Tune in Tomorrow – Jon Michael Reed
February 20, 1982


When the character of lady mechanic Georgina Whitman surfaced on “One Life To Live'” three months ago, she was intended to be an “interim buffer” to re-introduce the character of Tony Lord. Now, the shows writers have extended the character to be more active. But the actress originally hired to play Georgina has been dropped. Actress Ilene Kristen was the original Delia on “Ryan's Hope.” Her return to the soap world signaled a willingness to combine soap acting's financial security with her outside interest. Unfortunately. Kristen gained a noticeable amount of pounds to her girth between soaps stints. A “OLTL” source claims that Kristen was cautioned to lose the flab or risk her job.

Last week, “OLTL announced that Nana Tucker will take over the role of Georgina, Interestingly, Tucker's also a “RH” alumna. She played Jewish girl, Nancy Feldman, who had an ill-fated romance with Catholic Pat Ryan. Tucker later portrayed Darcy Collins on “The Doctors.”

Kristen, meanwhile, is rumored to be negotiating with “RH” to resume her role of Delia. The current Delia, Randall Edwards, is, according to another source, tired of the part and not afraid to let her displeasure show. Edwards garnered an Emmy nomination last year and was a delightful Delia. Kristen’s return, should it occur, would, however, be a reminder, and perhaps an inspiration, of the exemplary show “Ryan's Hope” was before it digressed to bloated tales of gangland wars and Egyptian mummy curses.

“RH” has hired Patrick Jame Clarke for the returning role of Pat Ryan.

 

 

Newspaper column
April 11, 1982 

Randall Edwards said, "I was inspired by a person who is so unconnected to the adult world... that the only one she could turn to was a gorilla." Kristen, then in California as a viewer, hated it. “Soap operas shouldn't tackle that kind of thing.” “I think soaps should be as crazy as they can be within reality. People are nutty. People are crazy.” Kristen emphasized. While working on and off in California after she left the show, Kristen had a hard time shaking the Delia image. Even the late comic actor John Belushi was a fan of hers. She said he had been eying her on the set of “1941” for several days and finally phoned her at 3 a.m. “My little Delia. My little bitch. I love you, “ she recalled him saying, imitating their conversation in a throaty whisper. “I spent the whole summer with you. “ 
Now, she admitted, “I have to refocus myself on Delia. I've been a way from her for a while....she can do anything. The dramatic possibilities are endless.” She sees Delia as a “street fighter” and said one of her bigger challenges will be getting the character “back to the streets “ a far cry from Edwards comic portrayal of Delia as the classic “dumb blonde”. Kristen says she prefers playing Delia as an exposed wound people can relate to. But she added, Delia has a cunning edge. “She is a whole lot smarter than I am. She has a whole lot more nerve than I do.” “ I hope they let me do what I want...I take a lot of chances with Delia and no one has ever said “no'.” Delia had made a killing in the stock market, but lost her fortune and third husband, Roger, when she had an affair with her sleazy stock broker.An organized crime figure helped to recoup her losses and she ended up running the glitzy restaurant that the mobster secretly owned and used as a front for his drug operation. When the chieftain was murdered, she inherited the restaurant free and clear to lose it again to his nephew. She tried to run over former fiance Barry Ryan in a jealous rage after seeing him with another woman. She then let another woman, who was drunk at the time, take the blame. In one of the shows most zany story lines, Delia befriended “Albert”, a gorilla at the zoo, who fell in love with her ala King Kong. In a fit of passion and rage, he kidnapped her and held her captive in a tower in Central Park. Former husband Roger Coleridge became her Prince Charming when he rescued her in Cinderella-like plot by spotting her lost evening slipper. 

“Delia has to get to where she is going by whatever way she can,” said Kristen, trying to justify Delia's dastardly tricks. And indeed she has. Every time one of her many husbands pan to remarry, Delia has sabotaged their affairs. She cunningly faked pregnancy and blindness to marry and then keep Patrick, the youngest son of Maeve and Johnny Ryan's clan. She repeatedly schemed to keep first husband Frank Ryan from his former fiancee Faith Coleridge and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Jillian Coleridge. (Yes, in the incestuous world of soap opera they are all related.) And after failing to convince former third husband, Roger, that his new flame was less than virtuous, she plotted an engagement present to jump out of his cake at his bachelor party. In one of Edward’s final scenes as Delia, she performed an elaborate and lengthy dance routine that included the can-can, tango, and Irish gig.

