DRW50

October 1954 TV Radio Mirror The marriage of Carolyn and Miles Nelson survived an ingenious effort to to part the during his term as governor of the state, and Carolyn has high hopes their deep, strong relationship re-established on its old, satisfying basis. But a new, unexpected strain throws a frightening light on the future. Will Carolyn's determination and faith be enough to carry her through the time ahead?

April 21, 1992 Soap Opera Weekly. Part 1 of John Kelly Genovese's history of The Doctors. The afternoon of April 1, 1963 was a milestone for televised hospital dramas. ABC premiered General Hospital and NBC replaced Young Doctor Malone with The Doctors. The Doctors was a medical anthology series created by veteran soap writer Orin Tovrov, and was set in a fictional New England hospital called Hope Memorial. Ironically, NBC's new entry was soon to evolve into a format similar to its predecessors - a traditional soap that focused on a father and son who were both doctors, with equal emphasis given to family stories and medical drama. When it became clear that most soap viewers were not interested in episodic drama, the show's format was changed to feature one storyline per week. Only Scollay remained from the original cast, and James Pritchett became the show's new protagonist, Dr. Matt Powers, the austere chief of staff. A widower, Matt had always neglected his family for his medical career, causing great distress for his son, Mike (played as a teenager by Rex Thompson). Matt's reserve began to crumble when he met Dr. Maggie Fielding (originally played by the late Ann Williams). Thanks to Matt and Maggie's popularity, The Doctors was transformed into a regular, continuing soap on March 2, 1964. Soon after, another major character was introduced to be romantically linked with both Matt Powers and the Rev. Shafer - the coolly professional but somewhat neurotic Dr. Althea Davis (Elizabeth Hubbard, now the indomitable Lucinda on As the World Turns). Althea's spitfire daughter, Penny Davis, was played by several actresses, including Christopher Norris (now Rebecca on Guiding Light) and Julia Duffy (Designing Women). In its first few years as a bona fide soap, The Doctors' main romantic thrust was provided by Matt and Maggie. She was pursued by a persistent ex-flame, Wyoming rancher Brock Hayden (Adam Kennedy), then she hastily married wealthy philanderer Kurt Van Alen (Byron Sanders, later Talbot Huddleston on One Life to Live), who ended up murdered. Meanwhile, Matt briefly became engaged to Althea, who eventually became a platonic friend, and was vainly pursued by Maggie's flighty younger sister, Nora Hansen (Joan Anderson). Nora married good-natured Dr. Steve Lloyd (Craig Huebing, later Dr. Peter Taylor on GH) after the death of his terminally ill wife, Judy (Joanna Petet). Other featured players in the early years included film star Ellen Burstyn (then known as Ellen McCrae) as Dr. Kate Bartok, Robert Gentry (most recently Jordan Hale on General Hospital) as teenage surf bum Brad Murphy, and Gerald S. O'Loughlin as hospital custodian Pete Banas. By 1966, Matt and Maggie were a happily married couple, predictable and tame. And so were The Doctors' ratings. Around that time there was serious talk that NBC might cancel all of its soaps - The Doctors, Days of Our Lives and AW. Fortunately, all three shows were saved by new writers. Days got William Bell, AW landed Agnes Nixon and The Doctors acquired Rita Lakin. Under Lakin's regime, the halls of Hope Memorial came alive with witty, offbeat banter. Most important, Lakin gave The Doctors a potent shot in the arm with a new kind of character: a stubborn, hot-headed Italian who had risen above the mean streets of Chicago to become a brilliant neurosurgeon. This crude but irresistible anti-hero, Dr. Nick Bellini, was played with Sinatra-esque gusto by Gerald Gordon (who afterwards was Dr. Nick Dante on GH). Lakin paired Bellini with Althea, creating one of daytime's most dramatic studies in romantic contrast. Another upbeat character - though shorter-lived - was happy go lucky Dr. John Rice, played by the appealng Terry Kiser. And for bitchcraft intrigue, Laryssa Lauret was introduced as the Germanic, seductive Dr. Karen Werner, who tried unsuccessfully to win Matt away from Maggie. By this time, Ann Williams had left the show and Maggie was played by Bethel Leslie (Claudia Connor, All My Children) and then Lydia Bruce. Eileen and Robert Mason Pollock (later of Dynasty) took over as head writers from 1980 to '75. In their characteristic manner, the Pollocks embroiled their major couples in fast-moving, melodramatic storylines. Bit plyer Carolee Campbell was elevated to co-star status as quiet, earthy nurse Carolee Simpson, who was matched up twith David O'Brien's reformed heel, Dr. Steve Aldrich. When Steve had a flinger with Karen Werner, Carolee hastily married the insanely jealous Dr. Dan Allison (Richard Higgs), who did himself in and framed Steve for the deed. Meanwhile, Althea married another obsessive psycho, Dr. John Morrison (played deliciously by Patrick Horgan), who was none other than the chief of psychiatry. The show became so farfetched that both Karen and Michael Powers (then a full-fledged doctor, played by Armand Assante) returned from the supposed dead at the same time in separate storylines. Karen fought the happily married Carolee and Steve for custody of Erich (Keith Blanchard), her son by Steve, while Michael was furious to discover his wife, Toni (Anna Stuart, now Donna on AW) in the arms of his cousin, Dr. Alan Stewart (Gil Gerard). Fortunately, amid the show's endless supply of fanciful melodrama, The Doctors could claim two of soapdom's finest actresses in prominent supporting roles. Sally Gracie was absolutely precious as Martha Allen, the salt-of-the-earth lab technician who was Nick's confidant, and Meg Mundy was a commanding presence as Mona Aldrich Croft, Steve's dominating, nouveau riche mother. Then the Pollocks left - and Hope Memorial entered an exciting new era.

