Ma Perkins



Show Information bases on John Dunning's book "On The Air"



Soap opera (1933-1960).



Ma Perkins, "America's mother of the air," was an audio milestone that spanned almost the entire lifetime of network radio drama. Typical of Hummert serials, Ma had tears, maniacs, and melodrama in her arsenal of cliffhangers. But she overcame this with long quiet spells, with deep conversations about the meaning of life against an enfolding panorama of family and personality conflicts.



She was an ageless widow, probably in her 60s, who owned and managed a lumberyard in Rushville Center (pop. about 4,000). She was described by Time just before her 25th anniversary as "a shrewd combination of Dr. Christian, David Harum, and Tugboat Annie"; the woman's answer to Just Plain Bill. Ma was the salt of the earth, a sage whose life was never too busy for the problems of others. She lived staunchly by the Golden Rule, but didn't hesitate to go to war if she saw the forces of evil thriving unopposed. She was the town's conscience, its best-loved sounding board, its guide in matters of the head and the heart.



Supporting players came and went, but the main cast remained consistent. The characters were Ma, her partner Shuffle Shober, her three children, their children, and the people who married into her family. In chronological order, Ma's three children were Evey, John, and Fay. All were grown as the serial got under way in 1933. The earliest known episode, the eighth broadcast (Dec. 13, 1933), reveals Ma as a combative old hen, determined to persuade daughter Evey to leave her naive husband, Willy Fitz. In this very early show, Ma was in a primitive stage of development, and it took all the common sense of John and Fay to convince her of her mistakes.



Evey was a superficial character, a social climber whose greatest ambition was to become president of Rushville Center's little bastion of society, the Jolly Seventeen. She was sometimes shrewish and was often irritated at life's financial burdens. Her husband, Willy, was less than a flaming success; their son, Junior, was described as the town's version of "a refined 'Dead-End Kid.'" Evey filled her spare time with bridge games among the socially elite. She was known to be a heartache to Ma, who cared little for posturing or appearances. But Evey had one saving grace: she was "warm and kind" in spite of her flaws. Willy Fitz, at 38 three years her senior, was a "good Joe" (Radio Life) who "likes flashy clothes and cigars, has interminable schemes to make himself a million dollars," but "is devoid of a sense of humor."



Young John Perkins was a steadying influence. But he was killed in World War II, buried "somewhere in Germany in an unmarked grave." Fay, the youngest, was said to be "in her late 20s" in 1948, but the timeless flow might well have allowed her to be about the same age a decade earlier. She was Ma's darling, a smaller version of the heroine herself. Fay went through many love affairs during the long run and was said to be "thoroughly at the mercy of her emotions." Her husband, Paul Henderson, was killed in 1940, less than a year after their marriage. Over the years, Fay came to the brink of matrimony with such diverse characters as Gary Curtis (John's embittered pal from the war), playboy Dr. Andrew White, millionaire Carl Michaels, and the self-satisfied Spencer Grayson.



Shuffle Shober, co-owner of the lumber yard, was in many ways like Ma Perkins - tough honesty combined with an understanding of the human spirit. Though not as rustically articulate as Ma, Shuffle sometimes saw through deceit faster. Ma's guiding principle was that all people deserved trust until they proved otherwise, while Shuffle often believed the reverse of this. Many a night they sat together on Ma's front porch, talking sentimentally about their loved ones and the world around them. On those warm wartime evenings they would watch the lights up and down the block go out; then, with their troubles still unresolved but somehow easier to bear, Shuffle would shuffle off, leaving Ma contented with the blessings in life.



Others in town were August Pendleton the banker, Charley Brown the grocer, and Fred Sweeney the stationmaster, who ran the telegraph office and waited for trains that were seldom on time. The main street was intersected by streets bearing the names of trees. There was a "moving picture house" and, of course, a church, though the scripts took care never to refer to Ma's denomination of preference.



The serial had its share of dark melodrama: two isolated chapters from 1938 have Ma sheltering a political escapee from Russia. The man's wife, Sonya, is shot by agents through the window of Ma's house and dies in his arms. Fay's beau Gary Curtis was a negative force, settling in the Perkins home after his Navy discharge and causing no end of trouble. People were divorced, killed, and disgraced, and in one memorable story Ma Perkins exposed a baby black market. But the show had a river-like movement, unusual in soap operas, that took it through no more than two or three major complications a year. Entire programs were devoted to celebrations of major American holidays.



