Guiding Light, the long-running soap opera, went off the airwaves in 2009, but the show is still celebrating its anniversaries. Today marks the program’s 89th birthday, as the serial, which began on NBC Radio before moving to CBS Radio in 1947, was heard for the first time on January 27, 1937.
Guiding Light, it’s your birthday
Created by Irna Phillips, the mother of soap operas, Guiding Light first centered on the character of Reverand John Ruthledge, who left a lamp (or a guiding light) in his study so that people would know they could reach out to him for help.
When GL shifted to television in the 1950s, the Bauers, first introduced on radio in 1948, became the main family on the show. Papa Bauer’s (Theo Goetz) great-grandson, Rick Bauer (Michael O’Learly), appeared in the show’s finale.
In 1968, GL expanded from a 15-minute serial to 30 minutes in length. In 1975, the show later dropped the “The” from its title in an effort to modernize its name. In 1977, GL expanded to an hour in length.
Guiding Light had the “write” stuff
GL was the No. 1-ranked serial in both 1956 and 1957. Over the decades, in addition to Phillips, GL was written by Agnes Nixon, Bridget and Jerome Dobson, Douglas Marland, Pamela Long, Jeff Ryder, Sheri Anderson, and the trio of Nancy Curlee, Stephen Demorest, and James E. Reilly, and Lorraine Broderick, Douglas Anderson, Megan McTavish, Barbara Esenstein and James Harmon Brown, Claire Labine, Lloyd Gold, Ellen Weston, and Christopher Dunn, Lloyd Gold, Jill Lorie Hurst, David Kreizman.
The show’s legendary characters include, but by no means are limited to, Charita Bauer, who played Bert Bauer (the same surnames were a coincidence), Roger Thorpe, played by Daytime Emmy-winner Michael Zaslow, Ross Marler (Jerry verDorn), Phillip Spaulding (Grant Aleksander), Reva Shayne Lewis (Kim Zimmer), Alexandra Spaulding (Beverlee McKinsey), and Jonathan Randall (Tom Pelphrey).
The show tackled such social issues over the years, including uterine cancer (Bert), marital rape (Roger and Holly), breast cancer (Lillian Raines), and alcoholism (Bill Bauer, Ed Bauer).
Always, Guiding Light
On April 1, 2009, CBS announced that GL was canceled and its last episode aired on September 17 that same year. The show brought back many familiar faces and fan favorites, including Lisa Brown’s Nola Reardon, Jay Hammer’s Fletcher, and Maureen Garrett’s Holly for farewell appearances.
The show provided viewers with happy endings all around. Ed and Holly left Springfield together, Fletcher took Alexandra (Marj Dusay) on a trip around the world, and Josh (Robert Newman) and Reva reunited, promising that this time it was for “always.”
In 2016, The Talk, the CBS talk show that replaced As the World Turns in 2010, honored programs, including GL, for a celebration that acknowledged the network’s 30th anniversary as No. 1 in Daytime. Kim Zimmer, Robert Newman (Josh), Grand Aleksander, and Beth Chamberlin (Beth) appeared on the show to represent Guiding Light.
