is This Thing Called Love?"

2:00. BBC newscast (8 a.m. news from London).

2:15. "Ralph Morrison, His Saxophone and His Orchestra." First number: "Maybe."

2:30. "Manny Strand and Band." First number: "Paradise."

2:45. "Dale Jones and Company." First number: "Tess'es Torch Song."

3:00. D-Day news. Douglas Edwards reporting.

3:05. Trianon Time. "Henry King, His Piano and His Orchestra." First number: "San Fernando Valley."

3:30. Off air.

9:00. CBS World News. Harry Marble reporting.

9:15. The Landt Trio. First number: "There'll Be Some Changes Made."

9:45. This Life is Mine (soap opera).

10:00. CBS World News. Harry Marble reporting.

10:15. The Light of the World (Biblical dramatic series).

10:30. The Open Door (soap opera).

10:45. Bachelor's Children (soap opera).

11:00. D-Day news.

11:15. Second Husband (soap opera).

11:30. Bright Horizon (soap opera).

11:45. Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories (soap opera).

12:00 p.m. Kate Smith (commentary).

12:15. Big Sister (soap opera).

12:30. The Romance of Helen Trent (soap opera).

12:45. Our Gal Sunday (soap opera).

1:00. Life Can Be Beautiful (soap opera).

1:15. Ma Perkins (soap opera).

1:30. Crisco's Radio Newspaper. With Bernadine Flynn.

1:45. The Goldbergs (comedy-drama serial).

2:00. Portia Faces Life (soap opera).

2:15. Joyce Jordan, M.D. (soap opera).

2:30. D-Day news. Lead is latest invasion update.

2:45. The New Adventures of Perry Mason (crime serial).

3:00. The Story of Mary Marlin (soap opera).

3:15. United States Navy Band program. First number: "Wings of Victory."

3:30. CBS World News. With Robert Trout.

3:45. The Jubilaires. First number: "Old Dan Tucker."

4:00. Broadway Matinee (variety).

4:30. D-Day news. Lead is John Daly.

2006-08-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Employment Patterns in Old-Time Radio Soap Operas

In several previous postings, I have examined the claim made by numerous radio soap operas of being "true-to-life" or of presenting "real life" characters and details. See "Real Life and True-to-Life: Assurances of Authenticity in Radio Soap Operas"; "Buildings, Businesses and Public Places in Old-Time Radio Soap Operas"; and "The House in Rosehaven." This article will take a look at how mostly major characters in these daytime serials were employed, and whether the occupations depicted seem representative of those held by the work force of the era of old-time radio.

While soap opera characters held a wide variety of jobs, the largest concentrations were in four areas: health care workers, members of the legal profession, people associated with the stage and screen, and business owners. At least four shows feature doctors as title characters, these being Young Dr. Malone, The Life and Love of Dr. Susan, Dr. Paul and Joyce Jordan, M.D. Bob Graham in Bachelor's Children and Jim Brent in Road of Life are physicians, as are Ruth Wayne's husband John in Big Sister and Joan Scott's husband Tubby in Valiant Lady. Eileen Holmes (The Woman in White) and Nora Drake (This is Nora Drake) are nurses.

Lawyers are also in plentiful supply. Although Portia Blake (Portia Faces Life) is the only female attorney of great importance that I am aware of, Harry Davis is the male lead in When a Girl Marries as is Michael West in Bright Horizon. Lawyer Jim Curtis is married to Brenda in Brenda Curtis, Stephen Hamilton eventually becomes Chichi's husband in Life Can Be Beautiful, and David Post is engaged to Mary in The Story of Mary Marlin.

Vocations associated with the stage and screen are popular in old-time radio soaps. Larry Noble (Backstage Wife) is a Broadway matinee idol, and we learn that Brenda Curtis has acted professionally in the past. Alice Blair (The Career of Alice Blair) is a Hollywood actress, and Kitty Kelly (Pretty Kitty Kelly) is connected with the New York stage. The leading male character in The Strange Romance of Evelyn Winters is playwright Gary Bennett. Myrt and Marge (The Story of Myrt and Marge) are chorus girls in New York, while Helen Trent (The Romance of Helen Trent) has an office at the Jeff Brady Motion Picture Studio in Hollywood at one point, and is chief gown designer for Parafilm Studios at another.

