I think someone said they enjoyed my 1937-1939 synopses for The Guiding Light and wanted more so here is my 1940 synopsis for those that are interested:
-1/1/40-1/31/40. Through Fredrika, Torchy learns that Spike was using her to get information on Ned’s birth identity. Spike goes to Cleveland to get proof that Ned is Fredrika and Paul’s son. Ned prepares to return to San Francisco for work, unaware that Spike is on the train from Cleveland with the proof he was looking for. The story that Ned Holden is the son of a murderess hits the City Times. A distraught Ned wanders the streets for two days in a blizzard and winds up collapsing at the door of the parsonage. Ned has contracted pneumonia and Torch rushes to the parsonage to declare her innocence to a believing John and a dubious Mary and demands that Ned be taken to the hospital. Ellis talks Torchy into letting Mary know that a delirious Ned has been calling out her name. As John, Mary and Torchy hold vigil outside of Ned’s hospital room, they are relieved when the doctor announces he will survive and recover. He also delivers the news that Ned is asking for Mary. When Mary asks Torchy if it’s ok for her to go in, Torchy asks, “What difference does that make? He asked to see you?”.
-2/1/40-2/29/40. An ill Helene, who thinks she could die, has a wish to see Charles, Rose and Johnny together after she’s gone. Torchy, confused about her feelings about Ned and what she wants to do now that he has passed his crisis, is urged by Fredrika to give him his freedom. Torchy goes to visit Ned in the hospital and realizes she can’t be hurt by him anymore so, therefore, she must not be in love with him anymore. She also realizes when she sees Ellis and Iris together, who share so much in common, that she will never be good enough for him. Ellis, however, has silently come to realize he’s in love with Torchy. Ned feels certain that Torchy will give him a divorce but Rose is dubious and just hopes Torchy falls in love with Ellis so she’ll move on and want to give Ned his freedom. Reverend Ruthledge visits with Mrs. Kransky in Garden Heights and Mrs. Kransky catches him up on what has been going on there. Mrs. Kransky is managing an apartment building with the Burke family as tenants. Mrs. Kransky hopes something will develop with Terry Burke and Rose but fears that Rose will never love any man other than Charles. Torchy wants her relationship with Ellis to be more clearly defined but Ellis remains aloof and elusive. Torchy sees the finished portrait Ellis has painted of her and is shocked to see the way she looks. Outraged that Ellis painted her as Torchy from the waterfront who she was when he met her and not the sophisticated Myrna she felt he made her into, Torchy slashes the painting and runs out. Torchy heads on a train back to San Francisco, determined to leave Myrna behind and go back to being Torchy from the waterfront. Mary is glad Torchy has left Five Points and demands that Ned get a divorce based on abandonment and end the whole mess.
-3/1/40-3/29/40. Upon arriving back on her old stomping grounds, Torchy reluctantly gives in to her past and lets go of the woman she hoped to become. Iris’ past comes back to haunt her as a pursuant admirer, Cliff Foster, comes to visit and her ex-husband, Roy Fencher, also comes to try to convince her to come back to him. Iris is revealed to have divorced her husband on the basis of neglect and they have an 8-year-old son, Billie, who is living with her parents. Ned goes back to work for The City Times as a reporter even though they are the ones who outed him. Roy unsuccessfully tries to get Iris to go back to Oklahoma and to him and their son. Helene lets her wish be known to Rose that after she’s gone that Charles, Rose and Johnny can be a family. Rose wants to leave the past in the past. Reverend Ruthledge gives his Good Friday sermon and juxtaposes Jesus’ sacrifice with the stories of bigotry and cruelty that have come from overseas. Iris questions whether she should go back to Oklahoma for the sake of her son Billie while Ellis opines that she shouldn’t give up her right to happiness for the sake of a son who is going to be going off to live his own life before too long anyway. John, Mary and Ned’s debate on the subject of chance vs. determinism is interrupted by the sound of fire engines. As they look out the window and see that the tenement building is on fire, Ned’s concern for his mother comes out as he rushes out to see if she’s alright.
-4/1/40-4/30/40. Ellis saves Fredrika from the fire but is blinded by the fire in the process. Iris, influenced by Ellis’ words to her, tells Roy that he can take Billie back to Oklahoma without her. Charles is stunned when Helene asks him to marry Rose after she dies so that Rose and Johnny can bear Charles’ name. Mrs. Kransky and Ellis both think Rose is a fool for considering getting involved with Charles Cunningham again and Rev. Ruthledge warns Helene against trying to direct other people’s lives. Mother and son are reunited as Ned goes to Fredrika, puts his head in her lap, and asks her to forgive him. Not sure how long Doris Cameron is going to have her on leave, Rose takes a temporary job as a secretary in a law firm. Helene Cunningham dies. In San Francisco, Torchy takes a job singing on a radio station and starts dating Martin Kane. Martin wants to make things more serious but Torchy is hesitant. Martin thinks Torchy is still hung up on her husband, Ned, but Torchy is thinking about Ellis.
