DRW50

I haven't seen enough of the show this year to really participate but if anyone wants to do a best and worst of Eastenders 2011, I'd love to read it.

If you ever want a good read, you should try some of the Eastenders books Hugh Miller wrote in the mid-80s. One of them is set a year before the show began, and focuses on Pete's business problems. He realizes that one of Pat's brothers is destroying his business and a lot of the book is spent on his desperate efforts to survive. I'm not even sure if she had brothers on the show. By the way, what do you think of Janine's current story?

Newt was against child labor before he was for it. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2011-12-11/gingrich-child-labor/51818250/1

That's fascinating stuff, Huntress. It's just not Christmas without: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWCQ7ALEms

I wonder if he and Christopher Knight ever traded notes.

The barometer of what "mainstream" Americans want moves further to the right each year. Can you imagine a "liberal" media going on and on about how we should cry for the rich because the poor are stupid and lazy and worthless? Yet that's where we are.

I don't think that was 1981 for McMurray. I'm always confused about whether Nancy was a temp or not.

Did the ratings go up any during the Mansion of the Damned story? Kim Hunter's performance is so riveting to watch. I wish it had gone on longer. Were they ever considering keeping Bill Marceau on in another capacity? There's a very random line when Derek shows up about how Marceau might be running for mayor. Surely that wouldn't have been thrown in if Mandel Kramer was never coming back?

The media has ignored Ron Paul but he's still the third or fourth most popular candidate and has many devoted supporters. I just don't think there was ever any real place for Huntsman. He's just out of step.

Pat and Pauline did interact, as Pat had a very ugly and violent history with Pauline's twin brother Pete (they'd been married, she made his life hell when he wanted to leave her, years later she returned and claimed he was the father of her son Simon AKA Wicksy).

Huntsman never even really tried to appeal to the GOP base. He did what you are criticizing Romney for. Huntsman never took a hard line on the GOP issues - abortion, hating gays, the evils of education and science, and thinking all liberals are lazy and trying to destroy America. Romney is just tone deaf. He always has been, but the media and the elites try to cover it up. Everyone loves to go on, and on some more, about how Obama is an elitist for going on a vacation, but when Romney a) calls himself "unemployed" and b ) casually bets 10K, it's supposed to show us how real and true and wonderful he is.

Thanks for those. I'm not quite as fond of the abortion clinic sequences as they were, although they were better than the weeks and weeks spent with every character saying it would be better if Jill had a miscarriage. I'd never seen any of that before. I really appreciate seeing it. Hopefully my bandwidth will be back to normal again within a day or two - I hope you got to read some of my articles from the past few weeks.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on these episodes. I'd love to have seen the original plans they had for Cecily. I did not care for her at the time, I thought she was grating, but when I saw some of her 80's work I liked her more. But here, she's still grating, and seems out of place.

I read an article saying Judith Barcroft was leaving AW to join Where the Heart Is. Do you know anything about that?

