According to wikipedia, Sue Randall's was born Marion Burnside Randall.

TV Radio Mirror March 1957

The forceast is that, on Valentine's Day, TV's Valiant Lady, helen Emerson (Flora Campbell) will make Governor Walker (John Graham) the happiest politician in the country when she takes his hand at the altar. We predict that by 1960 our Valiant Lady will mold the Governor into presidential timber. Any bets?

Funny, the show didn't last much longer. Robert J. Shaw was the show's final writer and wrote for several years. I've read that CBS cancelled the show earlier in 1957, but kept postponing the conclusion because they hadn't finished the preparations for their replacement series. That must have been an awkward situation both onscreen and offscreen.

October 1955 TV Radio Mirror

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November 1955 TV Radio Mirror

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November 1955 TV Radio Mirror

You should send this to Lance Jackson or Soapluvva at You Tube. Perhaps one or the other or both could play it for us.

According to Variety, movie star Signe Hasso appeared in one episode in late September 1955.

She played herself,with the male lead in the series, a reporter, interviewing her.

That's interesting.

Regarding Hasso, I think the male reporter they are referring to is Elliott Norris, Terry O'Sullivan's character. Wasn't O'Sullivan swiped from "Search for Tomorrow" in order to raise the ratings? I remember looking at the ratings reports for individual cities and "Valiant Lady" did really well in some markets, however it doesn't seem it was enough. I also read a brief article that insinuate the original plan was to cancel the show earlier in 1957, but they continued the series because a replacement wasn't ready yet.

Here are some additional articles

Bridgeport Telegram December 12, 1954

ROLES ARE SWITCHED BY FLORA CAMPBELL

Flora Campbell, star of television and stage, will play the title role of "Valiant Lady," beginning Monday, (CBS, television, Monday-through-Friday, 12-12:15 p.m.)

Miss Campbell switches character roles-- from that of a physician Dr. Robinson McKay, which she has been playing in CBS television's "The Seeking Heart" to Helen Emerson, the "Valiant Lady," a widow with three children to support.

The Charleroi Mail January 22, 1954

Nancy [Coleman] left to go into rehearsal for a Broadway play. Flora Campbell took over her role of Helen Emerson.

San Antonio Express December 6, 1953

James Kirkwood, Jr who plays Mickey Emerson on the video drama "Valiant Lady," is still laughing about this one. It seems that his famous actress mother, Lila Lee, was called to audition for the part of Helen Emerson in "Valiant Lady." After much deliberation, she was turned down because she didn't look enough like Jimmy to play his mother.

Does anyone know who played Whitlow Preston, Diane's boss?

Allan Melvin played a pilot on the show alongside Larry Weber. Weber played Chris Kendall, an early suitor of Helen Emerson. Melvin was probably on around 1954 until maybe early 1955. Weber was replaced by Terry O'Sullivan's Elliott Norris.

Two brief articles about a storyline involving Elliott Norris' ward:

February 1956

Pat Peardon is now playing the Machiavellian ward of Elliot Norris and is slated to add new tragedy to the tragic existence of “Valiant Lady’s” heroine, Helen Emerson.

and the new tragedy...

April 1956

Mrs. Emerson is now caring for the young ward of her fiancé… The girl is in love with her guardian, too, and is out to win him… She decides to make him believe Mrs. Emerson is a kleptomaniac.

Despite the fact that a neighbor knows what she is up to and reports it to Elliott Norris, and despite the fact that Mrs. Emerson’s own daughter has warned her of what to expect, when objects start disappearing in the Emerson household and shows up in Helen’s dresser, everyone assumes that the stable, always dependable Helen has suddenly gone in for stealing… Never once does anyone date the trouble back to the day Peggy Thurston came to live with her even though she is always present when the objects are stolen… Really!

and from TV-Radio Mirror a bit later. It looks like it covers the tail end of 1956 after Elliott Norris left and when Lawrence Walker was introduced.

To Helen Emerson, this holiday season ends a year marked by much happiness and marred by many threats to the smooth, serene way of life she has always believed in.

As a mother, she regards with joy the successful outcome of son Mickey’s growing adoration of Roberta Wilcox. The two youngsters, friends for so long, seemed only a few weeks ago to be on the verge of splitting up. The bickering, the angry words, came about very unexpectedly—almost as though both Mickey and Roberta were unaware that their feelings for each other had passed from adolescent puppy love to a mature relationship. As with many lovers’ quarrels, it all started with another woman.

Ginger Lambert was her name, and she lived up to it. A beautiful, animated girl, Ginger worked for Fay Gillen in Fay’s beauty salon. Ginger had met Mickey casually some time before, but he had no idea that she considered him infinitely attractive. Mickey, on his side, had eyes only for Roberta— until the trouble started.

Tom Davis, Mickey’s friend, decided to move into a room rented from the Harper sisters—right inRoberta’s and Mickey’s neighborhood. On the day when he was loading all his books and belongings for the trip to the Harpers’, he ran into Roberta, who offered to use her car as a convenient moving van. Afterwards, it was the most natural thing in the world for Roberta and Tom to go to the local soda shop together. But Mickey found out, and, in a childish outburst of temper, stamped his way home.

As though an intuitive message had been flashed, it was this precise moment that Ginger Lambert chose to telephone Mickey and invite him to go with her to Fun Land—a near-by amusement park. And an evening of fun they had, harmless enough, but leaving Mickey with an uneasy feeling of guilt—well larded with the feeling that in Ginger’s eyes he is quite a man!

