Radio Soap Opera Discussion

[Paul Raven]

A Portia Faces Life update as of 1943

A aoap 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 late - come -s 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 till 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 mission sabotage-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, as described on the following pages, together with portraits of the players who enact the principal characters.

 

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's 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 had been taken by a German spy who looked exactly like him. Portia alone believes that "Walter Manning" has really been two different people-and he is now being tried for treason on the 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 has stood by her through trial and mistrial. She lives with her, taking care of Dickie. and acting as combined companion, nurse and housekeeper. She has been a buffer for them both, through one disaster after another, and is one of 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 Royle) 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.

 

 

[Paul Raven]

Pretty Kitty Kelly was an adventure story running from 1937 through 1940

 

One of the newest and most charming heroines of the air waves is Kitty Kelly, who has "landed in New York" via Frank Dahm's vivid script story, "Pretty Kitty Kelly." The tale of the beautiful Irish girl is heard five mornings a week, Monday through Friday, at 8:30 a. m., over WOW. Kitty Kelly, played by lovely Arline Blackburn, is involved in many an exciting situation as her dramatic story unfolds. Among the adventures and romantic interludes which she encounters are a mysterious murder ... a handsome young man who loves her ... contact with the underworld characters in a great city ... a jewel robbery. The tense situations are brought about mainly because Kitty, upon landing in New York, is stricken with amnesia.

Her loss of memory, coupled with her exploitation by gangsters and an English solicitor and countess, make this new story extremely interesting. Who is Kitty Kelly? How will she disentangle herself from the web that is being spun around her? Only the script author knows -and he's not telling! Frank Dahm, the author of this delightful serial, says that "Pretty Kitty Kelly" was born of a "chance inspiration." Chance, a trip to New York and an Irish mother -in -law were the ingredients which started this mystery melodrama on its course. You see, up until a few months ago, Mr. Dahm lived in or near Chicago. New York was just a name to him. Then he decided to visit the big city and find out what all the shouting was about. The writer was dazzled, and out of that bewilderment Kitty Kelly was born. Upon his return to Chicago, he went to tea with his Irish mother -in- law. Their discussion brought out facts about the Irish people . . . their temperament, habits and very considerable and inimitable charm. Something happened in Dahm's head. His young and lovely heroine . . . the one who was to see New York for the first time and marvel at its many wonders . . . would be an Irish girl just over from the old country. Yes, he had it! And now you hear it over WOW.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Paul Raven

[jam6242]

The Library of Congress added a 1945 episode of The Guiding Light to its National Recording Registry.

 

The Guiding Light (Nov. 22, 1945)
The Guiding Light was the longest-running scripted program in broadcast history, running from 1937 until 2009 on radio and television. The program was notable as an archetype of the highly populated radio "soap opera" genre and as a breakthrough success of the innovative and prolific scriptwriter, Irna Phillips, whom many credit with inventing the genre. Although the later TV series revolved around the Bauer family, the original radio version focused on the Rev. John Ruthledge and his congregation in the fictional community of Five Points. Ruthledge's reading lamp, visible to all who passed his house, was the program's namesake. Of the show's hundreds of episodes, the registry adds this installment aired on the first Thanksgiving after the conclusion of World War II. With Ruthledge still serving overseas as a chaplain, his friend, the Rev. Dr. Frank Tuttle, gives a moving sermon to a packed church.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-from-janet-jackson-connie-smith-nas-jimmy-cliff-enter-national-recording-registry

[slick jones]

JOYCE JORDAN, GIRL INTERNE

 

The following characters and actors started out on JOYCE JORDAN and spun off into THE BRIGHTER DAY.......

 

Liz Dennis      Margaret Draper    Joyce Jordan's patient

 

Reverend Richard Dennis     Bill Smith   father of Marcia, Althea,  Liz,  Grayling, Patsy, and Babby.

