DRW50

I'm surprised they kept him around when Long came in. I just wish she'd found Brick too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnjfnj9jwDY&feature=channel&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuBXFKuWnVI

Oh, just to throw them off the track. That's a novel way to bring a character back. Was that the Dobsons?

Why did they need to find Ted?

We kept our horses on our property there. Father had a beautiful team of grays called Rock and Rye. We used to ride them by sleigh in the winter. "In winter our activities centered around the snow. In summer - that was my favorite time - I would go to the ranch and watch the hired hands harvesting the wheat. In the early morning I'd ride my horse for hours over the range and would spend my afternoons in the kitchen helping the women prepare meals for the dozens of men." But the tomboy farm girl grew up. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University. It was shortly after graduation that her acting dream suddenly began to take form. The Elgin National Watch Company was searching the country for the most beautiful Phi Beta Kappa. Melba was chosen. She won the contest and toured the U.S. When she arrived in New York, Broadway immediately offered her a part in the show, Janie. From there it was like a revolving door. One Broadway show right after another. When Search for Tomorrow was being put together, the producer-director called Melba in for a leading part. "I didn't get it, and so I decided that since I had time on my hands, I would take a vacation in Europe. When I returned, they called me, asking if I would do a 'one-shot.' I did the scene and the writer saw it. He decided he wanted this character to become an integral part of the show, so my 'one-shot' developed into a seventeen-year part." For the past twelve of those years, Melba has also been Mrs. Gilbert Shawn and mother of a delightful young man, Eric, who is all of ten years old. He has been in business for himself since he was six. He is more than precocious - he's a genius. His business is called Artios - by Eric and Company. He tells his parents his process is patented - a secret. He does his own advertising and has a print shop there in his workshop-bedroom. He takes reproductions of famous paintings and laminates them on wood, but how he does it, you see, is kept top secret. One of Eric's ads read something like this: "Artios are homemade pieces of wood with famous pictures on them. They have designs on them put into the wood. They are not sticky! At least one will look very good in your home. They are better than you think. The reason is Eric and Company is the King of Fun! Remember, you always $AVE at Eric and Company." Eric's artistic inclinations are inherited from his father. Gil is the creative director for Warsaw Studios in New York, and aside from his work, he is quite a painter and has had many successful showings. Melba's voice has a lyrical quality that is evident in all singing voices, so I asked if she had ever sung professionally. This triggered a broad smile and she laughed, "I never thought of myself as a singer, but some years back the director for The Celeste Holmes Show called and asked me that very question. I said I could not sing, but he said, 'You can!' He wanted me to come over to CBS - there were a few people he wanted me to meet, and in the meantime I was to quickly develop a Spanish accent. "I went to CBS at the appointed time. I was anything but prepared, and I stared at the director, frozen, you know, and said, 'I can't sing.' He grit his teeth, 'You sing.' What to do? The pianist looked at me and asked for my music. I said I didn't have any music, that I didn't even know a song. Anything would do, the people watching me offered kindly. Well, the only number that came to my mind was the old Embraceable You. I somehow got through it," her laughter rose now to a high C. "Do you know I got the part? I did the same number, but I had to do it in Spanish. That was the beginning and the end of my career as a singer." But it wasn't the end of her television appearances. She had leads in various shows and many film assignments narrating short subjects and dubbing foreign productions, all the while doing her daily dozens on Search for Tomorrow. How does she feel about being on the show year after year? "Doing a long-running Broadway play can get weary, but you must realize that on a soap it's quite different. You have a new script every day. It's repetitive, but by the