<VV> Soap Opera - Guiding Light - yes, a little Corvair content

[Robert Marlow]

My wife is a soapaholic, and still sets the VCR to record every episode 
of Guiding Light.  She is having a tough time facing up to the prospect 
that the show is going off the air.

I, on the other hand, am accustomed to such disappointments -- the 
Corvair went out of production 40 years ago two months after I got my 
driver's license, and speedways that I like get closed for development 
on a regular basis.

But this is not the point of this message.  Rather, it is that today is 
the last day of filming for the soap.  To commemorate the event, the 
local CBS affiliate is running a piece during its news programs, which 
gave me a glimpse back into a place I have not seen since my family 
drove there in our Greenbrier for holiday dinners.

Y'see, for the past few years Guiding Light has been filming both 
interiors and exteriors at a house about 15 miles from here, a house 
which was my aunt's house while I was growing up.  Remarkably, nothing 
about the house has changed, so that when I see it on TV I am suddenly 
back in that kitchen for Thanksgiving or in the yard for Easter.

I live closer today than I did years ago, those family trips in 
Greenbrier were about 45 miles each way and I remember one holiday 
dinner after which it snowed considerably, making the Greenbrier a 
useful vehicle for getting home.

It is the same Greenbrier that I still own today.

If you live with a Guiding Light fan (of if you are one yourself), there 
is this six-degrees of separation thing:  You know me, I own a Corvair, 
my Corvair has been in that driveway, Guidling Light filmed in that 
driveway.

If you or your mate are truly cuckoo for Guilding Light, "Springfield" 
is in fact both Peapack, NJ (where my aunt's house is) and Clinton, NJ 
(where downtown scenes were filmed).  My Greenbrier has been parked on 
those streets, too.

I won't miss the show at all.  But like most adults, I do recall fondly 
those family gatherings.

--Bob