Last year, I attempted to write about the GL event in March 2010 that took place in Connecticut at the Mohegan Sun. I found an unfinished document, which I have added to and edited. Warning this is very long, based on my memory and I write about my planning on such prior to the event.
In 2009, Guiding Light was cancelled and the news became official on April 1st. Sometimes in life things are just ironic and the timing certainly was. The "long goodbye" began though it didn't last as long as some farewell tours as some musicians have had numerous ones. Listings for events came up, like going to the Paley Center for the GL panel, the regular fan club luncheon weekend, and then So Long Springfield (SLS). Originally there was to just be one SLS in Pittsburgh, but in time the number events grew. From my location, it would have been easier to go to Pittsburgh or NYC in October, but from an emotional standpoint neither was a realistic option. Having a show go off the air is bad, dealing with being around people after the last shows was too much and too soon.
Flash forward: after three SLS events and each one sounding to be the last, rumors came out that there would be another northeast event. There was no definite information, but I decided perhaps I can do that. Of course, I had fears (realistic ones at that) about snow as the week before there was a massive blizzard, which would have made any sort of event impossible as there were widespread power outages and traveling was not advised. On top of that, my boss became really ill, and while I wasn't feeling well the week before, I was okay by Friday. For me going was a situation of "I'll kick myself if I go, though if I don't go I'll still kick myself, but for another reason."
My only and older sister agreed to go along with me to Connecticut. We'd hang out on Friday and Saturday, and while I was at the events on Sunday she would go to the spa in the afternoon. I took care of paying for the hotel, and we'd see each other for dinner on Sunday.
On Friday afternoon, I got my electronics set to record what I'd be missing (the soaps airing that afternoon and on Monday, the Oscars on Sunday night that I haven't missed since before I had a bedtime and The Amazing Race.) That evening I got to my sister's and we took off at noon on Saturday, as she is within 3 hours from the casino. As my brother-in-law was working, we had to drive their son to his friend's house to spend the afternoon. I got to see the pet goat, which had recently made a valiant runaway attempt. The fact that they all live in the suburbs of NYC and it was winter didn't matter to the goat. With my sister as the navigator, we drove over bridges and dealt with construction on the way to the hotel we were staying with Saturday night. I was so relieved to get there, and until I had to travel back home from her house, she did the rest of the driving.
On Saturday evening, we did a looksee at the Mohegan Sun. We gambled a bit, got a card with a purple lanyard that I sometimes pull out on occasion to put a smile on my face to think about the weekend and had dinner at Michael Jordan's sports bar. Spring training baseball and ice hockey from Canada was on the television screens. I was overwhelmed and going into the building made me nearly hyperventilate, as it was much bigger than I expected. Having moral support so I didn't end up in the infirmary was a good thing. My eyes were like saucers and my mouth was agape, and I felt like a backwater person. I'm just not used to being in large places that are enclosed, though by the time we left on Monday morning, I was completely comfortable with the size and scope of the Mohegan Sun.
The morning of the event wasn't without strife. My toothpaste went bad, made me gag and I had to use my sister's, she had a fight with the coffee pot while I was in the shower, and the coffee pot won. On top of that, her wedding and engagement ring went missing. I was able to read her mind and guess where she put them. While I had dreams (or are they nightmares of something bad happening), the night before my sister had one too. I had to swear that I wouldn't fall apart and need to call her, making her leave the spa to help me. It felt like we were living a crazy bad sitcom, and while I was nervous all of this crazy stuff was freaking me out completely. Getting to the Mohegan Sun had me giving the wrong directions, though thankfully my sister remembered how to get there from the night before, though we had another delay as we went to the wrong entrance. Finally though I got to the morning event and due to all the little fiascos I got to sit really close to the performers.
Okay now that I’m done with the preliminary stuff on to the show…
Everyone attending the brunch got a bracelet. The actors got to sit at a table in the middle of the room. While everyone was eating, the actors did Q&A. There was a microphone passed among the audience along with one at the actors’ table. Unfortunately Danny Cosgrove (Bill) had to cancel last minute, so he wasn’t there. Jordan Clarke (Billy) was willing to come, but his wife disallowed him as they were expected to leave town the next day.