 

Grayling Dennis    Billy Redfield

 

Althea Dennis     Jay Meredith

 

Margaret (Patsy) Dennis   Judith Lodiser

 

Barbara (Babby) Dennis    Pat Hosley

[Paul Raven]

In 1938, Irna Phillips decided to wrap up her still successful 'Today's Children' and replace it with 'Woman in White'

 

"WOMAN IN WHITE" MAKES ITS BOW AS "TODAY'S CHILDREN" BIDS FAREWELL -.MONDAY

Friends of `Today's Children,'  for over five and a half years you have been like neighbors to my family and to friends of my family. You have seen these `Today's Children' work out their problems, one by one, problems that sometimes were difficult. But somehow, in some way, these children of mine now seem to be on the right path. They are happy and content, they are grown up and able to face their own problems."

 

With these exact words, "Today's Children's" "Mother Moran" asks a long and faithful audience to listen to "Woman in White." Listeners who tune in "Today's Children" Monday will hear the characters of that serial in their final broadcast, as they become members of the great audience "out there." Following the click of a sound -effects radio - switch, engineers will plug into another studio, introducing "Woman in White," a new daily script show by the same author, Irna Phillips. Everyone who listens and works behind the scenes in radio will wonder why "Today's Children" is being taken off the air when it enjoys top popularity rating among daytime serial programs. The simple, homey words of "Mother Moran" are the answer.

 

The new serial, "Woman in White," which dramatizes the gripping story of a young graduate nurse, "Karen Adams," will serve a real human need, as "Today's Children,' has filled an important broadcasting spot for five years.

Playing the title role of "Karen Adams" in "Woman in White," will be talented Actress Luise Barclay; "Betty Adams," a sister of "Karen" and herself a student nurse, will be portrayed by youthful Antonia Gillman; "John Adams," a brother, will be played by Willard Farnum; "Dr. Lee Markham" will be acted by Macdonald Carey, and "Alice Day," nurse, will be portrayed by Ruth Bailey.

 

As the curtain rises on "Woman in White" Monday, tuners -in will hear "Karen Adams" giving her oath and pledge of service at a ceremony being held at a hospital for graduate nurses. Listeners will sympathize with Nurse Adams as she cares for her first case, they'll cheer her service of self as she nurses a middle-aged woman, defeated in her suicide attempt, back to health and adjusts her attitude toward life. Presenting a series of actual cases from which the author bases her script material, "Woman in White" writes finis to Miss Phillips' career as an actress -for she played two important roles in "Today's Children." It also marks the first time in radio that an author and sponsor have invented this novel and effective means of signing off one successful venture to inaugurate a new one. Listeners will have the opportunity of being the critics in this rather revolutionary move.

[slick jones]

Interview with Joel Aldred, Guiding Light Announcer among other shows

[danfling]

Karen Adams was later the name of a character on As the World Turns, also written by Irna Phillips.    Karen was a nurse who was in love with Michael Shea.  She thought that he was going to ask her to marry him, but when he asked her to be the nurse for her son Chuckie, she was crushed.

[Paul Raven]

I know throughout the years there have been characters with the same names, but I wonder if particular writers have re-used names as this example from Irna?

Karen Adams being a fairly nondescript name, perhaps it was just coincidence or a little in joke that amused Irna.

[Joseph]

Hey that must've been fun, I've been long curious about Stella Dallas, The Romance of Helen Trent, Painted Dreams, etc, must have been a real piece of work keep the audiences just with sound

[Paul Raven]

Heplmate is pretty much forgotten but it was the just the beginning  for the Hursleys.

http://otrbuffet.blogspot.com/2010/12/serial-called-helpmates.html

Edited September 7, 2021 by Paul Raven

[Joseph]

I was wondering about House of Glass, must have been interesting, The protagonist sounds like a Bea Arthur Character!

