Irna Phillips as a Storyteller & Mentor

[dc11786]

Eric mentioned "The Right to Happiness" which is an awesome radio soap. I don't know why the show was never made it to television as it was certainly the most modern serial of its time period.

Irna Phillips wrote the show's first six years. Originally the focus was Rose Kransky, who on "The Guiding Light" had become pregnant by a married man and left town. When the show opened, Rose was unmarried and pregnant. Before the baby was born, Rose returned to the "The Guiding Light" and the show shifted focus to a love triangle between Doris Cameron (Rose's boss), Bill Walker, and Carolyn's daughter recently returned from convent school. Carolyn eventually won out and Bill and Carolyn married. Carolyn cheated on Bill with Dwight Kramer, Bill ended up murdered, and Carolyn gave birth to her illegitmate child in jail. This all played out in the early 1940s, which is fairly fascinating. I would say this was another one of the more sensational stories that Phillips told.

Phillips was kind of known for presenting the fallen woman in a positive light. Rose Kransky, Carolyn Allen, Pat Matthews, Meta Bauer, Ellen Lowell, and Kim Reynolds are just several of these type of woman and these women were the show's heroines. I believe I read once that Irna herself supposedly had an affair with a married man and gave birth to a stillborn child.

I think another thing that Phillips soaps had was a strong sense of hope and faith. The titles even reflected this: 'The Guiding Light', 'The Right to Happiness', and 'The Brighter Day'.

Phillips is certainly an interesting character talking into each of the voices of the characters as her stenographer dictated.

Carolyn was the show's central focus and burned through four husbands by the time the show ended on November 25, 1960, the day radio soaps died. John M. Young suceeded Irna Phillips. Young was another one of Phillips' proteges, who was quite good from what I've read. Young was the final headwriter for the beloved NBC serial "Frome these Roots" and penned a lot of the woman in the city series "Golden Windows". Apparently, he wrote some scripts for the early days of "Days of our Lives" according to the collection that Cornell University has of his scripts.

I think another reason that Phillips' "Another World" wasn't as strong as Roy Winsor's "The Secret Storm" was Ellen Ames' death defined the characters. Will Matthew's death didn't have that impact. Because of Ellen's death, Peter Ames was now the troubled patriarch, fighting alcoholism and struggling to hold the family together. Susan was the eldest trying to fill her mother's shoes by becoming a mother before even becoming a wife, which must have been difficult. Jerry was the troubled youth who turned into a juvenile deliquent as a result of his mother's death. Then there was little Amy, the child lost in the shuffle. Aunt Pauline was allowed to let her lust for her brother-in-law blossom and renew their childhood romance while thwarting his other loves in the process. Winsor had a strong sense of "Storm" as it was more of a psychological drama taking comfort in the shades of gray, where his "Love of Life" tended to be more black and white, good and evil, Meg and Van.

[EricMontreal22]

Brighter Day did make the switch to TV and was a success for a while (I think until it was sold to its network) but I get the feelign Irna had next to nothing to do with it by then. Road of Life was another os hfers transfered though I think it had the least success.

But yeah I always wondered about Right to Happiness too and why they never tried. From all the radio soaps I've listened to (and as a teen I went thru a period where I was obsessed) it definetly was the most modern and compelling, next to Guiding Light anyway (at least the late 40s/early 50s eps when the Bauers came on the scene). It remained popular all its life too i think--it was one of the final radio soaps to air on radio, I think in 1960 ( the last remaining network soaps all ende dbroadcast the same day--ma Perkins was one too--Ma and Guiding Light were the only two that my grandma here in Canada remembers listening to and loving back in the 30s--)

*edit* you said the date above lol. Sorry.

Some of those episodes of Right with her in jail are still out there--Iv'e heard them. It is interesting Rose Kransky was only on right so briefly since she was the catalyst for the spin off, but that must have been on purpose--she was Guiding Light's most popular character of the 30s apparantly (this was ages before the Bauers and when ti was still in fictional Five Points--i think the Bauers came on when it was in a fictional suburb of LA--and it moved to Springfield mysteriously sometime in the 50s even tho they never mentioned it).

