Dan Harding's Wife

Dan Harding's Wife

The show's main cast in 1938 from left: Merrill Fugit, Isobel Randolph, Loretta Poynton
Genre Soap Opera
Running time 15 minutes
Country United States
Language(s) English
Syndicates NBC
Starring Isabel Randolph
Loretta Poynton
Announcer Les Griffith
Norman Berry
Written by Ken Robinson
Directed by J. Clinton Stanley
Air dates January 20, 1936 (1936-01-20) to February 10, 1939 (1939-02-10)

Dan Harding's Wife was a radio soap opera in the United States. The 15-minute program was broadcast on NBC from January 20, 1936, through February 10, 1939 and was sponsored by Nabisco for the first nine months of 1938.[1] The show was written by Ken Robinson and directed by J. Clinton Stanley.[2]

Plot

A 1938 article in Radio Guide magazine commented, "The story of Dan Harding's Wife is one that will strike a warmly responsive note in the hearts of all wives and mothers who are, because of economic necessity, separated from their husbands.:[2]

The broadcast was set 19 years after Dan and Rhoda Harding were married in South America. He was a mining engineer there, and she had come there with her father. An initially happy marriage ran into problems when Rhoda became pregnant. Dan felt that a mining camp would not be a good place to raise the twins, so he sent Rhoda and the babies to the United States. In the program, twins Donna and Dean were 18 years old. They had seen their father only once or twice a year at best. The reunions ended, however, when Rhoda received word that Dan had been killed in a mining disaster in Iraq. The article in Radio Guide summarized Rhoda's predicament: "Left almost penniless, Rhoda takes over a rooming house in the poorer section of the town and attempts to eke out a living."[2]

Cast

Buxton and Owen's The Big Broadcast lists the cast of Dan Harding's Wife as follows:[3]

Character Actor/Actress
Rhoda Harding Isabel Randolph
Donna Harding Loretta Poynton
Dean Harding Merrill Fugit
Mrs. Graham Judith Lowry
Arnie Topper Carl Hanson
Eula Sherman Margarette Shanna
Mr. Tiller Cliff Soubier
Mr. Gorham Cliff Soubier
Margot Gorham Templeton Fox
Mabel Klooner Templeton Fox
Fowler Robert Griffin
Penny Latham Alice Goodkin
Jack Garland Willard Farnum
Stooge Lowe Hugh Rowlands
Ralph Fraser Herbert Nelson
Eva Foster Tommye Birch
Rex Kramer Herb Butterfield
Announcer Les Griffith

Other sources list additional cast members as follows: Norman Berry (announcer)[4] and Mercedes McCambridge (role not specified).[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cox, Jim (2005). Historical Dictionary of American Radio Soap Operas. Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-5323-X. P. 69.
  2. 1 2 3 The Radio Playbill: "Dan Harding's Wife". Radio Guide. Nov. 12, 1938. P. 6.
  3. ↑ Buxton, Frank and Owen, Bill (1972). The Big Broadcast: 1920-1950. The Viking Press. SBN 670-16240-x. Pp. 65-66.
  4. ↑ Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. P. 189.
  5. ↑ Lackmann, Ronald W. (2005). Mercedes McCambridge. McFarland and Company, Inc. ISBN 0-7864-1979-2. P. 26.
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