The World Has Stopped Turning...

I wanted to pass along the news that has no doubt been broadcast on radio and TV newscasts, especially those on CBS, that the world has stopped turning for soap opera As The World Turns. Well, officially the world will stop turning on September 17, 2010 which will be almost one year since the cancellation of Guiding Light on September 18, 2009. I wasn't that much of a follower of As The World Turns even though on the daytime schedule here it aired prior to Guiding Light. I knew of some of the characters on ATWT but as far as really connecting with the characters or stories that's where the distance grew. My mom and sisters watched all the CBS soaps back in the 1980's into the early 1990's, particularly during the summer months when we were on summer break. I would catch Guiding Light off and on during that time period and would also watch the show off and on throughout the 1990's and into the 2000's but my big thing in the 1980's were the game shows that used to be all over daytime TV prior to the schedule being took over by court dramas and talk-shows. Of course I also watched cartoons as well. I caught episodes of ATWT long enough to know of the characters Bob Hughes and his wife, a somewhat super-couple named Tom and Margo, Lisa, and the doctor, John Dixon. Barbara is another character I know of. Lisa Brown, of Guiding Light fame, played a character as well. I don't know the character histories or anything as I do Guiding Light but I felt like passing along the news of As The World Turns leaving the air in the fall of 2010. This will end a run of 54 years.

Guiding Light: 1937-2009...Part Eight

A couple of days ago, September 18 to be specific, fans of the long-running daytime drama Guiding Light watched the final episode. The end of the show, which ran 72 years as noted in the blogs title, has left a void in the lives of millions. I for one thought that the show could possibly go on forever and the reason why I say that is because the show was on for 72 years...so I assumed that it would just coast along and hit 75, then 80...etc.

The soap as you can tell has obtained several milestones in longevity. As far as soap operas are concerned...American soap operas...Guiding Light is hands down the longest running daily entertainment program. It's origins go back to 1937 where it debuted on radio. It moved to TV in 1952 and ran on both TV and radio until 1956...and then TV exclusively from that point forward. It's television run, 1952-2009, gives it a 57 year life-span. The only other soap to come close to matching or beating that longevity is As The World Turns, which debuted on TV in 1956 and it received a contract extension through 2010 which will bring that soap to 54 years guaranteed. So, that soap may in fact tie or beat Guiding Light but that's looking too far ahead...and that brings me to this...

The daytime drama climate as far as ratings go isn't exactly what it used to be and the highest rated show among the daytime dramas is pulling in an average of 1.5 to 2 million viewers where as in the mid 1990's and earlier the top rated soap was grabbing close to 3.5 million. In the 1960's and 1970's the top rated soap was grabbing over 5 million and close to 10 million viewers easily.

A lot of the morning news programs did their farewell segments on the soap and you can find those farewells on You Tube. One of the things that I wasn't too happy about was learning that the Soap Opera world, during their annual awards show, did a tribute of sorts that was terribly short. That salute to the longest running drama in broadcast history is also on You Tube. I would've expected that kind of rushed recognition from a national news outlet or something but not at a show promoting daytime television. On September 16, two days before the last episode, one of my favorite characters from the show died. Alan Spaulding died unexpectedly...while sitting on a park bench.

The character had been a part of the show since 1977 and had just two breaks: 1984-1986 and 1989-1994. The character was presumed dead from the latter half of 1984 through early 1986 when news started to surface that Alan could still be alive. The character was sent to prison in 1989...for shooting Roger Thorpe...at Phillip and Blake's wedding. Roger survived the shot...Phillip had been shot as well...and he, too, survived. Alan on the other hand was convicted of attempted murder in 1989 and remained off the show until 1994. The character returned in 1994 and remained an integral part of the show for the next 15 years.

Chris Bernau portrayed the Alan Spaulding character originally. He remains the definitive Alan Spaulding for a lot of people even though Ron Raines, the last actor to portray the character, played the role the longest. In between these two stints, Daniel Pilon played the character.

Chris Bernau: 1977-1984; 1986-1988
Daniel Pilon: 1988-1989
Ron Raines: 1994-2009

Here's a very brief look at the Josh and Reva factor during 1983-1990...

The final scene of the last episode involved the shows super-couple, Josh and Reva. The two characters had a wild on-again/off-again relationship that led to many attempts of marriage and several marriages and divorces. Their story was always portrayed as a kind of tragic melodrama where the man and woman are always this close to being happy and something comes along to drive them apart. The couple, in the final scene, drove down the road together with a lighthouse in the background and the words "The End" came up on the screen. I was a bit surprised that there was no cast farewell...usually you'd expect some sort of "thanks" or "thank you for tuning in all these years" on a final episode and see the cast hug and cry but there wasn't anything like that.