12/21/93 Digest. Carolyn Hinsey reviews Loving. Acting A Stories D Romance C Humor B+ Look B- How many different ways can we say that LOVING is improving? This is a soap opera that has had a lot of trouble telling stories, and that makes it difficult for viewers to get really hooked on this show. No matter what they do to Stacey Forbes, she is still the heart of LOVING. Greatly aided by the fact that Lauren-Marie Taylor has been on the show since its inception, this character creates interest no matter what. Even when the widowed Stacey suddenly married her former father-in-law, Clay (Dennis Parlato), we cared about her and rooted for for her to be happy. There were such rich story possibilities with that marriage - Stacey's daughter, Heather, was fathered by Rick Alden, Clay's son, and Stacey had been very close to Clay's beloved daughter, Trisha. Yet, their story made a brief pit stop at a mental institution and checked out. These days, Clay is spending quality time with his ex-wife, Gwyneth (Christine Tudor-Newman), and Stacey is steaming up the screen with Buck (Philip Brown), Clay and Gwyn are one of daytime's best divorced couples, and LOVING has wisely paired them together a lot recently. Clay even went out and bought Gwyn a home pregnancy test! Unfortunately, what could have been a great storyline - Gwyn's mid-life pregnancy - fizzled in two weeks. What health issues does a 40-ish woman face when she chooses to go forward with an unplanned pregnancy? What emotional issues would Gwyn have faced, given that two of her three children (Rick and Trisha) are dead, and a third (Curtis) keeps disappearing? What would Gwyn and Buck's baby have done to Stacey and Buck's love story? How would Clay have fit in? Such great possibilities existed, yet Gwyn suffered an immediate ectopic pregnancy and the opportunity was missed. Ava (Lisa Peluso) and Alex (Randolph Mantooth) are another dynamite divorced duo. When he kisses her, he means it, and their chemistry is palpable. The fact that she has fought her feelings makes for better story, and the triangle with Jeremy (Jean LeClerc) raises the stakes even higher. Manthooth has made Alex Masters a very sympathetic spy, and his ad-libbing is second to none. "Thanks for bringing that up," he said during a recent bantering session with Ava. "Not that we haven't discussed it six or seven times." Recapping the action drags down the storytelling, so it's nice to have someone around who gives the repetition some levity. Angie (Debbi Morgan) and Frankie (Alimi Ballard) are a welcome addition to Corinth, and it will be nice when they get a front-burner story of their own. (Paging Charles Harrison?) Tying Frankie to Cooper (Michael Weatherly) was clever, and milking the relationship will make for some humorous raised eyebrows - like snooty Isabelle's (Patricia Barry). Kudos to LOVING for finally introducing an African-American story. Cooper has actually turned into a fun character, and I like him paired with Ally (Laura Sisk). There's another good divorced pair. And they do seem like real teenagers (although hopefully most real teens don't have babies) and are very sweet together. Casey (the excellent Paul Anthony Stewart) and Steffi (Amelia Heinle) are a believable pair too. The scene where Casey was photographing Steffi was beautifully filmed (fog machines and all), but I wasn't thrilled about the scene's message: A worried Ava studied the photos and said to Casey, "Take another look at the way she is looking at the camera and tell me how professional it really is between you two." Modeling (like acting) is a job. I'd love to see LOVING address the one issue that actually unites all the Corinth kids: none of them have parents. Cooper's folks died in a plane crash, Casey's mother died and his dad went over the side of the belfry, Ally's mom lives out of town and we have no idea where Steffi's are. It makes perfect sense that orphans would gravitate towards each other, but wouldn't they discuss this? It was nice of Shana (Susan Keith) and Leo (James Carroll) to name their baby Patti, after Trisha, and their story has been LOVING's most socially relevant. It makes sense that Shana, who has already lost a child, would have clung so hard to this one, and exploring possible birth defects was a positive, unusual story for daytime. A marriage between these strong, independent souls would be a hoot. The character of Dinah Lee really suffered this year, and it's a fine tribute to actress Jessica Collins that viewers still care as much as they do. Dinah Lee went from Tucker (the underused Robert Tyler) to Clay to Curtis (Patrick Johnson, then Michael Lord) so fast, we couldn't get a handle on her true feelings. Worse, she married Curtis just when Lord had taken over the role, so viewers watched their beloved Dinah Lee marry a total stranger. Collins has really grown as an actress, and she can handle comedy with the best of them. A triangle with Alex and Ava, or Clay and Gwyn would be really fun. I could see her taking another run at Trucker, too (Wouldn't you?) The repercussions of that union would be most amusing. Where does Tess (Catherine Hickland) fit into the action, now that Curtis is gone? How will Kate (Nada Rowand) cope with the loss of her beloved Louie (the late Bernard Barrow)? What's the deal with the mysterious Joe Young, a.k.a. Dante (Thom Christopher)? Where is the presumed-dead Trisha? And Jack Forbes, for that matter? These and other questions will no doubt be answered by the new team over at LOVING, headed by Executive Producer Jo Ann Emmerich. She has inherited a talented cast of actors who truly care about their show. And LOVING is a show that is positively brimming with storyline possibilities - so stay tuned.

9/14/82 Digest

Thanks so much for linking to these scenes, both of you. In later years I'm not sure Pat and Pauline ever had any real scenes together. I'm sorry that so many fans only have the worst memories of Pauline I love Civvy Street. I especially like what they did with a young Ethel, and that we got to see more of Lou and what she went through. It's a superb work, and came right at the end of the golden age of Eastenders. I just can't believe it's the same show as what we've had in recent years. I still have more residual affection for EE than what used to be known as Corrie and Emmerdale before Collinson and Blyth took over, but it's just not the same show....