Does anyone know if is there surviving parts of Portia Faces Life

[Paul Raven]

The Road of Life 1942 happenings

JAMES BRENT, M.D., has never lost the high ideals of service with which he entered the study of medicine, but he has learned that fulfilling them in practice isn't as easy as discussing them in theory. Jim's brilliant work as an intern at City Hospital brought him to the post of surgical assistant to Dr. Reginald Parsons, Chief of Staff. Then his career suffered a temporary setback when he was shot through the hand in a quarrel with his brother. Thinking his injury was permanent, he went to Pine Cone Ridge, where he met Dr. Thompson and Sylvia Bertram, who were instrumental in curing his obsession that he would never operate again. Eventually he returned to City Hospital to become Parsons' successor as Chief. Jim once planned to marry Mary Holt, but they were unsuited to each other. Later he was engaged to Carol Evans, and although they quarreled and broke the engagement, they are still deeply in love. (Played by Ken Griffin)

DR. REGINALD PARSONS, former Chief of Staff at City Hospital, is a proud, arrogant man. It was this arrogance that led to his resignation from the hospital. Parsons, years ago, was the husband of Helen Gowan. Later, he married Sylvia Bertram, but that marriage, too, ended in divorce. He is a brilliant surgeon but in any crisis it always happens that he is his own worst enemy. It was his jealousy of Dr. Brent which lost him his position as Chief of City Hospital. After Jim's return to the hospital, when Parsons was proved wrong in his prophecy that Jim's hand was permanently injured, the relations between the two were never quite as friendly as before, and slowly grew worse until Parsons took issue with Jim on a matter of hospital policy, was defeated by the governing board, and resigned, leaving the post of chief of staff open for Jim. He is now only a wreck of his former self since he has permitted his innate craving for liquor to get the better of hint. (Played by Reese Taylor)

CLAUDIA WILSON was brought to City Hospital suffering from a ruptured appendix. From the very first there were puzzling aspects to her case, and Dr. Brent and Doc Thompson became suspicious of her aunt and uncle, her only relatives. When Claudia showed, during convalescence, no desire to leave the hospital, Jim lost no time in investigating, and discovered that she was a wealthy girl whose parents had been killed eight years before. Since then she had been kept . in strictest seclusion by her aunt and uncle, while they squandered her money. As a result of her treatment, Claudia has become timid and mentally immature. Thus Dr. Jim's problem of bringing her back to health is partly a psychological one. (Played by Sarajane Wells)

SYLVIA BERTRAM  -cold, calculating, with a subtle and clever mind -is day supervisor of nurses on the third floor at City Hospital. She first entered Jim Brent's life when he fled to Pine Cone Ridge, convinced that he would never operate again. She chose to marry Dr. Parsons because she thought he would be more successful than Dr. Brent. But this union was terminated by divorce. Since then, Sylvia has worked at City Hospital, devoting herself to attempts to dominate Dr. Brent. It was she who per- suaded Jim to pursue the dispute which led to Dr. Parsons' resignation. If Sylvia had her way she would destroy all of Jim's fine humanity and send him ruthlessly on his way to the top of his profession. Unfortunately for her, Jim is not always easily led away from what he knows is right. (Played by Lois Zarley)

HELEN GOWAN STEPHENSON was a nurse in City Hospital when Dr. Brent interned there. She has had a tragic life. Her first mariage, to Dr. Parsons, ended in divorce after the birth of a son whom Parsons turned over to friends, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Stephenson, to raise, refusing to tell Helen where the baby was. It was only when the boy was brought to City Hospital as a patient that Helen saw him again. Later, Mrs. Stephenson having died, she married Tom and they were ideally happy until his death in a motor accident. Now Helen. lives entirely for the boy, although he refuses to recognize her as his mother. She is constantly sending gifts to him at his school. (Played by Muriel Bremner)

