Radio Soap Opera Discussion

[dc11786]

I'm reaching the end of September, 1975. Faces of Love has shifted the action to the city and temporarily written out Aunt Isabelle (Joan Copeland) sending her off to England to settle some property from one of her ex husbands. Men continue to fawn over Kate like she is the last woman alive. I am not super interested in her dalliance with Tony Cushing (Nat Polen). Tony is overbearing and controlling. Her niece Nancy Reed's beau Jeff Clark is now chasing after her. There was also some guy on the train, Brick, who I imagine might pop back into the story. David is left behind in Bellhaven so who knows when he'll be back in the picture. 

There is a certain charm to Faces. Kate's small town approach to big city living makes for a strong concept especially in the real estate field. The current episodes focus on Kate making her first sale, renting a slum apartment to a young single mother who is in desperate need of a place. Kate feels awful because the place isn't fit to live. So she drags, Jeff, and tries to get her office pal Truby to help her with some painting and cleaning in order to surprise the young woman. It's a sorta sweet thing ruined by Jeff showing up with a jug of wine and a jealous Tony arriving and getting into a fight with Jeff. 

I am not really sure what to think of Kate's life at the Studio Club, the complex where she is residing in the city where Jeff also lives. It's just interesting to see how so much time was spent in Bellhaven and now all those characters are sorta on the sidelines for a new group of characters.  

Over on To Have and To Hold, I am pretty much in awe that the Hollands are attempting to play as many threads as they are in a 15 minute soap. Emily's illness is sorta on the sidelines now that Ginger's sister Cora is in town giving us more insight into the Foster family. Cora's visit has served us two fold: (a) to explore Ginger's life before her marriage to Marsh when she was already ambitious and wanting the good life and (b) to reveal the source of Ginger's neuroses involving Marsh / Angela. Ginger admits to her sister that she thinks Marsh is carrying on with Angela because he did it at Billings Hospital with another woman, a resident named Phoebe.

The revelation is very recent, but Jason has shared some of the info (Ginger's obsession with Angela and Marsh) with his father, attorney Robert Carter. So I won't be surprised if Robert has it investigated. Meanwhile, there have been two references to an intern that was once in love with Angela, Jerry, so I have to wonder if he won't pop up as well. What I like about the Ginger / Marsh story is it unclear what came first Marsh cutting out on his marriage or Ginger thinking he was and pushing him away. Whether or not Marsh and Phoebe had an affair is yet to be resolved, but I suspect it will. 

In the brief bits of the Emily story that pop up, Emily has started to have vision issues right before her son Bobby Carter heads off to Harvard. Marshall has stated he suspects a tumor is possible. There is also some fear setup to suggest that Ginger will tell Emily about Marshall and Angela and it will lead to another medical crisis for Emily. Angela has considered leaving town.

I like that Bobby popped in for a few episodes before shipping him back out because it sets him up for later. Unfortunately, I am not sure if we will ever get it later. There is also been some setup with Betsy Carter carrying on with Chuckie, a boy her parents don't like. I am not sure if that will go anywhere but it is a nice layer to the story for the Fosters who don't always drive the story. 

The Lynn story has emerged as the A-story in this set of episodes. Lynn Carter is still determined to bring Kurt Rogers to Chicago to meet the family, but decides instead to visit him first to soften the blow that Robert had him investigated. Kurt and Lisa Scott (Rita Lloyd) are plotting to stay together after Kurt makes a quick buck by having the Carters pay him off to get out of Lynn's life. The plan was threatened by Rene Noir, the investigator hired, who has agreed to play double agent and will feed back the right information to Hoffman in exchange for money. The set up for the next stage is pretty clear. Robert has informed Jason that Ann, Caroline's well off daughter, is returning to Chicago after a failed romance. Kurt will switch his target from Lynn to Ann and marry her for her extensive inheritance. 

I'll be curious to see where things are left by February, when the episodes wrap up. 

Off topic, I read today there was a brief revival of radio soaps in 1965. Pepper Young's Family and Big Sister were rerecorded with revised scripts and a new cast. I am not sure how long these "new" episodes went on for or if they ever ended up creating new material. It was just interesting to see that there were some attempts to bring these back. 

[dc11786]

After a brief hiatus, I've jumped back into the Radio Playhouse series. At present, I am in early October, 1976, and am slowly finding myself more involved in the "Author's Studio" program with their presentation of "Vanity Fair." I'm not enthralled with it, but I am not hating it at the moment the way I typically do. Aunt Matilda has arrived at Queen's Crowley (or whatever the family home is) and she is a bit of a blowhard. I think she gives the show a little energy. Becky Sharpe going after one of the woman's nephew is amusing at times. Overall though, I can see why this was dropped by at least one station. 

