Wednesday, December 31, 2008

SEARCH AND FIND



In this photo, Search for Tomorrow's Jo (Mary Stuart) is marrying husband #4, Tony Vincente (Anthony George). He was her doctor after Jo was blinded in a car accident.

Jo's third husband, Sam, had fallen off a riverboat in Africa and was declared dead. Jo channeled her grief by working alongside Dr. Vincente at a center for troubled youth. The pair fell in love, despite Tony being married to Marcy.



When Tony learned that Marcy had been faking her paralysis, he divorced her and became engaged to Jo. But, wouldn't you know it? Sam returned from Africa, alive, though not well. He was suffering from a jungle malady that was driving him insane. Loyal Jo reunited with her husband, only to have the unstable man take her hostage. Jo ended up standing trial for his murder, before finally wedding Tony in 1972.

That's Peter Simon peering over Jo's right shoulder in the wedding photo. But can you identify the future Dynasty star among the rest of the guests? Let us know in the Comments section below.

And for those wondering if Jo's fourth marriage worked out any better than her first three... sorry. Tony ended up cheating on Jo with Stephanie, who claimed that daughter Wendy was his child. Tony left Jo to be with Stephanie and Wendy. When Wendy's real father showed up, a grief-stricken Tony had a heart attack. He returned to Jo, but a second heart-attack did him in.

Poor Jo was widowed for the fourth time (that's one car accident, two heart attacks and one mad jungle disease, for those keeping score).
2009 SNEAK PEEK: GL











We'll see you there!
A PEEK INTO 2009: ATWT











We'll see you then!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

A SKELETON IN BERT'S CLOSET!



No, no your eyes aren't deceiving you. That is none other than Guiding Light matron Bert Bauer - smoking!

These days, the moment a character whips out a cigarette in film or television, you know that they're up to no good. Or are French. Or it's the beginning of A Very Special episode.

But back in the 1950s, when Guiding Light first made the transition to television, the late Charita Bauer recalled, "Even though my character was a wife and mother and basically a good character, she was allowed to smoke. Now no one smokes. Since the Surgeon General's report on the dangers of smoking, the Procter & Gamble shows don't allow people to smoke."

Pictured with Charita is actress Ellen Demming, who played her sister-in-law, Meta.

Charita explained in 1979, "We were all in our twenties when we first started, and Ellen as Meta was supposed to be around thirty-five. (GL's first TV director) Ted Corday decided to have her wear a bun to make her look older and had little white bits of hair glued to her temples. They never really looked like anything but clumps of white hair and we called them her little gray wings."



Ted Corday (far left; above) would go on to create Days of Our Lives. His wife, Betty, took over Executive Producer duties in 1966, after his death. Their son, Ken, is still the EP at DOOL today.

Of Corday as a director, Charita gushed, "He was a wonderful man. When things weren't working out on the floor, he'd push the talk-back button and say, "I'm coming out." It became a standard joke because the technicians would say, "Head for the hills, he's coming out!" He had so many memorable sayings that eventually the crew got together and wrote them all up on a big cardboard."

Sitting next to Corday in the photo above is Lucy Rittenberg (also smoking, FWIW). Rittenberg was with Guiding Light from the beginning, starting as an assistant to the director, and ending her career there as GL's Executive Producer in 1976!
BABY LOVE

The PGP Classic Soaps Blog has a strict policy against taking sides in any viewer disagreements. All fans have a right to their opinion, and we appreciate their passion for our shows and the soap opera genre in general.

However, anyone who can call an infant -- even a fictional one -- "disgusting," "spawn," "ugly," "second rate," and fervently hope for it to die, deserves the ultimate punishment to fit their heinous crimes:

Being forced to look at said babies until their ultimate, fundamental, coochie-coochie-coo cuteness brings about world peace and goodwill toward all men and women -- and tots.

So in the spirit of the season, behold: Hallie Munson and Eliza Ryan!





More where those came from, only on As The World Turns!

Monday, December 29, 2008


HENRY COLEMAN: MEDIA MOGUL

Henry expands his empire by blogging!

As a lifelong observer of and droll commentator re: the human condition, it was obviously merely a matter of time before the public clamored for my thoughts on a host of different, pressing issues of the day.

