Portia Faces Life

The title character Portia Blake (Lucille Wall) is an attorney who faced hardships as she fought corruption in the small town of Parkersburg. She was a widow with a ten-year-old son named Dickie; her husband Richard had been murdered by criminal elements he had fought to expose. The idea of a woman lawyer as a protagonist was unusual for the time, and newspaper advertisements described Blake as "a courageous woman attorney who battles forces of crime, injustice, and civic corruption" in a typical American city. Also part of the storyline was the character of crusading journalist Walter Manning (played by Myron McCormick), who was secretly in love with her. Manning was trying to expose the criminals responsible for the death of Portia's husband. ==Australian version==

A localized version of Portia Faces Life was launched in Australia in 1952 and began transmission from the radio station 3UZ in Melbourne. It was introduced by American expatriate Grace Gibson. It stars Lyndall Barbour as the title character, who was renamed "Portia Manning". It was broadcast for 3,544 quarter-hour episodes until 1970. Every episode started with the introduction, "A story taken from the heart of every woman who has ever dared to love." The series also was broadcast from the ZB radio network in New Zealand. Following the conclusion of Portia Faces Life, Lyndall Barbour was cast as Portia again in four smaller shows: Partners in Jeopardy, The Silent Witness, The Haverlock Affair and The Seed of Evil. Portia Manning also had cameo appearances in Violets are Blue, Clayton Place and Thirty Days Hath September. ==See also==