Thanks to Oakdalian and munecojim, you can see the time before and after the Lily reveal, along with the fallout of Craig's "death." Very good stuff and it really enhances the episode that has been aired on CBS and is available on the DVD, which, on its own, isn't the greatest.

I would have loved to have seen her again but I gave up on that a while back. A mention would be nice though. I couldn't believe they said she was on AMC. I guess they just mixed the shows up. I put this because the photos were of her on set, which I hadn't seen before (you usually just get some of the photos we've seen a million times of Carla). She looks stunning here.

lived in a commune-like atmosphere with 30 other people. "We were doing a film called 'Getting Together' and took over this building and all moved in so as to keep expenses down. We pooled our talents and our money in order to do the film. Then the 30 of us took a percentage of whatever the film will make...it should be out sometime in '76. I even got Nancy Addison a part in it...there was this group wedding scene and I asked her to join us...and she was tickled pink. "Nancy and I have been friends for years before either of us landed a part in 'Ryan's Hope.' In fact, Faith Catln and I played brother and sister in 'Skin of Our Teeth' at a Carolina Repertory Theatre almost 5 years ago. Then of course Ilene Kristen and I appeared on Broadway in "Grease.' None of us could believe it when we were all hired for the same soap...it was a real high. Because of our friendships we really have a good and close cast relationship. We enjoy each other's company away from the set and often get together for dinner. "In fact, even though we hadn't worked together before, Justin Deas and I have become real good friends. I haven't done it yet, but I'm sure looking forward to the day when I can have them all over here to the apartment for a little party." Malcolm waltzed me out to his backyard to show me where the overflow from his party would be able to go...providing they had it in the summer. Scattered around the backyard which was surrounded on these sides by tall loft-like buildings, were about a dozen stone statues....all of which he picked up on a trip to upstate New York with friends. At the far end of the garden sat a stone Buddha. Malcolm told me that when they started "Ryan's Hope" they were all given a complete biography of the characters they play and there are some fascinating secrets in their pasts - which will probably come out as time goes on! It was during a trip to New York that Malcolm first became interested in Buddhism and Transcendental Meditation. "I had seen all of these signs hanging on posts around town asking people to come hear a 13-year-old guru at Hunter College in Manhattan. My older brother Lyle, who lives in Denver, Colorado had his guru...today he is the head of the computer center division for the Divine Light Mission in Denver. So naturally I was looking for someone to follow so I made my way up to Hunter College and was completely captivated by this 13-year-old guru Maharaji Ji. His presence was absolutely amazing and his charisma was absolutely overpowering. I saw a 13-year-old youngster who realized being. I felt drawn to him and in October, 1971, I went to India with my guru, Ji. I stayed in India through December...I had to go to speed up my purification and experience what was really happening in life. It was a time I will always remember. I feel I got knowledge...knowledge is something you realize from within...unknowing." Malcolm came back to the States on New Year's Eve riddled with hepatitis and dysentery but he felt good and knew what he was looking for out of life. "Although I studied theatre at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I never really committed myself to my craft," admitted the young man who daily practices yoga. "When I came home from India...full of peace and knowledge, I realized that my service in life is to act. So I threw myself into my craft with all of my energies." Malcolm went on to study dancing at the school owned by Richard Thomas' (John-boy Walton) father and also is studying opera and pure voice production with a lady voice teacher named Amri Galli-Campi. After his trip to India he totally devoted himself to the world of acting. Malcolm Groome was born in Greensboro, North Carolina and was brought up around the country because his father, Carlisle was a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps. "Today my dad is retired from the Marines and is a stockbroker in Springfield, Virginia," Malcolm told me, adding, "With a father a stockbroker I never had the capital to dabble in the market." His mom, Jane, is a housewife who is into meditation and truth-seeking. "As a child I was brought up in the Protestant Church but today our whole family is more into thinking. My mom is now a member of the Unity Church which she attends with my 8 year old brother, Andy...and hopes that my father will also join. "I spend much of my free time in meditation and therefore do not entertain at home that much. I feel that my home is sacred and should be a place of peace. I don't own a phonograph, although I do like all kinds of music especially jazz and I've just recently borrowed a television set from my upstairs neighbors, Gordon and Lisa. When I'm home I do raja yoga, meditate and read a lot. I like to read novels, Tarkington, and books on Buddhism. I've only been in this apartment since July, and as you can see, I'm still trying to fix it up. I'm a vegetarian and do all of my own cooking using vegetables and grains. However I do use milk, cheese and eggs but I do not eat meat." Malcolm smiled when he told me that he was indeed seeing one girl. "She's an actress and her name is Kathy," he admitted..."but I won't give you her last name because she is the type of girl who refuses to cash in on my publicity. She's a wonderful actress who recently appeared in a major motion picture but isn't working at the moment...anyway I don't know if we'll be dating by the time this story comes out," he stated breaking into a fit of laughter. I wondered if he was thinking of his role of Pat Ryan, who dates new girls every week or so. "Kathy is really special to me and we do have a special kind of relationship. We love to go to the movies or out to dinner or to visit with friends. But we really love to spend time at home, either mine or hers...she lives in the East Village. We read out loud to each other, meditate with one another and do yoga together." Although Kathy and Malcolm have their own apartments, he said he felt it was healthy having two people living together. "I've lived with a girl," he admitted, "and found it very rewarding because we were supporting each other. I don't mean monetarily. I mean spiritually. So long as you can give each other the space to do it, it's a wonderful way to love. Love that is stifling is no good. I feel good about marriage and hope some day to get married and I feel that living with someone prior to marriage is good. It's a way that you can test if you are sexually compatible and can deal with each other's living habits." For Malcolm Groome, his dream for a wife is someone who is exciting, exotic, mellow and down home...and that Kathy, no last name, fits all of those categories. Malcolm also admitted that he does not smoke and that he only drinks occasionally. He says that he would like to supplement his income by doing theatre but that he hasn't been able to get his heart into doing commercials. "I really would love to do a stage play and have it in my contract that I can be let out for a rehearsal for a play." Malcolm noticed it was almost time for him to dash off to take one of his singing classes. He zipped into the kitchen to feed his cats, turned off one of his second hand lamps and put on his used hat and street-bought jacket and together we walked to the subway where we parted.

