DRW50

SOD's features on Liza becoming a fashion model, and on SFT's 25h anniversary, and on Stu and Ellie getting married. S. O. D. Publishing Inc. Sorry, I know some of these pictures have already been posted.

July 76 SOD (SOD Publishing Inc) article on the murder of Tiffany Douglas. I've read about this character, she seems really interesting. I wish I could see her.

I guess that cutesy name means he will never have a major role on the show but does anyone think Mr. Allcock is kind of hot?

Also in the 12/77 SOD - Joel Higgins and his music. Music Is...Joel Higgins by Sue Facter He acts, he sings, he writes, he plays and he's never taken a lesson in his life! That's Joel Franklin Higgins, our man Bruce Carson on CBS' Search for Tomorrow. We visited Joel in his west Village apartment, a one-bedroom abode where he lives with his lovable dog, Zeppo. Joel had to cancel our interview twice because of his heavy work load - a five day a week stint on "Search" and the lead in "Camp Meeting," an off-off Broadway musical in which he plays a revival preacher. "I don't get a chance to play character roles very often and I enjoy this opportunity. Usually I have to play your typical leading man type, the standard Mid-western WASP type." He laughs and adds, "Although I know I'm no Robert Redford!" Although Joel has only been in TV land for two years, he is not a newcomer to show business. He landed the coveted role of James in Broadway's "Shenandoah," played Vince Fontaine in the National tour of "Grease" and more recently portrayed Sebastian in "Music Is" in Seattle, Washington D.C. and its short lived run in the big apple. "Commuting to and from Washington was one of the memorable highlights of my show-biz career. I had to wake up at five in the morning, hop on a plane to New York, take "Search", shuttle back to D.C. before curtain time and collapse at the end of the evening! It must have cost me about $100 a day on expenses!" Joel comes from an upper-middle class family where "people really do that for a living." Joel assumed that he would go into business, like his father, have a home in the suburbs and a wife in the kitchen. "I certainly have changed my thoughts since then. I've come close to getting married three times, but haven't quite made it yet. Eventually I do want to settle down." A native of St. Louis, Missouri and a graduate of Michigan State where he studied advertising, Joel always had an eye for entertainment. He did the usual folksinging in school, was an entertainment specialist while stationed in Korea, and formed "The Green Apple Nasties" with some army buddies. They toured around the country with music and even recorded a record, which didn't quite make it. It was a matter of luck, talent and charm for Joel to make it to "Shenandoah" after doing summer stock and touring with "Grease." Look at the thousands of performers who study and take classes for years and never make it beyond waiting tables and driving cabs. It's also a matter of ambition. Higgins worked so hard this past summer that he only made it once to his West Hampton house in which he has part ownership. "It's worth it though. The work is good for the career and the career is what my life is all about right now." "I'd like to go to Nova Scotia with my best buddy and just camp out for a while. I have to get away from the city every once in a while. You don't come to New York to live, you come to work. Although I'm not a city person, I have to admit if there's anyplace to be, if you have to pick a city, then it's definitely New York. There's a lot of work and a lot of culture here too." Joel takes out his guitar and sings an original tune, "Judy's Room." He wrote it while living in Chicago in 1973 while touring with "Grease." He also played a comical tune about a New York neighborhood in which he used to live. Since it has not been copyrighted, it will remain nameless. "When I play the guitar, Zeppo often falls asleep in the guitar case! No I don't play the piano, but I keep it here so that I can work with people." Joel also has a massive audio collection with tape recorders, mixers, tape slicers, and even microphones. "I like to hear what I've composed or sang. It gives me a chance to be a bit more objective about my work. One of these days I'll make a few demos. I've made demos before, but always of someone else's work." Joel is very serious about his singing and likes to separate it from his acting chores on "Search." "I was hired to act, to do a role, not to sing. It doesn't mix that well. There's one show on TV where they just belt out a tune in the middle of the serial and it doesn't really make sense. It works with Michael Nouri (Steve Kaslo) and Mary Stuart (Joanne Vincente) because it's part of their characters - they're songwriters. Unless I'm horsing around with my kid or something like that, i see no need to sing on the show. And I have an understanding with the writers about that." Joel is also writing a book for a musical at the present and depending on whether "Look Homeward Angel" opens this fall, will be performing in that play. "It's being done in a musical format." Joel is the middle child of a family with five kids. He has an older sister who is a doctor, an older businessman brother, a younger brother at Columbia Law School and a younger sister in architecture school in Ohio. His folks live in the Florida Keys where he likes to relax and fish. "When you go down to my folks place, you have to eat what you catch. It's the rule of the house."