-5/1/40-5/31/40. Ellis gets bad news that his blindness is long-lasting, if not permanent. Charles tells John that he couldn’t honor Helene’s wish as he is heart-broken and doesn’t think he will ever love another woman. Iris tells Ellis that she’s seen pictures of Torchy in the magazines with a male companion. Jack Felz, one of the lawyers in the firm that Rose has been temping in, offers Rose a permanent job as his personal secretary. Martin persuades Torchy to go back to Five Points to deal with her past and figure out if she wants a future with him. Fredrika tries to persuade Ned to make amends with Ellis to no success. Torchy arrives back in Five Points and gives Ned his divorce but the real reason she’s there is to see Ellis, though she is scared to.
-6/3/40-6/28/40. Ned and Torchy’s divorce is finalized, making Ned and Mary ecstatic and leaving Torchy to wonder, “How could anything be over when it never existed?” Ellis finally swallows his pride and tries to call Torchy at her hotel, unaware that Torchy is on a train on her way back to San Francisco, wishing that Ellis had called. Back on the west coast, Torchy lets Martin know about Ellis. Martin says he’s willing to wait around until Torchy knows who she wants. Ned and Mary get married in a wedding officiated by Reverend Ruthledge. Jack opens Rose’s eyes to the need to forgive other people for their mistakes and it causes her to reconsider her decision not to let Charles visit Johnny. Mrs. Kransky, worried about her daughter getting hurt again, doesn’t think Rose should relent. Ellis finally reaches out to Torchy and calls her in San Francisco and starts to catch on that Iris likes him. Visiting with Johnny, Charles lets his loneliness be known to Rose.
-6/11/40. Reverend Ruthledge officiates the wedding of Ned Holden and Mary Ruthledge.
-7/1/40-7/31/40. Ellis has found new hope in his condition and thinks he will see again. He’s also filled with new hope when Iris reads him a letter from Torchy hinting that there could be a future for them together after time alone to work on their own problems. Iris, in love with Ellis, has her hopes dashed after reading Ellis the letter and seeing his reaction. Rose tells her mother that she wants more financial security for her future. Mrs. Kransky, knowing that Rose is mentioning this because she is thinking about marrying Charles, points out that what people think of as “security” can be gone in a second. Mrs. Kransky asks Rose to remember the Depression they’ve lived through as an example. At the same time Charles talks to Reverend Ruthledge about his desire to make Rose his wife, Jack is letting Rose know about his desire for the same. Jack breaks the news to his mother and two spinster sisters, Lillian and Ada, who he’s been taking care of, that he wants to get married and have his own family. The news comes as a disappointment to his family but the real shock is that he wants to marry the scandalous Rose Kransky. Lillian and Ada plan to break up Jack’s relationship with Rose while Jack’s enmeshment with his family leaves him feeling bound to them.
-8/1/40-8/30/40. Jacob wants to drop out of his senior year of high school and go to work as a machinist. Mrs. Kransky is dead set against that and wants him to go to college and become a lawyer as Abe wanted. Mary is pregnant. Martin persuades Torchy to go back to Five Points and make a final decision on whether she wants to be with Ellis or not. Torchy’s reappearance in Five Points makes both Mary and Iris nervous. Iris tells Mary that if she can’t be with Ellis, the man she loves, she’ll go back to her ex-husband. With Mary out of the house and busy with her domestic duties, Reverend Ruthledge places an ad for an assistant and organist. The ad is answered by a mysterious woman, Laura Martin, who seems to be running from something. Lillian tells Jack he’s making a mistake by wanting to marry such a scandalous woman as Rose Kransky but Jack thinks his family would disapprove of anybody he wanted to marry because they don’t want him to leave them. Not wanting to bring Rose into such a situation, Jack contemplates whether his individuality is more important than familial obligations. Rose meets Lillian and sees how controlling and passive-aggressive Jack’s family is. Mary intuitively doesn’t like Laura.
-9/2/40-9/30/40. Jack stops by the Kranksys when Charles is over helping get Johnny ready to go for a hospital stay to try to straighten out his leg and feels like an outsider. He later accuses Rose of still being in love with Charles and a defensive Rose lets Jack know about his family’s interference in their relationship. Torchy lets bitterness and disappointment take over as she begins to regret coming back to Five Points. She starts to think Ellis is in love with Iris and she starts to question whether Fredrika’s friendship was genuine or she was using her to get close to Ned. Mary is jealous of Ned’s past with Torchy and Torchy’s presence in Five Points is getting to Mary. Ellen and Laura’s territorial claws come out with each other. Jack’s family freaks out even further when he tells them Rose has a baby. Jack finally tells Rose that he loves her, prompting Rose to finally make a decision. She decides to marry Jack instead of Charles.
