CBS Cancels "As the World Turns" Ending its Over 50-Year Run

Variety announced today that As the World Turns will end its run in September 2010. When Guiding Light aired its last episode on September 18, 2009 after a 57-year run on television, As the World Turns, which debuted on April 2, 1956, was the inevitable successor of the title "longest-ever soap opera"-- but will now fall short of that "all-time" record. When As the World Turns goes off the air, General Hospital will replace it as the oldest soap on TV (GH debuted on April 1, 1963).

Both Guiding Light and As the World Turns were created by Irna Phillips, a pioneer of the form in radio and television. One of the driving creative forces behind As the World Turns was producer/director Ted Corday (later co-creator, with his wife Betty, of Days of Our Lives). In her Archive interview, actress Ruth Warrick one of As the World Turns's first cast members described Ted Corday's philosophy: "[he] used to say the art soap opera is to tie the most knots in the shortest piece of string. And everybody needs to be involved with everybody else. So you would be in a room and there are six people and somebody makes a statement, and you cut from face to face, and [with] each face you know what they’re thinking."

Actress Ruby Dee's Interview is Now Online

Actress Ruby Dee's Archive of American Television interview is now online.

Interview Description:
In her 4-part (each 30-minute segment is posted separately) oral history interview, actress Ruby Dee describes her start in feature filmsand on Broadway. She describes the experience of being an African-American lead actress working in series television — a rarity in the 1950s and 60s. She discusses her early work in television, such as her regular role in the 1955 soap opera This Is Nora Drake. She talks about her continued work in television in the 1960s on the anthology series Actor’s Choice, Camera Three, and Play of the Week, as well as the drama series The Nurses, East Side/West Side, and The Defenders. She talks about her regular roles on the series The Guiding Light (as “Martha Frazier”) and Peyton Place (as “Alma Miles”)and her numerous roles in television movies and miniseries in the 1970s including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Roots: The Next Generations. She speaks of her collaborations with her husband of many years (and Archive interviewee) Ossie Davis, including their radio show With Ossie and Ruby (1981-82). The interview was conducted May 15, 2000 by Harold Dow.

Click here to access all four parts.



In part 3 of her interview (above), Ms. Dee discusses her involvement in the Civil Rights movement. (Please excuse the opening image -- Google Video hasn't found a way to choose a first frame.)
CLICK THE ARROW TO PLAY THE SEGMENT.

"Guiding Light" Celebrates Its 70th Anniversary!

"The Guiding Light" debuted on NBC radio on January 25, 1937 and ran as a fifteen-minute program through 1956 (switching to CBS in 1947). In 1952, the daytime serial made its way to CBS television, where it has become the longest running program in broadcast history. The series was created by Irna Philips, dubbed the "Queen of the Soap Opera" (who was also responsible for television's As the World Turns and Another World). She was a great influence on later daytime producer/creators (and Archive of American Television interviewees) Agnes Nixon (One Life to Live, All My Children) and William J. Bell (The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful).

In 2006, the Archive of American Television interviewed Guiding Light's current executive producer Ellen Wheeler and star Kim Zimmer ("Reva Shayne"). Their interviews can be viewed at TV Academy headquarters in North Hollywood, CA and will later be available online.

In celebration of their 7oth Anniversary, Guiding Light has launched a tribute website, click here for the link.

What are your favorite memories of watching Guiding Light?