A fabulously successful novel (all novels are fabulously successful prior to the official release date, that’s the beauty of anticipation) was merely the start of my anticipated media empire. I have been advised by many who much better comprehend such things (TMZ, Daily Koz, Arianna Huffington – the gang) that my next step should be composing a blog to allow my legions of soon to be rabid fans access to my every thought, opinion and quip mere moments after it had flitted through my brain. (Sooner, if said thought, opinion and/or quip flows directly through my fingers, onto the computer keyboard and straight up the WorldWideWeb without making so much as perfunctory visit to my higher cognitive functions. I am told this has been known to happen periodically on the Internet.) They also suggested I Twitter. But as that sounds vaguely… suggestive, I need to check with Vienna first.

Read the entire entry, here.

FORWARD THINKING

According to USA.gov, the following are some of the most popular New Year's Resolutions:

Get Fit



Lose Weight



Manage Debt



Get a Better Education



Stress Less



Drink Less Alcohol



Volunteer to Help Others



And tune into the Light in 2009!
R.I.P

Neal Kenyon was a man of many talents: actor, dancer, singer, teacher and award-winning director and choreographer.

Neal Kenyon, 79, died Friday in Sarasota. He had suffered a stroke last year.

The former director of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory's graduate program in theater arts, who died Friday at 79, achieved acclaim early in his career.

At 39, he received the Drama Desk Award for directing and choreographing "Dames at Sea" off Broadway in 1968, starring a promising young talent named Bernadette Peters....

He also worked in television, directing the made-for-TV musical comedy "The Robber Bridegroom" in the late 1970s and the CBS soap opera "Search for Tomorrow."

Entire obituary, here.
SHALL WE DANCE?

Yes!



Luke and Noah on New Year's Eve.

You can't miss a minute of As The World Turns!

Friday, December 26, 2008

CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST

The Another World episodes currently airing on Hulu.com may be taking place in August of 1991, but Christmas is in the air!

Amanda and Sam argue about the Christmas issue of their magazine, when, in true soap opera style, they are really arguing about the kiss these execs inadvertently shared.

Marley and Jamie plan a Christmas wedding, figuring that after everything they've been through, nothing can stop them now. Yeah, what could go wrong in four months of soap opera time?

In the meantime, everyone wonders who shot Grant -- and whether Rachel's fuzzy memory might hold a clue, Lorna looks fantastic in a sheer black dress, Cass worries about Kathleen's panic attacks while pretending not to have any more feelings for Frankie, and Carl continues to play metaphorical chess with ex-wife Donna, and that pesky cop Ryan.

Check out the Christmas in summertime Bay City action, only on Another World, here!

ROC OF AGES

Superbowl Champion Mark Schlereth steps back into the Light as Roc Hoover on Tuesday, January 6.

Roc pops up to help Jeffrey out with a secret mission -- that doesn't exactly turn out like either of them planned.

Tune into Guiding Light in 2009 to check it out.

And for more on Mark, click here!
GRANDPA GOT RUN OVER BY A RIGHT HOOK!

Noah isn't happy to see Brian.





Only next week, only on As The World Turns!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

From all of P&G's Classic Soaps!



(Pictured: Search for Tomorrow's Mary Stuart as Jo, Lynn Loring as Patti, and Karl Webber as Arthur in 1955.)
JOY TO THE WORLD!





Merry Christmas from As The World Turns!
MERRY CHRISTMAS

From the guys --



And dolls --



Of Guiding Light!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

TWAS THE SPOILERS PAST CHRISTMAS: GL









Follow the Light into 2009!
TWAS THE SPOILERS PAST CHRISTMAS: ATWT









And into 2009 - Only on As The World Turns!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

DECK THE HALLS WITH SOAPY GOODNESS

Mother issues...



Daughter issues...



Boy toy issues...



Buzz putting his two cents in...



Beth's got a lot to deal with this holiday season.

Bad for her. Good for us. (And she doesn't even know the love of her life is on his way back to town.)



Turn on the light in 2009 - Guiding Light on CBS!
DADDY DUSTY

So... What is it with this guy and other men's biological children?





Get to the root of Dusty's Daddy issues (my personal theory -- involving Dusty's own adoptive father, here), only on As The World Turns!