very nature of the medium, it has to be. The audience may miss a day here or there, and if the storyline runs too swiftly, you lose your audience. As Marge Bergman, my situation changes somewhat with time, but the attitude of that character must never change. I would lose her credulity, her reality, and begin playing outside that character. This very much helps to keep you fresh and up, so to speak, every day. "The one thing I don't like is having to get up so early. There are many affairs GIl and I have to turn down because you just can't stay out late and be in shape for an 8:00 a.m. rehearsal the next morning. But I love doing the show and am very content to go on doing it for a long time. In the twelve wonderful years she has been married to the distinguished-looking Gilbert Shawn, Melba's career has never caused a moment's problem between them. Gil, an artist himself, understands the creative urge and has never once interfered with anything Melba has wanted to do. "But, I assure you, I would never give up a good marriage for a career, should it ever come to that." How did these two perfectly-matched people meet? Well, for Gil it wasn't easy. Melba explained, "I met him through a friend of mine who lives in California who knew a friend of his who lives in California - they decided Gil should meet me. As it turned out, we were neighbors having apartments just a few doors away from each other. I wasn't the least interested in a blind date. Gil just kept calling all the time and finally I asked him over for a drink, but I made certain I had plans for the evening." She giggled. "I didn't want to get stuck, you know. He came over and we had that drink. I thought he was very nice. Well, that was it. We had a fast romance. I saw him the following night and almost every evening after. By the end of the month, he proposed. I accepted, but I didn't want to rush into it, so we waited for two years. And I've never once regretted marrying him." When asked what her boy-wonder son thinks of his actress mother, Melba beamed. "He loves my acting. He's terribly impressed. When he was very young, he wasn't allowed to watch my show. I made certain he didn't. He wouldn't have been able to understand. Now he watches during holidays and vacations, and he's a very good critic. Too good," she laughed. "He will make such acute comments that I don't want to be aware of them. He'll say, 'I thought the show was terrible today.' Then he'll give me a minute-by-minute critique on just why he thought so. His reasons are so valid! Sometimes when we're having dinner out, he'll suddenly say in a very loud voice, 'Oh, Mommy, there are fans of yours - see? They keep staring and watching you!' It can be embarrassing, but it pleases me that he's so aware. "Speaking of embarrassing moments, we've certainly had our share on the show. I remember one scene I once did with Larry Haines. He plays my husband. I called him 'sweetie,' and he apparently had been thinking to use it on me, so then he mentally switched to 'honey' but it came out, 'Sonny, would you get me my pajamas?' Amusing moments like that have a way of keeping more spark to your acting, I think." When asked about time our for relaxing and hobbies, Melba frowned. "Would you please tell me just what is a hobby? I think it is supposed to be something you do when you have a lot of spare time. I have very little of that. Antique-hunting is something I love. Going up and down Third Avenue in Manhattan, snooping in all the antique shops, is like eating peanuts - more, more, more," she laughed. "But I go at everything I love with a great deal of seriousness, so then it ceases to be just a 'pleasurable pastime.' I adore fine arts. I spend hours, when I can, in galleries, but reading I guess is my real love. I could lock myself in a room for two weeks with a suitcase full of books and just read. Anything that has to do wit philosophy and theology interests me deeply. You see, I do things because I want to do them very badly, because they're important to me - I guess I"m not one who can really relax." She paused, and those mystical blue eyes scanned the length of her living room. "I suspected I'm not a person who has any hobbies." Be that as it ma, Melba Rae is a person deeply interested in her world. That high-voltage tension she displays turns every project into a serious-minded, close-to-the-heart venture - and that is the very reason she has been so successful in harmonizing her work and her private life. - by Brett Bolton