9/14/82 Digest

...a dog that was found by friends sitting at the side of a road trying to nurse his own broken leg. He told me that I couldn't have the dog for at least 6 weeks but at the moment I saw him it would be a love affair that would never end...how right he was, I can't even bear to leave Tobias at home when I'm working." Home for Murial Williams is a brownstone on East 61st Street in Manhattan. "It's a great block," she told me, "full of theatre people who continually run into each other with their dogs. People like Peggy Cass and Tammy Grimes and Skitch Henderson. At home I putter in my garden, a rarity in New York and when not appearing in 'Another World' I do voice overs for commercials. And I would like nothing more than to do theatre work again...but because my character has so much to say on this soap, I don't even have time to think about it...however, there is always tomorrow." Murial told me that she did her first soap opera in 1955. "It was called 'The Brighter Day' and I was the heroine on it for 6 years. It's funny, I always seem to work for Proctor and Gamble. First 'The Brighter Day,' then 'As the World Turns,' then 'Love of Life' and for the past 9 years, 'Another World'" Ariane Munker (Marianne Randolph) told me that she can't tell me her age. "At my age," the pretty young blond actress told me, "if I tell you my age I could lose out on all sorts of parts. I can either go younger or older so it's best to stay ageless." Ariane has been with the show one year this January and unlike the other stars, does not have a chauffered limousine pick her up. "There just aren't any pick-ups in New Jersey," she informed me. "There are limousines to pick up people who live on the East Side and West Side of Manhattan and in Connecticut...but since I'm the only one who lives in Jersey, Somerset (I teased her with the fact that she's on the wrong soap opera) my dad, has to drive me in and then turn around and go right back to work in New Jersey." Ariane admitted that she was in her last year of high school and hopes to attend Columbia University when she graduates. "I'm not sure what I want to major in but an actress always has to have something to fall back on," admitted the gal who said she'd like best to play in a film with Elizabeth Taylor. Ariane lives with her parents and little brother, Mark. "My older brother Peter attends Berkely College in Boston...he's a musician. My little brother Mark, did commercials for a while but didn't like it." Neither her mother, Angelika, nor father Adolf, are in show business. Ariane got started in the business as a child doing commercials when her mother's best friend suggested Ariane try out because her daughter was doing them. On September 23, 1975, Maia Danziger became Glenda Toland. "I did 10 shows for Love is a Many Splendored Thing' and that was the extent of my appearing on soaps prior to joining 'Another World,' she told me. Maia received her training at the New York University School of Arts before getting married and going to California to live with her first husband, an actor named Jeff Walker. "He loved California and I didn't and I think that that's what broke up our marriage. We went our separate ways in 1971 and I started studying again." Maia met her present husband, Abram Epstein, when she was only 16 years of age and he was 24. She admitted she fell madly in love with him at that time, "but I had braces on my teeth and he wouldn't give me a tumble." It wasn't until after her divorce that she met him again. "I was very unhappy and took a house at Ocean Beach at Fire Island and there I was sitting on my porch feeling very blue and alone when like a bolt of lightning, I was hit with a vision of Abram, only it wasn't a vision, it was really him, puttering in the garden in the house right next door to the one I had rented. His family owned the house and for the rest of the summer they couldn't get rid of me. It was really the lift that I needed...being surrounded by the entire Epstein family, brothers, wives, children and parents. I never thought I'd marry again but how could you say no to the man you were in love with when you were sweet 16." Maia and Abram were married on August 25, 1974. Today they live in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan and she admits that he is her biggest booster in all of her dramatic pursuits and that if it were not for his boosts and encouragements she would neither have been on Broadway in "Waltz of the Toreadors" with Anne Jackson and Eli Wallace nor sitting here chatting with me on the set of "Another World." Irene Dailey (Liz Matthews) is an absolute love of