Josh and Reva were played by the same people from start to finish. Robert Newman originated the role of Josh Lewis in 1981 and was a completely different character from what most viewers would recognize. The character of Reva came along in 1983, played by Kim Zimmer, and originally the viewers only knew that she was Billy's ex-wife who Alan Spaulding paid to come to town in an attempt to break up Billy's relationship with Vanessa Chamberlain. Billy was Josh's brother...and Billy was prone to calling Josh "little brother". The viewers then learn that Reva and Josh were childhood lovers...that the two dated as teenagers and it was Josh's choice of putting college above Reva that drove her into his brother's arms. So now the back-story of Josh and Reva was playing out amidst Billy's war against both Reva and Alan. Josh left town when he learned the real reason Reva arrived...and afterward Reva found herself the object of H.B's affections. This is important because H.B was the father of Billy and Josh...when Josh returned and learned that Reva had married his father he drove off wildly and slammed into a tree and was paralyzed. Reva later became pregnant with H.B.'s child but she miscarried. H.B and Reva divorced...but just as Josh and Reva were growing closer again she started having feelings for Kyle Sampson who at the time was believed to be H.B.'s son with another woman and therefore Josh and Billy's half-brother.

During Josh's hiatus in Venezuela the Reva and Kyle relationship was underway. Kyle then learned that H.B. was not his father but he was still a brother to Billy. How? Well, Kyle and Billy shared the same mother: Sally Gleason. Josh and Trish's mother was Martha. Kyle and Reva grew apart.

Josh returned but then left again...but then returned...all in the span of several months. When he returned he brought with him a man named Will Jeffries...and what nobody knew was that when Josh was in Venezuela he had married a woman named Sonni Carrera who died after falling off of a suspension bridge. He kept this a secret...even from Reva...until Sonni turned up alive and he had to reveal the truth and play her husband even though he wanted to be with Reva.

The plot that unfolded started when Will tampered with the birth results of Reva's baby. Will made it appear that the father of Reva's baby was Kyle Sampson instead of Josh. In addition to that sub-plot, the main plot centered around Will and Sonni's plan to kill Josh and steal the Lewis fortune. Those story lines took up all of late 1987 through early 1989. Josh found himself pushed off of a bridge...Reva found herself in a coma, too. While Reva was semi-conscious Alan married her...she thought that she was marrying Josh. The marriage was annulled after Reva regained her right state of mind. Josh then learns that he's the father of Marah, the baby that most thought belonged to Kyle. It's revealed that Alan had paid Will to tamper with the birth certificate.

After the mayhem with Sonni, Will, and Alan climaxed in early 1989 Reva and Billy grew closer when it was revealed that years ago Reva gave up a baby she had with Billy for adoption and she became obsessed with locating her son. The son turned out to be a newcomer to town named Dylan. Josh and Reva grew closer once again and she became pregnant and later gave birth to Shayne. Josh was the father.

Josh and Reva finally marry...and it wasn't long afterward that Reva's grasp on reality started to suffer and in a memorable scene in 1990 she drove her car off an unfinished bridge in Florida with Josh watching in horror. She was presumed dead for the next five years.



What was to become known as Reva's missing years, 1990-1995, were spotlighted throughout mid to late 1999. It was revealed that Reva survived her car crash into the ocean but suffered from amnesia and took on the name of Katherine and was married to a prince...Richard Winslow...on the island of San Cristobel. Katherine's disappearance sent Richard into alcoholism...but it would be revealed that Katherine's disappearance was as a result of Edmund's treachery. Edmund was Richard's evil brother. On the sideline was Olivia, Richard's soon to be wife, who was annoyed by the re-appearance of Katherine. As the plot thickened and Reva's missing years were explored and explained, Josh and Reva grew apart...divorcing not long after Reva learned that she and Richard shared a son, Jonathan. Josh and Olivia were married...but later divorced when her affair with Alan Spaulding was revealed. Olivia and Alan then married...but she began having an affair with his son, Phillip, which led to a divorce. All of the drama between Josh, Reva, Olivia, and Alan played out during 1999-2002. Edmund rivaled Alan in the bad-guy department...but strangely enough Edmund, to me at least, didn't seem likable or sympathetic compared to Alan. Olivia would go on and become half of the couple known on-line as Otalia. Olivia and Natalia became an item...two females...and the couple was nicknamed Otalia. This couple became the main focal point during the show's final months on the air. So, for those who caught the show very late in it's run, Olivia had a 9 and a half year history on the show prior to her pairing up with Natalia.

Thanks to You Tube videos the memories of the show will, I think, live on forever on-line. In my collection I have a couple of books about GL...one is the 50th Anniversary book published in 1987 and the other is the 60th Anniversary book published ten years later. I have some other items as well.

Guiding Light: 1937-2009

Guiding Light: 1937-2009???? Part Seven!!

A truly wonderful, but brief clip...the video comes from You Tube and it's a scene from 1970 where Sara McIntyre's been knocked out cold on the attic floor and Joe Werner is in a battle with Sara's lethal husband, Lee Gantry...who shall we say said his farewell in this scene...



I made a comment asking if the video up-loader had more clips...preferably longer clips of GL from that time period.

I found some more pictures on-line and I scanned some pictures from my collection earlier today. All Guiding Light related, of course.