Myrt and Marge as well as Helen Trent can also be included among characters with an entrepreneurial spirit. The two members of the Chic-Chicks launch the Myr-Mar Theater Project and begin producing stage presentations. Helen tries her hand as a partner in an exclusive Hollywood dress shop. Other characters with a proprietary bent are Bill Davidson (Just Plain Bill), who operates a barbershop in Hartville; Papa David Solomon (Life Can Be Beautiful), owner of The Slightly Read Bookshop; Ellen Brown, who runs a tearoom in Simpsonville (Young Widder Brown); Lorenzo the inventor in Lorenzo Jones; and Ma Perkins, partner in a lumberyard in Rushville Center. Wealthy Peter Carver, Lora's husband (Lora Lawton) is a magnate at the head of the Carver Shipbuilding Company. Lora herself owns a photographic studio.

Many other occupations are represented among the radio soaps, though less liberally than those mentioned thus far. The professions give us, for example, a man of the cloth in the person of the Reverend Richard Dennis (The Brighter Day). Bess Johnson (and later Julie Erickson) is a social worker, head matron of the orphanage which lends its name to the soap Hilltop House. Higher learning is not neglected: Eric Hansen (The Open Door) is Dean of Students at mythical Vernon University in the town of Jefferson; and Jason McKinley Allen (Against the Storm) is a professor at Harper College in Hawthorne. Timothy Story, Midge Conway's illicit love in Midstream, is an archaeologist. Wendy Warren (Wendy Warren and the News) and David Farrell (Front Page Farrell) are both newspaper reporters, she for the Manhattan Gazette and he for the [New York] Daily Eagle. Gary Haven of We Are Always Young is a composer, although he is forced to drive a cab while he waits for success in his higher calling.

Political figures can be found in John Fairchild, mayor of Walnut Grove (Stepmother); and Mary Marlin, a United States Senator from Iowa (The Story of Mary Marlin). Working in the sales area are Ted White and Bill Bauer of The Guiding Light, both employed by the same advertising agency; and Sam Ryder of Bachelor's Children, who is an insurance agent. Finally, among rank and file employees, Carol Brent (Road of Life) works at the White Orchid Cosmetic Company; Joan Scott (Valiant Lady) for publisher T.R. Clark, whose offices are in the New York Tower; and Rosalind Marlowe as a secretary for Chase Associates in New York City (The World of Rosalind Marlowe).

So what conclusion can we reach about whether the occupations found in radio soap operas were a realistic reflection of the labor force of their times? Taken together these jobs may have been a little more glamorous than the daily chores of the stay-at-home mom who listened to the programs, but they were by no means foreign to her world or underrepresented in "real life," then as now. Significantly, there were no deep sea divers or truffle farmers, and nobody worked in a salt or a diamond mine.

Generally speaking, this is another area in which the soaps seem to have achieved their stated goal of giving a true-to-life portrayal of at least certain elements of the society from which they drew their inspiration.

2006-08-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

The House in Rosehaven

Every radio soap opera created its own fictional world and attempted to make it vivid, familiar and accessible to listeners, a second home that they would want to visit every day. Since radio is strictly an auditory medium, the extent of perceived fullness and depth experienced by the listener relating to each of these worlds depended in large part on the generosity of details (or word pictures) provided about it.

Being "domestic daytime dramas," much of the content of soap operas necessarily centered on the hearth and home. So that is a place we might look in determining how abundant and distinctive the particulars of any given series proved to be. Doing so will also help us evaluate the claim many soaps made of being "true-to-life" and presenting "real life" situations.

I will focus primarily here on the series Backstage Wife, the story of Mary and Larry Noble. She was a "sweet young girl from Iowa," and he was a "famous broadway star." Their "modest home" in Rosehaven, Long Island was within commuting distance by personal car, taxi or train (all of which were used at times in various episodes) of Larry's work in New York City.

It might be best to begin by placing the Nobles' home in its larger context, especially the municipal and commercial part of the village of Rosehaven, which plays a role in many of the story lines. This part of Rosehaven is within walking distance of the Nobles' house, but far enough away that the characters almost always use other forms of transportation.

