Victory Front - Christmas Eve Opening Night [Second Husband]

Isolationism was a popular sentiment in the years and months
before December 7, 1941. After the Date Which Would Live in
Infamy, people from all over the nation, from all walks of life
suddenly rose as one and dedicated their efforts to defeating the
Axis.


Industrial workers produced more planes and guns and bullets.
Farmers raised more food than ever before. On the radio,
 they produced more... Soap Operas?


Yes, Soap Operas were part of the War Effort. No one tried to
throw an organ at Mussolini, give Tojo amnesia, or find out that
Hitler was having a secret affair with his best friend's sister
who had been abandoned as an infant. Rather, the Soaps were
employed as part of the Allied propaganda effort. Most of the
sudsy dramas had a character, or the beloved of one of the
characters who found themselves in uniform, only to return to
their homes broken in someway in body or spirit, or with that
Soap Opera favorite, a bad case of amnesia.


In 1942, CBS gave a portion of their day-time air to a sustained
program called The Victory Front. The Victory Front was billed as
being “sponsored by the United States Government”, although which
branch or department of the Government is not listed. The show
featured the stars of favorite soap operas, “the people many of
us know and love, the people we meet every day on the radio”,
showcasing issues important to the Wartime Housewife.


The scripts for The Victory Front were written especially for the
program. A few of the episodes presented new characters and
stories for “serial drama”. Give Us This Day was a series
centered on a city-boy who visits a farm for the summer and
learns about life and food production, and on We Love And Learn a
school teacher learns as much from her pupils as they do from
her.


On Second Husband, our heroine is alone in New York on Christmas
Eve while her husband is on a submarine, prowling the depths of
the Atlantic.