Alan Spaulding and Hope Bauer...considered daytime's most passionate couple according to the article contained within the issue. I wish I had this issue...I went to eBay and looked up Soap Opera Digest in the "eBay Stores" section and found that there are sellers asking anywhere from $15.00 to $35.00 for issue's from the early to the mid 1980's. There are several issues being sold on that site that I have in my collection. When I was buying back issues directly from Soap Opera Digest, they cost $5.00 per issue...regardless of how out of print the issue happened to be or who appeared on the cover. When I looked at eBay and saw quite a few issue's going for $25.00 from the mid 1980's I was amazed. It appears Soap Opera Digest has a cult collector's following the way TV Guide does.

This little morsel of a picture is something I scanned...it's Alan fighting with a one-eyed stalker when Alan was on the run from Mike and the police. Alan and Hope fled to the island of Tenerife, Alan's idea of getting away from their troubles, and soon they were being watched by the one-eyed man...who turned out to be Lucien Goff, a disgruntled former employee. The story took place in late 1981 and reached a climax in early 1982. Hope went back to Springfield alone while Alan remained on the run. Alan and Goff soon encountered one another and they got into a violent fight...click the image below...the scan wasn't the best in the world, though, but it's okay...



After Alan and Goff fought, Goff vanished...Mike had been closely keeping a track of Alan and he, too, ended up in Tenerife...and eventually Alan and Mike caught up with each other and they got into a fight. Mike was injured and Alan fled to his helicopter and was about to flee for Springfield when he had a change of heart and had his pilot go back and get Mike. Upon their return, Alan confessed to his previous crimes which included aiding a fugitive, Roger Thorpe, in 1979 and 1980. Mike put Alan on trial and the resulting sentence was a little over a year in prison...but...as things are likely to happen in a soap opera, Alan didn't vanish for that many months. He did go to prison...but he was granted a release due to a Spaulding Enterprises gala and in spite of heavy security he was abducted by none other than Lucien Goff. Alan's helicopter pilot was revealed to be a partner with Goff...and soon Mike was on the trail...he tracked Alan down with the help of a newcomer, Ivy Pierce. Mike and Goff got into a fight on a tramway...Goff fell off the tramway to his death and everyone returned to Springfield. The pilot was sent to prison where he later died. Ivy discovered that Goff and the Spaulding pilot weren't alone in their vendetta at Alan and soon it was revealed that Amanda's lover, Mark Evans, was part of the scheme. Mark wanted to kill Alan and Amanda and take over Spaulding Enterprises...that's a story for another day.

Here's a picture of Ed Bryce...full of beard...during his 1977 appearance on the show. Ed Bryce had played Bill Bauer off and on since 1959...he portrayed the role on a consistent manner throughout the 1960's. His character was often being written off the show...usually the result of plane crashes. I can think of three times he'd been presumed dead but returned. Anyway...here's Bill Bauer looking at his family from a distance...he hadn't made his presence known yet...





Here's a younger Bill Bauer with Maggie Scott...there was a time in the mid 1960's where Bill began an affair with his secretary, Maggie. This was also during a time when Bill was dealing with his alcoholism...on top of that he had to endure the over-protective nature of his father, Papa Bauer. Maggie was the estranged wife of super obsessive Ben Scott who indirectly led Maggie into having an affair with Bill in the first place. Bill was so different than the strict and possessive Ben and the couple always fought. Ben and Maggie's daughter, Peggy, was in a relationship with Johnny Fletcher and it drove her father absolutely crazy...driving a wedge in his relationship with Maggie in the process. It was Peggy, ironically, that heard about the affair first-hand. Bill had been drinking and he attempted to confront Maggie and in his sorrow he continued spilling out his thoughts of regret about the affair...but in reality he wasn't talking to Maggie...he was talking to Peggy, who was horrified and shocked. Ed later discovered the truth about the affair. Ben eventually worked himself up so much that he assaulted Johnny and Ben later died of a heart attack due to all of the stress. Maggie, too, died not long afterward under Ed's knife. Maggie had started to have intestinal ailments and died on the operating table. Peggy, in the 1970's, would become involved with Roger Thorpe.

A small sampling of the Bauer family. Here we have Ed Bryce as Bill Bauer, Ellen Demming as Meta Bauer, and at bottom we have Charita Bauer as Bert, and Theo Goetz as Papa Bauer. Meta's action was confined mostly to the radio episodes and early television broadcasts when Lyle Sudrow was playing Bill Bauer. Papa was never in a front burner story...he was usually just there...commenting and reacting to the goings-on in his family's day to day life. Bill and Bert, along side the Fletcher family, and the Grant's, were who got the lion's share of storyline's in the 1950's.

