Two brand-new Procter & Gamble-sponsored soap operas premiered on April 2, 1956: “As the World Turns” and “The Edge of Night”. Excited to be breaking ground with their longer, 1/2-hour formats, CBS and the sponsors were also fulfilling their desire to offer a mystery-based daytime television serial. Irving Vendig, who had spent the previous 12 years writing the weekday radio drama “Perry Mason” for CBS, created The Edge of Night for Procter & Gamble. The new program was originally intended to be a television version of that popular radio drama, but the rights were denied by Erle Stanley Gardner (a.k.a., Perry Mason’s creator) because the TV producers refused to promise that the characters of Perry Mason & Della Street would remain romantically uninvolved. Besides hiring away Perry Mason’s scriptwriter, the producers made another judicious move when they engaged the services of John Larkin, the radio voice of Perry Mason, to play the lead in their new, late afternoon series. According to the Museum of Television & Radio, this soap was, “…unlike anything seen on daytime television before. The formula worked: The Edge of Night attracted an audience of action-enthusiasts with its dramatically staged live shoot-outs without scaring away the housewives who traditionally watched at that hour. Premiering in the 4:30 p.m. time slot to reflect its ominous title and theme, the serial had an audience of 9 million viewers – half of them men – and a place near the top of the daytime ratings after its first year.” IMDb succinctly summarizes the 28-yr. long storyline: “In the fictional city of Monticello, attorney Mike Karr and his colleagues are involved in solving crimes and intrigue which touch the lives of many citizens. Some such citizens include dowager Geraldine Whitney, the frequently-married Raven Alexander, attorney Adam Drake and his wife, Nicole, attorney Draper Scott and his wife, April, Police Chief Bill Marceau, night club owner Johnny Dallas, physician Dr. Miles Cavanaugh, young Jody Travis and her many boyfriends, and Mike Karr himself, his wife, Nancy, and their daughter, Lorrie. All the usual soap opera devices, including prolonged amnesia, a woman with a split personality, murderous mobsters, usurped identities, and murders with many suspects, are used quite effectively in this long running serial.” In 1972, CBS decimated their unflaggingly successful program when they shifted it to a much earlier afternoon timeslot. This network blunder resulted in the loss of its male & after-school-youth audience. Sadly, CBS soon decided to cancel it altogether. In 1975, The Edge of Night became the first daytime drama on television to leave one broadcast network (CBS) and continue on another broadcast network (ABC). Although ABC returned it to its customary late afternoon timeslot, The Edge of Night never regained its former glory. Struggling on for another decade, it eventually fell victim to affiliate defections. On December 28, 1984, after 7,420 episodes, this intricately woven crime melodrama signed off the air. As we nostalgically salute the fictional, Midwestern city of Monticello in our textile nomenclature below, we’d like to point out that the skyline depicted at the beginning of the show was that of Cincinnati, Ohio as seen from Kentucky.
This collection of color coordinated fashion fabrics is from the Winter 2011 issue of Vogue Fabrics By Mail. Order a subscription to this swatch club catalog service to receive home delivery.
This collection of color coordinated fashion fabrics is from the Winter 2011 issue of Vogue Fabrics By Mail. Order a subscription to this swatch club catalog service to receive home delivery.
