Guiding Light: 1937-2009...Part Nine

Uploaded in June of 2012 comes a You Tube clip of an episode of Guiding Light that originally aired on November 2, 1979. The clip, located below, starts off with a phone conversation between two of the greatest characters, Roger Thorpe and Alan Spaulding. Thorpe had been a character on the series since April 1971 while Spaulding and his family were part of a late '70s transitional period on the program where older characters and families that had been a focus since the '50s and '60s were slowly taking a backseat to newer families and characters. The German-immigrant Bauer family (Papa Frederich, Mama, Meta, Trudy, and Bill), originated on the series when it was broadcast on radio in 1948. Mama, however, died early on and so that left Frederich (who the children and friends alike called 'Papa') to move in with his son, Bill, and his wife, Bert. Trudy Bauer was written out by the early '50s. This left Papa, Meta, Bill, and Bert...those four characters became the focus all throughout the '50s and into the '60s with secondary characters and families providing additional story-lines. Meta, in fact, was the most popular Bauer family member from the late '40s through the mid '50s. Her misadventures and antics populated most of the earliest story-lines during that time period. On the show she went through many tragic plots and suffered through a series of ill-fated marriages before settling with a character named Bruce Banning, a doctor. This is who the character was married to when they left town in the early '70s. Meta, as mentioned, would remain on the series through the early '70s but by that time she had become a symbolic character rather than one that was featured in the on-going storyline. Bill and Bert Bauer's marriage and the fact that his father lived with them became the focal point in the mid '50s through the '60s.

Those families, specifically the Fletcher and Grant families, began to fade by the late '60s to where there were only a couple of characters left. When the focus of the series in the late '60s shifted from Bert and Bill Bauer to their two adult sons, lawyer Mike and doctor Ed, younger characters began to pop up and become part of the series. The two that spring to mind are Roger Thorpe and Holly Norris. The Norris family debuted in 1970 (Stanley, Barbara, Ken, Holly, and Andy) while Roger Thorpe and his father, Adam, arrived in 1971. Since the Bauer family had long been enormously popular and beloved by fans it was only natural for the Norris family and the Thorpe's to become enmeshed with the Bauer's.

The first bit of conflict between the Bauer and Norris families centered around Janet Mason, a woman that Ed Bauer had once had an affair with. Janet would marry newcomer Ken Norris but his insecurities and jealousies of Ed and any possible affection Janet may have for Ed made their marriage eventful. Adam Thorpe, in the meantime, worked for Stanley Norris' company. It's Stanley whose responsible for Holly and Roger meeting for the first time. Stanley, however, is later murdered...widow Barbara eventually falls for Adam Thorpe. Later in the series, Ken Norris attempts to murder Ed but shoots Ed in the hand, jeopardizing Ed's career as a surgeon. Ken, Janet, and their daughter eventually leave town and relocate to California. Holly, who has some sort of attraction to Roger, pines for him but he's involved with one of the last remaining Fletcher family members, Peggy. The two get married but it's short-lived. His affair with Holly leads to the marriage ending. Roger and Holly aren't free to marry though as she, in the meantime, married Ed Bauer during an intoxicated night in Las Vegas. She becomes pregnant, as a result of her brief affair with Roger, but she lies and convinces Ed that he's the baby's father. The baby is named Christina Bauer.

Adam and Barbara by this time have married. The Spaulding family arrive in town. Alan brings with him his wife, Elizabeth, and a son, Phillip. He also brings with him Spaulding Enterprises, the family business. Mike Bauer gets a job there as the company lawyer. Roger Thorpe as well as his father, Adam, are hired at the new company. Mike falls for Elizabeth. Adam doesn't last too long at the company but Roger becomes obsessed with being a success.

Throughout the rest of the '70s (1977-1979) and into 1980 the story-line of Roger/Holly/Ed/Rita/Alan would be as complex and fascinating as one could imagine. An additional story-line of Alan/Elizabeth/Mike plus an Alan/Elizabeth/Jackie/Justin story successfully managed to cause the Alan Spaulding character to become one of the most popular in daytime television. A lot of that, also, had to do with the character's actor, Chris Bernau. Roger was portrayed by Michael Zaslow. He and Bernau originated the roles of Roger and Alan and it was in the late '70s time period where the two characters formed a short-lived alliance...neither trusted the other...and each was always attempting to outwit the other in anything they did.

