Expert Poll: Q&A With Author Julie Poll
Soap Opera Digest: What do you think it means to have a soap still going strong after 70 years?
Julie Poll: When [soaps] first started, people called them “my stories,” and I really think people still think of it that way today. There’s a comfort factor there. Back when I was researching fan bases, I found some really surprising things, like athletes on the road, who you wouldn’t expect to be soap opera fans, were tuning in because it was something familiar. Not to mention several first ladies! Also, the ongoing story is used so widely in prime-time television, which is really the staple of soap opera—going back to HILL STREET BLUES and today, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, of course.Digest: What influence has GL had on other soaps?
Poll: Most soaps have the rich families and the wrong-side-of-the-track family, but I think GUIDING LIGHT has really more of a melting pot. You have the Bauers, who are middle-class. The Spauldings are rich. The Coopers — Buzz runs a diner, Frank and Harley are cops. They kind of set the tone for that. In the early days, the other thing that was really innovative was their medical storylines. Irna [Phillips, GL creator] was fascinated by medical histories. She literally would read medical journals cover to cover. Agnes Nixon, who took over as head writer after her, really felt the same way…. I think the Bert Bauer [Charita Bauer] Pap smear storyline was the first of that kind to be integrated. The networks initially didn’t want to do it. Their first instinct was, “Oh, this is going to be depressing for the viewers,” but it was a huge success. GUIDING LIGHT really stayed with this. When Charita lost her leg in real life to diabetes, they wrote that into the show. It was very brave of her. They do it well. It’s always very well researched.
Digest: Aside from creating GL, what made Irna Phillips such a special, beloved person?
Poll: Her characters were her children. When she was writing, that really spread over into [the actors’] personal lives. The famous story was that she killed off one character because [the actress] was performing on Broadway in Lenny as a stripper, so Irna thought that was totally the wrong image for the show. She killed her off. She really believed in them strongly.Digest: What’s your favorite GL storyline?
Poll: I loved the four musketeers because it was a mixture of first romance and it had that innocence about it. Gotta love Billy [Jordan Clarke]! [laughs] Flaws and all! He’s just the most lovable character. And of course, Reva [Kim Zimmer]. I do think the love story of Reva and Josh [Robert Newman] is classic. It’s classic soap opera. Digest: Did you learn any odd facts about GL from writing the book?
Poll: Actually, yes. In the Roger Thorpe [Michael Zaslow] storyline, he kept dying and coming back. At one point — it was probably one of the executive producers who told me this story — he had fallen off a cliff and in order to bring him back to life, they had to review the tapes to make sure the corpse bounced! And if the corpse bounced, then they justified bringing him back alive again! Anything with Roger was good. He was such a great villain. Digest: What is your favorite kind of soap character?
Poll: I guess it depends on how the character is drawn. I love a character like Reva because not only does she jump off the screen whenever she’s in a scene, but she has that vulnerability. I think none of us is perfect. We all make mistakes and when a character has that quality about them, it makes for a very appealing character. Digest: Would you consider writing another book when GL makes it to 80?
Poll: That would be great! I think it would be really, really great!
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