November 25, 1960: "The Day Radio Drama Died""The best prophet of the future is the past."
― Lord Byron
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1960: Often referred to by aficionados as "the day radio drama died" or "the day the radio soap opera died," this day has been identified as a watershed moment in broadcasting. CBS Radio aired the final episodes of the last network radio soap operas: Ma Perkins, Young Doctor Malone (which also aired on NBC-tv), The Right to Happiness (a spin-off of The Guiding Light), The Second Mrs. Burton, The Couple Next Door, Whispering Secrets and Best Seller.
Virginia Payne played Ma Perkins for the
show's entire 27-year run.
― Lord Byron
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1960: Often referred to by aficionados as "the day radio drama died" or "the day the radio soap opera died," this day has been identified as a watershed moment in broadcasting. CBS Radio aired the final episodes of the last network radio soap operas: Ma Perkins, Young Doctor Malone (which also aired on NBC-tv), The Right to Happiness (a spin-off of The Guiding Light), The Second Mrs. Burton, The Couple Next Door, Whispering Secrets and Best Seller.
Virginia Payne played Ma Perkins for the
show's entire 27-year run.
- 11/27/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
Loretta Young films as TCM celebrates her 102nd birthday (photo: Loretta Young ca. 1935) Loretta Young would have turned 102 years old today. Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the birthday of the Salt Lake City-born, Academy Award-winning actress today, January 6, 2015, with no less than ten Loretta Young films, most of them released by Warner Bros. in the early '30s. Young, who began her film career in a bit part in the 1927 Colleen Moore star vehicle Her Wild Oat, remained a Warners contract player from the late '20s up until 1933. (See also: "Loretta Young Movies.") Now, ten Loretta Young films on one day may sound like a lot, but one should remember that most Warner Bros. -- in fact, most Hollywood -- releases of the late '20s and early '30s were either B Movies or programmers. The latter were relatively short (usually 60 to 75 minutes) feature films starring A (or B+) performers,...
- 1/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Clark Gable, Loretta Young, The Call of the Wild Judy Lewis, out-of-wedlock daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, died of cancer on Friday, Nov. 25, at a retirement home in the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne. She was 76. Young, who was an ardent Catholic, and Gable, then married to Maria Franklin Langham (17 years his senior) had an affair while starring in William A. Wellman's 1935 adventure drama The Call of the Wild. Young had just turned 22, Gable was 34. In a manner similar to the absurd stories of so many Hollywood melodramas of the period, after learning of her pregnancy Young took off for Europe. Upon her return months later, she was reported ill and convalescing at a hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Venice, where Judy was born Nov. 6, 1935. When the girl was almost two, Young officially adopted her (and a boy, later returned) from an orphanage in San Francisco.
- 12/1/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Judy Lewis, the illegitimate daughter of movie star Clark Gable, passed away on Friday (Nov. 25) in Pennsylvania, the NY Times reports. She was 76.
Lewis's mother, Loretta Young, was a budding actress when she had an affair with Gable, and she went to extreme lengths to keep Lewis's true parentage a secret. For the first 19 months of her life, Lewis lived in orphanages so that Young could protect her career.
A few months before her second birthday, she returned to live with Young, who told her for years that she had been adopted. Young always had her daughter wear hats when they were in public, as she had inherited Gable's famously large ears -- Young feared that the distinctive characteristic would give away the secret.
When she was seven years old, Lewis underwent surgery to pin back her Gable ears, at her mother's insistence.
She so resembled the actor, though, that...
Lewis's mother, Loretta Young, was a budding actress when she had an affair with Gable, and she went to extreme lengths to keep Lewis's true parentage a secret. For the first 19 months of her life, Lewis lived in orphanages so that Young could protect her career.
A few months before her second birthday, she returned to live with Young, who told her for years that she had been adopted. Young always had her daughter wear hats when they were in public, as she had inherited Gable's famously large ears -- Young feared that the distinctive characteristic would give away the secret.
When she was seven years old, Lewis underwent surgery to pin back her Gable ears, at her mother's insistence.
She so resembled the actor, though, that...
- 12/1/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Philadelphia — For decades, the identity of Judy Lewis' parents was one of the best-kept secrets in Hollywood.
