Irna Phillips facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Irna Phillips
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| Born | July 1, 1901 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
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| Died | December 23, 1973 (aged 72) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
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| Years active | 1930–1972 |
| Children | 2 |
Irna Phillips (born July 1, 1901 – died December 23, 1973) was an American writer, producer, and actress. She is best known for creating the first soap operas for daytime radio and television, especially for women. Irna Phillips created, produced, and wrote many popular shows like Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and Another World. She also helped teach and guide other famous writers in the world of daytime TV.
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About Irna Phillips' Life
Irna Phillips grew up in Chicago as one of 10 children in a German-Jewish family. Her father passed away when she was only 8 years old. This left her mother to raise all the children by herself. Irna often said she felt lonely as a child. She would make up long, detailed stories for her dolls to act out.
After a very sad personal experience at age 19, Irna went to college. She studied drama at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She then earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Irna wanted to be an actress. However, her teachers told her she wasn't quite right for the stage. From 1925 to 1930, she taught drama and theater history in Dayton, Ohio. While teaching, she kept trying to act. She got some acting jobs on radio shows in Chicago. Soon, she left teaching to focus on her radio career. When she was 42, Irna adopted a son named Thomas. A year later, she adopted a daughter named Katherine.
Irna Phillips' Career in Radio and TV
Starting with Radio: Painted Dreams and Woman in White (1930–1940)
After working on a daytime talk show, Irna Phillips created her own radio series called Painted Dreams. This show played every day except Sundays on a local Chicago radio station, WGN. Irna wrote every episode herself. She also acted in the show, playing characters like Mother Moynihan. Mother Moynihan was a strong widowed mother of a large family. Irna based Mother Moynihan's challenges on her own mother's experiences.
With Painted Dreams, Irna Phillips became known for creating a new type of daytime radio show. These shows were made especially for women. She became known as the "Queen of the Soaps." She introduced new ideas like using organ music to smoothly connect scenes. She also created "cliff-hanger" endings. These endings made listeners want to tune in the next day to find out what happened.
Many people, especially sponsors like Procter & Gamble, didn't always approve of her writing. The radio business in the 1930s was mostly run by men. They sometimes said that Irna's shows were childish or unrealistic. But in truth, her female characters were strong and had many choices. They were educated and had unique personalities. These characters were different from what people usually saw for women in the 1930s.
Painted Dreams started without a sponsor. But Irna believed that radio shows should help sell products. She wrote storylines, like engagements and weddings, that could lead to product advertisements.
In 1932, Irna wanted WGN to sell Painted Dreams to a national radio network. When they refused, she took them to court. She said the show belonged to her. This legal fight ended her work with WGN. She then moved to another station, WMAQ. Her show Painted Dreams was renamed Today’s Children. It had the same story about choosing between a career and starting a family. After this, Irna made sure she owned all the rights to her new shows.
By 1938, Painted Dreams was bought by CBS. Because of the court settlement, Irna couldn't work on that show anymore. When her mother died that year, Irna asked CBS to stop Today's Children out of respect. CBS agreed. They replaced it with her new show, Woman in White. This show was set in a hospital. It was one of the first daytime shows to focus on a hospital setting. On Woman in White, Irna started working with Agnes Nixon. William J. Bell also began learning from Irna during her radio days. Both Agnes Nixon and William J. Bell became very important in the world of soap operas later on.
Radio and TV Shows: The Guiding Light and As the World Turns (1940–1960)
In 1937, Irna Phillips created her third radio show, The Guiding Light. This show was based on her own life. After a personal tragedy at age 19, she found comfort listening to sermons from a preacher. These sermons, which focused on kindness and community, inspired The Guiding Light. The show was first broadcast from Chicago on the NBC radio network.
NBC cancelled the show twice, but it was brought back because listeners loved it so much. In 1947, CBS picked up the series. In 1952, The Guiding Light moved to television. It continued to air until 2009, becoming one of the longest-running shows in history.
In the 1940s, Irna Phillips wrote a huge amount of material. She would dictate six to eight hours a day. She earned a lot of money for her work. Other popular shows she created during this time included The Right to Happiness (1939–1960) and The Brighter Day (1954–1962).