Among the businesses and services offered by Rosehaven are a bank, a post office, a filling station, a diner which is "just off the main street," a hairdressing establishment, a liquor store, a garage, a place to buy groceries and a taxi service. There is also "a small restaurant" called The Laurel Inn described as being located "some miles away" from the Nobles' home. It may or may not be within the village. All of the above figure in one or more episodes of the serial.

As for the house itself, a driveway leads up to it and terminates near the front door. Upon ringing the doorbell, guests are ushered into the entrance hall where there is a table, a telephone and a message pad, and a closet (in which, among other things, Larry's house slippers are kept).

The living room contains a fireplace, a sofa, a desk and chair, and probably more than one armchair (we are told at one point that Larry has his "own armchair"). This is the setting for many scenes and a favorite place for Mary to do her needlepoint or work in her mending basket. A front window in the room looks out onto the driveway, while on the back side of it French doors open onto a flagstone terrace.

Going upstairs for a moment, we find the home's four bedrooms. One belongs to Larry and Mary, who have separate beds. The room has blinds, and its own bathroom with a shower. Reference is made to a bedside light in at least one episode.

Their young son Larry, Jr. has his own room, but the only detail I have found about it is that it contains an extra bed which could be made available to a guest. A third bedroom is simply referred to as the "guest room." During one long story line that I am aware of, it is occupied by family friend Maud Marlowe, herself an actress. Finally there is another guest bedroom, this one located under the eaves. It is so closely associated with playwright and family friend Tom Bryson that Larry once refers to it as "your room" when talking to Tom, who on another occasion calls it "my special room under the eaves" in a conversation with Mary.

The house has a dining room, one entrance to which is through the pantry. Mary uses the pantry as a place to arrange cut flowers from her garden, keeping a number of vases there. She once tells Maud, when they are in the pantry together, that to make some lilacs last another day or two she will "cut the stems and bruise the ends and put them into water." The liquor supply also seems to be located there, as we have various adults repairing to the pantry for a sociable nip now and then.

The kitchen is another frequent setting, and we learn a lot about it. Specifically mentioned are a stove, a refrigerator, a table, shelves, a bread box, an electric toaster, a coffee pot, a juicer (apparently a manual one), serving trays and a butter dish. Mary and her friend Maud spend time together there, washing the dishes in one episode and just talking while Mary beats egg whites for a lemon pie in another.

The Nobles and their visitors and guests are often to be found "out back." I mentioned that French doors open from the living room to a flagstone terrace. Larry especially enjoys sunbathing there, lounging in one or another of the deck chairs placed in that location. An awning provides shade for part of the terrace, and at one side next to Mary's flower garden are a stone bench and a low stone wall.

The garden itself is Mary's delight. Armed with her gloves and garden shears and garden basket, she can be found among her lilacs and roses and peonies and irises and petunias. Now we see her "kneeling on a pad and gently crumbling the earth around a bed of sturdy seedlings," or weeding the petunias and preparing to transplant them, or nipping buds off a peony bush. She tells Larry, "you've got to disbud peony bushes to get the best flowers." You "nip off the little buds, leaving one bud to a stalk." A hedge separates the end of the garden from the property of the next-door neighbors.

It seems evident that no one would be likely to mistake the Nobles' house for any other domicile in the realm of radio soap operas. The images of it are too abundant and the details too distinctive. In its treatment of hearth and home, Backstage Wife deserves high marks for creating a place with which its listeners must have felt very familiar and comfortable.

Many other radio soap operas provide a wealth of domestic details. The home of Dr. Bob and Ruth Ann Graham in Bachelor's Children, for example, has a living room with a piano, and pictures on the walls; a dining room; a pantry where a ladder is kept; and a broom closet in the kitchen containing a broom, a dustpan and a carpet sweeper.

In an episode of The Right to Happiness, a woman is selling off some household possessions to raise money. These include a living room chair, a lamp, bric-a-brac, some dresses, and candlesticks from the mantle. A buyer also expresses interest in the family piano.

Probably the most memorable piece of furniture in any soap opera is the front porch swing in Ma Perkins. But we also learn that Ma has a flower garden (one episode mentions her dahlias); that the telephone is located in the parlor, which is adjacent to the kitchen; that Ma does her sewing in the living room, usually sitting in a rocking chair across from an "old Morris chair"; that the front door has a bell; and that the kitchen can be entered directly through an outside door.

