07 January 2025

One Man's Family

This article is an excerpt
from RUSC Member's Area

The Barbour's were the family at the center of the longest running dramatic serial in the history of American radio.

A simple drama of American family life, One Man's Family, was written by perhaps the greatest old time radio show creator of them all, Carlton E. Morse, who also wrote series such as I Love A Mystery.

With most of the actors sticking around throughout its entire 27-year run, the quality of the performances from the cast was superb. The main character, Henry Barbour was played by J. Anthony Smythe (pictured to the top right),  for the whole series, and the plots centered on his career as a stockbroker, his wife Fanny and their five children Paul, Hazel, the twins Clifford and Claudia, and Jack).  

There were literally millions of listeners, and thousands of episodes, and each day brought stories of the Barbour family's loves, sorrows, adventures and joys, as believable dramas with 'real' people.

What surprised me was the way it was presented to the public, with episodes divided into books and chapters. In total, there were 136 books, with 3256 chapters! Sadly, we only have around 350 more episodes to add to RUSC, but I've tried to preserve the books/chapters in the correct order so it will be easy for you to follow.

Happy listening my friends,

© 2025 rusc.com