Very early on, there were occasional references to the Lewises having a ranch and horses, but that was quickly dropped. And funny, for "down home" people, whenever they visited back home, it was always going to Cross Creek (which is apparently just a vacation cabin.)

 

10 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

It sounds as though Oklahoma and South Dakota had similarities in regards to Native Americans, servants, etc.

It's been my experience, at least, that most who work in this state as housekeepers tend to be African-American, Native American, Hispanic, or a combination thereof.  Of course, that doesn't count those who work for professional cleaning services, or who work for more than one household.  Nevertheless, a woman with Sarah Shayne's background (white, uneducated, working class, single mother) would've been more likely to work in the steno pool at Lewis Oil than for the boss' wife at their mansion.

10 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I would have also told Ms Long that if she were insisted on doing her thing with the Lewis family.. I would have stated that they would have most likely had a ranch with cattle/livestock being the main source of their money.. and that the family needed to have more grit/edge to them.. because living in the West and the harsh realities of the vast land.

I definitely agree that the Lewises needed more grit.  As I've said before, Oklahomans are not ostentatious.  We don't drive luxury cars or prance around in chinchillas or Nudie suits; and those who do tend to get the side-eye BIG time, lol.

43 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Very early on, there were occasional references to the Lewises having a ranch and horses, but that was quickly dropped. 

I guess they didn't want to confuse the folks at home.  But they could've easily said that H.B. maintained both the Lewis family home, in Tulsa, as well as a ranch in some nearby suburb, such as Owasso or Claremore.

 

Edited October 25Oct 25 by Khan

25 minutes ago, Khan said:

As I've said before, Oklahomans are not ostentatious.  We don't drive luxury cars or prance around in chinchillas or Nudie suits; and those who do tend to get the side-eye BIG time, lol.

I think they can get a little bit of a break on that score because this was the 1980s. Everyone acted like they were rich on soaps. Someone like Bea Reardon wouldn't have been a regular at the country club IRL, even if her daughter did marry up. But on a soap, yeah.

Since we're talking about the Lewis clan and we have people on here that hail from their area of the country, I have a question about something that's always bugged me a little bit:

Now I know that in the South and possibly in the more Western states, there are some interesting naming styles and conventions.

All the Lewises except for Mindy were named by Marland. Who, oddly, seemed to love double-naming his characters, like Kelly Louise, Alan Michael, Lesley Anne, etc. I say oddly because he wasn't from the South, where this kind of naming tradition is popular.

He definitely named HB, BUT...it wasn't until Long came on that it was revealed that stood for "Harlan Billy" and that Billy was "Harlan Billy" also. (Or was it Harland, and Reva was dropping the "d?" Maybe someone else knows).

So my question is: would anyone in the state of Oklahoma realistically be named Harlan (or Harland) Billy? It sounds like a name more fitting for someone from Appalachia. You know, like Jim Bob on the Waltons. Is even "Melinda Sue" a name you might find in Oklahoma?

In the case of the Shaynes, their names seem more region-appropriate. Hawke and Rusty are like cowboy names, Reva, Sarah--you can imaging pioneer women with those names. Roxy sounds like a dance-hall girl, which is actually perfect for her character.

I'm very interested in nomenclature, so I'd really love to know how appropriate these names were for these characters.

The one thing I will say Marland/Long got right about Tulsa.. was that oil was a major industry.

In terms of names, I would assume that in Oklahoma.. it would be names that were Scottish, Irish, or English... or even religious origin names.. especially during the 20th century.   Oddy, the names Wanda, Billy, and Patricia (Trish) were popular names in the state Oklahoma in the 20th century.

Had Guiding Light based the Lewises out of Baton Rouge, their having something resembling an antebellum history AND making their fortune out of oil and gas refining would have been truer to life.

I have a hard time believing that Pam Long was such a clod.  More likely, it was the P&G suits in NYC who didn't know anything about cultural norms elsewhere (i.e., anything outside of the I-95 corridor from Washington to Boston).  The inherently erudite rarely do.

 

I'm pretty sure it was always credited as Harlan. The obvious inspiration is Harland Sanders. Marland did have a propensity for biblical names (Joshua, Caleb, Seth (from ATWT)) or slightly old-fashioned names: Margaret (Meg), Eleanor (Ellie), and Harvey Snyder for example.  If it was Long who decided what the "H" stood for, maybe Harlan(d) is more of a Alabama/Georgia name. And there's Harlan County USA, which either could've used as inspiration.

I'd never heard the name Reva before (or Reba, for that matter). Roxie I think was short for Roxanne, which seems a little pretentious for Sarah. Rusty's given name was Russell.

6 hours ago, DeeVee said:

 

All the Lewises except for Mindy were named by Marland. Who, oddly, seemed to love double-naming his characters, like Kelly Louise, Alan Michael, Lesley Anne, etc. I say oddly because he wasn't from the South, where this kind of naming tradition is popular.

 

In those specific instances, it was probably to keep confusion to a minimum. And with Lesley Anne, it's another instance of GL reusing a name fairly quickly after a character's death. On a planet with millions of names, it seems like GL just couldn't help themselves.

6 hours ago, DeeVee said:

So my question is: would anyone in the state of Oklahoma realistically be named Harlan (or Harland) Billy? It sounds like a name more fitting for someone from Appalachia. You know, like Jim Bob on the Waltons. Is even "Melinda Sue" a name you might find in Oklahoma?

Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of folks here who have names like "Harlan Billy" or "Melinda Sue."  My own mother and aunt's extended relatives often refer to them by their first and middle names.  (Except, that is, for their paternal grandmother, who'd get their first names correct, but who would always mix up their middle names, lol).

The thing is, "Harlan Billy" doesn't sound right to my ear or roll off my tongue that easily.  I think "William Harlan" or "Billy Harlan" would've made more sense.

6 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

In terms of names, I would assume that in Oklahoma.. it would be names that were Scottish, Irish, or English... or even religious origin names.. especially during the 20th century.

I agree, although I certainly find a lot of Kirkendolls and Kuykendalls running around here, lol.

I would love if someone asked Pam Long how she came up the name of Reva since it's an Indian name originally.. while Roxanne (Roxie) and Russell (Rusty) were probably due to name popularity back in the 50s/early 60s.

 

 

 

I'd love to know if Pam Long named Beth after the woman Phillip always thought of as his mom deliberately, or if that was just the happiest of accidents, lol.

15 hours ago, Khan said:

I'd love to know if Pam Long named Beth after the woman Phillip always thought of as his mom deliberately, or if that was just the happiest of accidents, lol.

Given the way Long focused on his family issues, I doubt it was accidental. Happy or otherwise.

Edited October 26Oct 26 by P.J.

I'm happy the Vault is back online, finally able to continue my GL watch!  It's been way too long, although I'm tired of the clone storyline and ready for it to end haha.

Edited October 26Oct 26 by alwaysAMC