-1/1/54-1/31/54. Dick tells Kathy that he wants a divorce and that he’s in love with Janet. Dan tells Peggy his life story of how his mother was his only comfort from being teased about his facial scars growing up and, after she died, he ran away at 14 never to see his father and brother again. Lacking grounds for a divorce, Dick tells Kathy he’s seeking an annulment based on fraud. Joe investigates the mysterious murder of a woman shot and left in a cabin named Judith Weber. Judith’s brother and sister-in-law are questioned but released. Dan takes an overinterest in the murder.

-2/1/54-2/28/54. Mike has his first day of school. Joe finds a scar cream called Coverall in Judith Weber’s apartment and it causes him to think. Peggy finds a jar of Coverall in Dan’s hospital room while he’s being operated on. Jim doesn’t get what Peggy sees in Dan and tries to get her to look at him. Dan freaks out when he knows Peggy found his Coverall and tells her to get rid of it. Before she can, she accidentally leaves it for Jim to find. After Peggy tells Joe how much she is in love with Dan, she is shocked when he mentions he found a jar of Coverall at the murder victim’s apartment. Peggy lies to Joe that she’s never heard of Coverall, Jim lies to a panicked Peggy that he didn’t find her Coverall. Kathy asks Dick to not make her wait anymore on his decision for an annulment. Dick tells her to expect to hear from his attorney. 

-3/1/54-3/31/54. Mike is misbehaving as he is missing Bill who has been away in New York City for work. Reverend Keeler counsels Kathy to fight for her marriage in spite of Dick serving her with annulment papers. Meta and Kathy fight and Meta tells her to quit pitying herself. Kathy decides to contest the annulment and the hearing is postponed as Kathy claims Robin is Dick’s baby. An angry Dick confronts Kathy and tells her he hates her. Dan confesses to Peggy that he knew Judith and was after her money for the operation but that her shooting was an accident, not murder. 

-4/1/54-4/30/54. Peggy is torn as she doesn’t know if the man she loves is a murderer. Dan’s surgeries are over and they finally take off his bandages to reveal his new face. Kathy is bedridden with nervous exhaustion. Dan checks himself out of Cedars without saying goodbye to Peggy. Kathy changes her mind and doesn’t contest the annulment. Dick starts to push away from Janet which makes Janet even more determined to keep him. Mike continues to misbehave and runs off claiming he’s going to New York to see Bill.

-5/3/54-5/30/54. Helen Allen comes to pick up Kathy and Robin and take them with her to her home in Miami Beach as Kathy decides she needs to get away. Dan shows up in Chicago, reveals himself to his brother, Paul, and asks for his help as a criminal attorney. Paul is reluctant to help out Dan so Dan reminds him that he’s responsible for his scarred face and Paul had a great life compared to Dan’s painful suffering. Papa and Bert urge Bill to stay in Los Angeles but Bill is reluctant based on his success in New York and his bad memories and fears of going back to alcohol in Los Angeles. Janet is presumptive enough to buy her own engagement ring, making Dick feel more trapped. 

-6/1/54-6/30/54. Joe figures out Dan might be the murderer and asks Peggy to turn him in. Peggy says she believes in Dan’s innocence and reminds Joe he felt the same about Meta after she killed someone. Sid tells Bill there’s no job for him in Los Angeles, only New York and Bill decides to stay in Los Angeles anyway due to his family. Mike continues to sass and when Mike mentions Bill’s drinking, Bill loses his temper. Mike keeps insisting Bill isn’t his father and Bert wants to send him to a child psychologist. Kathy comes back for Joey and Lois’ wedding. Paul, more worried about his own family and reputation, doesn’t want to help his brother Dan. Dan comes back to Los Angeles and sees Dr. Baird to thank him before he turns himself in. Dr. Baird tells Dan he’s finally turned into the man he would’ve been if he hadn’t been scarred.

-7/1/54-7/30/54. Kathy goes on a date with Jim before she goes to New York City with Helen and Robin. The child psychologist meets with a reluctant Bill who suggests Bill and Bert need the counseling which angers Bill. Peggy goes to visit Dan in prison and he sets her free, telling her to get on with her life without him and tells him he won’t see her again. Dick wants to take a job in NYC and everybody thinks it’s because Kathy has moved there although Dick denies it. Dick is trying to get away from Janet because he doesn’t want to marry her. Bert gets psychoanalyzed by the psychologist which gets her finally thinking about her behavior. Dick gets up his nerve to tell Janet that he was never in love with her and doesn’t want to get married. Janet plays magnanimous, returns her engagement ring to Dick and tells him he doesn’t have to turn down Dr. Baird’s job offer and run off to New York to escape on her account. After he leaves, Janet vows to even the score. Bert thinks she might be pregnant. 

