65 Years Ago today in Radio History: One Mans Family aired for the final time on the radio. One Man's Family, the longest running uninterrupted serial drama on the radio, came to an end after the broadcast on this day, May 8, 1959. During the 27 year run, Henry Barbour's children grew up at various rated but Patriarch Henry aged very little. Today only: this collection is 10% off.
One Man's Family
A sweeping saga of One Man’s Family, this serial from the creator of I Love a Mystery, Carlton E. Morse, ran for 27 years, and follows the Barbour family patriarch from San Francisco stock broker to grandfather and beyond.
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397 old time radio show recordings
(total playtime 107 hours, 12 min)
available in the following formats:
Radio's most popular and longest running national serial was One Man's Family, the sweeping saga of family life created by that great creator of radio drama, Carlton E. Morse. Morse's work on I Love a Mystery was another facet of his genius for involved, personal plot lines that were loaded with interesting, impressive characters that thought and talked together like real people.
Perhaps it is easiest to state flatly that Carlton E. Morse was the greatest old time radio show creator of them all. Yet that would be unfair to all the other fine creative talents who made radio shows so varied and so entertaining that our lives were enriched and rewarded by their presence.
The plot lines are too involved to summarize, and the players would be a list of several dozen. In One Man's Family, the story of an entire family is the idea, and the family was headed by patriarch Henry Barbour, a stern white collar worker when the series began, and a loving, doting grandfather when it finally ended. "The show's success was due in no small part to the magnificent 27-year run as Henry Barbour by J. Anthony Smythe," says John Dunning, who gives a detailed account of the show in his "On the Air, The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio,". One Man's Family was blessed with fine actors as major cast players, all under the direction of Morse, and most remained with the show through the years, even as the Barbours developed and deepened as a family through the changes that American life and their own actions brought their way.
One Man's Family is a masterpiece of radio serial family drama. No one who heard the show during its vast sweep of broadcast history would deny that.
For other excellent Carlton E Morse productions, see also:
I just finished listening to One Man's Family. I wasn't sure how much I would like it when I first started. I am not a soap opera person, but I wanted to listen to the show because it was an institution in radio. Plus, I love history, and I saw this show as a window into a time long before I was born. Bottom line, I loved it.
I have read Patricia Morse's 6-part story in Movie-Radio Guide from 1942, and Dunning's summary of the family in his Encyclopedia, and while I am glad we have that to help flesh out the early years, it just doesn't compare with the quality of the shows themselves.
I found the storylines compelling and believable, the characters interesting and real. They were three dimensional. Sometimes they were sympathetic, sometimes funny, sometimes annoying. Morse's writing (and later Harlen Ware's writing) was crisp and intriguing. I actually cared what happened to each character. And the acting was excellent.
In the end it left me wanting more, which I think is a hallmark of a really good show. I want to know if Clifford had twins and did Henry get another grandson to help carry on the family name. Did Pinky ever get his act together? Whatever happened to poor Elwood Giddings? I could go on.
Although there are huge gaps in the episodes available, the 1949-1951 period is virtually intact and great listening. If you have been hesitant to listen to this show because it's in the nature of a soap opera, I recommend you give it a chance. This show is not a soap opera. It is a well-developed family drama that can compete with the best of today.
I did some searching and couldn't find anything definitive, but does anyone know if Morse (or anyone else) left any of the scripts for this show to any library or collection? I saw that the Library of Congress has a collection but while they list ILAM and ABM scripts, OMF is not mentioned.
I recently ordered "One Man's Family Album: An Inside Look at Radio's Longest Running Show", but that is really the only book I have seen on the show. I know in the 1949/1950 time frame Miles Labs was giving away a Barbour Family Album, but I have not come across a copy of that in any of my searching.
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Carlton Morse is a master of the plot, his various programs are fascinating and well worth adding to your collection. I have been searching for years for missing chapters of “I Love a Mystery” - hard to find, but worth the search! “One Man’s Family” is yet another example of the Morse talent for the story. This is a must addition for serious collectors!
I remember when it wasn't "Old Time" but cutting edge. "From high atop the the Phil Tower in Downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, KVOO presents Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys". Sitting with my Grandmother and her sisters and watching the radio for "Our Gal Sunday", "Just Plain Bill" and later in the day, "One Man's Family". "Good News Tonight" with H. V. Kaltenborn.
Today, I listened to disc #2 and as an earlier listener commented, it is a family drama presented in a soap opera format. A sign of this is that it was on Sundays in early " prime time ". This was one of the longest running shows of Radio's Golden Age. The writing and acting were good and you couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to the Barbour Family in the next episode.
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