Valiant Lady

[Paul Raven]

Thanks for finding and posting new stuff.

Valiant Lady had a respectful run but for whatever reason was nowhere near as successful as the shows that followed it on the schedule - Love of Life, Search for Tomorrow and The Guiding Light.

Kind of odd that the lead in show rated lower than the follow ups.

Here's a 1955 article where the producer talks of plans for the show. interesting that the writer of the article isn't convinced. Feels soaps should stick to what they do best. yet decades later producers/networks were still trtying to undermine what worked.

Tuesday, November 1, 1955 St. Pefersburg Times 

RADIO AND TELEVISION Livened Up Soap Operas May Backfire By KlT CRAIG

TV soap operas had better liven up, according to producer Leonard Blair. If they want to maintain the womens' interest he says, they'll have to be livened up, with more plot and bigger names. Blair, who produces "Valiant Lady," seen locally on WTVT, is proceeding to do just that to his show, according to an article in Variety, he's planning to tell his stories from just one viewpoint (this means no more life as seen by father, mother, the couple in love, the doctor, with each view taking at least one episode, and the story stretching out over months), and he's going to introduce big name stars for one-shot appearances. He also plans to film lots of footage on location and have fair-sized stars in for guest apperances.

Time was when you could tune in to a day of "Soaps" and count on at least one murder, one missing person, at least one trial and several cases of amnesia and incurable illness. Blair says he's going to do away with that sort of "sensationalism" as well at least, with the crime and gangsterism.

INTERESTED IV LOVE

Women, he says, are more interested in the love and family element in the shows than they are in the sensationalism, and if the stories are presented right and not dragged out, there's no need to drag in a crime to keep them glued to their sets. Blair plans to grab stars as they come into New York and says it's good business for them to be seen on the show and write them into his script. Signe Hasso has already been seen, according to the story, and Dane Clark and Shelley Winters are among those signed for upcoming episodes. Is this revolution a good idea? NBC-TV has started Matinee Theatre, with evening-caliber shows telecast in color every day. That may be what has Blair, whose show is seen on CBS-TV, intent on revamping it. However, soap operas have always had their own peculiar function, and if Blair deviates too much from standard format, his plan may backfire

 JUST PLAIN FOLKS

Heroines of soap operas have always been billed as "just plain ole folks." Even if they're nurses or Hollywood designers, the script writers have worked hard to make Nora Drake and Ma Perkins relatable. While Blair seems to think it's a good idea to inject big names into his scripts, it seems to me the sudden appearance of Clark Gable or Peter Lorre might bring the slightest little note of unreality into the proceedings. And about ditching sensationalism -  when I was little and listened to soap operas on the radio, I just loved sensationalism. And someone I know's father used to rush home from work every night to listen to "Just Plain Bill" That was when they had the story about the boy who was in love with his sister, only he didn't know it was his sister, and then it finally turned out she really wasn't his sister at all. And what would soap operas do without courtroom scenes and innocent heroines charged with murder?

LOST 50 PER CENT If Blair intends to speed up his story lines, he's going to lose about 50 per cent of the narcotic effect soap operas have. If you know a new story is going to begin in a week, you don't let yourself get involved with the one on this week. Why, if you had to be out shopping for a couple of days, you'd miss the whole gist of the plot! The joy of soap operas, to me, has always been that, once you'd established a certain rapport with the character, you needed only to take one day off twice a year to find out how everybody on the soap operas was doing. Blair, with his fast-moving story lines, would ruin that. However, soap operas on television have several drawbacks never encountered by their sob sisters on radio. While listening to the radio "soaps," you could always be listening while you were doing something else. Besides, while listening to a radio saga, you could build beautiful pictures in your mind. To me (on a cursory viewing), settings for television soap operas always seem just a little squalid. The idea of top-flight drama during the day, for women, is excellent. However, if Blair and his ilk are' trying to hold viewers to their soap operas, I suggest they abandon this mad idea of big stars and rapid-fire story lines. For my money, they should either jump on the bandwagon and present top-flight one-shot dramas, or leave the "soaps" to bubble in the same old way. They're trying to corrupt a grand old American form.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Paul Raven

[danfling]

Above are two pictures of the cast of Valiant Lady.

One shows Nancy Coleman (as Helen) and, also in the picture, is Lydia Reed as Kim.   I had, until now, not realized that Lydia Reed (who played Hassie McCoy on the situation comedy The Read McCoys) had been a child actress or had appeared in any soap opera.    The Valiant Lady listings on the IMDb reveal that Ms. Reed played Kim #1.

Then, in the second picture found above (marked as the two year anniversary of Valiant Lady), Flora Campbell is playing Helen.   I know that this is an assumption, but there is a little girl in the picture, and I assume that she is playing the role of Kim.

Can anyone identify who played Kim #2 (if that is indeed Kim, as I suspect)?

[slick jones]

If it is Kim, it is Bonnie Sawyer.

