Romance (1943-57) aired “Vigil for Chris”” on January 22, 1949, as the 14th of 16 episodes of its late 1948, early 1949 filler schedule. Some 468 shows were broadcast, though best estimates are that only between 200-250 still exist. It ran on and off for shorter or longer seasons as needed, for it was a “schedule filler” when regularly scheduled programs would go on summer or winter breaks. It would fill in for numerous popular radio programs, among them Gunsmoke and Lux Radio Theater. Each series might have a different producer or director and of course writers and actors, so no one ever knew quite what to expect. Subject matter would range from drama to comedy and anything in between, and from dramatizing classic literary or film works to entirely original efforts. In fact, the show became so popular it rivaled some of the programs it filled in for, such as the well respected hour-long Lux Radio Theater, though in Romance’s shorter half hour format, no easy feat. It didn’t hurt that it sported some of Hollywood’s and Radio’s biggest performers (Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Edward G. Robinson, Errol Flynn on the film side to name but a few, and such as the incomparable Lurene Tuttle, Gerald Mohr, William Conrad, Orson Welles, and Frank Lovejoy among others on the radio side) their star power evident in many memorable episodes. It should be noted for clarity that under the title Theatre of Romance the show aired 34 episodes from April of 1935 through August of 1935 and then was silent until resurrected for its eventual 1943-57 “schedule filler” role as simply Romance, and is still referred to by some with either title.

“Vigil for Chris,” as you will soon hear, is the sentimental story of a journalist who falls in love with a woman who changes his life forever. It is highly successful in tugging heartstrings to bursting, and while obviously endearing, those of a certain callous worldview might go so far as to call it sappy. Give it a listen and see which side you fall on. Or are both views acceptable?

Play Time: 29:52

{“Vigil for Chris” aired on a Saturday evening, but it was the neighborhood gang’s slightly older (barely in their teens) sisters who found themselves at the nearby newsstand the next morning after church looking for their favorite magazines, and not their younger brothers with whom we have become accustomed. Why, you might ask? It seems their younger male siblings had schemed together to pull some nefarious, devilish Halloween prank on their sisters the week before and it had gone terribly wrong—wrong enough to get them into double dutch trouble, the penalty for which was to fork over their allowances to their sisters for a week as punishment for their ill-advised prank (the nature of which would remain a secret). Thus, we find the magazines pictured below as some of those favored by the neighborhood gang’s sisters in early 1949, including Exciting Love (1941-48) a bi-monthly in 1949, New Love (1940-54) a monthly in 1949, and Popular Love (1936-55) a bi-monthly in 1949. Was love in all of its manifestations all that young girls thought and dreamed of in their early teens? The neighborhood gang would have to wait a whole week before they could visit the newsstand again and bring home the only true fiction worthy of their nickels and dimes, magazines loaded with adventure, danger, intrigue, and thrills. That said, it was going to be a long week before they would gather at their home away from home, hopefully lesson learned when it came to scheming against their evil older sisters.}

[Left: Exciting Love, Jan. 1949 – Center: New Love, Jan. 1949 – Right: Popular Love, Feb. 1949]

To view the entire list of weekly Old Time Radio episodes at Tangent Online, click here.