Our Gal Sunday

Our Gal Sunday is an American soap opera produced by Frank and Anne Hummert, network broadcast via CBS from March 29, 1937, to January 2, 1959,[1] starring Dorothy Lowell and, after Lowell's 1944 death, Vivian Smolen in the title role.

Our Gal Sunday
Anne Elstner and Vivian Smolen
GenreSoap opera
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English,Spanish
StarringDorothy Lowell
Vivian Smolen
Karl Swenson
Alistair Duncan
Created byFrank and Anne Hummert
Written byHelen Walpole
Jean Carroll
Directed byStephen Gross
Arthur Hanna
Frank Hummert
Anne Hummert
Produced byFrank Hummert
Anne Hummert
Original releaseMarch 29, 1937 (1937-03-29) –
January 2, 1959 (1959-01-02)
Opening theme"Red River Valley"

The origin of this radio series was a 1904 Broadway production, Sunday, which starred Ethel Barrymore. This play was the source of the catchphrase, "That's all there is, there isn't any more."

Characters and story

The Hummerts adapted the Broadway play into a long-running melodramatic radio serial about a Colorado orphan who marries a British aristocrat. It began when two grizzled miners, Jackie and Lively, found a child abandoned and left at the door of their mountain cabin. She was given the name Sunday because that was the day she entered their lives. Later, her last name was given as Smithson. As an adult, she was desired by her childhood friend, Bill Jenkins. She fell under the spell of wealthy Englishman Arthur Brinthrope, who came to check his silver mine. Arthur was shot by Jackie, who wanted to prevent him from running away with Sunday. Arthur's brother, Henry, arrived, eventually marrying Sunday. The couple moved to their Black Swan Hall estate in Virginia, where they lived with their adopted son, Lonnie, and their two natural children, Caroline and Little Davy, who was crippled by a hit-and-run driver.[2]

Dorothy Lowell had the title role from 1937 to 1944. When she died in childbirth at age 28, she was replaced by Vivian Smolen, who portrayed Sunday from 1944 to 1959.[1]: 152  Leading reference sources claim that Lowell continued to star in the radio program until 1946, but those books and websites are obviously incorrect since Lowell died in 1944.[3]

The show opened with this question:

Once again, we present Our Gal Sunday, the story of an orphan girl named Sunday from the little mining town of Silver Creek, Colorado, who in young womanhood married England's richest, most handsome lord, Lord Henry Brinthrope. The story that asks the question, "Can this girl from a mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?"[4]

"Red River Valley" was the series' theme music.[5] The announcers were Ed Fleming, Jim Fleming, John Reed King, Art Millett, Bert Parks, Charles Stark, Warren Sweeney and John A. Wolfe.

See also

References
  1. Cox, Jim (2008). The Great Radio Soap Operas. McFarland. pp. 145–156. ISBN 9781476604145. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  2. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 525–527. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  3. "Dorothy Lowell, The Star of Radio Serial 'Our Gal Sunday' is Dead". The New York Times. July 3, 1944.
  4. Goulden, Joseph C. The Best Years, 1945-1950. New York: Atheneum, 1976. p. 150.
  5. Fairfax, Arthur (December 28, 1940). "Mr. Fairfax Replies" (PDF). Movie Radio Guide. 10 (12): 43. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.

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