LOLFanMe has uploaded some more Another Life episodes, with the Der Salam Bible story and some of the DOMI story with the hypnotic Vanessa.

October 23, 1984 Digest.

This issue also says that Mike and Lacey will be married on October 19 and 20.

January 5, 1982 Digest recap.

I can believe that Lemay liked Pat, and Liz, but he seemed to have little use at all for the rest of the family in his writing.

October 23, 1984 Digest. First recap.

That's a nice photo. Did they ever pair up on the show?

I think the problem I had with just Bert and Bea as ears is that you can't talk to them fully. Bert, because you have too much respect for her and are intimidated by her (I can't see Rita talking to her about sex), and Bea because, well, frankly, every time I see Bea I find her to be so very silly and squeaky that it's hard for me to believe she raised 6 kids on her own. Sara would have been a good contrast to Bert. Lenore Kasdorf was one of the hottest women ever on daytime. My father, who rarely watches any soap, remembers her because of how good looking she was. She was also such an understated actress. She fit in perfectly with the Dobson-era, but I actually think Pam Long would have done a great job with her too. She seems like a Long-style character. It was the Dobsons who had a lot of the sexual frigidity stories - Amanda, Rita. I was going to ask you if you remember Maureen spending any time with Nola in Nola's last year on the show? I was watching some "Quola" clips of that last year, or last 6 months anyway, and Maureen never appears once, even in family scenes with Bea, Jim, Tony, Annabelle, and Nola. I guess she must have been at Hillary's funeral but that was more because of her Bauer ties. When Quint and Nola were leaving, did you feel like their exit was depressing? To me, having them leave based on Nola needing to commit to her husband, no matter what, even if it means giving everything else up, takes away from the mystery and fun of their earlier years. It also unwittingly sets up the broken and bitter Nola we saw later on. Then they brought Floyd in, clearly just to show he was going nuts over killing Andy Ferris. It's so depressing seeing him unable to even say goodbye to his daughter. At the time did you think Floyd was in love with Beth or that it made sense that he killed Andy? I see Katie in some of these. Did she disappear after Floyd left or before?

Thanks so much for all of this. I wonder how long most of the characters mentioned here lasted (aside from the big names).

You're right. I wish they'd tried taking this to TV. I wonder why they didn't. The show as it goes on sounds a lot like Search for Tomorrow.

Irna Phillips liked to dump actors very quickly.

