Dimension X
Originally broadcast on NBC, 28 July 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- Mutual / NBC / CBS
- Years active
- 1944–1951
- Surviving broadcasts
- 468
- Genre
- soap
This upload contains 204 episodes of the Old Time Radio soap opera, Backstage Wife. The show, focused on the life of Mary Noble, ordinary girl from Iowa who married the matinee idol of Broadway, Larry Noble, aired from 1935-1959. In my opinion, the show is nowhere near as good as Mary Backstage, Noble Wife, the fantastic parody from Bob and Ray. The dates, episode numbers and titles are believed to be correct based on available information, but any corrections are welcome. Disclaimer: By uploading these files, I make no claim to ownership or copyright. These recordings have been acquired from publicly available sources on the Internet, and my goal has been to put together a collection of every available episode where possible. I will add to these collections if I discover new episodes or if any new episodes become available. Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “backstage-wife-1944-10-20-xx-tom-makes-plans-to-speak-with-philip-farnsworth”; these recordings are in the public domain.
1951 · 31950 · 81944 · 1
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: backstage-wife-1944-10-20-xx-tom-makes-plans-to-speak-with-philip-farnsworth
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
9 dated broadcasts across 8 years on the air, with 5 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1944, in original transmission order.
- 1. Backstage Wife 1944-10-20 (xx) Tom Makes Plans to Speak with Philip Farnsworth · 20 Oct 1944
- 2. Backstage Wife 50-06-06 (3919) Larry Is Restless · 6 Jun 1950
- 3. Backstage Wife 50-06-21 (3930) Julia Refuses to Return to Oyster Bay with Rupert Barlow, Unless · 21 Jun 1950
- 01
Backstage Wife 1944-10-20 (xx) Tom Makes Plans to Speak with Philip Farnsworth
20 Oct 1944 · 16 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 20 October 1944. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 02
Backstage Wife 50-06-06 (3919) Larry Is Restless
6 Jun 1950 · 10 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 03
Backstage Wife 50-06-21 (3930) Julia Refuses to Return to Oyster Bay with Rupert Barlow, Unless
21 Jun 1950 · 9 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 04
Backstage Wife 50-07-12 (3945) Rupert Barlow and Julia Have a Confrontation, and So Do Larry
12 Jul 1950 · 9 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 05
Backstage Wife 50-07-28 (3957) episode 3957
28 Jul 1950 · 9 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 06
Backstage Wife 1950-08-21 (3973) Rupert Barlow Is Just About to Kiss Mary When Maude and Oliver
21 Aug 1950 · 9 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 21 August 1950. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 07
Backstage Wife 50-09-13 (3990) episode 3990
13 Sep 1950 · 10 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 08
Backstage Wife 1950-10-06 (4006) Episode 4006
6 Oct 1950 · 10 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 6 October 1950. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Same night on the air
28 Jul 1950
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 28 Jul 1950.
The Adventures of Philip Marlowe
The Adventures of Philip Marlowe
The Adventures of Philip Marlowe The Glass Donkey
28 Jul 1950 · 29 min
Broadcast 28 July 1950. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The Guiding Light
Guiding Light is the longest running drama of all time. It began as a 15 minute old time radio show in 1937, running until 1947. It then ran through its metamorphosis into a television drama until 1956. In 1952, it became a television show and the radio and television programs ran concurrently for some time. Today this television show is still running. It was originally sponsored by Procter and Gamble, who put the "soap" in soap opera. The brainchild of Irna Phillips, this show is based on her life experiences. When she was 19, an unmarried Irna gave birth to a still-born child. At this time,
Same seasons
soap on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The daytime serial
Fifteen minutes a day, the same family for years, and a story that never quite resolves. Ma Perkins and Stella Dallas invented serialised character audio.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Backstage Wife
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
