Awhile back someone brought up a popular US daytime soap opera DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Melissa was a soap opera fan. I became a super soap opera fan. I have hundreds of soap opera books. When we lived in Brooklyn, NY, Melissa was an Editor for GUIDING LIGHT at SOAP OPERA DIGEST. DAYS OF OUR LIVES began to be broadcast on NBC in November 1965 & it is still on the air today. Back when I was a super soap fan, there were 14 soaps on the air. Today there are 4.
Melissa & I both had a favorite soap opera ANOTHER WORLD which was owned by Procter & Gamble & broadcast on NBC beginning in May 1964. It was cancelled on June 25, 1999. We met online as fans who were working to try to save the show. At that time I lived in Dalton, GA & Melissa lived in Brooklyn, NY. We came to meet in person & pursue a relationship. I moved to Brooklyn.
I was asked recently among some ANOTHER WORLD fans that I spend time with what my next favorite soap was after ANOTHER WORLD. Let's see if I understand the question. After ANOTHER WORLD, what is my next favorite soap? Next after ANOTHER WORLD is GUIDING LIGHT. Then, next after GUIDING LIGHT is AS THE WORLD TURNS. But, I have watched a whole array of soaps after ANOTHER WORLD went off the air in June 1999, which is when Melissa & I got together. As a matter of fact, immediately after that grievable loss of ANOTHER WORLD, I watched 8 soaps to try to fill the gap in my heart. Eight! I never watched YOUNG & RESTLESS. I didn't watch BOLD & BEAUTIFUL until many years down the road. I was very fond of the little half hour soap PORT CHARLES. There were other soaps at other times. I just missed ANOTHER WORLD like crazy. Didn't you?
I forgot to list SANTA BARBARA owned by Dobson Productions, broadcast on NBC, July 1984. GUIDING LIGHT was owned by Procter & Gamble & broadcast on CBS June 1952. AS THE WORLD TURNS owned by Procter & Gamble broadcast on CBS May 1964. PORT CHARLES was a half hour spin-off of GENERAL HOSPITAL owned & broadcast on ABC June 1997.
Besides DAYS OF OUR LIVES which just won Best Show Daytime Emmy 2018 there are 3 other US daytime soap operas still on the air today. YOUNG & RESTLESS owned by Columbia Pictures Television & broadcast on CBS March 1973. BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL owned by Bell-Phillip Productions & broadcast on CBS March 1987. GENERAL HOSPITAL owned by ABC Entertainment & broadcast on ABC April 1963.
Jill Hurst Melissa Scardaville What, if any, show was on the air before GUIDING LIGHT?
Carol Sumilas Boshears Search for Tomorrow? Saw it as a grade schooler at lunch time. 15 minute show.
Jill Hurst I think it was the first to move to tv from radio. ...hmmm, I need to refresh my memory. To be continued.
Carol Sumilas Boshears, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW owned by Procter & Gamble & broadcast on CBS September 3 1951 - December 26 1986 (moved to NBC March 1982 - December 26 1986.) In Henderson. Created by Roy Winsor with Agnes Nixon. Could have been subtitled "The Joanne Gardner Barron Tate Vincente Tourneur Story" for that character and the actress playing her, Mary Stuart, set the tone for the show's 35-year run. The show was top-rated 1952-1955. But, CBS and P&G had a serious dispute in 1982, where it limped along on NBC until its cancellation. The show did its first live episode since 1968 in 1983, claiming that the day's tape was missing, but many suspected it was a publicity stunt designed to mimic a similar situation in the recent hit movie TOOTSIE. The most publicity the show got that year was when Mary Stuart donated her ruffled apron from the first shows to the Smithsonian Institute.
In 1986 the McCleary brothers took center stage as Patti helped Hogan solve Stephanie's murder. There was not to be a 36th anniversary show. Instead there was a grand send-off at the end of 1986. At the end of the event, Stu asked Jo, "What is it, Jo? What are you searching for?" and she said, "Tomorrow, and I can't wait!"
Then, in a separate taped piece Mary Stuart thanked the fans for their love and devotion before the screen went to black.
At age 63, she ventured on with the role of a judge on ONE LIFE TO LIVE (1968) in 1988 for a year,
and then a longer-running part on GUIDING LIGHT (1952) in 1996, as Meta. This role lasted until her death from cancer in 2002 at age 75.
