Love of Life Discussion Thread

[dc11786]

Thanks @DRW50! I have come to appreciate the layers of John Hess' writing in the past few years so watching a lot of early "Love of Life" plays out differently for me than it did in years past. I do think there is a sleek simplicity in all of this and a low level of relatable humor that adds to the scenes without breaking the dramatic tension by shifting the mood too far in the opposite direction. 

At first, I thought the obviously budget dictated decision to not show Meg's accident was glaring, but I now consider that it allows one to question what actually happened. Did Meg do this intentionally? Was it completely and accident? 

@Paul Raven You probably already knew, but Claire Labine had watched "Love of Life" in the 1950s when her children were young so she had seen Jean McBride's Meg so she was able to capture the essence of the character. In more recent years, I've noticed some writers seem to know a character's history rather than their personality which often makes decisions made by the characters under new writers have questionable motivations based on lack of true understanding of a character. "Love of Life" fans were lucky that Labine was able to bring the essence of Meg back based on first hand knowledge.

[Soaplovers]

I think one of the issues with modern day soaps and 'good' characters is partly due to casting and partly due to writing.

Van is a good character.. too good to be true.. and that can be a difficult character to write and make interesting.  This is why casting is so important because the performer needs to add personality, humor, and other layers in order to make the audience like and root for the character.

Peggy McKay was pretty good with putting that spirit/humor into Van.\

[dc11786]

For the last two decades, very few shows have worked to really develop the characterization and relationships of new characters. While LOL might have a very black and white mindset for morality, those relationships are much murkier. Evans says he is for Van, not against Meg. That's a clear and important distinction. Also, there was that dynamic between Van, Paul, and Matt. I don't feel like there is a clear good guy or bad guy between the two men. Paul is overstepping by showing up and Matt is clearly peeved. Also, Van is tolerating those men because of her connection to both. Similary, her sisterly love for Meg sometimes causes her to support her sister when she shouldn't, but rarely at the sacrifice of her nephew. 

Nowadays, characters and stories are islands. I think there were some benefits to those tighter 15 minute shows. 

[DRW50]

The nuance in those scenes surprised me. I assume Matt was being phased out and Paul was the man she was meant to be with, but both are decent figures, and you can see her connection with both. It was very refreshing compared to the usual angsty triangles, where later on you'd get a punch-up.

That and the Meg and Evans material, like when she calls him out on being old-fashioned and he admits it, make me see the intelligence in the writing that you mention.

I have been saying for years we need 15 minute shows again and I don't know why we aren't getting any. If Tiktok survives, some company would be a fool not to put up a soap. It's what the short attention span generation, with reports of them only being able to watch short videos and not reading, would need. And it makes sense, as 15 minute soaps can still be artforms. 

The other thing with this show compared to later soaps is that the "good" characters actually are good. In recent decades you have "good" characters committing cold blooded murder and this somehow being framed as righteous. 

[All My Shadows]

Thanks @DRW50!! I've never seen that one before, and I thought I'd seen all of the 15-minute LOLs out there.

Jean McBride's Meg really is one of the greatest early soap characters. Idk how the 50s audience took her, but I can never see her as "the bad sister" because she comes across so desperate and transparent in so many of her manipulations that you can't help but feel for her and hope that something works out for her at some point.

I love it when a soap builds its conflicts in unexpected ways. Obviously the Meg/Van dynamics are classic, but putting Beanie into the mix, angry at his mom for being the way she is but also resentful toward Aunt Van because, no matter what, even as she steps in to care for him, she never stops defending Meg and encouraging him to forgive her. Labine was a genius to bring Meg and Ben back in the 70s.

[Soaplovers]

What I liked reading the summaries of 1974 to 1976/7 was that Meg and her two children Ben and Cal were driving the majority of the story.  It's a shame that Cal was phased out eventually because Ben and Cal were kind of like Val and Meg back in the 50s.  Ben seem more like Meg in terms of wanting money/being his own worst enemy while Cal seemed more like her aunt Van with her being more of a good girl.

[DRW50]

Broadcasting Magazine (January 14, 1980) : Future US-Next TV : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Can't remember if these backstage photos were around. Sorry if they were.

 

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[All My Shadows]

I've been rewatching the 50s episodes in order, just to get as full of an appreciation as I can for this era of the show, and I was curious about the opening title card. Sadly, the hotel in the background (the Savoy-Plaza) was demolished in the early 60s, but after reading about the statue, it makes sense that they chose to use it in the show's opening. It's a statue of Pomona, the Roman goddess of abundant fruitfulness, which I figure was chosen to represent Van's generosity with her friends and family.

[Paul Raven]

Info about the LOL opening is a little murky but that opening shot was changed to a slo mo of a flower opening, possibly when the show went to a half hour.

But that was short lived and a new opening with a starry sky replaced it until the color episodes brought the flower in the window opening.

[All My Shadows]

WoST had a clip of the blooming flower opening, but I haven't seen it anywhere since the website shut down, not even a screenshot. I want to say 1957 is when they went from the statue to the flower to the starry sky, but the sky opening might've started in 1958 to coincide with the expansion to 30 minutes.

[Franko]

Bumping this thread. IYKYK.

[VelekaCarruthers]

3 new LOL episodes just uploaded to Youtube. Final week of the show.

[AMCOLTLLover]

I love everything I come across LOL. I was even able to find that one book with the story about Vanessa. I need that other book and it makes me sick that I can’t get my hands on it. I nearly was able too but he wasn’t shipping to my adress:( 

 

[Joseph]

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A Pity January 30 is missing, but this is still all too amazing!

[DRW50]

I'm not sure if those are the same episodes or not, but the final week was uploaded by Chandler Hill Harben a number of years ago. I went back a month or two ago as I was trying to remember if there were any he had up that had been taken down.