Some of the highlights I remember from the morning session were how a fan brought an old shirt that Michael O’Leary (Rick) wore at a charity basketball game (I think it was basketball.) It was aqua and had Guiding Light written on it in black block letters and looked to be over 15 years old. His reaction to it was funny, and I wished that someone had a video of this game on youtube. Robert Newman (Josh) spoke about why he didn’t have a beard. He had just finished taping a guest spot on Law & Order: SVU, though he didn’t give any spoilers about the appearance. Of course, on watching this episode I thought the casting was hilarious as he was a “mattress king” and laughed even harder when he did an advertisement as a cowboy in this episode. L&O: SVU isn’t a comedy, but that episode provided me some inadvertent giggles. Brad Cole (Richard and later Jeffrey) spoke about working at General Hospital. At the time, he had been there, but didn’t know what was to happen. The role ended up not lasting for very long as the story he was involved in was truncated, and his character named Warren Bauer ended up dead. He also talked about how Jeffrey and Edmund were in a constant battle at the end of the show that wasn’t resolved. Jessica Leccia (Natalia) and Marcy Rylan (Lizzie) spoke about their newborns, which admittedly they could have done all day. This event took place the weekend the news came out that Marcy booked the role of Abby on Y&R. We also found out about Justin Deas (Buzz) having had hip replacement, poor guy, though I am very glad he came to this Sunday event. He was kind of quiet for that reason, though he said he was having a good time when asked during the afternoon Q&A. Beth Chamberlin (Beth) was asked to do a southern accent in the style of her alternative personality Lorelei Hills. Liz Keifer (Blake) made a comment about how her first choice would have been to end the show with Jerry verDorn (Ross). She patted his shoulder, I mentally awed and the rest I blanked out as that’s all that mattered to me. Jerry spoke about the surprise he got one day at One Life to Live, when he went to meet his new co-star for some scenes: Tom O’Rourke. Tom played Justin (Phillip’s biological dad and Ross’s brother) back in the 80s. Kim Zimmer (Reva) answered many questions with I’d tell you more, but it will be in my book. Since that is coming out next week, we shall see what those answers are. At one point, she did talk about the different actresses who played Marah. She did answer the question about why there are no reruns or old releases of the program by P&G.
The menu of food was varied as both breakfast and lunch items were available, though it wasn’t full service. I went for pancakes though didn’t use syrup for fear of an accident, how it doesn’t cause bad breath or gas. As there were more viewers than original planned, the actors came to the tables after we were done eating. Originally the actors were supposed to sit with fans, but frankly that would have made me way too nervous and even clumsier than normal. Just about everyone got to individually talk to three different people. This was cool as you could get closer photo, autographs and a minute or two of talk time. During this time, I was able to speak with Grant Aleksander (Phillip), Kim, Robert and Marcy (for about a minute or so.) I asked Grant about the set he had taken home with him from the Spaulding Mansion and how he put it in his vacation home.
Q&A during the Day – This event took place in the stadium. I had a floor seat, a carbonated beverage, and a soft pretzel. I sat somewhere in the middle of the audience. The actors came out and sat on director style chairs, which I coveted.
Robert was the person who introduced everyone before they sat on chairs. We’d get a video clip on the big screen, and a few words. This day was the first time I really watched anything GL since the show went off the air. Most of the clips were from outside taping in NJ like they showed Rick with Michelle and Danny when they moved back to Springfield. The exceptions were Jerry’s clip (obviously) and Liz in the Beacon with Coop. I wonder if they picked the scene that Blake tries to seduce Coop to give Jerry the ability to bust on Blake becoming slutty (not sure if that was the exact word) after Ross “died”. Though really like Ross didn’t have his moments, while in Springfield as he juggled more than one woman at a time more than once.
There was very little discussion of the show in the later years though dealing with the weather was mentioned as an issue with taping in New Jersey. Beth and Michael went around the audience to get the questions, which meant they didn’t really get asked any. Though someone did ask why Rick’s daughter Leah was SORAS, but not the other kids. There was no real answer to that beyond that it may have had to do with Beth Ehlers (Harley). Both of the web series (Steamboat and Venice) were mentioned as cast members were there.
There was a decent amount of interplay between Kim and Jerry that was amusing especially considering that a few months later they would be working together at OLTL. This came about due to someone asking about why GL never did Reva and Ross and Kim mentioned how the character she played on that show had a past with the one he plays there. He quipped about necrophilia, which considering Kim’s character on OLTL Echo faked her death, and both Reva and Ross were “dead” at different times in GL history. One fan admitted that to them Josh and Reva were as exciting to watch “grass grow.” While I disagree, I appreciated their blunt honesty.