Guiding Light once had a reputation for keeping a hold of their actor's and actresses. This is why popular characters typically had two, usually no more than four, actors/actresses playing the same role throughout the character's tenure on the show. For example, there were only three actors to play Bill Bauer. Lyle Sudrow originated the role on radio and played it on radio and later on TV from 1948 through 1959. Ed Bryce took over the role and played it until 1963 before being written off on a business trip...an actor by the name of Eugene Smith took over the role in 1964. Ed Bryce returned in 1965 and stayed with the role until 1969...killed off in a plane crash. Bryce returned in 1977 and stayed around for about a year, where his complicated double life was revealed and he admitted switching flights at the last minute and he admitted he wasn't in the plane his family thought he was at the time of the crash. He revealed that he'd been married to a woman named Simone Kincaid and they had two children, a son named Paul, and a daughter everyone in town was getting to know, Hillary! Bill would later return to Canada...later moving to Chicago after Simone divorced him. It was in Chicago where Bill was last seen in 1983...hitting the bottle and worried about a fishing incident twenty years earlier that came back to haunt him. Bill was murdered in the fall of 1983 by Eli Sims, a central figure in the fishing trip secret.

There is also the scenario where an actor or an actress will take on a role that's been played by a long list of others and through longevity or character impact will become the definitive face of the character. The character of Hope Bauer had a series of actresses playing the role until Elvera Roussel took over in 1979. She appears with Chris Bernau on the Soap Opera Digest I wrote about earlier. This period in Hope's life, 1979-1983, provided the character with the most impact and so she is noted as the definitive Hope Bauer...although others have played the role longer.

Guiding Light: 1937-2009???? Part Six!

Considered to be the heart and soul of Guiding Light were the Bauer family. The show, having been around for 72 years, is bound to create a lot of discussion and argument about who are the core families. The GL viewer of today that perhaps remembers watching the show in the 1960's are usually more quick to cite the Bauer family as the show's core...even though through the last two decades it's become much more of a Spaulding, Lewis, and Cooper dominated show. There has never been a time since 1948 when there hasn't been a Bauer family member on the scene...and while the show was consumed with Bauer's in the 1950's through the mid 1980's, the Bauer family lost that family feeling when they were written or killed off that by the late 1980's Ed Bauer and his children, Rick and Michelle, were the only ones on the show. Ed's wife at the time, Maureen, was a Bauer by marriage; her maiden name being Reardon. The other Bauer was part Bauer-part Spaulding in the form of Alan-Michael Spaulding...the son of Alan Spaulding and Hope Bauer. Mike Bauer had been written off the show in 1984...a few months after his daughter, Hope, was written off. She left town with Alan-Michael.

Bill Bauer, the alcoholic and often missing father of Mike, Ed, and Hillary, was murdered in 1983. Hillary Bauer, Bill's illegitimate daughter who came to town in 1977 with no knowledge of her father's connection to Springfield, was killed in 1984. She was the victim of a bomb that was planted inside a music box during the Susan Piper/Barbados storyline. I have an issue of Soap Opera Digest, October 23, 1984 to be specific, with the re-cap of the murder.

Bert Bauer, who you see in the picture along side her TV sons, Ed and Mike, left town in late 1984 to live with Meta, her sister-in-law. So, by 1985, the Bauer family had been dwindled down to Ed, his wife Maureen, and his son, Rick...as Michelle hadn't been born yet.

Michelle Bauer became somewhat of a soap heroine in the late 1990's and into the next millennium. Ed had gone off to Africa by then and Rick was playing the part of big brother and father figure to Michelle. In late 1996 Meta Bauer arrived in town. She had last been seen in 1974...but she arrived in town to serve as the show's matriarch and fill a void that was left in the show after the death of Bert Bauer's portray-er, Charita Bauer, in 1985. Meta, throughout 1996 and into 2002, was played on and off by daytime TV veteran Mary Stuart who had played the role of Jo on Search For Tomorrow for 35 years, 1951-1986, as I touched upon in a previous blog entry. Mary's death on February 28, 2002 came weeks after the death of Ellen Demming on February 7th, the actress who had played Meta Bauer for over 20 years, 1953-1974.

I don't have this issue of Soap Opera Digest but I wish I did...it features a similar picture of Bert, Ed, and Mike...it's from 1977...a few months before Alan Spaulding and his family came to town...

The issue was celebrating the show's overall 40th Anniversary at that time {1937-1977}. June was the month GL began on television in 1952 and so during that issue they were also celebrating it's Silver Anniversary, 25 years on television {1952-1977}.

Guiding Light: 1937-2009, Part Five!!!

I went rummaging through my small collection of Soap Opera Digest and decided to take a picture of this back-issue. This issue hit the stands in December 1977. The magazine was published monthly at the time...so the soap sections were crammed with information. On the cover, and the main reason I took a picture of it with my web-camera, is Beverly McKinsey who had a successful run as Iris Carrington on "Another World" and it's spin-off, "Texas". GL fans are more familiar with her as Alexandra Spaulding, a role McKinsey played for eight years, 1984-1992. She passed away not too long ago. Beverly appeared on the cover due to her winning an award as "Best Villainess" during the 1977 SOAPY awards, it's first year in existence. She would repeat the win in 1978.

The SOAPY award would be a low-key affair throughout it's life span...1977 through 1983. Afterwords the award was re-named The Soap Opera Digest Awards. Incidentally, GL never won a SOAPY award...the biggest recipients of this award were the stars and writers of "General Hospital" because the late 1970's through the early 1980's that particular soap opera was universally popular.

