IVNKPLNG Rest in Peace

I'm sorry to say that my brother Kahlil Lowry who is "ClassicGL" and "Ivnkplng" was hit by a car and was killed 10/31/2008 at 1:00am. I will miss him dearly. He loved this board that he put together and all of the people he interacted with. Kahlil will be missed. Love his brother Hasson

Wedding Interruptus

Today's clipset, Wedding Interruptus, focuses on the mishaps involving the the wedding of GL "supercouple" Tony Reardon and Annabelle Simms. It's taken from May of 1984 and the tribulations range from the Reardon family's interference in the preparartions to the couple's disagreement over where to spend the honeymoon to Nola going into labor right in the middle of the ceremony. It's a charming, but bittersweet look at the GUIDING LIGHT of this time.

It's charming because of the undeniably magnetic chemistry of the the Tony and Annabelle characters. These are unusual, but wholly relatable people that are easy and very rewarding for an audience to give into and the love story was told with such delicacy and care under the the pen of Pam Long and her co-head writer Richard Culliton. Tony and Annabelle's story was filled with the kind of angst, obstacles, and frustrated romance that keeps an audience rooting for their eventual union.

Their patience was rewarded in May of 1984 with a quirky, humorous, romantic ceremony filled with the swirling subplots that are the hallmark of all good soap weddings. One such subplot is the reason I used the word "bittersweet" earlier in this entry.

Several times, we see Bert Bauer complaining of leg pain throughout this clipset. What you may not know is that, by this time, (Bert's portrayer) Charita Bauer's leg had already been amputated stemming from complications due to a blood clot. It had happened around Thanksgiving of 1983 and Charita asked that the development be written into her character's storyline. What we see here in Wedding Interruptus is the beginnings of that storyline. Despite the joyous and lighthearted subject matter of this set , these Bert sections cast a long, dark shadow over the procedings for me.

According to soap-news.com, Bauer continued in the role of Bert until health problems forced her to leave the show on December 10, 1984. 1984 would also see the departures of the characters of Mike Bauer, Kelly Nelson, Hillary Bauer, as well as Peter Simon in the role of Ed Bauer (Simon would be replaced by Richard Van Vleet). This on the heels of the removal of the Hope Bauer character at the end of 1983 (as well as the removal of Culliton as Long's co-head writer), would lead to a radical shift in the tone and content of GUIDING LIGHT, resulting in the virtually unrecognizable mid-80's show that is lauded by so many as the "golden era" of GL. My disagreement on this matter obviously is without measure.

Despite the sad note of this entry, enjoy Wedding Interruptus--

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One of Charita Bauer's final performances in September, 1984 at Hillary's funeral

Fear No Evil--

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Party Foul

Mention the name "Marina Cooper" to most fans of GUIDING LIGHT and the response you'll get is likely to be fueled by the last four years of one botched, chemistry-free romance after another with characters like Danny, Alan-Michael, Cyrus, and, perhaps worst of all, her current pairing with Mallet. Current Marina portrayer Mandy Bruno has entered into an off-screen relationship with Rob Bogue who plays Mallet and the current powers-that-be at GL seem to feel that this real life development guarantees the success of an onscreen Marina/Mallet coupling. Alas, it does not-- quite the opposite in fact, considering the fact that the Dinah/Mallet union is one of the most beloved romances that the show still has at its disposal. As a result, the Marina character's popularity is at an all-time low-- and that's really saying something taking into account the disastrous turns the show has taken with this character even before Mandy Bruno assumed the role in 2004.

It's easy to forget that Marina used to be wildly popular in 2002 and 2003 when played by Aubrey Dollar. Dollar's Marina was an audacious spitfire who remained sympathetic and vulnerable while causing trouble and cracking wise. The smartmouthed vixen who initially (and falsely) accused Gus of rape eventually won viewers' hearts through her starcrossed romance with older rich boy Ben Reade and her school girl idolatry of Olivia Spencer.

This delightful success of a character (and her Ben romance) were carefully crafted and shepherded, first by "Lucky" Gold and then by Millee Taggert and Carolyn Culliton. However, by the beginning of 2004, the infamous "WesCon" era of the show (with headwriter Ellen Weston and Executive Producer John Conboy) was in full swing, Ben was dead, and Marina was in a soap opera standard "youngster" relationship with Shayne Lewis and at the center of the convoluted and unpopular MaryAnne Carruthers mystery (a story that I actually enjoyed at the time, but that was before I became a student of GL history)-- and by March of that year, Dollar had departed the role that had, at one time, been such a joy for so many. While it might be easy to blame Mandy Bruno for Marina's current unlikability, the character was ruined even before Dollar left the show.

Today's clipset is called Party Foul. It's from the end of January of 2002 and it features a "Welcome Home" party for Marina thrown by Frank and Eleni, who learn, to their horror, that their daughter has actually been skulking around Springfield for weeks. The party guests have their own dramas going on, as this is right after Blake has discovered Ross' indiscretion with Tory, Phillip has discovered that "Lorelei" has been "impersonating" presumed-dead Beth, and Rick realizes that his bride-to-be Harley is in love with Gus. Marina's secret is blown by a loose-lipped Shayne, played here by future indie film star Billy Kay. It's a nice look at what made Dollar so special in the role and a nice reminder of Shayne and Eleni, two characters that are on their way back to Springfield as we speak.

Enjoy Party Foul---

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To the Limit

It's mega-clipset time again, kids! Today GLMP presents a whopping 45 clips from August and September of 1998 that detail the swirling mystery surrounding the strange goings-on as the mothers of Springfield become the targets of nursery rhyme-themed acts of terrorism.