One of the other questions asked was about how many times has your character gotten married. Marcy wanted to count her character’s aborted wedding, but no one let her. Jess said 1 ½ which was a cute response due to the situation that Natalia and Olivia are together, though cannot wed. Jerry started to answer the question incorrectly and Liz stepped in told him that he was wrong and “we were married twice.” As the question wasn’t how many spouses, but how many marriages, that would have been the wrong number. Brad mentioned the counts for both Richard and Jeffrey. Kim, Beth and Grant’s numbers sounded right, I wasn’t sure about Robert and Michael’s as both Josh and Rick were married to Annie who later revealed to be a bigamist.
The Q&A could have gone on for hours, but unfortunately didn’t. Before the actors exited the stage, they were told about an old friend being in the audience. Maria had worked at GL for years and was in the stands. She was called up and given hugs by all the actors. The most senior and longest time viewer also was given a chance to meet and get pictures with all the actors too during the photo portion. I am going to put more discussions in the night event section as some parts I can’t recall when they were shared.
During the signing, I was able to get pictures with Jess and Justin, Jerry and Liz, and Michael, Beth and Grant. For me meeting Justin was shocking as I used to run home to watch Santa Barbara. I’d need less than ten fingers to count the amount of events; he went to from the late 80s to present day (most of them actually were after GL ended.) Jessica had very shiny hair, which surprised me and I think how I was all OMG Justin surprised her as Justin has a child older than I am. I couldn’t act normal (whatever that means) with Jerry and Liz, as when I get nervous I either talk way too fast or get quiet. Both are not conducive, but at least I got a new photo. With Grant, Michael and Beth, we got to play Mindy for the photo. That was funny; unfortunately there was no time for hugs per the organizers or time for me to embarrass myself, as I am wont to do.
Night Event - The evening portion of events was in four parts. First up video footage, then the game show parody, then the singing and finally the reminiscing.
Did the actors get lost in the casino? If they did hopefully they won some money…
The first was sitting waiting for the actors to appear. During that portion we were shown the first episode of Steamboat again, a montage of GL openings, part of the behind the scenes when GL ended footage, and clips from a Christmas credit crawl.
The GL opening montage had just one of the lighthouse (either late 60s, early 70s, don't have any episodes with that opening in my video collection, so I can't date it). The next was the “falling leaves” opening that was used in the late 70s, early 80s. This was the opening where the name swap took place. They skipped the disco opening and showed two different variations with the "My Guiding Light" theme of the 1980s with different sets of actors. They showed the "Hold on to Love" opening, but the clips in it were from the version which aired around 1994. Next it was the 2002 open (some refer to as the lifesavers opening), that has some characters alone and others grouped by character, which whenever I write about this opening that theme gets stuck in my head. The 2003-2005 one was skipped completely which was a blessing as that one gets me peeved, as unless they showed the original version of it, as all it makes me think about it how people lost their jobs. Each time it was edited, it meant someone else was taken off contract. It ended with the September 2005 opening with Reva (there was also the Harley version), skipping the last two openings GL used.
The behind the scenes footage when GL ended was just the goodbye montage that has been on-line in various forms. Fans thank the actors out in New Jersey during the last day of taping. From what I understand this is what was shown at the Paley Center event during the summer of 2009.
The last thing before the actors came out was incredibly bittersweet to watch as it was the Christmas credits crawl/behind the scenes that were used in 2003 from the old studio that is now the home of Rachael Ray. It wasn’t said it was from that year, but due to the people in the clip it makes me believe it was from that time. (Nancy St. Alban who played Michelle was there with her baby daughter, and no one brought their kids to later cast crawls.) It looked to be Adam Reist's unedited cut as it wasn't what was aired on camera. If something like this was posted on Youtube, I would have avoided it, as I don’t have that much of a masochistic nature. There was a short bit with Kim and Scott Bailey (Sandy) with some crew people. Jerry and Liz were on for a second, but he had to go and get the speech. The Christmas Crawl on GL was something special as it one of the times the show would break the fourth wall and wish the audience a great holiday season. We’d see the performers, the crew and production staff and their families. The clip ended with Jerry doing the speech and a bit of the waving from everyone assembled.
By the time it ended, I almost wanted to start a chant, bring the actors out NOW and no I am not kidding. Of course, if anyone had done that I would have thought they rocked. Thankfully that was the last video shown and the actors came back out on stage after being introduced.