From this small fire, a big fire grew. Roberta and Mickey tried to talk it out. And they could probably have settled the problem with a kiss, except for the larger frustration they both shared. Roberta’s father had bidden her not to marry until she was older— and certainly not until he returned from the case he was working on in England.

As Helen Emerson puts it now, “I was certainly fearful for a while that the youngsters were going to break off. But I guess, if you wait long enough, everything works out for the best. Because Mr. Wilcox did come home, and he did consent to an engagement. And the wonderful thing about it is that Tom and Ginger are now good friends. The two boys and the two girls couldn’t be closer—all four of them are behaving like human beings again.I certainly wish my own life were as simple and wonderful as theirs.”

What Helen means, of course, is the continuing threat to herself and to Governor Lawrence Walker. And this situation is no simple complication of young love. For here is a high-level public figure, being made the butt of devilish plotting. The men working against the Governor are bent on one thing—to discredit him, if possible to run him out of office and to set themselves up with a “wide open” state government which they can manipulate to their own devious ends. But, even to a group of clever and unscrupulous men, the ruining of a good man’s reputation presents problems.

Apparent ring leader in the anti-Walker group is Jackson Winters, local newsman and columnist. At every opportunity, his gossip column carries items about Helen Emerson—identifying her as “The Woman in Black.” This persistent chivvying in the press has led Helen and Lawrence to the utmost caution when they see each other, a furtiveness about their growing affection that’s abhorrent to both.

But for some time they do not realize that behind Winters is his boss, Sam Perkins, and that Perkins, in turn, is cooperating with a powerful undercover group of crooked operators. These are powerful men and, to do much of their hatchet work, they import into town Jim Hunter, once politically ambitious himself, and known to have little regard for honesty. In addition to these qualifications as a trouble-maker, Jim Hunter was once engaged to Marion Walker, Lawrence’s sister.

Jim’s return involves Marion Walker at once. She rebuffs Jim, angrily rejects his suggestion that she intercede with the Governor to get him a cushy state job. But his presence in town is emotionally upsetting to her—the man she gave up, who might have offered her only chance for marriage.

Jim Hunter, lacking Marion’s support, is in a tough position. The crooked gang who are after Lawrence have been instrumental in getting him out of a tight financial spot in an ill-fated overseas oil venture he’d been involved in. He, himself, has no money. He is forced into cooperation with the gang. And the methods they adopt are strictly illegal. Helen Emerson’s telephone is tapped. Her every word is recorded. The gang even plots to bring about a motor accident which will involve Helen and Lawrence and discredit them.

This fiendish idea goes awry—because Helen is deterred from making the motor trip—but tragically involves Helen’s young daughter, Kim, who is being drivenhome from a camping trip by Lawrence. The resultant concussion of the brain has put Kim in the hospital and subjected Helen to a period of vast concern. And with each passing day the fearful pressure on Helen and Lawrence increases. Though they are drawn together by their shared problem, it seems to both of them that their lives are ever more threatened. Will their battle against the evil forces at work bring victory or defeat to Valiant Lady?

Pictured here, as seen on TV, are:

Helen Emerson.....................................Flora Campbell
Governor Lawrence Walker.........................John Graham
Mickey Emerson.............................James Kirkwood, Jr.
Roberta Wilcox.....................................Betty Oakes
Kim Emerson.......................................Bonnie Sawyer
Tom Davis...........................................Yale Wexler
Marion Walker......................................Joan Tompkins
Jackson Winters....................................Barry Kroeger
Sam Perkins.........................................Bert Freed
Martin Cook.......................................Victor Thorley
Jim Hunter........................................Robert Carroll
Ginger Lambert.....................................Freda Larsen

Valiant Lady, on CBS-TV, M-F, 12 noon EST, is sponsored by Genera] Mills, The Toni Company, Wesson Oil, Tenderleaf Tea.

And the captions from the article.

I. A happy day indeed for Helen Emerson, the day on which her son Mickey gave Roberta Wilcox the diamond which officially confirmed their engagement. Sister Kim isn't old enough for romance, but—like most teenagers—she's in love with love and thinks a wedding in the family is "the most.” Governor Lawrence Walker joins in the family rejoicing, with regret that he and Helen cannot marry, too.

2. Only a short time ago Roberta and Mickey's romance seemed doomed. Each of them was prey to unjustified jealousy—Mickey of Tom Davis, his friend, and Roberta of Ginger Lambert. But now they are friends, shop for honeymoon luggage for Roberta.

3. The Governor drops in to see Kim Emerson, convalescing from the concussion she suffered when the Governor's car collided with a car driven by Jim Hunter. Accident was plot by enemies of Governor.

4. Marion Walker, the Governor's sister, is shocked and horrified to learn from Jackson Winters, political columnist, that he is preparing to wage a campaign through his paper to undermine Lawrence's personal reputation.

5. Plotting against the Governor goes on in a typical smoke-filled room. Left to right: Jim Hunter, tool of the politicos; Sam Perkins, powerful publisher; Jackson Winters, political columnist; Martin Cook, promoter.

6. The love of Helen Emerson and Governor Walker is to grow stronger and stronger, as they realize that they are the innocent victims of the unscrupulous men who are determined to break Walker and gain state control.

Edited September 20, 201411 yr by dc11786

I had not known that Allan Melvin had appeared on a soap opera, or was even based in New York at one time.

Edited September 21, 201411 yr by danfling

Melvin's future "Archie Bunker's Place" co star also appeared on this serial as Joey Gordon.

Which of the Archie Bunker's Place co-stars?

Martin Balsam