I know with Winsor's people do think that even then they were a bit more black and white than Irna's--even Storm, isn't that true? Some soap books said a bit more like the radio soaps based on a basic conceit and often character. Of course all three of his soaps sorta fell apart when they lost that focus (which is true of many soaps in generla but because of how they were constructed, his especially). I would like to know what happened with Agnes Nixon writing the first 13 weeks of Search for Tomorrow--in her youtube interview it's hinted that there was some fighting there when she left. (I know of cours ebetween her radio soap work with irna and coming back to TV soaps she was a well respected writer of a bunch of the "golden age of TV" primetime live anthology drama shows--something most articles on Agnes seem to have forgotten)

E

[dc11786]

My understanding of "The Right to Happiness" is that the show was revamped after several unsuccessful months. The series initially focused on the story of the Kransky family (Rose, her widowed mother, and her brother Jacob) and the Burke family. The Burke was an Irish Catholic family and the patriarch dated Mrs. Kransky despite his sister's objections. Rose was romancing Terry Burke I think and he had a brother Don who was married to Millie. I believe Don and Millie wanted to live a better life. There was a minor plot involving Doris Cameron, who was Rose's boss. Doris became involved with Bill Walker when her husband Frank was dying. Frank died, her daughter Carolyn arrived home, and thus a triangle developed. Carolyn wasn't introduced until after th Kransky and Burkes were written out I believe. I wonder if "The Guiding Light's" ratings fell with the absense of Rose. I find it hard to believe the show woudl scrap the Burkes if they were only keeping the Kranskys shortterm, but who knows.

About the radio soaps, there does seem to be two schools of soap on the radio: realistic dramas (Phillips & Co.) and the comical country adventures (the Hummerts mainly). The comical soaps did do well on television. NBC stuck with "Hawkins Falls" for a lengthy period time, especially for an NBC soap, and when "The Egg & I" aired, it was the most popular program on daytime television. It was only cancelled because it lacked sponsorship. Daytime even tried to recreate popular "When A Girl Marries" in the form of "Follow Your Heart". Some very successful radio writers, Jean Holloway and Carlton E. Morse, just couldn't handle the television format. From what I've read about Sandra Michael, I wish she had thrivd in the early days of television soaps.

I believe that Irna Phillips briefly penned "The Brighter Day" in the 1950s. I hope someone can clarify, but I believe she had a fight with another writer, maybe Gordon Russell, who was hinting at a reincarnation storyline involving the late Reverend's wife. I believe the peak of "The Brighter Day" was 1956 and the show as never able compete much again.

What I've read about "The Road of Life" I've really enjoyed. The Overton/Brent clan sounds deliciously dsyfunctional. I was disappointed in the performance of the actress playing the lead villainess on youtube. I wa expecting more from someone as sinster as Sybil sounded.

Roy Winsor gave a real great interview in a book called Writing for Television in the early to mid 1970s. It was after the time he had returned to "Love of Life" as he had an early projection for the return of Meg, which I think Labine & Mayer borrowed pieces of as the storyline is very similar. Roy talked about the difference between "Love of Life" and "The Secret Storm" as they tended to fail when the show didn't stick to its focus. He talkd about the show going off track with Peter's marriage to Myra Lake and how SS was about people who dealt with their inner demons where as LoL was more about good people fighting bad people. I've poorly paraphrased that and if I get a chance I'll try to find the book at the local library.

About Nixon, it hadn't dawned on me until now, but bet she was the one that created the Bergman family. I think they first appeared in December probably around the time she was wrapping up the story.

[EricMontreal22]

Really well said although I think series like Romance of Helen Trent, Stella Dallas (from the movie) and Backstage Wife I believe were also by the Hummerts but arenm't really comical country soaps but high adventure romances (like tammer Harlequin's almost) with rich men courting the heroines (Helen Trent famously opened with the lines:

"And now, The Romance of Helen Trent, the real-life drama of Helen Trent, who, when life mocks her, breaks her hopes, dashes her against the rocks of despair, fights back bravely, successfully, to prove what so many women long to prove, that because a woman is 35 or more, romance in life need not be over, that romance can begin at 35." yet she stayed that age for its whole long run). Very little comedy was present but the stories took place in far away countries, aboard trains and boats, etc--thigns that couldn't be budgeted for tv--

Ma Perkins, Just Plain Bill and others fit the sligthly comical, country soap standard you mention. Irna and other radio soaps also pioneered the current soap "tie in" thing--with often characters mentioning "a lovely brooch" that late ron housewives could mail in for (sometimes mail in tops of detergent boxes) - Irna wrote a book of GGuiding Light sermons that I think you can still buy on ebay sometimes.