I only remember him playing Ed for a few months in late 1997, although it could have been longer. He had the feud with Jesse and Jesse's father. When I watch the few clips of the old days over again I really wish they'd found a way to keep Milette Alexander on the show. They obviously were pruning "old" characters, but Milette was quite beautiful, and she was a good mentor figure for troubled, younger female characters. I can see her trying to deal with out of control Nola, Reva, etc. TJ also could have had story with the age group Nola/Floyd/etc. and expanded to other groups. Here's one of those "good luck seeing that on a soap today" scenes where Rita talks about faking it.

Oh that's right. I get all of them confused. Was it Kit who had the snooty aunt who wanted her niece to stay away from the Perrinis? January 1979 Digest.

Thanks for that. He looks like Adric from Doctor Who.

Is Kit the one who died of a brain tumor? Sad to hear about Roberts Blossom. I have a few photos or items on him somewhere I will try to post when I find them.

I didn't realize Bob was on the show late enough to be on one of these magazines. I thought Mart still looked pretty good even when he was fired, but I guess he did age quite a bit later on.

Very nice photos. Too bad Chris Holder didn't work out. I hope they don't get confused and start having Lily sing Julie's songs from Show Boat.

Very interesting background! The ice skating photos are in an anniversary feature quite a few pages back.

Was Glaser fired or did he want to leave?

That's the doll one! A few of the dolls are a bit scary.

Another I'd never seen. Thanks. Gene Bua must have been one of the more flamboyant leading men I can remember on a soap. Yeah you can see that in his photos. Another reason I miss the tight pants of the 70's.