 

Here's the list that @Paul Raven and I have amassed for Valiant Lady's cast.

VALIANT LADY

October 12, 1953-August 17, 1957     CBS

Middlebury

 

Dane Clark         Dane Clark    1955

Martin Cook... Victor Thorley     1954-56?       promoter

Tom Davis     Yale Wexler              1956

Joanne Dru      Joanne Dru     1955

Frank Emerson    ...   Jerrome Cowan    1953-57

Kim Emerson   ...    Lydia Reed  ...   1953-54

                           ...   Bonnie Sawyer   1954-57

Mickey Emerson ..... Jimmy Kirkwood, Jr.   1953-57

Jinx Falkenberg  ...   Jinx Falkenberg     1955

Margot Finchley ...   Katherine Anderson    1953

Bill Fraser  ....   Marc Kramer 

Madame Garstel    Lilia Skala   1957    

Fay Gillen ...   ???? 

Joey Gordon ...    Martin Balsam   1955    (+Diane)

Elsa Harley    ?????     jealous of Helen, spinster, loved Bill Fraser

Gertrude Harper ....   Katherine Squire   1956-57  

Ivy Harper ...   Doro Merande   1956-57

Signe Hasso   Signe Hasso        1955

Charlton Heston    ...   Charlton Heston      1955

Jim Hunter ...    Robert Carroll    1956

John Ireland      John Ireland     1955

Captain Chris Kendall   ...    Lawrence Weber ...   1954-55

David Kendall    ...   Johnny Coleman    1955

Linda Kendall  ...    Frances Helm    1955

Ginger Lambert...   Freida Larson    1956

Jane Lynch   ...   Helen Wagner    1953-54       

Lieutenant Maxwell      Andrew Duggan      1953

Elliott Norris   ...   Terry O'Sullivan     1955      

Sam Perkins ...   Bert Freed   1956   boss, (JW)

Whitlow Preston...  ???                  boss   Diane

Joe Salinas .....    Angel Rosado   

Mrs. Sayre ...   Margaret Hamilton   1955    

Diane Emerson Soames ...   Anne Pearson    1953-54       

                                  .... Dolores Sutton  1954-55  

                              Mariann (Sue) Randall       1955-56

                            ...Leila Martin    1956-57  

Hal Soames     ...   Earl Hammond      1954-55     

Peggy Norris Thurston ...   Pat Peardon      1955-56   

                                  ...   Flora Campbell  ... 1954-57     

Governor Lawrence Walker...   John Graham    1956-57

Marion Walker    Joan Tompkins ...   1957                               

Lewis Wilcox     Royal Beall

                          ...    Malcolm Beggs

Roberta Wilcox ....   Betty Oakes (?Cakes)   1956

Jackson Winters  ...   Barry Kroeger     1956

Shelley Winters  ...   Shelley Winters    1955

Bonnie Withers   ...   Shirley Egleston   1955

                              ...   Joan Loring   1954-55    

Roy Withers   ...   ?Don Dubbins??

 

 

Fran            Ann Thomas

Thomas ...   William Zuckert   

Pilot   ...   Allan Melvin    1955

 

Announcer  ....   William Elliott

 

????? 

Ronald Dawson   

Eda Heinemann   9 months    1959 ?

Joy Hodges    1957

Harry Holcombe

Robin Keil     5/1958  ?

Abby Lewis

Anne Louise

Gerald Price

Robert Webber    1957

Lionel Wilson

David Winters        1955

[Paul Raven]

James Kirkwood (Mickey) Betty Oaks (Roberta Wilcox) assuming this photo was taken on set. If so the set looks quite lavish.

[DRW50]

A reupload of the 1953 episode that used to be on Youtube, in superior quality this time.

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[chrisml]

James Kirkwood, Jr. about his time on Valiant Lady:

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[DRW50]

Thanks @chrisml. Such an eerie still.

I can see why Flora Campbell (I assume it's her) was annoyed. She had to sell the stories and then someone is around constantly [!@#$%^&*] talking. 

I wonder if there are any interesting stories in that By Emily Possessed book.

One that always interests me is how the actors felt about the last months of the show - it had been canceled and then they had to stretch the cancellation date out while their new show (which was a big flop) was being prepared. 

I like the bits I've seen of Valiant Lady. I hope more shows up.

[chrisml]

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[DRW50]

Thanks. Getting Shelley Winters and Charlton Heston to pop in is kind of a big deal. Not sure I've heard of that with any other new or new-ish soap. Yet it wasn't enough for them to keep the faith with the show.

[vetsoapfan]

Speaking of Valiant Lady actor James Kirkwood, Jr (mentioned above), when he later became a playwright and novelist, he turned out some stellar work.

Aside from collaborating on A Chorus Line, his novels P.S.: Your Cat is Dead and Good Times, Bad Times are well worth a read. Both are mesmerizing and impossible to put down.