Bauer family (Guiding Light)
Encyclopedia
The Bauer family was a fictional family on the CBS
daytime drama
Guiding Light
. The Bauer family mainly resided in Springfield
and is considered by many to be the anchor family and the moral compass to both the town and the show. The Bauers became central to the storyline in 1948, as the family dealt with the terminal illness of their mother, known as "Mama Bauer."
Because Guiding Light has changed locations three times, and the Bauer family has been a part of the show from near the beginning, they have, over the history of the show, resided in the fictional towns of Five Points, Selby Flats (a suburb of Los Angeles) and eventually Springfield.
With the transition to television the shows focus became the Bauer family, a working class, second generation German-American family. The television family was headed by a wise patriarch, Friedrich "Papa" Bauer, the father of three children, Bill, Meta, and Trudy. Papa Bauer, who immigrated to this country from Germany with little more than a dream, was a hard worker who was full of wisdom. He imparted his wisdom to his children in a folksy tone, commonly interweaving German words. Meta was a primary character on the radio version and at one point listeners got the chance to choose whether or not to find her guilty of murdering her husband Ted White, whom she blamed for letting their young son Chuckie die in a freak boxing accident. Meta's character faded into a supporting role within the first decade of the TV series.
The conflicts between the Bauer clan and Bill's headstrong wife Bert were an integral part of the plot in the television show's first decade. Although Bert and her sister-in-law Meta eventually became very close, initially there was a considerable amount of hostility between them. An additional plot-line in this period focused on Bill Bauer's alcoholism and his career difficulties, which were exacerbated by Bert's materialistic nature: she wanted to live much more extravagantly than Bill's salary would allow.
During the 1960s, Bill and Bert's sons, Mike and Ed became central characters of the show. Storylines largely focused on their romantic entanglements, as well as the then strained relationships each had with their parents. The character of Bert became very popular at this time with the viewers, who were largely housewives that could relate to her situation.
When the show expanded to an hour, the Bauers began to share the storyline with an expanded cast of characters. The family still remained essential to the story through the 1970s. As the 1980s progressed, the family members became increasingly irrelevant to the primary stories, and either fell into supporting roles, or were written out of the show altogether. The family did endure on the show until the end of its run though, and occasionally were given front burner material, if not on a regular basis.
The Annual Bauer family 4th of July
barbecue was a recurring event on the show for several decades. Nearly all of the shows current characters would gather each year at Ed Bauer's house for this.
The long run of the show allowed it to feature, in real time, the concept of inter-generational alcoholism, the theory that alcoholism runs in families. Bill Bauer became an alcoholic during the 1950s while dealing with the stress of providing financially for his socially ambitious wife. Ed Bauer became one during the late 1960s and continued to have occasional relapses throughout the rest of the shows run. Hope Bauer began drinking while married to Alan Spaulding, who was treating her badly. Her character was soon written out of the show after this storyline, but it was mentioned in later years that she was still struggling with the affliction, and that it was the cause of her estrangement from her son, Alan-Michael.
Bert Bauer was diagnosed with uterine cancer during the early 1960s. The actress claimed to have received thousands of letters from women who were motivated to request pap-smears from their doctors as a result of the story.
One of Rick's wives, Abigail was a deaf woman. When the real life technology of cochlear implants became available, Abigail struggled with getting one over the objections of some within the deaf community who argued that the technology was a threat to the deaf culture.
Rick married an African-American woman and produced a bi-racial child, Leah. The discrimination the family would have probably experienced in real life though, was not shown.
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
daytime drama
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
. The Bauer family mainly resided in Springfield
Springfield (Guiding Light)
Springfield, Illinois is the setting of the television soap opera Guiding Light. It is generally portrayed as a small city or large town in the midwest, and circa 2008 is more specifically named as Springfield Township in the show's opening sequence. The township is also next to a lake large enough...
and is considered by many to be the anchor family and the moral compass to both the town and the show. The Bauers became central to the storyline in 1948, as the family dealt with the terminal illness of their mother, known as "Mama Bauer."
