Bill Bauer

1 hour ago, Bright Eyes said:

Damn Kathy, get a grip! Was Bill always that much of a sad sack?

Thanks Jam. What a weird article that last one is! LOL

6 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

This is not just a feeling, this is a fact!

It was as if many of the women writers on daytime soaps felt they had something to prove and as a result, had to be harder-charging, coarser and more brutal in their characterization and that would somehow prove their "mettle" by being especially cutting in their writing of women characters (a warped quest against being accused of being partial maybe?). It's really a shame because a writer who is a man feels perfectly entitled to write a man who is sensitive with many sides to his personality with many twists and turns in how he is written, meanwhile so many of the women characters will absolutely be savaged, under the pen of writers who are both men and women. Such a shame.

Interesting perspective. Thanks, DD!

15 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

Alan disappeared 

Thank God!

5 minutes ago, Mitch said:

LOL..okay, I am beating a dead horse...

 

I guess I should have hung it up after I (supposedly) made Frankie D's wife cry about what I had to say about the Coopers.

No, go right ahead. I'm just teasing. I agree with you. Plus, as Alice Roosevelt Longworth said...

10 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

 

SAME!

 

I was hoping for more with Nathan around but nope. Sigh. 

 

Marie and Melissa and Mike all could fill holes in the canvas, but soaps don't seem think that way anymore. 

 

Marie could have been re-introduced with Nick. I'd much rather Marie be Alice's "successor". But I get why they went with Maggie back then. It worked for a little bit of time.

 

We should have had Mike instead of Daniel.

 

Melissa could fill the void left by Hope. Melissa was once teased with Justin back in the day. They could try that again. 

 

Not to mention Jeremy and Nathan could both be recast and used. But instead we get reformed serial killer Ben.

 

And a better recast Bill, and Laura, should have been recurring and popping in more.

 

Tony and Anna could serve the same recurring purpose for the DiMera's but of course they're off-screen.

 

Shows need characters that others can talk to and get advice from. It's severely lacking and we end up with things like Marlena parenting Ben.

I don't know if I've ever agreed more with a post. 

15 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Nov 1945 Barbara Fuller Gets Claudia Role

Blonde Barbara Fuller is the new Claudia in "One Man's Family" (NBC, Sundays, 2:30 p. m., WOW). For the first time in the 13 -year history of the NBC program, Writer- Producer Carlton E. Morse has brought in someone new to play one of the major roles in the story. I have been besieged with requests to bring Claudia back to "One Man's Family" ever since Kathleen Wilson, who originally played the part, left the cast two years ago," said Morse. "I have waited this long because I wanted to be sure that I had found the right person for the role. Barbara Fuller is a perfect Claudia."

Miss Fuller, who also plays the part of Barry Fitzgerald's niece, Susan, in the new NBC program, "His Honor, the Barber," has been a radio actress in Chicago and New York since she was 9 years old.

One of soaps' first "back from the dead" storylines (which I hate).  I was not happy that they brought Claudia back from the dead even though I liked the character. Morse should  have either not killed her off in the first place or left her dead. It may have been OMF's first "jump the shark" moment. The other one being Cousin Jediah. I can't remember which came first. Although at least this back-from-the-dead storyline made logical sense as opposed to most modern ones (I'm looking at you in particular Days). 

1 hour ago, Mitch said:

I love KT as Mindy but she just never aged..physically (good for you KT) or mentally as a character..(When she came back  and  JC's Alex had compromising pictures of her all I could see was her being rude to a sales girl..now Sims I could see in some pics.) I was a big Rick and Mindy fan and they should have been end game but earlier then the last episode.. I would have had them get together after Abby left instead of boring Mel and they could have been the nice kind of normal non drama couple in town.

 

Butch Hillary HAHAHAHA

 

Fletch got annoying in later years with Holly when he was walking all over her lines. However, he worked where Buzz didn't as a guy not in the core families but connected to them all. McTrash shoulda killed Buzzard for her start of the Marion story, that would have had the soap press in a tizzy "Acting LEGEND Deas let go"

Mitch, I'm starting to get the feeling you don't like Justin Deas. 

11 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

The Claire and Ed ONS wasn't a bad idea..both came together in grief so it made sense in a way.  Even Claire becoming pregnant made sense storywise..and could have been milked for years.  

 

Didn't the show explain Claire's change in 1986 via a medical issue?  

No. She suffered brain damage after she was thrown off a bridge and hit her head but the evolution from fun-loving to evil bitch to crazy was never explained. The brain damage came after the crazy stage. 

7 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

No....I had forgotten he returned. They were taking about Charita I believe and the interview ended. It was weird. I didn't catch live and I usually do. I think Alan wanted to end it quickly. He felt the heat...

