Faraway Hill (lost early soap opera; 1946)
Title card.
Status: Lost
Faraway Hill was a soap opera that premiered on October 2nd, 1946 on the DuMont Network, and ended on December 18th, 1946.[1] It was the very first soap opera broadcast on television.
Plot
The show would involve a New York City widow named Karen St. John, who would move to a small city to be near her relatives. Here, she would meet a man who had been adopted by Karen's family. She would fall in love with this man, but he would have already been engaged with another woman. Also, Karen, a sophisticated woman, would sometimes clash with her rural relatives.
Production
Episodes of the series were made on a very small budget of $300.[2] The series starred actors and actresses like Flora Campbell as the main character, Mel Brandt (not to be confused with Mel Blanc), Eve McVeagh, etc.[2]
The show was broadcast live. However, filmed parts were interspersed, and slides made of previous episodes were made to keep viewers in on what was happening in the show. An unknown announcer narrated Karen's thoughts as bridges between other scenes.[2]
In 1992, the show's producer and writer, David P. Lewis, passed away. In the LA Times obituary for Lewis, it mentioned Faraway Hill and said:
Lewis declared at the time that it was only an experiment. It never made a cent and had no commercials. ... He wanted, he said years later, not a successful series but to 'test the mind of the viewer.'[3]
Availability
As mentioned before, the series was broadcast live, which means no recordings were ever made. Recording television was hard around this time, as kinescopes did not exist until 1947. Also as stated above, the series did have filmed segments, but they have not surfaced to this day. Faraway Hill was also a part of DuMont, the network that took itself off the airwaves in 1956,[4] and destroyed many of their TV shows, likely including filmed parts of Faraway Hill. If the revelation that the series was included in the destruction is true, then Faraway Hill may be lost for good. The only visual evidence of the show left is a title card.
See Also
- Beacon Hill (lost television soap opera; 1975)
- Coronation Street "Episode 1202" (lost episode of ITV soap opera; 1972)
- The Corsairs (lost pilot for ABC soap opera; 2002)
- Dark Shadows "1219" (partially found episode of gothic soap opera TV series; 1971)
- EastEnders (lost broadcast tapes of BBC soap opera; 1986; 1989)
- EastEnders (lost footage of Frances Cuka's scenes and Barbara Windsor's auditions as Peggy Mitchell; 1991-1994)
- EastEnders (lost footage of Jean Fennell as Angie Watts; 1984)
- El Oasis (partially found Latin American telenovela; 1994-1997)
- Emmerdale Farm (lost episodes of ITV soap opera; existence unconfirmed; 1981)
- Executive Suite (partially found television soap opera; 1976-1977)
- Florizel Street (lost dry runs of Coronation Street; 1960)
- Hiwaga sa Bahay na Bato (lost Filipino TV soap opera; 1962-1963)
- Models Inc. (found primetime soap opera; 1994-1995)
- Neighbours "Episode 3896" (partially found episode of Australian soap opera; 2001)
- O Direito de Nascer (lost adaptation of a radio play to TV; 1964)
- Pardon the Expression (lost pilots of Coronation Street sitcom spin-off; 1965)
- Seven, Bessie Street (partially found soap opera script of Coronation Street creator; pre-1957)
- Springhill (partially lost second series of British soap opera; 1997)
- United! (lost British soap opera; 1965-1967)
External Links
- IMDb page for the show. Retrieved 11 Feb '19
- Wikipedia page for the show. Retrieved 11 Feb '19
References
- ↑ A TV listing for the show, from 1946. Retrieved 11 Feb '19
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, a 1964 book mentioning the show. Retrieved 11 Feb '19
- ↑ The obituary for David P. Lewis. Retrieved 22 Oct '19
- ↑ A webpage on the closing of the DuMont Network. Retrieved 11 Feb '19