The+Creators

Most creators, writers, and producers of radio soap operas came had been writer’s for women’s magazines (Nachman 374). Two of the most influential creators of radio soap operas in the 1930s were Irna Phillips and Anne and Frank Hummert. Both Phillips and the Hummerts helped establish the soap opera genre through it formula and plot structure. The success of their programs also helped to ensure the future of soap operas on radio and television.

// **Irna Phillips** // Irna Phillips, once a schoolteacher from Dayton, Ohio, created the first soap opera //Painted Dreams// in 1930 and is often credited with crafting the daytime serial format. In addition, she is also credited with the first medical series, //Woman in White//, and with the longest running soap opera top date, //The Guiding Light//.

// Painted Dreams // focused exclusively on the experiences of women, particularly Mother Moynihan, her daughter, and a female boarder Sue Morton. The conflict at the center of this program centered around the “traditional and changing gender roles of women. Irene Moynihan, the daughter, was characterized as ‘the aspiring modern girls, with ambitions toward a career,’ against Mother Moynihan’s and Sue Morton’s more traditional views” (Hilmes 155).

Not only did Phillips create the first daytime soap opera and the longest running soap, but she is also credited with creating the first amnesia plot, the first kidnapping, the first illegitimate child and the first trial (Nachman 379).

The Hummerts //** Frank and Anne Hummert were by far the most prolific creators of soap operas during the 1930s ultimately crafting 36 shows. Originally an advertising executive, Frank Hummert was one of the first people to see that daytime radio could be used profitably to sell products. Between the years 1927 and 1942, 30 percent of daytime serials that were introduced came from the pens of Frank and Anne Hummert. Among the creations of the Hummerts was the //Jane and Judy//, //Betty and Bob//, //Just Plain Bill//, //The Romance of Helen Trent//, and //Ma Perkins//.

Most ideas for these soaps were the brainchild of Anne Hummert. She would design the concept for the show and then pass off the plan to a team of writers to create a script, which would then be approved by both her and her husband and sold to a network and sponsor.

Without both Irna Phillips and Anne Hummert, women’s daytime programming would be missing the most important consumer programming of the era, and the television era would miss an integral part of daytime programming. 