"The Little Things in Life" provides light comedy and its a nice little slice of life. The husband and wife continue to have minor squabbles over things like the husband's haircut, sport viewership, etc. It's something that I wouldn't go out of the way to listen to, but it's something I am glad I get the chance to listen to. 

For the traditional soaps, I am finding it harder to get back into "Faces of Love" because so much of the story is narrowed in on the Kate - Tony story in the City. Kate's decision to redecorate an apartment for a young mother she is renting an apartment to has led to trouble at the Al Ross Real Estate office. The building owner is now angry because everyone wants their apartments painted. The triangle between Kate and Tony, the married man, and Jeff Clarke, the young hippie, isn't overly thrilling. There might be a little bit of excitement as Tony Cushing's wife, Claire Cushing, has been introduced into the story. Claire is very aware of Tony's philandering. 

There's something dated about "Faces." I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I think it's the clash of the narrative structure and the location. Bellhaven was a much more well developed setting with the small town living and community activities. In the unnamed city, there is not enough activity to reflect the pace of city living. There are a lot of side characters through the various locations, but no stories seem to be strong enough. I'm hoping with the introduction of Claire, the potentially more sophisticated woman, there might be more energy. 

The other series are lucky that "To Have and To Hold" is last. I adore this series. In the present episodes, the three stories continue to play out: (a) Lynn Carter's romance with neer-do-well ski bum Kurt Rogers, (b) Ginger Foster's suspicions that her husband Dr. Marsh Foster is having an affair with nurse Angela Fairchild, and (c) the illness of Emily Carter. Lynn's story seems to remain in the A position with Kurt proposing to Lynn in Zurich with a ring given to him by his side chick Lisa Scott, who is aware of Kurt and Lynn's relationship hoping that the marriage (and subsequent divorce) will leave Kurt and Lisa well off financially. Lurking in the background is Rene Noir, the private investigator, who is now romancing Berta Schmidt, the secretary of Herr Hoffman, Robert Carter's business associate. Lisa and Kurt fear a double cross (or really a  triple cross since Noir already turned on Hoffman) where Noir gives the information about Kurt's embezzlement charges in Davos and his involvement with Lisa to the Carters. Kurt is pressing for an immediate wedding in Zurich, but I still think this story will evolve when Lynn's stepsister Ann is introduced. 

Ginger is still hosting her sister Cora, from Burtonsville, West Virginia. Cora and Ginger have had a rather well done conversation in which Cora confronts Ginger about her marriage. Cora makes the point that Ginger has always made a big deal about being a doctor's wife and how Ginger seems to think that she needed a husband like Marsh. Cora points out that Marshall has benefited from being Ginger's husband. I thought it was a nice point. Also, Cora had apparently warned Ginger about Marsh at the start of the marriage and those words seem to be coming back to haunt Ginger. The Cora - Ginger dynamic is a nice contrast to the Emily - Angela relationship. 

Emily and Jason Carter have snuck away for a weekend at the family cabin on the lake. Their conversations are very realistic mentioning their son Bobby coming home for Thanksgiving from Harvard andworrying about Jason's sister Lynn. There is a great scene with Jason starting a fire at the cabin that transitions into Lynn and Kurt by a fire in Zurich. It's just a well constructed transition. There is an undercurrent in Emily's scenes suggesting that she fears she may not have long to live and doesn't want her sister, Angela, to leave town. Angela has been considering the departure due to Ginger's fears. 

I am considering trying out the CBS Mystery Theatre (or whatever that series was from the 1970s until 1980 or so on radio). Has anyone else listened to it?

[DRW50]

@dc11786 Thanks so much for these rundowns. I never listen to these shows but I need to try someday while I still can.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

I'm not sure who out there might care about this but there was a thread several years ago in this forum where I said Bert Bauer started on The Guiding Light in 1948. After having read all the scripts from that time period, I just wanted to say that Bert actually didn't start on the show until December, 1949 (although she had been talked about a long time before that). The original actress who played her was only in two or three episodes before she was replaced by Charita Bauer in February, 1950.

Also, there was some question about what happened to Ross Boling and Mary Leland. Ross seems to have just moved off to San Francisco to be with his foster son. What happened to Mary is more of a mystery. Her character just seems to have disappeared. She was in a big storyline where she was in love with a patient named Michael Cellini who had TB and asked her to marry him. The character of Michael seems to have disappeared and neither he nor the storyline was mentioned again when the Ted/Meta/Chuckie storyline takes off. Mary is only on a few episodes after that but I don't think she mentions Michael and then she just disappears. It's all kind of strange. Maybe Irna got bored with the storyline and the characters and just never bothered to bring any closure. What's even weirder is that on the soap central character synopsis for Mary Leland, it says that Michael had TB (he didn't) and that some vindictive nurse caused trouble for Mary because of her relationship with Michael and none of this ever happened on the show. The synopsis also claims Mary was interested in Ross (she never was). So, what happens to Michael and Mary are a mystery but an even bigger mystery is why someone would just make things up and put them on soap central. Who writes this information up and where do they get the information? There seems to be a lot of fan fiction stated as fact on that site. 