Bill Hayes and his wife, Susan, are featured throughout the magazine...in a lot of my collection the two of them seemed to appear the most out of all the players in soap opera's at that point in time.

I have several issues of the magazine...the one you see with Beverly on the cover is the "oldest" issue, from December 1977. I have some from 1980 and 1981...and I believe 1982 and 1983...I pick and chose at random which issues I wanted. The magazine offers back issue's for sale...even the most recent issue there's an ad promoting this offer, page 59. So, what I did in the mid 1990's was buy a lot of older issues that had GL people on the cover or issue's that featured specific storyline re-caps on GL...being a nostalgia nut it was a match made in heaven. I stopped buying older issues after awhile, though. I doubt they still have an inventory of 1980's issue's still available, but you can check and see. Their web-site tells you how to contact them...they even offer a phone number.

Click the thumbnail image for a bigger picture. Appearing on the cover are Vincent Irizarry and Judi Evans, known to GL fans as Lujack and Beth. The bizarre story of Lujack was his parentage. His mother was none other than Alexandra Spaulding...his father Eric Luvonaczech. Alexandra never called her son by the name he chose, she'd call him his birth name, Brandon. Beth was Phillip's on-again/off-again girlfriend and she found her way into Lujack's arms and genuinely fell in love with him while Phillip had to endure Mindy Lewis and then the schemes of India von Halkein, Alexandra's former step-daughter.

It's an issue of the magazine from December 4, 1984...a few days after I turned 8 years old and I can recall these storylines as if they happened last week. The bulk of the show centered around the mystery of the Spaulding family in Barbados. Jim Reardon and company were caught up in the mystery which involved a whole lot of intrigue and a skeleton...plus a mysterious doll baby...quicksand...and Carrie Nye. This was the story that involved Mrs Piper {Carrie Nye} haunting and tormenting everyone investigating the goings-on in Barbados, in the meantime, a cottage that Tony and Annabelle were living in that Annabelle felt was haunted became a critical piece of the story as it was revealed to have connections to the Spauldings.

A conflict arose when her husband, Tony, didn't believe in all of that supernatural stuff she'd been telling him but his brother, Jim, was interested...which sent Tony into a jealous streak seeing the two so close. Fletcher, being a reporter, was naturally interested since he smelled a story. The story was controversial, though.

Let me think...off the top of my head I believe these characters were all caught up in the mystery: Jim Reardon, Hillary Bauer, Fletcher Reade, Claire Ramsey, Tony Reardon, Annabelle Sims, Alexandra Spaulding...did I forget anyone else? Quint and Nola provided news and information from the home-front to the characters abroad, like learning that Brandon Spaulding once had a shipping business in Barbados 40 years earlier.

The main reason the story was controversial is because it featured intrigue and high drama...something GL typically shied away from, with a majority of the viewers preferring everyday situations between average people without all of the thrills and spills a story like this provided. Another reason for it's controversy came about when the character of Hillary Bauer was killed, without much warning...in the story she was figuring out the riddle that had been circulating around and she came to the conclusion that the solution to the riddle was tied to the Spaulding's when a music box blew up and she died instantly. Mrs Piper had been the one who sent the music box, by the way.

Another reason that story was controversial to some was how they brought Brandon Spaulding back to life...and not only that, wrote him having a double life with an African-American family. Alexandra came face to face with her long believed dead father and he confessed faking his death after his argument with Lucille Wexler and slipping out of the country to be with Sharina, his wife. The two had a daughter together, Victoria. Brandon's back-story was revealed in this story as well...it seems that Brandon and Sharina had been having an affair and it was discovered by Brandon's wife, Penelope, who was pregnant with Alan at the time. She attempted to murder Sharina but Conrad, Sharina's brother, jumped into the line of fire...and it was his skeleton that was clinging to the mysterious doll. Penelope died giving birth to Alan. Inside the doll were the papers granting Victoria a part of Spaulding's empire...and Victoria signed her shares of the company over to Alexandra, wanting no part in any of it...insisting on remaining in Barbados.

Why exactly was Mrs. Piper so awful and ruthless in her quest for the cottage? Well, Mrs. Piper was in real estate...and being ruthless and amoral as she was, she knew the cottage had connections to Spaulding secrets and she was hoping to sell it to the Spaulding's for millions given what she knew about the cottage.

In the image below, which you should click for a bigger look, you'll see Annabelle and Jim at their wit's end at a Spaulding crypt.

The storyline came to a somewhat happy ending...Mrs Piper met her doom in the sand pits while Alexandra became even more powerful with Victoria's share of the family's company. Alan, remember, was presumed dead...so he was not a factor in any of the proceedings.

In 1983, prior to the Barbados storyline, several of the GL characters appeared in a made-for-TV movie called The Cradle Will Fall based upon a book of the same name by Mary Higgins Clark...in the pictures below I pretend to be in horror...the movie was basically a soap opera with an ending. There was another movie based upon the book...that movie, called the same thing, was released in 2004. The 1983 version is what I recommend simply for it's use of GL character's.

