Stella Dallas was an American radio soap opera that ran from October 25, 1937, to December 23, 1955.[1]The New York Times described the title character as "the beautiful daughter of an impoverished farmhand who had married above her station in life."[2]
The series was created and produced by the husband and wife team of Frank and Anne Hummert, based on the 1923 novel Stella Dallas by Olive Higgins Prouty. The 15-minute drama began on October 25, 1937, as a local show on WEAF in New York City,[1] in the wake of the successful movie version starring Barbara Stanwyck, and it was picked up by the NBC Radio network beginning June 6, 1938, running weekday afternoons.[3]
Stella was played for the entire run of the series by Anne Elstner. Her husband Stephen Dallas was portrayed at various times by Leo McCabe, Arthur Hughes and Frederick Tazere. Initially, Joy Hathaway played Stella's daughter Laurel with Vivian Smolen later taking over the role. Laurel's husband was Dick Grosvenor (played by Carleton Young, Macdonald Carey, Spencer Bentley, George Lambert and Michael Fitzmaurice).
The program's opening told the premise of the drama:
We give you now Stella Dallas, a continuation on the air of the true-to-life story of mother love and sacrifice, in which Stella Dallas saw her own beloved daughter, Laurel, marry into wealth and society and, realizing the differences in their tastes and worlds, went out of Laurel's life.[4]
The radio play inspired the name of the home furnishing store Stella Dallas in Dallas, Texas.[citation needed]
