The Radio Years (1937-1956)

By the mid-1940s, Irna Phillips reportedly commanded a salary of about $300,000 per year.  Quite an accomplishment for a woman in the workforce over 65 years ago!  In fact, based on the Consumer Price Index calculations of inflation, $300,000 in, say, 1945, would have the same purchasing power as $3.7 million dollars today.  This undoubtedly would have made Ms. Phillips one of the wealthiest self-made women of the era.

Still, Irna worked hard to achieve her success.  At the height of this success, she was writing about 2 million words per year, which would be equal to about 30 to 40 novels per year.  She had multiple soaps broadcast across the radio waves simultaneously.  In addition to the aforementioned Today's Children, there were: The Road of Life, Woman in White, The Right to Happiness (a spinoff of The Guiding Light), Young Dr. Malone, and The Brighter Day.  Radio soaps, like most radio programs, were typically 15 minutes in length.

As shown in the special 70th Anniversary episode of Guiding Light that aired in 2007, Irna's style of writing consisted of dictating the dialogue for all the various characters to her longtime secretary, Rose Cooperman.  Irna would not indicate to Rose which character was speaking the dialogue.  Rather, Irna would essentially act out the various parts using different voices and mannerisms so that her secretary would be able to determine which characters were in the scene.

The Guiding Light was broadcast from its radio studios in Chicago from its inception in 1937 until October 1946.  Although there were dozens of soaps on the air by the late 1930s, Irna's soaps tended to be very highly rated, and one of her shows was usually at the number one spot in the ratings.  To take advantage of the greater talent pool that existed in Hollywood, production of the show moved from Chicago out west in June 1947.  Concurrent with this move was a change in radio networks from NBC to CBS.  GL has remained with the CBS Network ever since.

The Guiding Light's early star was Arthur Peterson who played the key role of Reverand John Ruthledge.  In the late 1970s, Peterson would become known to a whole new audience as the Major on the soap opera spoof, Soap.  Reportedly, Peterson was drawn to the role on The Guiding Light because of the truthful way that Irna wrote the part and the show in general.  Very often, Reverand Ruthledge was called upon to act as counterpoint and dramatic foil to another character, Ellis Smith, whom the townspeople of Five Points, The Guiding Light's original setting, nicknamed "Mr. Nobody From Nowhere."  Smith was a bitter, cynical character who only saw the bad in mankind.  Many episodes were simply dialogues between the two as they clashed over their differing worldviews and political ideologies.  This kind of pointed, fully-developed characterization was a rarity on soaps and had audiences riveted.  It was Peterson who often intoned Ruthledge's famous sentiment that encapsulated the core essence of what The Guiding Light was all about:

There is a destiny that makes us brothers / None goes his way alone / All that we send into the lives of others / Comes back into our own.

During World War II, Peterson served overseas, but remained a presence on the show by sending letters to Irna in character as Reverand Ruthledge, and Irna agreed to adapt and use them in the scripts.  With Peterson's temporary departure, Ruthledge had been written out of the show as being in Europe serving as a chaplain for the war effort.  About two years after the war ended, when The Guiding Light switched networks to CBS and began broadcasting from Hollywood, Peterson told Phillips that he wanted to remain in Chicago.  Incensed, Phillips killed off the character of Reverand Ruthledge before the move.

As production of the show moved to Hollywood, the setting of the stories also changed.  In 1947, Ned Holden, Reverand Ruthledge's adopted son, visited Selby Flats, a fictional suburb of Los Angeles.  Ned wanted to present his deceased father's lamp to family friend, Reverand Charles Matthews -- in essence, passing the torch.  With this, basically all of the original Guiding Light characters were off the show, and the series began to follow Reverand Matthews and the townspeople of Selby Flats.  The next year introduced the longest running core family to the show, The Bauers, who eventually took over the show and became synonymous with The Guiding Light.

However, ratings for The Guiding Light were not good during its years as a Hollywood production, and the decision was made to move the show to New York in 1949 where it remained until its recent cancellation.  Irna, however, relocated back to her native Chicago and wrote and spearheaded the show remotely.