@Matt, thank you so much for all these great recaps which you are gifting to the board.

With the dearth of quality soaps on television these days, I'd be more than happy to sit back and listen to several golden-age radio dramas.

Has anybody else listened to the extended stretch of The Guiding Light episodes from 1950? It's a miracle that so many survived, and what a treat it was to enjoy.

5 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

Has anybody else listened to the extended stretch of The Guiding Light episodes from 1950? It's a miracle that so many survived, and what a treat it was to enjoy.

I've listened to a few - the one where Meta is staying over at Trudy's and Trudy is horrible to her, and one around the same time where Meta is terrified of her son and husband going on a camping trip together. They're very gripping. Jone Allison has the perfect voice for a radio soap. I wish more of her work as Meta was available on the show.

Archive has a clump of radio soap episodes someone put up recently in one file. There's one for GL that is about Bill's alcoholism. I haven't listened yet, but I assume it's one you mentioned as being from the 1950 pile.  

3 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I've listened to a few - the one where Meta is staying over at Trudy's and Trudy is horrible to her, and one around the same time where Meta is terrified of her son and husband going on a camping trip together. They're very gripping. Jone Allison has the perfect voice for a radio soap. I wish more of her work as Meta was available on the show.

Archive has a clump of radio soap episodes someone put up recently in one file. There's one for GL that is about Bill's alcoholism. I haven't listened yet, but I assume it's one you mentioned as being from the 1950 pile.  

I was gifted a CD years ago, with mp3 files of TGL from 1950. I forget now, but I think there were 90 full episodes. A while later, many more from around that era popped up. I had broken my foot at the time, and basically binged dozens of eps continuously as I was relegated to the couch. It was a sanity saver, LOL!

The episodes of GL that I got on audio are from @Matt when he was still writing his online show "For Now and Forever." He held some sort of contest and I remember the day I got them in the mail. Nice memory to have unlocked. 

There's also a stretch of about forty or so episodes from "The Road of Life" from 1946 when the show shifted production to New York or Hollywood, I forget which. It is interesting because some of the voices I can clear tell are different, but some I don't do as well as picking up on. What is neat is Dr. Tom Parsons is featured. This is the grown up son of Helen Gowan and Reginald Parsons that had been the source of much conflict earlier in the sereis. He and Butch Brent are both interns in the story. 

There are definitely stretches of different shows in private collections that I haven't seen listed online. I am hopeful that the final years of "Road of Life" and "Right to Happiness" will appear someday as both seem rather strong in the dying days of radio drama. 

Daytime Diary soap opera recaps from the July 1951 issue of Radio Television Mirror.

 

Daytime Diary soap opera recaps from the August 1951 issue of Radio Television Mirror.

The first appearance of Kings Row. This is when ABC started a block of soaps for the first time. They resurrected Against the Storm, Lone Journey ,Mary Marlin,Valiant Lady and stole When A Girl Marries from NBC.

I guess we'll see those synopses in coming posts.

Edited February 13, 20241 yr by Paul Raven

Daytime Diary soap opera recaps from the September 1951 issue of Radio Television Mirror.

Daytime Diary soap opera recaps from the October 1951 issue of Radio Television Mirror.

 

Daytime Diary soap opera recaps from the November 1951 issue of Radio Television Mirror.

Daytime Diary soap opera recaps from the December 1951 issue of Radio Television Mirror.

Thank you, Matt! These are great!

Daytime Diary soap opera recaps from the January 1952 issue of Radio Television Mirror.

Daytime Diary soap opera recaps from the February 1952 issue of Radio Television Mirror.

Daytime Diary soap opera recaps from the March 1952 issue of Radio Television Mirror.