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Maternal Figure. Like other daytime heroines, Ma neither drinks, smokes, takes snuff or has affairs with men. Unlike Ma. Cincinnati-born Virginia Payne, 47, has never been married, downs an occasional whisky sour and makes up to $50,000 a year—more than any other actress in daytime broadcasting. Her present writer (she has had ten) lived on the Riviera for two years, now counts his money on Cape Cod. A devout Roman Catholic with an M.A. in literature (University of Cincinnati), Virginia sheds Ma's vocabulary of "ain'ts," "folks" and "Land o' Goshens" with ease, but insists on making personal appearances in wig, makeup, frumpy clothes and spectacles, "though I often feel like a great imposter."
She is an accomplished pianist, lives alone in a posh East Side Manhattan apartment decorated with Duveen-collected oil paintings, accumulates antiques, and grows roses (two varieties have been named for her). She is currently touring the straw-hat circuit in Anniversary Waltz. "My aim," says Virginia, "is to be a good actress and some day do a Broadway musical. Meantime, there is a tremendous challenge in Ma. trying to keep the role new and interesting; she is a great maternal figure, and I have never played her short."
*Though The Romance of Helen Trent went on the air three weeks earlier, Ma has chalked up more performances.