Today in Soap Opera History (September 29)

On this date in...

1947: Radio soap opera CLAUDIA premiered.  Due in large part to the success of the two Claudia movies, the D'Arcy advertising agency decided to bring the characters to radio in a five-a-week quarter-hour serial on behalf of its client, Coca-Cola. Kathryn Bard was cast as Claudia and Paul Crabtree as David, with Joe King announcing.

1969: BRIGHT PROMISE premiered on NBC. The daytime soap opera ran at 3:30 p.m. ET until March 31, 1972. The show revolved around students and faculty at the fictional Bancroft College and was created by Frank and Doris Hursley. The show starred Dana Andrews, and Anthony Geary would later join the cast. BRIGHT PROMISE actress Gail Kobe would become the executive producer of its replacement show, RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE.

1978: NBC aired the final episode of FOR RICHER, FOR POORER, a daytime soap opera originally titled LOVERS AND FRIENDS. The characters of Amy and Austin Cushing arrived on the network's top-rated soaper, ANOTHER WORLD, in advance of the FOR RICHER, FOR POORER debut in the hope of attracting that audience. AW's Rachel Cory and then Mac Cory also appeared on the show. Ultimately it wouldn't help.  Read this classic article for more.

1979: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Grant shocked Lisa when he agreed to "grant" her a quickie divorce so she could marry Bennett. Meanwhile, Ian suffered a heart attack shocking the audience including Tom, Barbara, Nancy and Chris (pictured right).  Ian was rushed to the hospital and survived, but died five months later when having a another heart attack while making love with heartbreaking Dee Stewart.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Robert Gentry (ex-Ed, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Ross, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Philip, ANOTHER WORLD; ex-Giles, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Jordan, GENERATIONS; ex-Richard, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Elliott, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL) - 72
Ian McShane (ex-Don, DALLAS) - 70
Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 59
Roger Bart (Barry, POLITICAL ANIMALS; Mason, REVENGE; ex-George, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) - 50
Andrea Pearson (ex-Gia, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 36

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a piece of soap opera history for this daily column, please email it to editor@welovesoaps.com.