Love of Life Discussion Thread

[saynotoursoap]

Love of Life never had an opportunity to go into syndication. This idea is one of a myriad of mistakes in Christopher Schemring's book. The truth is Love of Life was canceled so quickly, syndication was out of the question. When CBS announced the cancellation, the series literally had a couple of weeks to tape the final episodes. There simply wasn't time to work out a syndication deal, and considering the low viewing figures, I doubt it would have been successful. The Edge of Night and The Secret Storm were the two daytime soaps with the best likelihood of going in first-run syndication, though sadly, those deals also never reached fruition.

[dc11786]

Thank you, I appreciate the clarification. It's a shame that soap books are riddled with errors.

[take_the_high_road]

Here is a picture of the cast (1975):

First part

Second part

[EricMontreal22]

Just saw the clip--was Sammy Davis Jr a watcher of EVERY soap? LOL

I hate to hear that my soap bible, Schemering's Encyclopedia is riddled with errors, but that makes sense re syndication. But if the deal with Secret Storm fell through last minute, there couldn't have been much hope for LOL.

[bellcurve]

DAMN! No wonder the show ended in a cliffhanger!

BTW, does anyone know where I can see that final episode? Or see any episodes from like 1978-1980?

[Sedrick]

Schemering didn't day a deal was actually being worked on at any time for LOVE OF LIFE. His book states that the producers and writers simply played out the scripts as already written before the cancellation notice was given just in case that perhaps the show could perhaps find another home, as had happened with EDGE.

[Paul Raven]

Some Love of Life memories from 'From Ma Perkins to Mary Hartman-The Illustrated Guide to Soap Operas' by Robert LaGuardia

1951 - Jean McBride played the bad sister Meg dale Harper.Paul Potter was wealthy Charles Harper,whom Meg only married for money,and Dennis Parnell was Benno Harper ("Beanie") their son.

Peggy McKay was the first Vanessa Dale,the good sister who searched for human dignity.While catty,selfish Meg argued with her husband and became involved with various lovers,Van tried to give Beanie the love his mother couldn't give him.Peggy stayed till 1955.

Van only loved one man in the early years:lawyer Paul Raven(Richard Coogan). Van's roomate was ellie Crown,played for five years by Hildy Parks. Ellie was a colorful character whose amoral attitude towards life often shocked the upright Van.For years Ronald Long played Evans Baker who helped prove Meg innocent of the murder of her criminal boyfriend Miles Pardee( Joe Allen Jr)

Hollis Irving,wife of the famous director Charles Irving was on during the first year of the show, Marie Kenney played housekeeper Mrs Rivers.

1952

Family confrontations caused by Meg's dangerous escapades were common.Jane Rose and Ed Jerome played Sarah and Will Dale,parents of Van and Meg.

Jane Rose remained in the part for several years.Dennis Parnell continued as Beanie until 1958.

1953

Stephen Gethers was corrupt casino owner Hal Craig.The characters moved to New York occasionally,but most of the action took place in Barrowsville,a mythical small town in upstate New York. A divorced Meg took up wqith Craig and Van,a reporter for the Barrowsville Times,helped expose Craig and his crooked Halfway House.

1954

Joanna Roos was Althea Raven.Paul's mother.Fourteen years later,she came on the show again,but as Van's mother.In the early storyline Paul Raven figured prominently as Van's fiance,but also as a lawyer helped acquit both Van and Meg of murder charges and put a few of Meg's boyfriends behind bars.

Vanessa wed Paul in September 1954.Not long after Peggy McCay left for Hollywood.

1955

Bonnie Bartlett took the role of Van and stayed till 1958.She had briefly played the role of Ellie Crown before Hildy Parks took over.

Virginia Robinson was Judith Lodge Raven,Paul's insane first wife,who tried to cause trouble for Van and Paul.Van was now pregnant and taking care of Carol,Paul and Judith's daughter,who had become deaf and dumb after witnessing a terrible crime.Althea tried to protect her son from Judith's instability.

1957

Judith was bludgeoned to death and left for dead in the Dale home,which burned down.Van's fingerprints were found on the murder weapon and she was tried for murder.Evans Baker successfully defended her and it was revealed that Paul's brother Ben was the murderer.

Carol had witnessed Hal Craig murder his twin brother.Hal admitted the crime and Carol was cured.

Tommy White was the new Beanie.

1958

After involvements with shady Miles Pardee and Hal Craig,Meg married Jack andrews(Donald Symington)who lost all her money.She divorced him to marry Tom Craythorne(Lauren Gilbert),despite being pregnant to Jack.

Jack was later murdered but not before involving Paul in a crooked land speculation deal.Paul and Jack's associates were flying out to the Southwest to inspect land when the plane crashed and Paul was reported dead.A pregnant Meg left Barrowsville with 3rd husband Tom and Benno.