a lady with an infectious smile. This talented actress told me that she is flying out to Michigan just for the day to house hunt. "No," she said in answer to my question, "I am not leaving 'Another WOrld,' I am simply going to buy a house as a gift for myself. I have friends who live in Central Michigan, near Michigan State University and they asked why I didn't buy a vacation home in their neck of the woods...and I thought, 'Why not!' "I grew up on Long Island in a log cabin and am a lady who likes to rough it. I wouldn't mind living out on Long Island but it is far too expensive and one would need a helicopter to get to the place because of traffic. Since I spent lots of time in Chicago working and have lots of friends in the midwest, I felt a house there would be perfect. I could go there for vacations and in the summer and maybe even rent it out when I'm not using it. I don't want a fancy house...I want a fairly old house that I can fix up and it has to be near the water...if not on it." Irene says that she has never traveled except for work, "It's not one of my dying interests...but now I would like to start taking trips. I want to see places that are famous for their waterways and their beaches...but most importantly, I want to visit friends who live in South America." Beverly Penberthy (Pat Randolph) admits that she has no hobbies. "I love sports," she laughed, "but instead of excelling in them, I seem to get worse and worse. I suspect it's because I can't participate all of the time. One of my biggest dreams is to be a good skier. Last winter I went to Aspen, Colorado but got nowhere fast! But this year I'm determined. So I've booked passage for myself and my three kids, Mark, Leslie, and Elizabeth and we are off to Switzerland for ten glorious days in which I hope to become a skiing whiz. But if I don't, it should be a marvelous vacation sharing a foreign country with my children." Beverly says she enjoys her children very much. "I enjoy doing things for and with them. Although I have a housekeeper who cooks when I'm working, I enjoy making special things for the kids when I'm home. I suspect I've spoiled them with my gourmet recipes because they'd rather have escargot than MacDonald's. They are really great kids who are willing to try everything even if they don't like it." Divorced, Beverly says that it is easy for her to make these specialties without a meat and potatoes man around. She also admits that she'd like to take a film course at N.Y.U. and experiment in writing...She also says that she can eat anything and has absolutely no weight problem. I think I hate her! Michael Ryan (John Randolph) told me one of the most eerie stories I had ever heard. "We had a summer house on Staten Island a number of years ago and the lady from whom we had rented told us that her relative who had owned it before had buried some money someplace in the house. Well, prior to our moving in, she went through the house with a fine tooth comb looking for this buried treasure. It was nowhere to be found and in what I think was sheer desperation, she threw out all of the old furniture...I mean she dumped it on the side of the road a couple of miles away. Well, one weekend, Judith Barcroft, who's on 'All My Children' but who had been on 'Another World' in those days, came out as a house guest for the weekend and brought us a ouiji board as a gift. Well, that night my three kids, who were very young, asked the board if there was a buried treasure and if they would find it. The board answered yes to both questions and the next day with the aid of a neighbor's two children they started tearing up the house...and I do mean, tearing it up, floorboards and all. I couldn't stand it anymore so I threw them all out of the house. "My wife and I were sitting out in the backyard taking in some sun and playing with our youngest child when the kids came running to my wife with a package they had found. It was all mildewed and dirty and they had said they had found it in the old furniture the lady had thrown out. Now I have this great talent for smelling money. And I knew I had smelled money. There were all of these bills corroded and dried out. I placed them all on top of an old 'Another World' script and counted out $4,950. As I said, the kids were all young and all they wanted to do with it was buy candy. But I put my foot down and said that was a bit much. We split the amount down the middle...giving half to my neighbor's kids and the half we kept was put away for their college...oh yes," said the man who has been on "Another World" longer than any other member of the cast, "I did give each kid $5.00 for ice cream, candy, popcorn and a stomach ache." Hugh Marlowe (Jim Matthews) told me that his nice way of killing time is baking bread. "I saw an article in the New York Times that told how much less expensive it was and healthier if you baked your own bread and they gave them marvelous recipes. So, I paid my wife Rosemary $50.00 to teach me how to simmer, melt butter, separate yolk and white from eggs and all the other necessities needed. I told her that I would only pay her if she'd stick with me...and she did. So now I get up early every Saturday or Sunday and bake bread for the week. "I'm a do-it-yourselfer in life...I even have a workshop on our terrace. We live in a marvelous rent controlled building on the marvelous rent controlled building on the West Side of Manhattan and are fortunate enough to have the penthouse apartment and I've built this workshop with tools I brought from California. The secret in being a do-it-yourselfer is to learn how to measure things. Then, carpentry, hanging wallpaper and even cooking becomes easy. I find doing things yourself makes you less bored with life. Weekends were really lost until I started baking bread. I'd just sit there until 'Face that Nation' or 'Meet the Press' would come on television...now I bake." Hugh told me that he also plays bridge every afternoon when he's not working...that he belongs to a bridge club in Manhattan. He also spends a great deal of his free time helping to raise his new 6 1/2 ear old son, Hugh Michael Marlowe II who he and his wife take along with them on all of their vacations. "My son enjoys being with us and we like to have him along. We recently took him on a cruise on the luxury liner 'Michaelangelo' and every night, he liked to get dressed up like me...complete with shirt, tie and cufflinks. Some kids just don't make an effort, I'm happy that my son does. Susan Harney says that she wasn't at all opposed to taking over the Jacqueline Courtney role of Alice Frame. "I think appearing on 'Another World' is a marvelous training ground for me," said the actress who prior to this had only appeared in repertory theatre, star packages, and commercials. "They used to have 'Studio One' for good dramatic training, but now it is soap operas and I think I'm on the best one. And acting on television is a medium I want to explore...I really feel as if I have growth potential in it. I haven't done theatre since I signed with the show but I hope to get back into it as soon as I'm accustomed to this new way of life." In her spare time Susan told me that she enjoys any sports. "I'm an active and outdoor person who enjoys water-skiing and a good game of tennis. I've also recently become interested in antiques and craft things. When the spirit hits me and I enjoy crocheting shawls for friends. I began crocheting when I was in the theatre and we were on the road and sitting around in rehearsal halls for hours. I had all of this free time on my hands so I began to crochet because I could also concentrate on something else while I was doing the crocheting. I've even crocheted rugs. I am taking voice lessons, for musical comedy and hope to take dancing and skating lessons in the near future," said the girl who grew up in Tennessee but never met Elvis Presley. Susan has never been married and says she likes to keep her personal life strictly personal. She did admit that she has been seeing someone for quite a while but that marriage is rather far in the future. "At the moment," she admitted, "my primary concern is to find a new apartment. It has to be sunny, very sunny, not very large but with a wood burning fireplace and located on the West Side of Manhattan. I like the West Side because of the community feeling and I enjoy being near the Hudson River. i don't entertain much in this apartment where I live now but I hope to when I move. I have all sorts of wonderful recipes handed down from my grandmother and I'm dying to try them on friends. Since moving to New York 6 years ago I've really gotten turned on to food. Coming from a small town as I did, I would only hear and read all of these ethnic goodies...now I'm trying them first hand. Lionel Johnston who appears as Michael Randolph told me he was born in Georgia but was an Air Force brat who lived in Montana and spent most of his teen years in Panama, where his folks still live because his dad works for the Government and the Panama Canal. "I wanted to be an actor since I attended high school in Panama. We lived on the Atlantic side of the Zone and I attended school on the Pacific side. I always loved to entertain and have done a magic act and have sung