Myrt and Marge (radio series)
Myrt and Marge is an American radio serial which aired from November 2, 1931 to March 27, 1942 on CBS Radio and the Mutual Broadcasting System. It was created and written by its main star, actress Myrtle Vail. Characters and story The soap tracked the doings and undoings of the two close friends, Myrtle Spear (Myrtle Vail) and Marge Minter (Donna Damerel, later Helen Mack) with some of the usual soap opera twists (kidnappings, organized crime, murder) and injected a degree of comedy into a genre not usually known at the time for wit. Development and production Myrtle Vail thought of the idea while living in the Chicago area, after having spent several years as a vaudeville performer (often with her husband, George Damerel), basing it almost entirely on her own vaudeville experiences. She took the idea to the Wrigley chewing gum makers, who had yet to sponsor a radio show, naming her lead characters Myrtle Spear and Marge Minter (playing on the company's best-known gum), while casting herself as Myrtle and her real-life daughter Donna Damerel as Marge, with Myrt being the elder, experienced chorus girl taking young, inexperienced, and innocent Marge under her wing. (In the pilot, Marge