FLASHBACK: A Complete, Concise Yearly History of TV Soap Operas - 1947 to 1977 (Part 2)

Brook Byron starred as Althea Dennis in The Brighter Day.

A Complete, Concise Yearly History of TV Soap Operas

The Soap Box
Vol. III No. 10 September 1978
by John Genovese

(continued from Part 1)

1954
An unprecedented year for serial premieres, the first was another radio hit which ran almost nine years on television: The Brighter Day, which was televised from January 4, 1954 to September 28, 1962. An Irna Phillips creation which went through several writers, including Doris Frankel (now of All My Children), Sam Hall (now of One Life to Live) and Eileen and Robert Mason Pollock (later of Love of Life, The Doctors and General Hospital), it revolved around kindly minister Rev. Richard Dennis and his five children who moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania, after their home in Three Rivers (from the radio soap) was washed away by a flood. Bill Smith was soon replaced by Blair Davies as the Reverend, Mona Bruns joined shortly after its debut as Aunt Emily Potter, and the supporting cast over the years included such top draws as Hal Holbrook, Anne Meacham, James Noble, Mary K. Wells, June Dayton, Paul Langton, Murial Williams, Herb Nelson, Forrest Compton, Lois Nettleton and Patty Duke. A Procter & Gamble Production, it eventually succumbed to too many writing upheavals.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Dead at 95

Zimbarlist starred in numerous television series
including The F.B.I., 77 Sunset Strip and the daytime
soap opera Concerning Miss Marlowe.

Actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. died Friday at his ranch in Solvang, Calif. He was 95.

His son, Efrem Zimbalist III, confirmed the death, saying that his father had been outside watering his lawn when a handyman found him lying in the grass.

“He was healthy, playing golf three days a week, and always in his garden,” his son said.

Zimbalist was best known for his leading roles in primetime crime dramas 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I.

His life imitated his art. Politically conservative, he was a strong defender of J. Edgar Hoover, the F.B.I.’s director, and a close friend of Ronald Reagan.

Although he had some success in movies, big-screen stardom eluded him; he did his most memorable work on television, a medium he sometimes resented but always understood.