with a band before leaving Panama to study acting. I lived there with my family from 1964 to 1970 and left just to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts after having attended college in Panama for one year. After attending the Academy for two years, I joined an improvisation group and did shows at the Manhattan Theatre Club where a casting agent for Universal Studios saw me and gave me a contract. "I went to Los Angeles with the dream of stardom and got nothing but small parts on 'Kojak,' 'Chase,' several TV movies and the movie 'Earthquake'...which was really an experience and I learned a lot." After a year and a half, Lionel's dream came to a halt when Universal let him go and he went from the studio to the unemployment line. His agent got him an audition for "Another World" after the show's casting director couldn't find a Michael Randolph in New York. "Right after the audition," Lionel continued, "I left for Texas and got married to Gladys Maymi, my high school sweetheart whom I had met in Panama where her dad was stationed in the Air Force. I had to marry her," he laughed, "it was because it was cheaper than running up those 160 phone bills every month!" Lionel came back from his honeymoon and says he never unpacked his wedding gifts because he expected to move to New York at any given moment...he was that sure he'd won the part. His intuition, of course, was correct and today he and Gladys are renting a charming home in Norwalk, Connecticut and not living out of cartons. I am absolutely enthralled with Jacqueline Brooks' speaking voice. It is so deep and distinctive and she also happens to be a very talented actress. "But away from the set," she told me as we sat in the famous Cory library where she plays housekeeper Beatrice Gordon, "I'm a tennis buff...I mean, a real tennis buff...I spend every free waking moment on a court someplace in Manhattan. I know it's an expensive hobby, especially in this city but I don't care, I love the game that much." Jacqueline has also done several motion pictures which excite her more than anything. "Since making my first appearance in the film 'The Gambler' I've become very interested in doing any picture offered to me...just so I can learn. I recently completed a part in 'Looking Up' which was made in Manhattan. But today I had some bad news, I also made a film called 'Dragonfly'...I played a doctor who didn't want her patient to get released from the hospital and I wound up on the cutting room floor because they didn't think my part added to the story line. But I enjoyed doing the film anyway!" Jacquline also does commercials for Kelloggs and a new aspirin substitute called Datril. She lives in the basement of a brownstone house that was built in 1832. "And between my tennis and work, I've become quite a gardener on my little patch of earth outside of my back window. I myself broke up the concrete and was carrying six cartons out a day. I laid the brick and tilled the soil and had quite a pleasant place this past summer. This next summer I hope to garden vegetables and fruits." She also enjoys entertaining and cooks her own dinners..."nothing fancy...but I'm a good cook. And I have found the best way to enjoy a party is by preparing everything in advance so that you can sit down with your guests and be a guest yourself." Although John Fitzpatrick, he plays Willis Frame, was also working the day we visited "Another World," he declined to be interviewed because he just doesn't do them. Also working was Roberta Maxwell who plays Barbara Weaver and we fell over some sort of scoop when we were told not to interview her because she was leaving the show and her part was going to be filled by Kathryn Walker who played Fawn on nighttime's "Beacon Hill." It was quite a long day tracking down all of these stars but it was an even longer day for them. The "Another World" cast arrives at the studio at 6:30 in the morning and sometimes doesn't finish taping until 6:30 at night. They take no lunch break...why there even isn't a commissary on the premises and the only place they can grab some sort of sandwich is in a butcher shop two blocks away. I also learned that sometimes they even tape the dress rehearsal which is used over the airwaves. I take my hat off to this talented bunch of people! Now, because the cast is so large and many of your favorites weren't working the day I was there, I"m going back to see if we can't get people like Constance Ford, Victoria Wyndham, Douglass Watson, John Getz, David Bailey, Beverlee McKinsey, David Ackroyd and many more! Keep tuned in for the next installment of "Another Wonderful World."

