Monday, January 26, 2009

MAYBE BABY

In 1952, during The Guiding Light's last few months of airing exclusively on the radio, central heroine Bert Bauer (Charita Bauer) gave birth to a son, Michael (named after Charita's real-life son in order to make things easier for her). At the same time, Bert's husband, Bill, was having an affair with TV star Gloria (Anne Burr), causing his wife infinite heartache (and making her later to speech to Ed about what a great man his father was even more disingenuous).

While viewers loved to listen to their favorite characters' voices, they also clamored for a peek at what the actors really looked like.

Below is a still staged for that very purpose and run in the fan magazines:



The thing I find most interesting about this picture -- above and beyond the fact that any woman who has just given birth would have the energy to tie a bow in her hair... or watch her husband's mistress on TV -- is that the "baby" playing newborn Mike Bauer is clearly still working in soaps today.

Here he is with Grayson McCouch (Dusty) on the set of As The World Turns...

2 comments:

schiffeg68 said...

I realize that infants can only be on-air for a certain amount of time, but I love seeing the real babies, rather than the bunched up blankets. LOL

Oakdalian said...

Why is Grayson McCouch holding the head writer?