Van had been living in New York City,where she won an audition to replace alcoholic actress Tammy Forrest(Ann Loring) as hostess of Starship,a successful TV show.Noel Penn(Gene Peterson) fell in love with Van,but the producer was married and noble Van had him return to wife and family.

Van next met Bruce Sterling(Ron Tomme) a teacher at Wingfield Academy in Rosehill,another upstate town.The two fell in love and were engaged and Van moved to Rosehill.She ran into trouble as Buce had two children from the late Gay Carlson-Alan and Barbara(Jimmy Bayer and Nina Reader). He also had ever present in laws Vivian and Henry(Helene Dumas and Tom Shirley).Gay's parents were wealthy and Barbara and Vivian were hostile to Van for replacing Gay in Bruce's heart.

1959

The day before the wedding Bonnie Bartlett was playing Van but it was Audrey Peters who said "I do".There was a contract dispute and Bartlett had to be quickly replaced.

Although Tom Craythorne had left the story,his daughter Cindy(Kimetha Laurie) came to Rosehill.

Barbara Sterling's first marriage was to Dr Tony Vento(Ron Jackson).spoled by Vivian,she had always been attracted to dashing,impetuous youn men,and was trouble to her father.

Next,the 1960's...

[Paul Raven]

Love of Life The 60's...

1960

For 3 years,the show featured the exciting Tammy Forrest Porter story. Originally, Link Porter arrived in Rosehill with his wife Maggie(Joan Copeland) who was terminally ill. After her death,Link married Tammy (Ann Loring),the NY actress that Van had replaced.Tammy,an alcoholic,was going deaf. Then Maggie's twin,Kay Logan(also Joan Copeland)tried to steal Link away from Tammy. Link died of cancer in 1966.

1961

Lee Lawson replaced Nina Reader in the role of Barbara.Paul Savoir played the first Rick Latimer,the brash young son of wheeler dealer Guy Latimer(John Straub).Despite the objections of her father Bruce, and her grandparents,Barbara married Rick. Zina Bethune replaced Lee Lawson in 1965.

Jack Stamberger replaced Tom Shirley as Henry Carlson and remained until 1970,when the character was written out.

1962

Tammy and Rick had tense scenes. Paul Savoir remained until 1966 and was succeeded by Michael Ebert,Edward Moore and Jerry Lacy.

1966

Dennis Cooney replaced Dan Ferrone as Alan Sterling,now a young adult.In 1969 John Fink took the role. Dennis is now Jay Stallings on ATWT.

Fred Stewart joined the show as Rosehill pharmacist Alex Caldwell,who later married Van's mother Sarah,(she had become a widow early in the story). Played by Joanna Roos,she came back on in 1968. When Fred Stewart died suddenly on Dec 12th 1971, Charles White,who resembled Fred Stewart,took over the role.

Eileen Letworth and Marie Masters came on as mother and daughter Sharon and Hester Ferris. When Sharon became gravely ill in the story,Eileen was swamped with get well cards and letters. Today, Marie is Susan on ATWT and Eileen is Margo on AMC.

Famous actor Robert Alda played opposite Eileen as Jason Ferris.Neurotic Sharon tried to wreck Van's marriage. Later Sharon and Jason left town for good.

1967

Jonathan Moore and Diane Rousseau played the Sterling's next door neighbor's,Charles and Diana Lamont. They have always had marital troubles(currently they are divorced),but have remained the Sterlings best friends.

Gene Bua,as Charles' son Bill Prentiss (from a former marriage) and Toni Bull as Tess Krakauer, played a storyline emphasising Young Love. Gene Bua was a singer before becoming an actor,and sang on the show. Bill and Tess were married- several times,in fact, owing to complications caused by Tess' infatuation with and marriage to wealthy John Randolph. Bill died of leukocytemia ( a fictional blood disease) in 1972,and Tess left in 73 after the ordeal of a long trial for the murder of a crook who had tried to rob her of an inheritance. In real life,Gene and Toni were also wed,and today are happily involved with their nightclub act.

1968

As Rita and Joe Bond,Darlene Cotton and Lincoln Kilpatrick played out a romance and were the first black couple to be featured on Love of Life.

1969

Renee Roy played Clair Bridgeman, a tavern owner and mother of teenager Sally,who became infatuated with Bill. When Bill married Tess,Sally became involved with the campus drug scene. at this point Love of Life was experimenting with Relevance. Mandatory elements were ethnic storylines(such as on OLTL) and topical problems like drug abuse.

[FrenchFan]

Thanks Paul, I guess I should buy this one.

[All My Shadows]

Love this:

As short as this scene is, I can tell why they were popular.