A final word about radio soap operas and reality, in answer to those who see no connection between the two. Characters in these programs did not live in trees or in caves or on houseboats. They inhabited, for the most part, single-family dwellings (often two-story) with bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a dining room, closets, and sometimes a library or a pantry. Front porches and flower gardens were common. Conservatories, billiard rooms and wine cellars (as well as root cellars for that matter) were in short supply. As for household contents, seldom do we find anything more far-fetched than a lamp, a table, a telephone, an armchair, a piano, a dustpan or a butter dish. In their representation of how homes were built, laid out and furnished, many of these programs seem to have mirrored the middle class of their era quite faithfully.

2006-08-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

Buildings, Businesses and Public Places in Old-Time Radio Soap Operas

In another posting on this blog, I have pointed out that old-time radio soap operas frequently purported to be "true-to-life" and to depict "real life" characters and situations. But were these claims justified? Did these programs, indeed, reflect the social and cultural realities of their day, or were they merely overblown fantasies constructed to divert bored housewives and bearing little relation to the everyday experience of their listeners?

One way of getting at the answer is to examine the ordinary details of life as they are actually presented in radio soaps. We can learn a lot about the world of these programs by looking at the communities their characters lived in and where they worked, how their homes were constructed and furnished, what their domestic chores and habits were, what they ate and drank, and what they did for recreation and in their leisure time. In this piece I will address the first of these-- where the characters resided, with particular emphasis on places their communities offered to work, shop, recreate and conduct personal and legal business.

So where did they live? Well, not on Mars or in the Land of Oz or in Timbuktu. Sometimes they inhabited real American cities like New York and Washington and Chicago and Hollywood; and more frequently fictitious places with names reflecting small town America then as now-- Springdale, Valleydale, Glendale, Elmwood, Walnut Grove, Three Oaks, Three Rivers, Riverfield and Wakefield to name a few.

The depiction of factual cities in the radio soap operas contains few surprises. Thus New York has an abundance of restaurants, theaters, office buildings and traffic. In Washington a character might live in a beautiful triplex penthouse apartment (Lora Lawton) or be invited to a lavish ball thrown by a member of the president's cabinet (The Story of Mary Marlin). A resident of Hollywood might visit an amusement park in nearby Venice and ride a roller coaster (The Career of Alice Blair).

We find a wealth of details about the fictional places which provide the settings for so many soaps. In a 1946 episode of Aunt Mary, a nursemaid has been wheeling a baby around the town square of Wakefield in a pram, and pauses to rest on a bench. She thinks to herself that Wakefield is "exactly how I'd expect a small town to look." She notices the brick courthouse, the main street with a corner drugstore, The Elite Cafe, and a hotel. Other broadcasts indicate that the Farmers Bank and the Calvert Real Estate and Loan Company are also on the square, and that a movie theater and the Wakefield Auto Court are within the city.

The description of Riverfield, home of Bright Horizon, rivals that of Wakefield in its attention to detail. Located near Emerald Lake, the city contains a newspaper (The Riverfield Morning Light), a city hall, a law office, a restaurant, a movie theater and Riverfield High School.

The unnamed city where Bachelor's Children takes place is not to be outdone. Its paper is The News Dispatch, and also within its confines are a hotel, a restaurant, a hospital, a church, a drugstore and a movie theater.

Rushville Center, where Ma Perkins is set, has a barber shop, a bank, a movie theater, a drugstore, a hospital, and of course the Perkins Lumber Yard. Nearby towns are also mentioned, which has the effect of putting Rushville Center in a larger context and thus making it more lifelike. Ma's business partner and friend Shuffle Shober lives in Middleborough, about fifty miles from Rushville Center and connected to it by a busline. The city of Fort William is home to a hotel, and to a newspaper read by residents of Rushville Center.

A railroad makes one of its stops in Littleton, location of Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories. The newspaper office of The Clarion is also found there, as is a law office, a rooming house, and St. Stephen's Church.

These descriptions in the radio soap operas of both big cities and small towns are perfectly consistent with our knowledge about the realities of the era. In this respect, there seems to be validity to the soaps' claims of having "true-to-life" elements within them.