A lot of the action in the second half of the movie took place at Cedars Hospital, the working place of Ed Bauer as well as his mother, Bert, who had become a patient advocate. Lesley Ann, the token wife of Warren Andrews in 1984, appeared in the film as did Hope Bauer, for a few cameo shots. Detective Larry Wyatt and Ross Marler had more screen time by comparison. The video that I have was released in 1986 by Karl-Lorimar Home Video. P&G produced the movie. It isn't rated but I'd give it an R rating...or a G...it isn't scary, but it does have those soap opera elements during intense scenes. The stars of the movie were Lauren Hutton as Kathy DeMaio, which sounds like the name of a soap heroine doesn't it? Ben Murphy also starred as Dr. Carroll. James Farentino also starred as the villainous Dr. Highley. The plot of the movie centered around a woman who witnessed a murder from a distance during a thunderstorm...unable to really identify the killer.

Beware of several typo's on the 1986 VHS release if anyone should ever come across a copy at a flea market or on eBay. There is a typo on the back of the VHS box spelling the author of the book's name as Mary Higgens Clark instead of Mary Higgins Clark. Jerry verDorn's character, Ross Marler, is written wrong...it's written as Marker instead. Amazingly, though, they were able to spell the actor who played Larry Wyatt correctly...Joe Ponazecki...how about that!

Guiding Light: Beirut story, 1985

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la8ipbjJvvU

I found this clip while browsing through the Guiding Light video's that are up on You Tube. You'll have to highlight the URL and open it in another window in order for it to work. This particular video is near the beginning of the 1985 Beirut story which featured Ed, Maureen, Claire, and Fletcher. I wrote at length about the storyline but this episode, which is part 3 of 6, aired on January 29, 1985 and it puts a visual to the storyline I had written about.

I have watched part 1 and 2 but I had not yet watched part 4, 5, and 6 so I do not know if Ed and company appear only in this video installment or not but I thought it would be a great addition to this blog entry. The video uploader has the video available for embedding on sites outside of You Tube and so I assume he or she wouldn't mind the video being lifted from there and placed here. Once the clip is over with, off to the right hand side of the page you will see additional videos. There will be one marked 1/29/85, Part Four which you'll click. I hadn't seen these scenes since they were first aired...the Beirut story isn't your typical "soap opera" story but I loved the adventure and mayhem. Richard Van Vleet plays Ed Bauer and Ellen Dolan plays Maureen. Fletcher is played by Jay Hammer and Susan Pratt plays Claire. Enjoy...and if you all hadn't tried it by now, look up the show on You Tube and watch older episodes...some are in bad shape, though...but these 1985 episodes by comparison are in better shape. You will also be regaled by the characters of Alexandra Spaulding, Warren Andrews, Beth and Lujack, and others in the series of 1985 video's.

Guiding Light: 1937-2009???? Part Four

This is the April 21st issue of Soap Opera Weekly with the news of Guiding Light's cancellation splashed across the cover. I bought my copy at the local grocery store. I predict that there will be other such stories published by the other soap opera publications as well. I really wasn't expecting there to be any front page news this soon...since CBS gave a deadline of September 18th...and this is the first few days of April and anything can happen, hopefully for the good, between now and then if you're remaining optimistic. It's been noted by several insiders that they do not feel that another broadcast network will take on the show...but they hadn't lost out hope with cable networks. Now, wouldn't this be ironic if GL increases it's viewership by a significant margin during the next several days/weeks/months as the show comes to it's end?? You know, I wouldn't be surprised if viewers who'd never watched GL before would suddenly start watching on a whim to experience the feeling of watching the final episodes of a landmark daytime drama.

The thing that should still be kept in mind is P&G isn't the one that's canceling the program, it's CBS; given the sheer longevity of the program, I've said it once and i'll continue to say it from now until September, but given the sheer longevity of the program I don't feel that it's going to just go off the air without someone at the last minute stepping up and making an effort to keep the show going. Some may feel that's daydreaming or wishful thinking...but I'm leaning toward something coming up in the next several weeks...maybe next month...but I don't feel the show or P&G is going to keep the audience hanging and hanging with the promise of doing everything they can to continue the show but then come the first week of September and there's still no definite plans being made...I don't think they will do that sort of thing. If anything, P&G should strike a deal with another network well before the final air-date on CBS hits and I'm hoping that's what the people behind the scenes have been attempting to do ever since the news broke on April 1st. There's a part of me that thinks P&G is hoping CBS will change it's mind but I don't believe they will...given how far in advance they've issued the cancellation.

The three faces of Alan Spaulding below...top row: current player Ron Raines, who began playing the role in 1994 and has played the role to perfection; in black and white we have Daniel Pilon who played the role during 1988-1989, it was Daniel Pilon's portrayal of Alan that clued Phillip in that Beth was still alive...this was also the era in which Alan and Nadine as well as Alan and Blake became lovers. In the picture below the top two we have Chris Bernau, the actor who originated the role of Alan in 1977. Chris would play the role for seven years, 1977-1984...but then return in 1986 and stay with the show until 1988...he became ill and Daniel Pilon was cast as Bernau's successor. The writers wrote the character off in 1989...having him sent to prison for five years...returning in 1994 in the body of Ron Raines.

