''Young Widder Brown'' was a daytime radio drama series broadcast on NBC from 1938 to 1956.
[Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 361.] Sponsored by Sterling Drugs and Bayer Aspirin,
[Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 778.] it daily examined the life of "attractive Ellen Brown, with two fatherless children to support."
The convoluted storyline focused on the efforts of Ellen, in her early thirties, to bring up her two children in the small town of Simpsonville, West Virginia, where she supported herself by running a tearoom, despite continual tragedies in her life.
(Another source refers to Simpsonville as "a small Midwestern town.")
[
Produced by ]Frank
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
Curr ...
and Anne Hummert
Anne Hummert (née Schumacher) (January 19, 1905 – July 5, 1996) was the leading creator of daytime radio serials or soap opera dramas during the 1930s and 1940s, responsible for more than three dozen series.
Biography
She was born in Baltimore ...
, this soap opera series opened with the theme music "In the Gloaming" as rendered by organist John Winters. Heard in the title role during the 18-year run were Florence Freeman (1938–54) and Wendy Drew (1954–56). Ellen Brown was romanced by Peter Turner (Bud Collyer
Bud Collyer (born Clayton Johnson Heermance Jr., June 18, 1908 – September 8, 1969) was an American radio actor and announcer and game show host who became one of the nation's first major television game show stars. He is best remembered for ...
) and Anthony Loring (Ned Wever
Ned Wever (born Edward Hooper Weaver; April 27, 1902 – May 6, 1984) was an actor on stage and on old-time radio. Garyn G. Roberts wrote in his book, ''Dick Tracy and American Culture: Morality and Mythology, Text and Context'', "Wever's most f ...
). Ellen's children were Janey (Marilyn Erskine) and Mark (Tommy Donnelly).
Directors for the series included Martha Atwell, Richard Leonard and Ed Slattery. The announcer was George Ansbro.
See also
*List of radio soaps
Radio daytime drama serials were broadcast for decades, and some expanded to television. These dramas are often referred to as "soaps", a shortening from "soap opera". That term stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that h ...
References
{{US radio soaps
American radio soap operas
1930s American radio programs
1940s American radio programs
1950s American radio programs
NBC radio programs