Before Dark Shadows Gordon Russell was at the short lives soaps The Nurses and a Flame in the Wind as well as wrote a few Hitchcock episodes but I don't think he was ever at Brighter Day. Schemering's encyclopedia has a bit about the show--it mentions Irna after the success of Guiding Light on TV decided to bring the fairly recent radio soap Brighter Day over (it started in 48). And yeah it peaked in succes s in 1956 but according to the book was still a contender until '61 when porduction moved from New York to Hollywood and the show expanded to 30 minutes. "the show had been popular under writer John Haggart and producer Bob Steele (the Woman to Remember team), but the show began to suffer from a continual change of writers, staff and air time. Writers included such notables as Sam Hall, Eileen and Robert Pollock and Irna Phillips again."

Soon after the time slot moved to late afternoon and CBS bought the show from P&G causing more problems

[dc11786]

Sorry I did mean to say comical country/adventure soaps. Some of them seemed to mix like "Our Gal Sunday". You're right though that some were high romantic comedy. Today, we complain about the presence of mobsters and mythical kingdoms as if they were recent additions to soaps, but they have their roots in the radio serials. I think for a brief time a good number of soaps used class conflict to drive the story rather than having a heavy, but for the most part I think soaps have always been filled with gangster types.

I was referring to Sam Hall (always confuse those "Dark Shadows" writers) who had trouble working with Irna Phillips. I suspect Phillips had the supervisory position at "The Brighter Day" that she had at "Another World" when Lemay was there. My understanding though is there is a bit of controversy in the old time radio soap community whether or not Irna Phillips really created "The Brighter Day". Some believe that Orin Torov, who created "The Doctors", is the actual creator. Orin was writing "Just Plain Bill" or "Ma Perkins" and there are references to Three Rivers before "The Brighter Day" started and I believe Torov may have been an earlier writer on "The Brighter Day". Has anyone else heard anything like this?

Interesting that Russell is listed as being at "The Nurses" and "Flame in the Wind". I've seen Richard & Suzanne Holland and Ian Martin listed as the only headwriters at "The Nurses". I've only seen Don Ettlinger listed as "Flame in the Wind". I suspect Don Ettlinger came in after the revamp as Ettlinger was known for continuing the youth storylines that Ira & Jane Avery started at "The Secret Storm".

[Paul Raven]

Irna was a busy lady in the 60's.

In 64 she created Another World.She obviously wanted to prove(to herself?)that lightning could strike again.In his interview Bill Bell intimates that when the ratings were poor and the show wasn't gelling Irna quickly lost interest and was quite happy to hand it over to another writer(James Lipton) and walk away.

She consulted with ABC on the development of Peyton Place,as well as overseeing Our Private World.

There are opening and closing credits of OPW on YouTube at the moment.Would love to see an episode.It seems to have followed a daytime approach-on tape,live(?)etc.Does anyone know if production was more 'primetime'?

ATWT gets a promo in the end credits.

Irna also consulted with ABC on Flame in the Wind in 65,changing the title to A Time for Us and making story and casting changes that brought the ratings up.

Then in 67,she tried again with Love Is A Many Splendored Thing.The original story featured an interracial romance and a novitiate nun falling in love with her sister's boyfriend.CBS got nervous and wanted changes and Irna quit the show.

She then left ATWT and helped her daughter Katherine launch A World Apart on ABC.It told the story of a soap opera writer with 2 adopted children - mirroring Irna's own life.

Irna and Katherine were out by the next year(71).Does anyone know what went down?

Irna returned to ATWT in 72 and made change that saw the ratings slide and she was fired from her own show.She died in 73.

[SteveFrame]

If I have read or seen what happened on A World Apart I do not remember it.

I know that by the late 60's Irna was beginning to slip for some reason. Her last really good thing she did was the early stuff with LIAMST but it made the networks nervous. Some say A World Apart was good, but I never saw it so can't say.

She was fired from her last stint at The Guiding Light when Lucy Ferri wanted her out. And then she was fired by ATWT too.

