January 2, 1959: Four Successful Soaps air on CBS

 

January 2, 1959: Four successful radio soap operas were started on CBS namely Our Gal Sunday, This is Nora Drake, Mary Noble Backstage Wife and Road of Life.

Our Gal Sunday began as a Broadway show and then aired on CBS.  Nora Drake  ran successfully for 12 years.  Backstage Wife  followed a young woman who wants to become somebody in New York. The highly popular  Road of Life  lasted 18 years on radio. Together, the radio soaps were daytime drama favorites.

May 15, 1933: Irna Philip's Scripted Soap Opera Debut on NBC

 

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.