Here is my second write-up on All My Afternoons by Annie Gilbert. The book is copyright 1979 and has some very interesting information. This entry will be on the second and third parts of the introductory chapter.
Irna Phillips and the Origins of Soap Opera is the title of the next section in this book. It starts with a story about a radio announcer named Norman Brokenshire. He claims he discovered soap opera accidentally as he read a book on air. People called in asking for the rest of the story, and soaps were born. Never heard that story before…again very strange. The 19th century novels of Charles Dickens, Henry James and Anthony Trollope were also mentioned. In the opinion of the author, The Amos and Andy Show is what started soaps. What I know about that show is that it was serialized, but not a soap opera. The program was so popular that the phone company stated they had less call volume during its airtime. The sponsor Pepsodent toothpaste increased their sales so other companies wanted into the bonanza. During that time, stories only aired at night, daytime had cattle reports, hygiene advice and gardening help. According to the book. The first daytime radio serial sponsored by a sausage factory, though the show and the factory are not mentioned by name.
Then the story of Irna Phillips begins. How she was one of 10 children, had an MA in drama which back in the 1930s was a huge deal for a woman, and was a teacher. She tried to be a radio performer, but they didn’t like her voice. Irna was hired to read a show called Thought for a Day. She was 28, after a few weeks she was fired, but asked if she would be willing to write a show ten minutes a day. This show was Painted Dreams and began in 1932. Irna and WGN that aired the program got into a fight over the rights of the show. WGN won, so the show never went national. Irna was not to be stopped and created another show for NBC. According to the book and soap legend, Irna would be writing dialogue for shows while they aired and passing the pages to be read to the actors during the show. When Irna was at her height, she was writing about 60,000 words a week or 3,000,000 a year, which netted her $250,000 annually. She would act as she wrote to make sure the words flowed.
The book then mentioned Anne and Frank Hummert who earned up to a million dollars a year on their radio soaps Our Gal Sunday, Backstage Wife and Just Plain Bill. Unlike Irna Phillips, they had a factory of assistant writers, who mass-produced scripts for low wages. Anne Hummert “wanted to see G-d on every page.”
By the mid-40s soaps were a big business in radio. At first, they used product placement, but Proctor & Gamble offered prices for boxtop contests. They also mention a soap character named Red Davis, originally the show was to be called Red Adams, but since Beech-Nut Gum was sponsoring the show they changed the name, as there was an Adams Gum company. Never heard of that kind of gum, but that is huge sponsor involvement.
Then the book starts to discuss television soaps. Radio shows cost $3,500 to produce a week, and a television show would cost 2 to 3 times as much. They also thought they would not get an audience. The first television soap The First Hundred Years lasted not even two years. Roy Windsor though was successful and called Father Soap due to creating some shows that did survive like Search for Tomorrow. Soaps like Guiding Light and Young Doctor Malone made the move from radio. On Thanksgiving of 1960, the last radio soap opera left broadcast its final episode.
They then mention how soap operas moved from Chicago to New York City, and by the time they were on television that was their home base. Irna Phillips remained in Chicago even as her shows were made in NYC. It mentions how she saw actors as their characters unless they displeased her and then they were fired. In her opinion, soaps in a 30-minute time frame would allow “more time to portray feelings, emotions and characters’ reactions visually.”
CBS didn’t like the idea of expanding any of their current shows to 30 minutes, and that is how As the World Turns was born as the new show could be longer in length. According to the author, Irna is the one who started the amnesia story in daytime to create a switch in the plotline. Also, the weird medical problems that befell her characters, was her invention. She would consult doctors who would tell ways to write out characters temporarily due to illness.
Irna’s former employees Bill Bell and Agnes Nixon are referenced and how like Irna their shows emphasized family life. In her life, Irna Phillips wrote words and stories equivalent to 2,500 novels. Her work gave more people work than anyone since Shakespeare according to the author.
The last part of this chapter is called Confessions of a Soap Opera Fan. It is the story of Anne Streer who was 28 years old at the time of the book’s publication. She dreamed of moving to NYC and acting on Search for Tomorrow. Instead she moved to Los Angeles and worked in the music business. She started watching soaps with her mother all day (10:30 am) in the 1950s. Anne sees the soaps like security and as a calming effect.
The story she talks about as being most memorable to her was on Edge of Night. This was when Sarah Carr died after her daughter Laurie Anne had an operation. Laurie Anne had come home and she wandered out into the street. Sarah ran out to save her, and got hit by the car instead. The accident happened as a Friday cliffhanger. Anne Streer was 9 years old and had no idea about death. She became so dazed and upset that she never made it to her friend’s house. She then talks about Search for Tomorrow and the character of Joanne Tate (Mary Stuart). Joanne was good and smart, but not gorgeous, she mentions how this was like women’s lib in a way. She compared the people who watched to being like Joanne’s kids, knowing the character better than some friends and even members of her family.
By the time, this book was written Anne Streer only could watch one soap opera, as she had a job. Love of Life aired at 1030, and her work started at 11, so she’s watch before she left for the day.
She then talks about what she learned from soaps like how the first time she saw French kissing was in daytime. That she learned what not to do from the programs. Also usually Ms. Streer can equate real life situations to ones she’s seen on the soaps. The section ends with her speaking about Mary Hartman and how people relate to her. That Mary Hartman was like a warm teddy bear that you can watch and then go to sleep at night.
That’s the end of the introduction. As I wrote over 1,000 words in summary I am going to stop for tonight. The chapters on particular soaps tend to have a lot of pictures, but different information about a day in the life in daytime.
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