Guiding Light: 1937-2009, Part Three

When you click the image, you'll see a 1956 TV Guide listing...I took a picture of the inside of one of my TV Guide's. It's the only issue I have from the 1950's and I figured I'd share a piece of the daytime line-up back then. As most soap fans know, many soap opera's ran just 15 minutes back then. This will also serve as a visual lesson in simplicity...notice how few channels there were. The fewer the channels the lesser the competition. "Guiding Light" aired from 9:45 until 10am. Looking on, "Search For Tomorrow" aired before GL and Walter Cronkite's news report aired after GL. At 10:30am, as you'll see in the second picture, "As The World Turns" was on. It ran during the 10:30-11am slot, a 30 minute serial, uncommon in those days. This being from a 1956 issue of TV Guide, it's interesting to note that the soap debuted that very same year...along with another 30 minute soap, "The Edge of Night". These two soaps were both 30 minutes in length.

Incidentally, "Guiding Light" would not expand from 15 to 30 minutes until twelve years later, 1968.

In this particular picture, it's the same daytime schedule but it offers a bit more of the bottom part of the page...it's image is a bit grainy/blurry compared to the other picture. I wanted to give an over-view of a typical daytime schedule in 1956. Again, that's my only issue of TV Guide from the 1950's.

The soaps took a little break and picked back up in the afternoon...at 1pm. "A Brighter Day", "Secret Storm", and "The Edge of Night" aired back to back to back during the 1pm-2pm hour.

I did some research on "The Edge of Night" and learned that it is one of the examples of a soap that had a long run on one network, was canceled, and then was picked up by another major network and ran for an additional nine years...so it isn't unheard of for soaps to hop to another network after cancellation. It isn't the normal kind of thing...but it isn't unprecedented, either. "Edge of Night" ran on CBS of all networks from 1956 to 1975 and then moved to ABC and it aired from 1975 until 1984...bringing the soap's over-all total to 28 years. One of the alumni from "Edge of Night" in it's ABC years was Larkin Malloy, who would become famous among "Guiding Light" fans as Kyle Sampson during the mid 1980's. Several others with a connection to "Edge of Night" have ties with "Guiding Light" too. Barbara Berjer, the actress who portrayed Barbara Norris on GL for 10 years had ties to "Edge of Night". Millette Alexander, GL's long-running actress in the role of Sara McIntyre, appeared on "Edge of Night" as well. Barbara and Millette both had lengthy stays on "As The World Turns" as well prior to their GL roles.

This issue of Soap Opera Digest hit the shelves in 1997 when GL turned 60. On the cover were the characters of Roger, Dinah, Phillip, Josh, and Reva. Phillip had just recently returned to town after spending several years in prison for a crime he was set up for. Dinah became one of Roger's love interests and eventual wife but she soon left him for his son, Hart. Josh and Reva are the show's super-couple...in and out of love since her arrival in town in 1983. There were other magazines published that week celebrating the show's anniversary. Soap Opera Weekly had a multi-page write-up, including a time-line and other information. There was also publicity in a few lesser-known soap publications...and a hard-cover coffee table book detailing the show's 60 year run in exhaustive detail. The 50th Anniversary book from 1987 is a great read and portable...you can carry it around and read it on the go or wherever you'd like but the 60th Anniversary book has much more detail...lots and lots of pictures...complete sections devoted to the core families of the show in 1997: Bauer, Spaulding, Lewis, and Cooper families.

As for the future of "Guiding Light", there's still hope that another network will become the show's savior once CBS removes it from their line-up. "Edge of Night" was the only long success for a soap that switched networks, racking up nine more years on ABC after being canceled by CBS. "Search For Tomorrow" went through a similar crisis but it didn't have quite that long of a second life when it switched networks. "Search for Tomorrow" ran 35 years, 1951-1986. It was never expanded to an hour...it was a 15 minute soap from 1951 through 1968. Afterward it expanded to half an hour and stayed a 30 minute soap for the rest of it's run. CBS aired the show for 31 years, 1951-1982...the rest of it's life was on NBC...airing it's final episode the day after Christmas in 1986. Mary Stuart and Larry Haines were the central figures...they were on the show for it's entire run playing the roles of Joanne Gardner and Stu Bergman. A third cast-member, Melba Rae, played the role of Stu's wife, Marge, for the show's first 20 years before passing away unexpectedly in 1971.

Mary Stuart would appear on GL in 1996 playing the part of Meta Bauer...a character that had last been seen in 1974. She was on the program in a recurring basis...appearing off and on for six years. She taped her last scenes in February 2002, a few days before her death.

