Since Guiding Light was cancelled Tina Sloan who played Lillian on that program, wrote a book and has created a one-woman show which is being performed tonight in New York City and throughout the US this autumn. Here are my thoughts on the book, which is about growing older, female friendships, family and working in the entertainment industry. Spoilers abound, so if you haven’t read it and don’t want to know stop now.
First off, I’d like to thank Barnes & Noble’s website for getting this book to me quickly. I ordered a copy on September 10, received it on September 14, two days prior to its release date of September 16. Even with the fast shipping (one to three business days), I was amazed to get it early as I ordered late on a Friday and my order was only in a box on Sunday.
The book starts with Tina retelling a story about how she started to feel older. She is with Beth Chamberlin aka Lillian’s daughter also named Beth outside the GL studio at a restaurant. Everyone notices Beth, but Tina is ignored even though both were in gowns. This was about 20 years ago, her gown was yellow and a murder took place at one of the parties on the program. Of course, I was puzzled as to which murder that she was talking about.
Throughout the book, she shared other soap stories including her plot line on the program Somerset. It is too bad Tina’s performance on that show most likely will never be seen again as it sounded entertaining as she played a very bad girl. A basic summary of the history of Lillian Raines was also included though it was out of sequence as Hawk and Lillian happened well before Lillian had cancer. One blind item in the book was about how Lillian went up in status at the hospital from nurse to administrator. So instead of wearing uniforms, she was allowed to don fancier and more expensive attire. According to her, Lillian went back to being a nurse as she sided with the husband of the head writer instead of the writer as they were having marital issues. Of course, that piques my curiosity as I wonder which writer would change story direction for that reason.
What I did appreciate is that she directly mentioned Lillian’s part in the death of Maureen Bauer. For years, after that the character seemed to be loathed by some. What I noticed as a viewer is once that plot ended, Lillian became desexualized on screen and that continued for about a decade. I don’t know why, beyond it was some sort of penance.
She also wrote about how important other women have been in her life as mentors, friends and how one should spend time with people of all ages. Tina went into detail about those relationships and their influence. Then she mentioned how she paid in forward with relationships with younger people, which are beneficial both ways. Tina’s done a lot of things in her life, like run marathons, climb mountains and act with very famous people in film.
When it comes to looking good, Tina went into the topic of plastic surgery. What she has had done non-surgically and how she nearly had a procedure years ago. She talked about how even without it, that she continued to work doing numerous television commercials. Without hiding behind anything, she wrote about getting rid of some of her older clothes due to body changes, her choice to dye her hair and how some shoes cause pain, but are worth wearing.
One of the funniest non-soap opera related things she mentioned was bringing a sweater everywhere. That’s something that made me laugh as I know older women who do that, which has confused me for years. Thanks for the explaining that as I was too embarrassed to ever ask that question.
The most difficult part to read through was how Tina dealt with her parents’ deterioration and deaths. The impact of which caused her to gain weight and hang out on the sofa watching marathons of all eight hours of Pride and Prejudice. To me that’s a normal reaction retreating into oneself after a great loss, nothing to be ashamed of and part of the process of grief. Hearing about her son being in war was also emotional as it is never easy to have someone you love in harm's way.
This book was a quick read and I got through it last Tuesday evening. The shoes obviously are an allegory of life and its different stages even if Tina does have examples of footwear to tie into parts of her past. The tone of the book is conversational and I could imagine Tina speaking much of the text out loud. This should bode well for the entertainment factor of her one-woman show. There were other soap stories shared like one she was told by the late Beverlee McKinsey (Alex on GL, Iris on Another World), how Tina reacted to Buzz and Lillian’s early relationship, how the character was marginalized being all about Beth and more. It is an interesting read, with a bit of dirt, and a lot about life. In my humble opinion, this book is for those people who enjoy soaps especially Guiding Light and aren’t uncomfortable acknowledging the challenges women face as they get older. To find out more visit the site on the book by clicking here.
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