Carolyn's Job

[dvlvan26]

Hi, All!
I have been watching Box Sets 1 and 2 endlessly and I have not heard about Carolyn's Job. Does anybody know if Carolyn worked anywhere in Collinsport or was she attending a local college?

Thank You!

[Nelson Collins]

I have not seen the entire series, but as the child of one of the richest families in New England, I don't think she had a job nor was she encouraged to get one.  I don't think she ever went to college either.

But your suggestion had me chuckling at the thought of Carolyn (if she were a modern rich teen) doing the Paris Hilton thing, traveling he country in her own reality show!! 

[ProfStokes]

Carolyn was a member of the pampered upper-class, so she didn't have to work, and since it was the 1960s, getting married was more important than getting an education.  In the pre-Barnabas episodes, she was engaged to Joe, so one could presume she would go directly from her mother's house to his and always have someone to provide for her.

However, Carolyn does take a temporary job at an antique shop during the 1970 Leviathan storyline.

ProfStokes

[Raineypark]

I think the whole notion of Carolyn being engaged to Joe was ludicrous.

This is the Collins family, for pete's sake.  Carolyn would have been cut off without a dime if she'd had the temerity to get involved with a fisherman....even one who owned his own boat.

She would have been expected to find a suitor among the available sons of suitable families.  Especially since David was the only heir apparant and reinforcements would have been helpful.

Joe would have been unacceptable, no matter how clean and sober, upstanding and hard working he might have been.  They needed a banker or a lawyer.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I think the whole notion of Carolyn being engaged to Joe was ludicrous.

On first look it might have appeared ludicrous. But in the Shadows on the Wall bible, the way Art Wallace laid out how their relationship came to be actually makes sense. As Wallace explained his backstory, Joe met Carolyn when he was 16 and she was 12, and apparently Joe's father had died in a fishing accident when he was only 14:

"...

Joe had to leave school to pick up what work a fourteen-year-old boy could on the boats that set out of Collinsport Harbor. His mother managed to get odd jobs, one of them being the weekly task of housecleaning at Collins House.

It was a hard life for both of them, but Joe...even at that age...had a goal in mind, and they saved every penny they could until the day he would be able to buy a boat of his own.

When he was old enough to drive, Joe bought an old car and began taking his mother up to Collins House in the morning and picking her up at night. The mystery of the house and the strange seclusion of its mistress fascinated him, as it did all the young people in town...but during that period he was even more interested in the sensitive and lovely young girl who shared the dark corridors with her troubled mother.

Joe's friendship with Carolyn began in those days, and the weekly appearances of the serious young man in the rattling Ford were events to be anticipated with pleasure and excitement. Carolyn found she was able to talk to Joe with a freedom she'd never experienced before, and they'd spend whatever time they could find exploring her hopes, her dreams, her longings for a future.

As they grew older, their friendship ripened, and the trips to the top of the hill became more frequent. Joe spread his life before her, talking about his ambitions, his deep need for independance, the unparalled exhilaration of casting a net on the open sea.

They were a strange pair...these two. The wild daughter of the oldest family in Collinsport, and the solid young fisherman with nothing to offer but ambition. As Carolyn flew about in her frenzy of rebellion, Joe became the only rock to which she could constantly return. But the rock also meant committment, and that was something from which Carolyn was dedicated to escape.

For Elizabeth, the boy was a chance to bring solidity and reality into her daughter's life. Carolyn was young to marry, it is true, but Elizabeth wanted her daughter to have happiness, and Joe seemed to be the one who could bring it to her. He was scarcely the match Elizabeth might have dreamed of for Carolyn, but she could not help but recognize in Joe the qualities that had been the strength and vitality of the pioneers who had founded the Collins fortune so long ago.

..."

While the bits about Joe's mother having worked for the Collinses was never referred to on the show, all of the other themes were - particularly how Liz desperately wanted Carolyn to escape Collinwood and to do it with Joe.

[AdAstra]

Yes, I remember laughing a lot when Carolyn had that antique store job.  She was always dusting the knick knacks and petty things...it just wasn't very believable.  And when there were customers, which there rarely was, they always knew exactly what they were looking for...you never saw random people just browsing.  And the creepy breathing from upstairs probably scared away all the customers.  How could that place stay in business anyway?  

Mel

[Gerard]

Since Carolyn was an heiress with a trust fund, it's not surprising that employment was not high on her list of things to do (other than dusting those chingy-lingies at the antique shop).  But it's rather surprising that her mother didn't push her to attend some kind of college and learn a few things about business management, since she (along with David) would eventually have to run things.  Elizabeth was a businesswoman who, even while keeping herself secluded on the estate, kept an astute pulse on things.

Gerard

[LdyAnne]

I think the whole notion of Carolyn being engaged to Joe was ludicrous. 