In an incredible performance, Virginia Payne played Ma Perkins without missing a show in 27 years. Payne, just 23 when the show premiered, gave a convincing portrayal of a middle-aged battleaxe despite her youth. It was Payne who softened the character by degrees until the real Ma Perkins emerged. Unlike her fictitious counterpart, Payne had a college education and finally a master's degree: at $50,000 a year, she earned more than any other actress in the soaps. Because of her youth, her identity was kept secret; later she made personal appearances in a wig, "frumpy" clothes, and spectacles, though Time revealed that the getup made her feel "like an impostor." Through 7,065 performances, Payne respected her character: "I've never played her short," she said. Payne died Feb. 10, 1977.



By daytime standards, Ma Perkins was a ratings champion, peaking at 11-plus in 1939. When it went to two networks, the combined rating was usually over 13, and one year it was over 16. It aired from Chicago until 1947, when it moved to New York. So strong was the sponsor identification that it was billed as "Oxydol's own Ma Perkins." In 1956, Procter & Gamble leased the show to Lever Brothers, to promote Spry, but would not sell it outright. At the height of its fame, Ma Perkins was heard in Hawaii, Canada, and throughout Europe on Radio Luxembourg.





CAST:

Virginia Payne as Ma Perkins, homespun philosopher and owner of a lumber yard in the small town of Rushville Center.

Charles Egelston as Shuffle Shober, her best friend and partner, ca.1933-58.

Edwin Wolfe (who also directed for much of the run) as Shuffle, ca. 1958-60.

Dora Johnson as Ma's oldest daughter, Evey.

Laurette Fillbrandt also as Evey.

Kay Campbell as Evey, ca. 1945-60.

Rita Ascot as Ma's younger daughter, Fay.

Laurette Fillbrandt, Cheer Brentson, Marjorie Hannan, and Margaret Draper also as Fay.

Gilbert Faust as Ma's son, John Perkins.

Murray Forbes as Willy Fitz, who married daughter Evey.

Cecil Roy, Bobby Ellis, and Arthur Young as Junior Fitz, son of Evey and Willy.

Nannette Sargent and Judith Lockser as Fay's daughter, Paulette.

Maurice Copeland as Augustus Pendleton, town banker and most prominent citizen.

Beverly Younger as Pendleton's wife, Mathilda, leader of high society, head of the Jolly Seventeen, and a major antagonist to Evey Perkins Fitz.

Patricia Dunlap and Helen Lewis as Gladys Pendleton, their daughter.

Jonathan Hole as Fay's ill-fated husband, Paul Henderson.

McKay Morris as Gregory Ivanoff.

Rye Billsbury as Gary Curtis.

Ray Suber as Charley Brown.

John Larkin and Casey Allen as Tom Wells.



ANNOUNCERS: Bob Brown from 1933;

also Jack Brinkley, Dick Wells, Marvin Miller as "Charlie Warren," Dan Donaldson, etc.

PRODUCERS: Frank and Anne Hummert.

DIRECTORS: Roy Winsor, George Fogle, Philip Bowman, Edwin Wolfe, etc.

WRITERS: Robert Hardy Andrews, Lee Gebhart, Orin Tovrov (20 years), etc.

THEME: Original music by Larry Larsen and Don Marcotte, often mistaken for My Old Kentucky Home because of similar composition.



BROADCAST HISTORY:

Aug. 14-Dec. 1, 1933, WLW, Cincinnati. l5m, weekdays.

Dec. 4, 1933-July 8, 1949, NBC. l5m, weekdays at 3, 1933-34, then at 3:15. Oxydol.

Sept. 28, 1942-Nov. 25, 1960, CBS; double-network status 1942-49. l5m, weekdays at 1:15.

Oxydol until 1956, then various.

Concurrent broadcasts:

1935-36, Mutual, 11:30 A.M.; Jan.-May, 38, CBS, 10:45 A.M.;

Blue Network, 10:15 A.M., Feb.-Dec. 1937, and 10:45 A.M., June-Nov. 1938.