''The O'Neills'' is a radio and TV serial drama. The radio iteration of the show aired on Mutual,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

from 1934 to 1943. Created by actress-writer Jane West, the series was sponsored at various times by Gold Dust,

Ivory Snow Dreft is a laundry detergent in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and other markets. First produced by Procter & Gamble in 1933, it was the first Chemical synthesis, synthetic detergent. The Fairy (brand), Fairy brand of washing-up liquid ...

, and

Standard Brands Standard Brands was a packaged foods company, formed in 1929 by J. P. Morgan & Co. with the merger of: * Fleischmann Company *Royal Baking Powder Company * E. W. Gillett Company of Canada (1929) - Toronto-based baking goods company (maker of Ma ...

. It was telecast on the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...

in 1949 and 1950.

Characters and story

In the midwestern town of Royalton, the widowed Mother O'Neill ( Kate McComb) raises her children, Danny (Jimmy Tansey) and Peggy (

Joan Banks Joan Banks (October 30, 1918 – January 18, 1998) was an American film, television, stage, and radio actress (described as "a soapbox queen"), who often appeared in dramas with her husband, Frank Lovejoy. Early life Banks attended a school of ...

) Living upstairs in the O'Neill's two-family house was Mother O'Neill's friend, the meddling Trudy Bailey (Jane West). After their father's death, teenager Janice Collins ( Janice Gilbert) and her brother Eddie Collins (Jimmy Donnelly) move into the O'Neill house. Helen Shields played Eileen Turner. In 1941,

Claudia Morgan Claudia Louise Morgan (June 12, 1911 – September 17, 1974) was an American film, television, and radio actress. She was best known for debuting the role of Vera Claythorne in the first Broadway production of Agatha Christie's ''Ten Little Ind ...

joined the cast in the role of Laura Penway. Organist William Meeder supplied the music. The announcers were

Ed Herlihy Edward Joseph Herlihy (August 14, 1909 – January 30, 1999)Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . was an Ameri ...

and

Howard Petrie Howard Alexander Petrie (November 22, 1906 – March 24, 1968) was an American radio, television, and film actor. Early life Howard Petrie was born in Beverly, Massachusetts on November 22, 1906. When Howard was three years old his family ...

Television

New cast member Janice Gilbert remained with the series when it was telecast on DuMont Tuesdays at 9pm ET from September 6, 1949, until January 10, 1950.

Films

In December 1936, plans were announced for a series of three films based on ''The O'Neills'', the first of which was to be ''The Trial of Danny O'Neill''. West was to collaborate on the script.

Bibliography

*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia:

Temple University Press Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach ...

, 2004) *Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York:

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, 1980) *Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'', Third edition (New York:

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...

, 1964)

References

External links

''The O'Neills'' short story, Radio and Television Mirror, June 1940, page 8''Raised on Radio''
by

Gerald Nachman Gerald Weil Nachman (January 13, 1938 – April 14, 2018) was an American journalist and author from San Francisco. Biography Nachman was born January 13, 1938, to Leonard Calvert Nachman, a salesman and actor in the Little Theater movement, a ...

''The O'Neills'' (TV series) at IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Neills, The 1934 radio programme debuts 1943 radio programme endings 1949 American television series debuts 1950 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows DuMont Television Network original programming Television series based on radio series 1930s American radio programs 1940s American radio programs American radio soap operas Mutual Broadcasting System programs CBS Radio programs NBC radio programs Radio programs about families Television series about families Radio programs adapted into television shows Television shows set in the Midwestern United States