The "Father Knows Best" Story

It was ordinary day.  Finally getting a chance to finish reading my magazine known as "GOOD*OLD*DAYS".  The latest 82 page magazine has so many interesting stories to read.  One such story was titled "Father Knows Best."  Remember when that show was on radio and then television?   "Father Knows Best" was originally a situation comedy on the radio with stories built around the Anderson family and life on Maple Street in the fictitious Midwestern town of Springfield.  Robert Young starred as Jim Anderson, head of the household and husband to Margaret whom was played by Jane Wyatt.  They had three children; Betty who was played by Elinor Donahue, Bud, who was played by Billy Gray, and Kathy played by Lauren Chapin.  I never listened to the show when it was only on radio, but when it went to TV, I watched the show every week.  The storylines were developed from the exploits of Young's own children as recounted by him to the show's scriptwriters.  The radio version of the show premiered in 1949 and lasted until 1954 when it made it's TV debut.  I personally never listened to it on radio, but loved the show when it came to TV.  Mr. Young claimed that he preferred the TV series to the older radio show, saying the radio sponsor put too much emphasis on generating laughs over portraying the human side of family life.  To Young, the TV version offered a more sympathetic, rather idealized picture of a family, one that pulled together to resolve problems.  My family watched the show every week while on TV.  Not sure anymore as to what night it appeared while on TV.  The show depicted a normal American family with all the same problems that any family might experience.  Loved to see if what happened at the end of the show was what might have happened at our house with the same problems.  The Anderson family was your traditional USA family with the same problems that every family experienced,   How they solved their problems was most interesting and perhaps a suggestion for American households as to handle their problems which might have been much the same as the Anderson's.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.