Hawkins Falls, Population 6200

BLOG 4 PAINTED DREAMS & HAWKINS FALLS

THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO WORLDS WITHOUT END THE ART & HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA (1997) Harry N. Abrams, Inc. The Soap Opera on Television Despite the success of the serial in magazine publishing, at the movies, and on radio, there was still resistance by television execs to use the form. One of the visionaries of early television, NBC president Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, felt the radio technique woudn't work in a visual medium because there was higher absorption and greater tension demands on television. Although prime-time entertainment was successful in 1948 with Milton Berle vaudeville on television; it took three more years for the soap opera to make a successful jump.

The DuMont producer David P. Lewis, searched for daytime drama that would allow the housewife "to turn away and go on peeling potatoes or knitting." Even Irna Phillips failed in her initial attempt, a reworking of her first radio serial PAINTED DREAMS, because she made no concessions to the visual medium. One piece from Chicago, known for its realism, HAWKINS FALLS, ran three months in prime time and four years in the afternoon. Cocreator was Roy Winsor. Daytime Versus Early Prime Time Whatever the ultimate root of the critical prejudice against the television soap opera, it is interesting to note that it existed from the beginning, even when daytime and prime-time dramas were much closer in tone and style. During the fifties, daytime serial and live drama shared many of the same aesthetic values: both emphasized psychology of character and the power of the revelatory close-up; both employed actors who had training in the theater and writers working in the realistic tradition of the Broadway problem play; both were performed live

Just to correct the above poster who said no Kinescope's exists. The museum of broadcasting based in Chicago has 3 episodes and I know of at least one other episode which I have in my personal collection. While NBC considered this series a television novel, I thought the writing was very good and the acting was good as well. It's really ashamed that networks did not have the hindsight to save and archive some of the early live soaps a decision they would later regret. The few that do exist come from Kinescope's and are not the best when it comes to viewing but in most cases are watchable. We can only hope that someday more classic soap material will surface in long forgotten network vaults or affiliate archives.

Remember how that show started? "In Hawkins Falls, people say...." then came the theme song, "Skip to My Lou."

I was a lot younger, like three or four and what I remember most about Hawkins Falls was that it came before Howdy Doody which was my favorite show. Could you imagine what it was like to be kid having to sit around while this soapie was talking about issues I couldn't understand, but I did know I had to sit through it to watch Howdy, followed by Rootie Kazootie, Gabby Hayes, whom I just adored, Kukla Fran and Ollie, the incomparable Captain Video and his Video Rangers and finally, my day ended because the absolutely boring John Cameron Swayze came on with the Camel News Caravan and "Today's News Today...Glad we can get together." Then as a chaser was Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians.

This program ran from 1950 to 1955. Most of its run was done in a 15 minute format, which was perfect for the subject matter at the time; not quite soap opera, yet not quite true dramatic fare. Indeed, it was something else at a time when television was really very new and still finding its way.

I lived in New York City at the time it debuted and was 10 years old. Like any other kid, I got out of school at 3 O'Clock and was home in time for other 15 minute fare produced for kids: "The Gabby Hayes Show", "Atom Squad" and the like. But the really good stuff (like "Tom Corbett Space Cadet" and "The Wild Bill Hickock Show") did not come on until 5:30 PM. And to boot, we only had 4 channels at our disposal.

So what was a kid with this incredibly hypnotic,new fangled gadget, TV, to do? Watch something else. So in time, I began to watch "Hawkins Falls."

First of all, this program, broadcast in the grainy black & white of the time, was (I realize today) a "true" depiction of mid 40's to early 50's suburban life in White American communities. And it was far more realistic than "Ozzie & Harriet", "Leave It to Beaver" or "The Donna Reed Show" would ever be.

More important, it was well acted by real looking character actors. And since it was live early television, the prop errors,dialog slips, missed cues and lines enhanced the 'its's happening now' effect.

The show began to grow on me and, believe it or not, in time, not only did I come to like it, but I developed and early pubescent crush on one of the main characters, Lorna, who was old enough to be my mother.

This was not an easy burden to carry in my neighborhood, because I was a young Black kid living in a Black area of New York City, called Harlem. And such thoughts were not openly spoken of in either the White or Black communities (even though I did grow up to marry a member of the White race).

So I kept my passion as secret from my friends as I did the fact that I was watching such a television show.

Nevertheless, in my adult life and memory, I know how good a show it was, and I only wish the people of today could view it and judge for themselves an America of their grandparents, long gone.

Unfortunately, there are not even any Kinescope copies of the show remaining. Too bad! A valuable piece of television history gone forever.