Not until Lewis acknowledged her story in the 1994 autobiography "Uncommon Knowledge" did the general public know the truth: Lewis was not the adopted daughter of Hollywood starlet Loretta Young, but had been conceived out of wedlock by Young and Clark Gable while the two filmed "Call of the Wild" in the 1930s.
Lewis died Friday in the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne, said Rodger McKinney, owner of the Chadwick & McKinney Funeral Home. Services will be held Saturday.
Lewis, of Palm Springs, Calif., was raised in Los Angeles by Young as her adopted daughter. She was an adult when she learned that Young, a devout Roman Catholic, conceived her during an affair with Gable in the 1930s.
"At the time, what Loretta Young did was completely successful," said Leonard Maltin, a film critic and Hollywood historian.
Not until Lewis acknowledged her story in the 1994 autobiography "Uncommon Knowledge" did the general public know the truth: Lewis was not the adopted daughter of Hollywood starlet Loretta Young, but had been conceived out of wedlock by Young and Clark Gable while the two filmed "Call of the Wild" in the 1930s.
Lewis died Friday in the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne, said Rodger McKinney, owner of the Chadwick & McKinney Funeral Home. Services will be held Saturday.
Lewis, of Palm Springs, Calif., was raised in Los Angeles by Young as her adopted daughter. She was an adult when she learned that Young, a devout Roman Catholic, conceived her during an affair with Gable in the 1930s.
"At the time, what Loretta Young did was completely successful," said Leonard Maltin, a film critic and Hollywood historian.
- 12/1/2011
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Judy Lewis, the lovechild of Hollywood greats Clark Gable and Loretta Young, has died at the age of 76.
She was the product of the movie icons' secret affair while they filmed The Call of the Wild in 1935, when Gable was married. Young flew to Europe in a bid to hide her pregnancy.
Lewis was born the following November and eventually dropped off at an orphanage in California, so her mother could return to work.
Two years later, Young picked the child up and announced she had adopted the little girl, prompting Lewis to believe the actress wasn't her biological mum.
Lewis grew up and entered the world of entertainment herself, appearing in popular TV shows General Hospital, The Doctors and The Secret Storm, before signing on as a scriptwriter on longrunning U.S. series Search for Tomorrow.
Curious about the identity of her real parents, Lewis confronted Young upon reaching adulthood and the truth was revealed. The silver screen star agreed to open up about her secret in her authorised biography on the condition it was published after her death, but Lewis went public with the news in her memoir first, causing a rift between her and her mother.
She later reconciled with her mum, who passed away in 2000.
Lewis died of lymphoma (lymph node cancer) at her home in Pennsylvania on 25 November.
She was the product of the movie icons' secret affair while they filmed The Call of the Wild in 1935, when Gable was married. Young flew to Europe in a bid to hide her pregnancy.
Lewis was born the following November and eventually dropped off at an orphanage in California, so her mother could return to work.
Two years later, Young picked the child up and announced she had adopted the little girl, prompting Lewis to believe the actress wasn't her biological mum.
Lewis grew up and entered the world of entertainment herself, appearing in popular TV shows General Hospital, The Doctors and The Secret Storm, before signing on as a scriptwriter on longrunning U.S. series Search for Tomorrow.
Curious about the identity of her real parents, Lewis confronted Young upon reaching adulthood and the truth was revealed. The silver screen star agreed to open up about her secret in her authorised biography on the condition it was published after her death, but Lewis went public with the news in her memoir first, causing a rift between her and her mother.
She later reconciled with her mum, who passed away in 2000.
Lewis died of lymphoma (lymph node cancer) at her home in Pennsylvania on 25 November.
- 12/1/2011
- WENN
Her mother was Loretta Young. Her father was Clark Gable. Yet Judy Lewis, who died on Friday at 76, spent her first 19 months in hideaways and orphanages, and the rest of her early life untangling a web of lies spun by a young mother hungry for stardom but unwilling to end her unwed pregnancy. Loretta Young’s deception was contrived to protect her budding movie career and the box-office power of the matinee idol Gable, who was married to someone else when they conceived their child in snowed-in Washington State. They were...
- 12/1/2011
- by The New York Times
- The Wrap
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