This is Nora Drake 1950

Lovely  Nora Drake is a nurse in Page Memorial Hospital. Anytown, USA Zealously devoted to her work. Her pursuit of her own personal happiness runs a poor second to her  career—which makes tough on the men who fall m love with her. Charles Dobbs, a young lawyer, loves her desperately and hopes some day to many her. Attractive and successful has the common sense and keen judgment of people that Nora-the idealist and champion of the underdog—frequently lucks, Charles has an ill-starred brother George who has changed his last name to Stewart in order not to blacken the Dobbs name. Brilliant but weak George constantly involved i n shady enterprises, the latest of which is forgery, for which he is wanted by the police His wife Dorothy, whom he adores, has stayed with him through all his other deals but for her this is the last straw, and she leaves him.

Charles Dobb, who loves Nora Drake. enters his office one night is shocked to see his brother George , who is wanted by the police.

"Why don't you have me arrested?' taunts George.

Charles finds he can't do that. He takes George-ill physically and mentally to a restaurant and gives him twenty dollars for decent food and lodging. He learns George only lives for his wife's return to him.

Later that evening, Charles tells Nora about it. and they go to George's wife Dorothy. She's packing to fly South with a wealthy suitor and scorns the idea of returning to George.  A huge corsage of orchids arrive, which Dorothy thinks are from her new beau. Discovering they're from George (who has spent the whole $20 on them!) she won't accept them and hands them to Charles.

Charles leaves to go back to his brother. Nora tries in vain to persuade Dorothy that she still loves George. At the airport, Dorothy is belatedly touched by George's corsage.  Nora goes to George's shabby furnished room, finds turn quite ill, and hasn't the heart to tell him that Dorothy has left for Florida. George guesses as much, believes that she has left him forever.

Dorothy suddenly enters and goes lovingly to her husband. George, strengthened by her devotion, decides to stand trial.

Joan Tompkins is Nora Drake

Elspeth Eric is Dorothy Stewart

Grant Richards is Charles, Dobbs

Leon Janney is George Stewart

Milton Lewis, Writer

Charles Irving Director

Portia Faces Life                      CBS: Oct 7, 1940 to April 25,1941. (29 Weeks)  
                                                         NBC: April 28 1941 to March 31, 1944. (153 Weeks)  
                                                 CBS: April 3, 1944 to September 29, 1944.  (22 Weeks) 
                                                         NBC: October 2, 1944 to June 29, 1951.  (352 Weeks)  

HERE ARE THE PLOT AND CHARACTERS, UP TO DATE, FOR THOSE WHO CAME IN LATE

1943

A soap opera that outdoes its sisters, in the realm of feminine drama, is achieving something of a record. "Portia Faces Life" might be said to do that, in presenting an heroine who has to meet not only the private heartaches (as reported by fiction writers) of a mother and a woman in love-but also the public problems of a criminal lawyer by profession.

In general, Portia Blake's name and character are patterned after Shakespeare's lawyer -heroine in "The Merchant of Venice." Like her, the 20th Century Portia wants to temper justice with mercy, but radio listeners are probably more enthralled by her struggles to keep both her sweetheart and her child than by her tense courtroom battles to save people from injustice. Unlike her Shakespearean counterpart, author Mona Kent's Portia now has a war to contend with, and her current trials are bound up with Nazi spies and saboteurs.

Prior to this, however, she has had many personal problems which latecomers to her audience should know about, to understand the characters who play a prominent part in her story.

First of all, there was the unhappy marriage of Walter Manning, her fiance. Society girl Arline Harrison had forced him to marry her, through his belief that this was the only way to save her life, but she had soon realized that he was ill in love with Portia. She attempted to "frame" the woman lawyer, was saved from the consequences of her plot only by Portia's own legal skill, and finally divorced the husband who didn't love her.

Meanwhile, Walter had gone to Europe as a foreign correspondent, and Portia threw herself into slum clearance work in Parkerstown. There she found a loyal friend in Miss Daisy, whom she took into her own home as nurse for Dickie Blake, her son by a former marriage. Unluckily, she also crossed the path of the town's corrupt "leading citizen," John Parker, who tried to pin a murder on the fighting young lawyer, in order to get rid of her. Although Portia managed to prove her innocence, the trial gave Mrs. Amelia Blake, her mother-in-law, a new excuse for trying to take Dickie away from her.

In Europe, Walter was imprisoned in the dreaded concentration camp at Dachau while his Nazi double, Nicholas Veit, came to America to impersonate him. Veit tried to marry Portia, so no one would suspect his true missionsabotage-but she stumbled upon the real truth and began collecting evidence to prove his subversive activities. That is the situation leading up to the more recent episodes...

