''Dan Harding's Wife'' was a
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. The 15-minute program was broadcast on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
from January 20, 1936, through February 10, 1939, and was sponsored by
Nabisco
Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International.
Nabisco's ...
for the first nine months of 1938. The show was written by Ken Robinson and directed by J. Clinton Stanley.
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.:
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."
Cast
Buxton and Owen's ''The Big Broadcast'' lists the cast of ''Dan Harding's Wife'' as follows:
Other sources list additional cast members as follows: Norman Berry (announcer)
and
Mercedes McCambridge
Carlotta Mercedes Agnes McCambridge (March 16, 1916 – March 2, 2004) was an American actress of radio, stage, film, and television. Orson Welles called her "the world's greatest living radio actress." She won an Academy Award for Best Support ...
(role not specified).
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
External links
"''Radio Playbill'': Dan Harding's Wife" article in Radio Guide, Nov. 12, 1938 (Images of article's two pages)"''Radio Playbill'': Dan Harding's Wife" article in Radio Guide, Nov. 12, 1938 (PDF of complete issue; article is on pp. 6-7.
{{US radio soaps
American radio soap operas
1930s American radio programs
American radio dramas
NBC radio programs