The essence of small town life in the 1940s was captured on the Mayor of the Town series. The mythical town in question being Springdale, located sev-enty-five miles from Capitol City and twenty miles from Crescent City, whose bustling factories turned out the materials to fight World War II. The low Key weekly half hour of homey drama premiered over the NBC Red network on September 6, 1942, sponsored by Lever Brothers' Rinso.

However, after only one month on the air the Mayor moved his constituents to the CBS network. Late in 1943 the show left the air, but returned on March 11, 1944 with Noxzema Skin Cream as its new sponsor. On October 8, 1947 the Mayor was on the move again! This time to the ABC network with Noxzema continuing to underwrite the series. The Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association of Omaha took over as the sponsor on January 2, 1949 and shifted the program to the Mutual network.

The likable, but irascible Mayor (he was never called by name), was played by veteran actor Lionel Barrymore. Others in the cast included: Agnes Moorehead as Marilly Jones, the housekeeper; Conrad Binyon as the Mayor's ward Butch (his mother had died and his father was serving with the Navy's Construction Battalion [seabees]); Claire Trevor as the Mayor's secre-tary; Gloria McMillan as Batch's girlfriend Sharlee; and Priscilla Lyon as the Mayor's granddaughter Holly-Ann. Music was under the direction of Gordon Jenkins, Bernard Katz, and Frank Worth. The announcers were Warren Cook, Carlton KaDell, Frank Martin, Ken Peters, and Harlow Wilcox. The final Mayor of the Town drama aired on July 3, 1949.