Mary's autobiography entitled BOTH OF ME was written in 1980 and also serves as a comprehensive history of "SOT.";
Hogan McCleary, David Forsyth played Dr. John Hudson on ANOTHER WORLD; Cagney McCleary, Matthew Ashford on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Rebecca "TR" Kendall, Jane Krakowski played on ALLY McBEAL, on 30 ROCK, and on UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT, Marcia McCabe was Bunny Eberhardt a hit person (1995) on ANOTHER WORLD.
Mimi Torchin I think there was a soap called Hawkins Falls that predated GL.
Mimi Torchin Looking in the Schemering book, HAWKINS FALLS June 17 1950 - August 19 1950 a primetime Saturday night series; then April 2 1951 - July 1 1955 daytime on NBC
Elana Levine Hi all - there were a number of short-lived soaps that debuted before GL. The longest lasting was Search for Tomorrow. Irna Phillips even wrote one, called These are My Children (a remake of her radio soap Today's Children) that lasted for about a month in 1949! The networks and the sponsors were all hesitant about moving soaps to TV because they were so lucrative in radio and they feared losing that money.
Hi, Elana, thanks for making these contributions to this fun thread.
From the Schemering THESE ARE MY CHILDREN January 31 1949 - February 25 1949 NBC Based on Irna Phillips earliest autobiographical radio soaps PAINTED DREAMS and TODAY'S CHILDREN. Broadcast live from Chicago.
Shawn Reeves Are we talking about on the air on tv or the beginnings on radio? GL started on the radio in 1948.
Shawn Reeves Most of the discussion is on TV, but, yes, GL and others were on radio before. Either is good fodder for discussion.
Shawn Reeves Donna L Bridges if I remember correctly, GL started airing on tv in 1948 as well as still producing the radio broadcast. I'm going back to the research we did for the anniversary show. GL would broadcast on radio first in the day and than the actors would go down the street to perform the same show for live tv.
Shawn, thanks for adding that. It sounds right.
Melissa Scardaville Hey all. There were between 360 and 391 soaps on radio. It's a little hard to categorize them in the early years. The first one where we have extensive documentation is "Painted Dreams." It aired four times a week, starting in 1930. While there were a few other radio serials, the next would be "Girl Reporter" and "Keeping Up with Daughter," which debuted in 1931.
Melissa Scardaville Guiding Light was about the 100th soap opera to debut on radio in 1937. It aired on radio and television (as Shawn said they would tape the radio in the morning and tv in the afternoon.) GL transitioned to television in 1952 and ceased radio broadcasts.
Melissa Scardaville Oh I should add - Painted Dreams was created by Irna Phillips. It was a 10 minute show based in Chicago.
THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO WORLDS WITHOUT END THE ART & HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA (1997) Harry N. Abrams, Inc. The Serial Comes to Radio Nearly all of the earliest radio programming was scheduled in the evening, because executives were concerned that housewives would not be able to concentrate on a program while performing their chores. One scholar called radio, "an evening, family and father-controlled entertainment." That changed as the home products manufacturer General Mills looked for ways to bring information into the home for women. In 1926 they created "Betty Crocker" to help with shopping. NBC created "The Women's Magazine of the Air" for genuine information and help. Procter & Gamble became a main sponsor & advertised 3 times per week.
THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO WORLDS WITHOUT END THE ART & HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA (1997) Harry N. Abrams, Inc. The Hummerts & the Serial Factory Frank and Anne Hummert provide a fascinating contrast to Irna Phillips. Frank Hummert had been working in copywriting and advertising when he noticed "the success of serial fiction in newspapers and magazines." In the early thirties, he decided to translate that serial narrative to the infant medium of radio. He wanted his radio dramas to accommodate the daily pattern of the homemaker, but at the same time to offer a release into the world of romance and fantasy - very different from the "real" world of Irna Phillips. He worked with his Assistant Anne Ashenhurst (whom he married in 1935) and writer Charles Robert Douglas Hardy Andrews to devise fantasies to help alleviate the boredom and repetition of housework. By the midforties the Hummerts were producing twelve serials a day and were operating what was considered a soap opera mill. They said "they were painting against the canvas of everyday life." "The Daytime Controversy " During the early forties there were more than seventy daytime serials on the air. The press mocked the tales and the cleaning products that were sold. The suffering on the airwaves was thought to be corrupting the human nervous system. Columbia University found two contradictory gratifications: first, pure escapism; and second, moral guidance. There seemed to be little difference between listeners and in non-listeners.
Agnes Nixon Tribute (Extended Version)
The iconic creator of All My Children and One Life to Live, Agnes Nixon, is honored in this tribute to her career, her legacy, and the soap operas she made...
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