Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Soaplovers]

Edmund was better as a short term character (like it was intended originally I believe) than a character kept on for years.

 

I was watching some spring 1997 episodes.. and I think this was the final time I could safely say this was GL of old.  It's a shame that by early 1998, the show was off course again and never really corrected course except for occasionally glimmers of hope like in 2002.

 

I often wonder had Cynthia Watros opted to stay on past early 1998 if the show would have moved Annie completely out of the Josh/Reva orbit or not?  Sonni was successfully moved out of their orbit in the last months of her stint in 1989, plus Eve Guthrie also function outside the Nick/Mindy sphere her last several months of her stint in 1994/5.. so I could have safely bet that Annie could have functioned quite well in other spheres as well.

[Mitch]

 

Yea, Springfield was not a place for an attempted child killer.

 

I would have much rather had Annie vs. Alex as she tried to be the Spaulding Queen. While Alan and Alex always had a quasi..incestuous vibe going (as there was not other match for them but each other..) Marj Alex always looked like a shrill shrew overly obsessed with her brother's love life and RR's Alan just acted like an annoyed husband with a mistress. ..but I like Marj's scenes with fakeAnnie in the attic and it would have been fun if they wrote it that Alex was protecting her family and company from a psycho worming into their lives. And a Reva/Alex uneasy alliance would be fun with an Amanda/Annie uneasy alliance against Alex.  But MADD was so addicted to formula if it worked once she would beat the dead horse until no one cared anymore.

[Soaplovers]

 

If Roger Thorpe could have a place in Springfield with all the stuff he pulled, than I certainly think Annie Dutton could have had a place.

 

I actually think Marj dusay shouldn't have played Alex. I would have had her come on claiming to be Alan's wife even providing a marriage certificate and explaining she married him while in prison thinking he would be in there for years.  Her function the first few years would have been the same, and they still could have had Annie in the story.. and even had Amanda (written in character) being the peacemaker.. and having her come on orders from Alex (who has started a new life overseas).

 

And maybe down the line when enough time passed, bought back Alex played by another actress that fit closer to the core of the character.

[Mitch]

The attempted child murderer was Edmund, and while I like DAM, that act alone makes him a short term character.

 

I agree about Marj, and I hate to say it as I love her...but as I said before, I would have her come on as H.B.'s wife, or better yet, Henrys (he did have a showgirl girlfriend) and just be a pain in the lives of the Spauldings and Lewises. That would let her do comedy and her pitbull going after someone thing.

[vetsoapfan]

Wow.

 

This probably won't excite everyone else, but I just stumbled across a huge stash of radio-era episodes of TGL, which you can listen to and download for free. Some of these eps have been around for years, but usually undated and out-out-order, which made them frustrating to follow. This page has all the eps in chronological order, with brief synopses to go with each one. For longtime fans of the Bauer family, this is such a treat!

 

http://otrrlibrary.org/g.html

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[DRW50]

 

Thanks for finding that and letting us know. The radio GL is always compelling, especially Meta's journey. I just wish the early years were available.

[vetsoapfan]

 

I have scattered radio eps from earlier than 1950, but they are not as easily found as the ones from 1950+. 

 

While I am dismayed that the first 13 years of the series are mostly lost, I try to keep in mind that it's a miracle anything from the radio days survived at all, so I am grateful that we can relive one of the show's all-time greatest stories: the Meta/Chuckie/Ted saga.

 

As an added bonus, the same website has a TON of other old-time radio soaps too, including the elusive final broadcast of Ma Perkins.

 

Off-topic from TGL: I am on a big kick of listening to adaptations of famous films, made for old-time radio. It might be easier to find such material if I knew the names of the series which produced that kind of program. I know Lux Radio Theater, Academy Award, and Screen Directors' Playhouse produced short radio versions of classic movies. Can anyone think of other titles I can search for?  I've been googling the titles of every single vintage film I've ever seen, and hunting down material that way takes forever. (Still, I've found about 90 good ones so far, like The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Jezebel, Kitty Foyle, Stella Dallas, Little Women, Stagecoach, Mildred Pierce, etc.)

[Paul Raven]

Screen Guild Theater and Screen directors Playhouse available...

 

Edited December 30, 2018 by Paul Raven

[vetsoapfan]

 

Thank you, Paul Raven.

 

BTW, I am open to hearing about and trying ANY genre or episodes of radio broadcasts which folks can recommend, not ONLY adaptations of vintage films. I've thoroughly enjoyed episodes of Gunsmoke, The Shadow, Suspense!, and many other fine series. So if you guys have favorite radio-era material that you suggest, please let me know about it. I would appreciate. These shows are delightful, well-done, and FREE. What's not to love?

Edited December 30, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[BuckyB12]

It certainly is a good run of 1950 episodes, but it's so unfortunate that almost nothing earlier still exists. And there are so many other long-running radio soaps where only a handful of episodes survive.

 

As for recommendations, I really liked Candy Matson (girl detective in San Francisco).

[vetsoapfan]

 

Yes, it frustrates all of us that the majority of soaps' early years are lost forever (both from radio and the first few decades of television). As I mentioned earlier, I keep telling myself to be a "The cup is half full!" kind of person, and be grateful that we have access to anything at all from before the dawn of home video recording and the internet. Sooooo many people have shared a wealth of material on line, we are very lucky.

 

I had literally never heard of Candy Matson before you mentioned her. A quick google search indicates there are at least 14 surviving episodes of that series. I look forward to listening to some episodes. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

I'm enjoying my old-time radio broadcasts more than any of the soaps still in production.

 

 

[vetsoapfan]

The Guiding Light's creator Irna Phillips had a long-running soap called The Brighter Day, which ran on both radio and TV, from 1948 to 1962.

 

Here is the VERY FIRST episode of the show, from 1948.

 

https://archive.org/details/The_Brighter_Day/1948-10-11_-_xxxx_-_The_Brighter_Day_-_First_Episode_-_32-22_-_14m12s.mp3

 

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[Bright Eyes]

I don't think I ever knew iTBD was a spin-off of GL. I knew a few shows crossed over with it during the radio years, and of course, Rose Kranski was spun off to create The Right of Happiness. Which character(s) was/were originally on GL?

[vetsoapfan]

 

I apologize Bright Eyes. I had a senior moment and temporarily confused TBD with TRTH. I should not have referred to TBD as a spin-off of TGL without fact-checking and...without even thinking, LOL. Fifty lashes with a wet noodle for me. The annoying aspect of making dumb mistakes like this is when you already knew better, but just got confused. 

 

I have edited/corrected my previous post. Thanks for letting me know.

 

TGL and TRTH were tied together through Rose Kransky.

 

TBD was tied to As the World Turns and Another World, through the character of Mitchell Dru, played by actor Geoffrey Lumb on all three soaps.

Edited December 31, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[Faulkner]

Been watching Alex’s February 1984 intro episodes at Vanessa’s event, and it’s enough to put me off watching modern-day soaps for good (I’ll just let YT run in the background if I’m home). Just so rich, warm, funny, and immediately compelling. Dialogue is top-notch. Every character’s voice comes through as singular, even in small roles. I loved the brief sizing-each-other-up interaction between Alex and Reva, plus the frenemy dynamic between Reva and Vanessa as they locked Billy’s date in that closet. Drunk Ross was a hoot too. 

 

Too bad the video quality is so poor, especially on a big screen.

 

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by Costello