I am not sure if she allowed personal feelings about things in life to get in the way, but I know often she made characters pay for sins they had committed with death. And in each of those times that she was fired it involved death.

Bell & Nixon didn't inherit the death part from their mentor but they did inherit the principle that a good person who did something bad must pay in some way for their redemption.

For instance Bell has said in interviews in the past that he made Bill Horton pay in many ways for raping his sister-in-law Laura on Days. First off he couldn't acknowledge his own son. Then he had to go to prison for a murder he didn't commit. Then he had to be rejected by his son who didn't even know Bill was his father. Then of course Bill had to save Mickey's life, only to turn around and believe that Mickey was dead and he had lost him forever. After all that he put her through, fans were able to accept Bill & Laura together.

He also said that when Jennifer Brooks was proven to be an adulterer on Y&R, the letters were very angry toward her. So he did the cancer story in which he planned to kill her to restore sympathy for the character. It worked.

[EricMontreal22]

"She consulted with ABC on the development of Peyton Place,as well as overseeing Our Private World.

There are opening and closing credits of OPW on YouTube at the moment.Would love to see an episode.It seems to have followed a daytime approach-on tape,live(?)etc.Does anyone know if production was more 'primetime'?"

Bill Bell is in those credits too.

According to a few people who've seen it (I haven't yet) the show is *awful*. They did nothing to try to make it look more primetime--unlike the high production values of Peyton Place.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Didn't Irna have a secretary that would write down dialogue and scenes that Irna verbally said?

She must have had some interesting stories of working closely with Irna...

[SteveFrame]

She and Bill Bell created OPW together. They were the co-Headwriters for ATWT at the time and had created Lisa together. so they both continued to write the primetime spinoff together.

I have never seen the show. My mother watched every episode and said it was awful. She said Peyton Place was by far the superior show.

[SteveFrame]

She and Bill Bell created OPW together. They were the co-Headwriters for ATWT at the time and had created Lisa together. so they both continued to write the primetime spinoff together.

I have never seen the show. My mother watched every episode and said it was awful. She said Peyton Place was by far the superior show.

She and Bill Bell created OPW together. They were the co-Headwriters for ATWT at the time and had created Lisa together. so they both continued to write the primetime spinoff together.

I have never seen the show. My mother watched every episode and said it was awful. She said Peyton Place was by far the superior show.

[detroitpiston]

I know this is semi off topic, but can somebody tell me a bit more about "Our Private World". The only thing I know is that Eileen Fulton was starring in it.

[Paul Raven]

Our Private World aired on CBS May -Sept 65 Wed @9.30 and Fri @ 9.00

It was seen as CBS response to Peyton Place,which has great success on ABC and aired new episodes during summer rerun time.

It spun off Lisa,who left Oakdale(seen boarding a train to Chicago on Fridays ATWT)and moving to Chicago,where she found a a job in the admitting room of a hospital.The two major stories on the short run of the show dealt with her worklife at the hospital and her association with the Eldridges,a socially prominent and weallthy Lake Forest family.

Apparently,the Eldridges took over the show,leaving Lisa without much involvement.

When the show was dropped,Fulton returned to ATWT to wrap up Lisa's story before leaving the show until 67.

The cast included Geraldine Fitzgerald(40's movie star)Nicolas Coster(veteran of many soaps)Sam Groom(later to become Russ Matthews on AW) and Julienne Marie,Robert Drivas,Sandra Smith,David O'Brien(best known as Steve on The Doctors).

Various cast lists suggest that some ATWT players made appearances.

It does seem a half hearted attempt on CBS behalf.I wonder what the behind the scenes story was.

Perhaps Eileen Fulton talks about it in one of her books.

[YRBB]

Well, I have one episode of OUR PRIVATE WORLD and I must say that it wasn't bad at all, but it had no exciting-ness in it.The dialogue, acting and directing wasn't bad, but having seen just a couple of eps of PEYTON PLACE, I can see why the show didn't gel. I ended up being far more interested in the credits than the stuff on screen.

[EricMontreal22]

I wish Chris was here--he's been away a few days--he was the one who told me the spin off was awful. I think if it was a daytime soap it woulda been FINE--but from the half ep I've seen, they didn't even try to make it look prime time--I bet the network had zero faith in it--and the writing doesn;'t feel like it either