Kitty Foyle

[DRW50]

A thread for Kitty Foyle, the short-lived daytime soap based on the film Ginger Rogers won an Oscar for. A radio version had run from 42-44. According to Chris Schemering's book, for publicity the producers went on a lengthy talent hunt, involving over 200 actresses, before casting Kathleen Murray. Kitty wasn't introduced until five weeks into the show's run (which makes no sense to me and I wonder if that's why the show didn't last longer). When the show failed, Variety blamed the weak scripts and was surprised, considering that Carleton E. Morse (of One Man's Family) was the headwriter. The show was produced by Charles Irving, directed by Hal Cooper, and packaged by Henry Jaffee Enterprises. The show opened with location shots of downtown Philly. It aired on NBC at 2:30 PM EST.

The run was January 13-June 27, 1958.

Kitty Foyle - Kathleen Murray

Ed Foyle - Bob Hastings

Pop Foyle - Ralph Dunne

Sophie Foyle - Kay Medford

Mac Foyle - Larry Robinson

Wyn Strafford - William Redfield

Molly Scharf - Judy Lewis

Rosie Rittenhouse - Les Damon

Stacy Lee Balla - Marie Worsham

Also featuring Patty Duke, Teri Keane, Karl Weber, Ginger McManus, Lee bergere

[DRW50]

From the June 1958 TV Radio Mirror.

[DRW50]

[soapfan770]

Matt P. Smith had pretty much the same observations and info on Kitty:

[DRW50]

Thanks for typing that up. I love reading those.

I didn't realize until after doing this that Kathleen died pretty young...at least she and her husband were together to the end, and had a family. I'm sorry none of this show exists as something of a record for her.

[dc11786]

Kitty Foyle aired on NBC in the late 1950s. Was Sigourney Weaver's father still the president of NBC daytime then? On a radio soap board, it was insinuated Weaver wasn't interested in soaps and would drop them in favor of other programming rather quickly. Also, the novel and movie Kitty Foyle is based on is fairly racy. Kitty becomes pregnant by a married man. In the movie, I believe she miscarries, but in the book she has an abortion. I think Kitt Foyle might have been to controversial for a conservative daytime viewer even if the soap didn't follow the book's storylines. I believe a similar sentiment was expressed about Mona Kent's proposed serial in the Proposed Soaps thread.

[DRW50]

That's interesting. I wonder how he felt when Sigourney acted in soaps.

[Paul Raven]

Kitty Foyle had been a book,a movie and a radio soap.I wonder which template (if any)they planned to follow?

[danfling]

Isn't this the same actress who changed her name to Peg Murray and was on Love of Life, Another World, and All My Children?

[DRW50]

No. This actress passed away in 1969.

[Paul Raven]

[DRW50]

Sort of a weird ad.

[Paul Raven]

An overview of Kathleen Murray's brief career

http://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/the-candy-fudge-sundae-girl/

[dc11786]

Could that be an early advertisement prior to Kathleen Murray's hiring?

Carleton E. Morse didn't have much success on TV despite "One Man's Family" having such a long run on radio. Some of his papers are housed at the Thousand Oaks Library along with John Pickard / Frank Provo's papers. John Pickard had adapted "One Man's Family" for Austrailian radio before arriving in the States where he ended up staying with Morse and meeting Provo, who I believe was acting on OMF as Claudia's husband or suitor. I've wondered if Morse and Pickard kept in touch despite Morse being West Coast and Pickard/Provo being East Coast.

It's a shame Murray died so young. This was only a few years after Liza Chapman's (AW) untimely death.

[Paul Raven]

Sponsor magazine April 1958

Kitty Foyle, the only other half-hour soaper with a rating history, is far from being an audience success and there's been a recent shakeup in the stall producing the strip. The current script doctoring will modernize the story and background since it is now felt that by sticking too closely to the book, the serial had a dated quality. Despite talk to the contrary NBC says it is far from giving up on the show.It is generally felt that the half hour soapers require a lot of script revisions and molding before the successful story line is finally achieved.