Well the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Remember Liz married Paul and he wasn't a lawyer.

LdyAnne

[Luciaphile]

I think the whole notion of Carolyn being engaged to Joe was ludicrous. 

This is the Collins family, for pete's sake.  Carolyn would have been cut off without a dime if she'd had the temerity to get involved with a fisherman....even one who owned his own boat.

And yet, it was her mother who was pushing the idea. Roger was the one who objected.

She would have been expected to find a suitor among the available sons of suitable families.  Especially since David was the only heir apparant and reinforcements would have been helpful.

Joe would have been unacceptable, no matter how clean and sober, upstanding and hard working he might have been.  They needed a banker or a lawyer.

I think Elizabeth's basic notion was to get her daughter out of Collinwood, but wanted someone who wouldn't take her away entirely. College (and there were plenty of academic institutions where the wealthy attend, even when the idea was just to get the ol' MRS) would have meant that Carolyn would need to leave town.

[ClaudeNorth]

If you think about it, even the characters who had jobs really didn't work very hard.  Maggie poured a few cups of coffee, handed out a few doughnuts, and then started calling out sick all the time.  When David came in for a sundae, she very slyly convinced him that it would be more fun if he made it himself.

Liz ran the family business, but seemed to spend more time slipping in and out of comas than making important decisions.  And Roger's main function seemed to be sipping brandy.

As for Vicki, she was forever cutting David's lessons short so he could go out and play.

Carolyn's stint in the antique shop reminded me of the spoiled rich kids I knew in college, who took low-paying jobs because they thought it might be fun to go slumming for a while.

I think that Bob the Bartender was probably the hardest working man in Collinsport.  Other than that, the town did not seem to be touched by the "Protestant Work Ethic."

[Heather]

If you think about it, even the characters who had jobs really didn't work very hard.  Maggie poured a few cups of coffee, handed out a few doughnuts, and then started calling out sick all the time.

Well, there was also refilling the sugar jars, and changing the menu prices, making impromtu roast beef sandwiches and whatnot... And she was practically the babysitter for her poor dad for a time...she even framed his art, sold his paintings now and then...what a deal!  

When David came in for a sundae, she very slyly convinced him that it would be more fun if he made it himself.

Oh yeah -- And when she actually made him a sundae, it took Davey all of 30 seconds to eat it, cuz it was a pathetic excuse for a sundae...1/2 a scoop of ice cream and about a cup of melty airated whipped cream, a scant drizzling of chocolate and 1 tiny cherry...oh, and a sprinkle of nuts as a consolation prize. What the hell was that??! Oh Waitress...      LOL

And Roger's main function seemed to be sipping brandy.

LOL That and extended business trips, often when the house was in an uproar - lol.

Carolyn's stint in the antique shop reminded me of the spoiled rich kids I knew in college, who took low-paying jobs because they thought it might be fun to go slumming for a while.
I think that Bob the Bartender was probably the hardest working man in Collinsport.

Chortle... I'll drink to that!  

[Gerard]

If you think about it, even the characters who had jobs really didn't work very hard.  Maggie poured a few cups of coffee, handed out a few doughnuts, and then started calling out sick all the time.  When David came in for a sundae, she very slyly convinced him that it would be more fun if he made it himself.

Liz ran the family business, but seemed to spend more time slipping in and out of comas than making important decisions.  And Roger's main function seemed to be sipping brandy.

As for Vicki, she was forever cutting David's lessons short so he could go out and play.

Maybe they all belonged to the Teamsters.

Gerard

[dvlvan26]

Somehow, I have always pictured Carolyn working at the local record shop in town, keeping the customers informed of the latest records from artists like Beatles, Beach Boys, Moody Blues, etc.

[Raineypark]

Just imagine if they were doing the show today:

Carolyn would be an interior designer specializing in large homes and mansions.

Roger would have his own wine shop, offering selections from France and Italy....every one of which he'd tried himself.

Liz would be the patroness of the local Theatre Workshop.....and only too happy to take on the occasional role.

David would be MC'ing the local rave scene, appearing at a new location every weekend.

Barnabas would be the pre-eminent local authority on the History and Architecture of the town, offering walking tours, slide show presentations and lectures.

Willie would have his own Wood Furniture Shop, offering one-of-a-kind  pieces available only through Carolyn's design showroom.

Anyone want to add to the list......feel free. 

[ClaudeNorth]

Anyone want to add to the list......feel free. 

Stokes would be the curator of a museum, in which every artifact would be cursed, possessed, or would come to life at night and terrorize the good people of Collinsport.

Julia would open a rehab clinic to treat the disproportionately high number of sedative addicts in the region.  

As for Maggie, one word:  Starbucks.