In a few 1977 SODs they repeatedly criticize Mary Hartman for becoming too much about sex and getting away from the show it once was. Do you think that's true?

Soap in more over the top situations involving stolen babies and terrorists and such. Season 3 was much more natural and focused on natural drama springing from the everyday lives of the characters, yet this did not shoehorn in "issues" which the show wasn't entirely capable of addressing, which kind of hampered the first and second seasons. I think season 3 was a perfect balance.

12/77 SOD. S. O. D. Publishing Inc. Meg Bennett says goodbye as SFT turns 26.

I meant the selling the soul to the devil. I think some characters went back to the Old West, someone named Ruby? It's too bad that the improvement had to happen during the OJ mess. If not for that I wonder if the ratings might have gone up.

Dingle DVD?

I have never thought of that era of LOVING, from what I've seen, as "wacky" -- that seems to fit more with some of their past stories (the Wild West trip, the stuff at Universal Studios with Faison, the story about Faust), but SOD mentioned the humor quite often, that scene with Deborah and the bags I think they mentioned in three separate SOD issues. It's too bad the ratings didn't pick up enough for the show to survive because what I've seen of 94-95 LOVING holds up very well and has such rich characters and a cast that really tries their best. There was none of the dead weight or overly stylized actors (one of the reasons I was never a huge fan of George Palermo or TW King among others).

I don't know -- Vanessa could leave tomorrow or never, it's hard to say. I can see where she may never truly fit into the Square (just look at that scene with Dot, she was almost bewildered by Dot), but I do like her. She has the need to get to people and to control them yet she isn't doing this out of malice or anything. I know that but I think he and Vanessa could be a fascinating partnership. When Vanessa started she reminded me of some of the worst of primetime soap ladies but now she's reminding me of some of the more interesting, like those women who ran rings around JR on Dallas.

I used to watch Fernwood 2 Night on Nick at Nite a long time ago. Oddly they showed that but not Mary Hartman. I mostly remember the episode where Joan Rivers showed up to promote Rabbit Test.

I hope the show will remember their friendship. Surely they must be bringing up Ian's lack of friends for some reason? I thought Laurie Brett did a good job in the episode, especially her quiet pain over Lucy's lies. That was such an understated cliffhanger -- I appreciated that. Like Ann mentioned, I was confused by Tamwar's behavior. I often feel like Tamwar is mostly a plot device in Syed's life. I have thought all along that Tamwar might accept Syed's homosexuality but not his relationship with Christian, but the show had him accepting both not long after the truth came out. Then he wasn't sure but kind of accepted them. Now he immediately believes the worst, based mostly on setting Syed up to be let down by Christian's behavior. To be honest I'm not entirely sure why Tamwar was even needed in those scenes. I've never been a big fan of the Roxy/Christian friendship, but I did enjoy those nutty scenes where they came back drunk. I think he was wearing some of her hair extensions. Skipped everything with Heather and Minty. The writing for the Max/Vanessa scenes was interesting. They pointedly did NOT have Vanessa nag Max about his nasty comments to Darren. Instead he sorted out his own feelings. That's very refreshing and it's what Max needs. While I'm a bit surprised at how quickly Vanessa has worked herself into Max's life, it makes sense. He's been holding so much inside for months and she is trying to push him into accepting himself. The show also did a great job of having Darren and Max make up without actually going overboard on soppiness.

Yes AW was an hour. I'd like to see when Arrants and Christine Jones went on to AW for a brief run. I'm a bit surprised AW didn't snap Arrants up, as they did Christine Jones a few years later. Perhaps the P&G soaps made some type of deal. I would like to see the show, especially Nancy Marchand and the alcoholic father, but I can also see how they might have miscast key roles. Backus sounds like an odd choice to me based on the character background. The grandmother who never loved her husband and wants her granddaughter to only choose love also sounds interesting.

I'm glad you're posting again, Eric. I had an SOD interview with Agnes Nixon from 1977 I was going to post if you hadn't read it before.

