Guiding Light discussion thread

[Reverend Ruthledge]

Thanks for all the insights. It makes me happy to talk about the glory years of GL. Since I was talking about Irna's late 60s run on the show, I thought I'd share the synopses I wrote of her months on the show for anyone that is interested:

 

 

-12/18/67 thru 12/22/67. Script breakdowns. Ed is in trouble with the hospital for leaving while on duty. Leslie thinks Joe is responsible. Bill rushes to help Ed. 

-12/25/67 thru 12/29/67. Christmas episode. Meta surprises the Bauers with a Christmas visit. Tracy (Charlotte) and Johnny meet. Meta goes to see Paul and reassures him that he’s not responsible for Robin’s death. Paul thinks Robin could have committed suicide because of him. Joe and Ed are in trouble for fighting at the hospital. Ed and Leslie’s dinner with Bill and Bert is ruined by Ed’s antagonism toward Bill. Ed tells Leslie he’s afraid of alcohol because of what it did to his father. Leslie tells Ed not to be afraid of anything. Sarah announces she’s thinking about moving back to Chicago when her research grant runs out and Paul offers her a permanent job at Cedars. Bert and Meta catch up over coffee. Paul and Johnny discuss Anne.  

-1/2/68-1/31/68. Tracy gets even more interested in Johnny when she learns how rich Henry is. Meta meets Sarah. Paul remembers, with regret, that he convinced Peggy to lie to Johnny and tell him she didn’t love him so that he wouldn’t be so persistent on getting married. Leslie warns Ed not to worship her father and to be his own man. Sarah signs a contract to stay at Cedars for a year. A group of hoodlums comes to the ER after a knife fight. A guy named Marty Dillman is in the worst shape and Ed saves his life in surgery. Joe and Ed call a truce and bury the hatchet. Marty is revealed to be a rich guy. Stephen offers Ed the job of being his assistant and Leslie is afraid Ed is going to turn into a clone of her father. Bert is excited that Mike wants to come home. Marty is interested in Peggy. She’s not interested in him at first but then he starts to grow on her. Marty claims he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time but he’s hiding the fact that he is the head of a gang. Johnny thinks he’d rather be a psychologist than a doctor. 

-2/1/68-2/29/68. Stephen makes Ed his resident and Ed is already neglecting Leslie in favor of her father. Marty gets mad when George is reluctant to give him the inheritance money from his dad due to his delinquency. Marty plays Dr. Jekyll when he’s pursuing Peggy and Mr. Hyde when he’s with his gang. Bill fills Leslie in on the family dynamic of Mike being Bill’s and Ed being Bert’s, the animosity between Bert and Mike, Bill and Ed and the closeness of Mike and Ed. He also fills her in on Mike’s history with Pat Randolph and tells her that Mike is coming home soon. Marty brings Peggy home to meet his mother Claudia. Marty starts coming on too strongly sexually for Peggy’s style. Maggie Scott is coming from New York to Cedars to be treated for an illness. Stephen wants Ed to talk to Peggy about it but Ed, still bitter at Maggie, refuses. Leslie, tired of the unforgiveness Ed and Peggy have towards Maggie, decides to take matters into her own hands. 

-3/1/68-3/29/68. Leslie implores Peggy to forgive Maggie. Peggy goes to see Maggie but with reservations. Bill goes to see Maggie at the hospital, with Bert’s full knowledge, but has a fight with Ed when he walks in on them. Maggie rebukes Ed for trying to forbid  Bill from visiting her and for not helping Peggy to reconcile with her. Maggie is diagnosed with colon cancer and Dr. Jackson orders a surgery. Maggie tells Peggy that she came back to have time with Peggy in case she dies. Peggy pretends to forgive Maggie based on the encouragement Marty gave her to fake it. Bert visits Maggie and offers her friendship. As she prepares for surgery, Maggie tries to make Peggy  understand what happened with Bill Bauer. Peggy starts to genuinely understand and forgive Peggy and wants a new start with her. Marty later tells Peggy to forget about her mother as he’s forgotten his own and the rest of the out of touch older generation. Leslie is concerned that Ed is becoming obsessed with his career. Bill goes to the hospital to be with Maggie before her surgery. Stephen discovers the cancer is malignant and has spread but wants to end the surgery after the obstruction is removed. Ed pushes for more radical surgery to try to save Maggie’s life. Stephen disagrees but lets Ed take over. While waiting, Peggy shares her remorse for having cut off her mother and her desire to live with her again. Maggie goes into cardiac arrest and dies on the operating table. Ed blames himself for Maggie’s death. 

