As The World Turns
As the World Turns, Proctor and Gamble’s last soap opera is going off the air with it’s last episode (the 13,661st!) to air in September. Their other remaining soap opera, Guiding Light, was canceled in April, 2009. That ends their 76 years in the soap opera business.
I am reading a series of books by S. M. Stirling about what happens when civilization as we know it loses electricity, internal combustion, and gunpowder, as the result of an event the author calls “The Change”. In the years after the Change, the inhabitants of the Willamette Valley in Oregon have learned to cope, to raise crops, build water wheels, tan hides, prepare and store foods, weave and dye, but the author misses the boat on soap.
In one scene, a character is washing up after delivering a lamb with ” a chunk of strong-smelling lye soap” (at which his daughter “wrinkled her nose”) and he had to rinse well to get the “lye soap” out of his eyes and the “harsh soap” out of his mouth.
You’d think that the author would have done enough research to know that the science of making soap is something that is not affected by electricity, internal combustion or gunpowder. In fact, in the artistic and creative society he describes, the soap produced could (and most likely would) be not only good soap, it would be much better than “store-bought” soap from before the Change.
Authors, if you are describing handmade soap, here are a few facts to take into consideration:
In 1952, soap made it into the hit song parade! Johnny Standly had a mega hit song called “It’s In The Book”. The first part of it is a parody of Little Bo Peep in the form of a Southern Revival sermon, the second part is a song, called “Grandma’s Lye Soap”
I’ve edited out the first part (since this is, after all, a blog about soap trivia).
Listen to Grandma’s Lye Soap (mp3 file - most computers should be able to play it).
Enjoy!
It’s interesting how the American public is so fascinated with and influenced by the trials and tribulations of fictitious families. The success of all soap operas (daytime and prime time), as well as shows like LOST, is all about getting people vested in a form of imaginary voyeurism. And it started with … soap.
Earlier this month, CBS announced they are canceling Proctor & Gamble’s soap opera, Guiding Light. The last episode will air September 18th.
The first episode of Guiding Light aired on NBC radio on January 25, 1937, making it the longest running soap opera. It was sponsored by Proctor & Gamble hence the “soap” opera moniker. However, it wasn’t the first soap marketing by P & G that concentrated on the continuing saga of a ficticious family.
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (HBO, Sundays)
Last night I watched the HBO series “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency”. If you missed the pilot, it is soon to be released on DVD