[DRW50]

Wasn't 1968 around when LOL's ratings started to slide? I remember reading that Van divorcing her husband (Paul Raven!) was too much for some viewers. I guess campus unrest stories wouldn't have helped. It's interesting how in 1966-1968 several soaps suddenly began featuring black characters, albeit in supporting roles, to at least try to acknowledge changing times. Sad to think that 40 years ago some soaps were more progressive than today.

I didn't know they had a twin story all the way back in 1961 or 1962. Were Maggie and Kay the first identical twins on soaps?

Jonathan Moore ended up dying didn't he?

Thanks for that clip AMS! That seems very natural, especially for the soaps of the time, don't you think? The cheesy singing, asking her to join in, she says she wishes she could play guitar, and so on. The whole thing, and the way they're dressed, seem a bit more current to the time than you'd expect. That's kind of underscored by that organ music intruding at the end.

[All My Shadows]

I agree. That clip looks and sounds more like something out of Never Too Young or even early LIAMST. I think it has a lot to do with them being young, playing guitar and singing, etc, like you said. I'm surprised they didn't just have Bill strum a few notes on the guitar to close the scene

[DRW50]

I guess it just reminds us how unpredictable the most predictable of soaps could be at this time. It also says a lot about the LOL audience, who supposedly abandoned the show around these years because of all the attempts at bringing in radical new subject matter. These characters seem, by Van and Bruce standards, to be fairly out of the mainstream, yet the audience adored them. Just as the SFT audience adored Jo even as she changed with the times, divorcing, not needing a man. The audience might have been more patient if the soaps had been more nuanced in their attempts to bring about change.

[Paul Raven]

Summary from SOD synopsis mid 79.This is the beginning of Ann Marcus' tenure replacing the much derided Jean Holloway.

Van and Bruce are at odds over her wanting to take a job as art instructor at Rosehill U. He wants her at home and she wonders why he feels so threatened by her joining the workforce.

Mia visits Betsy and says nothing went on between her and Ben. However,she can't help pointing out that Ben would never have come to her,had Betsy been willing to make love to Ben. Betsy feels that Mia is right.

Ben tells Betsy he loves her and only turned to Mia because she is there for him. Betsy says she fears that making love to Ben will anger Eliot and delay the divorce.She pleads with Ben to be patient.

Meg hopes to settle down with Scott after many marriages and affairs.She plans a special dinner but is disappointed when Scott says he wants a no strings affair. Meg gets a 'headache' and asks Scott to leave.Minutes later,Ben's ex cellmate Steve arrives.A nervous Meg phones Ben, but by the time he arrives,Steve has departed. Meg is not pleased to hear he was in prison for murder.

Liane reluctantly agrees to a date with Tom.To ease the pressure he suggests a double date.He asks Eliot,saying that he needs to get back out there. Eliot realises he must move on from Betsy.

The Gasperos welcome Ray home from the hospital.

When Liane is offered the chance to observe a surgery,she cancels the date with Tom. Eliot takes Jill out anyway,but is constantly thinking of Betsy.

Van starts her job and loves it. Bruce fears she'll neglect her role as dean's wife but Van hopes to move to full time in the fall.

Scott continues to pursue Meg,but she puts him off.

Dr Marriott,now acting chief of staff, tells Tony that Bambi will have to undergo treatment as an out patient.With Dr Graham at her side,Bambi returns to an apartment Tony has rented her.Bambi thinks of Tony as a dear friend,but nothing more.Tony is depressed that Bambi seems to have turned to Dr Graham.

Ray is anxious to make love to Arlene, but she want assurances that he will not accept the job offer from Don Piedro,a mobster. Ray says he's had enough of violence and crime .

Steve tells Ben he wants to turn his life around but is bitter that nobody will give an ex con a chance.He wants to study law but refuses Ben's offer to speak to Bruce.

However,Steve speaks to Bruce himself and Bruce is impressed,arranging for him to attend summer law sessions.After being rejected for jobs,he tells Bruce he's given up on law,but Bruce says together they'll make it work.

Bruce suggests Steve move in and work as a gardener . Van isn't impressed by having a murderer around the house and argues with Bruce.

Wesley,Mia's brother arrives and she agrees to let him stay with her.

Betsy agrees to dinner with Ben at Meg's house.When things turn romantic,Ben tells Betsy he's rented a motel room for the night . Betsy is angered but Ben points out they have been married and share a child.They end up arguing and Betsy storms out.

When Scott says he has something important to ask her,she thinks it's a marriage proposal.Scott,however,is merely inviting her on a cruise. Meg is angry with herself for misreading the situation.

[DRW50]

Bambi was the character that supposedly did bad damage to the show wasn't she? With Holloway's writing? Did Marcus keep her around for very long?

Do you think the show might have become more successful if Marcus had had more time?

Interesting that Van was getting stories about her husband not wanting her to work. For some reason I thought she already had worked.