So, this brings us to the clip. Aired originally in November 1979 it shows the interplay between the two characters and how those two characters played a part in the lives of Ed Bauer and his wife, Rita. By this time both Ed and Roger are aware of the true origins of Christina...even though Ed continues to act as the kid's father. This created tension for Rita, who felt that Ed's raising of Holly's daughter meant that he must have some lingering feelings for Holly. She ended up having an affair with Alan which continued after her divorce from Ed and Alan's future marriage to Hope (Mike Bauer's daughter). Roger, in the meantime, had married Holly (at last!) but he was extremely jealous over Ed's involvement in Christina's life and in what he saw as Holly's friendly attitude with Ed and the rest of the Bauer's. In his mind, the Bauer's were mortal enemies and it sickened him that his daughter was being raised by Ed. It became an obsession of his to reveal to his daughter that he was her biological father. Holly had raised Christina into thinking that Roger was just a 'family friend'. Keep in mind that Christina was written to be around 6 or 7 years old.

Roger eventually raped Holly. He had raped Rita in a previous story-line. Rita kept her rape a secret but Holly took Roger to court. This brought Ross Marler to town to defend Roger. The trial and it's aftermath, including Rita's admission of being raped by Roger, set off a chain reaction of events...leading Roger to flee the country and become a fugitive and it's during his run from the law that this clip originated. Alan was being blackmailed into funding Roger's escape.

I think I've probably confused many readers with that long introduction but I feel it necessary when setting up the history of the two characters.

Enjoy the show...

Jerry Clower: 1926-1998...

I came across a recent upload of a commercial that Jerry Clower taped at some point in the latter half of his career.

Here's the commercial he did for Electric City. I have no idea of the year it was taped but I'd have to say late 1980s or very early 1990s at the latest but you'll notice that it was meant to air during Christmas season.



I only saw Jerry Clower in person once and that was an outdoor appearance at a local county fair in 1995. The comedy album out that year from Clower was Fishin', Frogs, Hogs, and Dogs...or as it's spelled on the CD cover, Fish'n, Frogs, Hawgs, and Dawgs. On the cover it shown an illustrated picture of Clower and the animals depicted in the CD's title. One of the other subjects depicted on the CD's cover is a fishing lure known as the Helicopter Lure. He and Roland Martin taped an infomercial for it in 1995 and it became a sensation that year in the sport of fishing. The stories told in this album were recorded during a concert he did in Renfro Valley, Kentucky according to the liner notes.

The same year Clower had a supporting role in the Ray Stevens direct-to-video movie, Get Serious!. Clower played the part of Ray's manager, The Colonel. A picture of Ray as Gitarzan and Clower in his Colonel attire is seen in the last panel of the film strip on the back of the home video. This wasn't the first time Jerry and Ray teamed up. Earlier, in 1986, Ray released a comedy single titled "Southern Air". The writers are Brent Holmes and Stuart Dill. In the recording Ray plays the part of a nervous passenger while Jerry plays the pilot and Minnie Pearl is on hand as the flight's stewardess. The recording can be found on Ray's 1986 comedy album, Surely You Joust. During his career, Jerry Clower was part of three long-running programs. In 1973 he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. The same year he became the co-host of a radio program called Country Crossroads whose other host was songwriter and Texas disc jockey, Bill Mack. The association with these two programs would last 25 years...ending in 1998, the year that Clower passed away. August 2013 will mark 15 years since his death at the age of 71 in 1998. He was born in September 1926 and was nearly a month shy of reaching 72. (September 28, 1926 - August 24, 1998). A third long running program was the weekly television show Nashville on the Road that aired in syndication. Jerry co-hosted this show with Jim Ed Brown from 1975 through 1981. Another element of his visibility were the various local television commercials that he taped. His image (on TV) and voice (on radio) became associated with numerous products. One of those commercials, of course, is embedded near the top of this blog entry. Obviously the biggest reason for his visibility were his comedy albums...one new release per year on MCA Records from 1971 through 1995 and then he emerged with a new one in 1997 and that was followed by what became his final project, Peaches and Possums, released in the late fall of 1998, a few months after his death. There wasn't a new album issued in 1996, his Silver Anniversary with MCA Records, and perhaps that was MCA's way of thanking him for 25 years of laughter and recordings by giving him "the year off" but that's just a guess. As mentioned, a new album hit the market in 1997 titled Live At Dollywood featuring an illustration of Clower wearing a Dolly Parton wig.

