Love of Life

Love of Life was an American soap opera which aired on CBS from September 24, 1951 until October 25, 1979, when it was taken off the air abruptly for emergency retooling. The show returned for a limited run very early the next year, with the final episode of the serial airing on February 1, 1980.

Titles and theme tunes

B/W years

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In the early 1950s, a typical episode began with announcer Don Hancock saying, "Good afternoon. Don Hancock speaking. Welcome to Love of Life," over a shot of the fountain outside New York's Plaza Hotel with the show's title appearing diagonally across the screen in elegant sweeping calligraphy. After a brief commercial was the main title sequence, where Charles Mountain said over this visual, "Love of Life, the exciting story of Vanessa Dale and her search for human dignity." This was followed by some credits. The theme song was done by organist John Gart.

Related Topics:
Don Hancock - New York - Plaza Hotel - Calligraphy - Charles Mountain - John Gart

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In 1957, the show changed visuals twice. The show briefly used a time-lapse shot of a flower, with announcer Herbert Duncan saying "To live each day for whatever life may bring . . . this is Love of Life" over it. This was changed to a shot of a starry sky, as seen in the accompanying picture.

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And Then It Happened

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In spring 1967, the show switched to color, and a picture of sunlit flowers by a window for its titles. This visual lasted about ten years, and was accompanied with two different themes: "And Then It Happened" by Charles Paul (1967-1973) and "The Life That You Live" by Carey Gold (1973-1977).

Related Topics:
Charles Paul - Carey Gold

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The final years

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In 1977 (at the latest), the show used as its theme a pop-style ballad composed by Hagood Hardy. The main title visuals were set against a black background and had the show's new logo, designed by Lou Dorfsman, on at the bottom and a series of head shot profiles of the main characters on the top.

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