PORTIA BLAKE (played by Lucille Wall), the lawyer heroine of 'Portia Faces Life," is defending her fiance, Walter Manning, against a charge of treason. She alone knows that he is being tried for the crimes of a Nazi agent who had impersonated him. Walter had killed the impostor, in order to save Portia'i life-but, in the absence of the body as evidence, Portia has been unable to prove, even to his friends, that any double ever existed.

WALTER MANNING (Bartlett Robinson)-a newspaper man and foreign correspondent-returned from Europe to discover that his place hadbeen taken by a German spy who looked exactly like him. Portia alone believes that "Walter Manning" has really beentwo different people-and he is now being tried for treason onthe very evidence she herself had collected against his double.

ARLINE HARRISON (Nancy Douglas), vivacious but spoiled society belle, uses tank tactics to get what she wants. She wanted Walter, and once snared him-only to lose him. Determined that Portia shall not have him, no matter what else happens, she gave perjured testimony at his trial which might have convicted him of treason, but for Portia'r brilliant cross-examination.

MISS DAISY (Doris Rich) is devoted to Portia and hasstood by her through trial and mistrial.She lives with her, taking care of Dirkie. and acting as combined companion, nurse and housekeeper. She has been a bufferfor them both, through one disaster after another, and is oneof the few people on whose help the busy lawyer can rely.

AMELIA BLAKE (Ethel lntropidi), mother of the widowed Portia's former husband, has long had a hidden but grim determination to take Portia's son, Dickie, away from her. Using both her frail health and her immense wealth as weapons in the unequal struggle, she has tried to win the youngster's affection away from his busy mother, while Portia was practicing law to support him.

BILL BAKER (Les Damon), ex -newspaper man now a captain in Army Intelligence, was once Walter's closest friend but is now his bitter enemy. Believing that Walter is guilty and that Nazi threats had been able to persuade him to shed his democratic principles rather than his skin. Bill is helping the District Attorney with the prosecution. He wants to save Portia, whom he loves devotedly, from a miserable life with a cowardly "traitor.

ELBERT GALLO (Karl Swenson), long respected as a well-to-do publisher, was really the ringleader of a crew of Nazi saboteurs, exposed by Portia's investigation. Although Gallo knows that the false Walter is dead, he has resolved to drag the real Walter down into disgrace and a traitor's death with him, as a final revenge.

KATHY MARSH (Selena Boyle) is a real friend of Portia', but, as a busy dietitian, plays rather a minor role in the lawyer's professional life. Her wholesome common sense has often been a personal comfort to Portia-and Portia is going to have need of all her friends in the next developments which she faces in the story of her dramatic life, according to present plans

Thanks for that rundown @Paul Raven

You or @dc11786 may know more than I do about whether these episodes are already available, but a slew of Backstage Wife episodes have been put on Archive.

Ron Bowser-John Dunning Project - Mary Noble, Backstage Wife : Ron Bowser-John Dunning Project : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Five Road of Life episodes. I'm not sure if these are already around. It's hard to figure out (I finally found all the Stepmother episodes elsewhere).

Ron Bowser-John Dunning Project - Road of Life : Ron Bowser-John Dunning Project : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

On 10/21/2025 at 1:28 AM, Paul Raven said:

@Reverend Ruthledge Thank so much for this.

I have read about the early years of TGL but this is at another level with a lot of new details that flesh out the story.

The amazing thing is , that with a few tweaks, the story could be airing now.

A rebooted Guiding Light recreating these plots, set in a multi cultural inner urban area would a great contrast to BTG. Go on CBS, do it!

The Right to Happiness spin off which moved Rose Kransky to the new show debuted Oct 39.

The Doris Cameron character was introduced to prepare viewers for the spin off.

Many pages back we wondered how the Kranskys seem to move from Five Points and your summary explains Mrs Kransky selling her store and moving to Garden Heights.

I'm going to have to re read this and maybe make a cast list.

Hope you have more!!

 I'm currently up to a February, 1940 script and Rev. Rutledge is visiting Mrs. Kransky in Garden Heights. The Kranskys haven't been in the TGL story for a while. Maybe an odd episode here or there with Rose or the Cunninghams. I'm not sure if the Cumminghams were on Right to Happiness. Anyway, it's basically just an expository episode. Garden Heights is established to be five miles away from Five Points. Mrs. Kransky is catching Rev. Rutlhledge up with what, I guess, was going on on RtH. Mrs. Kransky is apparently managing an apartment building and the Burkes (Terry, his dad, his siblings Donny and Kathie and his Aunt Emily) are tenants. Mrs. Kransky talks about how she hopes something will happen with Terry and Rose but she fears that Rose will never love anybody other than Charles. It seems like the Kranskys are already starting to come back into GL. There was talk of something that I know soon turns into a TGL Charles/Rose storyline. It doesn't seem like the Kranskys stayed around RtH very long at all. The Burkes might have left RtH when the Kranskys left and the show became all about Doris and her daughter. 

