Soap Operas have been around for as long as there has been radio. In the olden days they were the way of escape for my mother and sisters and me from a hard life on the farm.
Picture at left, is of "Ma Perkins standing by her car" The soap opera began in 1933.
My mother started listening to soap operas on our crystal radio in the 1930’s. With the crystal radio you could only listen with earphones. Mother and Daddy took turns listening to their programs at night, but during the day when Mother had a little time, she listened to soap operas.
Sometimes she would let us listen in a few minutes. It was so fascinating to listen to those voices coming out of the earphones. - a real mystery.
They called them “soaps” because most of the sponsors were soap companies. There was Camay, Ivory, Bab-0, Oxydol, Duz, and Rinso, and P and G Soap. But, also there were other companies like Dr. Lyon’s Tooth Powder, Baker’s Cocoa, and Calumet Baking Powder. The word “opera” was tagged on because of the ‘melodrama” of the stories. In the “Olden Days”, soap operas were that, but sort of realistic life. A little of both I think.
The soap operas were called “programs” They were 15 minutes in length, five days a week. When we came in from the fields at lunch time, we immediately turned on the radio with the big battery attached and sat eating our sandwiches leaning our heads next to the radio, when the battery began to run low.
“Stella Dallas” was one of Mother’s favorites. I don’t remember too much about it. It would make you cry, it was so sad. A poor young woman who married well, she gave up her beloved and only daughter to her estranged husband, never to see her again, so the young woman could achieve the love and happiness her mother never found. But Stella Dallas always seemed to do the right thing.
I remember “Just Plain Bill”. It would open with the theme song "Darling Nellie Gray" and close with "Polly Wolly Doodle". The announcer would say, “Now, to the many friends who wait for him ... we present Just Plain Bill, barber of Hartville, the story of a man who might be living right next door to you -- the real-life story of people just like people we all know." Bill was a man wise and had a heart. He would assure people in Hartville that even when the clouds are at their darkest, there is a silver lining if you search for it.
“Young Widder Brown” tickled my fancy. This is a story about attractive Ellen Brown, a widow with two children to support, who faced the question of what she owed to them and what she owed to herself. Widder Brown always had plenty of suitors who were usually handsome, brilliant and eligible bachelors and were physicians and lawyers. But her kids always kept her from going to the altar.
One of Mother’s favorites was “Ma Perkins”, which started on radio in 1933. Ma Perkins was the owner and manager of a lumberyard in Rushville Center, a small town somewhere in America. The show revolved around Ma Perkins, her three children, Evey, John, and Fay, and their children. It was about small town life and problems and happiness. Every one always turned to Ma Perkins for advice.
“Pepper Young’s Family” was a soap opera located in the small town of Elmwood, and the Young family represented the kind and honest people that typified all-American goody goodness. It took place in post-depression time in America. This was a lighthearted story of a teenage boy and his kinfolk, it had less heartache and melodrama that other soaps and I enjoyed listening to that program.
“The Guiding Light” began in 1937, written by Irna Phillips. The show's original story centered on a preacher named Rev. John Ruthledge and all the people of a fictional town called Five Points. The townspeople's lives had revolved around him. The show's title refers to a lamp in his study that family and residents could see as a sign for them to find help when needed. We listened to The Guiding Light through out the 1940’s and got really acquainted with the Bauer family in 1948, Mama and Papa Bauer and Meta Bauer especially. They were like our own family!
As a romantic teenager in the 1940’s I could not miss “When a Girl Marries”. Such a sweet soap opera! The show would start up with the music, something romantic and then the announcer would say: “This is the story of Joan Field, a young girl who came to know that love can be stronger and finer than anything else in the world. Perhaps you yourself can remember the thrilling, heartbreaking days that now are hers -- and the hopes and dreams and struggles that every young couple experiences before that day of all days -- When a Girl Marries.”
“Life Can be Beautiful” a radio soap began in 1940. I didn’t start listening to it until I was about 13 years old, in 1945. It showed me that no matter what happens you always look on the bright side. It was the story of Chichi, a teenager taken in by Papa David Solomon, the owner of the Slightly Read Book Shop. Papa David always taught Chichi how to turn something bad into something beautiful, by keeping the faith, and taking charge of your circumstances and turning it into something valuable. This soap opera stayed at the top of the charts and was immensely popular for most of it’s 16 years. I listened to it even after I got married, in the 1950’s.
I loved “Mary Noble Backstage Wife”. It took me with Mary Noble from a little town in America, to New York City, where Mary married Larry Noble, an actor and a matinee idol of women. The show dealt with deceit, jealousy, rage, avarice, and amnesia. Beautiful women were always after Larry and handsome men were after Mary. There was always some “hussy” after Larry, and some sly, debonair man after Mary. But they were always faithful to each other! Wasn’t that what love was all about?
“Our Gal Sunday” was one of my favorites. The theme song was “Red River Valley” and when I heard that song, I could fantasize about how I could possibly be like Sunday, an orphan girl from a little mining town of Silver Creek, Colorado, who married a handsome rich Lord from England, Henry Brinthrope. They would always say at the beginning, “Can a girl from the little mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?” And I would think, “Can a little farm girl in the South find happiness as the wife of a wealthy cattle rancher from the West?”
Later, in the 1950’s, as a young mother and housewife living in the suburbs, the soaps became my escape for a while. I kept up with The Guiding Light after all those years, plus “Search for Tomorrow”, “The Edge of Night”, and “As the World Turns”, and “Love of Life”.
The soaps became more and more indecent, suggestive, provocative and off color. Just like everything else on TV and in the movies. Finally in the 1960’s I was getting bored with soap operas. They became too realistic, I guess. I quit watching them.
But for an hour or so during the 1940’s, every day, in between the hard work and scrimping and saving we all did in the family, we could escape to a fantasy world of life always having a happy ending, and believing that Life Can Be Beautiful.
A passionate and poignant memoir written by a woman whose life has been guided by the words: "I am here to learn how to love well." The book is a deep examination of relationships, family, motivation, and honoring of the Self.
Picture at left, is of "Ma Perkins standing by her car" The soap opera began in 1933.
