The Radio: Service Soap Opera

The War Department, of all people, put on a soap opera last week. Aimed at the countless devotees of radio’s endless “strip shows,” it was unusual only in its subject matter and its freedom from the verbal lather of commercials. Its name: Chaplain Jim-U.S.A.

Five mornings a week (over the Blue Network) for the duration, Chaplain Jim is scheduled to bring the everyday problems of Army men home to their mothers, wives and sweethearts. A 15-minute sustaining show, it is being written and produced by Blackett-Sample-Hummert, Inc., who run the biggest soap-opera factory in the world.

Chaplain Jim’s initial episode was tried & true. Between the sequences of a trite situation, it managed to get over the idea that the boys in the Army can’t hear from home too often, worry if they don’t. It also offered the reassuring information that the boys can always turn to their chaplain for comfort and guidance.

Despite its shallow quality, this khaki serial may well explain many perplexing army matters to womenfolk who are worried about their men in the armed forces.