''Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories'' is a 15-minute
radio drama
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...
that aired January 18, 1937, to November 16, 1956, on
CBS, sponsored by
Spry shortening.
The program was heard weekdays at 11:45 a.m. until 1946, when it moved to 12:15 p.m.
Unlike most continuing soap operas, on Monday of each week a new, self-contained storyline was begun, one which would then reach its conclusion on Friday.
A review in the trade publication ''Radio Daily'' noted that the program's "dramatic playlets with popular appeal plots hold good human interest."
Aunt Jenny (Edith Spencer, Agnes Young) offered cooking tips and homespun philosophy from her home in Littleton where she lived on Indian Hill with her canary (Henry Boyd). Her full name was Jennifer F. Wheeler.
Aunt Jenny's recipes often included a mention of her sponsor, Spry shortening. Jimmy Dwan supplied the sound effects of rattling pots and pans. Every day, her friend Danny (announcer
Dan Seymour) would drop by for a chat in her kitchen. Then Aunt Jenny would introduce and narrate one of her stories. These were five-chapter daytime dramas with different casts in stories which came to a conclusion on Fridays. One actor who began his radio career on this series was
Richard Widmark. Eleanor Abbey also was a member of the cast.
[Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 9.]
Aunt Jenny was a widow, but in early episodes she was married to Calvin, who edited the ''Littleton News''.
The show's theme was a strings interpretation of "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms", and the background music was supplied by organist Elsie Thompson. Various Aunt Jenny cookbooks were offered as Spry premiums.
There was a Canadian equivalent of ''Aunt Jenny'': ''Aunt Lucy''.
Satire
For years, this series was satirized on a regular basis on various ''
Bob and Ray
Bob and Ray were an American comedy duo whose career spanned five decades, composed of comedians Bob Elliott (1923–2016) and Ray Goulding (1922–1990). The duo's format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such ...
'' shows as "Aunt Penny's Sunlit Kitchen", with
Bob Elliott as Danny and
Ray Goulding
Raymond Walter Goulding (March 20, 1922 – March 24, 1990) was an American comedian, who, together with Bob Elliott formed the comedy duo of Bob and Ray.
He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the fourth of five children of Thomas Goulding, a ...
as Aunt Penny. Spoofing ''Aunt Jenny's'' references to Spry shortening, Aunt Penny would constantly mention that her cookies were baked in chicken fat, because "If you're using chicken fat, it's digestible... It won't sit in your stomach like a half-dollar piece". With Danny's bumbling interference, Aunt Penny was never able to complete a story.
See also
*
List of radio soaps
References
Listen to
''Aunt Jenny''
{{US radio soaps
American radio soap operas
1930s American radio programs
1940s American radio programs
1950s American radio programs
CBS Radio programs
1937 radio programme debuts
1956 radio programme endings