October 1976 Daytime TV Stars. Deborah Channel reviews Y&R. The Young and the Restless - As Musical Soap Opera! Some five years ago, if you had told Ms. Average Daytime Viewer that in a few years she would be seeing full-hour serials, and at least one comedy soap (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) which has characters smoking pot and talking about masturbation, and at least one serial that features actors often singing to each other instead of talking, as in old Fred Astaire musicals of the forties and fifties - Mr. (or Mr.!) Average Daytime Viewer would have thought you daft. Yet all these things have come to pass, and more, much more. Still, one wonders how, on a medium that for years had seemed so static, these imaginative transformations could have taken place. The full answer is too involved to go into here - but a simplistic one would run something like: television soap operas were never as static as they seemed. Five years ago, for example, Bill Hayes was singing as Doug Williams in the club Addie (Patricia Barry) bought him on Days of Our Lives. It was simultaneously daring yet natural for Mrs. Betty Corday to permit her show to have singing, for of course Bill Hayes was a well-known singer from the television of the fifties, and a comic too; Mrs. Corday was in essence answering all those critics who said that soaps like Days had nothing more to offer but tears. The ratings of Days of Our Lives certainly did not drop as a result of the addition of some singing and comedy, and so the spate of imitations on other serials began. Love of Life soon introduced Sally Stark as nightclub singer Kate Swanson. Then we saw Don Stewart (as Michael Bauer) suddenly break into a beautiful tenor/baritone song at Papa Bauer's funeral; and we saw As the World Turns' Kathryn Hays seduce Don Hastings with a marvelous professional rendition of Summertime, accompanied by none other than Bobby Short; then viewers saw Larry Keith re-establish his romantic prowess with Judith Barcroft on All My Children by singing expertly in his own nightclub. And on and on went the daytime Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It was of course sublime fantasy. Ordinary people - especially not lawyers like Michael Bauer - do not suddenly display the musical ability of Broadway singing stars. But who ever said that soaps were not part fantasy in the first place? The most typical aspect of all this soap musicalization is that the characters, when they sing, usually sing in special situations. Kim (Kathy Hays) was down in a Florida resort hotel when Bob (Don Hastings) suddenly heard her sing during a fooling-around session at the piano with Bobby Short. Bill Hayes and Sally Stark were introduced to the viewers as professional singers from the start. Larry Keith played a dancing teacher and therefore a showman. Don Stewart, one presumed, was inspired to vocal virtuosity by the death of his grandfather and, as his character, could probably not repeat the sudden fantasy-outburst. In all these situations, song was invariably not an intrinsic part of the story line, but meant merely to entertain viewers. There was no implication that the story had, even in parts, turned into a musical of sorts. The Young & The Restless, when it adopted the musical soap idea that had been in the air for several years, did indeed change all that. It was Leslie Brooks (Janice Lynde) who, a year after the show premiered, first brought music to the show. The writers used her singing, in her own nightclub, to demonstrate the character's blooming into a beautiful, spontaneous, gifted woman. She sang to Brad Eliot, her husband, their own special song, meant to symbolize her love for him and his influence over her. In Leslie's dreams, she danced with him in a beautiful gown - like Cinderella dancing with her Prince - and sang to him as they waltzed amidst shimmering candelabra. Soon other characters were singing. Brock Reynolds (Beau Kayzer) played his guitar and began instilling religious zeal in the lives of the people around him by singing special inspirational songs to people like his mother, Kaye Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper). Then Lauralee Brooks (Jaime Lyn Bauer) suddenly became vocal and had duets with a handsome, rich jet-setter by the name of Lance Prentiss (John McCook); she sang It's All Right With Me with him when it became clear that they were both in love with other people but were, for a while, settling for each other. She sang a duet with Brock indicating her willingness for sex ("Birds do it...") but his unwillingness to be used as a stud. What it all amounts to is that Executive Producer John Conboy has gone all the way. He now uses singing, and often dancing, as part of the story. Instead of two people simply talking about their feelings, often as not they will sing about their feelings, as in operetta. That the sight of such beautiful people singing instead of talking does work terribly well says two things. For one, it says that John Conboy is a dynamic leader in daytime television; and for another, it says that the daytime soap opera form is far more versatile than anyone had even imagined a few years ago. It can literally be adapted to any means, any end, whether old-fashioned or modern, and if properly produced and written, can succeed better than nighttime television once-a-week series, which, compared to shows like The Young & The Restless, are beginning to seem dreadfully mechanical and self-limiting. Actually, The Young & The Restless, in using a very old form - the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical - is potentially old-fashioned itself. But because the material is so well-handled, the old-fashioned quality is not immediately apparent, and it certainly never distracts. In fact, a clever producer could probably put The Shadow or Stella Dallas or even Brenda Starr, Reporter, on the daytime airwaves and have it work. The secret is that the continuing serial format allows writers to explore and diversify their material, whether it be "old-fashioned" or "new-fashioned," in much greater depth. Therefore, a once-a-week Young & The Restless show on nighttime television would surely fail; there wouldn't be time enough to balance the singing with the drama, and to involve viewers with extremely personal story lines before attempting to adapt some of those story lines to music, thereby achieving an effective adventure. It was no accident that once MGM found that Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney worked well in one musical, that they kept repeating the same story, with the same stars, over and over (I'm talking about the Andy Hardy musicals); this, in a sense, was the serialization idea that The Young & The Restless is now using in its own updating of those old musicals. Is it surprising then that, with its greater versatility, the high-rated daytime shows make a great deal more money for networks than the nighttime shows? The latter, with their incredible costs, are almost bankrupting the networks; the former (the serials), are, in essence, paying the bills for the nighttime shows. Of course, it is indecent, almost immoral, for the writers and actors on these financially powerful daytime shows to be treated as badly as they are treated. Television tends to reward creativity in its midsts either with money and power, or with cheap-skate ridicule - which is what soap stars get. Soap opera versatility now seems endless. With the success of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (whether you love or hate the show) and the success of The Young & The Restless and the new one-hour serials, it seems to me inevitable that the very next step will be a singing and dancing variety show incorporated into an hour dramatic serial with a continuing story line. The fact that celebrities like Dinah Shore are willing to make appearances on Mary Hartman only further backs my prediction. We're going to see some pretty amazing things in the next couple of years on daytime television.

As always you paint such a picture for us. I would pay money to see this. It sounds so complex and yet full of basic human emotion which you can relate to. I wish CBS had given it more of a chance. It sounds like it would have been a perfect companion piece to Y&R. Were the scenes in the woods done on location? What were the opening credits like? What happened to Loretta?