52nd Yahrzeit of the Nice Jewish Woman Who Invented Soap Operas

Photo Credit: Alauddin Vuian / Flickr

Irna Phillips on the cover of Time Magazine, as Woman of the Year 1957.

“Beyond the Gates” is set to debut on CBS TV on Monday, February 24, 2025. This marks the first new network daytime drama in 25 years, as well as the first new soap opera on CBS since 1987. It also represents the first new show from Procter & Gamble Productions, the company that pioneered the “soap” in “soap opera” before “As the World Turns” ended in 2010.

None of this would have been possible without the vision of Irna Phillips, a Jewish woman from Chicago.

Irna Phillips was one of ten children born to a German-Jewish family in Chicago. Her father passed away when she was just 8 years old, leaving her mother to raise the children on her own.

Phillips often described herself as a lonely child, wearing hand-me-down clothes and creating elaborate stories for her dolls to act out. In 1920, at the age of 19, she became pregnant, was abandoned by her boyfriend, and later gave birth to a stillborn child.

Despite these early challenges, she pursued her education in drama at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she joined the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority. She earned a Master of Arts degree before continuing her studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she obtained a master’s degree in journalism.

After starting her career as a staff writer for a daytime talk show, Irna Phillips created “Painted Dreams,” a groundbreaking daily serial (except Sundays) on Chicago’s WGN radio station. She not only wrote every episode but also starred as two characters: Mother Moynihan, a widowed matriarch of a large Irish-American family, and Sue Morton. Mother Moynihan’s struggles were inspired by Phillips’ own mother’s challenges.

As the creator, producer, and star of “Painted Dreams,” Phillips is credited with pioneering the daytime serial format for radio, aimed at a primarily female audience. Dubbed the “Queen of the Soaps,” she introduced innovative techniques such as the organ bridge to transition smoothly between scenes and the cliffhanger ending that kept audiences returning.

Phillips faced annoying criticism for her work, especially from sponsors like Procter & Gamble, in the male-dominated radio industry of the 1930s. Critics dismissed her serials as unrealistic, vulgar, and distasteful. However, her female characters were trailblazers, portrayed as strong, educated, and independent—qualities that defied traditional expectations of women at the time.

The central conflict in Painted Dreams often revolved around changing gender roles. Irene Moynihan, a daughter aspiring to a career, stood in contrast to the traditional views held by Mother Moynihan and Sue Morton. Male characters were not introduced until later in the series.

Phillips understood the importance of tying the series to advertisers, incorporating elements like engagements and weddings to allow for product endorsements. Her innovative approach proved successful in blending storytelling with commercial utility.

In 1932, Phillips urged WGN to sell Painted Dreams to a national network. When they refused, she sued the station, claiming ownership of the series. WGN’s manager, Henry Selinger, argued that the concept of a daytime serial originated with him, but Phillips countered that she was hired to write and perform in the series.

This legal dispute ended her association with WGN, but Phillips took her talent to rival station WMAQ, where she launched Today’s Children. The new show retained Painted Dreams’ plotlines, focusing on the choice between a career and family. Having learned from her experience, Phillips ensured she retained all rights to her subsequent creations.

By 1938, the court ruled on “Painted Dreams,” and CBS purchased the series. However, as part of the settlement, Phillips could no longer be involved. That same year, after her mother’s passing, Phillips requested that Today’s Children be discontinued out of respect, and CBS agreed, replacing it with her new show, Woman in White. Set in a hospital, Woman in White became one of the first daytime serials to focus on medical drama. It also marked the beginning of Phillips’ mentorship of future soap opera legends like Agnes Nixon and William J. Bell, who apprenticed under her during her radio career.

“Without Irna Phillips, the soap opera genre as we know it simply wouldn’t exist,” says Alina Adams, New York Times best-selling author of “As the World Turns.”

In an era dominated by formulaic, homogeneous characters, Phillips broke new ground. Her serial “The Guiding Light” introduced Rose Kransky, an Orthodox Jewish woman working in her father’s secondhand store while dreaming of a more glamorous life. Rose’s story included borrowing money from a sympathetic minister, Reverend Ruthledge, to attend secretarial school, leading to a job with a married publisher, an affair, and the kind of drama that kept listeners tuning in day after day. Phillips understood how to craft compelling, relatable characters that resonated with diverse audiences.

“The Guiding Light” was also a pioneer in on-screen diversity, becoming the first soap opera to feature African-American actors in contract roles. In 1966, the character Jim Frazier was played by Billy Dee Williams and later by James Earl Jones, while his wife, Martha, was portrayed by Cecily Tyson and subsequently Ruby Dee in 1967.

Irna Phillips passed away in Chicago 52 years ago, on December 23, 1973, at the age of 72, from undisclosed causes. Her obituary was written by Harding Lemay, who, along with his wife, personally paid to have it published in The New York Times. Agnes Nixon, Phillips’ protégé, learned of her mentor’s passing when she called to wish her a Merry Christmas. Nixon later revealed that Phillips had not wanted anyone to know about her death, choosing to keep it private.