''Claudia and David'' is an American

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...

drama. One version was broadcast on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

July 4, 1941 - September 26, 1941 and another was syndicated in 1947.

Background

''Claudia and David'' was first heard on radio in a segment on the June 6, 1941, episode of ''

The Kate Smith Hour Kathryn Elizabeth Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American contralto. Referred to as The First Lady of Radio, Smith is well known for her renditions of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" & "When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain". ...

''. At that time, Claudia had just fallen in love with David. When Smith's program went off for the summer, the 10-minute segments were expanded to fill her time slot. The couple's wedding occurred on the July 11, 1941, episode. The characters first appeared in 10 short stories by

Rose Franken Rose Franken (December 28, 1895 – June 22, 1988), was an American writer and playwright best known for her '' Claudia'' stories, plus the books, films, and plays based on them. Early years Born Rose Dorothy Lewin in Gainesville, Texas, Franken ...

that were published in ''

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-comprise ...

'' magazine from October 1938 through August 1939. ''Claudia, the Story of a Marriage'', a book that included those stories and additional material, was published in 1939. It was followed by other books about the couple.

Premise

The program focused on the lives of David and Claudia Naughton, a young married couple. At 18, Claudia's close ties to her mother threatened the future of her marriage to David. The couple also had to deal with financial problems, getting used to each other, and other adjustments typical of a new marriage. In the first episode, David's life was threatened by a sudden illness, resulting in increased tension between David's mother and the rest of the family, while it strengthened the bonds among David, Claudia, and her mother.

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

was the sponsor, promoting

Grape-Nuts Grape-Nuts is a brand of breakfast cereal made from flour, salt and dried yeast, developed in 1897 by C. W. Post, a former patient and later competitor of the 19th-century breakfast food innovator Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. Post's original product ...

and Grape-Nuts Flakes.

Personnel

The program's actors and the characters that they portrayed are shown in the table below. Source: ''Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows'' Joe King was the announcer, and

Peter van Steeden Peter van Steeden (April 4, 1904, Amsterdam – January 3, 1990, New Canaan, Connecticut) was a composer. His best-known composition, " Home (When Shadows Fall)", has been performed by many musicians, including Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Paul ...

provided the music.

Syndicated version

''Claudia and David'' was brought back to radio in 1947 with a new cast, a new sponsor, and a new means of distribution. Katharine Bard and Paul Crabtree played Claudia and David, and

Peggy Allenby Peggy Allenby (February 1, 1896 – March 23, 1966) was an American stage, film, television, and radio actress. Early life Allenby was born Eleanor Byrne Fox in New York City and attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart. She entered theatrical ...

played Mrs. Brown. The program was sponsored by

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

and distributed via

Electrical transcription Electrical transcriptions are special phonograph recordings made exclusively for radio broadcasting,Browne, Ray B. and Browne, Pat, Eds. (2001). ''The Guide to United States Popular Culture''. The University of Wisconsin Press. . P. 263. which wer ...

. It originated at WGN in Chicago.

References

External links

Logs

Log of episodes from Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs

Log of episodes from Old Time Radio Researchers Group

Log of episodes from radioGOLDINdex
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202130051/http://www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Claudia , date=2019-12-02

Streaming

Episodes from Internet Archive
1941 radio programme debuts 1941 radio programme endings CBS Radio programs 1940s American radio programs American radio dramas Radio programs adapted into television shows