Here are some SOD synopses. I don't have all of them, just some. If anyone wants to see any more let me know. This is from the July 76 SOD (I think this was the first they covered -- I have the June somewhere and I think they said they were going to start covering them because of popular demand). Mary tells Loretta that a birth certificate can be faked - Mike Wallace said so on TV - but Loretta and Charlie's protests are stopped cold when Muriel produces her ace in the hole (again from her bosom), a picture of a boy with six toes on his left foot - the Haggers men have had that characteristic for generations. Charlie meets with Clyde and learns that Loretta might play Las Vegas, and, if she looks good in a bikini, she may get a part in a disaster movie's hoedown sequence. All sparkled up, Loretta makes her appearance on the "Dinah Show," the launchpad for the rocketship of her career. In addition to making a pie that takes an hour and 25 minutes to bake, she gets into a discussion with an eminent doctor who has written a book about the relevance of bone surgery to the Inner City. Then Loretta expresses how impressed she is with the show's staff, and how surprised she is that are all so nice, since they are all Jewish. While Dinah blanches, the announcer ends the show with the disclaimer that opinions of the guests are not necessarily the opinions of Miss Shore. Tom is upset about a number of things: mineral wastes in the water and the strangeness of his life with Mary and concern over some union "muscle" men who have moved in next door and do not bode well, not to mention a bill for $250 from Mona. Martha wants to give Kathy the best for her wedding to Dennis, but she can't afford it, so she suggests the wedding be held in Mary's living room. Mary flatly refuses and continues to do her best to stop the wedding, including the ultimate sacrifice for Kathy's sake. She goes to Dennis's apartment, but he asks for a raincheck (Kathy came and is in the bedroom and Roberta came by and she's in the bathroom, and he's in a spot). Later, Mary is visited by Roberta and Otto (Germanic and one of the founders of STET). Mary wants to drop out of STET, but no one leaves STET, says Otto. Roberta leaves Mary's house, though, to scream a while, when Mary tells her of Dennis and Kathy's engagement. Otto still won't take no for an answer, but he would take a cookie or a candy bar, if only Mary had something fun to eat in her house. Mary tells Tom that things are alright between them now. She relined some shelves and bought some hamburger helper. It helped. In the Haggers' absence, Muriel takes care of things, such as the $5,000 royalty check which she puts on the mantelpiece, and the notice of cancellation of Loretta's contract, which she puts in her bosom, that treasure trove where anything can appear or disappear at her whim. Muriel calls a confederate to make sure "Timmy" has his routine set for when he calls his "Daddy"; it just happens that the boy is black. The Haggers arrive back in Fernwood just the teensiest bit discouraged after the rocketship of Loretta's career zoomed in the wrong direction, into the ground. All appearances cancelled (even the local Capri Lounge), but their spirits soar once again when Muriel hands them the royalty check and tells them she misplaced an envelope from Clyde but hints it probably contains new contracts. Dennis tells Mary that his day off has been changed to Thursdays. After a bargaining session that would do any labor-management team proud... MARY AND DENNIS MAKE A DEAL Mary will give herself to Dennis once, and he will call off his marriage to Kathy. Finding both Kathy and Roberts in his apartment (waiting to find out what the score is), Dennis quickly recovers his aplomb and kisses them both hello. He adroitly manages to make a date with Roberta for later and to tell Kathy something may happen next Thursday which will make it impossible for him to marry her, but she will be one of the first three to know. Later, Roberta buys his story that their affair can continue, because his marriage to Kathy will be an "open" one. Even after being beaten up and having Heather threatened by the union goons, Tom refuses to drop the union investigation because he's got the goods on the union secretary. Mary tries to convince Kathy that her marriage to Dennis will be loveless, and Martha discourses on the relationship between marriage and sore feet. Tom comes home and is vaguely worried because Mary isn't there. He should be worried, because she is at Dennis', necking on the sofa. Dennis wants Mary to say she feels something, but Mary doesn't want to talk about it, she wants to do it and get it over with. Offended, Dennis hands her her coat. He will give her another chance next Thursday, but for now the deal is off. Mary muses that he is beginning to remind her so much of Tom: so much talk and so little action. If you're slapped in the face with a dead fish, slap the fish in the pan and cook yourself a good ole meal. That's how the Haggers ultimately cope with the realization that Muriel won the pot and their $5,000. THERE IS NO TIMMY They have been "tooken and had." When they find the letter cancelling Loretta's contract, however, downhome sayings are no help. They