 

Yes. He ended it VERY quickly after whatever was later edited out was said. He actually seemed angry at whoever said it (probably Pratt). 

11 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

According to Soap Central Rose Kransky took a job with Doris Cameron, which would be the beginning of Right To Happiness. She returned to Five Points (and Guiding Light) when Mary Holden told her that Mrs Kransky was experiencing hardship.

This indicates that the Kranskys stayed in Five Points.

But according to other information they had moved next door to the Burkes on RTH.

If the Kranskys stayed in Five Points but moved to a better part of town, then the Burkes also lived in Five Points yet didn't seem to figure at all in Guiding Light as the Kransky's neighbors. Still confused.

Welcome to the world of radio soap opera history. LOL. Shoddy and careless record keeping, misinformation, deceased players, poor memories, lack of original source material, etc. Although trying to piece it all together can be fun like a mystery or a jigsaw puzzle. 

I don't have the names of actors off-hand but I'll try to find the names later. Slick did a good job. Although Jonathan McNeill was a medical doctor, not a reverend. Any characters you specifically had in mind? 

I'm not sure about Ned and Mary. They aren't mentioned in the story synopses after they got married even though Rev. Ruthledge was still in the story a couple of years after they got married. Perhaps they moved away? I know that Ned went to Selby Flats to present the friendship lamp to Rev. Matthews after Rev. Ruthledge died but he didn't stick around. No mention of Mary. Of course, I'm going by the storyline synopses. I'm sure all these things were explained and talked about on the actual show but we will never know. 

The mid-40s was a weird time for the show. Even though the setting was still Five Points, the focus went off the Ruthledges and Kranskys and seemed to focus solely on the story of Tim, Claire and baby Ricky. Ricky was Claire's adopted son who turned out to be the biological son of Tim (the man she was romantically involved with). Tim didn't know he had a son because his ex-wife Nina had kept it secret that she was pregnant and gave the baby up for adoption while Tim was overseas fighting in WW2. It was by chance that Tim met Claire after he got back from the war. I don't know how they figured out that Ricky was Tim's biological son. I guess Nina told them. Greg was just a guy that was vying with Tim for the affections of Claire. I think Nina was trying to get back with Tim. I don't remember. Anyway, everything focused around Tim and Claire. Tim and Claire got married and Tim died in a plane crash and then Claire wound up marrying Jonathan. Claire and Jonathan were the only characters to make the jump to Selby Flats. Peter was one of the few characters still left from the first years of the show. His name was Peter Manno. I don't know anything about his storyline in the first couple of years on the show. I think he was just a member of one of the poor immigrant families in Five Points that Rev. Ruthledge helped out. He left the show after a couple of years but he came back on the show later as a lawyer. Angie was his wife, I believe.  Reverend Gaylord took over for Reverend Ruthledge at his church when Reverend Ruthledge went overseas to serve as chaplain during the war. I'd be curious to hear how the transition worked as well. All of a sudden, there just seemed to be new characters and all the old characters were gone. The next transition seems like an easier jump to make. The show left the air for almost a year and, I believe, when it returned production was in Los Angeles and the setting of the story changed from Five Points to Selby Flats, California with a whole new cast of characters for that location. That makes a lot more sense. I don't really understand what was going on around 1943/44. It just seems like from 1942-1947 The Guiding Light was in a very long transition period. 

And I don't know what would allow the Kranskys to move up the social ladder either. 

I wish all the guests were as honest as Susan. She's great. Did anybody watch this live? Something got edited out at the 1:07:49 mark when they were talking about the death of Maureen Bauer. Right before Alan says "I don't think she'd like to hear that". I wonder what got cut out. Must have been good for Alan to censor it. 

10 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Upon further investigation it seems that TGL was dropped in 1939 and last broadcast 0ct 13 1939.

Not sure why it was axed, perhaps something to do with sponsors.Will try and find out.

Anyway RTH debuted the following Monday so it seems that Rose and the Kransky's presence along with others from TGL was to keep those characters alive until TGL returned, which it did a few months later in Jan 1940.

I guess at that time Rose returned to TGL, which explains why she didn't have much to do on RTH.

 

It seems that the Kranskys moved into a new neighborhood 'out of the slums' at the beginning of RTH and the Burkes were their neighbors.

Do you know if Right to Happiness was set in Five Points? 

51 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

So Rose returned to TGL and played out the Greenman story?

The timeline of TGL and RTH is confusing at this time.

Yes, it is confusing. It's also strange that the Cunninghams, Rev. Ruthledge and all the Kranskys would be in the cast of the new show. That means either The Right to Happiness was set in Five Points (which I don't think it was) or the new town was close to Five Points and Rose went back and forth. That's the most likely scenario. There's no way all of those people would follow Rose to a new town. I do believe the Greenman story started up when Rose went back to TGL. I don't think Rose or any of those TGL people were on RTH for very long. 