was brought on Quinn to give up the film. He has, as of this writing, acquiesced. I asked Ellen if she continued this any kind of a victory. "No, not a victory - merely a question of avoiding an unfortunate situation. Lots of things happen to blacks that they don't know about - things that are done behind their backs. They should be alerted to these things before they happen. That was my job - to let the community know about the film and let them decide. Evidently, a lot of blacks felt the way I did. "But I wouldn't call it a victory. I wasn't engaging in a personal vendetta against anyone. It's just that there are a lot of films these days depicting blacks as violent people - addicts, pushers, unpleasant characters. Here was a positive hero of the black race. It would be a pity to assign a role such as this to a white actor while black actors must play ugly, violent roles." Ellen is currently appearing in Joseph Papp's all-black production of Chekov's The Cherry Orchard. Although the reviews have been mixed, Ellen's performance has been singled out for its excellence by nearly all the New York critics. "I love doing it. I'm working with some of the best actors in this country and it's a wonderful experience. It's also very personally rewarding to get back to the stage. I hadn't done any theater for the four years that I've been on One Life, and you begin to wonder if you're lost your touch." Doing a classical Russian play like The Cherry Orchard with an all black cast may be interpreted by some of the same kind of thing Quinn was trying to do in the Christophe film, to cross racial barriers in the name of artistic freedom and thereby help to eradicate those barriers. I suggested this to Ellen, and she was quick to point up a number of factors which distinguished the two situations. "First of all, the play is fictional. As all plays, it's merely a crucible in which the actors are given the opportunity to interpret a role and to express themselves. We are not pretending to be Russians - we're not doing the play in whiteface. We are clearly a black company doing our own interpretation of Chekov's play. If Quinn played Walter Lee in Raisin In The Sun, I'd think it would be marvelous. I don't care about his playing a black man. But that's a far cry from introducing one of the most important people in black history as a white man in blackface. "Many white groups have done Chekov. It's a classic. But few people have been exposed to the life of Christophe. If Quinn were to do a later production, what harm would it do? But at least let our children first learn that he was a black man. "A play comes and goes, but a film lasts forever, and will reach millions of people. People viewing a film identify the character with the actor portraying him. Why should one of our most important heroes be permanently associated with a white man?" To Ellen, my attempt to draw a parallel between the Quinn film and the black production of Chekov's play was a simplistic and distorted white response to a complex and difficult black problem. "Everything we have to deal with in this country becomes distorted. Take The Cherry Orchard. Almost everybody reviewed it as a political, rather than an artistic endeavor. They even called it a 'new phase of the black revolution.' The whole business of theater is an exchange of ideas and experiences. There's a potential for a tremendous cultural interchange when one national or ethnic group gets involved wit ha work that has come out of a foreign culture. But, by many of the critics, the whole meaning and purpose of the thing was overlooked." For years, Ellen has worked towards improving the lot of her fellow black performers and trying to achieve more meaningful communication between the races through the performing arts. But she is discouraged. "I've joined one committee after another over the years to try to do something about the hiring practices in all media, but there's been very little progress. "It's to the advantage of the body politic to perpetuate the image of the black man as a violent animal instead of a human being. A film like Sounder, which depicted blacks as human beings, had a great deal of difficulty being made." Ellen once had high aspirations as a writer, but she has not written anything since she completed her movie scripts a few years ago. "I used to feel that I had a great deal to get across, but I've lost my interest in writing. I've given up on communication. Those who believe as I do will understand what I'm saying, so there's no point in trying to convince them. Those who do not understand will refuse to believe it no matter how articulately it is put. Ellen Holly has been fighting racial prejudice all her life. She is beginning to feel that she just can't fight any more. "Even in second grade I was fighting racial battles. After all these years I feel exhausted and hopeless. People say that the stresses are being alleviated, but they are not. We are still under incredible pressure, and things put under pressure eventually burst." "They say that progress is being made, but I just don't see it. Malcolm X once said, 'You stick a knife in my back six inches and pull it out two inches and you call that progress.' But the wound is still there and the initial thrust has been so crippling." But Malcolm X never gave in, he never allowed himself to become broken and discouraged. He died fighting for his cause. Despite what she says, Ellen Holly is not giving in either. The Quinn incident is proof of that. It was a highly controversial issue which many performers would have shied away from had Ellen not been there to rally them together. She's a fighter, whether she wants to be one or not, and black entertainers - and black people everywhere - are lucky to have her on their side. We're all the better for her concern. See Ellen on ABC's All My Children.

May 1973 TV Land