The series featured Irene Dunne as Susan Armstrong, editor of the Hillsdale Morning Star in the small town of Hillsdale. Fred MacMurray was George Harvey, the paper's top reporter, who had a knack of getting himself into trouble by tackling stories that were too big for him. The series was very gentle and homey; there were occasional sparks between Susan and George, but they were usually at odds with each other about what was best for the paper (somewhat like His Girl Friday).
At the time, Irene Dunne was coming off some hard times in film; Bright Star must have been an attempt to keep her name in the public; MacMurray, though, was doing just fine in his career, with plenty of big films (and a TV series, My Three Sons) still in his future.
Bright Star drew from radio's best performers to make up their supporting cast, with names like Sheldon Leonard, Howard McNear, Larry Thor, Hans Conreid and Betty Lou Gerson. Harry Von Zell was the announcer.
Unfortunately, Bright Star's cast also included Sammy the office boy (an uncredited role), the only other person newspaper staff. Sammy had one of those radio teenager voices that tried to emulate Henry Aldrich of the Aldrich Family. The usually sounded like he was holding his nose to make his voice sound higher; he also had a very annoying horselaugh (trying to sound like Richard Crenna's snicker from Our Miss Brooks). Since Sammy is in every episode, he brings down the entire series.
The Old Time Radio Researchers Library has 33 out of 52 episodes of Bright Star. As a syndicated show, I wouldn't be surprised if more episodes turned up. You can hear them through the YouTube playlist below:
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