CAROL EVANS first met Dr. Jim Brent through her brother Bill, also a doctor. She was then the wife of Sam Martin, whom she had never loved. As Carol's feeling for Jim grew stronger she realized that a divorce was the only solution. After this divorce she resumed her maiden name. Most of her life Carol has been used to wealth and luxury, but they have fostered her naturally sweet disposition and now, a mature woman, she is more interested in seeing Jim keep his ideals than win worldly success. This, more than mere jealousy, is why she so bitterly resents Sylvia Bertram 's efforts to advise Jim. (Played by Louise Fitch)

SALLY BARNETT, night super- visor of nurses on the third floor of City Hospital, is as unlike her daytime colleague, Sylvia Bertram, as possible. She's gay, friendly and forthright in all her dealings with others. Naturally, she is very popular and everyone, from doctors to other nurses, likes to drop in and chat with her when she's on duty. It's never been any secret that Sally's feelings for Doc Thompson went deeper than mere friendship, and everyone was glad when he overcame his shyness and proposed. Now that they're married, they should make a very happy couple. (Played by Viola Berwick)

DR. RALPH THOMPSON, usually known simply as "Doc," has none of the polished suavity you'd expect to find in the resident physician of a great hospital. He's homespun, quietly humorous, and the possessor of a salty, realistic philosophy. Doc became Jim Brent's fast friend when the latter was in Pine Cone Ridge, and when Jim had the opportunity to install Doc at the hospital as resident, he lost no time in doing so. Now Doc has become a valued member of the staff. Very little gets past his shrewd and knowing eyes, and he has pretty accurately taken the measure of everyone with whom he has come in contact. He is completely loyal to Dr. Jim, although there are times when he cannot entirely approve of his actions. (Played by Sidney Breeze)

[Paul Raven]

Irna Phillips Tests Her Video Ideas on Radio Audience

Billboard  July 29 1944

CHICAGO. July teel.-Theories which she hopes will eventually give her the secret to a successful daytime television serial of tomorrow are now being put into practice here by !rna Phillips on her three NBC dramatic shows, Today's Children, Woman in White, and Guiding Light (I to 1:45 p.m. CWT).

 Irna's theories, worked out with the collaboration of Carl Wester. co-owner of the shows, are built upon the premise that tomorrow's housewives ate not going to be able to watch television shows constantly and still keep a family happy. So for the past two months, during which time a studio audience was allowed to watch a murder trial plot, unfold, she hes been trying to make her shows entertaining to hear and to see. Worth this writing and production plan used successfully for television. Miss Phillips believes she can keep an audience which would only hear a show for a while and see and hear it for another while, and thus everyone-sponsor, net, audience, and husband-would be happy.

Audience, 15,000 in 2 Mouths

During there two months the serials have been geared to please the 15,000 who have attended the shows In NBC's studios and the listening audience, too. She has written sequences requiring action on the part of the cast. She has had the cast work without scripts part of the time. She has used simple sets. The plan has worked perfectly. Contrary to many prevailing expectations the cast required only the usual dally hour of rehearsal, even when they didn't use scripts all the time. The studio audience has been pleased. The actors have been stimulated by the demands of the technique and the presence of a studio audience and have been giving better than usual performances.

Letters from listeners have attested to the last fact. Commercials are often meant for visual as well as audio Impact and demonstrations of the sponsors products have been carried out during the reading of commercials. Ed Prentiss, Master of Ceremonies weaving the three shows together, has had this task, and, according to Miss Phillips, the sponsor (General Mills) has been more than pleased with results.

Three -Act Play Daily

In the days of television eltsa Phillips believes her plan will give the home audience a three -act play daily. To do this she Intends to have her characters used more Interchangeably In the three shows. Therein will Ile the principal similarity to a three -act play, and In this case it will be a three -set play using a small, inexpensive cast but losing no dramatic content.

Thls fall, it Is planned that the three series will be broadcast before an audience in one of Chicago's theaters. Then Miss Phillips plans to put her plans to a more stringent test.

Very interesting that Irna was already preparing for television years before it became a reality.

[jam6242]

Found a few articles re House of Glass.

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Edited November 28, 2021 by jam6242

[jam6242]

From 1937.

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