Because Guiding Light has changed locations three times, and the Bauer family has been a part of the show from near the beginning, they have, over the history of the show, resided in the fictional towns of Five Points, Selby Flats (a suburb of Los Angeles) and eventually Springfield.
With the transition to television the shows focus became the Bauer family, a working class, second generation German-American family. The television family was headed by a wise patriarch, Friedrich "Papa" Bauer, the father of three children, Bill, Meta, and Trudy. Papa Bauer, who immigrated to this country from Germany with little more than a dream, was a hard worker who was full of wisdom. He imparted his wisdom to his children in a folksy tone, commonly interweaving German words. Meta was a primary character on the radio version and at one point listeners got the chance to choose whether or not to find her guilty of murdering her husband Ted White, whom she blamed for letting their young son Chuckie die in a freak boxing accident. Meta's character faded into a supporting role within the first decade of the TV series.
The conflicts between the Bauer clan and Bill's headstrong wife Bert were an integral part of the plot in the television show's first decade. Although Bert and her sister-in-law Meta eventually became very close, initially there was a considerable amount of hostility between them. An additional plot-line in this period focused on Bill Bauer's alcoholism and his career difficulties, which were exacerbated by Bert's materialistic nature: she wanted to live much more extravagantly than Bill's salary would allow.
During the 1960s, Bill and Bert's sons, Mike and Ed became central characters of the show. Storylines largely focused on their romantic entanglements, as well as the then strained relationships each had with their parents. The character of Bert became very popular at this time with the viewers, who were largely housewives that could relate to her situation.
When the show expanded to an hour, the Bauers began to share the storyline with an expanded cast of characters. The family still remained essential to the story through the 1970s. As the 1980s progressed, the family members became increasingly irrelevant to the primary stories, and either fell into supporting roles, or were written out of the show altogether. The family did endure on the show until the end of its run though, and occasionally were given front burner material, if not on a regular basis.
The Annual Bauer family 4th of July
Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
barbecue was a recurring event on the show for several decades. Nearly all of the shows current characters would gather each year at Ed Bauer's house for this.
Rapid Aging
As is common on Soap Opera's, the Bauer children were rapidly aged into adulthood. This eventually created a preposterous age differentiation between the generations, as the practice was utilized over the course of the series. For example, Bert's son, Mike was aged about fifteen years, as was Mike's daughter, Hope. Hope's son, Alan-Michael was eventually rapidly aged as well. Had they been seen on screen together, Bert, whose portrayer was born in 1922, would have only been about forty-five years older than her great-grandson, whose portrayer (Rick Hearst) was born in 1965.Social Issues
Guiding Light often incorporated relevant social issues into its storyline, some of which involved the Bauers. Examples are as follows.The long run of the show allowed it to feature, in real time, the concept of inter-generational alcoholism, the theory that alcoholism runs in families. Bill Bauer became an alcoholic during the 1950s while dealing with the stress of providing financially for his socially ambitious wife. Ed Bauer became one during the late 1960s and continued to have occasional relapses throughout the rest of the shows run. Hope Bauer began drinking while married to Alan Spaulding, who was treating her badly. Her character was soon written out of the show after this storyline, but it was mentioned in later years that she was still struggling with the affliction, and that it was the cause of her estrangement from her son, Alan-Michael.
Bert Bauer was diagnosed with uterine cancer during the early 1960s. The actress claimed to have received thousands of letters from women who were motivated to request pap-smears from their doctors as a result of the story.
One of Rick's wives, Abigail was a deaf woman. When the real life technology of cochlear implants became available, Abigail struggled with getting one over the objections of some within the deaf community who argued that the technology was a threat to the deaf culture.
Rick married an African-American woman and produced a bi-racial child, Leah. The discrimination the family would have probably experienced in real life though, was not shown.
