''These Are My Children'' is an American television

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 ...

that ran on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

from January 31 to March 4, 1949. The show was broadcast live from WNBQ in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, airing 15 minutes a day, five days a week, at 5 p.m. EST. It is widely credited as the first soap opera broadcast on television. It may be more accurately described as the first daytime drama or the first soap opera

strip Strip or Stripping may refer to: Places * Aouzou Strip, a strip of land following the northern border of Chad that had been claimed and occupied by Libya * Caprivi Strip, narrow strip of land extending from the Okavango Region of Namibia to ...

, as it was preceded by DuMont series ''

Faraway Hill ''Faraway Hill'' was the first soap opera broadcast on an American television network, airing on the DuMont Television Network on Wednesday nights at 9:00 PM between October 2 and December 18, 1946. A ''Variety'' article stated the Caples advertis ...

'' in 1946 and ''

Highway to the Stars ''Highway to the Stars'' was an early American live television soap opera, which was broadcast on New York City station WABD, flagship station of the DuMont Television Network, from August to October 1947, at which point it was replaced with '' L ...

'' in 1947, both of which are described as soap operas but aired later in the evenings and broadcast only once a week; ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

'' had also been in production for 12 years once ''These Are My Children'' debuted, but only as a radio series - its TV version did not debut until 1952. Created by

Irna Phillips Irna Phillips (July 1, 1901 – December 23, 1973) was an American scriptwriter, screenwriter, casting agent and actress. She is best remembered for pioneering a format of the daytime soap opera in the United States geared specifically toward wo ...

and directed by

Norman Felton Norman Francis Felton (April 29, 1913 – June 25, 2012) was a British-born American television producer, known for his involvement in shows such as ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' and ''Dr. Kildare''. Background Felton was born in London, the son ...

, the show was based in large part on Phillips' early radio soaps ''

Today's Children ''Today's Children'' was a name shared by two thematically related American radio soap operas created and written by Irna Phillips, the earliest of which was her first nationally networked series. 1933-1938 series The original series, which debut ...

'' and ''

Painted Dreams ''Painted Dreams'' is an American radio soap opera that premiered on WGN (AM), WGN radio, Chicago, on October 20, 1930 and last aired in July 1943. It is widely considered by scholars of the genre to be the first daytime soap opera or drama-by-in ...

''. In addition to critical opinions, the immediate factor in NBC's cancellation of ''These Are My Children'' was the decision by

AT&T Corporation AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...

to end use of its coaxial cable for weekday eastbound distribution of programs originating in Chicago. Simultaneously executives of NBC "had found fault with the program" while they wanted to have more shows originate in New York rather than in Chicago or on the West Coast. Phillips later created many popular daytime dramas, and Felton produced primetime soaps ''

Dr. Kildare Dr. James Kildare is a fictional American medical doctor, originally created in the 1930s by the author Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Shortly after the character's first appearance in a magazine story, Paramount Pictur ...

'' and ''

Executive Suite An executive suite in its most general definition is a collection of offices or rooms—or suite—used by top managers of a business—or executives. Over the years, this general term has taken on a variety of specific meanings. Corporate off ...

''.Newcomb, Horace, ed. ''Encyclopedia of Television'' (2nd ed.).
Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2013, p. 756-757. .

Premise

''Children'' centered on an Irish widow, Mrs. Henehan and her struggles to run a boarding house, as well as help her three children and her new daughter-in-law, Jean.

Cast

* Alma Platts ... (Mrs. Henehan), *

Jane Brooksmith Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...

... (Patricia Henehan), *

Martha McClain Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to ...

... (Penny Henehan), * George Kluge ... (John Henehan), * Joan Arlt ... (Jean Henehan), *

Margaret Heneghan Margaret Heneghan (born 1959) is an Irish lawyer who was a judge of the Circuit Court between 2010 and 2015, before serving on the High Court from 2015 to 2017. She previously practiced as a barrister. Early and personal life Heneghan was b ...

... (Aunt Kitty Henehan), *

Eloise Kummer Margery Eloise Kummer (June 17, 1916 - August 24, 2008) was an American radio and television actress. Early years Kummer was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Kummer. After graduating in 1933 from Sheboygan High ...

... (Kay Carter), *

Mignon Schreiber ''Mignon'' is an 1866 '' opéra comique'' (or opera in its second version) in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's 1795-96 novel '' Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre''. Th ...

... (Mrs. Berkovitch)

Critical response

A review in the trade publication ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' described ''These Are My Children'' as "visualization of an ordinary actionless daytime drama" It said that the program differed from soap operas on radio only in that "the actors have memorized lines and have to look sad most of the time."

References

External links

* {{US daytime soaps American television soap operas NBC original programming 1949 American television series debuts 1949 American television series endings American live television series Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows Television series created by Irna Phillips Television shows filmed in Illinois Television series about widowhood