And for Kristen, returning to “ was like going home again in a very nice way” . Kristen jumped back to Ryan’s Hope after a few years in California and a brief tenure on ABC's “ One Life To Live”. “ I don't know if I was fired or let go (from One Life To Live)”, she said. She didn't have a contract with the soap and stayed for about two months before she was told her character “was going to be taken in a diffident direction.” I don't want to question it. Fate works in strange ways.” The character of Delia Reid Ryan Ryan is a pivotal as the Ryan clan, around whom the plot thickens. “Every time I think I figured her out, she comes up with something new,” lamented her exasperated former husband, Dr. Roger Coleridge. Labine, who along with Paul Mayer owned the soap until last year when they sold it to ABC, described Delia as someone “in whom the most dreadful early deprivation has caused a desperate need for love and attention.” 

 

Another column 

One of soap opera's most delightfully desperate and sometimes despicable femme fatales has reverted to her old self. Ilene Kristen, who created the role of Delia on ABC's "Ryan's Hope" has returned to the middle-rated show. She replaced Randall Edwards who took over for her three years ago. And although head writer Claire Lablne said she will ignore the change when crafting more romantic and devious plots for Delia, the viewers can't help but notice the difference. Each actress played the scheming Delia as an altogether different personality. "Ilene's is an earthy, fundamental, desperate Delia," explained Lablne. "Randall's is more of a mercurial, high-comedy figure. Ideally,Labine said with a chuckle, she would like to have Kristen play Delia for three years and then have Edwards back for another three. "I loved both of them. We had the best of all possible worlds because the actresses are so good but so different." Edwards said she wanted off the show when her contract expired. 


 

 

Thanks!

Also Irving Allen Lee played Dr. Evan Cooper on RH in the late 1980's

Geoff Pierson (Frank #4, Ryan's Hope) portrayed James Baker on National Geographics Channel  Killing Reagan tonight (10/16)

 

Thanks for posting that...I couldn't help but be reminded of Michael Hawkins saying that the LIAMST writers still wished David Birney was playing the role instead of him. 

Michael Levin (Jack) and Karen Morris-Gowdy (Faiht #4) did a staged reading of one of RH's producer and writers Paul Avila Mayer's play (probably in early 1984 although  the way was this piece is written, it sounds like it might have been right before both Paul and Karen were let go  from RH in late 1983 because the writer still refers to them as being part of the show [RH].

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/05/nyregion/staging-a-season-with-script-in-hand.html

STAGING A SEASON WITH 'SCRIPT IN HAND'

By ALVIN KLEIN

Published: February 5, 1984

 

WHEN a neighbor in Great Neck recently said he hadn't seen a new play since ''Tobacco Road,'' Lawrence Sigman knew a mission had to be accomplished.

Hence, Theatrevisions, a corporation that Mr. Sigman, an English teacher at Woodside Junior High School, who is also a ''stand-up comic'' at the Improvisation Club in Manhattan, formed with his wife, Jacqueline Barsh, a director and actress who has been a member of Actors Equity for 40 years.

This is, actually, the second stage in Mr. Sigman's twofold mission: to nurture new plays and audiences on the Island. Stage one started two years ago when he presented two ''staged readings'' of new plays (''Red Storm Flower'' and ''The Overland Rooms'') in, respectively, Great Neck and Hewlett.

These were financed by grants from the Nassau County Office of Cultural Affairs and the Great Neck Library. Theatrevisions is being financed by Mr. Sigman and Miss Barsh, with some private contributions.

For Theatrevisions, the concept of a staged reading has evolved into what they call a ''script in hand'' performance, which, Mr. Sigman explained, involves a short-term opportunity for actors to expand and playwrights to experiment - and for both to be encouraged.