-8/2/54-8/30/54. Dick decides not to move to New York. He is disappointed to learn Dr. Baird gave his position to another man, Dr. Thompson. Bert tells Bill that they’re going to have another baby. Dan Peters gets sentenced to 20 years and Peggy accepts that she’ll never see him again. Jim and Kathy start dating. Mike is not happy that he’s going to have a baby sibling and continues to hate Bill. Bill takes Mike on a trip to San Francisco and it’s there that Mike begins to call Bill “Dad” again.

-9/1/54-9/30/54. Kathy leaves Robin in NYC with Helen and comes back to paint Los Angeles red much to the concern of Meta who thinks she’s neglecting Robin and her responsibility. She confronts Kathy about the irresponsible life she’s now living and Kathy says it may be time for her to move out and live on her own. A pregnant and depressed Bert starts to envy Kathy’s new care-free life and wishes she never had gotten married. Dr. Bart Thompson, Dr. Baird’s new associate who got the job Dick wanted, automatically clashes with Dick. Mike continues to have behavioral problems. 

-10/1/54-10/31/54. Bill starts doing PR for Richard’s company. Richard and Bert try to get Dick and Kathy back together. With Dr. Baird in Europe, Bart makes Dick’s life even more of a hell which gives Janet a vengeful schadenfreude. Dick and Kathy have an awkward reunion at a medical fraternity dance and it stirs up old memories and feelings for both of them.

-11/1/54-11/30/54. Jim tells Peggy that he’s in love with Kathy. Jim tells Bart to quit bullying Dick and lets him know he’s got his number. Dick starts to sink into a deep depression due to all his pressures. Bert prays a prayer of gratitude as she, Bill, Papa and Mike prepare to go over to the Roberts’ for Thanksgiving dinner. Jim tells Dick that he’s going to ask Kathy to marry him.

-12/1/54-12/31/54. Dick starts to crack up. Kathy turns down Jim’s marriage proposal and Jim thinks it’s because she’s still in love with Dick. Dick freezes in surgery and Bart orders him out of the operating room. Dick goes missing. Bart tries to get his biological son, who doesn’t know Bart is his father, to come to Los Angeles. The Bauers celebrate Christmas. Ed Bauer is born on New Year’s Eve. 

-12/24/54. Papa, Bill, Bert and Michael celebrate Christmas as they anticipate the birth of the new baby. The Roberts have gone to San Francisco to be with Joey and Lois.

-12/31/54. Ed Bauer is born. Joe, Meta and Kathy are worried about a missing Dick.

I'm confused about Peggy. She was on in 1951-1952 and vanished before reappearing in 1953 that's right? Because it sounds like she is a new character when she is back.

13 minutes ago, FrenchFan said:

I'm confused about Peggy. She was on in 1951-1952 and vanished before reappearing in 1953 that's right? Because it sounds like she is a new character when she is back.

Yes, that's what happened. She kind of disappeared from the story. When Dick, her cousin, became a main character, Peggy rejoined the story and came on staff at Cedars. Same character. She just came back into the story after an absence.

And of course Janet was played by Ruth Warrick.

Thanks again @Reverend Ruthledge

Was Irna still the main writer at this time?

Interesting to see focus on therapy for Bill, Bert and Mike as this was still a period where therapy could be mocked in entertainment. I wonder if this was the first TV soap to focus on therapy.

Mike really was a mess when he was growing up. They seemed to pass those traits onto Ed and clean Mike by the mid/late '60s.

They should have brought Helen into Robin's story later on (unless she was killed off).

Given that they only had 15 minutes a day, I'm surprised they managed to juggle several stories while still getting used to the format. It seems like Search in these years still mostly focused on Jo.

There's so much focus on going back and forth to New York. I wonder if they ever considered moving the characters to New York. I wonder why they didn't have them there originally instead of LA, if there was a reason why they were situated in LA.

5 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks again @Reverend Ruthledge

Was Irna still the main writer at this time?

Interesting to see focus on therapy for Bill, Bert and Mike as this was still a period where therapy could be mocked in entertainment. I wonder if this was the first TV soap to focus on therapy.

Mike really was a mess when he was growing up. They seemed to pass those traits onto Ed and clean Mike by the mid/late '60s.

They should have brought Helen into Robin's story later on (unless she was killed off).