I totally agree with you about the ladies on the show in the early 90's, and their loss. Even Alla Korot and Allison Hossack had a real presence, I felt. You don't know what you've got until it's gone. I never feel that with Robin Christopher, Amy Carlson, Jensen Buchanan, Alice Barrett, Robyn Griggs, etc. I think Charlotte Savitz brought Lisa Peluso in. I really love reading the thoughts of people who watched AW at the time. I see this thread as being like a permanent document - these are insights that you can't get in a magazine or from watching the few remaining episodes of that era. This was one of the most revolutionary eras of a soap and it sucks that we have so little of it. AW had the most three-dimensional characters on daytime (I think GL, and some eras of OLTL, probably come next). You can really feel how complex everyone is when you watch the episodes.

May 1968 TV Radio Talk

May 1968 TV Radio Talk

April 1976 Daytime TV Stars Deborah Channel reviews. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS CONTEMPORARY...SEXY...BEAUTIFUL...SLICK The world of daytime drama has never been, nor will it ever be, the same since the advent of The Young And The Restless for no soap opera has so altered the complexion of soap opera as much as this very "young" show, and producers feel that it represents the wave of the future. To be sure, the highest praise one can accord the drama is that is is the daytime drama of the seventies, its look, its subject matter, its execution, is modern, slick and right out of the mores of today. Because of this soap, producers on other shows have gained a new perspective and the accent these days is definitely on the word young. Search For Tomorrow, The Edge of Night, Love of Life are all incorporating story slants with a young accent. The difference with The Young And The Restless is that their young people (William Gray Espy, Trish Stewart, Tom Hallick, Janice Lynde, Beau Kayzer) are all older people playing young and that does make a difference. Another difference is that the show is beautiful. The most gorgeous people parade across the screen. Some may snicker and say "Hollywood," but it works. You want to watch these people; you want to get into their lives. Everyone needs a bit of glamour to take us away from whatever mundaneness we may feel. That's why we watch soap operas, to get involved in other people's lives, and if they're attractive, all the better. Strange that they label the show "Hollywood," because the other two soapers originally from the West Coast, Days of our Lives and General Hospital, do not have the same look at all. The Young and the Restless is slick and the slicker it is the better. A word about the casting, it's absolutely perfect. In William Gray Espy, and now, in Beau Kayzer, we have the best of what a soap opera hero should be...good looking, yet vulnerable. The same holds true for Janice Lynde (who, by the way, fares from New York), James Houghton, Trish Stewart, Brenda Dickson, and Jaime Lyn Bauer. Even an oldtimer like Donnelly Rhodes had the perfect mix of macho-sensitivity and sexual allure. As for the raunchy scripts which fill our eyes with bedroom lovemaking, well, it's about time soaps came out from under the covers. At the time when As the World Turns and other such soaps were created, the world was living under a different moral code. Not to place a judgment on the code, but soaps should mirror the world they depict. Times changes, people change and a certain amount of acknowledgement of that is not only necessary, but essential. Some soaps, for example, are following the mold created by Another World (Days of Our Lives, As the World Turns, and soon, General Hospital) and they are broadcasting for one hour. The Young and the Restless, as contemporary as it is, will not make the switch-over. Producer John Conboy feels that his show is just fine the way it is and he doesn't wish to tamper with a good thing. Conboy is no fool either. He made Love is a Many Splendored Thing into a winning drama, and it's a shame that CBS let that show's success slip away. Splendored Thing was the forerunner of The Young and the Restless. For the first time daytime had such personalities as David Birney, Leslie Charleson, Donna Mills and Ed Power. All of them have gone on to increase in their careers and there's no telling what similar fate Y&R people will have. Certainly, William Gray Espy will not have a hard time finding his way in show business now that he's left the soap opera. As for the scripts, generally speaking, they reach a high quality level of drama, and one is usually never bored by what is happening on the screen. A knowledgeable person of soap opera commented that the show had the perfect blend of fantasy and reality. What he meant was that Y&R presented themes which were germane and particularly meaningful to the world of today (mastectomy, rape), yet, they were presented under the guise of fantasy. Here were all of the beautiful people who were suffering the harsh realities of our sometimes cruel world. It was a while back that Y&R had an involved plot regarding one of the characters being raped. She took the case to court and lost; a very realistic outcome. This is particularly interesting when one realizes that a nighttime show centering on the same problem had a happier ending where the woman wins. It is an evident reality that it is difficult to prove rape in a court and it's to Y&R's credit that they upheld what is happening rather than what should be happening. Presently, there is a storyline involving breast cancer. Certainly, this is worthy of attention and who knows how many lives can be saved because of the awareness the show is bringing to its millions of daily viewers. There's no doubt that Y&R is the most addicting of the new soaps. Apart from All My Children, every soap introduced within the last five years or so has failed (How To Survive A Marriage, Return to Peyton Place, Bright Promise, The Best of Everything, A World Apart). Yet, Y&R remains the winner. There's an album out of the beautiful original score and soon a paperback novelization is due to hit the stands. No other soap opera has achieved such recognition in so short a time. And it has accomplished this without the use of big name stars to help it along. The Young and the Restless doesn't need any help. It is helping to make a yesterday out of old, tired formulas; it is creating a solid base for how soaps should be presented today, and, for sure, it will be an influencing factor on all of the daytime dramas of the future. To be sure, in talking about The Young and the Restless one is talking about daring know-how, quality, excitement and general excellence.