Final Status
In later years, the Bauer family's presence on the show had dwindled significantly, leaving Rick as the only one regularly seen. He was often involved in major storylines, but never as the protagonist. In one of the final scenes of the show though, several members of the family are shown in a park celebrating Rick Bauer's engagement to Mindy Lewis. There it is shown that Ed has reunited with his ex-wife, Holly Norris; and that Michelle and Danny are living happily ever after with their two children in California. The fates of other family members such as Trudy, Mike and Hope are not revealed.The Bauer Family Tree
- Great Grandpa Bauer (deceased)
- m. Great Grandma Bauer [dissolved] (deceased)
- c. Papa Frederick Bauer (deceased)
- m. Mama Bauer [dissolved] (deceased)
- c. Meta Bauer
- m. Ted White (deceased)
- c. Charles "Chuckie" White (deceased)
- m. Joseph "Joe" Roberts [dissolved] (deceased)
- m. Bruce Banning [dissolved] (deceased)
- m. Ted White (deceased)
- c. William "Bill" Bauer Sr. (deceased)
- m. Berta "Bert" Miller [divorced] (deceased)
- c. Michael "Mike" Bauer
- m. Robin Lang [annulled] (deceased)
- m. Julie Conrad [dissolved] (deceased)
- c. Hope Bauer
- m. Alan Spaulding [divorced]
- c. Alan-Michael Spaulding
- m. Harley Cooper [divorced]
- m. Eleni Andros [divorced]
- m. Christina "Blake" Thorpe [divorced]
- m. Lucy Cooper [divorced]
- c. Alan-Michael Spaulding
- m. Alan Spaulding [divorced]
- c. Unnamed child (deceased)
- c. Hope Bauer
- m. Charlotte Waring [divorced] (deceased)
- c. Unnamed child (deceased)
- m. Leslie Jackson [dissolved] (deceased)
- c. William "Ed" Bauer Jr.
- m. Leslie Jackson [divorced]
- c.Frederick "Rick" Bauer
- m. Meredith Reade [divorced]
- m. Elizabeth "Beth" Raines [divorced]
- m. Annie Dutton [divorced]
- m. Abigail "Abby" Blume [divorced]
- a. Harley Cooper
- c. Jude Cooper Bauer
- m. Melissande "Mel" Boudreau [divorced]
- c. Leah Bauer
- m. Elizabeth "Beth" Raines [divorced]
- m. Melinda Sue Lewis
- c.Frederick "Rick" Bauer
- m. Holly Norris [divorced]
- m. Rita StapletonRita StapletonRita Stapleton Bauer was a fictional character on the CBS soap Guiding Light. The character was played by Lenore Kasdorf, and was created by Bridget and Jerome Dobson, shortly after they became Guiding Light's head writers in 1975. Rita was written out in 1981, when Kasdorf announced she was...
[divorced]- c. Unnamed child (deceased)
- m. Maureen Reardon [dissolved] (deceased)
- c. Unnamed child (deceased)
- a. Claire Ramsey
- c. Michelle Bauer {Adopted by Maureen Reardon}
- m. Daniel "Danny" Santos [divorced]
- c. Robert "Robbie" Santos
- m. Daniel "Danny" Santos [divorced]
- a. Daniel "Danny" Santos
- c. Hope Santos
- m. Daniel "Danny" Santos [married]
- m. Daniel "Danny" Santos [divorced]
- c. Michelle Bauer {Adopted by Maureen Reardon}
- m. Leslie Jackson [divorced]
- c. Michael "Mike" Bauer
- a. Simone Kincaid
- c. Hillary Bauer (deceased)
- m. Berta "Bert" Miller [divorced] (deceased)
- c. Gertrude "Trudy" Bauer
- m. Clyde Palmer [married](deceased)
- c. Meta Bauer
- m. Mama Bauer [dissolved] (deceased)
- c. Douglas Bauer (deceased)
- m. Ellen Bauer [married](deceased)
- c. Karl Bauer (deceased)
- m. Alice Bauer [married](deceased)
- c. Mary Bauer (deceased)
- m. Alice Bauer [married](deceased)
- c. Otto Bauer (deceased)
- m. Myra Bauer [married](deceased)
- c. Jack Bauer
- m. Lanie Bauer [married](deceased)
- c. Johnny Bauer
- c. Lacey Bauer
- m. Lanie Bauer [married](deceased)
- c. Jack Bauer
- m. Myra Bauer [married](deceased)
- c. Papa Frederick Bauer (deceased)
- m. Great Grandma Bauer [dissolved] (deceased)