Given that they only had 15 minutes a day, I'm surprised they managed to juggle several stories while still getting used to the format. It seems like Search in these years still mostly focused on Jo.

There's so much focus on going back and forth to New York. I wonder if they ever considered moving the characters to New York. I wonder why they didn't have them there originally instead of LA, if there was a reason why they were situated in LA.

Yes, Irna was still head writer at this time.

Well, you mentioned TV but Irna had already done a much more extensive storyline on radio on The Guiding Light in 1950 when she had Chuckie White got to a child psychologist. I think that was very groundbreaking at the time.

The show was set in a suburb of Chicago when the show was produced in Chicago. Then, the show's setting moved to a suburb of Los Angeles when the show's production moved to Los Angeles in 1947. The show was only produced in Los Angeles for a couple of years and then it moved to New York City although the setting for the show stayed Los Angeles until the late 60s and then it moved to the fictional Springfield. Yes, there were times when the show's setting seemed to be simultaneously in Los Angeles and NYC. The characters went back and forth to the two cities frequently. That may have to do with the fact that the production had moved to NYC.

Radio TV Mirror April 1954

Susan is not only heard but seen in The Guiding Light - in the exacting role of Kathy Grant, who already has a baby and just couldn't, under present circumstances, be expecting another. Jan is a rising singer, with a split-second schedule of operas, concerts and recording dates. And Jan has to make weekly trips to Canada for his radio show, Songs Of My People - the most popular show in all Canada.

That they are facing the problems, making the adjustments, is only a footnote to the fulfillment of their dreams. The coming baby - expected in May - is really their second miracle. The first was that Susan and Jan ever met at all.

"We had to cross an ocean just to get introduced," says Jan. But behind that simple statement is a world of paradox, of exciting personal history. For both Susan and Jan were born in Czechoslovakia, both studied at the Conservatory and worked in the National Theatre in Prague. But each followed an individual career, and each made a separate escape to the New World - Susan arriving in the United States with her mother, in 1941, and Jan reaching Canada on New Year's Eve of 1950.

The meeting of Jan and Susan came about in Toronto in 1950. Susan was there to make the movie, "Forbidden Journey." The man chosen to play a Czech stowaway was Jan Rubes - who had just arrived from Czechoslovakia.

Jan and Susan were introduced and immediately called up to play a love scene. They clinched and kissed thirty-eight times before the director was satisfied. Neither Jan nor Susan minded.

"Considering our battered lips," Jan notes, "you might say it was love at first bite."

A few months later, on the occasion of the picture's world premiere in Toronto, they were married. And they talked about having a baby.

"It's something you shouldn't have to talk about," Jan says. "Children come naturally to a happy marriage. But we were separated by hundreds of miles most of the time, and most of our conversations were carried on by telephone. Unfortunately, you can't have a baby by telephone."

While Susan had taken out her citizenship papers, Jan could get into the States only on a transit visa for a few days at a time. Susan's career kept her in New York. Jan's kept him in Toronto.

"In our first few years of marriage," Susan computes, " I don't think we got to spend more than a year together, adding up the hurried weekends."

Most of their friends - the Leo Durochers, the Jack Palances, the Ivan Romanoffs, the Dr. Leonard Hirschfields - had children. Jan and Susan's affinity for kids was obvious. Susan had made children's records and always magnetized youngsters with her stories. Jan sang songs to them and explained games for them.

Last May, the second miracle began. Jan was admitted to the States and took out his first papers. The obstacles were being cleared away, one by one. Now there could be more time together, more talk of the future - and not just by telephone. For Jan, there were no doubts. Jan has a wholly cheerful, optimistic nature. Susan can be skeptical, however.

"So in September I had a cold," Susan remembers. "That was followed by nausea. 'Virus!' I said."

"No," said Jan. "Morning sickness."

"But I have it all day," Susan insisted. "It's a virus."

"You're pregnant."

Susan went to her doctor.

"Virus?"

The doctor shook his head. "You're going to have a baby."

Jan was a very happy man that evening. He wanted to celebrate and take Susan out to dinner, but her "virus" was bothering her. They had a toast with orange juice, then phoned Susan's mother, who lives in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. She was ecstatic. She wanted to come right over to New York.

"Later," Susan said, "There'll be plenty of time to help."

Jan wrote his mother overseas and she wrote back that Susan should remember that she must now eat enough for two.

"Ha! She should only know," Susan says. "I'm always hungry. An hour after dinner, I'm ready for a sandwich. At the studio, they all take their cookies and sandwiches over to a corner where I can't beg a bite."

