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 ...
, broadcast daily five days a week on CBS Radio from January 7, 1946, to November 25, 1960. It was the final serial broadcast on a national radio network, after ''The Right to Happiness'', '' Ma Perkins'', and ''
Young Doctor Malone
''Young Doctor Malone'' (a.k.a. ''Young Dr. Malone'') is an American soap opera, created by Irna Phillips, which had a long run on radio and television from 1939 to 1963. The producer was Betty Corday (1912–1987), who also produced '' Pepper You ...
''.
Plot
The three main characters of the show were the wealthy Stan Burton, his mother, and his wife Terry (the second Mrs. Burton of the show's title). The action was driven by the Burtons' interactions with their extended family, neighbors, and church. It was one of the first radio shows to openly address the topic of
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
and remarriage.
Cast
*Terry Burton—
Sharon Douglas
Sharon Douglas (born Rhoda-Nelle Rader; October 16, 1920 – June 18, 2016) was an American film and radio actress, most active in the 1940s and 1950s.
Early life
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L.M. Rader, Douglas was born in Stephens County, Okla ...
Jan Miner
Jan Miner (October 15, 1917 – February 15, 2004) was an American actress best known for her role as the character "Madge", the manicurist in Palmolive dish-washing detergent television commercials beginning in the 1960s.
Biography
Early life ...
,
Teri Keane
Teri Louisa Keane (born October 24, 1925) is an American actress known for her work in the era of old-time radio. She was reported to have "appeared in more than 100 dramatic roles in radio and television." For a twelve-year period, from Oct 196 ...
*Stan Burton—
Gale Gordon
Gale Gordon (born Charles Thomas Aldrich Jr., February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995) was an American character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfiste ...
,
Gary Merrill
Gary Fred Merrill (August 2, 1915 – March 5, 1990) was an American film and television actor whose credits included more than 50 feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances. He starr ...
,
Dwight Weist
Dwight Weist, Jr. (January 16, 1910 - July 16, 1991) was an actor and announcer in the era of old-time radio.
Early years
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight W. Weist, he was born in Palo Alto, California, but was raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He ...
Ethel Owen
Ethel Owen ( Ethel Marguerite Waite; March 30, 1893 – February 16, 1997) was an American actress with a lengthy career on stage as well as radio and television. In her early sixties, during the mid-1950s, she had a memorable recurring TV rol ...
*Marian Burton Sullivan—Anne Stone,
Joan Alexander
Joan Alexander (born Louise Abrass; April 16, 1915 – May 21, 2009) ''
Cathleen Cordell
Cathleen Cordell (May 21, 1915 – August 19, 1997) was an American film and television actress. She was described as "a lass born in Brooklyn with an Irish name and an English accent; educated in India and France."
Early years
Cordell was bor ...
Ben Cooper
Ben Cooper (September 30, 1933 – February 24, 2020) was an American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot Award in 2005 for his work in westerns.
Stage
Cooper appeared on Broadway in '' Life With Father'' (1939). He debuted in ...
, Larry Robinson
*Marcia Burton Archer—
Alice Frost
Alice Frost (August 1, 1910 – January 6, 1998) was an American actress. An inaugural member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre on radio and the stage, she later performed the role of Pamela North on the radio series ''Mr. and Mrs. North'' for ...
*Lew Archer—
Larry Haines
Larry Haines (born Larry Hecht; August 3, 1918 – July 17, 2008) was an American actor.
Early years
Haines was born on August 3, 1918 in Mount Vernon, New York. (Some sources say August 18, 1918, in the same city). He had been active in dramat ...
*Lillian Anderson— Elspeth Eric
*Jim Anderson—King Calder
*Reverend Cornwell—
Bartlett Robinson
Bartlett Whitney Robinson (December 9, 1912 – March 26, 1986) was an American actor who performed on radio, the stage, in films, and on television for five decades. In 1943 he was the first actor of several performers who provided the voice of ...
''The Second Mrs. Burton'' originally aired between 1941 and 1943 on CBS West Coast stations (airing as early as 7 February 1941), written by John M. Young, and featuring Sharon Douglas, Gale Gordon, and Ann Stone. The series premiered nationally in 1946, again written by John M. Young, and starring Claire Niesen and
Gary Merrill
Gary Fred Merrill (August 2, 1915 – March 5, 1990) was an American film and television actor whose credits included more than 50 feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances. He starr ...
. In March 1946, Dwight Weist replaced Merrill as the voice of Stan Burton, and would continue in the role until the end of the series. Patsy Campbell joined the series as Stan's sister "Louisa" in late January 1946, eventually taking over the leading role of Terry Burton from Niesen in October 1947 "due to a change in characterization" by new writer, Martha Alexander