Some excerpts from The Barbour Family 'Memory Book' from One Man's Family.

HENRY BARBOUR, born 1875. Married 1896. Father of Paul, Hazel, Clifford, Claudia, Jack. Founded the Henry Barbour Stock Brokerage House, 1912. With Henry - and partly from him - I learned what an important and stabilizing thing a family can be in this fast changing world. As he once said: "If we, by example, can in some small way further the desire in America for family tradition and family loyalty, we will have served a worthy purpose."

CLAUDIA BARBOUR, born August 1, 1912. Married on May 6, 1931 to John Roberts, Jr. (Deceased 1933). Daughter Joan born May 3, 1933. Claudia married Captain Nicholas Lacey, Bart., June 24, 1935. Divides her time between their home in San Francisco and the Sky Ranch, which Nicky bought in 1935.

PAUL BARBOUR, born June 4, 1897. Married June 1918 to Elaine Hunter (Deceased July 1918). Much of Paul's time away from the flying field is spent being a good father to Teddy, whom he adopted in the Summer of 1933.

CLIFFORD BARBOUR, born August 1, 1912. Twin brother of Claudia. Married Sept. 19, 1937 to Ann Waite (Deceased 1938). "J.D." born Oct. 16, 1938. Clifford entered his father's business August 10, 1934. When Clifford was in bed with a broken ankle last Spring, he said: "It's a good idea for people to be sick once is a while. It gives them a chance to slow down, and kind of get acquainted with their families." That's what gave me the idea of making this book - as a way of getting acquainted with some of the things about my family I had forgotten.

HAZEL BARBOUR, born March 11, 1900. Married William Herbert, May 7, 1932. Twin children Martin Henry ("Hank") and William Barbour ("Pinky") born January 30, 1933. Daughter Margaret born Aug. 2, 1936. When Hazel was a little girl. Father Barbour used to say: "Hmph! Won't that child ever be anything but all legs?" Now he admits she's one of the most gracious and courageous mothers he has ever known. Hazel herself says: "Naturally my chief interest is making a wellrounded home for Hank and Pink and Margaret. Beyond that I ask very little... simplicity, a little pleasure and a great deal of pleasant contact with the family."

JACK BARBOUR, born January 13, 1917. Married Betty Carter, Deo. 18, 1936. Jack says: "Betty's the swellest wife a guy could have" - and Betty says: "Being married to Jack is more fun than I ever had in all my life." Jack and Betty have been married over three years now - and I've learned this from both of them: that when young people of the newer generation decide to marry, they try with everything that's in them to make their relationship solid and honest. They seem to see in marriage and a home not only something pleasant and exciting in itself - but one of the few sure, stable institutions that are left them in this changing and uncertain world. Claudia says: "Betty's a pretty wise young wife... When she calls Jack 'My great big wonderful man' he does ex¬ actly as she wants him to. Even Jack admits: 'The reason Betty and I get on so well is she goes her way - and I go with her' ."

NICHOLAS LACEY, born London, England, Oct. 6, 1907. Husband of Claudia, and' father of Penelope. Nicholas deserves a full page in this book. ..because I have learned from him that a son-in-law can be so generous and considerate, so open-hearted, that he wins his way into the heart of the family. As Nicky himself says: "Joining a new family's like reading a good book - with something new and interesting on every page." Nicky married Claudia June 24, 1935, at our home in Sea Cliff, with Clifford as best man. When Nicky went to get the license, they asked him if he was looking for a hunting license and he said: "No, the hunting is over. I want a license to marry the girl I've found."

In the Summer of 1935, Nicky bought the Sky Ranch where he raises thoroughbred horses, and where he and Claudia and the children spend their Summers and a lot of weekends. Here is a snapshot of Claudia beside the swimming pool they built last Summer. The whole ranch covers 400 acres - and much of it is woodland.

FANNY BARBOUR, born 1878, married 1896. Voted by the Barbours the most loving, tolerant, and kindly mother that they ever had. Knowing her generous nature, perhaps the best we children could wish for her is what she wished for herself - when she said, just a little while ago: "All I ask or hope for the years ahead is a repetition of all the good years that lie behind me. I have your father and I have you children. What more could any woman ask? I will find strength in Hazel's strength, anticipation in Claudia and Nicky's anticipation, and pleasure in Clifford's pleasure. I will find food for thought in Paul's reflective nature, and I will find youth and the excitement of being alive in Jack and Betty's new found happiness. Mine will be a future running over with good things. "

Thanks @Paul Raven for all those details.

I saw a post on Facebook reminding that the last major radio soaps ended in the US yesterday, 65 years ago.

Still such a short-sighted loss...

8 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks @Paul Raven for all those details.

I saw a post on Facebook reminding that the last major radio soaps ended in the US yesterday, 65 years ago.

Still such a short-sighted loss...

It would have been interesting had they stuck around into the 60's and survived.