Marland Monday: Moment by Moment, Tell a Good Story

Monday might feel bad, but cheer up! Because it’s Marland Monday!

Yes, this summer I’ve been looking back at the rules Douglas Marland set up on writing soap operas and seeing how they apply to other forms of writing. Today we look back on the last rule. In my humble opinion, it’s the best rule:

Good soap opera is good storytelling. It’s very simple.

I have friends of mine who think I’m misguided when I speak of my love for soap operas. They smile, nod, and think “Oh Dear Lord.” I want to tell them about watching the Hall of Mirrors on Guiding Light with Roger chasing Rita. Or my mother debating if she wanted an early spoiler about who shot JR in 1980. Or when Lady Sybil died on Downton Abbey (yes it’s a soap opera only with British accents!) I want to tell them about Maeve Ryan singing “Danny Boy” every St. Patrick’s Day, or Judith Light’s performance admitting she was a hooker on One Life to Live.

I want to tell them about Bert Bauer on Guiding Light, how in the early sixties Agnes Nixon wrote a storyline where Bert found out she had uterine cancer. She hadn’t been to a doctor since the birth of her last son, so the storyline show step by step why it was important to see a gynocologist to get regular checkups. After that storyline, women made appointments to see their doctor. It saved women’s lives. It was a quiet revolution. It wasn’t the type Tracy Chapman sang about, but it did start out with a whisper: Go see your doctor. Make sure you’re healthy. The world needs you.

Twenty-two years later, Charita Bauer made history again: she had a blood clot and had her leg amputated. After consulting with executive producer Gail Kobe and then head writer Pamela K. Long, they decided to write it in the storyline with Bert getting her leg amputated. When she returned to the show, Bert started walking with a limp. After getting it checked out, she had to have an emergency amputation. She told her sons Mike and Ed: “I lost part of my leg. I have so much to be thankful for. I didn’t lose my whole leg, I didn’t lose my life. So please, dear, don’t mourn what I’ve lost.Be grateful I’m still alive. Because I am.”

Oh boy. I’m just crying writing this down.

We soon saw Bert in physical therapy, learning to walk again. There were moments of frustration: not being able to live on her own. Dropping a teacup and she couldn’t bend down and pick it up. Yet she cheered Josh Lewis (Robert Newman) and when he said “Oh so we shouldn’t expect miracles?” She then snapped back at him “No, I’m not telling you that! Because life itself is a miracle. And don’t ever forget it!”

Charita Bauer died the next year of lung cancer, the same cancer that took my grandmother away. They waited a year to have Bert die on the show. By then the head writers had changed, and there had been so much cast turnover. Don Stewart (who played Mike) wasn’t on the show anymore. The actor who was playing Ed at the time only had one scene with Bert. His grief over losing his mother rang false. The memorial service was made of people who barely knew her. It was disjointed and didn’t make sense. I sat there watching and just sobbed. I cried because I knew this wasn’t right. Bert-and Charita Bauer-deserved so much better.

A simiar situation was playing out on As the World Turns. They recently welcomed back Helen Wagner and Don McLaughin, who had played the matriarch and patrarch Nancy and Chris Hughes after being away from the show. They moved in with newlyweds Bob and Kim (Don Hastings and Kathryn Hays) Nancy was set in her ways, bossy. Kim’s son Andy (Scott DeFreitas) wasn’t used to having other people around, especially older people. It was handed beautifully with everyone getting used to each other.

McLaughlin hadn’t been well-I could tell seeing him on screen. He looked shaky and fragile. Yet he appeared on the Christmas show, then on the 30th anniversary of ATWT, which became the 50th wedding anniversary for Nancy and Chris. Everyone sang their song “Always” to them, then they sang it alone. Again, tears. Don McLaughlin died two months later at age 80.

The show knew it had to write Chris’ death. Douglas Marland decided to write it in. A month later, Kim and Lisa (Eileen Fulton) came in from a summer storm to find out Chris died in his sleep. Soon the house was filled with friends and family. Dr. John Dixon (Larry Bryggman) came and made Chris’ death all about, well, Dr. Dixon. People were talking about what a fine lawyer Chris was, how he was so beloved. Later on in the week Rosemary Prinz who played Penny and Conard Fowkes who played Don came back to pay tribute.

But there’s one moment that gets me, thirty-five years later. Andy is standing to the side, looking down. Barbara (Colleen Zenk) came up to him. “Andy, it’s okay to cry,” she comforted him.
He looked up. “We never finished the chess game.”

Boom. There it is. That is good storytelling. It isn’t flash, it isn’t drama, it’s moments. I tried to find this scene on You Tube but it’s gone. The fact I can still remember it says something. When you tell a story through a medium, be it a book, a movie, a song, or yes, a soap opera, you want people to remember. You want people to pause for a moment, make them think. It was just one line: We never finished the chess game. DeFreitas did such a good job capturing the saddness of the time. Anyone could write a big story. It’s the moments that matter.

As mentioned, this is the last Marland Rule. Now here’s a question: Are people reading these essays? If you are, would you like me to continue Marland Mondays? Let me know on FB or send me a tweet-my twitter name is @jenniferkate.

Turn in next week (or not)…