2006-08-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

September 21, 1939 Soap Opera Broadcasts on WJSV

The following is an annotated list of soap operas aired September 21, 1939 on radio station WJSV in Washington, D.C. The entire day's broadcast has been preserved. See my other posting, "Old-Time Radio's Complete Day," for more information including suggestions on how to obtain it.

1. Bachelor's Children. 8:45 a.m. Royal Dutch Cleanser. Dr. Bob and Ruth Ann have coffee at the Ryders.

2. Pretty Kitty Kelly. 9:00 a.m. Wonder Bread. A development in the Madmoiselle Dupin murder case.

3. The Story of Myrt and Marge. 9:15 a.m. Concentrated Super Suds. Tryouts for a Myr-Mar Theater Project production in Manhattan.

4. Hilltop House. 9:30 a.m. Palmolive Beauty Soap. Bess and Captain John Barry set wedding date.

5. Stepmother. 9:45 a.m. Colgate Tooth Powder. Peg rejects the advice of Kay and John about Agatha Clark.

6. Brenda Curtis. 10:15 a.m. Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. Jim fears he is about to lose the Hargreaves case.

7. Big Sister. 10:30 a.m. Rinso. Ruth makes friends with Miss Pike.

8. Aunt Jenny's True Life Stories. 10:45 a.m. Spry All-Vegetable Shortening. The return of an old flame may threaten a marriage.

9. When a Girl Marries. 11:15 a.m. Prudential Insurance. Professor Kilpatrick warns Harry about Ralph Stanley.

10. The Romance of Helen Trent. 11:30 a.m. Angelus Lipstick. Helen plans to offer Doris Harper a job in her dress shop.

11. Our Gal Sunday. 11:45 a.m. Anacin. A letter from Arthur Brinthrope.

12. Life Can Be Beautiful. 12:15 p.m. Ivory Flakes. A tearful Chichi is cheered up by news from Kate Henderson.

13. Road of Life. 12:30 p.m. Chipsol Washday Soap. Opening statement in the murder trial of John McEwen.

14. This Day is Ours. 12:45 p.m. Crisco. Myrtle plans to go dancing with Sammy Foster.

15. The Life and Love of Dr. Susan. 1:15 p.m. Lux Toilet Soap. Susan and others await news of Butch Bixby's big game.

16. Your Family and Mine. 1:30 p.m. Sealtest Dairies. Judy is by Woody's side when he awakes from surgery.

17. The Career of Alice Blair. 3:15 p.m. Daggett & Ramsel Perfect Cold Cream. Alice thinks Myra is getting too close to Uncle Andy.

2006-07-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

Real Life and True-to-Life: Assurances of Authenticity in Radio Soap Operas

Old-time radio soap operas are probably best remembered today for their dramatic and sometimes sensational plots. Another important reason for the popularity and longevity of these domestic daytime serials, however, was their substantial and frequently explicit identification with the world and circumstances of their listeners. The stated themes and signature openings of many of these programs give assurance that the content will reflect "real life" or will be "true-to-life."

One popular soap, Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories, embodies this concept in its very title. Significantly, the show was known as Aunt Jenny's True Life Stories for a large portion of its existence.

The opening to Just Plain Bill describes it as "the real life story of a man who might be your own next door neighbor and of people just like people we all know." We are similarly informed that "Pepper Young's Family is the true-to-life story of your friends, the Youngs." Long-running David Harum was billed as "the true-to-life story of David Harum. . . ." Other soaps whose signature openings contain the phrase "real life" or "true-to-life" are Stella Dallas, Stepmother, and Linda's First Love.

Some series, though less explicitly so, make similar claims to a fidelity to everyday life. The beginning of Lorenzo Jones states that "we all know couples like" Lorenzo and his wife Belle. "Their struggle for security is anybody's story." Life Can Be Beautiful, we are told, "is an inspiring message of faith drawn from life."

Another group of radio soaps making an obvious identification with the large daytime audience of stay-at-home mothers are those prominently featuring motherhood itself. Thus Stella Dallas is "the true-to-life story of mother love and sacrifice." Young Widder Brown is "the story of the age-old conflict between a mother's duty and a woman's heart." The aforementioned Stepmother asks the question, "can a stepmother successfully raise another woman's children?"

