Radio Soap Opera Discussion

[Reverend Ruthledge]

I'm not sure if Ned was played by Ed Prentiss at that point. 

Jonathan got a job in Los Angeles. He would come back to Chicago periodically and on one of these visits, after Tim had died, he asked Clare to marry him and she went off to Los Angeles with him. They didn't stay in the story long. They were gone before a year of the new story. It was said that Jonathan and Clare moved away for another job. I think Irna was really trying to find her way with the story until she settled on the Bauers. The transition characters from the old show (Jonathan, Clare, Ned) were quickly forgotten to focus on Ray's family and then they were quickly forgotten when the focus became the Bauers. But then she settled on them and they became the focus for the next few decades. And every time Irna changed the focus of the show, there would be a new minister. Reverend Keeler replaced Charles Matthews when the focus was switched to the Bauers. 

You are right that by 1944, the old story was largely forgotten. The focus became mostly on Clare Marshall and those in her orbit. Some of the old characters stayed around to varying degrees (Mrs. Kransky, Mrs. O'Hearn, Pete Manno, perhaps a few others). However, they only came on occasionally. Perhaps Ned and Mary were on the show that late although I don't have any episodes with them. I have a lot of gaps from that time period. It seems the focus of the show was less on Five Points and more on Chicago (Five Points was a suburb of Chicago). I think the years of 1943-1946 were good but also what I consider a weak point of the series. It was the transition period from the original show to what it would become with "The New Guiding Light". It was kind of all over the place. Rose, Ellis, Torchy and a most of the original characters seem to have stopped around 1943 when that transition time began. I'm not sure how it was handled. It will take me a while to get to that time period. I have very little from around that time period so it will take me a while to get to those answers on how that particular transition was handled. I have more answers on how the transition to "The New Guiding Light" was handled. 

The last name was just coincidence. They weren't related. 

With two cancellations, probably a lot of struggle with the suits, and struggling with ratings, I think Irna was just trying out different things to find the right formula. Even though I'm a huge fan of the Bauer family saga, the first five years of the show are my personal favorite. Although I can see why it might have struggled in the ratings. It was more a philosophical show, like another favorite of mine Against the Storm, and it wasn't probably the crowd-pleaser that shows like Ma Perkins were. It was not the plot-heavy, Perils of Pauline type of radio soap opera that so many women seemed to like at that time. Even during the time that the show was focused mostly on one woman (Clare Marshall), it was still slow-moving, thought provoking and character-driven. 

[dc11786]

I've listened to a few more episodes of "Radio Playhouse."

Most noteable revelations:

In "Face of Love," there was a rather shocking revelation; Kate's late husband Tom Wakefield had been left impotent from his drug addiction. The reveal acts as a sorta ABC Afterschool Special as Kate drops this tidbit to her 19-year-old niece, Nancy. In addition, I think it sets up Kate as a virgin even though she was married, which might be a way of explaining Kate's relationship with Tony Cushing. Kate doesn't seem ready to commit to Tony and cannot seem to fully connect with David. 

In "To Have and To Hold," I had missed completely that Richard and Suzanne Holland had departed the series, most likely to commit to "General Hospital." The Hollands used script writers so I just assumed Dornheim was handling the scripts, but the Hollands haven't been credited for a bit. I jumped ahead and in February, Mary Dornheim is still the only writer listed and Michael Storm has replaced Bill Redfield as Marsh. I cannot imagine Bert and Dr. Larry Wolek as a couple, but I am excited to see it play out. 

In another surprise casting, something I had suspected (due to her distinct voice) was true: Morgan Fairchild is appearing as Ann, Caroline's daughter by her first daughter. This pre-dates her appearance as the lead on "Face of Love." I'll be curious to see if Ann sticks around with Fairchild in the part because Ann has been introduced as a possible spoiler to the Kurt / Lynn romance. It is also clarified that River Run, the family home, belongs to Caroline and Ann as Caroline's late husband was a succesfful businessman. This is an interesting development that has slowly unfolded over the course of the last few episodes, though I suspect it might be a rewrite by Dornheim. Either way, I don't hate it. 

It's a shame these didn't continue for a few years. I would love to have as many episodes as CBS Radio Mystery Theatre has from this same period of time. 

[DRW50]

@dc11786 Thanks. Always enjoy reading these updates. And yes, the idea of Michael Storm and Charita Bauer as partners is a jolt.

[Paul Raven]

@Reverend Ruthledge Belated thanks for TGL update. Interesting that Irna was prepared to make sweeping changes in the radio format but then kept the Bauers for years. I think her approach to TV soaps differed from radio. Maybe she felt TV viewers were more attached to the characters.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

You're welcome, Paul. As I always say, it's a pleasure to be able to share my knowledge with the other five people in the world who care about the subject of soaps' golden years. 