When Judith McConnell was fired from GH in 1975, she reportedly had offers from GL and DAYS. Daytime TV Stars said she was probably going to choose DAYS, to stay on the West Coast (I don't think that happened, did it?).

People are already setting up Jack/Sharon fan threads. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIcnBccjgMw

I think that's a lot of it. I also think she very believably played mental traumas - Lesley often seems to be having a mental breakdown but it's never treated as something shocking or horrifying or "soapy." I do think she works better with Michael Gregory than Chris Robinson.

About 7 minutes into this you get some early Lila. It's so refreshing compared to the later years of Lila, where she was always written as the long-suffering saint who had to bow her head in shame of her family, who beamed at Jason, etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31SieJbDLOQ&feature=channel&list=UL

I'm surprised she said anything at all. I wonder if they got a lot of criticism over this.

You're right. He was right to get rid of some of that basic stupidity (which plagues soaps even today). I was thinking more of stories like Pat's alcoholism, which he said some fans objected to.

I have only watched part of those June 1994 episodes, but I was struck seeing some of the stronger, passionate, bitch-on-ice Rachel, and knowing the Carl pairing (along with JFP) would kill those qualities in Rachel for good. I loved the scenes where both Carl and Iris were in disbelief that she could handle a gun. I loved her vulnerability with Loretta. Loretta was about as paper-thin a character as you can get, but I appreciated that those running AW at this time still realized that Rachel needed some sort of touchstone, not her children (whom she never seemed all that close to, really), and not Felicia. Seeing Rachel talk about how much she needed Ada really got to me. Rachel did not have this type of presence in AW's last years. Rachel often did not even seem like a human being to me - so affected, and empty. I'm not a huge Jake/Paulina fan, mostly because I just felt Cali Timmins was the only true Paulina, and I don't think Jake worked that great in romantic relationships, but Judi and Tom had such fantastic, effortless chemistry. I'll never understand why it was tossed away.

I loved Nigel. Patsy speaks. http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a376337/eastenders-patsy-palmer-explains-soap-break-its-a-full-on-job.html

That's fascinating. Who was Jeanne Culpepper? They should have used the show for the ABC mystery format.

I can't believe the bullshit media hysteria over Hillary Rosen taking a jab at Ann Romney. No one in the media gave a hoot when Michelle Obama was called ugly, racist names, and painted as some type of America-hating demon. You can tell the media were just looking for a chance to "even the score" regarding the parties' views on women, even though one comment from a talking head would in reality not exactly match up to retrograde legislation in state after state after state. Does the media care that the "women for Romney" who go on about women losing their jobs actually voted against women having equal pay to men?

I'd never heard of this book. Was it an original novel?

I'd never seen that Tina photo before. She was rocking the 80's rock gods hair. Look out Lita Ford.

I hadn't seen most of those before.

A hair-don't on JLB, but I'd never seen that photo before.