It seems that the deliberate blending of the dramatic and the down-to-earth, which is far more characteristic of soap operas than of any other radio genre, contributed to the tremendous popularity that soaps experienced for so long. The audience enjoyed all the emotional upheavals, but liked them when tempered with authenticity (the "real life" and the "true-to-life" elements), and when at least sometimes they involved "people just like people we all know."

2006-07-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

Old-Time Radio's Complete Day

One of the best collector's items from radio's past is the entire broadcast day aired over station WJSV, Washington, D.C. on Thursday, September 21, 1939. Beginning with the sign-on and Arthur Godfrey's Sundial program at 6:30 a.m., it concludes with the sign-off at 1 a.m. Friday following a remote broadcast of the Bob Chester Orchestra "playing for dancers in the Mayfair Restaurant of Hotel Van Cleve in Dayton, Ohio."

The content has been marketed under various titles and in different formats. My own copy, which I found in a Borders Books and Music store early in 2001, is a nicely boxed set of a dozen C-90 cassette tapes put out by a company called America Before TV and entitled September 21, 1939: A Day from the Golden Age of Radio.

During the program Sunshine Report, which aired at 1 p.m. and is included, announcer Hugh Conover noted that a recording of all that date's WJSV transmissions would be placed in the National Archives because of the historical significance of an address by President Roosevelt to a joint session of Congress. What was to become World War II had broken out in Europe early that month, and Roosevelt was proposing a change in our policy towards the combatants. Because the entire broadcast day was taped, not only the president's speech and other war-related programming has been preserved, but a great deal more as well. Every program, commercial, bulletin, announcement, promo and station break has survived for posterity. In fact, it is the unabridged, unedited, all-inclusive nature of this material that makes it so fascinating and helps it serve as an extraordinary source of social and cultural history.

Nothing illustrates this better than Sundial with Arthur Godfrey, which begins the day's programming and runs for two hours, from 6:30 to 8:30. To be sure, there are plenty of war-related items (the French have completed their general mobilization; there has been an unconfirmed report of an uprising in the Czech provinces of Moravia and Bohemia against Nazi Germany, etc.). But then there is Arthur chatting, whistling, humming, passing on birthday and anniversary greetings from his listeners to their loved ones, and doing local weather, news and announcements (today is the first day of fall; lost: a heart-shaped baby's locket in Petworth; found: a gold Bulova wrist watch; the Grainsville Methodist Church is hosting an ice cream social at 6 p.m. today; the jitterbug semifinals of the Harvest Moon Ball will be held tonight at ten o'clock at the Wardman-Park Hotel; tickets on sale for the amateur boxing carnival to be held at Griffith Stadium on October 11th; movie The Women opening tomorrow at Loew's Palace Theater; petition to improve Route 7-- Leesburg Pike-- "the same old road that George Washington laid out").

He also plays numerous musical recordings, such as "Sunbonnet Sue" by Bing Crosby; "The Merry Old Land of Oz" by Frankie Masters; and The Foursome's version of "There'll Be Some Changes Made." And, of course, a slew of commercials. Pepsi-Cola: five cents for a twelve-ounce bottle, carton of six for twenty-five cents. Arthur on Pepsi: "Serve it to the kids when they come home from school. It won't hurt 'em. It's good for them." Zlotnik the Furrier, "at the sign of the big white bear, 12th and G Northwest." For sale, a 1938 Chevrolet Master Deluxe Town Sedan, $575-- at Coast-In Pontiac, in the 400 block of Florida Avenue Northwest. Bond Clothiers offers hand-stitched men's suits for $25-to-$35, two pair of trousers with every suit. Liggetts has a special on fudge cake with ice cream, ten cents. Penn-Daw Hotel on the Richmond Highway: "serving breakfast, lunch and dinner."

Hearing these two hours gives a vivid and unforgettable impression of how people lived almost seventy years ago. They were aware of the war in Europe and increasingly worried about it, but still hopeful that we could stay out of it. We get a sense of what they drove, how they dressed, what they ate and drank, and what all of that cost. We hear the same popular music that they listened to. We are reminded that, indeed, some things don't change much. Birthdays and anniversaries meant a lot to them as they do to us. Churches were social centers then as now, and people liked to dance and attend sporting events.