6 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

 Right to  Happiness summary 1941. The Kranskys had vanished by this  point.

 

ALMOST everybody wants happiness; almost nobody knows quite what happiness really is. And the struggle to achieve this elusive state of bliss often has the strange effect of creating a great deal ·of unhappiness. For instance, in Ima Phillips; serial show "Right to Happiness" (heard Monday through Friday over CBS) . Here the struggle results in a muddle of love triangles which. would confound the wisest adviser to the lovelorn.

 

First, Bill Walker (Reese Taylor), an advertising executive, falls for widow Doris Cameron (Connie Crowder), a woman's magazine editor until he meets her daughter, Carolyn (Eloise Kummer), whom he marries while Doris is away on business. Carolyn is ignorant of her mother's love for Bill, later finds life with him-he is twenty years older than she-- quite incompatible.

Her real heart interest is Bill's young business associate, Dwight Kramer (Frank Behrens) . She threatens divorce, but Bill refuses to leave her.

Another triangle develops as Louise Sims (Sarajane Wells), comes to live with Doris, meets Lyle Anders (Karl Weber), a young writer, to whom she becomes engaged out of pity on learning that he has only six months to live. But his recovery places her on a .spot, for she really is in love with a young lawyer named Dick Gordon (Monty Mohn).

 

A third trend is introduced when Fred Minturn (Art Kohl), who loves Doris, is spurned because she still carries the torch for Bill Walker. All of these men and women search for one possession- happiness .

I'm very curious as to what Rose Kransky's storylines were over on The Right to Happiness. I don't think there are any surviving episodes with her in it from that show and I can't find any written synopsis of her time there. 

Does anybody know whatever happened to Suzanne Davidson? I really liked her as Betsy Stewart. I can't find any information on her post-ATWT. 

Pamela Sue Martin WAS Fallon. They should have just let the character die when the actress left the series. And the recast was just plain odd. Not only does she look different but she has a different personality and is all of a sudden British? I'm definitely in the minority with this opinion but I think Dynasty was at its best in the first season. It was really well-written and actually had some depth to it. Before it turned into a campfest. I'm not even anti-camp. It was just hard to take it seriously the further it went along. I don't think PSM would have fit in. Neither would have Al Corley. I think they were wise to move on. 

And I don't remember Blake not being Fallon's father. Was Sammy Jo lying? 

Thank you, Jason!

Thanks, Paul! I have an episode with Dr. Ruthledge's secretary in it but this is the first time I've ever seen her mentioned in print. She's not in any of the history books for some reason. 

Thanks so much for that! That's all kinds of awesome! In regards to the the Norma Greenman story on The Guiding Light, I love how, basically, her jealousy gets operated on.I love the 40s! 

1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Can someone get Bill Shanks one one of these reunion livestream?

That would be great. I really liked both Bill Shanks and Casey Peretti. I wonder what happened to Bill Shanks. Does he still act? 

1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Unpopular opinion but I liked Pam. I think Robin Morse was earnest in her portrayal. I think the character suffered from being trapped between Lily and Meg. Maybe due to the writer's strike, I think the character wasn't fully formed enough to be legitimate rival to Lily and she sort of got trapped into the role of loyal friend to Meg, which enriched Meg's character but did virtually nothing for Pam.

I actually liked Pam too. She was down-to-earth and rational (two qualities in short supply in Oakdale back in those days). I think she was ruined by Beau. I found him gross and creepy and he kind of made her seem that way by association. 

46 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

I would never want anyone to edit it out but that scene of Lyla and Casey happily looking out at the New York City skyline with the Twin Towers in the distance really took my breath away, by the next scene between Hank, Bob and Kim, I felt oddly emotional, although I really liked that scene. In today's soaps Bob and Kim wouldn't even know who Hank was and vice-versa. The scene between Barbara and Hal was poignant too.

While we're on the subject of unpopular opinions, even though I was never a fan of Lyla's singing, I love that song by Lyla that was Casey and Lyla's theme. 

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

I never understood the purpose of Ellie on the canvas. IMO she added nothing to show and never really took off as a character. I remember Wiggin saying in the reunion that fans hated Kirk with Ellie and wanted him with Iva.

Ellie seemed to have the right amount of fans to make this an unpopular opinion but I never could stand her. She was my least favorite Snyder (which is saying a lot). 

3 hours ago, soapfave06 said:

OMG this is absurd. Lol. I can't believe P&G approved this to air. Is this in the official history books? 

Yes. I got it from the Guiding Light 60th Anniversary Book by Julie Poll.