Props and lighting are used. Actors are asked to make a two-week commitment, as opposed to two months, which Mr. Sigman said is the standard for Manhattan showcase productions. Only 20 hours of rehearsals are required, and the plays are given for three performances each, during one weekend.

Such performances - somewhere between a reading and a fully staged production - demand ''special techniques,'' Miss Barsh said. Only experienced actors possess them, she maintained. Equity members take part in performances along with non- union actors.

In order to operate under the theatrical unions' ''showcase code,'' which permits the professional actors to work for only their expenses, the performances have to take place ''within the five boroughs,'' Miss Barsh said. For accessibility, Little Neck, Queens, where the Theatrevisions performing space is situated, was chosen.

Among the actors whose talents are being ''stretched,'' Mr. Sigman says, for such occasions, are Michael Levin and Karen Morris-Gowdy, who have prominent roles in the soap opera series ''Ryan's Hope.'' They were seen in Theatrevisions' first production, ''Pine Cones,'' last month. Written by Paul Avila Mayer, who created, writes and produces ''Ryan's Hope,'' the play was based on his own turmoil as an 8-year-old child when his parents - his father, Edwin Justus Mayer, wrote the original screenplay for ''To Be or Not to Be'' and the play ''Children of Darkness'' - decided to get a divorce. An eight-play ''script in hand'' season is now under way. The second in the series, ''Welcome to the Moon,'' which is billed as a ''romantic comedy'' by John Patrick Shanley, is scheduled to be seen Thursday and Friday evenings at 7:30 and Saturday afternoon at 2 in the Parish Hall - capacity 85 - at Christ Lutheran Church in Little Neck. Reservations can be obtained by calling (516) 466- 9464. Tickets are $4.

''Welcome to the Moon'' had a fully staged, and, according to Miss Barsh, a poorly received production at Off Off Broadway's Ensemble Studio Theater in 1982.

''It was done as a 'Saturday Night Live'-like satire, instead of the tender love story it really is,'' she said.

In form, the play consists of 11 short plays, lasting from four minutes to 20 minutes each, and wedded into one by the theme of love, for which the titular word ''moon'' is a metaphor. Mr. Sigman is the director. Miss Barsh directed ''Pine Cones.''

To gain credibility, Mr. Sigman said, ''we must have a season,'' adding: ''One or two plays aren't enough. We have to keep it up.''

Thus, six more plays are scheduled. ''Charley ('Big Chief') Redstone,'' a drama about an American Indian family, written by E. Claude Richards, has been announced for March 1, 2 and 3. Two one-act plays concerning elderly people - ''The Desk'' by Richard Urdahl, a minister in the church, and ''Nesting'' by Nicki Wilson, will follow on March 22, 23 and 24.

''Intimate Relations,'' by Davida Rosenblum, a comedy about the break-up of a marriage - the playwright's own - is scheduled for April 12, 13 and 14.

The other plays are: May 10, 11 and 12 - ''Bear Paw Mountain,'' a historical drama by Russel Lawrence Barsh, who is Miss Barsh's son, and teaches Indian lore at the University of Washington in Seattle; June 7, 8 and 9 - ''The Proxy,'' a Southern comedy set in the 1930's by Celestine Frost, and June 28, 29 and 30, ''The Congregation,'' a full-length play by Mr. Urdahl. Several plays are lined up for next season.

With his non-theater going neighbor in mind, Mr. Sigman, who is listed as the artistic director of Theatrevisions, has been ''ringing doorbells, handing out fliers and putting ads in local newspapers.''

''Other soap opera actors who are stultified by a certain success but unfulfilled artistically have expressed an interest in working with us,'' he added. ''Everything's a cliffhanger, and we've enjoyed living on the edge. All we want to do is say, 'We're here and it's worthwhile.' ''

 

 

Thanks for posting that... I also didn't know John did that for AMC.

