How Ma Perkins Put the Soap In Soap Operas

Ma Perkins was not the first radio program to use continuing story lines to build a loyal audience. It was not the first serial drama to be directed at housewives during daytime broadcast hours, it was not the first show whose characters dispensed "country wisdom", it was not even the first show of the sort to come from the "Hummert Radio Factory". It was, however, one of the very first radio shows sponsored by a Proctor & Gamble product, Oxydol, and Oxydol was, that's right, soap.

Formed when a candle maker and his soap maker brother in law realized that they were competing for the same resources in 1837, P&G was one of the first American companies to realize the value of branding and advertising. One of the company's major successes was supplying soap and candles to the Union Army during the Civil War. They made it a point to stamp the crates carrying their products with their 'moon and stars' logo, and soldiers from around the country came to recognize P&G products.

An even greater demonstration of the power of advertising came when P&G began making Ivory Soap in 1879. When scientific analysis showed that the product held only 0.56% impurities, it was simple math to come up with the "99 44/100% Pure" slogan. Early ads featured "Elizabeth Harding, Bride" in a serial where she often lamented that her new husband would leave her because her house was a mess. During the Twenties, Ivory was hawked in a newspaper serial featuring the Jollyco children who often faced the villainous Mrs. Percival Billington Folderol, who naturally used colored and scented soaps.

P&G bought the Oxydol brand in 1927, just as housewives began discovering that laundry detergents could make their lives easier (the only laundry machines of the era were prohibitively expensive, if a family was to have clean clothes it meant someone had to spend time with a tub, washboard and suds). Depression era sensibility meant that a family's clothes had to last longer, so a product which would get them cleaner with less scrubbing was a very good thing. P&G turned to the Hummerts to help spread the good word over the radio, and on August 14, 1933, Ma Perkins was first broadcast.

The company received more than 5000 complaint letters during the show's first week on the air when listeners were irritated that the Oxydol name was mentioned between 20 and 25 times in each quarter hour episode. With all the complaints, the show was nearly scrapped until a savvy marketing exec pointed out that 5000 complaints meant there were tens of thousands of listeners who really wanted to hear the program, and by extension, hear about Oxydol.

"Oxydol's Own Ma Perkins" was typical of Hummert Radio Factory products, being filled with drama, crises, cliffhangers and tears, however, the plot of Ma Perkins moved at a decidedly slower pace. There were rarely more than three or four "major complications", or story arcs, in a given year. This left for long "quiet spells", during which "cousin Ma" and her cronies would discuss the meaning of life in their small town world. It also meant that if a listener was away from the radio for several days, they would not be too lost when they got back to the story.

Cincinnati actress Virginia Payne got the call to play Ma Perkins (the show played on WLW Cincinnati for four months before being picked up by the Red Network). Payne was only 23 years old when the show began. With an MA in Literature from the University of Cincinnati, the "ain'ts", "folks" and "Land o' Goshen" expressions fell away when Payne was off the air, but at personal appearances, she always appeared in gray wig, frumpy clothes and wearing spectacles.

Fans took "Cousin Ma" into their hearts and accepted her as America's beloved "mother of the air". She received many letters asking for advice with personal problems, as well as cards and thoughtful gifts like homemade pot holders. On older fans suggested that she and Ma could be companions during their "fading days" and asked for directions to the fictional town of Rushville Center". It was always "Ma", Miss Payne's name was never mentioned on the air until the end of the shows run in 1960.

Ma Perkins was one of the most successful products to come out of the Hummert Radio Factory, which also included Betty and Bob, Mary Noble, Little Orphan Annie, Helen Trent, The Life of Mary Sothern, Young Widder Brown and Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons. During the McCarthy era, the Hummerts were noted for refusing to fire any blacklisted writers, provided, of course, that the writer was any good.

Some of the earliest "audience research" was done for Ma Perkins. To see how widely the listener base was, P&G offered to send listeners a packet of flower seeds for one dime plus an Oxydol boxtop. Millions of the seed packets were distributed.

Both NBC and CBS carried Ma Perkins, and from 1942 until 1949, the show was carried on both networks. Eventually, P&G decided to concentrate their advertising efforts to television. After Oxydol dropped sponsorship in 1956, the show stayed on the air with a "multi sponsor" package. Finally, on the day after Thanksgiving, 1960, CBS announced that they would replace Ma Perkins, Dr. Jerry Malone, The Right to Happiness and The Second Mrs. Burton with news information programming.