With many of popular shows, William Ramsey of Procter & Gamble was willing to test a new show for American housewives. Ramsey gave the green light to Sandra Michael to create Against the Storm. She began writing the script on September 3, 1939, the day that Great Britain declared war on Germany. As a pacifist and staunch anti-Nazi, this event greatly moved her and affected the moral outlook of the show.
Sandra Michael (who also wrote Monticello Party Line) had long complained about the soap operas offered to American women. Against the Storm was written, "as if housewives were intelligent" rather than the formulaic droll of common soap operas. The show is a serial per se with plots circling loosely around Professor Jason McKinley Allen (Roger DeKoven), his wife, daughters and friends.
The show was a hit with critics and won the Peabody Award in 1942. With the success of the show, Sandra Michael looked to expand the show to 30 minutes, but instead the show was canceled. Different versions of Against the Storm were produced in 1949 and the early 1950s. This collection includes the original version of Against the Storm.
(Please note that many of the rare recordings in this collection may be of inferior sound quality.)
I listened to disc #1 today.This is a good representation of a 1940 soap opera. The annoucer is Ralph Edwards and the sponsor is Ivory Soap. The daily routine of the characters isn't quite as melodramatic as some of the soap operas of the time, which I think is an asset. For whatever the reason, Against The Storm didn't last as long broadcasting as some of its more famous contemporaries.
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