Where someone remembers that Phillip while a Spaulding is biologically a Marler…
First up was the Family Feud game show. Well I like game shows, not when soaps get cancelled to air them, but in general I do like them. It was a group of fans versus five of the actors. The viewers picked were at random except for the longest watching GL fan in the audience. By the title of this section, who was playing this game is obvious (Grant, Beth, Liz, Marcy and Jerry).
Michael did the hosting and he danced around with his shirt undone. My first thought was okay and where was the kissing? In the original version of Family Feud there was a whole lot of that going on between the host Richard Dawson and the female contestants. I was waiting for Michael to start kissing everyone regardless of sex and this image still gives me the giggles. At the end, I was disappointed due to the lack of woo the game is over let’s dance as that’s tradition. Instead of using the Family Feud theme “Hold on to Love” was played which was even better.
The questions typically were related to the characters they actors played on GL, so it wasn’t completely impossible for them. Questions included one about the four musketeers and were they became close, which was at Cedars (guesses were at school and Company—no one got that right), and which of Phillip’s children are real siblings (which confused people as real meant sharing the same biological parents) which was Lizzie and James. Then there was the controversial question which I have badly paraphrased. What crime did Bill Lewis get in trouble for doing? The answer was shooting Roger Thorpe. Okay, well that caused everyone to get riled up as the answer as Billy Lewis was the one who shot Roger. The answer the actors gave was right if the question had been about Bill oddly enough. Nobody got that question correct because of a typo, and most likely both teams would have gotten that right. They had to skip ahead with questions as people other than Michael saw the question and answer card.
The actors ended up winning, due to the bonus question, which was about the characters of Roger and Holly and a story they did on the program in 1979-1980. To paraphrase it was what crime did Holly accuse Roger of? The answer is marital rape. I was very surprised the viewers didn’t know the answer. I knew it, of course if I hadn’t I would have said and someone needs to watch one of their two copies of the Roger Scandal Years tape. That said earlier in the day, part of the video was shown. I guess none of the fans on the stage saw the clip or they were nervous. If the actors hadn’t known this, I would have been stunned especially since Liz watched GL while that story was going on and played their daughter.
Acting with the Stars
Once Family Feud ended, people the audience were chosen to either be an extra or act with a performer. In the later years of GL, the show never had as many extras as we saw on stage during this event.
They had Justin do a scene in Company with Doris. The woman they picked did a good job. They had one of the guys in the audience play Frank and do a scene with Jessica where they talked about baked goods. One last scene was acted out for the audience and it was Robert and Kim doing their final scene on the show. It was a lot more entertaining in person than on the program as they went a little crazy in their portrayals. Robert was a row or so behind me when he sneaked in the audience which I felt made it even funnier.
Michael did his rendition of Yankee Doodle Dandy ala Rick Bauer at the BBQ as it was request even if it wasn’t has favorite thing to do. He also did part of his comedy act. This was raunchy, but hilarious. Some members of the Deaf community hated Rick due to how he treated Abby and had big issues with the awful signing. He also did some impressions of the Lewis clan and of Phillip.
Sing Along with Actors?
The next part had Brad, Kim and Robert perform for us. Brad did two original songs, one that wasn’t originally planned but requested by a viewer earlier in the day. I appreciated that he changed songs on such short notice and found that really sweet. Unfortunately I can’t recall the title, and then he did Celebration while old clips played in the background.
There was a sing-along to John Denver’s Take Me Home Country Roads lead by Robert. What that has to do with GL, I’m not really sure, since the event with in Connecticut and not West Virginia I was confused by the choice. I did sing along and knew the words and I wasn’t alive when John Denver was at the peak of his popularity. He did a parody of the song “Some Enchanted Evening” which was a joke about how he found a wonderful new role for himself. He thought he’d be perfect as Clint Buchanan, which is the part Jerry plays on OLTL. A lot of laughs came from that “tribute.”
Kim sang two songs “In My Life” and “W-O-M-A-N”, I hope that’s the name In My Life was something she learned specifically for that evening. She broke up during that number, as a lot of us did. She had the words on a sheet just in case she needed them. That’s a song I just feel if that makes any sense.
The sing along portion ended with the last GL theme song “Only Love Can Save the World”. Robert led this number, and I liked his rendition better than what was used on GL. (Caveat: This song makes me sad, as I recall the picture taken on the last day of taping in New York City. At the end of the day, everyone assembled sang that song and looked really down.) The actors were given lyric sheets and sung along, and we were asked to join in too.