-4/1/68-4/29/68. Peggy is appalled by Marty’s insensitivity about her mother’s death. Ed’s confidence as a surgeon is shaken by Maggie’s death under his hands. Bill thinks failure will help Ed grow up and realize he’s not a god. Sarah has moved back to Chicago and given Tracy her apartment. Leslie invites Bill over to talk about her concern for Ed. Ed comes home early and he and Bill have it out. Bill finally lets Ed know how he feels about him and tells him he needs to grow up. An irate Ed throws him out. Stephen tells Ed to get his act together and if he doesn’t show up for surgery the next day he will replace him. After an encouraging talk from Marty, whose life Ed saved, Ed rallies and tells Stephen he’ll be back in surgery with him. Bert tells Leslie how glad she is that Mike and Hope are coming back home and recounts to her Mike and Julie’s problems. Bill goes to Paul for a check up as he’s experiencing stomach pains. Mike comes back home with Hope and meets Leslie. Mike and Ed catch up and Mike tells Ed his affair with Pat Randolph is over. Mike and Leslie take an immediate liking to each other. Bert and Mike reconcile. Leslie’s fusses with Ed due to his neglect of her over his career and his insistence on not having children. Tracy pushes Johnny into getting engaged. Bill’s abdominal pains worsen so Joe has him check into the hospital for tests. 

-5/1/68-5/24/68. Mike calls Ed out on his self-righteousness. Ed reminds Mike he didn’t have to go through what he had to with Bill. George learns that Marty is lying about getting his law degree soon and he breaks the news to Claudia, urging her not to let Marty have any of his trust fund money. Bill goes in for exploratory surgery which was Ed’s decision. Joe is upset with Ed because he unethically told Bill that’s what he needed even though Joe is his doctor. The exploratory surgery reveals appendicitis which was missed due to a misaligned appendix. Claudia confronts Marty with the knowledge that he’s not really graduating and her fears of him being drafted. Marty assures her he has intent to graduate although he’s lying. Bill offers Leslie a job at his PR company but Ed forbids it.

 

And here are the episodes surrounding Bill's death (written by Sommer and Soderberg): 

 

 

-7/11/69 & 7/14/69. Mike tells Leslie that Bert knows about them. Johnny tells Paul that he and Peggy are getting back together. He later breaks the news to Charlotte that he doesn’t love her anymore and is breaking up with her. Charlotte guesses that it’s Peggy. Leslie goes to see an enraged Bert. Leslie tries to tell her that Ed’s accusations aren’t true and that she never cheated on Ed with Mike but Bert believes Ed. Leslie said she wants to divorce Ed on grounds of desertion but Bert says she’ll defend Ed against the accusation by exposing Mike and Leslie’s adultery. Leslie leaves quickly after her fight with Bert. Bert tells Bill that Leslie is no longer welcome in their home. Bill and Leslie talk about Bert and her anger over finding out Ed and Leslie are getting a divorce and Mike and Leslie are in love. Grove and Ellen are worried about Janet’s relationship with Ed. Bill defends Mike to Bert who tells him that she’s willing to reveal Leslie’s affair with Mike if Leslie tries to divorce Ed. Bill is about to leave on a work trip to Alaska. 

-7/16/69 thru 7/18/69. Bill packs for his trip. Ed has called home to Leslie and Bert wants to know all about it. The Bauers hope that Ed has stopped drinking. Bill tells Mike that he’s proud of him. Bert tells Bill that if Ed comes back she’s going to beg Leslie to stay with him, which Bill disagrees with. Bill is looking at Ed as a fellow alcoholic and Bert thinks Ed is drinking because of Mike and Leslie. Bert misses Bill, who has left on his Alaskan trip. She tells Papa that she’s afraid for Ed when he returns because of Mike and Leslie and that she’ll never forgive them for what they’ve done to Ed. Janet tells her mother, Ellen, that she’s in love with Ed, which worries Ellen since Ed is a married alcoholic. Mike visits Charlotte, who is sad about losing Johnny, at the hospital. Ed goes over to Janet’s to tell her that he’s leaving Tarrywood and going back to Springfield. Papa gets a phone call with the news that Bill’s plane is missing and might have gone down between Seattle and Juneau. Mike and Lee Gantry’s discussion about Lee’s financial concerns is interrupted by a call from Peggy to let Mike know about Bill. Bert visits Charlotte in the hospital to apologize for thinking Charlotte was trying to hurt Peggy instead of helping her in the Dillman murder case. Charlotte talks about how fond she is of Mike and that Johnny doesn’t love her anymore. Mike comforts Leslie and Sara brings Bert to Mike for him to break the news to her about Bill’s plane. 

 

Edited February 23 by Reverend Ruthledge

[VelekaCarruthers]

I misspoke earlier when I said the Soderbergs wanted the Lee Gantry story to introduce suspense and mystery to the show. It was the Wexler story detailed in the following pages of the projection that they intended to introduce suspense. Not sure if this story played out as written in the document. 

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[Paul Raven]

Thanks so much @VelekaCarruthers @Reverend Ruthledge for your posts.

Getting a much clearer idea of how stories played out.

That mention of Sara moving back to Chicago might have been due to Jill Andre leaving ?

