Guiding Light (1937-1949)
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The Guiding Light (TGL) is the longest-running American television soap opera.
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[edit] Show development
The series was created by Irna Phillips, who based it on personal experiences. After giving birth to a still-born baby at age 19, she found spiritual comfort listening to sermons by a preacher of a church centered on the brotherhood of man. It was these sermons that formed the nucleus of the creation of The Guiding Light, which began as a radio show. From 1937 to 1946, the show was broadcast from Chicago.
From 1947 to 1949, the show was broadcast from Hollywood, but in the fall of 1949 the show moved to New York City where it has remained.
[edit] Major characters
The Ruthledges/Holdens
- Reverend Dr. John Ruthledge (Arthur Peterson, Jr., 1937 to 1946)
- Mary Ruthledge Holden (Mercedes McCambridge, 1937 to 1939; Sarajane Wells, 1939 to 1941 and 1943 to 1944; Vivian Fridell, 1942)
- Ned Holden (Ed Prentiss, 1937 to 1947)
- Frances Holden AKA Fredericka Lang (Peggy Fuller, 1937 to 1939; Muriel Brenner, 1939 to 1940)
- Paul Holden (Ed Prentiss, 1937 to 1938)
- Torchy Reynolds Holden (Gladys Heen, 1939 to 1941; Dorothy Reynolds, 1942)
The Bauers/Roberts/Whites
- Meta Bauer White Roberts AKA Jan Carter (Gloria Blondell, 1948; Dorothy Lovett, 1948 to 1949; Jone Allison, 1949 to 1952)
- Theodore "Ted" White (Arnold Moss, 1948 to 1949; Bert Cowlan, 1949 to 1950; James Monk, 1950)
- Friedrich "Papa" Bauer (Theodore von Eltz, 1948 to 1949; Theo Goetz, 1949 to 1952)
- "Mama" Bauer (Gloria Brandt, 1948 to 1949; Adelaide Klein, 1949)
- William Edward "Bill" Bauer, Sr. (Lyle Sudrow, 1948 to 1952)
- Gertrude "Trudy" Bauer Palmer (Laurette Fillbrant, 1948 to 1949; Charlotte Holland, 1949 to 1951; Helen Wagner, 1952)
- Bertha "Bert" Miller Bauer (Ann Shepard, 1949 to 1950; Charita Bauer, 1950 to 1952)
- Joe Roberts (Larry Haines, 1950 to 1951; Herbert "Herb" Nelson, 1951 to 1952)
- Joey Roberts (Tarry Green, 1950 to 1952)
- Katherine "Kathy" Roberts Lang Grant (Susan Douglas, 1950 to 1952)
- Dr. Richard "Dick" Grant, Jr. (James Lipton, 1951 to 1952)
- Bob Lang, Kathy's first husband
- Charles "Chuckie" White, Ted and Meta's son
Other characters
- Rose Kransky Greenman (Ruth Bailey, 1937 to 1941; Louise Fitch, 1942; Charlotte Manson, 1942 to 1943)
- Charles Cunningham (Willis B. Bouchey, 1937 to 1939 and 1940 to 1941)
- Ellis Smith AKA Mr. Nobody From Nowhere (Raymond Edward Johnson, 1937 to 1939; Sam Wanamaker, 1939 to 1940; Phil Dakin, 1940; Marvin Miller, 1940 to 1942; Karl Weber, 1942)
- Claire Marshall Lawrence MacNeill (Eloise Kummer, 1943 to 1946; Sharon Grainger, 1946)
- Ray Brandon AKA Roger Barton, Sr. (Donald Briggs, 1946 to 1947 and 1950 to 1951; Williard Waterman, 1947 to 1949; Staats Cotsworth, 1949 to 1950)
- Julie Barton Collins (Mary Lansing, 1946 to 1947)
- Reverend Dr. Paul Keeler (Bernard Lenrow, 1946 and 1949 to 1950; Bill Smith, 1950 to 1952)
- Reverend Dr. Charles Matthews (Hugh Studebaker, 1947 to 1949)
- Frank Collins (Willis B. Bouchey, 1947)
- Charlotte Wilson Brandon (Gertrude Warner, 1947; Betty Lou Gerson, 1947 to 1948; Lesley Woods, 1949 to 1951)
- Dr. Mary Leland (Anne Seymour, 1948 to 1951)
- Dr. Ross Boling (Karl Weber, 1949 to 1951)
- Gloria La Rue (Anne Burr McDermott, 1950 to 1951)
- Richard Hanley (Mandell Kramer, 1950; Maurice Tarplin, 1951)
- Peggy Ashley Regan (Jane Webb, 1951)
[edit] Plot development
The radio show's original storyline centered on a preacher named Rev. John Ruthledge and all the people of a fictional suburb in Chicago called Five Points. The townspeople's lives had revolved around him. The show's title refers to a lamp in his study that family and residents could see as a sign for them to find help when needed. Early ongoing storylines contrasted Ellis Smith (nicknamed Mr Nobody from Nowhere) with Rev. Ruthledge, the former's cynicism often acting as a foil to the optimism of the latter. Rev. Ruthledge's daughter Mary also embarked on a secret romance with her foster brother Ned Holden. Ned and Mary would eventually marry in a 1941 episode of the soap with Rev Ruthledge's blessing, but not before a series of complications arose, such as the return of Ned's parents, Frances and Paul Holden (a storyline which resulted in Frances shooting Paul dead when he made his plans to extort money from Ned known) and Ned's marriage to and subsequent divorce from lounge singer Torchy Reynolds (who later ended up in a relationship with Ellis Smith). Storylines in this era also touched on topics rarely discussed up to that point — for example, the character of Rose Kransky had radio's first out-of-wedlock baby.
During the radio years, succeeding preachers carried on the work Rev. Ruthledge had started, thus becoming keepers of the "guiding light." The show's setting moved to another fictional suburb in 1947, Selby Flats, in the Los Angeles, California area. The Bauers became central to the storyline in 1948.
