Young Widder Brown

---

title: "Young Widder Brown" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-radio-soap-operas", "1930s-american-radio-programs", "1940s-american-radio-programs", "1950s-american-radio-programs", "nbc-radio-programs"] description: "1938-1956 radio drama series" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Widder_Brown" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1938-1956 radio drama series ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox radio show"]

Field	Value
show_name	Young Widder Brown
image	Youngwidderbrown.jpg
imagesize	200px
caption	The cast of Young Widder Brown with Florence Freeman (Ellen Brown) seated middle. Announcer George Ansbro is at top left.
format	Daytime serial drama
runtime	15 minutes
country	United States
language	English
syndicates	Mutual
NBC
starring	Florence Freeman
Bud Collyer
announcer	George Ansbro
creator	Frank and Anne Hummert
director	Martha Atwell
producer	Frank and Anne Hummert
first_aired	1938
last_aired	June 12, 1956
open_theme	"In the Gloaming"
othertheme	"Wonderful One"
sponsor	Sterling Drugs
::

|show_name = Young Widder Brown |image = Youngwidderbrown.jpg |imagesize = 200px |caption = The cast of Young Widder Brown with Florence Freeman (Ellen Brown) seated middle. Announcer George Ansbro is at top left. |other_names = |format = Daytime serial drama |runtime = 15 minutes |country = United States |language = English |home_station = |syndicates = Mutual NBC |television = |presenter = |starring = Florence Freeman Bud Collyer |announcer = George Ansbro |creator = Frank and Anne Hummert |writer = |director = Martha Atwell |senior_editor = |editor = |producer = Frank and Anne Hummert |exec_producer = |narrated = |rec_location = |first_aired = 1938 |last_aired = June 12, 1956 |num_series = |num_episodes = |audio_format = |open_theme = "In the Gloaming" |othertheme = "Wonderful One" |endtheme = |sponsor = Sterling Drugs |website = |podcast = Young Widder Brown was a daytime radio drama series broadcast on NBC from 1938 to 1956. Sponsored by Sterling Drugs and Bayer Aspirin, it daily examined the life of "attractive Ellen Brown, with two fatherless children to support."

The convoluted storyline focused on the efforts of Ellen, in her early thirties, to bring up her two children in the small town of Simpsonville, West Virginia, where she supported herself by running a tearoom, despite continual tragedies in her life. (Another source refers to Simpsonville as "a small Midwestern town.")

Produced by Frank and Anne Hummert, this soap opera series opened with the theme music "In the Gloaming" as rendered by organist John Winters. Heard in the title role during the 18-year run were Florence Freeman (1938–54) and Wendy Drew (1954–56). Ellen Brown was romanced by Peter Turner (Bud Collyer) and Anthony Loring (Ned Wever). Ellen's children were Janey (Marilyn Erskine) and Mark (Tommy Donnelly). Supporting actors included Bess McCammon, Joan Tompkins, and Kay Strozzi.

Directors for the series included Martha Atwell, Richard Leonard and Ed Slattery. The announcer was George Ansbro.

The program was broadcast Monday-Friday at 4:45 p.m. Eastern Time.

References

References

1. Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN. 978-0-7864-4513-4. P. 361.
2. Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN. 978-0-7864-5149-4. P. 778.
3. (2008). "The Great Radio Soap Operas". McFarland & Co.
4. (June 3, 1946). "Radio Programs". The Miami Herald.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::