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Friday
March 19, 2010 Since 1922 |
'Guiding Light' is going dark
By Wanda Orton
Contributor Published August 26, 2009 Come Sept. 18, CBS-TV will pull the switch on “Guiding Light,” a soap opera that some of us heard long before we saw.
“Guiding Light” can trace its 72-year history back to 15-minute soaps on the radio and after graduating to TV in 1952 -- same year I graduated from high school -- it led a double life on TV and radio. The radio version ended in 1956.
Growing up, I couldn’t listen to soaps during school months but surely made up for it during free time in the summer.
Don’t misunderstand. I never sat glued to the radio, immobilized, oblivious to the rest of the world as laundry and dishes piled up and I needed to clean my room.
That was the beauty of radio; it was made for multi-tasking. You could do chores, paint your toenails or roll up hair in pin curls and, at the same time, keep up with the Bauer family in “Guiding Light,” plus Helen Trent, Stella Dallas and all the rest.
Truth told, though, I was not as attached to GL on the radio as I would be in later years on TV. The TV/GL habit resulted as a matter of newsroom scheduling, staggering lunch hours with the Brothers Finley, Jim and Mike. I was the last to go home for lunch, at 2 p.m.
When inquiring minds wanted to know what I waited so late, I’d say, “Oh, I don’t get hungry till then.”
Truth told, I didn’t want to miss “Guiding Light.” Thank goodness, it didn’t air an hour later. I would have starved.
After Jim and Mike left The Sun and my responsibilities increased at work, the late lunch hours and the opportunity watch “Guiding Light” grew dimmer and dimmer and finally I quit watching altogether. I don’t believe I’ve seen an episode of said soap since 1981.
Retired in the 90s (the decade, not my age), I could watch soaps all day long if I wished but I don’t wish. Classic movies, cable news and “Reba” have usurped the soaps, as far as I’m concerned.
Too many other shows now compete for clicks on the remote. However, although the soaps are going, going, almost gone, they will not be forgotten.
These mini-dramas, surprisingly well written, directed and acted, comprised a significant chapter in the history of entertainment and, as a bonus, served as a farm club for future film and TV stars.
I knew Kevin Bacon when – that is, when he played a young guy with a drinking problem on “Guiding Light.”
Jo Beth Williams, Melinda Kanakaredes, Billy Dee Williams, Calista Flockhart, Nia Long, Allison Janney and Hayden Panettiere are among others whose names first appeared in the cast of “Guiding Light.”
Meg Ryan appeared years ago on “As the World Turns” as did Martin Sheen and Jullianne Moore. Sheen also acted in “Edge of Night.”
Kathleen Turner was in “The Doctors” … Johnny Deep in “Santa Barbara” … Tommy Lee Jones in “One Life to Live” … Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in “Another World” … Demi Moore in “General Hospital” …
By the way, the title of “Guiding Light” title refers to a lamp in the study of a minister on the show when the series began in 1937. The lamp could be seen as a sign of hope when people needed help -- a light to guide them.
Irna Phillips, creator of the series, based the minister’s character on a real-life personality. After giving birth to a stillborn baby when she was 19, Phillips received spiritual comfort listening to radio sermons of Preston Bradley, a Chicago preacher. His sermons formed the basis of the creation of “Guiding Light.”
Would that all TV shows be so inspired.
Wanda Orton is a retired managing editor for The Baytown Sun.
Contributor Published August 26, 2009 Come Sept. 18, CBS-TV will pull the switch on “Guiding Light,” a soap opera that some of us heard long before we saw.
“Guiding Light” can trace its 72-year history back to 15-minute soaps on the radio and after graduating to TV in 1952 -- same year I graduated from high school -- it led a double life on TV and radio. The radio version ended in 1956.
Growing up, I couldn’t listen to soaps during school months but surely made up for it during free time in the summer.
Don’t misunderstand. I never sat glued to the radio, immobilized, oblivious to the rest of the world as laundry and dishes piled up and I needed to clean my room.
That was the beauty of radio; it was made for multi-tasking. You could do chores, paint your toenails or roll up hair in pin curls and, at the same time, keep up with the Bauer family in “Guiding Light,” plus Helen Trent, Stella Dallas and all the rest.
Truth told, though, I was not as attached to GL on the radio as I would be in later years on TV. The TV/GL habit resulted as a matter of newsroom scheduling, staggering lunch hours with the Brothers Finley, Jim and Mike. I was the last to go home for lunch, at 2 p.m.
When inquiring minds wanted to know what I waited so late, I’d say, “Oh, I don’t get hungry till then.”
Truth told, I didn’t want to miss “Guiding Light.” Thank goodness, it didn’t air an hour later. I would have starved.
After Jim and Mike left The Sun and my responsibilities increased at work, the late lunch hours and the opportunity watch “Guiding Light” grew dimmer and dimmer and finally I quit watching altogether. I don’t believe I’ve seen an episode of said soap since 1981.
Retired in the 90s (the decade, not my age), I could watch soaps all day long if I wished but I don’t wish. Classic movies, cable news and “Reba” have usurped the soaps, as far as I’m concerned.
Too many other shows now compete for clicks on the remote. However, although the soaps are going, going, almost gone, they will not be forgotten.
These mini-dramas, surprisingly well written, directed and acted, comprised a significant chapter in the history of entertainment and, as a bonus, served as a farm club for future film and TV stars.
I knew Kevin Bacon when – that is, when he played a young guy with a drinking problem on “Guiding Light.”
Jo Beth Williams, Melinda Kanakaredes, Billy Dee Williams, Calista Flockhart, Nia Long, Allison Janney and Hayden Panettiere are among others whose names first appeared in the cast of “Guiding Light.”
Meg Ryan appeared years ago on “As the World Turns” as did Martin Sheen and Jullianne Moore. Sheen also acted in “Edge of Night.”
Kathleen Turner was in “The Doctors” … Johnny Deep in “Santa Barbara” … Tommy Lee Jones in “One Life to Live” … Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in “Another World” … Demi Moore in “General Hospital” …
By the way, the title of “Guiding Light” title refers to a lamp in the study of a minister on the show when the series began in 1937. The lamp could be seen as a sign of hope when people needed help -- a light to guide them.
Irna Phillips, creator of the series, based the minister’s character on a real-life personality. After giving birth to a stillborn baby when she was 19, Phillips received spiritual comfort listening to radio sermons of Preston Bradley, a Chicago preacher. His sermons formed the basis of the creation of “Guiding Light.”
Would that all TV shows be so inspired.
Wanda Orton is a retired managing editor for The Baytown Sun.