Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[watson71]

 

Yes in November 1983 at the opening of Leo Mars nightclub.

[redontop4]

Brief interview with the peerless Patrick Mulcahey from SOD in summer 1993 . . .

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[DRW50]

Thanks for finding these. 

[Khan]

Forget about Patrick Mulcahey's scripts for B&B; no one can do good work on that show.  Mulcahey is, hands down, the best script writer ever to work in soaps.  There's him, maybe Frank Salisbury, and then there's everyone else.

[Faulkner]

You can tell when it’s a Mulcahey script (I remember when Quinn had this long monologue about how women are punished for their sexuality, and I was like, yep, that is a PM script), but that show is a total waste of good scriptwriters (him and MVJ). 

 

He’s such a smart, interesting guy. An openly gay Catholic dude who is a major public figure in the BDSM/kink community. 

[Soapsuds]

It's too bad Patrick didn't take over the writing head duties at ATWT after Marland's death. I am sure he would've done Marland proud.

[Khan]

 

I would have preferred him HW'ing AMC.  I feel like he would have brought back a lot of the humor that had been missing from the show in its' final years.

[BetterForgotten]

He was a lot more than just a simple Scriptwriter too, as Curlee/Demoest allowed him to contribute to long-term story.

 

He loved working with them, and has described the period after Curlee stopped working on GL as hellish in the past.  

[Vee]

I don't understand why he slums it at B&B. I suppose it's the money.

[Soaplovers]

There aren't a lot of soap operas to go to.. and B & B seems to have more stability in terms of job security, I guess.  I wish his vision of Michelle taking over Spaulding had occurred.   Revenge of the Bauers

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[amybrickwallace]

 

Thanks!! I think there was a picture of her in the AW coffee table book.

[danfling]

Actor Joseph A. Campanella, who played Joe Turino on The Guiding Light in 1959 and 1960, has passed away. His New York Times obituary follows: Joseph Campanella, 93, Ubiquitous Character Actor, Dies By Richard Sandomir May 17, 2018 Joseph Campanella, a versatile actor whose television career began in the 1950s on anthology series and continued for decades on shows like “Mannix,” “The Bold Ones” and “One Day at a Time,” died on Wednesday at his home in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 93. His wife, Jill Campanella, said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease. For many years, Mr. Campanella appeared to work to the point of ubiquity. Tall and lean, with wavy hair, he played doctors, lawyers, criminals, cops and judges, including one named Judge Joseph Camp on the TV show “The Practice” from 1998 to 2001. He starred in “The Bold Ones: The Lawyers,” with Burl Ives and James Farentino, and “The Doctors and the Nurses,” with Michael Tolan. And he was a regular on the first season of “Mannix,” the long-running detective series starring Mike Connors, but left in 1968 when he was told that his role would be reduced. Mr. Campanella found his stride as a frequent guest star. He was a crafty criminal suspected of planning a prison break in a 1966 episode of “The F.B.I.”; a cattleman on “Gunsmoke” in 1968; and Mary Richards’s hard-to-forget ex-boyfriend on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” five years later. And in eight episodes of the sitcom “One Day at a Time,” from 1976 to 1982, he played the ex-husband of Ann Romano, the character played by Bonnie Franklin, the star. His workload was noticed in 1972 by one viewer who, according to an article in TV Guide, wrote to an executive producer asking, “Why must we see him or hear him everywhere else, wherever we turn on our TV set?” In response, Mr. Campanella told the TV Guide interviewer, “An actor, like everyone else, must make bread for his family — and my wife and four sons eat a lot of bread.” Joseph Anthony Campanella was born in Manhattan on Nov. 21, 1924, to Sicilian immigrant parents. His father, Philip, was a pianist. His mother, Maria (Onofria) Campanella, was a homemaker and dressmaker. Joseph graduated from Manhattan College in the Bronx with a bachelor’s degree in English literature, studied drama at Columbia University and served in the Philippines as second in command of a Landing Craft Infantry ship. A skillful baseball player, Mr. Campanella was offered a contract by a low-level New York Giants minor-league team in Georgia, but turned it down, preferring to pursue an acting career. After nearly a decade of television work, he had roles in three Broadway shows in the early 1960s. For one, “A Gift of Time,” with Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland, he was nominated for a Tony Award as best featured actor in a play. And while appearing in another, the short-lived musical “Hot Spot” (1963), he met Jill Bartholomew, a singer and dancer in the chorus of the show. They married in 1964. In his review, Howard Taubman of The New York Times called Mr. Campanella “engaging” in a role that required him to sing. “An Ezio Pinza, I wasn’t,” he told TV Guide, referring to the opera singer who starred in “South Pacific.” “But at least I got the girl.” In addition to his roles in theatrical films like “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” (1967) and “Ben” (1972), Mr. Campanella did television commercials for BMW, Maybelline, Napa Auto Parts, Quaker State Motor Oil and Dash dog food; narrated “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” and various National Geographic documentaries; and hosted a revival of “This Is Your Life” in the 1983-84 season. He also appeared in several soap operas, including “The Guiding Light,” “Days of Our Lives” and, most recently, from 1996 to 2005, “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Among his last acting roles was as an arbitrator in a 2001 episode of “Star Trek: Voyager.” In addition to his wife, Mr. Campanella is survived by his sons, Philip, Robert, Joseph Jr., Dominic, Anthony, John and Andrew, and eight grandchildren. His brother, Frank, also an actor, died in 2006.

[DRW50]

@vetsoapfan I can't remember if you mentioned this interview before or not but I was looking at a Lynne Adams interview from not long after she left GL for good. The article described her first Leslie run as somewhat of a "villain" - would you agree with that? Adams went on to talk about how much the character had changed under Barbara Rodell and how when she returned she was playing, in so many words, a boring housewife, which is why she decided to leave again. She was especially critical of dialogue Hope and Leslie had about Hope thinking about pre-marital sex, as she felt Leslie was talking in an absurd way. 

 

If you haven't seen that one I'll try to find it and scan it.

Edited May 27, 2018 by DRW50

[vetsoapfan]

 

When the character of Leslie first popped up on TGL, I did not warm up to her right away. I found her to be somewhat...cold. I wouldn't go so far as label her a villain, per se, but she was not as warm a heroine as I would have chosen for either Ed or Mike Bauer. I was indifferent to the character until Barbara Rodell took over. Rodell infused Leslie with a heart, a warmth, a kindness that had not (IMHO) been there before. I adored her. (Think of Judith Light replacing Kathryn Breech on OLTL. The character of Karen Wolek changed significantly, and for the better, once Light arrived. Viewers loved Light's version of the role; Breech's, not so much.)

 

I was disappointed when Adams returned to TGL. Leslie became more aloof again, and my interest in the character dwindled. The soap press printed letters from other viewers who were also annoyed at losing Rodell. I remember one, which went something like, "Original is not always better!"

 

What about the Leslie/Hope/sex conversation did Adams not like?

[amybrickwallace]

Here's some interesting trivia for those of you who may not know - Lynne Adams' real-life brother-in-law is none other than Tony Shalhoub (Monk, Wings). Tony is married to Lynne's sister, actress Brooke Adams.