ANN WORTH, HOUSEWIFE (1935 - 1938)

For two years Ann Worth, Housewife ruled supreme over the Michigan Radio Network as the only soap opera to originate from WXYZ, the Detroit radio station responsible for such adventure serials as The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon and The Green Hornet. Scripted by Tom Dougall, the soap opera premiered on morning of March 12, 1935, and ran three years, concluding on the afternoon of March 14, 1938. But regardless of the love affairs, trials and tribulations that occurred on the daily soap opera, the drama behind the microphone is even more entertaining. 

 

Ann Worth, Housewife was created as a starring vehicle for actress Joan Vitez, a blonde who looked and spoke beautifully. Her parents were Hungarian, but she was born in the Delray section of Southwest Detroit. With her low, vibrant voice, friends suggested she go into radio, so she applied for a job. Most of the men were in awe of her beauty, and it was Brace Beemer, then station manager, who saw potential for The Mills Baking Company, sponsor of The Happy Home Village, which was starting to wear thin. The sponsor wanted a new program. Timing could not have been more perfect. 

 

Enter stage left Tom Dougall, who co-starred in Norman Bel Geddes’ production of Hamlet, a frothy thing called Adam’s Wife, and a backstage noise in Lysistrata—all in New York. Having arrived in Detroit he tried to hire two other actors to play the lead in The Drunkard for a friend of his who was producing the show, but Dougall had to play the part himself. For seven weeks he portrayed the tragic role of the young man in the piece—the young man who was ruined by drink but finally managed to save the mortgage and his family by returning to the straight and narrow. So convincing was he in this melodramatic production that he caught the eye of James Jewell.

 

Jewell was directing all the dramas out of WXYZ, including The Lone Ranger. So thanks to Jewell, Dougall was hired. Tom Dougall started work at WXYZ in 1934 as an actor on Warner Lester, Manhunter, having co-starred in The Drunkard with Harriet Livingstone, and earlier had gone to the University of Michigan with Charles Livingstone (assistant director for radio at WXYZ). 

 

At the request of Brace Beemer, who hired Joan Vitez, Dougall created Ann Worth, Housewife, a soap opera which aired five mornings a week. Dougall himself played numerous roles including the father, and the Simon Legree sort on the program. Vitez was asked if she would be willing to star on the series for thirteen weeks—gratis—until they found a sponsor. She had already performed in two Lone Ranger broadcasts without being paid; Jewell referred to those as her “auditions.” She was green; she was naïve; but she was no fool. Vitez demanded to be paid since a radio program was worth something to somebody… and she was hired at $18 a week. When the Mills Baking Company signed up as a sponsor after having heard a number of broadcasts, Vitez received a raise to $35 a week.

George W. Trendle, the owner of the radio station, never thought much of Ann Worth, Housewife. Reportedly the series was created and premiered while he was on vacation. Upon returning from Florida, he listened to an episode and asked for an explanation, prompting him to ask, “Who’s responsible for that?” Fran Striker, who was writing The Lone Ranger, was happy to say he had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, it was a good enough show and had the backing of an important sponsor. After all, a paying client is a paying client. Trendle let the matter drop. Trendle was in favor of another soap opera on the network, Love Doctor (May 1935 to February 1936) but it was not as successful financially, never attracting a sponsor.

 

By 1937, when WXYZ signed with the NBC Blue Network, Ann Worth, Housewife aired in between Pepper Young’s Family and The O’Neills, which originated from the NBC studios in New York. In January or February 1938, with Brace Beemer no longer working for the station, Joan Vitez bumped into the former station manager at a cocktail party. After a little conversation, he asked the actress if she was aware that she was getting paid half of what the sponsors were paying for. Vitez looked puzzled, so Beemer explained all about “the clip.” 

 

To justify the expense of sponsoring a radio program, the sponsor was provided a breakdown of costs on a monthly basis. Accounts payable were submitted monthly, with the sponsor unaware that not all of the money was being allocated properly. The role of the producer was to distribute funds accordingly, and his salary was dependent on the lowest price he could produce. Within the breakdown, the Mills Baking Company was paying $150 a week solely for the talent of Joan Vitez; her salary was $75.

 

Tom Dougall

The next morning, following the completion of the next episode of Ann Worth, Housewife, the actress paid a visit to James Jewell. She confessed that she knew about “the clip,” and with disappointment she was exercising a clause in her contract that gave her the right to quit the show and to leave WXYZ at the end of the present 13-week term. Jewell thought she was joking until he coincidentally noticed her at the local bank closing her account and withdrawing her savings. Jewell begged for her to stay, and she agreed to remain for one week, long enough for him to find a replacement. She planned to go to New York City for greener pastures. A girl named Lenore Collins spent the week watching Vitez, during rehearsals and the actual broadcast, listening to her, learning to imitate her. Lenore was a buyer from Hudson’s Department Store, known for having a low voice much like Joan Vitez. But Collins was not a sufficient replacement.

 

Ruth Rickaby gathered some of the cast together for a little farewell. Joan told them about “the clip.” They had all suspected, but none of them knew definitely. 

 

“Look,” said Malcolm McCoy, picking at a hangnail and looking at Joan. “Do us a favor. Go to Mills Baking and tell them what’s going on.” 

 

“That would be great,” said Petruzzi.

 

“What have you got to lose?” Rickaby asked.

 

“You’re leaving anyway,” Petruzzi pointed out.

 

“All right,” said Joan. “Why not?” True to her word, Joan Vitez looked up a man in the advertising department at Mills Baking. She had met him before in connection with Ann Worth. She told him why she was leaving the show. He tried to persuade her to stay. She had already made up her mind and added, “the other actors wanted me to come to you and ask if you knew about the clip?” He didn’t know what she meant. She explained it. As Joan Vitez walked away from the Mills Baking Company, she erased the whole affair from her mind. She never went back to WXYZ. Lenore Collins took over the role of Ann Worth, Housewife, but—for reasons that remained unknown to the management of the radio station—Mills Baking cancelled their account a short time later, and the show went off the air in March of 1938.