Painted Dreams

In 1930 radio station WGN asked Irna Phillips, who worked for them as an actress, to create a 15-minute daily show "about a family," to air during the day.

Meanwhile, Phillips had left WGN in 1932, creating Today's Children for rival station WMAQ with virtually the same plot premises and characters.

Listeners in 1931 heard this dialogue in episode 25: Phillips occasionally played the lead of Mother Moynihan,[citation needed] as did Bess Flynn, who was a member of the show's writing team.

[4] Flynn, born August 18, 1899, in Tama, Iowa, went on to script three other soap operas: We, the Abbotts, Bachelor's Children and Martha Webster (originally titled Life Begins).

In addition to performing the title role on Martha Webster, she also portrayed the annoying maid Tilda on The Gumps.