In another entry into the GL Hall of Longevity we have Jay Hammer. He played the Springfield Journal reporter, Fletcher Reade, for 14 years: 1984-1998. His earlier time on the show centered around his love-life...a triangle of sorts. He fell in love with Hillary Bauer but she was in love with Jim Reardon. Claire Ramsey, one of the nurses at Cedars, became Fletcher's love interest in spite of her rough exterior. Claire also had eyes for Jim Reardon but his eyes were drawn toward Hillary. Fletcher was introduced as a reporter investigating a plague-like disease known as the Dreaming Death in San Rios. Coincidentally he worked for the Springfield Journal and so when they wrapped up their San Rios work, he accompanied everyone back home. Later, he became wrapped up in the Barbados story which introduced Brandon Spaulding's secret life and second family. In 1985 Fletcher flew off to Beirut and Claire followed him. Ed and Maureen soon followed the pair after Claire made a phone call asking for help in finding Fletcher. Ed and Claire went on a search for Fletcher as Maureen stayed behind in a hotel while a reporter, mistaking Maureen for Claire, led her to Fletcher.

During a bombing raid, each couple thought the other were killed...Fletcher and Maureen mourned over Ed and Claire, while in another part of the country, Ed and Claire turned to each other...things became passionate when a dazed and confused Ed mistook Claire for Maureen in the darkness and one thing led to another. Claire never fought it...enjoying every second of it...in the daylight Ed realized what he had done and several hours later they were reunited with Maureen and Fletcher. Claire became pregnant...and Ed was revealed to be the father. This bit of news, along with his separation with Maureen, sent Ed into a drinking binge...alcohol hadn't been in Ed's life for a number of years...almost ten...he eventually stopped his drinking right around the time Claire was due to give birth. The baby arrived months later and she was named Michelle.

Meanwhile, Fletcher and Claire drifted apart not long afterward. He became instrumental in helping Ed clear his name later in 1985. A murder had happened at Cedars Hospital and Ed became a suspect in the death of Charlotte Wheaton. In reality, Ed was framed because the real culprit was Alicia Rhomer, who turned out to be Charlotte's own sister. Fletcher investigated Charlotte's past and put the pieces together and helped clear Ed and Claire from suspicion. Afterward, he became close to Maeve Stoddard. She had a secret...she once had a baby with Kyle Sampson and the baby's name was Ben. Fletcher and Maeve began to date and they got engaged. The two married in 1988 but she died in a helicopter crash soon afterward and he wanted custody of her son, Ben. Maeve's mother, Julia, had other plans and the two fought a custody battle...eventually Fletcher was able to adopt Ben, and the character faded from the front-burner...appearing every so often during holiday get together's.

Fletcher found himself falling for Alexandra Spaulding of all people around this time. He was part of the rescue team that shown up in Venezuela to save Alan, Josh, and Reva from the murderous Will Jeffries. Fletcher and Alex flew off together once the story wrapped up and they crashed onto a remote island...they were stranded for a period of days until a wind storm separated the two. A masked man lurking on the island made it possible for Fletcher to leave...convincing him the woman he was with was dead. After Fletcher made his way back to Springfield it was months before Alexandra was rescued. Her masked friend, Adam Malik, turned out to be Roger Thorpe. Alexandra had fell in love with Adam/Roger after spending all of those months with him on the island and they eventually married after she arrived back in Springfield.

Fletcher eventually became close to Vanessa Chamberlain and he helped her fight Jack Kiley, a businessman who attempted to rape her. Billy Lewis, her ex-husband, hatched a plan to trick Jack into confessing by staging a party in his honor. While there, the tables were turned and Jack was taken into custody and Vanessa began to grow close to Billy again, which Fletcher could sense. Next, he grew close to Holly. Her life was almost always tangled up with Roger Thorpe...but Fletcher was persistent and the two of them were married, infuriating Roger in the process, he had felt that he and Holly were close to getting re-married when she all of the sudden turned to Fletcher. Holly and Fletcher had a daughter together, Meg, who was born with Down's Syndrome. After a few months of bliss, the marriage crumbled mainly due to Fletcher's insecurities and all out bitterness and anger over Roger's involvement in Holly's life. Due to her consistent argument that Roger will always be a part of her life because they share a daughter together, Fletcher had had enough. He took her behavior toward Roger as a sign that she was still obsessed and in love with him, something she constantly denied. Nevertheless, Fletcher emotionally flipped out while Holly was in a different part of the house and he gathered up Meg one day and fled the country...telling nobody of his whereabouts.

Fletcher made a brief return in 1999 to tie up loose ends. It looked like he and Holly were going to pair-up again but revelations and secrets drove the two apart for good and he took Meg with him, at Holly's insistence, and hadn't been seen since.

His adopted son, Ben, became a focal point of the program during the middle part of this decade...turning out to be a complete opposite of his respected adoptive father. Ben was soon linked to a series of teenage murders...his affections were often directed at Marah Lewis, or, Marina Cooper. After a period of years attempting to win the affections of whatever woman he had his eye's on, he flipped out and abducted Marina and held her hostage. Her father, Frank, was on hand helping to rescue her. Ben committed suicide after attempting to murder Shayne Lewis. This concludes part three of my GL blog entries.