May 15, 1933: Scripted and produced by Irna Phillips, the radio soap opera ‘Today's Children’ debuted on NBC.
Creditted for writing many of the first American soap operas, Irna Phillips was a talented American actress and writer.
After working as a writer on a day-time talk show, Irna Phillips penned the soap opera, Painted Dreams. She tried presented the serial series for airing over Chicago’s WGN during daytime broadcasts. The WGN Manager, Henry Selinger, matched the original daytime serial with sponsors that that offered products for women. Phillips continued to write the radio soap opera scripts and starred in the first episode.
Disputes about ownership of Painted Dreams serial forced Philip to moved to station WMAQ. Later She changed Painted Dreams to Today’s Children. Philips received fame and criticism regarding Today's Children scripts.