Most of the remaining morning and most of the afternoon are taken up with newscasts, the presidential address and reactions to it, and episodes of seventeen soap operas. Interspersed with these are such local programs as Certified Magic Carpet, a quiz show; Mary Lee Taylor (cooking); Jean Abbey, essentially a fifteen-minute commercial which advertises items of interest to women (corsets, panties, fabrics, perfume, face cream, towels, wool blankets, a Sunbeam Mixmaster, etc.) at different D.C. department stores; a baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators; The World Dances, "a program of dancing tunes played by top-ranking radio orchestras"; and Sports Review with Harry McTag.

Amos 'n' Andy airs at 6 p.m., and is followed by a variety of programs including The Parker Family, an early sitcom; Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour ("On this opening day of autumn we spin our weekly wheel of fortune for the 236th consecutive time"); The Columbia Workshop, presenting a play entitled "Now It's Summer"; and Americans at Work, which tonight interviews five auctioneers, one each from the fields of livestock, furs, art, eggs and real estate (there are eight thousand horses in greater New York, and sixteen million in the country; New York prefers white eggs to brown, while Boston is just the opposite). Ninety minutes of band remotes precedes the sign-off.

To the best of my knowledge, this preservation of a station's entire broadcast day is unique among all the relics of old-time radio. It is a time machine which transports us to a bygone era and lets us experience it for ourselves.

I am not sure whether this item is still available packaged as it was when I bought it. However, at least a couple of internet dealers do have it. Try ATG Enterprises (goldenagesounds.com). On the home page, select "Complete Sets" and scroll down to "WJSV Complete Broadcast Day." Also look at OTRCAT.com. Select "WWII" at the top of the home page and scroll down to "Complete Broadcast Day, Sept. 21, 1939." There you can also view a schedule of all programs aired on WJSV that day. Please note that ATG's items play on a standard CD player, while OTRCAT's usual format is MP3 CD.

2006-07-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

Radio Soap Opera Quiz

This will test your knowledge of OTR domestic daytime dramas. The degree of difficulty, while not intended to be severe, generally increases as the list progresses.

QUESTIONS

1. In the soap Just Plain Bill, what is Bill Davidson's occupation?

2. One of the most popular radio soaps of all time features a heroine who "sets out to prove . . . that because a woman is thirty-five, or more, romance in life need not be over." What is it called?

3. Only one of the radio soaps which made the transition to a television soap is still on the air today. Can you name it?

4. What famous soap features "a sweet young girl from Iowa" who marries an actor called the "matinee idol of a million other women"?

5. What soap asks the question, "can this girl from a little mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?"

6. In which soap does Dr. Jim Brent work at the Theodore Wheelock Memorial Sanitarium in Merrimac?

7. Ma Perkins was the mother of two girls and a boy. Her son died young. How did he die?

8. The soap Joyce Jordan, M.D. evolved into another famous soap whose principal characters are the Reverend Richard Dennis and his daughter Liz. Can you name it?

9. What real-life big city provides the setting for the soap Stella Dallas?

10. What is the significance of the date November 25, 1960?

ANSWERS

1. Bill was a barber, famously known as "the barber of Hartville."

2. The Romance of Helen Trent.

3. The Guiding Light.

4. Backstage Wife.

5. Our Gal Sunday.

6. Road of Life.

7. Ma's son John was a soldier killed in action in World War II.

8. The Brighter Day.

9. Boston.

10. That was "the day the radio soap operas died." The few remaining soaps (such as The Right to Happiness, The Second Mrs. Burton, Young Dr. Malone and Ma Perkins) all broadcast their final episode on that date.

2006-07-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

An Uncataloged Episode of The Brighter Day

Surviving episodes of The Brighter Day, one of the best old-time radio soap operas, are unfortunately rare. Reel 763 of the SPERDVAC General Library contains an episode which is not listed in the catalog entry for that reel (p. 109) and which I have not encountered elsewhere.

It is on Side 1 of the reel, following Just Plain Bill and preceding The Fred Waring Show, both of which are listed. The sound quality is excellent. The reel itself is available on C-60 cassette tapes which can be borrowed from the SPERDVAC library by members.

As for the story line, it is set in the spring and deals amusingly with fifteen-year-old Patsy's stirrings of adolescent sexuality. The brilliant Patsy is inclined to lead a life of the mind, but she has learned that Otis J. Hopkins is planning to ask her to the junior prom!