Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[dc11786]

Let's add to the Helen Wagner as Trudy mystery... 

I located this radio interview transcript with Wagner from 1994. where she speaks about her time on "Guiding Light." She says she was on twice between when "The World of Mr. Sweeney" was cancelled and when "As the World Turns" began, but the role sounds more like a dayplayer nurse. She does, however, also repeatedly state that she was on "Sweeney" for five years, when it was probably more like a year or so. 

https://www.peteranthonyholder.com/Archives/2016/atwt-n.htm

 

[DRW50]

Thanks. 

Interesting that there's no mention of Valiant Lady, which we know she was on. 

[slick jones]

Joey Roberts (Tarry Green) probably did leave in 1953, and the other mentions were phone calls, letters, and I assumed he was around, as well as Lois.  Richard Holland was probably used in a phone call as Joey without being on-screen after Green left.

I have nothing about Mary Patton being on GL, but her profile is due for expansion with theatre and movie roles, so I can add the Trudy info to her profile this week.

[Paul Raven]

Variety Aug 27 1952  mentions Jean Gillespie as having recently joined the cast.

[soapfan770]

I wonder about that myself but it seems to happen often on Irma’s soap that one of the core original family members would get discarded and forgotten about. Here on GL we have Trudy, ATWT had Edith Hughes, and AW had Janet Matthews. 
 

Trudy could and should have been brought back at any point in time. Heck Johnny and Lacey could have easily been Trudy’s children. 

[DRW50]

@vetsoapfan You mentioned a lot of the Soapcentral bios being fanfic - is that also true for Meta and Bruce being divorced by 1984? I guess that's based on Bert going to help take care of Meta? I'd be surprised if those at GL in 1984 remembered Bruce. 

[soapfan770]

I have déjà vu on this. Years ago, probably back like 600 pages in this thread lol I recall someone (maybe vetsoapfan themselves?) mentioning that Bruce was just never mentioned again, and it was simply assumed/speculated by the SOC writer either Bruce and Meta had separated or Bruce had passed on at some point. 
 

it reminds me of Penny and Edith Hughes ATWT profile of Penny’s 2000 return of her name dropping long lost Hughes relatives and their current whereabouts when in reality that never happened lol.

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[DRW50]

We probably have talked about this before - there's so many details I forget in posts I've made or articles I've read. 

I do understand why fans would want to fill in gaps the people who were actually paid to care about the show didn't bother with, but it does bother me a little when I see parts of her history like, "she presumably went to New York to live with Trudy," who probably hadn't been mentioned on the show in 40 years. (I don't even know if she was mentioned when Papa died).

Edited July 30, 2023 by DRW50

[soapfan770]

Yeah even more recent details are suspect; I don’t recall Meta ever mentioning Trudy during Mary Stuart’s run or the show mentioning Meta’s whereabouts after Stuart’s demise (except the horrific “RIP Mary Stewart” debacle”). I appreciate the work that went into SOC’s character profiles but the inaccuracies are very glaring. I still recall the utterly strange case of Chris Sarandon’s minor GL character once having a fully fabricated fan fiction written profile on their site. 

[vetsoapfan]

Yes, that bit arose solely from some contributor's imagination. When Aunt Meta showed up in Springfield, played by the legendary Mary Stuart, Bruce Banning was left completely unmentioned and never referred to at all.

I've noticed repeatedly that on Soap Central, contributors fill in a lack of storyline and character knowledge/information with their own fantasies.

Even more annoyingly, the SC site wove a huge amount of fan fiction about Meta's sister, Trudy Bauer Palmer. None of the following bullcr@p they posted about the character happened at all.

"Trudy was mentioned having been contacted in 1973 when her father, Papa Bauer died. She was also contacted, along with Meta, in 1983 when their brother Bill died after being pushed out a window. In 1984, the Bauers received word that Clyde had died. In 1986, Trudy was contacted when Bert Bauer passed away. Though Trudy never visited her family, in 1999, Meta, living in Springfield again, would visit Trudy for a time."

[soapfan770]

Thank you as I don’t remember Meta going off to Nova Scotia to be with Trudy at all, similar to Penny Hughes visiting Edith, John, & Marion Hughes in 2000 lol.
 

The strange fabricated that was the Tom Halverson bio still takes the cake for me lmao 

[vetsoapfan]

God only knows why "Nova Scotia" (of all places) was woven into the bizarre and inexplicable fantasies fabricated by the Soap Central storytellers, LOL.

Honestly, the need/insistence of some fans to write absurd fiction on the internet, and present it as "fact," suggests certain mental...weaknesses.

Edited July 31, 2023 by vetsoapfan

[dc11786]

I may very well be wrong on this, but I do think there was mention of Meta Bauer being in Nova Scotia in 2002. Before Mary Stuart died, Meta was being used in the lighthouse restoration project story with a rivalry brewing with Claire Ramsay. I think Meta's absence was explained as her being in Nova Scotia, but I don't remember if she was visiting Trudy. 

I do know that Mike Bauer was referenced in May, 2004. When Michelle was shipped out of town by Danny at the time of the warehouse explosion story, Michelle and Robbie went to D.C. to visit Mike as they had just written out Ed Bauer around the same time. 

[DRW50]

I know this was posted before, but as it's been up for years and there are new users here now, I thought it was worth posting again. It's a series of scenes that Tom O'Rourke (Justin Marler) used as a presentation tape. Most of this is of his last few years on the show (most of the clips aren't available elsewhere), although there's one clip of Justin with that Brandy character (JoBeth Williams).

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[vetsoapfan]

Trudy (very rarely) popped up a few times after she and Clyde moved to New York. The couple continued to be referred to into the 1960s when Agnes Nixon was writing the show.  In one script, there's talk about young Mike possibly going to visit Trudy in NY. After Nixon left, however, I don't recall Trudy ever being mentioned again.