I have all of his albums and a few of the compilation/best of releases, too, like Classic Clower Power. You can search the internet for a lot more information on his life and career...he had a rather lengthy association in the Agriculture and Chemical businesses prior to his entrance into the world of country comedy in 1971 (he was in his mid 40's at that point in time). A lot of his experiences as a boy growing up in the depression-era South were spoke of in his comedy stories as was his strong religious values, his experiences in the military during World War Two, his days playing football in college and his later career paths in Agriculture and as a salesman for the Mississippi Chemical Corporation. Almost all of his stories incorporated the antics of a family referred to as The Ledbetter's (two parents and nine children altogether!). The most popular members of the family were Uncle Versie, Marcel, Newgene, and Clovis even though at one time or another each of the siblings individually took center stage in at least one comedy story. There was one story titled "Burning Building" from 1978 which featured ALL of the Ledbetter's as member's of a volunteer fire department and the chaos that ensues as a result. In later years he spoke of distant relatives, newcomers, and in-laws to the Ledbetter family in addition to the core line-up of 11.

In addition to those kinds of family-driven stories he also offered contemporary experiences touring the country, meeting celebrities, life in Yazoo City, Mississippi and his return to the area he grew up, Liberty, Mississippi, in the mid '90s.

The raccoon became something of a logo due to his breakthrough release in 1971 titled "A Coon Huntin' Story". On stage he'd most often appear in either a red, orange, brown, or blue dinner jacket with a face of a raccoon embroidered on his lapel. He also wore yellow suits but didn't wear them too often...he has a comical reason as to why he stopped wearing the yellow suit. Eventually he settled on just wearing a bright red suit since that was the color that he said most of his fans liked seeing him in the best. In addition to the raccoon and the Ledbetter's, hunting dogs were another consistent subject in a lot of his stories. In 1982 he issued an album titled Dogs I Have Known. The most popular hunting dog in his stories was a dog named Hi-Ball. He also spoke of a couple of other dogs named Brummie and Little Red. In a story that appears on the 1982 album he does an entertaining impression of a mean, aggressive and downright insane dog named "Ol' Blue" and the misadventures that happen when he's taken out into the woods on a hunting trip. His passion for the military was on full display in the 1985 album, An Officer and a Ledbetter. The album opened up in an unusual way in that we hear Clower speaking to a pilot. The routine is titled "Fox 12...Over...". Afterward the main part of the album begins.

There are two stretches of highway in Mississippi named in his honor. There is Jerry Clower Blvd. in Yazoo City, Mississippi and the Jerry Clower Highway near his birthplace of Liberty, Mississippi. It was in the mid '90s that he opened up an intimate museum, in his backyard, housing the various certificates, awards and music industry plaques he had received during his lifetime. He often appeared on Family Feud whenever the program did charity driven episodes featuring country music personalities. On some of his early to mid '80s albums he tells stories about his appearances on the game show.

Jerry Clower: 1926-1998.

Jumpin' Jack Doritos...

One of the things that I've been purchasing frequently when I stop inside a local U.D.F store is this Jumpin' Jack Doritos item. Usually whenever I walk down the potato chip and nacho aisle of any store I keep my eye open for any kind of 'new' flavor that I may want to try out. Like everyone else I, too, have certain flavors of chips/nachos that I won't even attempt to eat and then there are flavors that I'm more in favor of purchasing. Ironically, though, I have never spotted these pepper jack flavored Doritos in any of the local Wal*Mart stores. The only place I've seen them for sale is in a United Dairy Farmers location. Also, they're only available at that store in this smaller size. I haven't seen any family size bags of Jumpin' Jack Doritos, yet. I often buy pepper jack cheese anyway and so I knew when I saw this brand of Doritos that I'd more than likely love how they taste and I do. I've never been a fan of anything "super hot" or "super spicy" and so I've stayed away from products branded with the name Habanero and I stick with what I feel are less spicy offerings such as the original Doritos, the ranch flavored Doritos, the taco Doritos, or this current limited edition Jumpin' Jack Doritos.