ZoeTate

Barbara Parkins has a great Facebook page where she answers questions, is quite funny and candid about her career. I asked her about RTPP and Julie Parrish and she pretty much said she adored the way Julie played Betty, but was not fond of the Lynn Loring version, and yet she was a friend of Lynn's. I agree - Lynn was too shrill and the show wanted to make Betty the Uber Villanesss rather than the complex character Parkins created and Parrish followed suit with.

OMG too funny that Camilla Carr could have ever been considered for Alice. I never found her dull - she was total camp. So over the top Catholic fire and brimstone, she was the worst kind of caricature. I think she was always telling Eileen she would go to hell. Poor Stephen Joyce played her hubby, right?

Tracy Brooks Swope tested for Lorie at one point on Y&R, don't know if this was 1973 or later.

Who was the other actress considered for Lily on ATWT when Martha left in 2008? It was between Noelle Beck and someone whose name I can't recall now, but I remember thinking Noelle was a better choice because I could not imagine a more beautiful coupling than Noelle and Jon Hensley.

OMG that interview is hilarious. Sam comes off as kind of a creep though.

Wasn't BD the show Sam Hall talked of writing and creating absurd speeches uttered by Rev. Dennis and his sister? Apparently Sam had contempt for the show and wanted to express his dislike of it in that way.

Was Bill Bell involved with this show? The Dennis sisters seem an awful lot like the Brooks sisters of Y&R. Liz = Leslie; Althea = Lorie, Patsy = Chris, Babby = Peggy. Even some of the personality traits. Leslie and Liz both had a breakdown, Althea seems as driven as Lorie and Patsy seems to be in love with love like Chris.

Bennye Gatteys read for the part of Leslie Brooks before Y&R went on the air. They cast Elvis movie star Mary Grover, who had a lot of musical comedy in her background, instead. Grover was canned because she could not play the piano though she could sing wonderfully. Janice Lynde stepped in and was of course, brilliant. Bennye was one of the worst re-casts IMHO as Susan Martin on Days. What a dip and how do you replace Denise Alexander? They should have just had the character move away.

A friend of mine went to college with Andrea Moar in the mid 70's and he had told me she tested for Amy on GH before she got Carrie on AMC.

Kathy Glass was excellent as Allison. Her ability to cry was amazing. She did amazing stuff during the return home/Benny Tate storyline. She worked particularly well with John Levin the little boy who played Matthew Carson. I would say her stuff on the witness stand was on par with Judith Light's OLTL performances, it just didn't get soap creds because the Daytime Emmys were in their infancy. She also had to play zombie Allison after the fire at the cabin and she had an eerie ability to do the 'blank stare' that was not laughable.

Pamela Shoop I liked, but her Allison was more of the healthy Southern California girl than Glass. She had a sweet presence. I think she would have done ok with the heavy emotional stuff but I don't think she would have topped Glass.

Of course the Glass (and Susan Brown for that matter) deal with both of them losing some of their hair from the blond bleaching is one of the reasons Kathy freaked out and wanted out of her contract. She had a bleeding ulcer and was very Mia Farrow like in going up aganist the NBC execs who wanted her to stay as Allison. Finally as with Mia, they released her because she would have been too much trouble to keep. Her rep as an actress didn't suffer considering her stints on OLTL and The Drs.

Ann Marcus wrote that while out in Hollywood Mary Stuart was there for some junket and accosted her verbally about not writing storylines for Joanne, but for her 'stepdaughter' - I'm assuming Marcus meant daughter. It made Mary sound less than gracious about sharing the storyline wealth. In Mary's defense she never got to counter the Marcus version of events. Mary had often decried the loss of the baby boy Joanne gave birth to - Duncan Eric - who could have been a character in the show for years to come. I always wondered if Bruce Carson was supposed to fill that void, but the show never went there.

Thanks Paul - glad to be here. Dorothy Adams, who was the mother of Rachel Ames(Audrey, GH) played Ma. I believe shew as married in real life to one of the train engineers on Pettitcoat Junction. There was a rare pic of her as Ma in one of the soap mags from the 70's. She didn't stay long from what I understand.

If Ann Marcus's book is to be believed, perhaps Mary's jealousy over storylines for Patti torpedoed Joanne's future on Search. I wonder if she wanted Patti and Len gone, especially after the 1974 return. I thought Leigh Lassen did a great job as Patti. She cut her hair short in the last months on the show and I think she looked like she could have been Mary's real life daughter. Maybe Mary didn't want to portray a grandmother, with a grandchild in the story. I just can't believe with some influence Mary wouldn't have advised TPTB that Joanne needed her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren in the story, unless Mary wanted Joanne as a single lady open to the same stereotyped romances she'd been playing since the late 60's.

Thanks for the welcome CarlD2, maybe Regina was going to be Regina Henderson??? Originally the info about Y&R had three families and the Hendersons - Bruce, Regina, Jim (later became Mark) and Russ were announced. Only Bruce was on the canvas the first year (along with Ma Henderson when Liz was ill). But I agree Regina Gleason would not have been a stretch as Jennifer, especially seeing as Dorothy Green was eventually cast.

They fired Ada? That's sick. She was one of my favorites in the original. Seeing all these pictures is great, but it's so depressing reading about this show. I want to see it so bad and in glorious color (since I know it's sitting in a vault somewhere). I know it must've been good if it ruffled so many feathers.

I remember Ada leaving because Rita took over the bar, but I thought Evelyn Scott made guest appearences near the end. I believe she was involved in chartiable pursuits and that she wanted to leave.

RTPP was a great show - I was a huge fan and it replaced Dark Shadows for me as an addictive tv series because the time of day it came on the air. I would rush home from school to watch it instead of DS. To think the nightime writers of PP couldn't come up with story for Dorothy Malone and the Connie on the daytime version was in a love triangle with Elliot and Mike Rossi, had an abortion and all of Allison's problems. I think Malone would have objected to a triangle playing out on PP because of her religious beliefs and fears the audience would not buy Connie having a fling with family friend Mike.

That looks like a Daytime TV to me.

So what caused Betty Corday to not be involved?

Most of those names also never materialized.

Hello new to this forum and I have loved reading and lurking. As for the Betty Corday article, I believe it was Afternoon Tv or Daily TV Serials. Were they considering Regina Gleason as Jennifer? I can't see her as Liz and Kay was not ready to introduce that early.

I had thought, too, that Corday was not happy Bell was going to devote so much time to his new baby Y&R. CBS gave it a murderous time slot at noon Eastern. My area in Southewest Ohio didn't get the show until February 1974, and only then at 1pm and a day behind.