Sorry if this was  already posted on the main board

 

Entertainment Weekly Community

 

http://community.ew.com/2016/07/12/sister-v-sister-love-triangles/

 

7 sisters: Soaps’ top sister vs. sister love triangles

Ryan’s Hope

Faith always felt inferior to her beautiful sister, Jill. We knew Faith was the less attractive of the Coleridge sisters because … um … her hair was less bouncy? Mostly it was because everyone kept saying so. Kind of like the way Katie keeps saying she’s the less attractive sister on B&B, leaving the audience to go, “Okay … I guess.” The assertion became even more ridiculous as Faith kept getting recast with more and more glamorous actresses, until she was finally played by Karen Morris-Gowdy, a former America’s Junior Miss. But, yeah, sure, she’s absolutely hideous. Which was the excuse Faith used when Frank left her for Jill. This, despite the fact that ultimately, Frank left all women for Jill, no matter what they looked like.

 

 

 

Trailer for Faith Catlin's (Faith #1) upcoming web series

 

 

 

While Carl has shared many Soap Opera Digest recaps on  the Soap Opera Network forum -- someone is putting some on Tumblr. So far, November 1975 through November 1982 are up.

 

http://classicsodrh.tumblr.com/archive

 

 

T

 

 

 

 

 

LYME, N.H. – While the rest of New Hampshire argues over Rubio versus Trump versus Cruz versus Kasich, this Connecticut River hamlet thinks mostly in blue.

Hillary or Bernie? That’s the question most of Lyme’s 1,200 or so voters will mull as they stand in the ballot box.

Whoever the Democratic nominee is, it’s a sure bet that they’ll win Lyme come November. Judging by the 2012 election results, Lyme is the bluest town in New Hampshire. President Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney with a whopping 76 percent of the vote here four years ago.

Faith Catlin, 67, a therapist and social worker in town, proudly cast her ballot for Bernie Sanders. If he were president, she said, she wouldn’t be so embarrassed to travel abroad.

“He’s sane,’’ she explained. “He’s actually sane.’’


 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, I don't know.

I had never heard this before – not even as a rumor --from Tracy Brooks Swope's IMDB biography page –under Trivia

 

I'm not sure what the difference was between 1973's “Me “ listed as a movie and the paragraph saying “Me” was a PBS show that kept her from taking the role in 1975.

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0842884/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

 

The creators of the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope wrote the part of Dr. Faith Coleridge for her, but she had already committed to star in the original Gardner McKay written, Norman Lloyd produced PBS show, "Me", with Richard Dreyfuss and Geraldine Fitzgerald.

 

 

 

Faith Catlin (Faith #1) is producing, writng, and acting in a new video web series called Parmalee

 

Faith's husband John Griesemer (also producing, acting, and writing for the series) description of the series --

“It’s about a small town in Vermont where several kids come across or create a rather horrific and kind of terrifying video from a tragic event,” he explains. “And they upload it. And it’s what happens to the town when that video goes viral — when the world finds out about where this place is and what happened there.”

 

The events in Parmalee are set in motion when an unstable guy named Hemenway, who idolizes Ernest Hemingway, does something shocking to show his irrational devotion.

 

 

Here are some behind the scene photos

 

 

 

 

Faith and husband John Griesemer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian McGovern (Chaz) is currenlty seen in AARP's The Man With a Plan commercials. 

 

Beach 

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/AL9_/aarp-services-inc-man-with-the-plan-the-beach

 

Camping

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/ALJs/aarp-services-inc-the-man-with-the-plan-camping

 

Golfing

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/ALJZ/aarp-services-inc-the-man-with-the-plan-golfing

 

Yes, she was a wonderful addition. I was surprised to read in the obit that she was only on RH 1977 though 1981--  I had thought Polly might have still popped up now and again during all of Louise Shaffer's run but I guess we saw all her appearances on SOAPnet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Molly McGreevy (Polly, Ryan's Hope) passed away on November 1.

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=176376735

 

 

Sad news  -- Molly McGreevy (Polly) passed away on November 1.

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=176376735

 

They did mention her perm in the episode -- so maybe it was supposed to look that way -- or they wrote it in the script after they saw Felicity's hair that week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lois Robbins (Concetta on Ryan's Hope/Mandy on Another Life/Dr. Anna Tolan #3 on All My Children) made a guest appearance on the TV series Blue Bloods tonight (10/30)