Dates we have say that Patricia Roe took over in 67 but that might not have been the case.

The only reason I can think of for killing off Bill is Ed Bryce wanted to leave. There seemed to be enough drama going on w/o killing off a character who represented the core family. 

It would be like killing off Stu Bergman or Chris Hughes. Maybe they were planning to recast and have Bill return a few months later, but it never happened?

When was Tracey exposed as a fraud? 

Hope we can keep the TGL 60's discussion happening!

[DRW50]

Thanks @VelekaCarruthers for the extra info. So clearly something changed quickly as there's no mention of Peter having a wife. It sounds like his involvement with Janet was given to Ken Norris. The "activities in Russia" of Peter's father made me laugh - some things never change. Clearly they kept some of these ideas around for scraps as Stanley's secretary was a Conway (Linell) and her mother was named Marion. 

@Reverend Ruthledge Thanks for the script summaries. That odd Soapcentral profile of Meta doesn't mention this return. I'd love to see Meta meet Sara. Irna didn't seem to do much with Sara but she matches a lot of the tropes of past Irna heroines - I wonder how she might have felt about her. 

I wonder if Irna is the one who came up with Marty or if he was already in the works. The whole thing is extremely '60s - the rich boy who wants to rebel and can't leave the streets. And the mention of his mother's fears that he will be drafted. Irna would then go on to have Tom Hughes drafted, IIRC, and do the whole Vietnam PTSD story. She tried to stay current even when she may have had an old-fashioned mentality in some other places. 

It sounds like Marty gobbles up tons of airtime from day one - had they expanded to 30 minutes yet or was that still just around the corner?

Clearly Tracy and Marty at this point were meant to just keep Johnny and Peggy apart, but it seems like Marty is getting more focus than Johnny, even though he doesn't last all that long. Then again, neither does Johnny as he's gone by 1972. 

Seemingly everyone close to Peggy was written out by the early '70s, which probably made it easier for the pairing with Roger, but it helps explain why the character seemed to be forgotten so easily after she left.

Giving Peggy a son by a conniving character who only lasted a year or two is also a surprise. I'm especially surprised they never just killed him off, as soaps loved doing in the '60s and '70s.

Barring one or two more random episodes that may appear before we all turn to dust, this is the closest we'll ever get to this high transition period, so thanks. It's like going home again. 

Soapcentral entries aren't that reliable but Charlotte's claims that after Marty (who had been blackmailing Charlotte over the truth) was murdered, Charlotte, who felt guilty as Peggy was on trial for the murder, confessed her real identity. Sara and Johnny cut her out of their lives, but Charlotte helped bring Marty's killer to justice and Mike (who'd been representing Peggy) married Charlotte soon after.

Edited February 24 by DRW50

[Paul Raven]

It's interesting that the Dobsons introduced characters with surnames-Wexler (Lucille,Amanda) and Scott (Jackie, Emmett) that had been used the decade before.

They were questioned as to whether the 70's Scotts had any relationship to the first family but were unaware of Maggie,Ben and that Peggy was Peggy's maiden name.

Demonstrates how new writers are sometimes unaware/not interested much in the past.

[VelekaCarruthers]

As I was re-reading the Soderbergs Gantry story projection and the summaries of the actual story online, I had flashes of the Ellis/Hunt ATWT Bennet/Willows plot and Marland's original Quint plot. 

Edited February 24 by VelekaCarruthers

[Contessa Donatella]

It's fascinating!!! I really need to know, though, if they were intentionally copycatting DAYS Bill/Laura/Mickey!!! 

[DRW50]

I never knew they were asked about that. How embarrassing to not know Peggy's maiden name as she was still a fairly important character when they arrived. I guess, as Harding Lemay mentioned about AW, there were no archives in place.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

Not yet. They would expand to 30 minutes on September 9th, 1968. A few months after the synopsis I wrote ends. 

[DRW50]

Thanks. 

Not sure how I would have felt about seeing so much of Marty and his family at 15 minutes a day. I wish we knew how it was bracketed per episode.

[kalbir]

1985/86 As the World Turns had tough competition from second half of All My Children, second half of supercouple Days, and first half of One Life to Live which had a comeback due to Andrea Evans return.

Capitol was a placeholder/time filler until Bill Bell had a second show ready for CBS daytime.

Kobe/Long was too much chasing 1980s trends.

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay, it sounds like I need to make some additions to Dobsons character creation. What I have is on GL: Alan Spaulding, Amanda Spaulding, Justin Marler, Jackie Marler, Phillip Spaulding & Ross Marler, Rita Stapleton.

Who to add?

 

[Reverend Ruthledge]

Well, it was only Marty and his mother Claudia and Claudia wasn't on it too much. I didn't feel like there was too much attention paid to Marty either. At least not in those months. At least that's how it felt to me. 

[Mona Kane Croft]

Eve, Ben, Lucille Wexler, Alan's wife (what was her name?)

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Thanks!