I'm only up to July, 1951 but Michael hasn't been "seen" or mentioned of in over a year and Mary hasn't been seen or mentioned in at least six months. So, the odds of them popping back up in the story are pretty slim but we'll see. What happened to the characters might never be known. 

This post is for the three people in the world that might actually care. LOL. 

[Paul Raven]

Haven't checked Soap Central for some time, but years ago there were Guiding Light  character profiles from the 60's that included a whole bunch of information that was completely false.

Just someone's fantasy stories (actually some of them were quite interesting). Guess at that point there was no way of verifying that info but as scripts and articles from that time come to light, lies have been exposed!!

Re TGL. we always tend to think radio and early TV soaps were without these kinds of story changes and contradictions but obviously not.

[dc11786]

@Reverend Ruthledge Thanks for sharing that information about Bert. I remember being surprised that I couldn't find any references to Bert in the newspapers until about 1950 and thought that was odd, but I am glad that was cleared up. 

Out of curiousity, how far back have you been looking at the scripts? I am always curious about how much crossover there was with the first stage of "Guiding Light" 1947 with the Ray's extended family (his first wife, Julie, there son, Roger, Jr., Roger's wife, Susan, etc.) and the Bauers and how exactly the Bauers were introduced into the story. I have some articles that I clipped in newspapers.com but haven't gotten as far as deep diving into all of them. 

Thanks!

[Reverend Ruthledge]

I've been looking at scripts from the beginning. In 1947, the only crossover characters were Jonathan McNeil and Clare Marshall. Ned Holden was in a few episodes at the beginning of "The New Guiding Light" but he quickly disappeared.

Ray, Julie, Roger and Susan were all new characters in 1947. It was mainly about them and Charlotte Wilson for about a year until the Bauers started to become the main focus. Then all of those characters started fading away.

The Bauers entered the story in 1948 (Meta in June and the rest of the family, Papa, Mama, Bill and Trudy in September). Meta was going by the name Jan Carter so it wasn't known she was a Bauer until later. Her roommate, Mary Leland, wound up being Mama Bauer's physician when she became ill with cancer. That was the connection and how the Bauers were introduced. 

[dc11786]

@Reverend Ruthledge thanks for answering my question. I have seen the casting notices for Jan and Mary from late June / early July 1948. I wasn't really sure how they initially fit into the story. Were they neighbors to someone? Was Mary somehow tied to all the medical / psychological issues Julie Barton Collins faced? 

Did Clare's adopted son Ricky appear or was he just spoken about? I know her former brother-in-law (Larry Lawrence?) was introduced into the new "Guiding Light," but I don't think he appeared on the original. I was surprised that they had Larry tied up with Charlotte at one point (I think she received pills from him).  

I'm surprised to hear that Ned Holden did appear as I thought that was just urban legend. Peterson had been serving overseas during World War II and I don't think they had Peterson return to the show until May, 1945; I might be wrong on the date. By then, I think Reverend Gaylord and his family were the family connected to the clergy. Then, of course, Frank Tuttle towards the end of 1945 until 1946. 

I feel like they burned through a lot of story in that first year. Weren't Charlotte and Ray married before the show's first anniversary? And Susan and Roger were also married by the summer i feel like. 

I apologize for the 100 questions. 

[Reverend Ruthledge]

Jan (Meta) and Mary were roommates at the Towers apartment building. Charlotte lived across the hall from them. Mary was introduced as a doctor at the hospital where Julie Collins was staying at when she was faking her blindness. Mary was on to her and tried to prove that she could really see. Later, Mary became Mama Bauer's doctor and then discovered that Jan was really Meta Bauer. 

Yes, Ricky was very much a character on the show. Unfortunately. He was kind of an annoying kid. LOL. You are correct in that Larry Lawrence wasn't in the original story. Only his brother Tim. You know a lot! Yes, Larry is the one who supplied Charlotte with pills. He was Charlotte's ex boyfriend who had jilted her years ago which led to her having a breakdown and being institutionalized. Clare, married to Jonathan at the time, was shaken at Larry's resemblance to her deceased husband Tim. It made her think she wasn't over Tim. Larry was pretty much a trouble maker. He wormed his way into Julie Collins' life which made her son Roger think they were having an affair which he thought led her to push her husband's wheelchair off the cliff and kill him (they weren't and she didn't). 