-10/1/40-10/31/40. Mrs. Kransky and Mrs. Felzer have opposite reactions to the news that Rose and Jack are engaged. Things are missing in the parsonage. Rose tells Charles about her engagement. Charles points out that Rose doesn’t love Jack but Rose says, after what she went through with Charles, she never wants to love a man again. Rose meets all of Jack’s family and their coldness causes Rose to reconsider her decision to marry Jack. Ellen finds the missing items in Laura’s drawer and tells the Reverend. Laura pleads ignorance and says Ellen must have put them there, which John doesn’t buy for a second. Jack gets Rose to tell Charles that he should no longer have anything to do with Johnny now that Jack is going to be his stepfather and make him Johnny Felzer. Ellis undergoes surgery to restore his sight. Fredrika goes over to talk to Rev. Ruthledge as she waits for the result of Ellis’ surgery. They discuss unrequited love. Frederika doesn’t think Torchy was really in love with Ned but is really in love with Ellis and is frustrated at Ellis’ unreturned love towards Torchy. Reverend Ruthledge thinks Torchy needs to accept things and move on. Ellen tells Rev. Ruthledge that she wants to get away from the parsonage for a while. She is upset that Laura Martin, Rev. Ruthledge’s new secretary has been stealing things and that Rev. Ruthledge wants to keep her on because he feels bad for her as he feels she’s suffering from kleptomania. Without accusations, Rev. Ruthledge encourages Laura to discuss her problems on her own terms. Martin comes to visit Torchy to see if she’s over Ellis and is disappointed to see that she isn’t. Iris lays her cards out on the table with Torchy in regards to Ellis and the two women become openly antagonistic with each other. Jack presents Rose a ring and Rose honestly admits that, though she thinks they would have a good marriage, she’s not in love with him. Jack is okay with that but Rose can’t stop thinking about Charles and how she was in love with him at one time, unsure whether she can live without romantic love. Roy files a custody suit against Iris for Billie.
-11/1/40-11/29/40. Ellis encourages Iris to seek out Jack for legal help in the custody suit. Jack’s judgmental distaste for what he deems Iris’ abandonment and now change of mind towards Billie causes alarm for Rose since she did the same thing with Johnny. On the day the bandages are to be taken off of Ellis’ eyes, Reverend Ruthledge prays for Ellis to have spiritual sight as well as have his physical sight restored. Ellis is overjoyed to be able to see after his bandages come off. Reverend Ruthledge gives an Armistice Day sermon and urges listeners to not forget the lessons of World War 1 as new wars rage overseas. Taps and silence follow the sermon. Ellis doesn’t think his life in Five Points has been real life for him and he thinks it’s time to move on. Fredrika encourages Torchy to give up on Ellis but she stubbornly refuses to do so. Martin stops by the Silver Pheasant before Torchy’s performance to say goodbye to her as he goes back to San Francisco and resigns himself to the fact that they’ll never be a couple. Johnny calls Charles “Daddy”. Iris goes back to Oklahoma to fight for custody of Billie. Once there, she realizes the door she thought she left open to the past is now closed as Roy tells her he’s with a new woman and that no court will give Iris custody of Billie. Roy makes Billie decide between him or Iris and Billie chooses Roy. Iris takes the train back to Five Points feeling sad, empty but hopeful. The hope is dashed when Ellis tells her that he’s leaving Five Points. He wants to go back to his past to see if there’s still a door opened to him whereas Iris is despondent to see that all past and future doors seem to have been closed on her. A psychic who works the Silver Pheasant tells a disturbed Torchy that, “The road you travel will not lead up, but down, and you will travel that road alone.”
-12/2/40-12/31/40. Rev. Ruthledge gently calls Iris out on her selfishness. Out of frustration, Jack shakes Johnny which causes an argument between Jack and Rose. Someone witnesses Laura taking a bracelet from a store and tells John. He gently confronts Laura and she admits to having a problem and serving time in prison. John has pity on her as a kleptomaniac and doesn’t judge her for being a thief. Iris tells Ellis that Roy has been awarded full custody of Billie. She wants to leave Five Points and try to find what’s left of her past where she grew up. Ellis says the same though he doesn’t know what’s left now that his grandfather is dead and his mother has married a younger man and moved off to Mexico City. He lets Iris know that he’s really Gordon Ellis of the Ellis Family. Christmas is making Charles want to be with Johnny even more. Charles lavishes Johnny with Christmas presents and suggests Rose go off to Florida with Johnny for a little while so Johnny can recuperate in the warmth. Reverend Ruthledge, Ned, Mary, Fredrika and Iris spend Christmas Eve together. Jack, Jacob and Mrs. Kransky see Rose and Johnny off at the train station as they leave for Florida and Jack can’t help wondering if Rose is just going to get away from him. Iris tells Rev. Ruthledge that she’s going to start the new year with a new life away from Five Points. He tells her she has to find her answers within and not try to escape her problems in a new place. On New Year’s Eve, Torchy sings at the Silver Pheasant and John and Laura welcome 1941 alone at the parsonage.
By
Reverend Ruthledge ·