[vetsoapfan]

ROTF!

And it's a pleasure to be one of those five people!

Knowing I am not alone in my obsession is a relief!

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[Paul Raven]

The Guiding Light
Tuesday, January 10, 1950
Music: under
Announcer: This evening in the living room of a little house with a white
picket fence on Elm Street in Selby Flats, the fireplace is ablaze with
flame, but somehow it seems cold and cheerless to you, doesn't it Ray
Brandon? You sit with your tightly clenched hands pressed against your
forehead—your thoughts are of Charlotte in a hospital where she has
been confined because of her attempt to find forgetfulness, escape, in the
twilight world of barbiturates, sleeping pills . . . It's unbelievable, isn't it,
Ray, what's happened to Charlotte . . . and what's happened to you.
You're forced at this moment to recall the words of Dr. Mary Leland. . . .
Music: up and under
Mary: (overfilter) Now of all times, Ray, you must give Charlotte all the
understanding she needs and deserves. Ray, you've got to straighten out
your own thinking a little before you can even begin to help Charlotte find
her way back.
Music: up and under
Ray: Apparently Mary feels that my thinking needs not just a little but a
great deal of straightening out. She wouldn't even permit me to see
Charlotte today. Somehow I got the idea that Charlotte must have made it
very clear that she didn't want to see me.
Mary: (filter) She's going thru mental and physical torment, Ray.
Ray: And so am I, so am I. But I've got to stop thinking of myself now.
I've got to think as straight and as clearly as I ever have in my life.
Music: up and out
Announcer: But will you be capable, Ray, of seeing the past thru anything
but a haze of bitterness? Will you be capable even now? We'll learn more
about this shortly.
Music: out

Music: up and under
Char: (echo) Sure, I know we've lost our way—we're kind of feeling our
way thru the darkness. I'm trying so hard to see a light, just a faint glimmer
of—well, a guiding light. But there's something you haven't said for
a long time—the only thing that can put us on the right road again. You
know what I'm talking about, don't you, Ray?
Ray: (echo) No, Charlotte—I don't.
Char: (echo) Love. You haven't said "I—I still love you."
Music: up and under
Announcer: You didn't say it even then, Ray. No, you and Charlotte kept
living under the same roof, a man and wife—but strangers to each other.
No wonder Dr. Mary Leland spoke to you as she did.
Mary: (overfilter) What have you done to that girl—crucified her. You've
done a very cruel thing, Ray. And now you wonder why she's shut you
out of her life.
Music: sting it
Char: (filter) You can't take love, a woman's feelings, Ray, tear them apart
like you would a piece of cloth and try to put the pieces together again.
The pieces never fit quite the same.
Music: up and under
Announcer: Yes, it's no wonder, Ray Brandon, that your wife rejected your
half-hearted protestations of love when they finally did come. Actions
speak louder than words, Ray, and the tenderness was missing, wasn't it?
And then, when Charlotte's nervous system had given way, when you
remained blind to the fact that she was finding escape in self-medication,
how else did you think she'd react to your magnanimous suggestions that
you return to this house?
Music: sting it
Char: (filter) (violently) I said forget it, Ray. I don't care what you do with
the house in Selby Flats. I don't want any part of it, not any part of it!
Music: up and under

Announcer: And now she's lying in a hospital after you forced her to
return to this house, this wife who stood by you thru that difficult period
in your life when you fought to clear yourself of a crime you didn't commit,
a prison sentence you didn't deserve, a battle to build a legal career
for yourself, a wife who believed in you, gave you encouragement, loved
you with every fibre of her being, a wife who was ready to forgive you
anything, everything, as long as you loved her. Do you wonder, Ray, why
the words of Dr. Mary Leland and the words of Sid Harper, a man who
really understands Charlotte, keep pounding in your brain?
Music: building under—rapid tempo
Sid: (filter) When there was no longer a child in your home Charlotte
needed you more than during your whole married life together. And what
did you do—you turned your back on her.
Mary: (filter) You've crucified that girl, Ray.
Sid: (filter) You're a stupid fool, Brandon.
Mary: (filter) You've rejected her as a woman.
Sid: (filter) Stupid fool.
Mary: (filter) She's lost complete confidence.
Sid: (filter) Fool. . . .
Mary: (filter) You've been cruel . . .
Sid: (filter) You fool, you stupid fool.
Music: up in payoff
Ray: (on mike) (brokenly) I have been to blame—it has been my fault. A
chance—yes . . .I've got to have another chance to make everything right
again.
Music: up into bridge
Announcer: (tease) Meta Bauer learns of Charlotte's hospitalization in the
next dramatic episode of The GuidingLight brought to you by the New Duz