Yes, Reverend Gaylord took over for Reverend Ruthledge and then Reverend Tuttle took over for Reverend Gaylord. Ruthledge didn't come back until October, 1946. He stays until the show is cancelled. When it's brought back on the air in June of 1947, Ned moves to Los Angeles and gives the friendship lamp to Reverend Charles Matthews who was a seminary friend of Rev. Rutledge's. John Ruthledge had died sometime when the show was off the air. Not in the war, as some historical synopses say. Ned is only in two, maybe three episodes as he looks for a job and talks about Mary and the kids coming to join him. Then, he just disappears and is never mentioned again. I think Irna just used Ned as a transition into the new show and had no intention of making him a character again. 

Yep, Ray and Charlotte got married in October, 1947, just five months after the new show started. Roger and Susan got married a couple of months later in December, 1947. Yes, the story DID move very fast in that first year. It didn't really slow down until Irna got her footing with the Bauers in 1948. The show kind of switched from being plot-driven to more character-driven. So, it got a lot more "talky". 

Don't apologize. I love answering trivia questions. I have synopses if you're interested.

[dc11786]

Again, thanks @Reverend Ruthledge! All those pieces make sense regarding Mary, Jan/Meta, Charlotte, and Julie. I'll definitely look at those summaries and message you through the PM system. I had speculated to myself that Jan might have been a rival of Charlotte's professionally as I think they were both vying for jobs in entertainment. 

I know part of the shift in locale was due to Irna Phillips moving to California and her new fascination with Hollywood. I believe "Right to Happiness" introduced Constance and Susan Wakefield, a mother and daughter duo with one of them in Hollywood, around the same time. Also, I think Jan/Meta angle of dual identities had been used on one of Phillip's earlier shows, "Lonely Women." I believe the other reason for the shift was the lawsuit with Emmon Carlson ( I probably butchered his name). That was why I was surprised about the inclusion of Ned.

I did some research using newspapers.com several months ago and have done other searches in the past for radio soaps, "Guiding Light" included. I have a very general sense of the show's progression, but not the details. 

The Lawrence story didn't super interest me when I first read about it. Claire is definitely a variation on the adopted mother story that Irna was so fond of telling. I know in the original series Ricky's mother Nina popped up.  I don't think I knew that Charlotte's breakdown was tied to her past involvement with Larry. So I appreciate that detail.

Ohhhh, Charles Matthews and John Ruthledge being friends from seminary and Ned bringing the lamp now pieces everything together based on the two version of the story I had read. 

The newspapers announced that Reverend Ruthledge was returning starting Monday, April 1, 1946. He is listed in ads and among cast listings throughout the year. Here is one for example from May 30 1946:

The timelines for the marriages was helpful. Thanks. I am not surprised things took a while to settle down. 

[Reverend Ruthledge]

That's interesting as I have the full months of June and July, 1946 and Reverend Ruthledge isn't in any episodes. It looks like he would at least be in a couple if he was back on the show then. I don't have EVERY episode from 1943 to 1946 but, after he left the show to enter the war, it appears he only came back for brief visits. He doesn't seem to come back into the story full-time until October, 1946. But, again, I don't have every episode. So, who knows? Perhaps he was on the show but just didn't do much. Or maybe had storylines during the gaps of episodes that I don't have. 

Jan and Charlotte were not rivals professionally as Charlotte was a singer and Jan was a model. However, they were rivals for Ted White. Although not really rivals per se. Ted was interested in Charlotte and Jan was interested in Ted. 

Thanks for that ad. It's interesting that the ad spells it "Claire" when Irna spells it "Clare" in the scripts. I always thought it was weird how Irna spelled it. 

[dc11786]

@Reverend Ruthledge I don't know what to say about your namesake character. It would seem that he was reintroduced and maybe quickly cast aside. The article I have says that Reverend Ruthledge reappears tomorrow from a March 31, 1946, newspaper. I did a quick Google search to see if that happened to be Easter as I know he was known for the Easter service. Easter was a week earlier. 

The ads aren't always consistent on things like names so if it is Clare from the woman's mouth, I would take that. 

 

[Reverend Ruthledge]

I just looked up Easter for 1946 and it said it was April 21st. It's possible that he just came back Easter month as a guest. He did do that from time to time. 

[Paul Raven]

So Ned did appear on the new version. Was it still Ed Prentiss?

With the new setting of LA how was it explained that Jonathan and Clare were no longer in Five Points?

In the original it seemed  by around1944  all the earlier characters and stories were dispensed with. How was that handled? Ned and Mary seemed to be around but with no story.

When did rose, the Kranskys, Ellis, Torchy etc disappear? Were they given send offs or just stop appearing?

Who were the new main characters and how were they introduced?

[DRW50]

@Reverend Ruthledge @dc11786 Thank you for all this detailed info on GL's radio years. I remember reading some of the Soapcentral summaries. I should have known those were also fake. 

Was Ned Holden related to Mark Holden or was that just a similar last name?

It sounds like Irna's need to refresh the canvas was even more heavy-handed in the radio years.