In 1949, Irna created These Are My Children. This was the first soap opera to be shown on a major television network. It ran on NBC for one month. In 1956, she created As the World Turns. This was one of the first two daytime shows to be a half-hour long. Within two years, As the World Turns became the most popular drama. It stayed at the top for over 20 years.
Early in the show's run, Irna Phillips fired lead actress Helen Wagner. However, the show's sponsors and CBS wanted Helen Wagner back. Irna was forced to rehire her. Helen Wagner remained on the show until she passed away in 2010.
Later Years: Another World and More (1964–1973)
Irna Phillips worked with William J. Bell to create Another World in 1964. It was meant to be a companion show to As the World Turns. Even though the same company owned both shows, CBS didn't have room for Another World. So, rival network NBC bought the rights to broadcast it.
Irna was known for being very particular about her actors. She sometimes fired actors quickly if she didn't like their performance. Actress Kay Campbell once said that Irna was very tough on actors. Irna Phillips and William J. Bell later handed over the main writing role for Another World to James Lipton, and then Agnes Nixon took over.
In 1965, Irna was a story editor for Days of Our Lives. She also worked as a story consultant on Peyton Place. She then co-created Our Private World. This was the first prime-time show that came from a daytime soap opera. It featured the character Lisa Miller from As the World Turns. The show ran for a few months in 1965 before being cancelled.
Irna left the show Love is a Many Splendored Thing because of creative differences with the network about a storyline.
Irna was also an unofficial story editor for A World Apart. This ABC soap opera was created by her adopted daughter, Katherine. One of the main characters in that show was a soap opera writer living in Chicago. Soon after, As the World Turns asked Irna to come back and write for them. She brought in new characters and storylines. However, the company that owned the show fired Irna in early 1973. This was her last writing job.
On January 25, 2007, an episode of Guiding Light celebrated its 70th Anniversary. The actors in that episode played people from the show's early days. Actress Beth Ehlers played Irna Phillips. Some events from Irna's life were shown in a fictional way.
Irna Phillips was a very independent businesswoman. She kept the ownership rights to all her shows. This meant that advertising agencies, sponsors, and networks had little control over her soap opera empire.
Irna Phillips' Shows
Irna Phillips created or co-created many radio and TV soap operas, including:
- Painted Dreams (radio 1930–1932)
- Guiding Light (radio 1937–1956, television 1952–2009)
- The Road of Life (radio 1937–1959, television 1954)
- Young Dr. Malone (radio 1939–1960, television 1958–1963)
- The Brighter Day (radio 1948–1956, television 1954–1962)
- These Are My Children (1949)
- As the World Turns (1956–2010) - a companion show to Guiding Light
- Another World (1964–1999) - a companion show to As the World Turns
- Our Private World (1965) - a spin-off of As The World Turns
- Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1967–1973)
Phillips also worked as a creative consultant on Peyton Place (1964–69). She was an unofficial consultant on A World Apart, which was created by her adopted daughter Katherine. Irna Phillips was also a story editor on Days of Our Lives.
Death of Irna Phillips
Irna Phillips passed away in Chicago on December 23, 1973, at the age of 72. The cause of her death was not publicly shared. Harding Lemay, another writer, and his wife paid to have her obituary published in The New York Times. Agnes Nixon, who Irna had mentored, learned of her death when she called Irna to wish her a Merry Christmas. According to Nixon, Irna Phillips had wanted her passing to be kept private.
Credits
Radio Shows
- Painted Dreams (1930–1943)
- Today's Children (1932–1938, 1943–1950)
- Judy and Jane (1932–1943)
- Woman in White (1938–1942)
- Joyce Jordan, Girl Interne (also known as Joyce Jordan, M.D.) (1938–1955)
- The Road of Life (1937–1959)
- The Guiding Light (1937–1956)
- The Right to Happiness (1939–1960)
- Lonely Women (1942–1943)
- Masquerade (1948–1952)
- The Brighter Day (1948–1956)
Television Shows
- These Are My Children (1949)
- Guiding Light (1952–2009)
- The Brighter Day (1954–1962)
- The Road of Life (1954)
- As the World Turns (1956–2010)
- Another World (1964–1999)
- Our Private World (1965)
- Days of Our Lives (1965–present)
- Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1967–1973)
- A World Apart (1970–1971)