We're all aware that this storyline culminates in the regrettable and unforgivable choice to cast Holly as a mass kidnapper at the beginning of 1999 (as detailed in the Parent Trap blog entry), but what's interesting to realize is that the beginning of this storyline wasn't half bad. Obviously and unfortunately, it bears a lot of the hallmarks of the Esensten/Harmon-Brown hamfisted school of soap-writing, with characters like Beth presented as a mustache-twirling villainess most of the time for trying to assert her rights as a mother and Phillip and Harley congratulating themselves on what wonderful people they are while perpetrating one despicable act after another.

It's important to look past that in order to enjoy this clipset which boasts a lot of other really fine qualities, chief among which is a brilliantly effective performance from Maureen Garrett. Garrett's portrayal of vulnerable, fragile Holly, freshly abandoned by both Roger and Fletcher (who also absconded with her infant daughter), as she deals not only with her own anguish, but also with the increasingly boneheaded choices of daughter Blake (who, in this clipset, comes off as a screechy, needy user and tramp, but that's Esensten and Harmon-Brown for you) is truly a wonder to behold. Bear in mind that, at this time, Garrett had no idea how horribly wrong this story would go for her. She had this to say to Soap Opera Digest after the fact in 2000:

"This 'Nursery Rhyme Killer' story started, and we were all wondering who it was," Garrett laughs. "It never occurred to me that it might be me. Then, a couple of weeks before the reveal, I started hearing rumors that it was me! So I went down and said, 'Are the rumors true?' 'Yes, they are.' The actress was stunned. "It felt very unfair because as an actor, you want a chance to develop something like that, something so extreme. It's difficult with warning, but with no warning, it's worse."

So these scenes that you see playing out in To the Limit are not Garrett "playing crazy." This is still the real deal Holly: flawed, neurotic, beleaguered, not the psychopath she was forced to portray mere months later.

Another interesting feature of this set is the last days of the lovely Karen Williams in the role of Vicky Spaulding. Vicky disappears in the middle of this set and would not reappear for another month and a half played by Victoria G. Platt, the person most associated with the role and who would play Vicky until the the character's next abrupt (and permanent) disappearance from the show in 2001. For my part, I think Williams was pretty good in the role, certainly no worse than Platt and with a lot more appealing screen presence.

Other notable aspects to these clips include the presence of Mick Santos as Ben and Blake's blackmailer. People forget that Mick was the only Santos on the show for quite some time. Also, Signy Coleman's casting as Annie was, I believe, still a secret at this point. If memory serves, I think the viewing audience still assumed that "Teri" was a new character.

Additionally, the odd return of Ken Norris, played by Roger Newman, as a red herring in the stalker mystery seemed very arbitrary to me at the time these episodes initially aired, but knowing what I now do about the history of the show, I'm fascinated by the character. To make a long story short, Ken (who was a main character on the show from 1970 to 1975) married Ed Bauer's mistress, Janet, but couldn't overcome his jealousy of Ed (or Roger, whom he also thought Janet was sleeping with). As his mental state deteriorated, he plotted Ed's murder. He was finally taken away to an asylum after shooting Ed in the chest. The Ken character was swept off the canvas in the mid-70's during Jerome and Bridget Dobson's housecleaning era to "modernize" GUIDING LIGHT, a time that also saw the departures of Leslie Bauer, Joe Werner, Peggy Fletcher, and Tim Ryan (Jordan Clarke's original GL role). A more detailed history of Ken can be found in his SoapCentral profile.

Finally, if these 45 clips aren't quite enough of the story for you, you can see how Blake's passion for Ben led to the situation where Ross shot her and put her in that wheelchair in Loaded Gun, which occurs before To the Limit.
To see what happens afterward when Phillip and Harley finally get married, Alexandra meets Vicky, Annie takes control of Josh, and Holly's growing hysteria indirectly causes Jenna's death take a look at Forsaking All Others. And, of course, for the climax of Holly's kidnapping of all the children, Parent Trap is your destination.

And at long last, enjoy To the Limit---

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A Terrible Thing to Waste

One of the most popular couples in the history of GUIDING LIGHT consisted of Tony Reardon and Annabelle Simms. I've been remiss in not presenting more of them as part of this project. I guess part of that is due to the difficulty I've had in really keying into this period in GL's history.

It's easy to see why audiences warmed so to this couple. Tony is the quintessential rugged, working class, alpha male with a heart of gold-- a soap staple that's often attempted but rarely rings quite true. Greg Beecroft is literally perfect in this role hitting all the right notes with Tony's outer bravado and inner depth. Soap royalty Harley Jane Kozak (most famous as doomed Mary Capwell on SANTA BARBARA) is beautifully natural as sensitive, intelligent, no-nonsense Annabelle.

Today's clipset, A Terrible Thing to Waste, finds us at the beginning of 1984 as Tony and Annabelle prepare for their wedding and contend with troublemaking new acquaintance Lujack (a character I don't think I will ever enjoy, but whose raw sexual magnetism made him a star of this era). Complicating matters is Tony's sudden health crisis, a result of a fall taken during their famous Lake Elizabeth adventure.

This is a very simple set of clips highlighting Tony's pride and fear as well as the deep friendship between him and Floyd Parker. The story is a fairly common one as one romantic partner struggles to protect the other from having to deal with a life-threatening illness, but the deft pen of Richard Culliton (one of my favorite soap writers and the last person that knew how to write ALL MY CHILDREN)) and Pam Long (before she set about destroying GL) and through the talents of these fine actors, the story feels fresh and vital.

Also, keep your eyes peeled during clip 10 for a look at controversial soap scribe Megan McTavish as Lola Fontaine.

Enjoy A Terrible Thing to Waste--

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For a look at what happens when Annabelle finds out about Tony's condition, view these previously posted clips from the set Masquerade.

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