Reminiscing about the olden days of yore
The fun portion of the night was over and now it was time for the serious stuff. Not really, but this was everyone talking about their experiences and life. Adam Reist, former GL director moderated this portion of the evening. Instead of sitting facing the audience in director’s chairs, there were sofas and regular chairs. Beth showed off her hidden talent walking on her hands. I did find it odd, that it was said that they were looking for things to do as not everyone sang or performed music. For me the only thing one needs to do to be on a panel is act.
Topics included how you ended up on GL. These were funny. They went from Justin, I didn’t have to audition, but most of them had my audition kind of was bad and I still got hired. Beth tried out for Mindy, and told she was a “Beth”… Grant auditioned with Chris Bernau (original Alan) and Tom O’Rourke and was confused until he was told Tom was his biological dad and he thought okay I look a little like him. Jerry said he was hired due to his dimples, and that Michael Tylo (who later got the part of Quint also auditioned for Ross.) Robert tried out with Josh’s sister Trish (Rebecca Hollen). Michael O’Leary shared how he found out he got on GL. He got a call with the information, and tried to tell his mother. She was watching and wouldn’t let him interrupt to tell her the good news. Kim auditioned and Jordan and Robert fought to get her the part as they wanted to hire a redhead. When she tried out she was burned out over NYC over her bad experience at OLTL and had planned to move west. Liz tried out with Vincent Irrizarry (who was Nick at the time) and it was like oil and water. They saw something, and had her try out for Blake, but were apprehensive as she didn’t sound like Sherry Stringfield (she even did Shery’s voice), but finally was hired. Everyone listed previously auditioned for Betty Rae as she was with GL until the mid-90s. Brad tried out for Edmund and ended up as Richard (that was Glen Daniels as the casting guy.) Marcy shared a story about she first worked as an extra at GL when they were at east 44th street. She got a call to audition for Lizzie and went to the old address, and had to rush like crazy to get there in time. The casting director Rob Decina was familiar to her as they would see each other on the street as she walked her dog. When it got down to a group of girls one of them happened to be Anna Lyne McCord who is now known for 90210, who kissed the guy during her test. What was crazy was that Jessica talked about how she got the job by auditioning for the executive producer without a screen test. Her costar Ricky Paull Goldin (Gus) wasn’t happy about it for that reason.
Talk was also shared about past jobs. The funniest story was shared by Marcy. She did a Trojan condom ad, and they showed the condom, which was a first. Her father was horrified, but felt relieved when he heard she’d wear a ring in the ad. Other jobs like industrial films were mentioned.
Adam asked Jerry a question about the Bauer BBQ, which seemed a bit awkward at least to me. Grant though completely changed the subject to something Jerry did for him that got my “awww” meter on high alert. Basically when Grant was let go a lot of people got him really great gifts, but the one that he appreciated most was from Jerry. It was a pair of cufflinks and a note. The note explained in a cute and almost poetic way about how they were once worn by Chris and Tom at GL, and he’d been using them as Ross, but now they belonged to Grant. Since then if Grant had to do something related to GL, he would wear them. He ended this with how important Jerry was to GL and to those who worked at the show even more than he is to the audience. I was stunned, but good.
There was also talk about Larry Gates who played HB on GL. He was larger than life. Robert saw Larry like the father he never had which was sweet. The stories shared by the others were more funny than sentimental (like Michael talking about flatulence, Larry and Krista T who played Mindy) and Jerry talking about working with Larry on a play, one of the actors involved was annoying and that if something were to happen to continue on by not let her touch him.
Adam had a surprise that Jerry found for someone at the OLTL studio. They moved locations and were clearing out old things. In one of the boxes, he found something and it would be presented at the event. A garbage bag looked to be covering it, and it was a huge 1980s era picture of Liz from when she played Connie on that show. That was hilarious, and a part of me wonders if the people at OLTL didn’t set it up for him to find that picture. After Liz was presented with the huge photo, which Jerry told her to give to her daughter Isabella, Kim remarked that she wondered what happened to her picture though she said perhaps Robin Strasser (Dorian on that show) burned it. Of course, that left me wondering what that story was, and hope that is in the book.
The evening ended with a photo slideshow. There were goodbyes and everyone left for the night. Travelling over 700 miles and spending over $1000 was worth it, and I don’t regret going. I’m glad that I had this really great day. And if anyone made it to the end of this entry thanks for reading it.
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