Life Can Be Beautiful
Encyclopedia
Life Can Be Beautiful was a daytime drama broadcast on NBC and CBS during its 16-year run. The program was also facetiously known to many as Elsie Beebe, a contrived acronym based on the show's initials.
Scripted by Don Becker and Carl Bixby, it was billed as "an inspiring message of faith drawn from life" and remained one of the leading soap operas through the 1940s.
Sponsored by Procter & Gamble
and Spic and Span
, it premiered September 3, 1938 on NBC and moved two months later to CBS, where it was heard from November 7, 1938 to June 21, 1946. Concurrently, it was also airing on NBC from 1939 to 1941. The final run was on NBC from 1946 to 1954.
Ralph Edwards
and Ed Herlihy
were the announcers.
and Harold Adamson
.
The title was sometimes employed as a sarcastic catchphrase, as when it was spoken by William Holden in Sunset Boulevard
(1950) and James Dean
in Rebel Without a Cause
(1955). Jack Benny
also alluded to the program on his radio series. The phrase entered the language and continues to the present day with both humorous and legitimate usage. It has been used for titles of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and self-help books.
Scripted by Don Becker and Carl Bixby, it was billed as "an inspiring message of faith drawn from life" and remained one of the leading soap operas through the 1940s.
Sponsored by Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
and Spic and Span
Spic and Span
Spic and Span is a major U.S. brand of all-purpose household cleaner, invented by housewives Elizabeth "Bet" MacDonald and Naomi Stenglein in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1933. The women experimented until they came up with a formula that included equal parts of ground-up glue, sodium carbonate, and...
, it premiered September 3, 1938 on NBC and moved two months later to CBS, where it was heard from November 7, 1938 to June 21, 1946. Concurrently, it was also airing on NBC from 1939 to 1941. The final run was on NBC from 1946 to 1954.
Characters and story
Carol Conrad (Alice Reinheart, Teri Keane), aka Chichi, was a teen on the run until Papa David Solomon (Ralph Locke), owner of the Slightly Read Bookshop, gave her a home. She continued to live in the back room of the bookstore while engaging in a romance with crippled law student Stephen Hamilton (John Holbrook, Earl Larrimore). The couple was briefly married in 1944.Ralph Edwards
Ralph Edwards
Ralph Livingstone Edwards was an American radio and television host and television producer.-Early career:Born in Merino, Colorado , Edwards worked for KROW-AM in Oakland, California while he was still in high school...
and Ed Herlihy
Ed Herlihy
Edward Joseph "Ed" Herlihy was an American newsreel narrator for Universal-International. His voice was heard in countless films on every subject, making him one of the best-known voices in broadcast history...
were the announcers.
Cultural legacy
In 1948, "Life Can Be Beautiful" was a song by Jimmy McHughJimmy McHugh
James Francis McHugh was a U.S. composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he composed over 270 songs...
and Harold Adamson
Harold Adamson
For the Toronto Police Chief see Harold Adamson Harold Adamson was an American lyricist during the 1930s and 1940s.- Biography :...
.
The title was sometimes employed as a sarcastic catchphrase, as when it was spoken by William Holden in Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
(1950) and James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
in Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments...
(1955). Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
also alluded to the program on his radio series. The phrase entered the language and continues to the present day with both humorous and legitimate usage. It has been used for titles of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and self-help books.
LIsten to
- Life Can Be Beautiful (September 21, 1939)
- University of Virginia's American Studies: Life Can Be Beautiful