''Pepper Young's Family'' is a
daytime drama series, with various format and title changes during its long run from 1932 to 1959. It was created and written by short story author and playwright
Elaine Sterne Carrington
Elaine Sterne Carrington (June 14, 1891 – May 4, 1958) was an American screenwriter, playwright, novelist and short story author who found her greatest success writing for radio. Carrington originated radio soap opera in 1932, and wrote more t ...
.
History
With
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television.
Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...
in the title role, the program began as ''Red Adams'', about high school athlete Red Adams, his family, and his friends. The 30-minute series was broadcast on the
Blue Network, airing on Sunday nights at 10:30pm. When
Beech-Nut Gum signed as a sponsor, they wanted no mention of their competition,
Adams gum, so the title changed to ''Red Davis'', a 15-minute series heard three times a week from 1933 to 1935. The series was again retitled, and the 15-minute ''Forever Young'' was heard on NBC weekdays at 3pm from January 13 to June 26, 1936. Three days later, on June 29, it became ''Pepper Young's Family'', continuing on NBC for the next 23 years with
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...
's
Camay
Camay is an American brand of bar soap owned by Unilever. It was introduced in 1926 by Procter & Gamble and was marketed as a "white, pure soap for women," as many soaps of the time were colored to mask impurities. Camay's slogan for many ye ...
as the sponsor.
Meredith was replaced by Curtis Arnall in 1934 who played the title role through 1937 when Lawson Zerbe took over. Next
Mason Adams
Mason Adams (February 26, 1919 – April 26, 2005) was an American character actor and voiceover artist. From the late 1940s until the early 1970s, he was heard in numerous radio programs and voiceovers for countless television commercials, t ...
assumed Pepper's persona in 1945 and continued to portray him through the final episode in 1959, more than half of the program's entire history.
In the storyline, high school athlete Larry "Pepper" Young and his sister Peggy (
Elizabeth Wragge) lived in the small town of Elmwood where their father, Sam Young (Jack Roseleigh, Bill Adams, Thomas Chalmers) ran a manufacturing company. Pepper's girl friend was Linda Benton (Eunice Howard), and his buddy was Nick Havens (John Kane). Leaving school, Pepper took a job as a reporter with the local ''Free Press''. When Pepper and Linda (played by
Margaret Draper
Margaret Ruth Draper (November 20, 1916 – October 14, 2011) was an American actress and international service worker.
Early years
Draper was born in 1916, the third of six children born to Delbert Morley Draper and Frances Mary Rogers. ...
) married, they had a child, Button. Sam Young became Elmwood's mayor. Oil was discovered on the farm where Pepper and Linda lived, but a fire at the oil well spread, burning down much of the town.
Others in the cast were Grace Albert,
Marion Barney
Marion Barney (1879 - 1968) was an American character actress known for her long association with the radio programs of Elaine Sterne Carrington.
A native of San Francisco, Barney attended the University of California, Berkeley, at the same time ...
(as Pepper's mother), Alan Bunce,
Michael Fitzmaurice, Stacy Harris, Claire Howard,
Madge Kennedy
Madge Kennedy (April 19, 1891 – June 9, 1987) was a stage, film and TV actress whose career began as a stage actress in 1912 and flourished in motion pictures during the silent film era. In 1921, journalist Heywood Broun described her as "the ...
, Greta Kvalden,
Cecil Roy
Cecil H. Roy (October 2, 1900 – January 26, 1995) was an American radio actress who was well known in radio broadcasting of the 1930s and 1940s as The Girl of a Thousand Voices.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biograph ...
, Laddie Seaman,
Jean Sothern
Jean Sothern (December 5, 1893 – April 14, 1964) was an American actress in silent films, vaudeville, and radio. She had leading roles in silent films and became popular before World War I.
Life and career
Sothern was born on December 5, 1893 ...
, Arthur Vinton, Edwin Wolfe (who also directed some shows).
Announcers included
Martin Block
Martin Block (February 3, 1903 – September 18, 1967) was an American disc jockey. It is said that Walter Winchell invented the term "disc jockey" as a means of describing Block's radio work.
Career
Early years
A native of Los Angeles, Blo ...
, Alan Kent and Richard Stark. The opening piano theme was ''Au Matin''.
Carrington continued to script the program until her death in 1958. She also wrote scripts for two other daytime dramas, ''
When a Girl Marries'' and ''
Rosemary
''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was known by the scientific name ''Rosmar ...
''.
In 1964, NANA Radio began production of newly written episodes of ''Pepper Young's Family''. At least 88 of these revival episodes are in circulation today.
Comic strip adaptation
Bernard Krigstein adapted the radio series into a comic strip in 1950, but his work never found a publisher.
See also
*
List of radio soap operas
References
Sources
*
Cox, Jim. ''Historical Dictionary of American Radio Soap Operas'', Scarecrow Press, 2005.
External links
''Pepper Young's Family'' comic strip''Pepper Young's Family'' article in TV Radio Mirror, November 1956
{{US radio soaps
1932 radio programme debuts
1959 radio programme endings
American radio soap operas
NBC radio programs
NBC Blue Network radio programs
Radio programs about families