are, for the first time, utterly defeated. Thursday looms large in everybody's life. Roberta, waiting for Dennis' decision on that day, is prepared to accept his idea of open marriage, although she would prefer being the one he is "openly" married to. Tom, of course, cannot really understand the significance of Thursday, or why Mary talks about things like infidelity. When Mary presents convoluted theories about the subject (with the ultimate hope that infidelity isn't wrong, after all) Tom remarks that if this is logic, he'll take vanilla. Thursday is important to Kathy, but if the decision isn't the one she wants, all the onus is on Mary, because she's the one who's making Dennis' eyes roam. The day also figures heavily in the life of Martha, because if this wedding is called off, what will she do with a freezer packed so full of frozen canapes for the reception that there isn't any room left for TV dinners; and she just couldn't endure another week of having to cook dinner from scratch - it's just too much work. VERTICAL MOUTH-TO-MOUTH RESUSCITATION That's what Dennis was giving Mary in her kitchen when Kathy walked in: Mary's explanation to the family is not believed by Kathy or the rest of the Shumways, either. Mary sadly returns to her own house when Grandpa Larkin says he loves her but he can't believe it. While Mary was being kissed by Dennis, she spoke of guilt, guilt, guilt every time she came up for air. Dennis tried his best to overcome her restrained with more kisses, which she was not eager to fend off. When he left, reiterating that fateful day - Thursday - Mary was beginning to wonder if her interference has done any good at all or it is has just caused more difficulties. In a dream, Loretta tried to call God but received no answer: then she was in a closet and seemed to get a message that she hasn't been doing enough for religion, so when she awakens, she decides to join the Worldwide Missionary Center (which has an 8 year old leader) and spread the WORD from door-to-door. Charlie is not overly elated. When Tom finds out about Mary and Dennis in the kitchen, he walks out of the house, to return many drinks later with his baseball cap askew. A MARRIAGE IN TROUBLE AGAIN He tells Mary that something is wrong between them, but he doesn't know what and he can't take it. When he had the affair with Mae he just did it; she wanted to kiss Dennis. Later, holding and comforting Tom, Mary calls him her sweet baby...Dennis. Breakfast, next morning, is so tense that Mary is reduced to yelling out that breakfast should not be tense and Heather may not have platform shoes. Martha goes to ask Dennis if he really kissed Mary in her kitchen because of his overflowing love for the Shumway family. When he calls her "Mother Shumway" she has all the answer she needs and is very relieved because now she wont' have to fight with Sears over the deposit she paid on the green chiffon dress for the wedding. She is gratefully giving Dennis a kiss when Kathy walks in and - not unnaturally for her - suspects the worst. Dennis is able to retrieve the situation and - as he later tells Mary - he doesn't say the wedding is on, he just doesn't say it is off. Mollified and extremely happy, Kathy even tells Mary that she is ready to bury the hatchet and Mary (sadly) agrees to bake an applesauce upside down cake WITH raising for the surprise shower Martha is giving for Kathy. Mary goes to see Dennis at the station house to tell him she understands him now: he likes to play games with people. His reply and defense is that he doesn't want to hurt anybody, so he tells them the slow truth; by Thursday (that day again) they will have the whole truth. TOM IN MORE HOT WATER Tom gives the Ass't. D.A. the goods on the union fund. He gives Tom campaign gimmicks and a bill of goods. When Tom leaves, the politician calls the union chief and gives him the goods on Tom. Betty McCullough, self-styled psychic and astrologer, is arrested for...soliciting...trade.

I was reading that there were cancellation rumors with SFT in mid/late 1982, not long after their move to NBC. Why do you think NBC kept them around until 1986?

The father reminds me of Brad Garrett, ugh. The daughter reminds me of another British soap actress but I can't think of who. I think this Friday is Dave's last episode on the main show. It's too bad. I know some will say oh well he was so boring, or smug, good riddance, I thought he was a droll, unique character, with good comic timing. Someone said the actor left by his own choice to do a movie. I hope that's true. Bombhead was OK but unfortunately today's Hollyoaks only seems to see comic relief as the pratfalls and pig faces of Cheryl and Duncan. I don't think they would know how to write for him. He reminds me of that midget actor, I can't remember his name...the one who was in Death at a Funeral. At least that guy can act and has presence. This guy just has ridiculous facial hair. And Veronica is possibly the WORST actress I've seen on this show.

Well that can't be good.

I thought most of them were OK in the first 25 or so but then after that started disagreeing. Ronnie and Roxy are way too high on the list. It's crazy that Jack Branning would be above the phenomenal Sue Osman and Lou Beale.