But, when it came to telling people outside the immediately family, Susan hesitated. That's when Jan said she might keep it quiet, but he was about to burst.

They agreed that Jan would "burst" in Canada, but they would hold back the news in New York. But, after a few weeks, it was too much for Susan and she told her friends on The Guiding Light. Nearly all of them have children of their own and they were delighted.

"Oh, they've been so good," Susan says. "Much too good."

They worry about her standing too long or climbing stairs. And the advice flows like water. One tells her, "You must be very careful." Another advises, "Do anything you want and eat anything you want."

Jan and Susan make no bones of their hope that the first-born will be a boy.

"I want a boy, girl, boy in that order," Susan says. "That means the girl will have plenty of boy friends. Besides, everyone wants at least one boy and, if you get that out of the way with the first, then you are psychologically free."

But they can't get together on names.

"If it is a girl," Jan says, "how about Jeannette?"

Susan wrinkles her nose. "No. But, if it's a boy, how about Christopher?"

"As a musician I must say no," Jan answers. "Christopher Rubes doesn't sound right. Too many r's."

Their neighbors and friends, the Jack Palances, hope that they will have a girl: "We have two girls and we don't want you to have a boy before we do."

A letter came from Laraine Day, Leo Durocher's wife. "I hope it's a boy and he's a pitcher."

So, suddenly, Jan and Susan find themselves in a discussion as to what their first child, boy or girl, as yet unborn, will grow up to be.

"Definitely not an actor or singer," Susan says. "He's going to be a doctor so he can live in Denver if he likes."

"Suzie has a Denver fixation," Jan says.

"Denver is in the mountains and has nice people and good cultural interests," Susan says, "and I can't live there. If a boy's a doctor, he can live anywhere. If he's an actor, he has to stay in New York."

Susan feels that children should be raised in the country, preferably on a farm. When they first talked about children, they talked about moving from their Manhattan apartment.

"But we've changed our minds," Susan says, and explains, "I began to realize it would mean a lot of time wasted commuting into the city - time that I would otherwise be able to spend with our child."

They have a promise of a two-bedroom apartment in the same building, to be made available a couple of months before the baby is due. For that reason, they have put off buying baby things.

"Actually, we hope to make a lot of things ourselves," Susan says. "I couldn't darn a sock - but now I'm going to sewing classes."

She plans to make drapes for the baby's room and then try more complicated things. Jan, whose talent with tools has already produced bookcases and a phonograph console, is going to build an old-fashioned crib with rockers.

Being pregnant hasn't changed Susan's life much. And this, at times, has disturbed Jan.

"Suzie is a powerhouse. It's nothing for her to do two shows during the day, come home and make dinner for a party of six and then go on a theatre with them. Now, I think it's important that one doesn't overdo it."

Susan loves to tell how sweet Jane was in those first two months, when she was uncomfortable. Jan, who dislikes cooking, nevertheless prepared simple dishes for breakfast and dinner.

"Jan is as wonderful as his potato pancakes," she says. "He has the best disposition. He is always cheerful. He sees good in everyone and everything. He can go out in the worst kind of weather and come back smiling."

Susan and Jan agree that they are cut of different cloth. Jan has patience and is easygoing. Susan is a woman of tremendous drive and will power.

So they hope the baby will have a bit of both their personalities. And they are grateful that the baby will be born an American citizen. Both know what it is like to be a "man without a country."

"I had to wait five years to become a citizen," Susan says. "Jan must wait three. And the baby doesn't wait at all!"

"He'll be a citizen before I am," Jan notes.

Susan has no intention of giving up her career. She will likely take a leave of absence from The Guiding Light sometime in April and be back on the air in July.

"You see, the show takes only three or four half-days a week," she says. "It is easy for an actress to combine a career with family responsibilities, once her babies are born. And if I should get another Broadway part, there, too. I would be working at night and still have my days free."

Geographically speaking, Susan still doesn't have Jan all of the time. Last summer, he made his debut in New York and got wonderful reviews from music critics. But he has built a tremendous following in Canada and continues to do his weekly show there. In addition, he is under contract to do a number of operas and he is recording for Decca.

"Both Jane and I have had crowded lives," Susan says. "It is almost as if I'd had many different lives. As a child in Europe, my family was wealthy and I was spoiled. Then there was the war and being uprooted and the poverty. There was the starting all over again in the States, and I have been very lucky. With the baby, it will be the beginning of another kind of life.

"And an even better one," Jan concludes.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by DRW50